The Southland Conference has always provided strong accomplishments throughout its nearly half century of existence, and now the league will actively promote its numerous achievements through a new marketing campaign known as "Southland Strong."

League commissioner Tom Burnett announced the effort Tuesday during Southland Football Media Day.

"'Southland Strong' encompasses so many great things about this historic association," Burnett said. "It's really a positive mindset and a confident outlook on everything that happens in this league. It's about all the competitive superlatives in the Southland Conference such as national championships, success in NCAA tournaments, participation in the Olympics and professional sports, and so many other great achievements by our membership and student-athletes. These are all the things we all know as 'Southland Strong!'"

While being debuted at Football Media Day, the "Southland Strong" campaign will be featured in upcoming print, video, social media and other online media avenues in the future to promote the best the league has to offer. The Southland developed the promotional concepts with Old Hat Creative of Norman, Okla., a company that also worked with the league to refresh other branding elements in recent weeks.

"But it's more than just excelling in competition," Burnett added. "It's also about being 'Southland Strong' in the classroom, becoming the conference with the best improvement in the NCAA Division I Academic Performance Program, setting annual records with more and more Academic Honor Roll recipients, and graduating student-athletes at higher rates than ever before.

"Good sportsmanship and positive, charitable citizenship by our student-athletes and other participants also fits very well within the 'Southland Strong' campaign," Burnett said. "When you see the great works by our athletic departments reaching out and giving back to our local communities, and when our student-athletes provide leadership through their endless efforts with local charity and youth groups, you realize that there's something bigger here, something more important than all the wins and championships over nearly 50 years, something that clearly extends beyond the realm of athletics. That something is what we're calling 'Southland Strong!'"