The uniform is by far the most recognizable brand element of a football team at any level. The standard for football uniforms used to be a helmet, a home jersey, an away jersey and one or two sets of pants. In college football, that is no longer true.
Black-out uniforms, white-out uniforms and one-game only designs are testing the limits of recognition for college football brands with multiple helmets, jersey, pants and alternative colors for a team to choose from. Once sacred space that often represented tradition has now become a race for the most outlandish costume..err, uniform. Each week, college programs try to one-up each other, competing in fashion as well as football.
The University of Oregon is the poster child and originator of this movement. The Ducks haven’t worn the same uniform combination (helmet, jersey and pants) twice in the same season since 2004. They are able to achieve this by adding non-brand colors (their colors are green and yellow) like black, gray, neon green, and, most recently, pink.
A few of University of Oregon’s many uniform combinations.
Many of these uniforms are showing up in nationally televised games, rivalry games or bowl games – games that garner extra media and fan attention. Marketing logic would dictate that you would stick with your already recognizable uniform rather than sacrifice brand consistency for style. What business in their right mind would dilute their most visible and recognizable brand asset on such a big stage?
One that caters to today’s easily distracted and over stimulated generation of college-bound, teen-aged athletes. The football uniform has shifted from an established brand identity to a flashy recruiting and sales tool. Universities and athletic gear brands are using uniforms to market themselves to the next generation of blue chip student athletes.
While few recruits will cite uniforms as the reason for choosing a program, the strategy works at grabbing their attention. Oregon’s director of equipment operations acknowledges that the uniform carousel opened new doors for recruiting and led the program to becoming a regular contender for national titles. Other programs have taken notice and are following Oregon’s lead with a myriad of uniform options for any given game day.
University of Maryland’s “Pride” costume…er, uniform.
It’s not just about the football programs. Uniform manufacturers are now leveraging these relationships more than ever to sell gear (cleats, gloves, apparel, etc.). With their exclusive contracts, these brands are now sharing the spotlight with their respective teams. These partnerships have added a stronger emphasis on uniform design by both parties, adding superficial drama to every game at the cost of consistency and tradition.
Case in point, for their game this year against rival Michigan (an Adidas school), Michigan State (a Nike school) introduced a new set of green pants to match their green jerseys and helmets. This was no coincidence as Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio went to Nike asking for the special look, stating “This is Nike versus Adidas. We need something different.”
Consistency is important in building brands and visual identity plays an important role in developing that consistency. However, these college football programs (and their exclusive apparel providers) simply don’t have the time. Their target audience has a limited customer lifecycle and with the ever increasing stream information and noise, these short bursts of brand spectacle have become necessary.
So while this average Joe marketing person/passive college football fan thinks these strategic spectacles are bad branding, the teenagers looking to choose the next step in their athletic and academic career are digging it.
What other industries could pull off varying the visual identity of their core product at will?
P.S. For more information on the world of college football uniforms or uniforms in general, I recommend checking out Uni Watch. Each Sunday the blog features a recap of the previous Saturday’s college football uniform shenanigans.
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