School Considering Dropping "Fear the Turtle"
by Ben Broman on May 9, 2009 9:24 AM EDT
Email
Print
UPDATE:
My sister, who works at WBAL radio in Baltimore, called UMD about this and wrote the revised story that you can read here. Apparently, Fear the Turtle isn't going anywhere. It will definately stay as an athletic slogan and might still stay as part of the University's marketing campaign. Glad to hear this isn't going anwhere.
- Homertuck
No, you aren't dreaming. The University of Maryland really is considering dropping their slogan of "Fear the Turtle." Via the Diamondback:
"Fear the Turtle" may have to fear for its life.
University officials are investing more than $1 million over a three-year period to come up with a fresh image for the university, possibly including a new slogan. They hope the new campaign, which they plan to unveil in the fall, will better encapsulate the character of the university.
The rest of the article tries to play it down, but it's out there - the slogan may be replaced.
This would be a terrible, terrible idea. The slogan is nationally known. It's starting to pick up some tradition. No, it isn't the greatest ever, but it's one of the better ones I've seen. Not too many schools have their slogans this well known - to throw it away would be a terrible idea. It's a little bit funny, endearing to Terp fans, nationally recognized - it's a marketing dream.
I do agree with the "fresh image" idea, as I think the University needs it (people do not equate UMD with a top public university right now, and they should), but dropping the slogan would be an awful move, particularly in athletics. Alumni and students would still incorporate it into signs and wear their old t-shirts, maybe even get a chant going, but it would lose a lot of power if official support waned.
In the end, I don't think they'd change it - all opinions in the article seem to positive for it - which is very calming.
5 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
this is a waste of money
want to improve your image? spend 1 million dollars making the chemistry building better…spend 1 million dollars on giving kids need based scholarships etc.
the university is underrated, but a million is a lot to come up with a “fresh image”….so what…some big time PR firm just got a million dollars to sit around and bounce slogans off the wall?
Don't "fear" too much
Maryland already tried this maybe 6-7 years ago. Remember the “ZOOM” campaign?
http://www.zoom.umd.edu/home.cfm
“Fear the Turtle” had been an advent (for the school, that is) in the late 90’s. Picked up steam on the basketball Final Four and subsequent Championship run. And then was finally picked up “officially” as a marketing ploy by the school in 2003. But that said, the school itself had never been too charmed with the phrase, which may be partially why the school took so long to recognized the phrase brought on by the student body.
This is one of the rare things that “the students came up with” at Maryland. When they tried to take it away the first time with “ZOOM,” it failed. I don’t see how their new ploy won’t fail also.
Unless it’s really catchy…
I don't think it matters
To be honest, it doesn;t matter much what the school’s official thing is. Maryland students use “fear the turtle”, maryland Alums probably use it, and I’m sure all the Terp fans use it. Even if the school drops, the people who matter (students, fans, and alums) probably won’t.
Frankly, they've been asleep at the wheel
I agree with Joshv37 that everything cool about Fear the Turtle came up from below. School had nothing to do with it, which is probably why it flourished. UMD has a lot of great traditions, but sports marketing isn’t one of them.
When I first moved away from CP, I wound up outside Hartford with a job that got me to the airport at least every two weeks. Crappy airport. Went nowhere. But you know what? When they won a championship, you knew it! Men, women, it didn’t matter. There were banners all over the place. When you flew into Hartford, you knew you were in Championship Country. I remember flying back to BWI after we won it all in 2002, thinking, “Man, this is gonna be cool.” Not a goddam sign anywhere. And it’s still that way today. Yeah, there’s billboards with actual turtles here and there, but nothing that anyone who actually cared about promoting UMD and had some skills would place anywhere. Embarrassing.
Airport signage isn’t everything, I know. It’s just the easiest, most obvious, cheapest thing to do. I don’t think it’s wrong they spend $1 mil. I just wonder whether they know how to spend it.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
