Gus gets a makeover

On February 27, Gustavus will vote for a new logo for Gus the lion. The winning logo will be announced on Oct. 13, 2012 at Homecoming, which coincides with the closing of the Sesquicentennial.

“In research, we found that people saw the three crowns and thought of Sweden. That was why we went with a new logo,” Tim Kennedy, assistant vice president and director of multimedia innovation in marketing and communications, said.

The new logo integrated a “G” with the three crowns and the slogan “Make your life count,” which replaced the old slogan, “Extraordinary People, Extraordinary Place” and logo of three crowns.

“When we started the marketing and branding campaign of “Make Your Life Count” we took a serious look at all the visual identities of the college … just in the Athletic Department we were using several different logos,” Kennedy said. At the time, he was the sports information director.

Eventually, the shield concept was developed. To stick with the new streamlining philosophy, the old images had to be abandoned. As a result, the old Gus logo that had represented the Athletic Department was retired. The lion logo, however, had not stayed in the Athletic Department.

“The image had carried all over the college and different organizations were using it,” Kennedy said.

When Athletics retired the image, some members of the Gustavus community interpreted this as losing a mascot. Student Senate originally brought up the issue.

In response, the Student Activities Office, the Bookmark, Athletics, Admissions, Student Senate, Student Affairs and Marketing formed a committee to develop a clear image of what Gus should look like, with the assistance of BD&E, a branding and marketing company.

“The survey will be sent out next Monday [Feb. 27] and Thursday [March 1, 2012]. Voting will close Friday [March 2, 2012],” Andrea Junso, assistant director of student activities, said.

“We’re excited to get the image so we can start ordering clothing [and merchandise] for next fall,” Jaclyn Wettergren, clothing buyer for the Bookmark, said.

54 thoughts on “Gus gets a makeover

  1. This is fucking gay. Your whole establishment of education is fucking gay. You are all fucking gay.

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