MC Honors Past, Present and Future as New Brand is Set to Release
“The new brand brings our history, traditions, and mission to the surface for everyone to see, understand, and embrace.”
Excitement across campus rises as homecoming draws closer starting the celebration of a renewed sense of family and unity. The branding reveal is being staged throughout the weekend. It will start from the inner family and work its way out to the general public. The soft launch previously happened at the convocation to faculty and staff beginning of the fall semester, and homecoming 2022 is now bringing the hard launch to students, alumni, and supporters of Mississippi College.
The weekend will kick off on Thursday at 5:00 pm with the tradition of Choctaw cheer-off. Students will get to be a part of MC history and a big reveal as the various groups across campus compete with original cheers to show their blue and gold spirit. Choctaw athletics is making a priority of partnering to get student-athletes further involved in these types of events. “We feel it’s important for students to be engaged and to be a part of this, they are benefitting from it,” said Lori Bobo, Events Coordinator for Mississippi College.
The alumni brunch on Saturday will be a time for the alumni to be able to see the new brand and recognize various award recipients. One of which is Tribal Chief Cyrus Ben of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, he will be receiving the order of the golden arrow. The award recognizes individuals that make outstanding personal or professional achievements in their leadership, going above and beyond the ordinary. Chief Ben will also be making an appearance at the football game as the Choctaw flags are raised.
“The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians have been beside us during this entire rebranding process, the Choctaw counsel and the Chief have reviewed all of the details and it all bears their stamp of approval and they support it 100%,” said Bobo, “They are part of this family, we are connected to them and they have pride in the university once again.”
All of campus is working to bring its individual organizations and departments under the same brand to create a cohesive message in order to further represent MC as a whole. “We want to be one family under a single brand and we want the world to be able to see that,” said Bobo, “We have been here for nearly 200 years and we have never marketed the university the way it should have been.”
The design firm used for the brand, Porch Creative, is the same one that creates the MC Alumni publication, the Beacon. Bill and Alisha Porch, as well as others on the Beacon team, know MC and were able to capture it well into a logo that presented meaning. Every detail of the logo has a meaning to it and it’s tied to MC tradition and the mission. This new logo and brand share a deeper story and mission behind it which relates back to MC's history and the mission of the school.
“The new brand brings our history, traditions, and mission to the surface for everyone to see, understand, and embrace,” said Bobo, “It’s not changing who we are but enhancing our message and brand.”
With all of these changes, homecoming will also mark a farewell to many beloved markers of Mississippi College. The current mascot, Tom A. Hawk, will be making his final appearance during the upcoming parade and at the football game against Delta State. The MC letters will also be still present for a final homecoming, however, the letters will soon be auctioned off and removed after December 2022 graduation.
To prepare for homecoming, banners are being redone all over campus with the new logos. The archways on college street will also have some branding elements added. The doors of alumni hall will also be redone with the new logo. This transition to fully brand the university will take time and will occur in stages over the next few years.
Homecoming promises to be a packed weekend with events for alumni and students to get to celebrate this new identity together. With the annual Hap Hudson 5K, the rivalry football game between Mississippi College and Delta State, the Follies and Choctaw cheer off, the annual Homecoming Golf Tournament, and the presentation of the homecoming court, the weekend will be full of celebration and community.
For more information about details for homecoming weekend visit mc.edu/homecoming.