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Monday, January 23, 2012
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By Ron Cherubini
Staff Features
Writer |
Jolly Roger
Thrives Out of Exile
Banished for
years, the Pirate standard flies again with new meaning
By
Ron Cherubini
©2012 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
Three
years on, ECU's skull & bones flourishes as an apt logo
On a chilly November night in 2009, a national television
audience witnessed a nationally-ranked Virginia Tech team eek out a 16-3
revenge win over East Carolina, which had Beamer-balled the Atlantic
Coast Conference champion Hokies in a 27-22 upset victory in Charlotte
in 2008.
The rematch was not remarkable. A sputtering ECU offense
turned the ball over three times while a staunch Pirates defense kept
the team in it. Tech was the better team that night and would go on to
win another ACC title. ECU would, likewise, go on and repeat as C-USA
champions.
What made that 2009 night notable was that the nation got
to see the unveiling of one of the greatest midfield logos in college
football. That night, the midfield-art – a visual representation of what
has become known as the Pirate State of Mind movement – captivated not
only ECU fans, but became a topic of discussion throughout the college
football world. Additionally, the Pirates teased the fans a bit with the
unveiling of a special helmet logo – the Jolly Roger – that was used
again for the 2011 season.
Even the regular cast of ECU-anything detractors – fans
from UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State – while maybe not acknowledging
publicly that that logo rocked, certainly didn’t hesitate to quickly
sample the art and create their own copycat versions of the PSOM image.
Imitation is the highest form of flattery.
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Dowdy-Ficklen
Stadium image courtesy East Carolina University |
If you take a minute to really look at that image –
whether on your computer desktop, smart phone wallpaper, picture on the
wall, whatever – it doesn’t take long to realize that it so hits the
mark of what it means to be a Pirate, you just know that Leo would have
that image prominently displayed on his iPad if he were with us today.
Yes, use of the image of the home state is not new – though it typically
exists inside basketball arenas – ECU’s version is simply unique. The
image speaks so thoroughly to ECU’s football past, present, and big
dreams of the future, you would think that it just had to have been
extensively market tested and thoroughly researched before a single drop
of paint hit the midfield stripe in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium back in 2009.
A Quick History on the Jolly Roger at ECU
For many in the Pirate Nation, the emergence of the new
ECU mark was a long time coming, harkening way back to the Pirates early
days in football when the “Pirate” had a much harder edge and the Jolly
Roger & crossbones were a regular part of the East Carolina’s brand. For
others in the Pirate Nation, the mark has given some pause, harkening
those folks to a time when the university’s public image was one of a
party school with an unappreciated academic reputation – the old “EZU”
moniker – and a Skull & Crossbones logo only seemed to further the
rogue, outlaw reputation and tie the school to more negative
impressions.
In fact, there was a moratorium of sorts on the use of
the Jolly Roger and crossbones in association with ECU – the institution
and athletics alike – from circa 1983, really, until about 2002, and it
made a lot of sense at that point in time. Prior to 1983, the skull and
bones were very much a part of the college’s culture and while clearly
understood by those connected to the school, outside that small bubble,
the identification was largely negative. For reasons unfair to the
institution, the reputation of the school was one of lax admittance
standards, sub-excellent academics, and a student body whose primary
skill set was to party every night of the week. It was the days of “EZU”
and, while those close to the university and region knew that reputation
was not accurate, the Jolly Roger and crossbones didn’t do a whole lot
to dispel that perception when the casual observer saw it and combined
it with what they may have heard in the wind about the school.
So, by 1983, ECU was hard at work reshaping its local and
national brand to ensure that those beyond the Pirate Nation could
recognize the university for what it truly was and is – a serious
academic institution that provides economic and service support of
eastern North Carolina and research and development for the greater
region and nation.
“Marketing-wise, we were not allowed to use the Skull and
Crossbones in any way, shape, or form,” said Lee Workman, ECU Associate
Athletics Director for Administration who had mulled the ideas for
several years. “It wasn’t until 2002 when we started to actively
determine how we might incorporate and introduce the Skull and
Crossbones into our branding. We have waited for the right time and we
felt that it was the right time.”
Workman, who has been associated with the university for
decades, laughs about having to be the bad guy over the years as he was
the messenger again and again when droves of Pirate fans, alumni and
supporters would ask for the resurrection of the Skull and Bones. But,
with the laugh, comes understanding that the use of a largely
outlaw-perceived mark carries risk and responsibility on behalf of the
university, its reputation, and hence, the perception attached to anyone
associated with the institution.
“We felt we could approach (using the image) and said
(the Jolly Roger) would not become our main mark, but rather, a
secondary mark – which is a good position for it in an overall branding
strategy,” said Workman. “The original Jolly Roger mark was developed in
2002, utilizing ECU art students to work with me to create the design as
a secondary branding mark, to be used locally and for our fans on game
days. The Pirate Head mark has been and continues to be used as the
primary branding/marketing/image mark locally, regionally, and
nationally.
“We need to manage this brand locally and nationally,
because there is potential that negative connotations might be attached
to it under certain circumstances,” Workman said. “The Jolly Roger mark,
which is derived from the primary pirate head without the skin, was
created as a ‘rallying,’ ‘spirit,’ ‘tough,’ ‘warning (to our foes)’
symbol, much like the Jolly Roger was used with pirates in history. The
raising of a flag with the Jolly Roger crossbones mark and the use of
the Jolly Roger crossbones on football game day was to be a ‘tougher’
symbol for ECU fans to rally around with excitement as we go into
‘battle’ so to speak. Over time others have added ideas for its use that
include the No Quarter use and the North Carolina outline use. It
has accomplished what I hoped it would and more in the context the Jolly
Roger mark was originally developed for.”
Jolly Roger Finds his Way Back
Over the years, ECU – the institution and in a large
part, athletics – has positioned itself as a national brand, which is
seen in a very positive light. The “do more with less,” “undaunted,” “no
one can keep us down” themes that we all hold so dear – true Pirate
qualities – have been cast in a positive light and largely seen as such.
The Jolly Roger is seen to be associated primarily with athletics at ECU
and in the spirit of competition, once negative connotations associated
with Pirates and the Jolly Roger and crossbones are reflective of a
never-quit, never back down, never fear theme that is positively
representative of our sports teams.
So, when the Jolly Roger’s comeback at ECU was plotted in
2002, it was with cautious optimism as the folks who would prove
instrumental in resurrecting the mark really didn’t know what the
ultimate reaction would be. Still, the early basis of what we now all
know as the PSOM image was not some massive decision followed by a heavy
concentration of planning and fan base market test groups and so on.
Instead, its way back was tied to just another marketing campaign.
The Jolly Roger’s new life began as non-remarkably as any
piece of art associated with any myriad marketing campaign. Its
evolution was as much serendipity as it was multi-layered analysis of
the greater meaning of being an ECU Pirate. It was an assignment… a job
task. A task that ran in short order, going from a concept to the
unveiling at the game in 2009, and has since has been a remarkably
strong trademark that says a whole lot without a single word on it.
It was the brainchild of ECU’s Director of Commercial
Marketing, Michael Weller, who though not an ECU Pirate born (he arrived
at ECU in 2004 from SUNY-Cortland as an intern), is certainly an ECU
Pirate bred, with an obviously strong handle on the ECU mindset.
“In the spring of 2009 I developed our first ‘Official
Fan Shirt’ as part of a branding and licensing campaign that tied our
upcoming athletics theme for the year, Pirates of the East … Where
Purple Reigns, together with a graphic representation, which
depicted the skull and crossbones from our Jolly Roger logo
embedded in the outline of South Carolina, North Carolina, and
Virginia,” said Weller. “In June of that year, I was working on a
concept for a billboard design that would be used for a program across
multiple boards throughout North Carolina, reaching from Greenville to
Greensboro, and southward to Wilmington, and happened to run across the
artwork I’d done for the shirt and made a number of revisions to it for
the billboard art.”
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Shirt art
courtesy East Carolina University |
Today’s logo, a large, harder-edged Jolly Roger filling
the outline of the state of North Carolina, in its first iteration
included outlines of Southeast Virginia and South Carolina, focused on
tying to ECU’s stated geographic “backyard” for football. A fine
concept, but for sake of argument… thank God that standard billboard
geometry was not kind to this concept.
“Due both to the shape of the billboard and the message I
was trying to convey with the image, I scrapped the extra states and
focused on the image of the pirate theme within the borders of North
Carolina,” said Weller. “The message I was hoping to push across was
consistent with our theme, showing that the Pirates consider North
Carolina to be OUR state and that we want our presence to be felt here.
Although it wasn’t initially the point of my design, I realized this
would also help dispel our unique North/South Carolina problem.”
What resulted was a Jolly Roger that overfills the state
of North Carolina, allowing the mind to “fill in” where the rest of the
Jolly Roger is – outside of the state. With no deference to former
Sports Center anchor Keith Olbermann, You can’t
stop the PSOM, you can only hope to contain it.
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Billboard art
courtesy East Carolina University |
The epicenter of the Jolly Roger emanates over the
location of Greenville on the map, fully encompasses the eastern part of
the state and spreads west to nearly encompass the whole state. The
Jolly Roger is facing west, no doubt eyeing its future growth – a
national brand. The non-covered parts of the state are black – absent of
color, perhaps representing those who simply don’t get it… It’s an
ECU thing… you wouldn’t understand. There is more, of course, when
you start to attach theme to history and future plans. Like, for
example, ECU’s determination – during Dr. Jenkins’ time – that the
athletics focus would be on football first, with a desire to become the
state’s premier football school; hence, owning the state. The Jolly
Roger appears to be gritting its teeth to bust out of the N.C.
limitations to a national stage – a long held goal of all Pirates since
the program’s infancy.
Weller’s original concept and the decision to revise the
logo to meet the issues presented by billboard scale served as the
catalyst to a series of rapid actions that resulted in what has now
become the graphic depiction of what it means to be a true ECU Pirate.
“I actually wasn’t very happy with my initial billboard
layout and had begun working on a couple (of) alternate ideas that
didn’t include the logo, but I showed a copy of it to my boss, Scott
Wetherbee, who really liked the concept. He presented it at a staff
meeting to Coach (Terry) Holland and the other senior staff members, and
they all adamantly approved of using that design,” said Weller. “My goal
wasn’t to have a new logo created, although I have been very excited
that a project I designed for a billboard eventually found its way to
being trademarked and so widely popular with the Pirate fans.”
Wetherbee – the Associate Athletics Director for
Marketing/Ticket Operations – was responsible for overseeing the
development and somewhat chuckles when he recalls the development
process.
“I was the one who said, let’s add South Carolina and
Virginia to represent the eastern seaboard,” Wetherbee laughed, noting
that the logo as it turned out is just perfect. “But, the billboard
cutoffs took it back to North Carolina only, which was the original that
Michael had designed.”
Both Wetherbee and
Weller felt they had something solid to present to Athletics Director
Terry Holland and Workman for final review and hopefully approval.
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Logo art courtesy
East Carolina University |
“I was absolutely
stunned,” said Coach Holland. “It seemed to tie together almost all the
reasons for the Pirate pride and passion that Ann and I have experienced
first-hand since arriving in Greenville in 2004.”
The image so deeply
resonated with Holland’s long-held vision for ECU’s future – an
aggressive, no-obstacle-can’t-be-overcome culture – that he and
then-Senior Associate AD for External Operations Jimmy Bass, secretly
put into motion the plans to transform the design into the midfield logo
that was unveiled to the nation on the chilly night in November 2009.
“I remember Michael
and I were like, ‘Man… I wish they had told us about (it being used for
the midfield logo) ahead of time,’ so we could have really marketed it,”
said Wetherbee. “But, the way it was unveiled – that it really was a
stunning surprise to everyone – we were just ecstatic. The way it all
came about was just really neat. Michael does such good job on his
graphics, and that one was… well, just fantastic.”
The reaction was
pretty much viral… as in national. Not only did the ESPN broadcast team
remark about it, but discussion was generated on message boards all over
the land discussing the merits of the logo.
“I got more text
messages from friends across the country about that logo than anything
else I can remember,” said Wetherbee. “They were all saying (how
awesome) the logo was. The biggest thing was really Coach Holland and
his mindset about what he wants for this university. We have our main
pirate head logo but he has looked beyond that and that is where the
whole Pirate State of Mind really took root. We really do have a
different state of mind with our athletics here at ECU – a stronger and
bolder mindset – and that logo… is recognized as part of that attitude.”
That logo and
subsequent full brand that has built around it oozes that passionate
attitude and, according to Coach Holland, that is where it really hits
the mark.
“It gets me fired
up for sure (to look at it),” said Coach Holland. “And I hope every
member of the Pirate Nation feels the same about at least one of our
primary logos and/or traditions.”
It seems that at
least with this logo, a picture has said exponentially more than a
thousand words and it keeps speaking to all generations of ECU Pirates.
When Weller coined
the Pirate State of Mind, he wasn’t, himself, really all that
aware of what it would come to embody, but he full understands it now.
“The name Pirate
State of Mind… seemed to fit so well with the image,” said Weller. “(It)
was a reference to the Jay-Z/Alicia Keys collaboration, ‘Empire State of
Mind,’ that came out that fall.”
The Pirate State of
Mind sort of captures what for years many would refer to as that
“something different about ECU” and encompasses a common denominator
among all in the Pirate Nation, a deep love and devotion for the
university and the memories that are held dear to those who have
attended, worked for, or adopted as their own.
For the athletics
department, the logo has hit the mark dead center, and everywhere you
look, it shows.
“Even though ECU
lost the (Virginia Tech) game, the mark was well received and was left
for the remaining games that year and ever since,” said Workman. “Our
retailers indicate the Jolly Roger mark in general, along with the North
Carolina outline Jolly Roger mark are popular with ECU consumers. While
we do not have any breakdown of actual sales by trademark, the North
Carolina outline Jolly Roger and Jolly Roger (by itself) has contributed
to increased sales of East Carolina officially licensed products.”
That latter point
is big, given the fact the Pirates are consistently among the top 50 or
so colleges in athletics licensed merchandise sales.
For the fans, that
mark has become a critical part of the game day experience at Dowdy-Ficklen
Stadium, one that weaves itself from the midfield logo, to the
scoreboard, to the attitude the players take onto the field, to the
surge the stadium gets with the raising of the No Quarter flag in the
fourth quarter, to the never-die-spirit that leaves with each Pirate fan
when they leave the stadium, regardless of the outcome on the field.
E-mail
Ron Cherubini
PAGE UPDATED
01/23/12 03:53 AM.
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