I always find university branding interesting. It’s this strange conundrum.

Anyhow, the University of Oregon just came out with their new ad, “Be Bold.” It looks like this ad will be played during games to promote the school.

Pros:
More academically focused
-It seems to focus more on the actual student rather than just the fact that the UO has major sports aka football
-I like this because I personally do not identify with football players and hate that the only thing people associate with UO is football. We have other things besides football and basketball.

Filmed well
-The lighting this time around it much nicer and softer
-A more modern update to the school image

Song
-It’s kinda catchy 🙂 but I’m still on the fence about the narration.

Cons
Weird cuts
-I’m not quite sure that I like how this ad was edited, in some cases it feels a bit weird and shortened

Diversity (?)
-I’m not quite sure if this is a con or a pro but I’m leaning more towards con
-It seems like this ad is very black and white and then there are these people who are ethnically ambiguous
-Let’s face it, if I were an incoming freshman, I want to see people who are like me in the school’s image. It seems to me that too many of the students that are represented as the other can go too many ways…I find it confusing, it’s like the university doesn’t want to make a decision. It knows it has a diversity problem but is too afraid to really have a go with it…but nonetheless a good first step.