Bevo’s always a top-10 mascot

When you look at anyone’s list of the top mascots in college sports (Sports Illustrated, Fox Sports, ESPN, etc) Bevo (the real Texas longhorn that attends football games and other university events) is always in the top 10. But Bevo himself is just the tip of the iceberg – the Longhorn brand is so universally recognizable and unique that in the college football hall of fame, every school but one has letters representing their school’s logo. Texas has the Longhorn logo, as that’s all that’s needed to identify the university.

The power of the brand is evident – Texas is the #1 school in terms of raking in licensing royalties, according to Collegiate Licensing Company. The new Longhorn TV Network should only increase it. You want to study marketing? Read the Texas Monthly article from November about Texas AD DeLoss Dodds (you have to be a subscriber to read it, but I’m sure you can google around and find a copy); you’ll appreciate what a genius the Texas Athletic Department has been in handling its brand.

The fact that the shape of the longhorns’ head naturally lends itself to the greatest hand signal in sports doesn’t hurt. Nor does the accompanying “go!” phrase of “hook’em horns” either. The burnt orange color is unique as well – classier than traditional oranges, it is said to have been picked by Darrell Royal to match the color of a football in order to confuse opponents.

Especially if you went to a school with a color for a mascot (like I did), coming to Texas is like hitting the jackpot. You’ve got an endless supply of awesome swag to wear around, people on the street to flash the hook’em to, and a brand to be proud of.