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D.A.
General User
Member Since: 8/6/2010
Location: Georgetown, ME
Post Count: 1,190
Status: Offline
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| A Treatise on the brand "OHIO" |
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Posted: 3/22/2012 4:33:21 PM |
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(Ted/Ryan, feel free to move/delete at will, but placing it on MBB due to several threads already relating to the topic)
At times it gets frustrating that this topic means so much to me, but it is through my passion for the University and desire for it to maximize its success that I feel the need to carry the flag.
We are living through the single greatest opportunity to own OUR brand "OHIO" in the last fifty years. The opportunity to capture, define and OWN that brand has been teed up for us due to the inextricable decision by a football coach to use OUR brand name, OUR institution name in vain for over one year. And in an incredible twist of fate, on a March night in 2012, in front of MILLIONS of eyes, one basketball team seized the opportunity, raised to the challenge and OWNED the brand, allowing us to define ourselves as what we have been for over 200 years.
Rufus Putnam, Manasseh Cutler and the other members of the OHIO Company were the creators of OUR alma mater, OHIO University, and they uprooted family and entered the wilderness to found OUR alma mater. The name OHIO meant something to them, and it should mean something to us. They changed the name of the institution from American Western University to the OHIO University for a reason, and we should show respect for what they did for us.
For over 100 years, an institution in Columbus has either tried to steal or prevent us the rightful use of OUR name, and I take that personally, not just for me, but for the memory of Cutler, Putman and others who sacrificed and uprooted their families from the colonies to found OHIO University, OUR University. If we don't protect that name, the students and diploma holders of that institution, then who will? Why should anyone else have value for it if we don't exhibit that pride in ownership?
Change is hard. Everyone knows that. But let's face it, if you are in the habit of referring to OHIO in shorthand, no one is saying that you are WRONG, per se, and no one is asking for an apology. We are just asking that in any significant conversation with someone unfamiliar with OUR institution and its identity that you refer to it using its right name: OHIO, or OHIO University.
No one is asking for a confession of sins; no one is asking you to drown puppies; just use the most descriptive moniker for the institution. Be proud of it. OWN it. Are you ashamed of it? You shouldn't be, so shout it from the roof tops. I can tell you that when we started the chant "WE are OHIO" last Friday night in Nashville, no one was feeling awkward about saying "OHIO", and not referring in shorthand or with qualifiers to our fair institution.
When I was a golf professional and taught people to play the game, I always asked them one question: "Are you looking to improve your game, or simply looking for a quick fix?" For the quick fixers as it relates to OHIO, you will always use OU or OHIO U, because change is hard and change is simply not for you. I respect your decision, am glad that you are fond of the University and hope that you continue to support it in the fashion that you choose. But respectfully, you are not trying to maximize the identity of this fine instution. And if you don't think that the identity of OHIO is important, then this topic will always be lost on you.
Now for those that "are looking to improve your game", my advice is you have to give it 14 days. Use OHIO, or OHIO University, exclusively, for FOURTEEN days. "It might feel awkward", I used to tell my students looking to improve, "and that is a good thing." Change is often awkward, it will feel strange, but in the end you know it is the right thing to do in the long run. Eventually it will creep into your soul. Once it is engrained in your DNA, you will then start to subtly suggest to your family, friends, acquaintences and colleagues to use OUR right name. Because in the long run you want this University to maximize its opportunity to be OHIO.
No offense to the "quick fixers", but Vern Alden has fought this battle for over fifty years on OUR behalf. He hasn't fought that battle due to any personal benefit, and he has been RIGHT all that time. No offense, but I will always give him the benefit of the doubt. For goodness sake, at ninety years old he even wrote a letter to the editor of the A News on the subject after a recent visit to OHIO, so don't tell me it's not important! The man was President of the Harvard Business School and understood and taught the value of brands and brand building. Why do you think he built such an iconic structure as the Convo? Because he knew it would be inextricably linked to the identity, the BRAND of OHIO University!
OHIO may not suffer because you refer to it in shorthand, but OHIO will not MAXIMIZE its potential if we don't act as good steward to its brand, and help others understand that OHIO is an important institution to US. And now that Dr. McDavis is on the OHIO bandwagon, I applaud him for it and hope that he encourages all students, faculty and staff to use it more frequently, if not exclusively. And for alumnus in Central Ohio, with the Heritage School (OUCOM) settling into enemy territory in the heart of Dublin, NOW is the time to drive home the OHIO brand and establish ourself as a proud and historic institution and alumnus base.
If you sold Kleenex but told people you sold "facial tissue" for a living, would you be expressing the identity and pride in employment that you could. If you drove a Cadillac, but referred to it as a "Chevy", would you lose the distinction? If you owned a Golden Retriever but said you owned a "dog"? When you say "OU", you are unintentionally lumping OHIO in with Oklahoma, Oregon, Oakland, Oberlin, and a host of other "O" "U"'s whom you are not intentionally referencing. You are assuming others interpretation of your shorthand merely because the term is more comfortable and familiar TO YOU. But it doesn't help your AUDIENCE, and it certainly doesn't help the University, its history and its reputation. And if anything, it may acutally empower those who cite our name as a derrogatory reference, or those who try to steal our name and identity.
OU is not a derrogatory reference in and of itself. And in fact, it is a nice, colloquial shorthand reference for OUR use, the OHIO chronics. But it is a trademark that we do not own, and it is not nearly as descriptive and eloquent as it should be when referring to OHIO with those to whom OHIO is a mystery and needs to be defined. OUR history is lost, the relevance is lost.
Take pride. Go OHIO. Beat the Tar Heels.
Last Edited: 3/22/2012 4:53:48 PM by D.A.
The Few, The Proud, The Bobcats!
And for the record, I hate tOSU, and Ricordati and Torgerson are DB's.
"This isn't just another walkover from the MAC." Kirk Herbstreit, another DB, on College Football Gameday
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