Milwaukee Panthers new secondary logo package

[Rambulance]

Yeah, I had a buddy that went to school in Milwaukee(MSOE) and I always knew it as UWM. First thing I thought of was that I really like the UMil idea for rebranding it. And doesn't the UMil Muskrats have a nice ring to it?

[rmackman]

I'm in favor of going with Wisconsin State University. Calling it the University of Milwaukee gives it a smaller feel. Wisconsin State, to me, gives it a bigger school feel to the name. Also, the robin is the state bird of Wisconsin. Why not be the Wisconsin State University Robins?

.....although people might think this is your mascot:

[BlackPantherMKE]

I appreciate the idea, BGMack27, but the Wisconsin State University name IS small time.

Illinois State, Indiana State, Iowa State, Minnesota State, Arkansas State, Missouri State, the list goes on. With the exception of Ohio State, I think every ____ State U is subservient to U of _____.

University of Milwaukee is akin to schools with these names: Louisville, Cincinnati, Miami, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Charlotte, Portland, etc. I'd much rather be linked to that group than the _SU's of the world.

[BlackPantherMKE]

This is AWESOME. I stumbled upon this by way of Google Alerts (that actually took me to this thread), and I have to say that I am very excited to have come across such a great topic of discussion featuring people both inside and outside the Panther community.

I run a website, PantherU.com, that is the biggest fan blog for the university's athletics program. I put together a powerpoint on this very topic that has gone largely ignored by most people. Admittedly, I don't know as much about the actual visuals as you all do, as I'm more experienced with the brand problem itself.

The university system suffers from serious brand dilution. Milwaukee is just one of many schools whose identity is directly tied to the one in Madison. Perhaps the big wigs in the capitol think that it's helping the schools, but it's hurting both sides. Milwaukee, a school that is climbing the national rankings every year and is far and away the second flagship of the system, has everything they do tethered to the Bucky image - before you see Milwaukee, you see University of Wisconsin, and the nation identifies with Madison and that brand. Even seeing Milwaukee on there, it's as if we're a satellite institution for Momma Badger. On Madison's side of the coin, their brand is brought up with every UW four-year and two-year school. So if some dumb news story comes out of UW-Stout, that is tied to Bucky. It's unfair to everyone involved to have us all under one banner. With less help from the state every single year, the university needs to think about itself. The University of Milwaukee is the best name, because where the city of Madison is a city that exists because of the university's needs, Milwaukee is a university that exists because of the city's needs. Public health is a huge issue. We need to be a front runner in water research, being right on Lake Michigan. So what happens with the university? It becomes the first school in the state with the School of Public Health and the first in the country with a School of Freshwater Sciences.

It's a full fledged four year doctoral public research institution, one of two in the state, but the UW brand attachment relegates us to secondary status equal to the likes of every four year and two year institution in the system. We should be pursuing a naming situation like that of Virginia, where schools like Old Dominion and William and Mary are public universities that have names that match their identity. As far as I know, UW-Stout is the only UW school that doesn't carry the town's name.

Milwaukee is D-I, as only three UW schools are. If we were indeed created to be the UCLA to Madison's UC-Berkeley, then we should be allowed to pursue our own identity. UCLA works because everyone knows what LA is. UNLV works because everyone knows what LV is. What's UWM? In Wisconsin alone we have Milwaukee, Madison, Manitowoc, Menomonie, Menomonee Falls, Muskego, Mukwonago.

A brand will only work well if it is identifiable both locally and abroad. Locally, UWM triumphs because that has been the brand that sets the university apart from the other sports teams that carry the name Milwaukee. Milwaukee triumphs nationally and regionally because UWM can be confusing - Wyoming? West Virginia? Wisconsin? Western Michigan? - and most people can find Milwaukee on a map.

The current standard set by the athletic department is that only Milwaukee and UWM are acceptable, with University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee spelled out on first reference. However, having worked as a journalist through college and in blogging, when you're fighting for column inches and need to save space, or need to establish a flow in your writing, no one is going to spell out the name. It will be truncated to UW-Milwaukee in the interest of space and flow. So the current brand, although a step forward, isn't the step needed to finally establish an identity.

UWM will never work nationally, so if we work with Milwaukee as the brand, you can work with it to make it work both locally and nationally. I also think that's the best because it's the name on the logo, the name on the jerseys and the name in the box score.

Illwauk has brought on our message board that he put forth UMil as a concept years ago when we planned to change the name of the university. Although that move failed in both 2006 and 2009, the idea is still strong; we still have to brand an identity into our potential fan base. If we look to the greater Milwaukee area as our standing point, we can push a UMil or MKE (from the powerpoint) brand while still maintaining the Milwaukee identity.

The best part is that you don't need to change the university's name to become a UMil or Milwaukee alone; it is accomplished simply by re-branding the athletics program. Now that we have a new athletic director and are working towards a new basketball facility, re-branding the athletics program with a new UMil brand is good timing.

I encourage all of you to sign up and join the discussion at http://gouwm.com/board (he's also someone who will need to change his website haha)

[Gothamite]

Can't really disagree with your proposal. Well done.

[deliver2david]

I appreciate the idea, BGMack27, but the Wisconsin State University name IS small time.

Illinois State, Indiana State, Iowa State, Minnesota State, Arkansas State, Missouri State, the list goes on. With the exception of Ohio State, I think every ____ State U is subservient to U of _____.

University of Milwaukee is akin to schools with these names: Louisville, Cincinnati, Miami, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Charlotte, Portland, etc. I'd much rather be linked to that group than the _SU's of the world.

Sure you named a bunch of lesser "State" schools but Michigan State and Penn State have large athletic programs and are well-regarded in academics, too.

[Gothamite]

True, but my perception of Michigan State, righly or wrongly, is that of a kid sister to Michigan. That would just continue the "Wisconsin" problem.

[WideRight]

Typically the "State" schools are the Aggie schools, and do get dumped on compared to the "U" schools. Ohio State and Penn State are clear exceptions (with U. of Penn having a weird standing all its own.)

But you do see a pattern:

Illinois--ISU

Iowa--ISU

Oregon--OSU

Washington--WSU

I think U of Milwaukee would work just fine, gives prominence to the city, just like Cincy, L'ville or Pitt.

[rmackman]

I appreciate the idea, BGMack27, but the Wisconsin State University name IS small time.

Illinois State, Indiana State, Iowa State, Minnesota State, Arkansas State, Missouri State, the list goes on. With the exception of Ohio State, I think every ____ State U is subservient to U of _____.

University of Milwaukee is akin to schools with these names: Louisville, Cincinnati, Miami, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Charlotte, Portland, etc. I'd much rather be linked to that group than the _SU's of the world.

Fair enough. I was thinking along the lines of Ohio State, Florida State, Michigan State, Arizona State, Penn State, and Kansas State. I guess you can make an argument for either side. However, there are fifty states, and I was only able to come up with six that have bigger state schools. So....you win!

[illwauk]

This is AWESOME. I stumbled upon this by way of Google Alerts (that actually took me to this thread), and I have to say that I am very excited to have come across such a great topic of discussion featuring people both inside and outside the Panther community.

I run a website, PantherU.com, that is the biggest fan blog for the university's athletics program. I put together a powerpoint on this very topic that has gone largely ignored by most people. Admittedly, I don't know as much about the actual visuals as you all do, as I'm more experienced with the brand problem itself.

Why am I not surprised that you managed to find this thread without the link I posted at the Panther boards? LOL! Not sure how I've managed to not see your powerpoint until now, but you've hit on every reason I can think of for why the athletic programs and the school in general should be branded as "Milwaukee" above all else. It's a shame that no one involved in the marketing of either seems to understand even the basic principles of branding.

Anyway, this thread has made me put my National League project on hold while I dust off some old concepts and work on a thorough identity package for the school, including the academic brand.

UWM will never work nationally, so if we work with Milwaukee as the brand, you can work with it to make it work both locally and nationally. I also think that's the best because it's the name on the logo, the name on the jerseys and the name in the box score.

The only way you can even try to sell ambiguous three-letter combinations nationally is if you have a FBS team whose helmets bear those initials (LSU, UAB, UCF, etc.). But obviously we don't have one of those at UWM for pretty much the same reason we're still using a hand-me-down identity... all the important decisions are made by clueless baby-boomers who are completely oblivious to how the university community has been changing for the past 10-15 years.