There's a billboard on Highway 34 in Linn County that declares that the state of Oregon is "The Beaver State." It notes that Oregon State's athletics programs are the "2016-2017 Civil War Series Champions." Presumably by virtue of the rivalry wins the Beavers had over the Ducks last season in football, baseball and women's basketball.
All true.
But it should come down. Or be moved somewhere else.
In fact, the whole "Best College Town" marketing plan should be scrapped. Given that OSU is exploring what could be a $300 million wish list in athletics facilities, the brand needs to be rebuilt in a way that speaks to college recruits. It needs to stop being based on small-town charm and instead be rooted in big-time attitude.
Something like: "DAM-nation."
Oregon State isn't Oregon. I don't want the Beavers to duplicate the Ducks marketing pitch. Oregon is shiny, and innovative, and forward thinking. It's liquid metal. Oregon State is wood. Like from trees. Big solid, strong, with deep roots. You can sell that. And I think OSU positioning itself as the athletics program of substance and strength will speak to the kinds of recruits the Beavers can get.
Best college town?
I'm sure parents of students like that. I like that. It makes me want to visit Corvallis and have a cup of coffee in a quiet spot that has a small bell on the inside of the door handle, alerting everyone that a customer has arrived. But what it doesn't fit is the kind of vision OSU says it has for its athletics programs. It doesn't scream, "We're going big places!" And in that, I think the marketing strategy is something athletic director Scott Barnes needs to address immediately.
Oregon put a billboard in Times Square once, promoting Joey Harrington for the Heisman. It stuck one in Los Angeles, declaring recruiting war on USC and UCLA. Oregon State hid its billboard where it's existing fan base can see it every time it exits Interstate-5 and travels toward campus. It's not that the Beavers should aspire to market the same as Oregon, but I think marketing to your existing customer misses the point of marketing. Also, it lacks attitude, because if this "Beaver State" billboard was going to be put up at all, Oregon State should have planted it across the street from campus in Eugene.
I liked a lot of what I heard from Barnes on Thursday when he revealed that the Beavers would not make small plans. Barnes said, "We're going to be very bold in our vision but grounded in reality." I liked the bold part. I understand the reality part. But what I think is happening here is that Oregon State is tired of being the little brother university, recognizes that it has to improve some of its athletics facilities, and is probably going to look for a chunk of funding from the university.
Dr. Edward Ray is the OSU president. He's the most powerful sitting president in the Pac 12 Conference. Ray is one of only three presidents who remain in office since conference commissioner Larry Scott was hired by the group in 2009.
One conference athletic director told me of Ray: "He's the straw who stirs the Pac 12."
I think Ray is tired of losing in football and men's basketball. Why wouldn't he be? Those programs haven't given him the results that baseball and women's basketball have produced, and because they're the faces of the university, the perception goes that OSU isn't worth a damn in athletics. Not true, of course. Pat Casey in baseball and Scott Rueck in women's basketball are big-time winners. But the perception is the reality here, and I think Ray is determined to alter perception.
It must be maddening on some level. OSU has invested in a practice facility, a football locker room, the coaching offices and more. Still, people file into Reser Stadium, see one quarter of the venue unfinished and all they can think is, "This place isn't as nice as the rest of the conference."
Oregon State's season-ticket base is threatened. Because it's won only seven of its last 31 games, it's been hurt more by the influx of Pac 12 night games than some others. The Beavers didn't play a home night game in the three seasons prior to the Pac 12 Network deal. It's now played 15 in the last five seasons. And when you don't win enough of those, at some point, fans wonder why they're making the drive at night.
You can't change the television schedule. What you can change is the venue and the success on field. It's why facilities matter. It's why marketing matters. Forbes ranked the best college towns in America recently. Corvallis came in fourth. It's adopted the campaign as its primary marketing slogan. Chapel Hill, North Carolina and State College, Pa. were No. 3 and No. 2, respectively. But neither UNC or Penn State is busy trumpeting it.
Oregon State should ask itself, why?
Answer: Because those places are selling success.
Oxford, Ohio was No. 1. That's Miami of Ohio. Let them sell small-town charm. They own it.
What Oregon State should be selling is it's "Building Something" mentality. Put up a billboard that celebrates the hard-hat approach, complete with NFL players such as Brandin Cooks and Derek Anderson. Celebrate all the professional success, and show recruits that you can go to Oregon State to be part of something big, and also, bridge to an NFL career.
Let coaches such as Rueck (women's basketball), Casey (baseball) and Wayne Tinkle (men's basketball) sell the small-town charm of Corvallis to recruits they think it works with. But when the football program showed up to Pac 12 Media Day this season, it brought Ryan Nall and Manese Hungalu. A pair of tough-minded three-star recruits who are human wrecking balls. They don't at all fit the quaint, small-town feel the marketing department is pitching.
I like what Oregon State is embracing this week. It announced that it wants to go big places. The news release said so. But the billboard and marketing campaign is still saying something else.