University of Arizona quietly returns to 'U of A' branding; ASU student says 'that's hilarious'

PHOENIX - You might remember in 2019 that the University of Arizona was mocked for rebranding as "UArizona."

Well, now the university says it's back to using "U of A" – but how they announced the change has surprised brand experts.

Arizona State University students are reacting to the change.

"That's hilarious," Alex Miller, an ASU student, said. "I find that really funny."

He's referring to the branding change his rival school made in 2019. Even Saturday Night Live made jokes when the University of Arizona dropped "U of A" and instead wanted to go by "UArizona."

"U of A fans, they hate it. I have not come across one U of A fan that likes it and the only people that like using it are ASU fans because it sounds atrocious," said Michael Luke, Arizona Wildcats host for PHNX Sports.

The change was buried in the University of Arizona written style guide.

It reads, "Please note: As of 7/1/24, ‘UArizona’ is officially retired and should no longer be used except in pre-existing instances or social media handles."

A quiet return to the previous branding

"This needed to be a press conference, dignitaries needed to be here. All kinds of people because this was a black mark in University of Arizona history," Luke said.

Candie Guay is a branding expert at Envida Social. She says rebrands cost money.

"A ton of money, millions. Especially for something big like this," she said.

She was surprised the change was made only in fine print.

"I think I probably would have made this more of a big deal. I think it's kind of a fun way to spark a conversation, especially on social media. See what people are saying, what people are doing. ‘Hey let’s bring back the SNL skit, let's make this fun and make it authentic,'" Guay said.

ASU students will poke fun no matter what.

"It doesn't roll off the tongue right," Jeff Novak said.

"Clearly it didn't work out. Bad decision, right? It doesn't make sense. Why did they do that? They already had their whole branding going, then they decided to change it, and they're switching back," Miller said.

For U of A guys like Luke, it's finally a return to normalcy.

"There is no UArizona. It's the U of A or University of Arizona," he said. "It's very simple."

A U of A spokesperson said in a July 16 statement, "As the state’s flagship university, we’re best known to students, alums, and fans as Arizona and the U of A. UArizona will continue to be used on social media, including Instagram and X (formerly Twitter)."

Click here to read more about the change – make sure to scroll down to the U section.