|
|
Post by PantherU on Mar 20, 2022 20:47:01 GMT -6
In all the stories announcing Bart Lundy's hire, we've seen some of our greatest hits resurface: UW-Milwaukee, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, UWM, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
We need to help the university find a brand - 100% for athletics but also possibly the university itself. I started this thread so we can kick around ideas. Who do we need to talk to, what is the message?
|
|
|
|
Post by mkehoops on Mar 20, 2022 21:26:55 GMT -6
University of Milwaukee
|
|
|
|
Post by chipanthers45 on Mar 20, 2022 21:37:44 GMT -6
This is the only correct answer. |
|
|
|
Post by Cactus Panther on Mar 20, 2022 22:06:08 GMT -6
"Milwaukee" for sports. Great strides have been made for this branding. Let's not change AGAIN.
Who cares what the university is called on an institutional level? (place joke here).
|
|
|
|
Post by PantherNation on Mar 21, 2022 6:03:04 GMT -6
Doesn’t help when the new head coach’s Twitter profile reads:
“Head Basketball Coach University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee”
Someone should pass along the message to him for starters.
|
|
|
|
Post by steveisback on Mar 21, 2022 8:46:23 GMT -6
I think as for sports MILWAUKEE is great...along the lines of Cincinnati , Pittsburgh, Memphis , Louisville...etc...strong brand names works for them....regarding overall I like Univbersity of Milwaukee but aint gonna happen...looks like it is going to be Wisconsin Milwaukee ad infinitum which is ok by me...UWM for short
|
|
|
|
Post by PantherU on Mar 21, 2022 16:45:45 GMT -6
Doesn’t help when the new head coach’s Twitter profile reads: “Head Basketball Coach University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee” Someone should pass along the message to him for starters. I'm sure Zills will be on it as soon as they get the necessary stuff out of the way. Zills has always been very good at pushing media to be on-brand. Sometimes it doesn't work. |
|
|
|
Post by PantherU on Mar 21, 2022 17:54:07 GMT -6
I think as for sports MILWAUKEE is great...along the lines of Cincinnati , Pittsburgh, Memphis , Louisville...etc...strong brand names works for them....regarding overall I like Univbersity of Milwaukee but aint gonna happen...looks like it is going to be Wisconsin Milwaukee ad infinitum which is ok by me...UWM for short So here's the problem with Milwaukee and UWM as the brands: Milwaukee doesn't work well as a local brand. Who is Milwaukee? The Bucks? Brewers? UWM doesn't work as a national brand. Western Michigan? Washington M something? UWM in particular is problematic. Think of the schools that have recognizable brands with acronyms. UCLA...UNLV...these are recognizable because everyone knows what LA and LV are. UAB? Not as strong. We know what UAB is because we know sports. Ask a random person downtown what UAB is and you're likely to see question marks floating above their head. What is W? Wyoming? Washington? Wisconsin? What is M? Milwaukee? Madison? Miami? Memphis? It doesn't help that the state flagship technically has the same acronym. My mom's bachelor's AND master's degrees both read "The University of Wisconsin - Madison" but no one calls them UW-Madison in regards to athletics. Barely anyone calls them that for academics. It's because they have a brand. They continue to brand themselves as the University of Wisconsin, even though that name applies to over a dozen schools. This is problematic. Continuing the UWM brand will always keep us subconsciously a satellite of UW in people's minds. As you pointed out, Pittsburgh and the others have strong brands, but locally some have got secondary brands that locals can call them without people getting confused as to what they are. The best, to me, is Pitt. You go to Pittsburgh and mention Pitt, and no one wonders if you're talking about the Steelers. The UWM brand doesn't work on a national level. But "Milwaukee" on its own is vague. I think if you brand the university as the University of Milwaukee while also providing a strong secondary brand to be used on a local level, you stand a lot better chance of Milwaukee working everywhere as well. We've had people come up with ideas. UMIL/ UMil was always the most popular secondary brand. UMilwaukee is long but could be considered. The important thing to remember is we don't have to legally change the name of the university to call ourselves the University of Milwaukee. Hell, UW-Madison brands itself as UW all over the place even though they're also technically UWM and no one calls them UW-Madison outside the state. It's UW or Wisconsin. You've said it all. Bop bop. By far the best example of this branding-instead-of-renaming is the University at Buffalo. The State University of New York at Buffalo is one hell of a mouthful of a name. Everyone calls them Buffalo across the country. No one calls them SUNY-Buffalo. Locally, they're known as UB or the University at Buffalo. They carry the website Buffalo.edu. A few years back they tried to rebrand their athletics program with the SUNY name to try and lay claim to the "NEW YORK" name and it was a disaster. We've kicked around the branding idea before. Illwauk and I got heavily into a push around the time I graduated to try and finally finish it, but we were two students without a whole lot of support. Here's one version of the brand illustrated by Illwauk. Here's another by Illwauk. He even has a kickass rebrand of the seal. I actually dug the Pounce Panther secondary logos put together by the Bookstore about a decade ago. I know that there is some worry in the administration that was voiced to me long ago that building a brand around the University of Milwaukee name could be perceived as distancing us from the rest of the state and could cause us to lose state funding. I'd argue the opposite is true; the University of Milwaukee name is one befitting a clear secondary flagship and if anything would elevate UMil's status above the rest of the UW schools not named Madison. That position would make it easier to push for funding, in my eyes at least. Obviously there are costs involved, but they should be considered marketing costs for the university to establish a strong brand that can propel the athletics AND academics of this university forward. Also the university should just hire Illwauk to do the logos. |
|
|
|
Post by buppie05 on Mar 21, 2022 19:25:59 GMT -6
We are the Milwaukee Panthers. ESPN recognizes us as such, and that’s all that matters to me.
We don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Just keep being consistent. Keep up with the Milwaukee Panthers, and next time we are in the national spotlight, the name will stick.
When I went to school (graduated 08’) the branding was an absolute disaster. It was usually Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and it seemed people would use that or variations of that to put us in our place. We’ve come a long way since then. Just need to stay on the path.
|
|
|
|
Post by Cactus Panther on Mar 21, 2022 21:03:05 GMT -6
Jimmy, you have done a good job explaining your rationale about institutional branding consideration, but I think we have much bigger fish to fry. Don't start so many initiatives at once. Seems when that happens none of them go anywhere. The effort to address fan apathy and support Bart Lundy should be priority #'s 1, 2 and 3. We have Adam Schemm's ear. Let's focus on that please.
|
|
|
|
Post by PantherU on Mar 21, 2022 21:37:42 GMT -6
Jimmy, you have done a good job explaining your rationale about institutional branding consideration, but I think we have much bigger fish to fry. Don't start so many initiatives at once. Seems when that happens none of them go anywhere. The effort to address fan apathy and support Bart Lundy should be priority #'s 1, 2 and 3. We have Adam Schemm's ear. Let's focus on that please. Okay, try getting people excited about Wisconsin-Milwaukee. |
|
|
|
Post by Cactus Panther on Mar 22, 2022 8:05:22 GMT -6
Jimmy, you have done a good job explaining your rationale about institutional branding consideration, but I think we have much bigger fish to fry. Don't start so many initiatives at once. Seems when that happens none of them go anywhere. The effort to address fan apathy and support Bart Lundy should be priority #'s 1, 2 and 3. We have Adam Schemm's ear. Let's focus on that please. Okay, try getting people excited about Wisconsin-Milwaukee. That's not necessary. The people you are concerned about will not freak out about the dash when the game day environment is good. It did not seem to be a problem in the glory years when thousands attended each game. And that was before strides were made with the "Milwaukee" sports branding. Just try to get people excited about the "Milwaukee Panthers." |
|
|
|
Post by Cactus Panther on Mar 22, 2022 8:22:33 GMT -6
|
|
|
|
Post by JG Panthers on Mar 22, 2022 9:16:23 GMT -6
I think local coverage (haha) is where the problem lies. If they're going to use Milwaukee in the headline, it almost has to be prefaced with a UW- or shortened to UWM. I've seen it so many times it makes me want to puke. |
|
|
|
Post by skrapheap on Mar 22, 2022 11:22:15 GMT -6
I think local coverage (haha) is where the problem lies. If they're going to use Milwaukee in the headline, it almost has to be prefaced with a UW- or shortened to UWM. I've seen it so many times it makes me want to puke. The merger of the UW system with the old Wisconsin State University system was 50+ years ago. There's no excuse for any news organization in Wisconsin not to refer to the Universities in the system by their proper names: UW-Madison, UW-Milwaukee, UW-Superior, UW-Oshkosh, etc. Athletics branding is a different question. UW-Madison was the only UW school for more than 100 years, so the athletics programs were and are the Wisconsin Badgers. And as long as the university is properly identified, they can continue to call their athletics programs that. In the same way, the athletics department here in Milwaukee should be politely but firmly insisting that local news organizations refer to the athletics teams as the Milwaukee Panthers. The same recognition should be accorded to the other eleven universities in the system. If UW-Oshkosh refers to its sports teams as the Oshkosh Titans, then the media should follow suit. |
|
