Branding Missed Opportunities

[Cosmic]

I was visiting my sister-in-law in Ohio, when I drove by the campus for Wright State University. They use this logo for the academic side:

However, their sports teams have always been called the Raiders as far as Wikipedia can tell me. They currently have a generic wolf that could be from anywhere, and before the wolf was some kind of red-headed Viking.

The school is literally named after the Wright brothers, and began (still exists?) on land donated from Wright-Patterson AFB... I don't think any school except the Air Force Academy could be crying out more for a nickname like Aviators or Pilots... at least something aviation-themed.

Any other teams that missed the boat on what should have been an obvious nickname or brand?

[illwauk]

I'll nominate another Horizon League school... my alma mater.

In 1956, Milwaukee State College, whose colors were green and white and nicknamed the Green Gulls, joined the UW system and became UW-Milwaukee. They hastily adopted UW-Madison's colors and the nickname of Cardinals, but student dissatisfaction with the hand-me-down identity forced a vote for new colors and a new mascot in 1964.

Common sense should've dictated a return to the Gulls nickname. The campus is near Lake Michigan and frequently visited by actual Gulls, to where no one would ever have to ask why they were chosen as the mascot. Instead, the choices were Panthers, Beavers, Hawks, and Clippers.

Of those four, Clippers would've made the most sense... it was a reference to the SS Milwaukee Clipper, a ferry that used to run across Lake Michigan. It also would've been a subtle way to remain connected to UW-Madison while retaining their own identity as the other Lake Michigan ferry was (and still is) known as the SS Badger. Instead, they went with Panthers, the most overused, generic, and unmarketable mascot on that list.

[pianoknight]

Utah Anything Other Than Jazz?

[wildwing64]

My local hockey team, the Chelmsford Chieftains.

The City of Chelmsford has more than 800 years of history from which the team could have drawn inspiration, and yet all they come up with is a generic Native American themed identity complete with with cutesy alliteration.

Also that orange colour in the graphic is supposed to be gold, they can't seem to make their minds up on how it's rendered.

[Sport]

I dated a girl that went to Wright State. She was cute, but also looney tunes.

First thing that came to mind for me, and this might be an unpopular opinion, but I think the Toronto Raptors should've been named the Toronto Huskies. There's historical precedence. It also would've allowed them to be the NBA's only blue and white team, which would've created color harmony between the Maple Leafs and Blue Jays. I think Raptors is a dumb nickname (riding the coattails of Jurassic Park. Did anybody know what a raptor was before that movie?) especially for a major cosmopolitan city like Toronto. Toronto is a world class city and it deserves something a little more dignified and a little less cheesy.

[wonderbread]

I was visiting my sister-in-law in Ohio, when I drove by the campus for Wright State University. They use this logo for the academic side:

However, their sports teams have always been called the Raiders as far as Wikipedia can tell me. They currently have a generic wolf that could be from anywhere, and before the wolf was some kind of red-headed Viking.

The school is literally named after the Wright brothers, and began (still exists?) on land donated from Wright-Patterson AFB... I don't think any school except the Air Force Academy could be crying out more for a nickname like Aviators or Pilots... at least something aviation-themed.

Any other teams that missed the boat on what should have been an obvious nickname or brand?

Embry riddle aeronautical university too should have similar branding but instead goes with the generic eagles

[(probably)notabandwagonfan]

The Miami Marlins. A new, bright stadium, a bright city and an opportunity to be unique as well as crazy and get away with it. So what do they do? Introduce a set with black as the predominate color and use their black alt 75% of the time. Way to go Loria.

[sportstar1212]

I dated a girl that went to Wright State. She was cute, but also looney tunes.

First thing that came to mind for me, and this might be an unpopular opinion, but I think the Toronto Raptors should've been named the Toronto Huskies. There's historical precedence. It also would've allowed them to be the NBA's only blue and white team, which would've created color harmony between the Maple Leafs and Blue Jays. I think Raptors is a dumb nickname (riding the coattails of Jurassic Park. Did anybody know what a raptor was before that movie?) especially for a major cosmopolitan city like Toronto. Toronto is a world class city and it deserves something a little more dignified and a little less cheesy.

I agree completely, but the reason why they didn't go with the Huskies name is because they couldn't create a logo that wasn't too similar to the Timberwolves identity.

[Gothamite]

illwauk with the home run today. What a flop that was.

[Soarindude]

I've always thought UCF changing their name from Citronauts to Knights was a terrible decision.

The connection of citrus and space theme to the city of Orlando is a unique and vibrant name. Knights is just another overused nickname.

Plus, who wouldn't want an updated version of this guy?

[Quillz]

The Kings reverting to black and silver when they could have owned purple in the NHL. Made even worse that they've now won two Cups in black and silver.

[OnWis97]

When the Osceola Astros decided to change the "Osceola" to Kissimmee, they changed their name to "Cobras." I guess they did not think "Kissimmee Astros" was a good branding opportunity.

[IceCap]

The connection of citrus and space theme to the city of Orlando is a unique and vibrant name. Knights is just another overused nickname.

Knights is anything but overused

Also Citronaughts? They're sailors of citrus? Do they ride the waves of orange juice?

[Soarindude]

The connection of citrus and space theme to the city of Orlando is a unique and vibrant name. Knights is just another overused nickname.

Knights is anything but overused

Also Citronaughts? They're sailors of citrus? Do they ride the waves of orange juice?

Knights is a very overused name in the world of sports. And not only that, there's not much creativity that goes along with the knight imagery.

Creativity should never be frowned upon.

[ScoffingYayap]

The Miami Marlins. A new, bright stadium, a bright city and an opportunity to be unique as well as crazy and get away with it. So what do they do? Introduce a set with black as the predominate color and use their black alt 75% of the time. Way to go Loria.

100% agreed. Poor color choices, really should've emphasized the blue instead of the black and orange. I also understand the whole "Miami" wordmarks for the first year, what with the rebrand and all, but when they didn't put "Marlins" on there after the first year I was perplexed. There are so many good things about the set too, I love the unique piping, and call me crazy but I like how they never wear grey. But there's so much that's wrong with it. The scripts are too big and too colorful (Also, that M on the hat, what are they doing??) Could be great with some small changes...

[spartacat_12]

I've got a couple lesser known example. First is the high school I attended, All Saints. Because it's a Catholic high school, and most high schools tend to go with alliterative nicknames, Angels would've been a great choice. However, the school was opened in 2002 and they let the students vote on the name so we were stuck with a Colorado Avalanche ripoff. People didn't seem to mind that our school is nowhere near any sort of mountain range where an avalanche would occur. What's even funnier is that our hockey team doesn't rip off Colorado's jersey template, but instead sticks this logo onto the original orca Canucks template.

There's also Ottawa's National Basketball League of Canada team, the Skyhawks. They were originally called the Tomahawks, but had to change after backlash from the First Nations community. They should have centered their brand around James Naismith, who was born and grew up just outside of Ottawa. A name like Founders or Inventors would be appropriate and more original. I can just picture them using a logo like this:

*I did not create this logo, I found it here: http://artbackwash.blogspot.ca/2007_08_01_archive.html

[illwauk]

The connection of citrus and space theme to the city of Orlando is a unique and vibrant name. Knights is just another overused nickname.

Knights is anything but overused

Also Citronaughts? They're sailors of citrus? Do they ride the waves of orange juice?

Weird nicknames work for college sports in ways they don't work in the pros.

And speaking of Florida schools, Florida International went from the Sun Blazers to Golden Panthers to just plain Panthers. Who the hell is making these decisions down there?

[Sport]

I dated a girl that went to Wright State. She was cute, but also looney tunes.

First thing that came to mind for me, and this might be an unpopular opinion, but I think the Toronto Raptors should've been named the Toronto Huskies. There's historical precedence. It also would've allowed them to be the NBA's only blue and white team, which would've created color harmony between the Maple Leafs and Blue Jays. I think Raptors is a dumb nickname (riding the coattails of Jurassic Park. Did anybody know what a raptor was before that movie?) especially for a major cosmopolitan city like Toronto. Toronto is a world class city and it deserves something a little more dignified and a little less cheesy.

I agree completely, but the reason why they didn't go with the Huskies name is because they couldn't create a logo that wasn't too similar to the Timberwolves identity.

That's a weak excuse. There's like 90 different kinds of bird teams in professional sports and they all seem to do okay without stepping on each others toes.

[mjd77]

illwauk with the home run today. What a flop that was.

+1. Gulls and Clippers just makes so much more sense

[illwauk]

illwauk with the home run today. What a flop that was.

The thing that irritates me the most is that... as big a Wisconsin history buff as I am... I never would've known about the Milwaukee Clipper had I not done my own research into that vote. The Clipper was retired 6 years later, and may as well have never existed to people my age and younger. Having the Clippers name attached to UWM would have preserved that legacy.

Of course, they never should've gotten rid of the Gulls in the first place. All of the other former State Colleges got to keep their identity when they joined the UW system.