When a school renovates its athletic facilities, the focus is often on purchasing state-of-the art equipment or creating more practice and workout space. Those goals are now being supplemented by developing ways to enhance school pride, and attract recruits. One way schools are doing this is by marketing their brands, or identifiable logos, to their own student-athletes.
with Eric Ackerman, Forty Nine Degrees, Coldwater, Ohio
"The attitude of an athletic program is shaped by the heritage, tradition, success, past and current individuals, and the vision of the future," says Eric Ackerman, Vice-President of Forty Nine Degrees, an environmental graphic design consulting firm in Coldwater, Ohio, that specializes in developing identity and branding initiatives for athletic facilities. "This makes building the school's brand the biggest aspect when remodeling a facility."
Using logos to enhance the look and feel of a weight room is one such solution. "Simply stated, logo markings provide a strong emotional attachment for student-athletes," says Ackerman. "Viewed in the same manner as wearing jerseys or other athletic apparel, the pride to represent everything behind the logo is and should be a personal achievement. This can be done by visually highlighting and displaying team accomplishments, creating an atmosphere of success."
Ackerman talks about how schools can to do just that.
First, develop an overall theme for your weight room or fitness facility. Ackerman says the overall theme should complement the branding initiatives of the athletic program, the student-athletes using the facilities, the architectural opportunities and restrictions, and the projects budget. The goal, he adds, is to build up the logo environment, so people will feel embraced by the university.
Second, give special considerations to all of the weight room's components "Functionality, longevity, durability, and cost—all of these are closely knitted together when it comes to branding," says Ackerman.
Functionality. Ackerman advises athletic administrators to research the functionality of the components where a logo is to be placed. "If you want to place a logo on flooring, consider what type of flooring is applicable to your needs and its intended use," he says.
Longevity. How long does the athletic department anticipate its logo to be used? If a school's marketing program is susceptible to change, applying a logo to a product with a vinyl application makes it easier to accommodate such alterations.
Durability. In addition to functionality and longevity, durability includes the material of which the weightroom component is made. "You have to ask, 'Will the material last?'" says Ackerman. "If you have a high-traffic area or a highly used unit, obviously you want something that's going to be able to withstand the volume."
Cost. A popular way to brand an athletic facility is by customization, where a logo is applied to equipment or components during the manufacturing stage. While customization can be expensive, Ackerman says it allows for broader ranges of use, including extending the brand to other parts of the campus, and is common during major campaign projects, which lowers costs.
"If the palette doesn't allow graphics to be placed on the wall because there's glass all around the room or the height of the squat racks limits or hides the wall's visual space, customization provides major opportunities for logos to be applied elsewhere: to the base of the platform floors, the workout floors, weight benches, and other pieces of equipment," Ackerman says.
Third, think long-term when devising your school's branding initiative.
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Step 1: Outline branding initiatives for consistency and future development investments.
Step 2: Know which areas will return the most value for the investment. Consider visibility and high-traffic areas such as weight rooms, locker rooms, entrances, and academic study areas.
Step 3: Prioritize those findings and share them with the consulting or design firm that's been selected to enhance the facility's appearance.
