The California State University campuses are turning to slogans, acronyms, and other branding techniques in an effort to raise their ability to market each campus. The campuses wish to maintain the benefits of being a part of the 23-campus system, while still forging an identity that sets their campus apart. A few early examples of rebranding, include San Jose State, Sonoma State, and San Diego State. All of these campuses dropped the "California State University, [enter city name here]" moniker for the easier to remember and shorter "[City Name] State" brand. Now, it appears that CSU Long Beach wishes to follow suit. CSU Long Beach is now working to brand itself as Long Beach State and "Beach" for sporting events. Cal State Northridge adopted the serendipitous acronym "CSUN" for its "new" brand. "Sea-sun" is so much easier than California State University, Northridge, don't you think?
One of the main impetuses for this focus on branding was the continued funding cuts by the State. Those cuts forced these campuses to turn to other ways to raise funds. One way, would be to create these "new" brands in a way to distinguish themselves from other campuses and schools. For example, CSU Los Angeles constantly fights confusion with its neighbor, UCLA.
Hopefully, these CSU campuses will learn from the rebranding effort of UC Berkeley which was a miserable failure.
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