We wanted to best-position ourselves in the eyes of college fans and we knew we had a wide range of positive elements to promote. Old Hat helped us strategically navigate through opinions from alumni, administrators, and fans of our 12 schools to define a campaign that highlights our dynamic strengths. From start to finish, the Old Hat team was thorough, creative, and flexible with our recommendations.
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- Craig Thompson, Commissioner -
MOUNTAIN WEST BRAND DEVELOPMENT
The Conference wanted to overhaul their brand and better understand how they were perceived – not just in their 12 markets, but also nationally. We embarked on a discovery initiative that included internal reviews, meetings with athletic directors, and surveys with season ticket holders and members of each MW community. This was done to gather current perception and, when combined with our own research, helped us in creating a brand roll-out strategy.
PHASE 1 - SCOUTING: MARKET RESEARCH
The biggest obstacle was organizing 12 departments with 12 different brands, 12 different strategies, all going in 12 separate directions. It was imperative that every member institution started pulling in the same direction. We discovered that college sports fans were aware that the Mountain West Conference exists, but they weren’t sure which schools were a part of the conference (brand confusion). We also discovered that the MW had an overall positive perception nationally but that it lacked identity. Furthermore, while the MW and member institutions wanted to be a part of the conversation with Power Five conferences, they truly wanted to secure their foothold as THE leader of the Group of Five.
Strategic in nature, we designed the surveys that were sent out on our behalf to each subset – Colorado State reached out to their own constituents, Fresno State to their own constituents, etc. Each school saw a healthy response from the surveys giving our statistical team plenty of data to sort through. Based on the feedback gathered from our internal discovery, external surveys and an audit of the MW brand, we developed a new brand platform that focused on what makes the MW truly unique.
PHASE 2 - PLAYBOOK: A RECOMMENDED DIRECTION
MWC fans provided the insight that while these schools offer athletic contests and entertainment, they were located in cities and regions that offered outdoor activities and entertainment alternatives. From the mountains (skiing, biking, hiking) to the ocean (surfing, swimming), most of the MWC schools are in destination cities with unrivaled landscapes. Secondly, the data also highlighted the belief that the MWC wins with integrity. These schools and administrators were able to avoid some of the troubles that have plagued other institutions. It became clear that the MW has much to be proud of and because of this, its institutions are able to offer opportunities to their students to achieve at the highest levels
PHASE 3 - GAMEDAY: A TANGIBLE DIRECTION
Old Hat developed the ‘At The Peak’ campaign to highlight the fact that the MW operates at the peak of excellence in ways no other conference can claim. The foundational piece for the campaign was the brand video which focuses on each aspect of the MW’s unique positioning while showing visuals from every campus, city and/or student-athletes. Old Hat turned that video into two 30-second spots that will play on national television during MW events, as well as creating two “institutional versions” of each spot that focus more heavily on each school, which will be provided to each campus to play in-venue.
PRINT // DIGITAL // SOCIAL // OUTDOOR
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