Mark Hollis is reading your Facebook comments right this moment!
In an about face, athletic director Mark Hollis today sent out a message to the students, fans and alumni of MSU:
Our identity and branding process is nearing completion and is on schedule for a complete rollout in April. The elements and applications of the brand design will be unveiled collectively at that time. After careful consideration, we will use the current Spartan logo design, first used in the late 1970s, to build our visual brand identity.
After a new helmet logo was registered on the United States’ Patent and Trademark website and subsequently posted to numerous MSU blogs, fans went into turbo revolt mode. Multiple Facebook groups were created , and given that you read this blog, it’s a statistical probability that you probably joined one of these groups.
Coach Izzo came out in defense of the branding move, and I was willing to wait and see the complete package. In the end though, the outcry was too overwhelming, and Hollis realized that changing the logo wasn’t the right call. Many people pointed out that there’s no way to maintain tradition when you keep changing things, and changing the logo is no way to establish the tradition of an MSU image.
Hollis’ statement is telling in and of itself. It shows that he’s willing to reach out to the community and listen to the students and alumni. Hollis notes that while the brand identity assessment came out of MSU’s partnership with Nike, it wasn’t a requirement of the partnership, and that MSU was not charged for the service. Audio of Hollis’ interview on WJR below.
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I’ll be interested to see if this series of events will have an effect on Nike’s relationship with MSU. MSU most certainly gets a lot of money from Nike, which helps to keep the athletic department in the black. At the same time, a partnership with such a large Big Ten school and the accompanying alumni base provides a merchandising boon for Nike. There’s obvious benefits on both sides of the ledger, and I wonder if this will put a noticeable strain on the relationship.
In the mean time, enjoy a victory for keeping the old logo. Spartan nation, you earned this one.
Related posts:
- Holy Helmet! MSU to Update Helmet Logo in April
- Listening to Izzo, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Logo
