School branding: US vs France
Posted by: Fidji SIMO in American way of life, Education, Entertainment, UCLAYesterday, I attended the football game UCLA vs Washington at Rose Bowl. And the basic evidence that in the US belonging to a university is a much bigger deal than in France struck me even more. Can you imagine a stadium of 95 000 people dedicated to a university team? I think about my friends playing football at HEC: nobody cares, we barely even know the scores against other business schools. At UCLA, 95 000 people cheer these players every month; 5-year-old girls wearing one of the multiple UCLA sweatshirts, pompons and caps cry with joy when a player comes next to them; L.A. inhabitants with absolutely no relation with UCLA come to attend the event and choose their side and entire families come to support the team of the nephew’s university. I could barely imagine the face my parents would do if I asked them to attend an HEC football game knowing that I don’t even have any relationships with the players!
Ok, it is obviously a different culture, and a lot of reasons can explain that this can’t be applied in France, but what harm can it make to brand our schools a little bit better? What I mean is that I don’t expect people coming from all around France to attend an HEC football game, but I would find absolutely normal to be able to wear a fashionable HEC cap and jacket (and having the choice to choose the color, size and shape) when I go for a run, or an HEC towel when I take a bath… We must not forget that this pride of being part (or having been part) of a university generates millions of dollars to universities that directly benefit current students and alumni. Some might say that the problem is that we don’t have this pride in France; I would say that we do have it but we have nothing to prove it or express it.
And to finish, a little extract from the game, after the entrance of UCLA players (video n°1) and after a touchdown (video n°2):
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I live in Columbus, Ohio. The Ohio State University is the big school here and people are nuts for their football team. I was out for dinner Friday night and sat next to two women who’d driven down from Chicago for the next day’s game.
Last year my brother drove 12 hours to see OSU play. It’s big money for the school.
I normally go shopping when OSU is playing — I know the stores will be empty.
Hi Delmer,
Thanks for your comment and for visiting my blog. It’s nice to be read by American people, because I’m just discovering your “myths and culture” and I like when I can have direct confirmation of what I notice here.
But the question here is: why is there such a thing for school teams? When I lived in Florida I went to a Miami Dolphins game and it was less crazy than for university games, which is something I have trouble to understand. Any insights about that?
Anyway, thanks for the tip concerning shopping during games, will definitely think about it
Dear Fidji,
I believe the thing HEC lacks most to get people to move their butts to the sports field and cheer their team is less a warm HEC sweater than some nice cheerleaders
Dear José,
By the way, the UCLA ones are just amazingly beautiful, I’m not even sure that we can find the equivalent at HEC 
You’re definitely right, and even if I couldn’t play this role I would strongly support any cheerleading squad setting up at HEC
hi, andar here, i just read your post. i like very much. agree to you, sir.