The unofficial online home for fans of the Western Michigan University Broncos. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vHBQhd5BpU

We should all be outraged that Northern can do this and we can't. Somebody send this to Montgomery.

(06-18-2021 09:58 AM)BroncoMD Wrote:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vHBQhd5BpU

I'm actually jealous of Northern. This is sad.

We should copy them and use Wester Michigan Broncos.

I do appreciate their design choices but that rebrand came out in 2016. If I haven't noticed their rebrand until now - was it a success?

(06-18-2021 06:12 PM)WesternDave Wrote:  I do appreciate their design choices but that rebrand came out in 2016. If I haven't noticed their rebrand until now - was it a success?

Well, they have not changed it since rebranding in 2016: https://nmu.edu/mc/branding

There are two schools of thought: 1) Place everything under one logo like Indian University and University of Arizona (Proudfoot was at the both); or 2) Have a main campus logo and an athletics logo. However, IMO, Indiana and Arizona are tops in their respective states -- they basically recruit themselves.

IMO, you don't kill your brand by dismantling your athletics logos -- and I spoke to marketing people who agree.

(06-19-2021 10:29 AM)BroncoMD Wrote:  

(06-18-2021 06:12 PM)WesternDave Wrote:  I do appreciate their design choices but that rebrand came out in 2016. If I haven't noticed their rebrand until now - was it a success?

Well, they have not changed it since rebranding in 2016: https://nmu.edu/mc/branding

There are two schools of thought: 1) Place everything under one logo like Indian University and University of Arizona (Proudfoot was at the both); or 2) Have a main campus logo and an athletics logo. However, IMO, Indiana and Arizona are tops in their respective states -- they basically recruit themselves.

IMO, you don't kill your brand by dismantling your athletics logos -- and I spoke to marketing people who agree.

On top of that, the "A" & "I" for Arizona & Indiana represent a state. It's a unique identifier for those schools. The "W" for us represents a direction. From an academic standpoint where we're mostly competing for students in Michigan & surrounding states, I guess that's fine. But, athletics put us on a national stage. Is someone in California supposed to know a "W" represents a unique identifier for Western Michigan University?

Schools like Georgia Tech or Texas Tech who have two letters important to their identity don't just use G or T. They use GT & TT. If we're going to put all our eggs in the letter basket, we should use WM.

Do not get me wrong, I like the choices Northern made. My point is if we haven't noticed the NMU rebrand then it likely was not impactful.

As for WMU, I do not believe we needed to rebrand at all. If we wanted to streamline our look, then going from all the different marks to 3 colors. Brown, Vegas Gold, and black. Change Ghost Bronco as the main athletic logo. Have WMU as the main University marks. Done. Right now, it looks like a poor attempt at a cash grab from athletics supporters.