Western Kentucky Marketing

[GMG_Dallas]

We need to hire whoever they have running their marketing over there (that's the UNT connection but feel free to delete or move to a different forum).

WKU unveiled new position related Big Red helmet stickers.

 

 

Their NIL store then unveiled new merchandise for each one to benefit the football players.

 

Incredible work.

[GMG_Dallas]

13 minutes ago, NT80 said:

It's kinda like Tulane's green wave smurf, but red.   All marketing, but looks juvenile to me.

The video was posted about 6 hours ago and has over 600,000 views. Our uniform video has posted yesterday and has 15,000. This is not the first time WKU goes viral for their uniforms and likely not the last. People on social media absolutely love this.

Edited October 20, 2023 by GMG_Dallas

[NT80]

26 minutes ago, GMG_Dallas said:

The video was posted about 6 hours ago and has over 600,000 views. Our uniform video has posted yesterday and has 15,000. This is not the first time WKU goes viral for their uniforms and likely not the last. People on social media absolutely love this.

It is good marketing and social media seems to be the way to influence students and younger potential fans these days.  Maybe it will pay off for them in more support eventually.  

For now WKU is still stuck in CUSA.  Big Red hasn't helped them much as a program, other than social media clicks for their well-known Red Blob.

[97and03]

So seven different strains of herpes?

[GMG_Dallas]

1 hour ago, NT80 said:

It is good marketing and social media seems to be the way to influence students and younger potential fans these days.  Maybe it will pay off for them in more support eventually.  

For now WKU is still stuck in CUSA.  Big Red hasn't helped them much as a program, other than social media clicks for their well-known Red Blob.

They have less than half our enrollment and are in a much smaller market. Relative to their enrollment/alumni base, they probably get more support than we do. If it weren't for being in DFW, we'd also still be in CUSA. Don't get high and mighty over our  "promotion."

[NT80]

3 hours ago, GMG_Dallas said:

They have less than half our enrollment and are in a much smaller market. Relative to their enrollment/alumni base, they probably get more support than we do. If it weren't for being in DFW, we'd also still be in CUSA. Don't get high and mighty over our  "promotion."

Lol, TCU is 1/5 our enrollment.  Who cares?  WKU wasn't playing top level football until 2009.  The Sun Belt didn't want them (even though they were members until 2014) so they had to stay in CUSA.  I'm not feeling sorry for them and their Red Blob.  Other left behind schools are more deserving of a move up than they are.

[GMG_Dallas]

6 minutes ago, NT80 said:

Lol, TCU is 1/5 our enrollment.  Who cares?  WKU wasn't playing top level football until 2009.  The Sun Belt didn't want them (even though they were members until 2014) so they had to stay in CUSA.  I'm not feeling sorry for them and their Red Blob.  Other left behind schools are more deserving of a move up than they are.

TCU is in Fort Worth. WKU is in Bowling Green. The markets are not the same. Regardless, my comparison was with UNT as you implied they were stuck in CUSA due to lack of support. We're in no position to be taking shots at the support other schools receive and we're in no ways in position to be acting high and mighty because we moved out of CUSA. Would be best to show some humility here.

[NT80]

26 minutes ago, GMG_Dallas said:

TCU is in Fort Worth. WKU is in Bowling Green. The markets are not the same. Regardless, my comparison was with UNT as you implied they were stuck in CUSA due to lack of support. We're in no position to be taking shots at the support other schools receive and we're in no ways in position to be acting high and mighty because we moved out of CUSA. Would be best to show some humility here.

Never said they were stuck in CUSA because of lack of support.  I said "Big Red hasn't helped them much as a program, other than social media clicks...".    This whole thread you started is over Big Red helmet stickers and them getting 600,000 views.  

We are fortunate to be located where we are.  But we also have a long football history that seems lost on some fans and many people.  We earned where we are!  GMG! 

[meaniegreenie]

Gosh, it's too bad we don't have a UNIQUE TEAM NAME to leverage off of.  Otherwise, we could probably do some really cool marketing of our team.  Oh, well, let's just go with basic black and be done with it.

[GMG_Dallas]

7 hours ago, NT80 said:

Never said they were stuck in CUSA because of lack of support.  I said "Big Red hasn't helped them much as a program, other than social media clicks...".    This whole thread you started is over Big Red helmet stickers and them getting 600,000 views.  

We are fortunate to be located where we are.  But we also have a long football history that seems lost on some fans and many people.  We earned where we are!  GMG! 

You're completely missing the entire point. WKU is taking their brand and figuring out creative and fun ways to grow that brand while tying in their NIL. They've generated a ton of engagement online and I guarantee you WKU fans are all over the new and unique merchandise.

We have an awesome brand. Retro logos are "in." We have new merchandise with the "strutting eagle" and that's great but the extra step needs to be taken to incorporate some of these retro logos into our uniforms (or at least helmets) and into our NIL shop.

I researched North Texas NIL shop on Google and didn't find anything on the first page. Didn't go to additional pages. I know about The LinkU which is supposed to be managing UNT's NIL and both times I went looking through player pages, I was redirected to pornographic sites. I couldn't tell you if they sell merchandise because I couldn't get past the porn so at least nobody knows about The LinkU partnership unless they follow our school closely.

So, the point of this thread is why are we still behind the curve in marketing and NIL shops. Our fan board NIL is the only one doing anything. What else is being done to engage fans? I spent about $150 at the university store each of the past two games I went to. That could have gone through an NIL shop to benefit the players instead but the level of merchandise and accessibility of NIL shops isn't there.

[Salsa_Verde]

15 hours ago, GMG_Dallas said:

They have less than half our enrollment and are in a much smaller market. Relative to their enrollment/alumni base, they probably get more support than we do. If it weren't for being in DFW, we'd also still be in CUSA. Don't get high and mighty over our  "promotion."

Didn’t they go to the CUSA Championship a couple years ago and no one showed up? 
 

I don’t know…seems like they found a gimmick and they got 10 maybe 15 min of online engagement? Good on them but in the grand scheme of things there is only one marketing strategy that will work and that’s winning, you can’t gimmick your way to more fans without it. 

Edited October 21, 2023 by Salsa_Verde

[GMG_Dallas]

31 minutes ago, Salsa_Verde said:

Didn’t they go to the CUSA Championship a couple years ago and no one showed up? 
 

I don’t know…seems like they found a gimmick and they got 10 maybe 15 min of online engagement? Good on them but in the grand scheme of things there is only one marketing strategy that will work and that’s winning, you can’t gimmick your way to more fans without it. 

Their stadium seats 22k. They have a couple games a year where they have a recorded attendance of 20k. They exceeded capacity when they hosted Indiana in 2021 with a recorded attendance a bit over 25k. The rest are around 50 to 60% capacity. No worst than us. But they've sold out and we haven't. 

[Texas Stranger]

18 hours ago, NT80 said:

It is good marketing and social media seems to be the way to influence students and younger potential fans these days.  Maybe it will pay off for them in more support eventually.  

For now WKU is still stuck in CUSA.  Big Red hasn't helped them much as a program, other than social media clicks for their well-known Red Blob.

Hey, it looks good on those Tuesday and Wednesday night games.  Really shows off.

[DentonLurker]

This was well played in their part. Got them a Game Day mention this morning too.

Edited October 21, 2023 by DentonLurker

[GreenEggs&Ham™]

A nice marketing gimmick for WKU Football. But your interest should end there. Having lived in Bowling Green for decades, trust me when I say; there is nothing to see here. Move along.

[greenminer]

I just feel, honestly, that the "virality" of WKU's video owes a lot to how cheesy it is.  In a way, a parody of how serious the rest of CFB is.  Maybe, in a way, it's the Spinal Tap of CFB promos.

I wish I was a fly on their AD's wall.  I bet they are totally embracing this, because they know how it will hit on SM.

We don't have the cheese of Big Red.  We have "Mean" in our moniker, and a diving eagle to our brand.  It's just not going to hit the same.  

[Side.Show.Joe]

We're still pushing the "Eugene Levy" Scrappy. We can't even begin to work this kind of promotion until we get a better mascot costume. 

Our athletic department needs a director of brand marketing and management to ensure that our logos, brands, images, signage, and uniforms are coordinated to promote UNT in the best possible light within the college athletic landscape. If we currently have a person with this type of responsibility, it doesn't show. 

[Meangreen Fight]

On 10/20/2023 at 4:18 PM, 97and03 said:

So seven different strains of herpes?

I thought it was gonorrhea, but we will go with your take.  I was trying to be nice; at least gonorrhea goes away. 😂

[Meangreen Fight]

7 hours ago, Side.Show.Joe said:

We're still pushing the "Eugene Levy" Scrappy. We can't even begin to work this kind of promotion until we get a better mascot costume. 

Our athletic department needs a director of brand marketing and management to ensure that our logos, brands, images, signage, and uniforms are coordinated to promote UNT in the best possible light within the college athletic landscape. If we currently have a person with this type of responsibility, it doesn't show. 

I think that would be in the realm of an assistant AD if we don’t have a Director of Brand Marketing.  I think outside the sports program we have someone doing that.  But that person doesn’t seem to have the authority of the sports teams.   And they probably should have that authority, in my opinion of what we have seen over the years back at the FBS level.  
 

The black helmets should NEVER be worn without the black jerseys.  And they only should be worn twice a year max.  

[Side.Show.Joe]

20 minutes ago, Meangreen Fight said:

I think that would be in the realm of an assistant AD if we don’t have a Director of Brand Marketing.  I think outside the sports program we have someone doing that.  But that person doesn’t seem to have the authority of the sports teams.   And they probably should have that authority, in my opinion of what we have seen over the years back at the FBS level.  
 

The black helmets should NEVER be worn without the black jerseys.  And they only should be worn twice a year max.  

A real administrator in charge of this issue would have a professional design a unique yet aesthetically pleasing combination of uniforms at all work together with a single unifying reflection on North Texas. Basically, it wouldn't matter how the team patched them together, because every possible combination would look sharp. And remember, colors exist in relation to other colors, so the uniforms would have to hold up to being videoed and photographed against green fields too. 

[Meangreen Fight]

3 minutes ago, Side.Show.Joe said:

A real administrator in charge of this issue would have a professional design a unique yet aesthetically pleasing combination of uniforms at all work together with a single unifying reflection on North Texas. Basically, it wouldn't matter how the team patched them together, because every possible combination would look sharp. And remember, colors exist in relation to other colors, so the uniforms would have to hold up to being videoed and photographed against green fields too. 

That sounds “too professional” for how we like to do things outside of academics and building contruction at UNT.  And what you are talking about is a small team with a director at the head with final say so.  I definitely wish they would do that and maybe employ the College of Visual Arts and Design as creative resources.  Let students in those degree programs brainstorm and bring in ideas that are reformed to fit the overall branding, color scheme vision.  

[Side.Show.Joe]

15 minutes ago, Meangreen Fight said:

That sounds “too professional” for how we like to do things outside of academics and building contruction at UNT.  And what you are talking about is a small team with a director at the head with final say so.  I definitely wish they would do that and maybe employ the College of Visual Arts and Design as creative resources.  Let students in those degree programs brainstorm and bring in ideas that are reformed to fit the overall branding, color scheme vision.  

That sounds good in theory, but you should probably go look at the art those students are making first. The contemporary art world is probably not the best resource for what we are wanting. Advertising (how our uniforms, signage, logos, & brands can generate and hold attention), is more in line with our goals. Of course that also takes an artistic eye. 

[NT80]

2 hours ago, Meangreen Fight said:

I think that would be in the realm of an assistant AD if we don’t have a Director of Brand Marketing.  I think outside the sports program we have someone doing that.  But that person doesn’t seem to have the authority of the sports teams.   And they probably should have that authority, in my opinion of what we have seen over the years back at the FBS level.  
 

The black helmets should NEVER be worn without the black jerseys.  And they only should be worn twice a year max.  

I think I heard or read early in the season that it's actually the players that get to decide on the uniform combos?  Coaches want players to be happy.   If it improves their motivation and loyalty to the program then I guess I'm ok with it (within reason of not disrespecting the Green!).

[Meangreen Fight]

13 hours ago, NT80 said:

 If it improves their motivation and loyalty to the program then I guess I'm ok with it (within reason of not disrespecting the Green!).

Within reason; and twice a year should be the limit.  And I hardly believe that it would impact loyalty to the program at all.  

[GMG_Dallas]

1 hour ago, Meangreen Fight said:

Within reason; and twice a year should be the limit.  And I hardly believe that it would impact loyalty to the program at all.  

No but it probably helps them feel connected and excited which increases morale a bit. People don't generally leave situations they're happy in.