Next year UMD will be launching a new brand called University of Maryland Classic.
Do you remember “New Coke”? In 1985, the Coca-Cola Company decided to reformulate it’s classic soda and rebrand it. As part of a rebranding campaign, the company released New Coke with the slogan, “The new taste of Coca-Cola.” The new formula, and the branding campaign that went along with it, were a colossal failure. People hated New Coke. They just wanted the old formula. Shortly thereafter the company was forced to release a second brand, Coca-Cola Classic, which was actually just the old formula under a new label. I studied this case in business school and the lesson I learned was “don’t mess with a good thing”, especially if you don’t have a better alternative.
According to a report in the Diamondback, the University of Maryland got their New Coke today. They’re replacing “Fear the Turtle”, one of the most recognizable and endearing college slogans in history with (brace for it):
UNSTOPPABLE STARTS HERE
The article states that this is a “second slogan”, but this sounds like a hedging tactic so they can ease the school into accepting this new slogan. I guess the school needed to rebrand itself to escape the reputation it’s gained from a decade of improving academics, outstanding athletics, and rapid campus expansion and readjust expectations for a new, blander era. Student responses to the article have been overwhelmingly negative. Here’s my take on this new slogan…
THIS SLOGAN BLOWS
I’ll justify that comment if you disagree with me, but for now I’m just going to let it stand on its own. FEAR THE TURTLE!
I still like “Winning the Race,” which was my suggestion from before. I got that a bunch of other ones here:
http://shellgames.wordpress.com/2009/07/27/r-i-p-fear-the-turtle/
It’s the “Act like you know…” campaign all over again. And we all know how well that one worked out…
That slogan almost kept me from burning a couch in the street. Almost.
You know what slogan I like? Fear the Turtle. I’m not the kind of person that fears change. If it were time for something new I’d embrace it. But Fear the Turtle wasn’t broken, so why fix it?
I’m no grammar wiz, but can an adjective START somewhere? It’s not a good sign when an institution of higher learning has a grammatically incorrect slogan. How about: Maryland: Knowledgeable starts here!
Grammar is quickly becoming a dead language. Outback: Live Adventurous!
Maybe this will be like when the NBA tried to replace leather basketballs with a cheap synthetic. We need the our star athletes to revolt. Wait, we don’t have any star athletes (except in women sports- we rock field hockey, volleyball, and soccer).
Watch it there, buddy. Greivis Vasquez is a star. He’s a star. He’s a big bright shining star.
Torrey Smith will be a star. After that, eh… I heard we got some good recruits somewhere.
You should organize a page strike.
Agreed – the new slogan sucks. But when you really think about it, do our Turtles give anyone anything to fear? It’s kind of an embarrassing slogan since we, you know, suck so bad. Go Twerps!