The "OS" Beavers

It's been awhile since I've blogged about the "OS" Beavers. This week they unveiled a new logo for all sports which they say will create a brand identity that will be recognizable nationwide. Apparently they no longer want to be known as OSU because people hear OSU and automatically think Ohio State University, which they should because Ohio State actually has a successful athletic department something which "OS" doesn't have (unless you count baseball or gymnastics but those are minor sports) and never will have. The key to a successful brand identity is actually having a product that people care about and "OS" does not have that. Oregon Sate football is coming off one of it's most successful seasons in school history but a ten win season in which you had to play fourteen games to get there, third place in the Pac 10 and a victory in the Sun Bowl is hardly impressive. Last I checked no one cares about the Sun Bowl. In the other sport that people care about which is men's Basketball "OS" is an embarrassment to Pac 10.

When the University of Oregon unveiled the "O" logo in 1998 they backed it up with the most successful era in Oregon Athletic history and is because of that that people nationwide identify the "O" with the University of Oregon. That will not happen at "OS" and therefore "OS" will always stand for "Other School" to me.