AD Marketing

[DeepGreen]

This young AD gets it.  Good read.  Novel idea, bringing in a concert to Apogee.  There are people out there that are creative.....just sayin.

http://www.campusrush.com/millsaps-college-football-fan-attendance-1367931543.html

Edited September 26, 2015 by DeepGreen

[letsgiveacheer]

Very impressive!

The last D3 game I attended was NC Wesleyan vs Ferrum College. At halftime, there was a drawing for a quarter side of beef.

[Marty]

I've been to a game at Millsaps, neat little stadium!

[emmitt01]

You obviously don't understand marketing.

 

"Home openers sell themselves"

"You don't build a program on giveaways"

"Everyone keeps saying 'win Mac!' Well show up and we'll win"

 

THIS is the kind of thinking that packs stadiums!!!  Don't believe me...just watch come late November in Apogee

 

 

[Army of Dad]

You obviously don't understand marketing.

 

"Home openers sell themselves"

"You don't build a program on giveaways"

"Everyone keeps saying 'win Mac!' Well show up and we'll win"

 

THIS is the kind of thinking that packs stadiums!!!  Don't believe me...just watch come late November in Apogee

Looked to me like the fans showed up at SMU...

[JesseMartin]

Very impressive!

The last D3 game I attended was NC Wesleyan vs Ferrum College. At halftime, there was a drawing for a quarter side of beef.

I could get into that.

[MeanGreenDan]

I heard a Pandora ad yesterday trying to sell tickets to the Rice game.... only 6 days AFTER the game took place.... this is good AD marketing, yes?

[oldguystudent]

We had a beer deck at Fours. I'd rather have Apogee.  Can you imagine the alumni outrage if they had student foam parties in the stadium? This post is little more than far reaching grasping at sticks fodder for the  #firerv crowd. You can find more solid  points than D3 hijinks  and gimmicks.

 

 

 

 

[GM1998]

We had a beer deck at Fours. I'd rather have Apogee.  Can you imagine the alumni outrage if they had student foam parties in the stadium? This post is little more than far reaching grasping at sticks fodder for the  #firerv crowd. You can find more solid  points than D3 hijinks  and gimmicks.

 

 

 

 

I believe the article highlights creativity not gimmicks. We aren't looking to emulate Millsaps College, other than garner some of the ingenuity that comes with a young, hungry AD. We have a beautiful facility, we have scholarship players, we are in a large market, we have a large student body, we have a large alumni base, we have a losing football team. Some part of that doesn't match up! Like it or not it is someone's fault!!!!!

[oldguystudent]

I believe the article highlights creativity not gimmicks. We aren't looking to emulate Millsaps College, other than garner some of the ingenuity that comes with a young, hungry AD. We have a beautiful facility, we have scholarship players, we are in a large market, we have a large student body, we have a large alumni base, we have a losing football team. Some part of that doesn't match up! Like it or not it is someone's fault!!!!!

The article makes one very good point in that people want to experience things together.  It really does beat watching it on television.  

Here are the things I'd like to see the AD undertake:

1)  The day I donated one dollar to the athletic department, I had the university foundation, the school of business, and any number of campus organizations hitting me up for cash.  This tells me that there is a central database shared across the university.  Certainly there must then be some reciprocity.  I'd really like the AD to bring on some recruiters and start an aggressive campaign to bring MGC membership up to 10,000 people.  Set goals.  Compensate well when those goals a achieved.  Stop jerking around with that worthless akrie (or whatever it is) thing that is little more than a $25 decal and does nothing to bring people into the stadium or get them to commit to anything.

2)  End FCS games at Apogee.  Period.  Bring in teams that people have heard of.  Doesn't need to be A&M either.  Navy, San Diego St, Colorado St.  Teams like that.

3)  Demand wins.  Hold coaching staffs accountable for horrific on-field performances, but demand academic achievement at the same time.  Stop being mediocre.  Expect and realize excellence across the board.  If you can't afford to buy out, then use the reassignment clause and see who sticks around for three years as the locker room towel boy.

4)  Get a ticket staff that can actually do their jobs.  It's hard enough to get people into the stadium.  When it becomes worse than standing in line without an appointment at the DMV in downtown Los Angeles to buy a ticket, there is a fundamental problem that prohibits reaching goals in point 1.

5)  Create a welcoming culture.  Stop giving a shit if some guy shows up for the first time wearing a USC shirt.  Don't berate him in the concourse, especially when he's got his four-year-old son on his shoulders for their first ever college football game together (this happened around 2009).  If he has a good time, he'll come back, and he'll figure out that there's a stadium store, and he'll learn to wear green.  

6)  Marketing marketing marketing.  Create brand awareness.  Pick a damn color, a damn uniform, a damn logo, and stick with it.  Then shove it down the throats of DFW with a relentless fervor until people in Waxahachie know us by name and logo.

In summary, run this fricking thing like the business it is, stop dicking around like we're a bunch of slack jawed yokels who appreciate the tractor store on loop 288 a little bit too much, get out there and SELL SELL SELL!  No steak knives. Only Cadillacs.

As for beer decks and foam parties, leave that for the D3 massive crowds of 3,500 (per their university website box score for the game mentioned in the article)

 

[EagleMBA]

Am I the only one who reflects back fondly on the deck at Fouts?

 

 

[DeepGreen]

Am I the only one who reflects back fondly on the deck at Fouts?

 

 

Yes.  We have moved way beyond that.

[Cerebus]

 This tells me that there is a central database shared across the university.  

There isn't yet but there is an initiative in place to start one.  Currently, some areas do share info and some do not.

[UNT90]

The article makes one very good point in that people want to experience things together.  It really does beat watching it on television.  

Here are the things I'd like to see the AD undertake:

1)  The day I donated one dollar to the athletic department, I had the university foundation, the school of business, and any number of campus organizations hitting me up for cash.  This tells me that there is a central database shared across the university.  Certainly there must then be some reciprocity.  I'd really like the AD to bring on some recruiters and start an aggressive campaign to bring MGC membership up to 10,000 people.  Set goals.  Compensate well when those goals a achieved.  Stop jerking around with that worthless akrie (or whatever it is) thing that is little more than a $25 decal and does nothing to bring people into the stadium or get them to commit to anything.

2)  End FCS games at Apogee.  Period.  Bring in teams that people have heard of.  Doesn't need to be A&M either.  Navy, San Diego St, Colorado St.  Teams like that.

3)  Demand wins.  Hold coaching staffs accountable for horrific on-field performances, but demand academic achievement at the same time.  Stop being mediocre.  Expect and realize excellence across the board.  If you can't afford to buy out, then use the reassignment clause and see who sticks around for three years as the locker room towel boy.

4)  Get a ticket staff that can actually do their jobs.  It's hard enough to get people into the stadium.  When it becomes worse than standing in line without an appointment at the DMV in downtown Los Angeles to buy a ticket, there is a fundamental problem that prohibits reaching goals in point 1.

5)  Create a welcoming culture.  Stop giving a shit if some guy shows up for the first time wearing a USC shirt.  Don't berate him in the concourse, especially when he's got his four-year-old son on his shoulders for their first ever college football game together (this happened around 2009).  If he has a good time, he'll come back, and he'll figure out that there's a stadium store, and he'll learn to wear green.  

6)  Marketing marketing marketing.  Create brand awareness.  Pick a damn color, a damn uniform, a damn logo, and stick with it.  Then shove it down the throats of DFW with a relentless fervor until people in Waxahachie know us by name and logo.

In summary, run this fricking thing like the business it is, stop dicking around like we're a bunch of slack jawed yokels who appreciate the tractor store on loop 288 a little bit too much, get out there and SELL SELL SELL!  No steak knives. Only Cadillacs.

As for beer decks and foam parties, leave that for the D3 massive crowds of 3,500 (per their university website box score for the game mentioned in the article)

 

#2 will NEVER happen until we have a new AD. The man said so himself.

 

So... Welcome to the #fireRV crowd?...

There isn't yet but there is an initiative in place to start one.  Currently, some areas do share info and some do not.

that is really unbelievable, yet not surprising all at the same time...

Edited September 26, 2015 by UNT90

[Cerebus]

that is really unbelievable, yet not surprising all at the same time...

You have to remember giving was discouraged for a long time.  Even during those times some schools and organizations went ahead and created their own development networks.  When the climate of giving changed, they felt they had a several decades lead on other people because they worked for it, and didn't want to share the data they had put blood sweat and tears into.

I believe Smtresk will get this fixed.

[Rudy]

You obviously don't understand marketing.

 

"Home openers sell themselves"

"You don't build a program on giveaways"

"Everyone keeps saying 'win Mac!' Well show up and we'll win"

 

THIS is the kind of thinking that packs stadiums!!!  Don't believe me...just watch come late November in Apogee

 

 

you mean Mid October? 

Looked to me like the fans showed up at SMU...

Home games sell themselves?

[JesseMartin]

I'm not opposed to getting rid of ALL FCS games.  I just don't want to do it just to have a bought "scrimmage" win.  I wouldn't mind SHSU, SFA, etc.  Of course, if we're paying for it, make sure we've built up a bit and aren't pulling a Kansas vs. SDSU repeat.

But in general, yeah, I agree about all that needs to have a shift.  I've always liked Rick, and although there are some areas of the job that he has totally turned around, a good leader would admit to the things they're not so great at and delegate to someone who specializes in that.  So if the BoR and Smatresk still see Rick as their guy, it wouldn't be unreasonable for him to set up some other people in the department (or if there are underperformers, get some new ones) by empowering them to take some of the load off.

I figure it's kinda like politics...unless you're a zealot, you're not likely to ever be 100% aligned with how your representative views every single topic, but overall you agree more than you do with other people.  The upside here is, if we like how Rick does some things but not others, it's not impossible to reorganize a little bit so that he can keep doing what he does best and shift some responsibilities to other (or new) people who are better at those particular things.

I mean, it may sound crazy, but sometimes the crazy ideas are the ones that lead into something new that could actually work....

[Ben Gooding]

I like the foam party idea in the student section. That would get a TON more students into Apogee. Granted not every game, but 1 night game a year. That would be nothing short of awesome. As for oldguy, I think there will more than likely be an AD opening within the next 7-9 months. You should apply. 

[UNTexas]

I say we beg the Eli Young Band to come back and do a show outside the stadium or inside after a game. It seems to work at AT&T stadium. People pride themselves on music at North Texas, so, how about some music... plus beer and girls...

[Cougar King]

Or you guys could just start winning games. Back in September 2005, a Saturday night game against Sam Houston only had around 14-15k in attendance with a few hundred students present. This past Saturday night, we drew 36k for Texas State, a similar caliber opponent and had about 8k students. 

 

Our attendance has litterally doubled over the last 10 years because we started winning on a regular basis. Foam parties aren't going to keep people inside of stadiums. 

[MeanGreenTexan]

I say we beg the Eli Young Band to come back and do a show outside the stadium or inside after a game. It seems to work at AT&T stadium. People pride themselves on music at North Texas, so, how about some music... plus beer and girls...

I bet they'd be willing, but not any time this season.  You have to catch those guys early as they're pretty busy touring and winning awards.   Maybe next year?

They would bring out quite a few people who would normally never set foot on campus.

[Aldo]

Our attendance has litterally doubled over the last 10 years because we started winning on a regular basis. Foam parties aren't going to keep people inside of stadiums. 

If you lock the gates it will

[drex]

Promotions require imagination and hard work....no such animal resides within the athletic department.

[Green Mean]

Or you guys could just start winning games. Back in September 2005, a Saturday night game against Sam Houston only had around 14-15k in attendance with a few hundred students present. This past Saturday night, we drew 36k for Texas State, a similar caliber opponent and had about 8k students. 

 

Our attendance has litterally doubled over the last 10 years because we started winning on a regular basis. Foam parties aren't going to keep people inside of stadiums. 

This.