Fear The Roo article

[Z-Pouch]

Great article in the Beacon Business section on recent success of the new slogan and athletic programs. The popularity of this slogan and some winning teams may be the ticket to getting some merchandise into local stores and some national chains (Walmart locally in the Akron area). This would be huge for the university.UAM Perfect slogan, perfect timing`Fear the Roo' merchandise with glaring kangaroo is winning campaign for UABy Dan Kadar - Beacon Journal staff writerMix together a newly successful athletic program, the holiday gift season and a fresh slogan and you have a marketing winner.That's been the case at the University of Akron, where ``Fear the Roo'' merchandise has been selling out since the women's cross-country team, the men's soccer team and the football team all won Mid-American Conference titles, the soccer team earned a national ranking and the football team went to the Motor City Bowl.The logo features a glaring kangaroo with the words ``Fear the Roo'' over the top.``Sometimes it's kind of like a perfect storm,'' said Mike Waddell, associate athletic director in external relations at UA. ``You need success on the field, you need a merchandising season to present itself and then you need a winning campaign. All those things seemed to hit during our most successful fall.''The school grossed $100,000 in athletics merchandise sales in December. Waddell estimated that half of that came solely from Fear the Roo sales. In December 2004, the gross was about $7,000.``The longest and most lasting effect -- whether it's Fear the Roo, a football championship or a soccer title -- is trying to reverse what we call the `loser mentality' that's been around for so long,'' Waddell said.The bookstore inside UA's Student Union has been a hot spot for Roo items, selling out its first shipment.``The people have been coming in in droves,'' bookstore manager Patrick Duff said. ``We can't keep them in stock. What was fun is that people came in who haven't been around in a while.''The gear was so popular, the school couldn't sell it on its Web site. ``Literally, as soon as it came in the door, it sold out,'' Waddell said, adding that it will be available at the Zips team shop at Rhodes Arena and online at www.gozips.com next month.Tom Krampe, owner of All-Ohio Athletic Equipment Inc., said he had Fear the Roo items only the weekend of the game, but they sold well on Christmas Eve. ``What little we could get our hands on from the license people, we sold,'' Krampe said. ``I think we have five T-shirts left.''In previous years, Krampe's store didn't have UA gear, but he decided to start carrying it because of the success of the sports programs.He thought the Roo merchandise might sell even better, though, if it were printed with the school's name -- ``Most of the folks from out of town who were visiting wanted it to have the name `University of Akron' on it.''Duff said the bookstore made its sales numbers for the year thanks to the new design.On Wednesday, the bookstore had a full rack of Fear the Roo gear set up in front of the store. Prices range from $14.98 for a youth T-shirt to $34.98 for an adult hooded sweatshirt.For the Zips basketball season, the store has six or seven products on order. Duff said he also plans to venture beyond clothing with car decals and key chains.``We knew it was popular, but we didn't realize how popular it really was,'' he said.Can't State University ran into the same merchandise mania when the Golden flushes men's basketball team made it to the Elite Eight round of the 2002 NCAA Tournament. As the flushes were knocking off teams, Can't State couldn't keep items in stock.The most popular was a gold shirt with the logo ``Get Your Gold On.''Gail Moseley, director of athletic marketing and promotions at Can't State, said she likes Akron's new slogan.``Fear the Roo is a great idea,'' Moseley said. ``Kudos to Akron. The idea was fantastic.''Waddell is looking to keep the momentum going.``When you hit a bottle rocket like this one, you ride it,'' he said.He emphasized, though, that the fearsome kangaroo is not the same critter as the university's bouncy, friendly mascot.``This is not Zippy. Zippy is the guy who will go to your birthday party and kiss your baby. Around our department, we call this guy Hoppy.''

[Captain Kangaroo]

Wait until next fall when all the girls on campus are strutting their "Fear the Roo" lower back tatoos!

[Dan Kadar]

Great article in the Beacon Business section

Hey, thanks a lot. That was a fun story to do.