Morehead State Athletics has unveiled "Rise and Soar" as its marketing strategy for the 2014-15 school year. The brand will be consistently featured in all marketing pieces for the department, as well as become prominent artwork for the department's social media efforts.
"Rise and Soar embodies our vision," Assistant Athletic Director for External Affairs Brad Smith said. "We have made significant strides in all areas of our department. Having a unified brand is another important step in engaging our community and continuing to showcase our department as one of the best in our conference and region."
The Rise and Soar campaign features the word mark with the "Rise" and "Soar" highlighted in gold and the "And" set in blue. Each piece incorporates a current student-athlete or group picture. All photos for fall sports were taken by former men's tennis student-athlete Ji Hoon Heo.
The visuals will be utilized in schedule banners, pocket schedules and posters and can be incorporated in stand-alone marketing pieces as well for each sport. In addition, a digital television ad is set to run inside several Morehead businesses.
Splash pages on the official athletics web site, MSUEagles.com, as well as strategic print advertising will also feature the campaign.
Fans will also have the opportunity to purchase Rise and Soar-branded Morehead State merchandise. MSU is working with Licensing Resource Group to identify businesses to develop t-shirts with the campaign branding.
"We expect this season to be dynamic, exciting and unique in many ways," Director of Athletics Brian Hutchinson said. "This campaign is designed to reinforce the hard work of our student-athletes and pride with which they represent themselves and MSU. Our fans will see us build on these ideas all season long. It's an exciting time to be an Eagle."
MSU's volleyball and soccer programs are coming off Ohio Valley Conference Championships and NCAA Tournament berths. The men's basketball program reached the 20-win plateau for the fourth time in six seasons and made a postseason appearance in the College Basketball Invitational.
The baseball team set a program record for OVC victories, while the rifle team sent a representative to the NCAA Championship for just the second time in school history. The cheerleading program brought home its 35th national championship this past season.
Three student-athletes, volleyball's Leslie Schellhaas, soccer's Jade Flory and tennis' Briar Preston, earned OVC Player of the Year honors.
The department has also made a more powerful commitment to academic success. The EAGLE Center is a 7,000-square foot facility dedicated solely to the academic progress of student-athletes, and the department has renewed an Accelerating Academic Success Program grant from the NCAA. The grant is providing $360,000 for a three-year period, with an additional $180,000 being contributed by the university.
Along with this campaign, MSU Athletics continues to expand its social media presence, and fans will see Rise and Soar on many of the department's messages. In conjunction, #EagleEmpire will continue to be the official Twitter hashtag fans are encouraged to utilize.
On Saturday, Aug. 16, athletics will have its inaugural "Paint the Town Blue and Gold" event. Student-athletes and staff from the football, soccer, volleyball, cheerleading and dance programs will be distributing posters and schedule cards to businesses in Morehead and Rowan County.
Business owners who would like additional materials can contact Marketing and Promotions Coordinator Victoria Cable at 606-783-2387 or by e-mail at: v.cable@moreheadstate.edu.
