The Pac-12, as you may have heard, will officially welcome Colorado and Utah into their conference fold on July 1. Ahead of that official move date, the league has released a new interpretation of the old logo, which can be seen on the right.
Unlike one of their BcS-level conference competitors, it appears the Pac-12 has nailed a solid look for their new “mark” by not messing with what had previously worked.
Unfortunately, the conference couldn’t leave well enough alone. As part of the logo unveiling, they also released a video that in part helps show off the new mark and in part welcomes the Utes and Buffs. Alas, if this video is a window into how the new members will be treated in the future, the schools may have been better off staying in their respective conferences.
What the hell was that? At first blush, it appeared someone took a 55-gallon drum containing a mixture of smiley emoticons, lolz and suck and exploded it while cameras were rolling. Upon further review, it became clear that at least a handful of said drums were utilized in reaching that level of giddy montage horridness.
The school also released a statement explaining the video. Normally, when you feel it necessary to release a statement explaining something, you probably shouldn’t have done that something in the first place. But they did. So here it is.
“With so many of our fans active on social media outlets like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, we wanted to create something that could easily be shared and we felt this would be a fun and natural way for us to launch the new Pac-12 mark,” Chief Marketing Officer Danette Leighton said. “We wanted to do something creative that allowed some of our student-athletes and fans to give the new logo life. We also wanted to reflect the enthusiasm that all of our institutions have for the Pac-12 becoming a reality this summer.”
There’s no word on when an apology for the video will be released.