What was the scope of their involvement?
Daake began this project by designing a brand new floor for our basketball court. They then redid our entire basketball arena, as our men’s and women’s basketball teams are NCAA Division I teams and play on national television.
In the arena, Daake innovated a new way to capture team accolades on banners, redid the paint scheme, and added new signage. They also overhauled our concessions and on-site merchandise vendors.
From there, we tackled our other athletic facilities. We have 19 Division I sports teams in total, with venues for soccer, baseball softball, swimming, tennis, golf and more. Daake took a comprehensive look at all of our athletic spaces—inside and out—to revamp the whole fan experience. The goal was to present ourselves and our visual identity in an entirely new way.
Because of their success with this complete branding overhaul, we assigned them an additional project and expanded their scope. In the midst of upgrading the branding of our facilities, our university became the venue for the sixth Democratic Presidential Primary Debate, hosted by PBS NewsHour and Politico.
We were awarded the debate with only six weeks to plan for it. It became necessary to quickly makeover our entire campus with our new visual identity. We needed to prepare for the 3,000 visitors, the national media, and the six presidential candidates who were about to descend upon our campus.
In preparation, we executed 8–9 signage installations in high-visibility venues. Daake had to bring in multiple designers to execute these incredibly complicated sign installations on buildings, which were necessary to complete a project of this scope.
This project was the quickest overhaul of our campus' image in our history. Thank goodness Daake was already working for us when we became the hosts of the debate because that project would have been impossible without them already on-the-ground and knowing our branding mission.
What is the team composition?
We interact with three people regularly. Underneath the surface, there’s a team of designers powering away, most of whom I don’t interact with directly.
How did you come to work with Daake?
They had experience branding facilities of our size as well as branding athletic venues. Very few firms have expertise in this area, and they brought a work history that nobody else had.
Looking at multiple other consultants and vendors, Daake was, far and away, our best choice. This was an incredibly important project that had significant financial backing, so we needed to make sure we picked the best firm.
How much have you invested with them?
This is a $2.3–$3 million project. It was very significant to get the funding for this overhaul. We’ve invested over $200,000 with Daake alone.
What is the status of this engagement?
They put in a proposal in the summer of 2018, and they began work in November of 2018. Their work picked up in 2019, and the relationship is ongoing.
Daake's work has been accepted by a resistant campus, earning national praise from sports media outlets. Revamping the campus prior to the debate would've been impossible without Daake. They're responsive, anticipatory, and caring, working all hours to build trust with the university.