Brand ourselves.....AMERICA'S TEAM THE APPALACHIAN STATE MOUNTAINEERS.

[spacemonkey]

Just like the P6 did...If you say it enough people start believing.
"AMERICA'S TEAM THE APPALACHIAN STATE MOUNTAINEERS."

We need to get the outside fan feeling like they belong. This is an invitation because who doesn't want to be a part of America's Team.

Worked for the Atlanta Braves, I think it would work for us.

[falcoapp]

No, sorry.

I don't think that works the same way it does for a professional team. You have good intentions though.

[TheAppalachianState]

We are America’s favorite team within the P7, I believe it!

[ah59396]

Branding is definitely important. I love what we’ve done with “App State” and our digital team is dynamite.

“America’s team” might be a little too hyperbolic, but I would like to find someway to consistently keep us in the conversation with the Boise/UCF/Cincinnati/Memphis of the world, aside from obviously winning.

[/\PP ST/\TE GRAD 09]

I'd rather start with regional branding. If you're aiming for outside fans that's going to come from Charlotte, Raleigh, Asheville before it would come from Oakland or Sac-Town, or The Bay area and back down.

[TheMoody1]

You can't spell USA without ASU.

[EastHallApp]

Branding is definitely important. I love what we’ve done with “App State” and our digital team is dynamite.

“America’s team” might be a little too hyperbolic, but I would like to find someway to consistently keep us in the conversation with the Boise/UCF/Cincinnati/Memphis of the world, aside from obviously winning.

Yeah, there has to be some rationale behind the brand that makes it feel authentic or people won’t buy into it. To use the Braves example, they called themselves that because all their games were broadcast nationally on TBS, and even then I don’t think anyone actually thought of them as “America’s team.”

Frankly I’ve always loved the Legion of Boone moniker and would love to see us bring it back bigger than ever.

[TheAppalachianState]

Best way to brand: be good, have a full stadium and a nice looking one too, better football broadcasting quality, good loud crowd, everything has to look good. Then you’ll get your current way to having a larger following, nationally

[bcoach]

Best way to brand: be good, have a full stadium and a nice looking one too, better football broadcasting quality, good loud crowd, everything has to look good. Then you’ll get your current way to having a larger following, nationally

I agree and would add this. Decide what your logo is going to be and what your uniforms are going to be. The second you see ND, Alabama, Michigan, and on and on you know exactly who that is. I understand that the kids like the guessing game but you want to build a brand or you don't. Part of building a brand is consistency. Just my humble opinion and I get it will get push back here.

[AppDub]

Best way to brand: be good, have a full stadium and a nice looking one too, better football broadcasting quality, good loud crowd, everything has to look good. Then you’ll get your current way to having a larger following, nationally

I agree and would add this. Decide what your logo is going to be and what your uniforms are going to be. The second you see ND, Alabama, Michigan, and on and on you know exactly who that is. I understand that the kids like the guessing game but you want to build a brand or you don't. Part of building a brand is consistency. Just my humble opinion and I get it will get push back here.

Agree with this post right here. While I do like the different looking uni combos, to brand we need consistency. Great point.

[BambooRdApp]

I like the various uniform combinations...more so on the road than at home. For the stadium, the night game lighting needs to be improved. App St. and ECU were each playing at home a couple of years ago on respective ESPN channels a couple of years ago. Viewing both games...ECU was really bright. Our lighting leaves much to be desired. I was at the Ga. southern night game this past season. Still not good. I hope that gets updated with stadium improvements....For college football fans that may not be App St fans but want to watch a night college football game...the lack of good lighting makes an impression...a negative one...

[Ncmtn]

Trying to force others to be fans of the team with stuff like “America’s team” is the fastest way to make you one of the hated teams. Enjoy the love we get right now because we’re still the small school that beat Michigan and eventually found success according to casual college football fans. However, the more successful we become and the more pretentious our fans get the more we will be disliked. Over on r/CFB I’ve seen a shift starting over the past two years of our fans getting more and more cocky and unlikeable and more people starting to turn on us. This is the same path that UCF took and now they are generally seen as unfavorable on the boards I visit

[ah59396]

Trying to force others to be fans of the team with stuff like “America’s team” is the fastest way to make you one of the hated teams. Enjoy the love we get right now because we’re still the small school that beat Michigan and eventually found success according to casual college football fans. However, the more successful we become and the more pretentious our fans get the more we will be disliked. Over on r/CFB I’ve seen a shift starting over the past two years of our fans getting more and more cocky and unlikeable and more people starting to turn on us. This is the same path that UCF took and now they are generally seen as unfavorable on the boards I visit

I agree with your observation but I’ll add that only losing teams have humble, well liked, fans.

[appstatealum]

I like the various uniform combinations...more so on the road than at home. For the stadium, the night game lighting needs to be improved. App St. and ECU were each playing at home a couple of years ago on respective ESPN channels a couple of years ago. Viewing both games...ECU was really bright. Our lighting leaves much to be desired. I was at the Ga. southern night game this past season. Still not good. I hope that gets updated with stadium improvements....For college football fans that may not be App St fans but want to watch a night college football game...the lack of good lighting makes an impression...a negative one...

That's a new one....

[appstatealum]

Yeah. Most of the people that look unfavorably on App Fans are fans of mediocre teams, like UNC fans. They hate us, because they aren't us. We are just fighting for respect. I overall don't find App fans pretentious. In fact, I take tons of heat from my work group any time App comes up, but they usually bring us up and then get mad about it. Most are UNC fans, the others like seeing me mix it up with them. The truth is, App has been one of the top 5 teams as far as FBS success over the last 5 years. Even though we just play our schedule, It's amazing what we have done.

[SayYesToTheRock]

As a fanbase, we can build goodwill for Appalachian by staying classy -- that includes on Twitter and message boards.

Nobody likes a person who makes everything about themselves. I see App fans taking over threads on other forums (see: CSNbbs) that have nothing to do with us. That is not the way I want Appalachian to be branded.

[CoachRob]

Yeah. Most of the people that look unfavorably on App Fans are fans of mediocre teams, like UNC fans. They hate us, because they aren't us. We are just fighting for respect. I overall don't find App fans pretentious. In fact, I take tons of heat from my work group any time App comes up, but they usually bring us up and then get mad about it. Most are UNC fans, the others like seeing me mix it up with them. The truth is, App has been one of the top 5 teams as far as FBS success over the last 5 years. Even though we just play our schedule, It's amazing what we have done.

What UNC fans "hate" App??? All Carolina grads I work with either pull for App outside of the ACC or are indifferent. Same goes the State grads I work with. There's usually positive responses about App as I'm always encouraging fans of other teams to check us out. Maybe it's me and I don't carry on acting like my 6 year old FBS team is a world beater. Sometimes you don't have an enemy till you go looking for one ... most beef I've had is with UNCC fans.

[CoachRob]

As a fanbase, we can build goodwill for Appalachian by staying classy -- that includes on Twitter and message boards.

Nobody likes a person who makes everything about themselves. I see App fans taking over threads on other forums (see: CSNbbs) that have nothing to do with us. That is not the way I want Appalachian to be branded.

I have to agree ... and I'm one who often makes this mistake. haha

[Seattleapp]

How many schools have teams.? This thread makes less than zero sense

[appstatealum]

Yeah. Most of the people that look unfavorably on App Fans are fans of mediocre teams, like UNC fans. They hate us, because they aren't us. We are just fighting for respect. I overall don't find App fans pretentious. In fact, I take tons of heat from my work group any time App comes up, but they usually bring us up and then get mad about it. Most are UNC fans, the others like seeing me mix it up with them. The truth is, App has been one of the top 5 teams as far as FBS success over the last 5 years. Even though we just play our schedule, It's amazing what we have done.

What UNC fans "hate" App??? All Carolina grads I work with either pull for App outside of the ACC or are indifferent. Same goes the State grads I work with. There's usually positive responses about App as I'm always encouraging fans of other teams to check us out. Maybe it's me and I don't carry on acting like my 6 year old FBS team is a world beater. Sometimes you don't have an enemy till you go looking for one ... most beef I've had is with UNCC fans.

I work with a boatload of them. It's only the UNC fans too. Mostly ones that didn't even attend there. The Duke and State guys are fine. They are friends, and it's all in good fun, but they are truly bitter people. I don't antagonize or anything, and they come looking for it