With the recent close examination into Morgan Center's mishaps, SUC's successful marketing ploys, donations, and recruiting wars...the issue of marketing is slowly surfacing on different posts here at BN. I'm not sure how other current students and alumni feel, but I am getting a terrible feeling here in L.A. that UCLA is becoming an old brand, so to speak. As in many younger people around my side of L.A. are feeling like UCLA was, and maybe still is, an institution of greatness...but it's no longer their first choice. When I was in high school, the choice was obvious...UCLA first if you're lucky enough to get accepted. If shi* hits the fan, there's always SUC to fall back on. People knew it, they joked about it, but it wasn't a legitimate debate really. I'm afraid this is no longer the case.

You can say it's marketing. You can say it's outreach. We can continue playing the blame game until the cows come home. In the end, it just feels like UCLA does not have a cohesive plan to keep the brand at the top. This is where I have to tip my hat to our cross town SUCsters. They know what they want out of their brand and constantly work to meet their goal. I mean, I'm not sure if it is the recent success of the Petey era that fueled the movement and got the wheels in motion, but something happened and their brand caught fire. Now it's on everything and everywhere. Whether it's a good thing or a bad thing, that's another discussion. I am not too worried about finding UCLA toilet paper and UCLA potato chips. However, what I am more concerned than anything else is UCLA's reputation as an academic institution, top notch research facility, and world renowned medical facility. 

It's a problem when SUC is constantly banging the drum on every front. Academically, athletically, and everything else media related. The name is out there. Locally, we are seeing more SUC professors, researchers, scientists, and experts providing their input on current events. This was once UCLA's field. No longer the case. We are also seeing more federally funded studies going to SUC instead of UCLA.

I know, it seems like I'm only listing problems. The sky is falling. Yet I am providing no constructive suggestions.

Well, maybe this isn't a problem for everyone else. Maybe only in my own world is SUC quickly catching up to us.

But if there are any constructive input, I figure the BN would be the best place. How can we improve our outreach, marketing, and restoring the UCLA brand? When I took Comm Studies 10 with Prof. Cole (who is now ironically a professor at SUC), I remember when he mentioned that the UCLA brand is just as well known and marketable as Disneyland in the country of Japan. Not sure you know how popular Disneyland is in Japan, but let's just say it's huge. Do we need new blood in those departments and offices? Any input?