When a billboard went up in New York City last week featuring an image of Oregon Ducks quarterback Bo Nix and the tagline ‘Bodacious,’ the college football world got to talking.
A week later, when a similar billboard went up in Dallas, spreading Nix’s image to the south, the conversation continued.
Not all of the rhetoric was positive, and a lot of individuals on social media questioned the motives behind what was perceived as an outdated marketing campaign for the Oregon QB’s Heisman Trophy campaign. Whether it was positive or negative, though, the Ducks were the talk of the town in the college football world for a large chunk of time leading up to the start of the 2023 season.
Mission accomplished.
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Will these pair of Oregon Duck billboards sway Heisman voters? It’s unlikely. Will it give Nix and the team enough of a confidence boost to play harder and win more games than they would have this upcoming season? Of course not. Will they tip the scales for College Football Playoff voters later this year when debating whether or not the Ducks deserve a spot in the final four? No.
That’s not what they were meant to do. The billboards were meant to put Oregon in the spotlight on a national stage and get people talking while making recruits take notice.
“I think the biggest thing that it proves is at the University of Oregon, you’re going to have the opportunity to be recognized,” said head coach Dan Lanning. “You’re going to be seen not just at a local level, but at a global level. I think that speaks just to the quality of the brand, how far it extends, and what it means.”
Bingo.
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More than just questions about the motives behind the advertising campaign championed by Wieden+Kennedy, a lot of people on social media questioned the impact that this saga would have on Nix himself. Now that he towers over New York City, and can be seen throwing a deep ball in Dallas, would it impact his play or distract him leading up to the season?
Those who are asking that question obviously don’t know much about Nix.
On Wednesday afternoon following the Ducks’ final fall camp practice, I asked Nix what the last couple of weeks had been like for him with the billboards going up, and the increased spotlight he might be feeling.
“Well, fall camp has been great,” Nix replied with a laugh, obviously eager to talk about football rather than marketing.
When it became clear that questions about the billboards were going to continue, he went deeper.
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“It’s a lot bigger than me,” Nix said. “I couldn’t have done it without my teammates. It speaks to the university. You know, it speaks to the football program. It speaks to you know, how prestigious it is to go to a place like Oregon and how, you know, one time you’re on one side, and then you get to a school like Oregon and all of a sudden how things can change and how your story can change. And so I’m just blessed.”
I think Nix’s focus is just fine going into the season.
“It’s great for the university, I think it’s great for the team, but we’re not gonna let it distract us,” Nix said. “We’re gonna keep the main thing the main thing and that’s doing our best to win football games.”
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Whether you like the billboard campaign or not isn’t the point. The fact is that before a single snap of college football has taken place in the 2023 season, the Oregon Ducks have stolen the news cycle and been at the forefront of the conversation in college football. There may not be hoards of blue-chip recruits traveling through downtown Manhattan that look up and see Nix’s image towering above them. Dallas is a bigger recruiting hotbed, but it doesn’t matter if even a single 5-star recruit witnesses the ‘Bodacious’ billboard in the flesh.
Kids see the images on social media, and they hear the narrative online. They are thinking about Oregon, and they know that if they end up going to Eugene and succeeding for the Ducks, an opportunity exists for them to be marketed in a similar fashion. They can believe that one day, they too can tower over the general public in a marketing campaign, larger than life.
“I think it leads back to when you come to a place like Oregon, you get an opportunity to be recognized,” Lanning said,
In the end, that was the goal all along. Mission accomplished.
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