Flock Talk: Architects

Oregon’s national brand was once dismissed as flash. As college athletics faces the enrollment cliff, it now looks like the blueprint for survival.

There is an interesting dynamic surrounding the Civil War these days. Some want it to go away completely, some want it to always be at Autzen Stadium and some like that it is returning, for the most part, in the same home-and-away format that made the rivalry feel like part of the state’s rhythm.

I am sort of ambivalent in a way.

I don’t have a ton of animosity toward Oregon State these days. There was a time when I felt different. But some time ago, Oregon State made the choice to mock the concept of marketing and branding to both a new generation of fans and a national audience. There was a certain pride in being local, regional, grounded and traditional. There was also a certain skepticism of what Oregon was becoming.

The uniforms. The billboards. The Nike connection. The national commercials. The idea that a program in Eugene, Oregon, could present itself as something bigger than its geography.

I have said plenty of times in the past that when you don’t have a program in a talent-rich state, you don’t have the historical tradition of a blue-blood brand and you don’t live in a true die-hard state where football wins and losses matter more than just about anything else, you have to be aggressive to stay competitive.

That was always the Oregon equation.

The Ducks were never going to out-Alabama Alabama. They were never going to out-Ohio State Ohio State. They were never going to wake up one morning in the middle of a state loaded with five-star prospects and a century of inherited football obsession. Oregon had to create something different. It had to become a national idea before it could become a national program.

While it would be a stretch to say the Oregon athletic department could see exactly what was coming 25 years ago when it first started getting serious about national marketing campaigns, it knew something important: attracting more eyes was the only path from “good program that occasionally competes for conference titles” to something bigger.

That is where the story looks different now.