When classes start Sept.20, the University of Cincinnati will have a new logo as the latest step in its search for a new image.

        The blocky red logo — drawn by graphics professor Joseph Bottoni in 1979 and derided as “dueling pitchforks” or “battling horseshoes” — will be phased out over the coming year.

        Recent research by LPK, the Cincinnati consultant retained by the university, concluded that the UC logo was perceived as bland, boring, impersonal, outdated and conservative.

        LPK's new design is being kept hidden until the formal unveiling Monday.Insiders say only that it will evolve from the current symbol, retain UC's initials and join the oval official seal and popular Bearcat C-paw as campus symbols.

        The logo is the latest step in UC's campaign to acquire a competitive, positive brand among image-conscious potential students. Costs range from $400,000 to LPK to millions for advertising to a billion to redo the main campus.

        Today UC has no brand, according to its market research. A brand “depends on what you want to stand for,” said Jon Hall, managing partner in Spencer Hall Inc., a Symmes Township branding consultant. “It should move people to choose you in preference to others.”

        A successful brand, he said, distills the essence of what you're about.

        Think about Porsche (prestige and performance), Volvo (safety), Disney (magic), Levis (durability and fit) or Campbell soups (mmm, mmm, good).

        Those brands are valuable because people choose them over others.

        “Unless you've branded yourself, somebody else is going to brand you,” UC spokesman Greg Hand said.

        For UC, Mr. Hand said, branding is creating a positive student experience and “extending the feel of the place beyond campus boundaries.”

        He said the brand will reflect what market research identified as UC's strengths:

        • Diverse opportunities for success.

        • Research that produces inventions of all kinds.

        • Education with a real-world orientation.

        • Accommodation of institutional and personal changes.

        • A knack for partnerships with business, neighbors and local schools.

        Branding is the hottest trend in college marketing. Regional examples include:

        • Ohio State University hopes to emphasize faculty excellence. Its new sloganwill be released in the next few weeks.

        • Bowling Green (Ohio) State University's campaign emphasizes a small-campus feel with big school opportunities. The new motto, “Get the B!G Picture,” plays on the initials, BG.

        • The University of Kentucky adopted “America's Next Great University” brand in the late 1990s but the campaign was dropped this year.

        Creating a brand isn't cheap.

        At UC, it includes a billion dollars to rebuild the main campus, providing millions in seed money to make Jefferson Avenue and Calhoun Street retail/rental districts more appealing, training 4,200 staff to be more responsive to students, adopting the new logo and possibly a slogan, creating common graphic elements for signs and publications, and other visible signals that link 17 colleges on five campuses.

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