We of The Picket feel that the Shepherd University admissions office is making a perplexing and ill-advised change to the university’s well-known slogan, “Expect the unexpected,” through the release of their new marketing campaign. This advertising strategy includes the creation of the new marketing motto, “When a ram charges…” The slogan can be interpreted in many ways, but it is safe to say that this open-ended, incomplete sentence tells the average person little about what Shepherd University stands for.
The new slogan appears to put an emphasis on sports programs over academics. While Shepherd’s athletics should always receive praise and support, the new motto is more likely to lead a person to imagine a fight song being sung by a crowd at a football game rather than the way of life found on this campus.
You may chuckle when hearing the new slogan for the first time. Or you could ask yourself: An advertising firm was hired by the university to create the unnecessary marketing effort? As budgets and resources decrease, should valuable funds be spent on generating a new slogan that is more comical than informative? This university, like any other, has many needs, but is a new slogan one of them? For example, professors are lacking paper, sidewalks are crumbling, parking spots are scarce and tuition is steadily rising. And yet, it has been determined that this effort is a smart way to spend money? It is possible to create a new slogan inexpensively by employing Shepherd students’ ideas and talents.
A slogan that is meant to represent this university should be shaped by the people who attend it instead of a marketing firm that has little to no knowledge of Shepherd’s way of life. Clearly, the slogan change will have little impact on current students’ lives and every person will have a different opinion of it. But, we should ask ourselves: is this slogan applicable to the entire university, is it aimed at certain people or does it represent just one aspect of Shepherd?
By the way, when a ram charges, what happens?