West Valley College

West Valley College Boosts Recruitment with Stadium Branding

By Bobby Claeys

Pupn Magazine, December 23, 2017

Universities and colleges can attest that student recruiting is no easy task. It is an ever-expanding science that involves constant attention, persistent marketing, and most importantly the perfect image. 

Many programs are realizing that the look and feel of their campus is a critical factor in many students’ decision making. That is why West Valley College decided to give their campus a new look with custom-made stadium graphics. They were able to transform some of their old facilities into eye-catching works of art without breaking their budget.

The West Valley Brand

West Valley College takes pride in their athletic accomplishments, especially their successful baseball program. With multiple championships under their belt, West Valley knew their team didn’t deserve to play on an ordinary baseball field. They deserved a one-of-a-kind field that only the Vikings could call home.

West Valley College saw this as an opportunity to kill two birds with one branding stone. If done right, West Valley can customize their baseball stadium and promote their school brand at the same time…and that’s exactly what they did. 

Promoting the College through Athletics

West Valley’s baseball program has been gaining a lot of attention through out the years after winning multiple championships. That is why they resorted to their athletics to promote their brand.

“Our college decided to leverage athletics as a means of marketing our college,” stated John Vlahos, Athletic Director at West Valley College. “The branding and signage is a great way to get our name out to the public, many of which utilize our campus facilities on a daily basis.” 

John Vlahos worked with BigSigns.com to create custom-made stadium graphics that showcased the program effectively. The school colors, brand name, and cutouts of their baseball players gave their baseball facility a fresh new look.

“The signage was an easy and effective way to pump some life into the facility and give it a much needed facelift,” explained Vlahos.

The facility branding didn’t stop at the baseball stadium. West Valley also customized their soccer facility, aquatic center and beach volleyball facility to showcase their branding.

“With a multiple facility project like West Valley, it is very important to keep branding elements consistent to make the program’s brand stronger,” stated Mark Smith, Project Design Manager at BigSigns.com. Smith oversaw the multiple branding projects at West Valley College. Along with creating these eye-catching graphics, he was able to keep the West Valley image intact to further promote their brand. 

“Trust their design team,” Vlahos exclaimed. “They know what they are doing!”

The Results

West Valley’s custom made graphics are now visible all around campus. Not only did these new graphics give the campus ‘new life’ aesthetically, but it also created a fresh sense of school pride that affected everyone. “The finished product provided an instant lift for everyone involved with the program,” explained Vlahos. “There was a tremendous amount of excitement and pride among our student-athletes and staff.”

These new graphics not only appealed to visitors to the campus, but also had a positive effect on the students, the staff, and even the community. “The community loved the look and appreciated that we are making an effort to improve our facilities,” Vlahos said. “The community wants to be more involved with the program as a result.” 

West Valley College witnessed amazing results to this simple solution of amplifying their facilities. This transformation beautified their facility, promoted their brand, instilled team pride among staff and students, and created community awareness. Although these are incredible results, West Valley’s main goal was to ‘market their college’ for recruitment. 

“Recruiting received a boost as local student-athletes wanted to be part of a program that was willing to invest in its program and promote the program,” explained Vlahos.

Needless to say West Valley accomplished their goal and even saw extra positive results from their branding projects. That is why West Valley is already planning on continuing their facility branding by updating their gymnasium, tennis courts, softball field, and multi-purpose field.

West Valley’s Advice for Other Programs 

Now that they have gone through the whole process of rebranding their facilities, West Valley can look back on their experience and better prepare themselves, and others, for future projects. 

“Don’t go cheap! We learned from experience that you get what you pay for,” exclaimed Vlahos. “Other companies did not live up to their promises, which is why we turned to BigSigns.com. Their knowledge, vision, and understanding of what we wanted to accomplish helped make this one of the easiest projects we have done.” 

Outdoor branding graphics is a great solution, for any program, to beautify their facilities. Whether it is fences, bleachers, sidewalks, or event light poles, outdoor branding can make a huge impact to your campus.  Along with outdoor branding, many universities and colleges are also beautifying their indoor facilities with wall graphics, window graphics, and floor graphics. Branding can go a long way for your program. Take advantage of your available space and showoff your school spirit to the world.