akaManiac Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 Just a thought... I can go into any sports store in Tulsa, or oklahoma for that matter, and OU, OSU, and TU have a bevy of choices to select from in the case of hats, shirts, jerseys, stickers, etc...However rarely ever can I find anything from ORU in the form of apparel, and when it is found, the apparel basically sucks. Either I am missing something huge, or the university is. Does ORU not market said products to retailers? I'm sure its been looked into, and seems to me would be a potential huge boost in university revenue and outside fan interest. I know ORU has a deal with Follett to where they can't sell stuff on campus besides through Follett in the bookstore, which brings along with it ridiculous prices. Meaning even ORU students don't want a lot of ORU gear, because of the toll it takes on there already meager wallets...OR Is it that ORU and ELI don't sell, so sports retailers won't take us? I have heard plenty of complaints of the nature of the logo of ELI, mostly because of the lack of aggresivness of the eagle (references to cartoon characters and smiling birds abound here)...including the post on this forum saying that VALPO voted our logo as a chicken looking image...SO Do we need to spice up the image of ELI, or do we need to just make more of an effort to get ORU out there, and make it something that people are proud to wear...I'd love some thoughts from the respectable posters of this forum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maniac prez Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 It blows my mind that 1) we don't have merchandise anywhere almost and 2) that the merchandise on campus is sooooo expensive. You wonder why students don't have pride in their school, a big part of it is because no one wears any ORU apparel. There is something about puting on your school's logo and colors and it just immediately instills some pride and ownership in it. This has long been a frustration of mine, and next year the Maniacs are going to be doing "Maniac Gear" which will include several different things from t-shirts to hoodies to bumper stickers and other things like that. Hopefully this will have a three-fold effect, 1)students will become more proud of Maniacs 2) students will become more proud of ORU because that is what Maniacs is all about and 3) we will generate a little bit of revenue so that we don't have to do so much door-to-door stuff and hitting up the GEC for money for trips. We are also looking for corporate sponsors if anyone has any leads... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItsChon Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 It was recently suggested to me that we substitute a picture of the band "The Eagles" in place of the chicken-like image we have today. This would be especially poignant if we made it well known that these are the same guys that produced hits like "Hotel California" and "Witchy Woman." I maintain that this strategy would serve to draw in the 30's and 40's crowd (which a recent study by Scientific Fact Magazine reveals we are losing). Just my thoughts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeyO Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 It was recently suggested to me that we substitute a picture of the band "The Eagles" in place of the chicken-like image we have today. This would be especially poignant if we made it well known that these are the same guys that produced hits like "Hotel California" and "Witchy Woman." I maintain that this strategy would serve to draw in the 30's and 40's crowd (which a recent study by Scientific Fact Magazine reveals we are losing). Just my thoughts. No doubt Chon. That 30-40 year old range still can't get enough Don Henley. Right, ORUVoice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeyO Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 I worked for two years with a collegiate apparel company so I will say the little that I do know about the whole process. The major licensing company for collegiate athletics is called CLC. ORU is not licensed with CLC; we are licensed with one of the smaller organizations. As a result, we may be viewed as a less desirable University. An apparel company will produce a University's product if the amount of product ordered will justify their production. They have to design artwork, pay licensing fees, source prodution with their factories in the Far East, etc. We sell so little product that it is difficult for a company to take a chance on us. In my experience, a company will justify production of a University's product if they get orders for 144 pieces of each garment. This trickles down to the stores in town. An apparel company will base their production on the orders that a retailer gives them. You have to realize that the several retailers in town who would potentially have an interest in carrying ORU product are independents. They are not backed by large corporations that can handle a loss. They have to bring in the OU sweatshirts that will sell. Examples of these are Sports FanAttic, Pro Image, and Sunbelt. Why would they carry a product that has poor sell through history? Honestly, what you need to do is go talk to the owners of these independent stores. They base their purchasing, obviously, on demand. If they feel that the demand for ORU apparel is strong enough, I guarantee you that they will tell their apparel reps who will forward that on to their companies who will hopefully get licensed with ORU and produce our product. Call Jeff Jackson with Sports FanAttic and Brian Messer with Pro Image and the owner of Sunbelt (not sure of his name). Make sure that when you have family visiting that they go buy ORU product at these stores. We have to create the demand that will justify supply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vcboy2000 Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 Guys, it's not the university at all. I've spoken with the retail manager of Sunbelt Sports on 41st and Memorial about the same issue. They have the largest selection of ORU gear and trinketts outside of the university, but it is still pathetic in comparison to the other schools. His explanation was more along the lines of the lack of consumer interest in ORU products. He said that the ORU section is always vacant and the merchandise they have always stays on the shelves the longest. They have the best ORU hat selection in town. But nobody knows about it. They were selling ORU "New Era" ball caps way before the bookstore even got them. If you remember, Walmart used to have quite a bit of ORU gear during the summer months, but they even tapered that down because it took so long for them to push it, and they are right across the street from the campus! If we want to see the stores in Tulsa sell more ORU gear, we have to prove that we will spend our money. Which presents another problem when you look at the demographic spending the most money. It's not college students that's for sure. Most of the sales for OU or OSU gear in the city come from alumni. Not only is ORU's alumni base small compared to these schools, but most of are alumni don't even stay in Tulsa after they graduate. My sources in the Vice Presidents Council said that the marketing firm that is currently doing ORU's new corporate identity also came up with a new design for ELI, but Mike Carter didn't like it. My source was telling me that he wasn't sure if Carter didn't like the design or just didn't want to change it. He said the new Eagle was really cool looking though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUJason Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 I have always liked the Eli "look" and logo since they first unveiled it. It is a joke that anyone would list it as one of the ten worst NCAA logos. Have you ever seen the hurricane mascot at TU games? IT IS EMBARASSING! The Eli mascot looks ten times better than the TU hurricane. The hurricane looks like a deformed beehive. It looks much better than the VALPO crusader, although I appreciate the history behind the crusader mascot, which makes it even more ironic that they had a player this year named MOHAMMED. How about Stanford having a tree? I am not saying that there couldn't be a better design, but I think the current ELI is very sharp and something we can be very proud of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VU75 Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 Actually the orginal Valpo nickname was the Ulans. It got changed to Crusaders because of the rise of Nazi Germany. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richieoru Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 Actually the orginal Valpo nickname was the Ulans. It got changed to Crusaders because of the rise of Nazi Germany. Probably a smart move. What exactly is an ulan i found something called an uhlan "Tartar-modelled light cavalry that formed part of the Polish, Prussian and Austrian armies until the 20th century " but nothing for actual ulan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gold* Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 I have always liked the Eli "look" and logo since they first unveiled it. It is a joke that anyone would list it as one of the ten worst NCAA logos. Have you ever seen the hurricane mascot at TU games? IT IS EMBARASSING! The Eli mascot looks ten times better than the TU hurricane. The hurricane looks like a deformed beehive. It looks much better than the VALPO crusader, although I appreciate the history behind the crusader mascot, which makes it even more ironic that they had a player this year named MOHAMMED. How about Stanford having a tree? I am not saying that there couldn't be a better design, but I think the current ELI is very sharp and something we can be very proud of. Captain Cane is a mascot -- NOT THE LOGO. The TU logo is usually a Hurricane flag or maybe the Tulsa script that is on the TU football helmets. I'm not defending Captain Cane, although kids seem to like him. And the Captain Cane they drew on the Reynolds Center opening game tickets was awesome! But, in the end, it's kind of like the goofy dog mascot that OU sometimes uses and doesn't have much to do with anything. If you're going to make fun of him, try "Michelin Man with Jaudice" -- that's my favorite. Of course, I also think the Stanford tree is cool. They put on quite a show at tourney games with the tree and their band. Then again, their LOGO is the Stanford "S" with the tree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rob Marshall Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 Guys, it's not the university at all. I've spoken with the retail manager of Sunbelt Sports on 41st and Memorial about the same issue. They have the largest selection of ORU gear and trinketts outside of the university, but it is still pathetic in comparison to the other schools. His explanation was more along the lines of the lack of consumer interest in ORU products. He said that the ORU section is always vacant and the merchandise they have always stays on the shelves the longest. They have the best ORU hat selection in town. But nobody knows about it. They were selling ORU "New Era" ball caps way before the bookstore even got them. If you remember, Walmart used to have quite a bit of ORU gear during the summer months, but they even tapered that down because it took so long for them to push it, and they are right across the street from the campus! If we want to see the stores in Tulsa sell more ORU gear, we have to prove that we will spend our money. Which presents another problem when you look at the demographic spending the most money. It's not college students that's for sure. Most of the sales for OU or OSU gear in the city come from alumni. Not only is ORU's alumni base small compared to these schools, but most of are alumni don't even stay in Tulsa after they graduate. My sources in the Vice Presidents Council said that the marketing firm that is currently doing ORU's new corporate identity also came up with a new design for ELI, but Mike Carter didn't like it. My source was telling me that he wasn't sure if Carter didn't like the design or just didn't want to change it. He said the new Eagle was really cool looking though. When "ELI" was originally designed by the late Jay Brothers (Brothers & Co.), at the end of the day, the goal was to end up with a Kansas Jayhawk-like mark. While our little golden eagle has certainly received its share of bashing, it's well received all things considered (appealing to all ages from young children to retirees). Changing from the Titans to the Golden Eagles (going from royal blue/yellow-gold to navy/vegas gold) was tough, and it didn't help that ORU went from once proud NCAA Division-I program to NAIA than decided to go back D-I. ORU generally speaking abandoned the traditional "ORU flame" mark when we became the Golden Eagles and adopted a "postage stamp" type golden eagle mark which was pathetic, so the idea was to create something like the KU Jayhawk. There are several factors and many of you have hit on them already, but something that everyone kind of dances around is this ... ORU is NOT a popular "brand" with Joe & Suzy Q. Average Tulsan. Most would agree that ORU brings value to the city, but very few passionately embrace ORU. World-wide, the ORU brand is actually much more well received than here in America and certainly moreso than in the immediate Tulsa area. It is a proven fact that winning on a bigtime level in NCAA division-I football and men's basketball WILL create a more favorable brand locally, regionally, and nationally for a university. Since ORU doesn't have football, its eggs are 100% in the men's basketball basket from a brand value "growth" standpoint. Economics 101 guys and gals ... if there isn't a consistent demand for the widget, supply will be sparse (not widely available) and what supply there is will carry a long shelf life making it often out-dated and thus undesireable to those who could stimulate a potential increase in demand. I'm happy to hear ORU is working on improving its "brand." Ultimately that is the type of thing I was attempting to stimulate last week with my "capture the moment" ideas surrounding the men's basketball first round game in Dallas. A "got a miracle" shirt WOULD HAVE found its way into the CBS and ESPN highlights, and it could have been a catchy theme shirt, even for people outside of the typical small box of ORU fans. Ultimately though, just the return of the men's basketball team to the NCAA tournament certainly will add much value to the ORU brand regardless, so here's to more of that for many years to come! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oruvoice Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 No doubt Chon. That 30-40 year old range still can't get enough Don Henley. Right, ORUVoice? Don Henley? No way! YOu know better than that J.O.! You know I'm a "Rap" guy. Give me some Eric B. & Rakim or some Run D.M.C. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weatherdemon Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 Voice, Take you and your fat ugly chicken to the prayer tower and ask for Golds forgiveness. Seriously though, Dude's got some serious hate for you and ORU. What did you do that was so bad? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeyO Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 Don Henley? No way! YOu know better than that J.O.! You know I'm a "Rap" guy. Give me some Eric B. & Rakim or some Run D.M.C. I know Voice. I should have remembered after I saw the Del Reeves CD in your car. You've got soul, man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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