KU due for new hue

By Ryan Wood     May 17, 2005

Former Kansas University football player Austine Nwabuisi (33) in the Jayhawks' 2005 team poster

The last three months at Kansas University have taken the football team’s image into a whirlwind not unlike a Kansas tornado.

The navy blue team color? Blown away after three seasons, now probably nothing more than an obscure trivia question for future generations to stump a chump with.

KU now will dress up in a lighter color of blue starting Sept. 3, the 2005 season opener against Florida Atlantic. The hue is consistent with the university standard blue that was determined earlier this year — a little darker than royal blue and significantly lighter than navy blue.

The designs of the new football uniforms, which are being done by new apparel provider adidas, are close to being finalized. But the athletic department couldn’t wait for a finished product — there’s marketing to be done in the next four months, football fans to lure in and a target of 28,850 season tickets to sell.

So it’s business as usual at KU, with only a rough idea of what the product it’s promoting will look like this fall. Regardless, associate athletics director Jim Marchiony isn’t concerned about marketing a work-in-progress football program and the mixed messages its images potentially could bring.

Former Kansas University football player Austine Nwabuisi (33) is seen playing against Colorado. KU's marketing campaign is using an altered photo of the new uniforms because the final product hasn't been received yet from adidas.

“It really hasn’t presented any real issues with us at all,” Marchiony said. “Obviously, when we show footage in commercials, it will be highlights from last year. I don’t think that’s a big issue, though.”

And when KU needs to get close to this fall’s new look, it has improvised. Just before the spring football game in mid-April, KU released the 2005 poster and pocket schedule to promote the upcoming season. The dominant art is of former KU fullback Austine Nwabuisi, with the slogan “Where will you be on game day?” across the bottom.

A little extra elbow grease was needed to apply the finishing touches to the art, though. Putting an image on a team with a whole new look upcoming can’t be done with just an undoctored photograph.

Realizing as much, the marketing department, in conjunction with The Muller + Company Advertising Agency, went to work. Nwabuisi’s uniform and helmet were lightened to what’s going to be close to the 2005 colors. The trademark Nike swoosh on his left shoulder was removed. And the face mask now is gray, even though Nwabuisi’s was navy blue his last three years at Kansas.

The photo was touched up to closely resemble KU’s 2005 uniforms, Marchiony said. In doing so, the look is somewhat similar to that of the NFL’s New York Giants — though those who have seen the rough draft of the new uniforms say the resemblance to the Giants is there, but not dead-on.

The posters and pocket schedules only are the tip of the promotional iceberg, though. Commercials already are running on both television and radio, featuring the voice of KU graduate and well-known broadcaster Kevin Harlan. Many of the spots also feature a former KU gridiron great, such as Bobby Douglass and Don Davis.

Billboards already are up in Lawrence and Kansas City, too, and other marketing strategies will be implemented throughout the summer, including tray liners at McDonald’s and contests through kuathletics.com and phog.net.

Also in the works is a “Jayhawk Football Week” in late August, which tentatively could include a meet and greet with players and coaches, a pep rally on Massachusetts Street, and other events leading up to the season opener.

The slogan stays the same through all the marketing, though.

“We decided to just go in a different route this year, and try to get some well-known Kansas alumni to be part of this effort,” Marchiony said. “What we’re trying to say is that there have been some very good years in Kansas football, and that’s where we’re headed again.

“The idea is, ‘Don’t miss it, because it’s coming, and we hope you’re there when it happens.'”

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