As crowds walk across campus on a chilly day, the number of people wearing sweatshirts featuring the Tufts emblem makes it seem like the school's name is a popular brand. Retailers are taking note of this, too: The appeal of college names and logos has created a surge in collegiate-themed items.
From a local marketing standpoint, the word "Tufts" or Jumbo's image is just as much of a brand as the Under Armour insignia or the Red Sox "B." From a more global perspective, the Tufts brand is hardly as recognizable as a commercial brand or even as a school.
Other more conspicuous schools, like Pennsylvania State University and University of Southern California, not only have bookstores markedly bigger than Tufts' but also tend to do business with various off-campus retailers.
For example, both of the aforementioned schools have contracts with women's intimate wear retailer giant Victoria's Secret. According to a CNN Money article, Victoria's Secret released its PINK line in 2004, which was "designed for the dorm-bound crowd." Not surprisingly, merchandise targeted at specific colleges and universities emerged a few years later.
Victoria's Secret PINK's Collegiate Collection now represents 57 colleges and universities across the country. The company introduced 24 new schools this past year, and two factions of the Armed Services have also been included since the company released the collection in 2008. The variety of available items in the collection varies from school to school.
Many of the schools represented in Victoria's Secret's collection are also represented by another company, Masik Collegiate Fragrances. Masik currently formulates scents associated with six schools and has three new collegiate fragrances set to appear soon. Penn State University was the first school to market its own fragrance, according to the Penn State Newspaper, the Daily Collegian.
"With her knowledge of Penn State's quintessential elements the mascot, colors, traditions and landmarks [president and CEO of Masik Collegiate Fragrances, Katie] Masich approached renowned perfumers in New York City and asked them to formulate a signature scent for Penn State," the article reported.
A portion of the sales from the perfumes benefit each chosen university's scholarship and athletic fund, according to Masik's Web site.
However, Masik and Victoria's Secret have so far only released collections for large or state schools. Neither Tufts nor Ivy League schools are yet represented by other companies.
One Ivy that doesn't shy away from marketing itself as a brand, however, is Harvard University. In August, Tufts' crimson neighbor announced its new licensing agreement with clothing manufacturer Wearwolf Group. According to a Harvard Crimson article, Harvard licensed the words "Harvard Yard" to the preppy, high-end retailer in order to generate funds for the university's financial aid program.
"Wearwolf will use the phrase as a brand name for an international line of preppy clothing, beginning with men's wear selling for prices ranging from $160 for shirts to $495 for sport coats," the Crimson article reported. "The clothes will not bear a Harvard logo or shield but will include crimson trim around button holes and zippers as well as the ‘Harvard Yard' brand on the neck label and the hangtag."
While using a single aspect of a university's name to generate profit for financial aid is certainly not a possibility for all schools, many Tufts students still view it as an interesting source of revenue.
"Personally, I think that [the concept of "Harvard Yard"] is a pretty innovative idea, in the sense that if a school has already built up a strong brand and a strong reputation, they can leverage it for financial gain," senior Dennis Wei said. "[And in this case], it's not even being used for financial gain — it's being re-allocated for financial aid or to benefit the University, which is a good thing."
Despite potential Jumbo support for a similar project, the Harvard Yard model might not transfer so easily to the Hill. Not only does Harvard's notoriety as an institution give it a leg up in marketing, but Tufts branding limitations also come into play: Tufts' on-campus bookstore is contractually obligated to be the prime retailer of Tufts apparel, according to Store Manager Carolyn Fossas (LA '03), whereas a school like Harvard is represented by a variety of different retailers.
Fossas explained that Tufts-branded merchandise generated most of the revenue in the store, with much of that cash coming in during seasonal periods of heavy foot traffic.
"The way that we do our business with clothing, it's really driven at certain times of the year, especially during Parents Weekend, Homecoming and Graduation," she said. "That's when we do probably 75 percent of our business in clothing."
Although students praise the idea of using a collegiate brand to raise funds during times of heavy financial need, Fossas said a name like Tufts holds a different connotation than a name like Harvard.
"I went here, so I do have a Tufts bias, but I don't know if we have the same marketing power, per se, with the Tufts name that Harvard has," she said. "I know sometimes when I say I went to Tufts, people will either know exactly what school it is and how great it is, or they will be like ‘where's that?' It's a different case with Harvard, or Princeton or Stanford — [Tufts] is definitely up there; we're just not quite as recognizable."
Prospective Tufts applicant Sloane Snyder, a senior from Episcopal Academy in Newtown Square, Penn., agreed, explaining the difference between the two school names.
"Tufts is a name that you can wear proud, but I do feel that schools like Harvard are more able to advertise ‘Harvard' as an apparel line and as something to wear not because you're part of the school, but because you're part of the name," Snyder said, "whereas the type of student who goes to Tufts is probably more proud of the school, rather than the name of ‘Tufts.'"
Though other universities' brands are undoubtedly more prominent than Tufts', the university has not let its logo, emblem and insignia fall by the wayside.
"In the last five years, Fletcher re-branded themselves, Tufts re-branded themselves, and then the Tufts athletic department re-branded themselves, so I know that there's been a push to make an identity out of a logo or out of a certain font that's associated with the Tufts Academia," Fossas said.
Such changes in branding may have worked in Snyder's case: As she perused the Tufts bookstore for Jumbo merchandise, she said she was definitely considering purchasing some Tufts apparel before she'd even applied or been accepted to the school.
"It's a fun way to get you excited and to make you think, ‘If I want to go to this school, maybe if I sleep in their T-shirt, it will bring me good luck getting in,'" she said.
