Why did Valpo get rid of this guy?

[Giant Moose]

That was classic Valpo. Your new Crusader doesn't have as much character... anyway, good luck on Thursday.

[a3uge]

It looked like a 90's Disney character and was virtually unmarketable when put next to a university brand. It also had a similarity to Notre Dame which could be perceived as a knock off. Historically the fighting crusader logo came first, but nobody really knows that. I think going forward, Valpo has a much better brand that looks much more legitimate and less "hey look at me we're the cute little mid major."

Also instead of wondering about our aesthetics, maybe you guys should wonder "What are we even WEARING?" next time you wear those gaudy bronze shoes :p

[wh]

The "new" Crusader is the poster child for political correctness run amok.  One of the biggest marketing disasters in the history of VU.  Proof of the pudding - to this day people haven't bought into it, and to this day it still has to be explained and defended.  When your target market doesn't understand what you did or why you did it, it's simply referred to in the business as "a bust."

[agibson]

Remember the Uhlan!

[vuweathernerd]

The "new" Crusader is the poster child for political correctness run amok.  One of the biggest marketing disasters in the history of VU.  Proof of the pudding - to this day people haven't bought into it, and to this day it still has to be explained and defended.  When your target market doesn't understand what you did or why you did it, it's simply referred to in the business as "a bust."

[Pulling69]

I like the old one.

[milanmiracle]

The "new" Crusader is the poster child for political correctness run amok.  One of the biggest marketing disasters in the history of VU.  Proof of the pudding - to this day people haven't bought into it, and to this day it still has to be explained and defended.  When your target market doesn't understand what you did or why you did it, it's simply referred to in the business as "a bust."

One of the things we completely agree on! This new crusader...ugh!

[okinawatyphoon]

I agree with a3uge...I personally like the new Crusader and don't think it really needs to be explained. I'm not sure where this "proof of the pudding" that no one buys into the new Crusader is coming from. Sure, we could go back to looking like a middle school if that's what everyone wants, but I don't see a reason to and I don't see where all of the political correctness has "run amok" especially when we not only kept the Crusader as our mascot, but strengthened it and made it less of a joke.

[a3uge]

The "new" Crusader is the poster child for political correctness run amok.  One of the biggest marketing disasters in the history of VU.  Proof of the pudding - to this day people haven't bought into it, and to this day it still has to be explained and defended.  When your target market doesn't understand what you did or why you did it, it's simply referred to in the business as "a bust."

Actually coming out with a marketing strategy and a brand is considered one of the biggest marketing disasters in the history of VU, got it.  "When your target market doesn't understand what you did" - isn't the target audience potential students? I guess you're right. The target market wouldn't understand what they did or why because they didn't even know Valpo existed. Valpo did a horrible job of marketing the university - from it's 3 million logos (each sport had a crusader playing the sport) to its lack of a university-wide logo, to the awful website that looks different from page to page. The different colleges were responsible for their own marketing as well, so brochures used a variety of different templates and logos. You could receive a piece of literature from two different departments and they could look like they were from two different universities.

As for the athletics logo:

Just look at the comments on Sportslogos.net

User's Rating: 4.6/10 (56 votes cast)
http://www.sportslogos.net/logos/view/p0coxn0220o973xt1hdqsl0mg/Valparaiso_Crusaders/2000/Primary_Logo

User's Rating: 8.1/10 (27 votes cast)
http://www.sportslogos.net/logos/view/89418392011/Valparaiso_Crusaders/2011/Primary_Logo

The comments on the old logo were negative and accusations of a cheap Notre Dame ripoff. The consensus from the small sample seems to indicate it was an improvement from the old cartoony logo.

[StlVUFan]

I agree with a3uge...I personally like the new Crusader and don't think it really needs to be explained. I'm not sure where this "proof of the pudding" that no one buys into the new Crusader is coming from. Sure, we could go back to looking like a middle school if that's what everyone wants, but I don't see a reason to and I don't see where all of the political correctness has "run amok" especially when we not only kept the Crusader as our mascot, but strengthened it and made it less of a joke.

It has become politically correct to criticize people for being politically correct (regardless of whether the charge is accurate).

[bbtds]

The "new" Crusader is the poster child for political correctness run amok.  One of the biggest marketing disasters in the history of VU.  Proof of the pudding - to this day people haven't bought into it, and to this day it still has to be explained and defended.  When your target market doesn't understand what you did or why you did it, it's simply referred to in the business as "a bust."

I don't agree. There were many critics but that doesn't mean the new Crusader was a bust. I believe the new Crusader is more realistic looking. There were many posters who said the old Crusader was cartoonish. If we don't like the new Crusader then maybe Valpo should change the mascot all together.

[vu72]

The "new" Crusader is the poster child for political correctness run amok.  One of the biggest marketing disasters in the history of VU.  Proof of the pudding - to this day people haven't bought into it, and to this day it still has to be explained and defended.  When your target market doesn't understand what you did or why you did it, it's simply referred to in the business as "a bust."

Actually coming out with a marketing strategy and a brand is considered one of the biggest marketing disasters in the history of VU, got it.  "When your target market doesn't understand what you did" - isn't the target audience potential students? I guess you're right. The target market wouldn't understand what they did or why because they didn't even know Valpo existed. Valpo did a horrible job of marketing the university - from it's 3 million logos (each sport had a crusader playing the sport) to its lack of a university-wide logo, to the awful website that looks different from page to page. The different colleges were responsible for their own marketing as well, so brochures used a variety of different templates and logos. You could receive a piece of literature from two different departments and they could look like they were from two different universities.

As for the athletics logo:

Just look at the comments on Sportslogos.net

User's Rating: 4.6/10 (56 votes cast)
http://www.sportslogos.net/logos/view/p0coxn0220o973xt1hdqsl0mg/Valparaiso_Crusaders/2000/Primary_Logo

User's Rating: 8.1/10 (27 votes cast)
http://www.sportslogos.net/logos/view/89418392011/Valparaiso_Crusaders/2011/Primary_Logo

The comments on the old logo were negative and accusations of a cheap Notre Dame ripoff. The consensus from the small sample seems to indicate it was an improvement from the old cartoony logo.

if I am understanding a3uge's comment, he was saying that the old marketing effort was a disaster, not the new one.  My understanding was that the entire makeover wass to accomplish a unified approach, with colors, letter style and new logos.  I think I like the new stuff, but I'm not a marketing guy.

[vu72]

The "new" Crusader is the poster child for political correctness run amok.  One of the biggest marketing disasters in the history of VU.  Proof of the pudding - to this day people haven't bought into it, and to this day it still has to be explained and defended.  When your target market doesn't understand what you did or why you did it, it's simply referred to in the business as "a bust."

I don't agree. There were many critics but that doesn't mean the new Crusader was a bust. I believe the new Crusader is more realistic looking. There were many posters who said the old Crusader was cartoonish. If we don't like the new Crusader then maybe Valpo should change the mascot all together.

I personally prefer the new one but to the extent that it is intended to be "unisexual" (the face mask is closed so it could be either), it certainly is politically correct, whether it was intended or not.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

I don't know that it could be anything but male...but maybe that's because I'm from Florida and women down here do NOT dress anything like that.

[valpotx]

I see that the ND logo was produced in 1964, when was our fighting Crusader originally developed?  I thought I remember being told that ours came first

[wh]

The "new" Crusader is the poster child for political correctness run amok.  One of the biggest marketing disasters in the history of VU.  Proof of the pudding - to this day people haven't bought into it, and to this day it still has to be explained and defended.  When your target market doesn't understand what you did or why you did it, it's simply referred to in the business as "a bust."

Actually coming out with a marketing strategy and a brand is considered one of the biggest marketing disasters in the history of VU, got it. "When your target market doesn't understand what you did" - isn't the target audience potential students? I guess you're right. The target market wouldn't understand what they did or why because they didn't even know Valpo existed. Valpo did a horrible job of marketing the university - from it's 3 million logos (each sport had a crusader playing the sport) to its lack of a university-wide logo, to the awful website that looks different from page to page. The different colleges were responsible for their own marketing as well, so brochures used a variety of different templates and logos. You could receive a piece of literature from two different departments and they could look like they were from two different universities.

As for the athletics logo:

Just look at the comments on Sportslogos.net

User's Rating: 4.6/10 (56 votes cast)
http://www.sportslogos.net/logos/view/p0coxn0220o973xt1hdqsl0mg/Valparaiso_Crusaders/2000/Primary_Logo

User's Rating: 8.1/10 (27 votes cast)
http://www.sportslogos.net/logos/view/89418392011/Valparaiso_Crusaders/2011/Primary_Logo

The comments on the old logo were negative and accusations of a cheap Notre Dame ripoff. The consensus from the small sample seems to indicate it was an improvement from the old cartoony logo.

Where should I begin?

---"Coming out" with the wrong marketing strategy and brand is worse than not "coming out" with one at all.
---"Potential students" are one and only one of many target audiences representing the university's total target market.  Your target market includes all of the university's stakeholders, of which there are several primaries.
---More than a "small sample size", the comments on Sportslogos.net are statistically insignificant and therefore useless in drawing any conclusions - pro or con.   
---I will grant you that developing a single comprehensive marketing plan for the university as opposed to the old siloed, dept-run efforts was a good idea.  That doesn't automatically mean that everything in the new plan was a good idea.  There were a lot of things done well, including the advent of new colors, new website, new logo, etc.  Unfortunately, the "new" mascot clearly falls short IMO, and in the opinion of many others.  Hey, if you're proud of it, so be it. 

[bbtds]

There were a lot of things done well, including the advent of new colors, new website, new logo, etc.  Unfortunately, the "new" mascot clearly falls short IMO, and in the opinion of many others.  Hey, if you're proud of it, so be it.

I applaud you for being diplomatic about the new mascot. 

[crusaderjoe]

Since we're on the topic of branding, I have to say that the adopted lime green accent color that was incorporated into the new marketing strategy showed a clear disconnect between VU and its athletic programs, IMO.  With the new branding initiative, we had a wonderful opportunity to roll out a third color that could have also be used to enhance Valpo athletics by showcasing "alternate" jerseys or uniforms in that chosen color for special games or for special occasions.  If done correctly, the accent color could have been really workable both administratively and athletically. (Think ND green.) Didn't happen that way at all.

Yeah, I understand--green is the color of life or whatever so that is why it was chosen.  However, VU is located 20 minutes from Lake Michigan, not 20 minutes from Key Largo.

[mvandersee]

Just thought I'd throw this out there that the ESPN Playbook Underdog Preview says that our Crusader mascot "looks awesome" 

http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/fandom/post/_/id/19718/how-to-pick-ncaa-tournament-underdogs

[a3uge]

Since we're on the topic of branding, I have to say that the adopted lime green accent color that was incorporated into the new marketing strategy showed a clear disconnect between VU and its athletic programs, IMO.  With the new branding initiative, we had a wonderful opportunity to roll out a third color that could have also be used to enhance Valpo athletics by showcasing "alternate" jerseys or uniforms in that chosen color for special games or for special occasions.  If done correctly, the accent color could have been really workable both administratively and athletically. (Think ND green.) Didn't happen that way at all.

Yeah, I understand--green is the color of life or whatever so that is why it was chosen.  However, VU is located 20 minutes from Lake Michigan, not 20 minutes from Key Largo.

Yeah, Marquette is able to use the powder blues quite nicely... I'm wondering if Valpo will eventually use the green in that capacity. Brown and Gold is already a pretty unique combination. Wyoming is the only other school to use those two colors together, and they do a horrible job of sticking with it. I don't understand why Valpo would hand out the green balloons when it had no other uniforms/aesthetics with the color. It looks good in publications, and it's used fairly consistently (only in script fonts or in small wavy lines on footers), but not sure how well it would translate to athletics.

[agibson]

The guideline is 10% of content?

Sneakers?  Socks?

[crusaderjoe]

10% use tells me that the goal was to utilize the lime color sparingly, if at all on the uniform.  Again, IMO this was a really missed opportunity to blend a third color more substantially athletically since the primary colors are not that popular of a color combo to begin with.  I think we missed a great athletic apparel merchandising opportunity.

What I don't get is that there was all of this effort to consolidate VU's intellectual property via the logo and branding across the university yet the school still fails to follow its own trade dress from an athletic standpoint.  Case in point:  the color black. Someone in another thread said the uniforms for Thursday will be black and gold.  Huh? Is Purdue playing MSU this week?  School colors are brown and gold.  If brown and gold is such a terrible combination in that Valpo's most visible athletic uniforms won't even sport it then why pick a color like lime green to accent it?  So the color combo can be even more, uh, "unique"?  I guess there are smarter people than me making the decisions, but I just don't get it.  The whole accent color issue is a tangle athletically, IMO.

[ValpoHoops]

Case in point:  the color black. Someone in another thread said the uniforms for Thursday will be black and gold.

I don't know that anyone said anything about the uniforms. There is a photo of the SHOES, which are mostly gold with black accents. Also, in that thread, the gray uniforms were brought up (and suggested to be never seen again).

I would think we will wear gold...but that's nothing more than a guess...

[crusaderjoe]

Case in point:  the color black. Someone in another thread said the uniforms for Thursday will be black and gold.

I don't know that anyone said anything about the uniforms. There is a photo of the SHOES, which are mostly gold with black accents. Also, in that thread, the gray uniforms were brought up (and suggested to be never seen again).

I would think we will wear gold...but that's nothing more than a guess...

Wow--you guys were talking about shoes?  Someone mentioned the grays, so I thought you were discussing the uniform itself.  I didn't see any photos of the shoes (still don't), so that might be the reason for the confusion.  My mistake. 

I know we've used black quite a bit in the past.  I would hope that if we're going to be consistent about the use of the new logo across all areas of the University, we would also be consistent about the uniform colors across all sports teams, with of course exceptions here and there if needed, to maintain consistent branding.

[ValpoHoops]

Here you are, good sir.