Eastern Michigan University — a subject of great controversy this year over a student’s hushed-up murder and the firing of its beleaguered president — is looking to make a new name for itself.
The institution rolled out a $1-million branding campaign this week, “to clarify its image and to bring added consistency professionalism [sic] to its visual identity,” according to its Web site. The new tagline: “Education First.”
The campaign begins today, as Eastern Michigan’s chief government-relations officer, Freman Hendrix, throws out the first pitch at the Detroit Tigers game. Advertisements for the university will appear on the scoreboard at Comerica Park and at the Palace, home of the Detroit Pistons, as well as on 21 billboards around the region, inside a dozen buses, and on the back of 10 Coca-Cola trucks. —Sara Lipka
