Status of rebranding effort for Titan athletics

[Rogobob77]

I was curious to see how the Titan basketball program is referred to by various national college basketball-focused media (print and websites) as we begin the second full year post the “Detroit Mercy” rollout. Here’s what I found:

Street & Smith: Detroit Mercy
Athlon: Detroit
Lindy’s: Detroit Mercy
NBC Sports: Detroit
Three Man Weave: Detroit
CBB Central: Detroit
Always March: Detroit
ESPN: Detroit Mercy
Verbal Commits: Detroit
CBS Sports: Detroit
Sports Illustrated: Detroit
USA Today Sports: Detroit Mercy
Fox Sports: Detroit
Ken Pomeroy: Detroit
Mid-Major Madness: Detroit
Hoops HD: Detroit
Sports Action: Detroit
Massey Ratings: Detroit
Busting Brackets: Detroit Mercy
Sagarin: Detroit Mercy
RealtimeRPI: Detroit Mercy

Of the 21 outlets reviewed, 7 (33%) used "Detroit Mercy," 14 (67%) "Detroit."

[MooseGuy1]

Moose: Detroit Titans

[Rogobob77]

I updated this survey to see how the rebrand is doing at the start of the 2018-19 season. I looked at the same media group as last year, although a slightly smaller sample as two apparently are no longer in operation:

Street & Smith: Detroit Mercy (unchanged)
Athlon: Detroit (unchanged)
Lindy’s: was Detroit Mercy, now Detroit
NBC Sports: Detroit (unchanged)
Three Man Weave: was Detroit, now Detroit Mercy
CBB Central: Detroit (unchanged)
ESPN: Detroit Mercy (unchanged)
Verbal Commits: Detroit (unchanged)
CBS Sports: Detroit (unchanged)
Sports Illustrated: Detroit (unchanged)
USA Today Sports: Detroit Mercy (unchanged)
Fox Sports (website): Detroit (unchanged)
Ken Pomeroy: Detroit (unchanged)
Mid-Major Madness: was Detroit, now Detroit Mercy
Hoops HD: Detroit (unchanged)
Massey Ratings: Detroit (unchanged)
Busting Brackets: Detroit Mercy (unchanged)
Sagarin: Detroit Mercy (unchanged)
RealtimeRPI: Detroit Mercy (unchanged)

Of the 19 outlets reviewed, 8 (42%) used "Detroit Mercy," 11 (58%) "Detroit."

The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press sports sections seem to be more consistently using the "Detroit Mercy" brand in sports related stories. Last night on the national FoxSports broadcast it seemed the "Detroit Mercy" brand was used consistently throughout the two hours, although one of the half-time analysts referred to the Titans as "Mercy."

Not looking to stir anything up on the message board about the school name or brand, just thought it would be interesting to see if there has been any progress on the University's efforts in this area.

[Tacitus651]

ESPN is obviously the most important. I bet if CBS and Pomeroy changed to Detroit Mercy all of the others would shortly follow.

[Commissioner]

ESPN is obviously the most important. I bet if CBS and Pomeroy changed to Detroit Mercy all of the others would shortly follow.

How do we get espn to use the correct name?

[Rogobob77]

Updated/edited 11/1/19

I surveyed 22 media outlets (the same 19 media outlets as last year plus three additions) to see how they refer to the Titan program as we enter the 2019-20 season. The new totals: 50% use “Detroit Mercy,” 50% reference the school as “Detroit.” (A year ago the breakdown was 42% “Detroit Mercy,” 58% “Detroit.”)

Using “Detroit” (50%)

1. Athlon (unchanged)
2. Lindy’s (unchanged)
3. NBC Sports (unchanged)
4. Verbal Commits (unchanged)
5. CBS Sports (unchanged)
6. Fox Sports (website) (unchanged)
7. Ken Pomeroy (unchanged)
8. Hoops HD (unchanged)
9. Massey Rating (unchanged)
10. Watch Stadium (new to survey)
11. T-Rank College Basketball (new to survey)

Using “Detroit Mercy” (50%)

1. Street & Smith (unchanged)
2. Three Man Weave (unchanged)
3. CBB Central (changed)
4. ESPN (unchanged)
5. USA Today Sports (unchanged)
6. Mid-Major Madness (unchanged)
7. Busting Brackets (unchanged)
8. Sagarin (unchanged)
9. RealtimeRPI (unchanged)
10. Blue Ribbon Yearbook (new to survey)
11. Sports Illustrated (changed)

I won’t editorialize, but just make the empirical-based observation that there is significant inconsistency in how the national media reference the University and there has been very slow movement to the brand rolled out three years ago.

[titanmac]

as has been stated here repeatedly, the u is pissing into the wind (they love to do that by the way) and destroying a significant opportunity.

[Rogobob77]

Titan Basketball 2020 Branding Survey

I recently surveyed 23 media outlets to see how they refer to the Titan basketball program as we enter the 2020-21 season.

This year’s survey included 20 of 22 media outlets carried over from last year, plus three additions. The two subtractions were Athlon and Street & Smith as both did not publish an annual preview magazine for 2020-21; the three additions covering college basketball are YardBarker, Last Word on Sports, and College Sports Madness.

In the group of carryovers, four outlets flipped from “Detroit Mercy” to “Detroit,” and three that did the opposite, i.e., they switched from “Detroit” to “Detroit Mercy.”

Examining the three addition to this survey, two use “Detroit” and one uses “Detroit Mercy.”

(Of the outlets not included in the current survey, Athlon had used “Detroit” in 2019, Street & Smith went with “Detroit Mercy.”)

The new totals for 2020: 57% of surveyed outlets now use “Detroit” and 43% use “Detroit Mercy.” In 2019 it was split 50/50. In 2018 the breakdown was 58% “Detroit” and 42% “Detroit Mercy.”

Using “Detroit” (57%) 13

1. Lindy’s (unchanged)
2. NBC Sports (unchanged)
3. CBS Sports (unchanged)
4. Ken Pomeroy (unchanged)
5. Hoops HD (unchanged)
6. Massey Rating (unchanged)
7. T-Rank College Basketball (unchanged)
8. Three Man Weave (changed)
9. Sports Illustrated (changed)
10. CBB Central (changed)
11. Mid-Major Madness (changed)
12. YardBarker (new for 2020)
13. Last Word on Sports (new for 2020)

Using “Detroit Mercy” (43%) 10

1. ESPN (unchanged)
2. USA Today Sports (unchanged)
3. Busting Brackets (unchanged)
4. Sagarin (unchanged)
5. RealtimeRPI (unchanged)
6. Blue Ribbon Yearbook (unchanged)
7. Verbal Commits (changed)
8. Watch Stadium (changed)
9. Fox Sports website (changed)
10. College Sports Madness (new for 2020)

I won’t editorialize, but just again make the empirical-based observation that there is significant and sustained inconsistency in how the national sports media reference the University and there has been very slow movement to the brand rolled out four years ago (in fact, compared to last year, there has been regression).