College Football 2013 Season

[Kevin W.]

Ok yes Oregon did unleash the madness of the one off set on us, but at least Oregon has kept some form of their brand on their helmet. VTech is just running around looking at something, saying "looks good for a helmet."

Um, that last sentence pretty much describes Oregon, seeing as though they don't even have their logo on the side of their helmet anymore. Oregon just plain doesn't have a brand. It's just randomness designed to stand out in a crowd. That's not good branding.

At least the logo is on the helmet somewhere.

In a place where no one ever sees it. How often do you get a camera view showing the back of a helmet for more than just a few frames?

[marble21]

Ok yes Oregon did unleash the madness of the one off set on us, but at least Oregon has kept some form of their brand on their helmet. VTech is just running around looking at something, saying "looks good for a helmet."

Um, that last sentence pretty much describes Oregon, seeing as though they don't even have their logo on the side of their helmet anymore. Oregon just plain doesn't have a brand. It's just randomness designed to stand out in a crowd. That's not good branding.

At least the logo is on the helmet somewhere.

In a place where no one ever sees it. How often do you get a camera view showing the back of a helmet for more than just a few frames?

This kind of view is quite common.

[Kevin W.]

And yet I can't see the logo. Hmm...

[marble21]

And yet I can't see the logo. Hmm...

Suit yourself.

[Botiger]

It looked like LSU put that new tiger head on their helmet, in place of the old traditional one. I could be wrong though.

Doesn't look like it.

That's an old picture 1 Lsu isn't wearing their new cut in the picture. 2 that auburn player is wearing gloves from 2 years ago.

That SEC patch isn't 2 years old, is it?

It must be. That pic is at Auburn and that's Eric Reid (plays for the 49ers now) trying to make the tackle.

And it's definitely the same helmet decal for LSU that they've worn for years. The LSU Sports Twitter account only noted that the new logo will be used for basketball.

No, it's from last year. The game is at Auburn. Two years ago, LSU wore their white pro-combat rivalry unis. Eric Reid is a rookie this year. But I agree that LSU has not changed their helmet logo. And this is only the 2nd year the SEC has used this patch.

[gdu]

I'd argue that Oregon started the trend of helmets from Hydrographics Inc., it all started with the carbon fiber helmet years ago, now plenty of college and pro teams have an HGI helmet

TCU, I believe, was the first team to wear an HGI helmet in a game and has had more HGI helmets than probably anyone except Oregon.

[gdu]

[infrared41]

This is Oregon's best look ever:

Perfection.

Yup. "Wait, what? The traditional guy agrees with Lights Out?" The plot thickens.

[rcb05]

Oregon may do a lot of out there stuff, but I'd argue that all of it falls within their brand. When was the last time you saw one of their uniform combos and didn't know EXACTLY who was playing?

[Slammersman]

This is real...

I'm suprised they allow this how is stone safer than plastic. Isn't there enough people dying from concusions. LOL sacasm is great

[tBBP]

Oregon may do a lot of out there stuff, but I'd argue that all of it "falls within their brand. When was the last time you saw one of their uniform combos and didn't know EXACTLY who was playing?

I think a better way to phrase that--and this may be a new one to some--is "falls within the scope of their brand identity". While the words "brand" and "identity" often are used interchangeably, there are some important distinctions and differences that should be understood.

For those saying Oregon keeps rebranding every two years or so, they're really not. And for those who say have no identity, they really do--you just have to adjust the way you think about things.

First off, considering a logo is a de facto "stamp" that identifies a specific entity, in this case a sports team, that hasn't changed since at least 2000 (I think that's when the "O" first showed up). Though, for the purpose of this synopsis, we'll say the last "rebrand" was whatever year it was they implemented the first Bellotti Bold numbers on a full-time basis, so we'll use that as a reference point for the rest of this. Second thing: the colors. For the longest time we knew their colors as green and yellow. Since in some ways they still use those elements, in that way their basic brand hasn't changed at all. That said, the addition of the wing motif and the charcoal, highlighter, black, chrome and the irridescent green/brown can all be seen as an expansion of their brand, in that itit encompasses all that stuff. (This is what I meant by "scope"--when you see all that stuff, you still know who it is.)

Now...here's where it gets a little tricky: every two or three years, they may change up the way in which they arrange and present some or all of these elements on their uniforms. It went from the "O" on the helmets and wings on the shoulder to wings on the helmet and a wing pattern on their shoulders. Same brand elements, just different application. Same thing with the numbers, as they've changed those up a bit, as well. So how does all this tie into their visual identity? They like to keep things fresh, innovative, and unpredictable.

Basically what I'm getting at with all that is this: we tend to prefer to think of things in absolutes--said another way, concrete, or static, which in a manner of speaking could translate into "boring". With Oregon, it helps if you think of their brand identity as "fluid", in that it is in a constant state of flux, yet its still the same thing. You pour liquid from one container into another, it'll take a different shap because its a different container, yet its the same liquid. Kinda the same thing here, if you can understand the context.

*Disclaimer: I am not an authoritative expert on this stuff...I just do a lot of reading and research and keep in close connect with a bunch of people who ARE authoritative experts on this stuff...learning via osmosis, I suppose.

[TalktoChuck]

That is the best explanation of how a brand works I've ever heard, and I have taken countless college marketing classes, one specifically on branding.

And that is all spot on in regards to Oregon.

[shaydre1019]

I admittedly don't fully grasp identities and brands and often confuse the two, but that was perfectly explained I think. People like to say Oregon is a mess, but they're not. Va tech is a mess, Tulsa s a mess.

I think that deserves post of the day.

[waldowest]

I'm really hoping they add a stripe down the middle to hide the different patterns. I don't think I'd hate it so much if they did that. But if they don't... wow.

[infrared41]

I admittedly don't fully grasp identities and brands and often confuse the two, but that was perfectly explained I think. People like to say Oregon is a mess, but they're not. Va tech is a mess, Tulsa s a mess.

I think that deserves post of the day.

The Majestic XII agree. Give the man his ribbon.

[guest23]

That is the best explanation of how a brand works I've ever heard, and I have taken countless college marketing classes, one specifically on branding.

And that is all spot on in regards to Oregon.

What the explanation conveniently neglects to mention is what happens when a brand becomes over-extended and excessively fluid. The term is called Dilution and it actually devalues the brand.

Oregon's expanded color palette, excessive uniform combinations and downplaying of the O logo on the helmet could easily be argued as dilution. I really like their last two uniform sets but they need slow down with the excessive changes and capitalize on some really good looks as opposed to being every possible look every season.

[TalktoChuck]

That is the best explanation of how a brand works I've ever heard, and I have taken countless college marketing classes, one specifically on branding.

And that is all spot on in regards to Oregon.

What the explanation conveniently neglects to mention is what happens when a brand becomes over-extended and excessively fluid. The term is called Dilution and it actually devalues the brand.

Oregon's expanded color palette, excessive uniform combinations and downplaying of the O logo on the helmet could easily be argued as dilution. I really like their last two uniform sets but they need slow down with the excessive changes and capitalize on some really good looks as opposed to being every possible look every season.

I agree. But as long as they keep the core elements intact (O logo and wings) then I don't think they'll cross over into dilution. Also, emphasizing green and yellow (as they've done so far this season) will definitely help keep them from diluting the brand.

Hate the uniforms if you want, but the brand is very solid.

[guest23]

That is the best explanation of how a brand works I've ever heard, and I have taken countless college marketing classes, one specifically on branding.

And that is all spot on in regards to Oregon.

What the explanation conveniently neglects to mention is what happens when a brand becomes over-extended and excessively fluid. The term is called Dilution and it actually devalues the brand.

Oregon's expanded color palette, excessive uniform combinations and downplaying of the O logo on the helmet could easily be argued as dilution. I really like their last two uniform sets but they need slow down with the excessive changes and capitalize on some really good looks as opposed to being every possible look every season.

I agree. But as long as they keep the core elements intact (O logo and wings) then I don't think they'll cross over into dilution. Also, emphasizing green and yellow (as they've done so far this season) will definitely help keep them from diluting the brand.

Hate the uniforms if you want, but the brand is very solid.

Quite the contrary, I like the uniforms from a design perspecitve. I think their brand is overrated considering how much they have to rely upon an excessive amount of additional colors, combinations, and one offs to appear cutting edge.

[mjd77]

That is the best explanation of how a brand works I've ever heard, and I have taken countless college marketing classes, one specifically on branding.

And that is all spot on in regards to Oregon.

What the explanation conveniently neglects to mention is what happens when a brand becomes over-extended and excessively fluid. The term is called Dilution and it actually devalues the brand.

Oregon's expanded color palette, excessive uniform combinations and downplaying of the O logo on the helmet could easily be argued as dilution. I really like their last two uniform sets but they need slow down with the excessive changes and capitalize on some really good looks as opposed to being every possible look every season.

I agree. But as long as they keep the core elements intact (O logo and wings) then I don't think they'll cross over into dilution. Also, emphasizing green and yellow (as they've done so far this season) will definitely help keep them from diluting the brand.

Hate the uniforms if you want, but the brand is very solid.

This is the 3rd year of the winged uniform set and I think they do 4 years then change design. Wonder if the wings will carry over to the next iteration of Oregon football? I'm not sure how much I'd consider the wings a core element since this is the first uniform and helmet set using them. Before this, they had the diamond plate design for 4 years but the wings are a very solid, unique element that I hope they carry forward.

[Tracy MidGrady]

This is the second year of the current winged set and it changes every 3 years.