Remember the adage everything I need to know I learned in kindergarten? Well let’s think about this in terms of branding; that sentence could easily translate to everything I need to know about branding I learned from college football.

As I’ve written about in a number of past posts creating a memorable brand experience and creating a strong brand loyalty are the hallmarks of a successful brand, and nowhere will you find a company or product that creates the undying passion and loyalty the way college football teams do.

Point-in-case: When I originally started to write a post tying branding and college football together I was going to list the top ten college football brands (admittedly determined by my own biased ranking system) but quickly decided this was a bad idea based on a number of things.

Problem #1: The thought of ranking my favorite team (Go Gators!) at anything other than #1 made my skin crawl.

Problem #2: SEC schools would undoubtedly take over the top five (heck the entire top ten would probably be SEC schools in my mind) because in addition to being a Florida fan I’m an SEC fan.

Problem #3: Last but certainly not least, I knew that if I started ranking college teams a debate so heated would break out in the office that I feared our walls would come crashing down like goal posts of yesteryear.

So how do college football teams garner such strong brand experiences and loyalty? It’s because when it comes to branding, college football gets it. There is a painstaking attention to detail associated with a college football brand from making sure the correct Pantone color is used for every piece of equipment, apparel and brochure to guarantee consistency to nostalgic activities that create positive brand associations. These nostalgic activities can include a school’s unique tailgating traditions and pre-game ceremonies. Every detail is considered, and everything is branded.

But why would a school spend so much time, energy, and money to create these branded experiences? It’s simple. A school with a strong brand will continue to attract masses of new students each year (subsequently growing its brand’s reach every year), students then graduate, become alumni and alumni become donors to the school. Finally there is the revenue and brand impressions generated from trademark licensing. Schools like the University of Texas, University of Florida, University of Michigan, University of North Carolina, etc. generate millions of dollars each year from licensing revenue alone. The number of impressions brands like these get each year from the sale of licensed apparel and equipment only furthers the awareness and loyalty for brands.

Having a strong brand in college football is more than winning games because even in recent slumps of some the greatest brands in college football their fans have remained true and passionate. It’s all about the experience and the passion the fans feel for their brand…I mean team.

So repeat after me: everything I need to know about branding I learned from college football.

College basketball season might be over but for the NCAA, March Madness is just beginning.

Last October, the NCAA secured exclusive rights to the term “March Madness” from sports and entertainment marketer Intersport. Many in college athletics weren’t even aware of the eight-figure settlement until  USA TODAY reported the news in May.

According to USA TODAY, Intersport had retained usage rights to “March Madness” through an agreement with the Illinois High School Association in the early ’90s. The IHSA and NCAA once shared the trademark. The IHSA gave up its ownership several years ago, but still kept use of the term in connection with high school basketball championships. However the NCAA considered any other use “detrimental to the trademark.”

When asked if $17 million-plus may was too hefty a price tag, Randall Scott–Senior Vice President at Addison Whitney–questioned if an equally profitable alternative name even existed for the basketball tournament.  “If you called it something else, would it have the same cachet and familiarity?” he asked.

USA TODAY reports that CBS and Turner are paying $10.8 billion over 14 years to carry the the Division I men’s basketball tournament, making it NCAA’s most critical source of income.

“Is it worth it?” Scott asked. “Absolutely. The real question is if $17 million was the right number.”

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As a North Carolina native, I’ve always considered the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to be synonymous with “UNC.” It was the first public university in the United States, and the only one to graduate students in the eighteenth century. The institution itself owns the trademark for UNC, as well as the domain name.

The University of North Carolina family of schools actually has 16 different university campuses, most with disparate brands. Some institutions utilize a brand extension approach to identify themselves as part of the University of North Carolina family, including Asheville (UNCA), Charlotte (UNCC), Greensboro (UNCG), Pembroke (UNCP), and Wilmington (UNCW). But with other constituents of the University of North Carolina family adopting a different style of naming (Appalachian State, NC State, East Carolina, etc), it looks like the system needs some consistent brand standards. Does the brand extension approach for some universities imply that they are simply an additional campus of the main school and not their own entity? And do those universities that distance themselves in naming structure from the UNC family heritage do a disservice to their students and alumni?

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You’d think that after spending 40+ hours a week emerged in other companies’ corporate and product branding initiatives, a person would choose to escape and relax on the weekends. But for 3-4 months a year, my weekend activities incorporate my day job, because I represent a branded tailgate party.

A group of Wake Forest alumni who realized we no longer fit in with the student lot crowd at football games, but who weren’t qualified for parking passes in the lot closest to the stadium with the big donors (the Gold Lot), set up camp in the corner of the Blue Lot that almost touches the Gold Lot. Thus, Almost Gold was born.

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