Is OSU's Cowboy Code Real or Just Clever Marketing?
OSU launches campaign around seven principles students recognize. The challenge: communicating authentic culture through institutional branding
Morgan Riddle did not know what to expect when she moved from California to Stillwater.
The third-year animal science pre-vet major found a campus culture that felt distinct immediately. She noticed inclusiveness in the agricultural program and sports culture she had not seen elsewhere.
“Honestly, I agree with him,” Riddle said in response to an administrator’s claim that the university is unique. “I’m coming from California and it definitely stood out as a school overall to me.”
Riddle’s experience is exactly what Oklahoma State University leaders hope to capture with their latest branding initiative. The university recently launched a $2 billion fundraising campaign centered on “The Cowboy Code,” a set of principles that unite students, faculty, alumni and donors alike.
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A crucial question arises: is the code a genuine reflection of life on campus, or just an over-hyped marketing pitch?
For university leadership, the code is not a made-up invention from the marketing team, but rather a reflection of the existing culture. Lance Latham, the chief communications officer, insists that the campaign is simply recognizing the way Cowboys act.
“The Cowboy family isn’t a slogan, it’s a way of being,” Latham said.
Latham said the administration received feedback that OSU was “humble to a fault,” and capable of being elite without being elitist. They took the opportunity to codify these traits into the new branding to resonate with donors and prospective students.
“When the president says, ‘put students first,’ he means it,” Latham said.
While the campaign introduces new messaging and a new sky-blue accent color, the university’s core identity remains unchanged.
“Orange is still our identity,” said Mack Burke, the associate director of media relations. “We’re not changing the NASA logo; this is just the mission patch.”
He said he views the code as a promise of integrity for the institution and students to make to themselves.
The high-level vision of The Cowboy Code is also reaching those even outside of the university, like Braden Barber.
Barber is a tradesman who works in HVAC among other industries, but his girlfriend is a freshman education major at OSU. Barber immediately connected with the first line, “We dream as big as the sky.”
“I’m going right back to the dream big deal,” Barber said. “I feel like that’s a big part of why people go to college. They have big dreams, big aspirations on what to do with their life.”
He sees the code’s authenticity through the faculty members his girlfriend interacts with. He said that the passion from the teachers make the code feel real rather than manufactured.
“When you have a teacher that really knows what they’re doing, they know why they’re there and that they like to do their job, that makes a huge difference,” Barber said. “And it does become very genuine.”
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Other students resonated more with the lines “We finish what we start” and “We end the day knowing we gave everything we had.” Rebekah Beasley, a junior mechanical engineering major, specifically referenced the football fanbase sticking together through the “rough patch,” as an excellent example of The Cowboy Code.
“I feel like we have a good fan base in that way,” Beasley said. “For sports, at least like in football, everyone still was together and cheering and everything.”
Beasley also works for the university’s housing department, and she said she believes the administration lives up to the high standards set by the campaign. She said the department’s initiatives ensure no one “slips through the cracks.”
“Their whole department is very passionate about what they do about making sure all the people that live here are cared for,” Beasley said.
Many students said the only problem with the code is how little the specifics are advertised. Despite the influx of marketing emails recently, Sophia Matthys, a junior mechanical engineering major, said she could not recite the specific aspects of the code.
“The only thing that they would need to do is actually make sure people knew it,” Matthys said. “And not just knew that we had a code but actually knew like what the code said.”
Our Code. Our Character.
Our Cowboy family represents all 50 states and over 100 countries. What makes us Cowboys? The Code that drives everything we do.
We dream as big as the sky.
Being a cowboy isn’t in our clothes, it’s in our character.
We stand for what matters, even if we stand alone.
We end the day knowing we gave it everything we had.
We know challenges come with pain, but pain will not win.
We have a passion to do what’s right, even when it’s hard.
We finish what we start.
Inspired by the book Cowboy Ethics: What Wall Street Can Learn from The Code of the West. © 2004 James P. Owen
After reading through the seven aspects of the code, she said she agrees that the university lives up to the standards and reiterated the importance of marketing the code’s substance.
“I feel like they need to focus in on each individual thing,” Matthys said. “Really show how we embody it instead of just branding it ‘The Cowboy Code.’”
Ultimately, the success of The Cowboy Code campaign depends on how it continues to reflect the experiences of students like Riddle.
Riddle said the code’s use of the word “We” reinforced the notion of the “Cowboy Family” for her.
“It doesn’t really feel like they’re just trying to push some sort of slogan,” Riddle said. “It does really feel like they’re trying to build more community.”
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