2014 Spring Branding
The Bear, Re-Branded: Cal Replaces Its Live-and-Let-Live Mascot With Vicious New Model
Like Memorial Stadium, the brand identity of Cal Athletics has recently been renovated. Nothing too radical, mind you; the colors are unchanged and the Cal script remains the chief identifier. The only big change is the new bear logo. Gone is the striding giant of yesteryear, its stately silhouette imparting a certain timeless nobility to […]
Bringing the Outside In: Artists Outside the Mainstream Move to Center Stage
Every two years the Venetian canals echo to the sound of art world back-slapping, chin-stroking, and partying. But the Venice Biennale 2013 was a very different beast. The curator even called it “a rapture.” For a moment, it seemed, the art world got off the merry-go-round and acknowledged the “outsiders” in its midst. For the […]
Sex and the Single Y: Our Unpaired Genes Aren’t Disappearing, They’re Just Pared Down
Fear not for genetic machismo: Reports of the human Y-chromosome’s demise are greatly exaggerated. Over time, it may have evolved to be tiny, but it is not failing, according to UC Berkeley geneticist Melissa Wilson Sayres. Rather, it has been whittled down to a lean, mean, male-making machine. The case for the death of the […]
Navigate Like a Viking
The name “Vikings” conjures a romantic image: massive, oared longships astride the sea, crewed by bloodthirsty, bearded Norwegians in horned helmets, intent on rape and rapine. But in addition to being fierce warriors, it turns out that Vikings were navigational experts with great technological prowess. Their ships were fast, able to endure ocean crossings as […]
Kabam? Ka-Ching: Naming Rights Bring Cash to Campus
Even on a football field it sometimes helps to tread lightly. That’s why as Berkeley administrators were deciding how to pay down the $445 million price tag associated with the retrofit and expansion project at California Memorial Stadium, the idea of selling naming rights to the structure itself was never on the table. “We have […]
A Lunch at Chez Panisse Inspired the Imagination, the Palate and a Dissertation
If you’re going for a Ph.D. in business, there are plenty of American universities where you can get this prized degree, but only one of them is less than a mile from the birthplace of California cuisine. Sohyeong Kim was an aspiring Ph.D. student on the day in 2009 when her faculty advisor took her […]
Branding the Elements: Berkeley Stakes its Claims on the Periodic Table
Let the other universities brand themselves with the presidents they’ve produced, the corporations they’ve midwifed, their location in a small town outside of Boston, or their number one football team. At Berkeley, we’re OK with being number 97. On the periodic table of elements. You may have heard of “the table,” as we call it […]
Club Red: Traveling Along the Edge of Post-Fidel Cuba
We are wrapped in sweaters and sitting in an air-conditioned Chinese-made bus as it glides quietly, frigidly through the Cuban countryside. Outside, it’s about 80 degrees and humid, and people walk past the bus or congregate on corners, dressed in shorts and tank tops. The bus passes some farmers drying rice on the highway. Then […]
Love, War and Football: A Curious Relic from WWII Prison Camp Returns to Cal Athletics
In an office at Cal Athletics sits a special historic artifact—a football autographed by the 1938 Golden Bears football team, co-champions of the Pacific Coast Conference. The ball is flat and the laces are gone, but you can still make out the signatures, including that of team captain (and two-time first-team All-Pacific Coast Conference halfback) […]
In on the Ground Floor: Would My Investment in a Friend’s Scheme Really Seal My Fortune?
Graduation was near and other seniors were scrambling for work. I knew I was set. I had met a brilliant entrepreneur and was investing my time and savings in his sure-fire venture that guaranteed me both a job and untold millions. His plan was literally airtight: Create a device that would improve upon the highest […]
Mind-Blowing Research: Cats Benefit from Parasite that Alters the Minds of Rodents
Toxoplasma gondii can infect any warm-blooded host but is especially associated with rodents for one reason: It can only sexually reproduce in the intestines of cats. The parasite solves this reproductive hurdle by causing any mice it infects to lose their aversion to cat urine, making them more likely to be eaten by cats. While […]
Elements of Branding
Brands comprise a package of sensorial elements meant to promise unique value and to maximize awareness and recognition of the product, service, or entity they stand for. Ideally the brand bundle should evoke an emotional response, a resonance in the eye and mind that helps to bond the viewer to the product or service. One […]
Piranha Defense
Amidst the murky waters of the Amazon, there aren’t many creatures immune to the serrated mouth of a hungry piranha—but the Arapaima gigas fears naught. This fish can grow to a length of nine feet and may weigh more than 400 pounds, all without worrying about piranha attack. The Arapaima is protected by an armor […]
You Can’t Say That! Is It Time to Write the Epitaph for Epithets?
Pity the poor bigot. The racist, the homophobe, the sexist—nowadays, they launch their contumelies at their own peril. It’s not that we’ve all learned to link hands and sing “Kumbaya” in high, clear tenors, of course. Bile remains a most abundant humor, as demonstrated by any website that allows anonymous comments. But here in the […]
The Plato and Newton of Branding: Berkeley’s David Aaker
In the globalized, consumption-fired 21st century, branding is the air we breathe. It is the oxygen of modern culture nearly everywhere on the planet, in realms that extend far beyond consumer products. Google and Apple are self-evidently brands, as are such venerable icons as Mercedes-Benz and Coca-Cola. But so too are Obamacare, Generation X, and […]
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