Save The Date

[GP1]

I got a nice note in the mail yesterday on Coach I's stationary. It is a save the date card for a summer social at his house. GREAT IDEA!!!!!!

Remember a couple of weeks ago I got a nice note from a lady in the Athletic Department and I said there was too much information in the letter and if they spaced it out over time, it would be a better way to reach people because you are reaching out more often? A "save the date" note followed followed by a formal invitation is a great way to do that (the card I got yesterday says, "formal invitation to follow").

This is a different thing for the Department to do. I like different. A lot of us, including the Great GP1, have been hard on the Department. We need to give credit where credit is due. This is a smart thing to do. Well done TW and the entire Athletic Department. Now follow up with your mailing list by phone after the formal invitations go out to make certain you execute well on a good idea.

[MaxZIP]

I got a nice note in the mail yesterday on Coach I's stationary. It is a save the date card for a summer social at his house. GREAT IDEA!!!!!!

Remember a couple of weeks ago I got a nice note from a lady in the Athletic Department and I said there was too much information in the letter and if they spaced it out over time, it would be a better way to reach people because you are reaching out more often? A "save the date" note followed followed by a formal invitation is a great way to do that (the card I got yesterday says, "formal invitation to follow").

This is a different thing for the Department to do. I like different. A lot of us, including the Great GP1, have been hard on the Department. We need to give credit where credit is due. This is a smart thing to do. Well done TW and the entire Athletic Department. Now follow up with your mailing list by phone after the formal invitations go out to make certain you execute well on a good idea.

So now that you have an invite to this party we all should give the Athletic Department a break? I think it smacks of elitisms just as much as kicking “normal” fans out of lot 9 to clear way for the $5,000+ donor stampede. Call me when they do anything for the majority of their fan base. The biggest gesture they could make to convince me would be to win some damn games.

[GP1]

So now that you have an invite to this party we all should give the Athletic Department a break? I think it smacks of elitisms just as much as kicking “normal” fans out of lot 9 to clear way for the $5,000+ donor stampede. Call me when they do anything for the majority of their fan base. The biggest gesture they could make to convince me would be to win some damn games.

I don't think it is a matter of giving them a break. They deserve credit for a good idea.

I'm not certain about the elitism angle as I have no idea who is invited. Somehow, if I made the list, I don't think it will be an elite affair.

I'm all for winning being the biggest gift to fans, but to say they don't do anything for the majority of fans just isn't true. They do thing everyone can participate in (ie: NCAA watch parties, setting up things for kids to play in before games, etc.), but not enough is the problem. Not enough in the way of doing things during the off season that would attract the average fan to a game. I'd take winning over face painting, blow up tents for kids to play in, golf outings or any other program they want to call marketing. Winning is the ultimate marketing campaign.

[MaxZIP]

I got a nice note in the mail yesterday on Coach I's stationary. It is a save the date card for a summer social at his house. GREAT IDEA!!!!!!

Remember a couple of weeks ago I got a nice note from a lady in the Athletic Department and I said there was too much information in the letter and if they spaced it out over time, it would be a better way to reach people because you are reaching out more often? A "save the date" note followed followed by a formal invitation is a great way to do that (the card I got yesterday says, "formal invitation to follow").

This is a different thing for the Department to do. I like different. A lot of us, including the Great GP1, have been hard on the Department. We need to give credit where credit is due. This is a smart thing to do. Well done TW and the entire Athletic Department. Now follow up with your mailing list by phone after the formal invitations go out to make certain you execute well on a good idea.

So now that you have an invite to this party we all should give the Athletic Department a break? I think it smacks of elitisms just as much as kicking “normal” fans out of lot 9 to clear way for the $5,000+ donor stampede. Call me when they do anything for the majority of their fan base. The biggest gesture they could make to convince me would be to win some damn games.

You said/typed it yourself…We have been giving the Athletic Department and Football Coaching staff a hard time. Maybe members of this board should be careful they are not being lured into a trap. The best idea to come out of the Marketing Department in years might be to eliminate their main detractors. They may have learned something from a recent vicious murder in Florida. Just a warning.

[GP1]

I got a nice note in the mail yesterday on Coach I's stationary. It is a save the date card for a summer social at his house. GREAT IDEA!!!!!!

Remember a couple of weeks ago I got a nice note from a lady in the Athletic Department and I said there was too much information in the letter and if they spaced it out over time, it would be a better way to reach people because you are reaching out more often? A "save the date" note followed followed by a formal invitation is a great way to do that (the card I got yesterday says, "formal invitation to follow").

This is a different thing for the Department to do. I like different. A lot of us, including the Great GP1, have been hard on the Department. We need to give credit where credit is due. This is a smart thing to do. Well done TW and the entire Athletic Department. Now follow up with your mailing list by phone after the formal invitations go out to make certain you execute well on a good idea.

So now that you have an invite to this party we all should give the Athletic Department a break? I think it smacks of elitisms just as much as kicking “normal” fans out of lot 9 to clear way for the $5,000+ donor stampede. Call me when they do anything for the majority of their fan base. The biggest gesture they could make to convince me would be to win some damn games.

You said/typed it yourself…We have been giving the Athletic Department and Football Coaching staff a hard time. Maybe members of this board should be careful they are not being lured into a trap. The best idea to come out of the Marketing Department in years might be to eliminate their main detractors. They may have learned something from a recent vicious murder in Florida. Just a warning.

Maybe you are reading too much into a simple letter for a summer social....

[MaxZIP]

Then again maybe I am not

[cornbread]

this is a good thing

[ZachTheZip]

This is a good idea. Something that should be an annual tradition.

[K92]

I did not receive the save the date invite for the summer social. I got the save the date for ladies football 101. Great idea though. I wish they had done it last year. It may have mitigated a portion of Ianello's public relations disaster.

I give the athletic department credit for trying. The letter from RI and TW thanking season ticket holders was a grateful and humble gesture that scored points with me. That was a good start toward better fan relations and it appears they want to continue the trend. I certainly hope so.

I understand that no Zips fan is happy with the current status of the football program. For the new staff, "starting off on the wrong foot" was definitely an understatement. Cancelling the golf outing, the preseason lot 9 rumors, general bad pr and on-field failures created the "perfect storm" for negativity toward the new regime.

Some fans are probably off the bandwagon as long as RI is here. Hopefully, through better pr and better execution on the field, many fans will come around.

Go Zips!

[Dave in Green]

..... Some fans are probably off the bandwagon as long as RI is here. .....

If the Zips start winning, Ianello's biggest detractors will be riding on the bandwagon as if they'd been there all along.

I'd like to see if anyone continues to crusade for dumping Ianello if the Zips start winning.

But the main thing I want to see is the Zips winning, whoever the coach may happen to be.

[akron football]

..... Some fans are probably off the bandwagon as long as RI is here. .....

If the Zips start winning, Ianello's biggest detractors will be riding on the bandwagon as if they'd been there all along.

I'd like to see if anyone continues to crusade for dumping Ianello if the Zips start winning.

But the main thing I want to see is the Zips winning, whoever the coach may happen to be.

I agree that we need to support him even though he's a tad bit arrogant and might need to work on his people skills. It is what it is...

[MaxZIP]

..... Some fans are probably off the bandwagon as long as RI is here. .....

If the Zips start winning, Ianello's biggest detractors will be riding on the bandwagon as if they'd been there all along.

I'd like to see if anyone continues to crusade for dumping Ianello if the Zips start winning.

But the main thing I want to see is the Zips winning, whoever the coach may happen to be.

I agree that we need to support him even though he's a tad bit arrogant and might need to work on his people skills. It is what it is...

I have never called for icoach's firing. They still need to win. They still need to reach the fan base. One letter or one party is not good enough. Act like a d1 program first and worry about BS later. Win the damn games.

[GP1]

Received my invitation this week. Nice card and the printing was very good. I'd hope that regardless of the condition of the team, as many people as possible would go to this event. Not going isn't very helpful. If you live as far away as I do, you have an excuse. If you live in NE Ohio, you don't have an excuse.

[Zips Win!]

Received my invitation this week. Nice card and the printing was very good. I'd hope that regardless of the condition of the team, as many people as possible would go to this event. Not going isn't very helpful. If you live as far away as I do, you have an excuse. If you live in NE Ohio, you don't have an excuse.

I would love to go. But I didn't receive an invitation.

I wonder if the fans who actually go to the games will get an invite.

Or is this based on contribution level?

[InTheZone]

Received my invitation this week. Nice card and the printing was very good. I'd hope that regardless of the condition of the team, as many people as possible would go to this event. Not going isn't very helpful. If you live as far away as I do, you have an excuse. If you live in NE Ohio, you don't have an excuse.

I would love to go. But I didn't receive an invitation.

I wonder if the fans who actually go to the games will get an invite.

Or is this based on contribution level?

I got one and haven't given for a few years now outside purchasing season tickets.

[GP1]

I wonder if the fans who actually go to the games will get an invite.

I wonder as well. I have a hunch, but don't know anything for sure.

[GP1]

I got one and haven't given for a few years now outside purchasing season tickets.

I'd ask you to be a leader in this matter and get back in the game. Round up a few of your former teammates and go to the party. Get five guys to go and then ask them to ask five others to go.

Other than some of the work Gary Bogue did while working for Athletics, there hasn't been much effort to reach out to former players. This is a good effort on the part of the Athletic Department. Good effort and doing the right things should be rewarded. Something has to change and we can't sit around waiting forever for a coach or an AD or whatever that pleases 100% of the people. That's never going to happen.

From what I remember through the drunken fog, the party at the Winking Lizard a few years ago was better than any golf outing they ever organized. I'd be willing to say that almost all of the guys there would agree. It was a chance for them to reconnect, with their wives/girlfriends/children if they wished, with friends. This is better than a golf outing.

[Captain Kangaroo]

I got one and haven't given for a few years now outside purchasing season tickets.

Looks to be only for former players?

Guess I'll just be me and ZipsWin having Pizzas on the Patio this summer?

I disagree with the golf outing's cancellation/termination. At the company I am employed, we pay an enormous amount of money annually to get face-time with some top customers at a central, pre-organized event. It's always held at some resort out West each winter. Point being - We PAY a ton of money to get face time with potential customers.

Conversely -- UA had an up-and-running event that gathered 150-or-so of it's better customers to talk Zips football in June. An event everyone liked. And UA's customers PAID UA $150+ per person to do it. The event was never a big money-maker. But it never lost money, and it was a great way to pimp UA and get people feeling good about their alma mater. An get them thinking about donating, or increasing their donation level. It was for me, 7 of my other buddies who otherwise would never spend a Summer second thinking about Zips football. Now 150+ people aren't thinking about Zips football in June, and their wallets and check books remain on the kitchen counter top.

I'll spend my $$ on the Fall Zips hoops outing. But they've lost my June $$, and the opportunity to spread some goodwill to 150+ core football fans.

[GP1]

I disagree with the golf outing's cancellation/termination. At the company I am employed, we pay an enormous amount of money annually to get face-time with some top customers at a central, pre-organized event. It's always held at some resort out West each winter. Point being - We PAY a ton of money to get face time with potential customers.

Call up some of the guys you golf with and take the coaches with you. You would probably spend less than $150. Make it about them.

The difference between taking customers golfing and going on a University function is the attitude of those invited. I would hope that those invited to a University golf outing are there to support the University, not to have their asses kissed by the Athletic Department. None of us are forced to do anything for the University...not the donations, not the ticket buying, not attending games and not posting on this board.

Those going to a customer golf outing are there to have their asses kissed by those inviting them and a free trip. Most people really don't like to go golfing as most aren't very good at it. My experience with golfing with customers is they look terrible after a few hours of golf. Who is stupid enough to turn down a free trip to the desert though? I'd probably suffer through a round of golf for the rest of the trip.

In closing, I'm not a customer of the University when I buy something or send in a donation or buy a ticket. I'm a supporter who has never asked for anything in return and I don't expect anything in return (with the exception of my tax deduction of course). My wife and I had dinner with a real nice lady from the Development Office a couple of weeks ago in Charlotte. She offered free tickets to a football game if I come back for a game this fall. I thanked her and told her no as I would be happy to pay my own way into a game. A part of me is ashamed that she paid for dinner.

[Captain Kangaroo]

I would hope that those invited to a University golf outing are there to support the University, not to have their asses kissed by the Athletic Department.

With the exception of only a few (the "pros/ringers" that attend these events with the expectations to shoot 18-under, and win something), everyone I know that attended the Outings was there to take a day off work, see old friends, get a little drunk, get to know the staff a bit on a personal level, and talk some Zips football in June. Golf is just something fun to do for a few hours while you're drinking and BS-ing.

[GP1]

I would hope that those invited to a University golf outing are there to support the University, not to have their asses kissed by the Athletic Department.

With the exception of only a few (the "pros/ringers" that attend these events with the expectations to shoot 18-under, and win something), everyone I know that attended the Outings was there to take a day off work, see old friends, get a little drunk, get to know the staff a bit on a personal level, and talk some Zips football in June. Golf is just something fun to do for a few hours while you're drinking and BS-ing.

All the more reason to organize a group of about ten guys and invite the coaches for a golf outing. I'm sure getting some sun after spending most of their lives watching film in their offices for 22 hours a day would do them some good.

[Hilltopper]

I would hope that those invited to a University golf outing are there to support the University, not to have their asses kissed by the Athletic Department.

With the exception of only a few (the "pros/ringers" that attend these events with the expectations to shoot 18-under, and win something), everyone I know that attended the Outings was there to take a day off work, see old friends, get a little drunk, get to know the staff a bit on a personal level, and talk some Zips football in June. Golf is just something fun to do for a few hours while you're drinking and BS-ing.

All the more reason to organize a group of about ten guys and invite the coaches for a golf outing. I'm sure getting some sun after spending most of their lives watching film in their offices for 22 hours a day would do them some good.

I tried to do just what GP1 is suggesting last summer. Me and a couple of other fans put together a day at Fairlawn CC for the Coaching staff to meet some of the die hard fans. All that was required from the staff was to show up and shake a few hands and tip a few beers. The HC wanted nothing to do with the idea. Even his agent who suggested the event was perplexed. Its great that they are reaching out to the former players, but they aren't going to fill the seats at the Info. Fans like Zips Win, CK and myself are the ones who are being ignored, when they should be doing everything possible to get some excitement going about Zips football. These guys are still operating under the premise of "build it and they will come". That ship sailed a few years ago.

[Dave in Green]

Build a winning team and they will come still works, always has, always will. Everything else is window dressing.

I'm fine with a non-socializing coach who wins.

No socializing + no winning = no support.

The clock is ticking.

[Dr Z]

Me and a couple of other fans put together a day at Fairlawn CC for the Coaching staff to meet some of the die hard fans. All that was required from the staff was to show up and shake a few hands and tip a few beers. The HC wanted nothing to do with the idea. Even his agent who suggested the event was perplexed.

It sure is tough, and a lot of work to be a Zips fan. Somebody that is getting paid to do so should make it easier.

[GP1]

The HC wanted nothing to do with the idea. Even his agent who suggested the event was perplexed. Its great that they are reaching out to the former players, but they aren't going to fill the seats at the Info. Fans like Zips Win, CK and myself are the ones who are being ignored, when they should be doing everything possible to get some excitement going about Zips football. These guys are still operating under the premise of "build it and they will come". That ship sailed a few years ago.

The problem the program has is they don't attract new customers because they have been so bad the past couple of years.

My guess is Coach I is not a golfer and doesn't have many golfers on his staff. At the end of the day, I'm not certain a golf outing for 150 of the same people who go every year regardless of how the team performs is the answer. Those people would be happy with only a good game day experience if the team won.

I've been saying this for a few years and nobody listens. They need to have people in the Athletic Department (not the football office) who schedule public speaking engagements for Coach I, KD and Coach Kest that take place throughout the summer and as many as humanly possible. Targets would be Rotary (as many as possible), Chamber of Commerce (as many as possible), Akron Womens Club, etc. Use these sessions to sell tickets. If they would just ask for freaking support instead of throwing up billboards and crossing their fingers, more people might come to the games. Put a personal touch on it.

The same people who buy tickets every year are not the problem. It is a small number compared to the size of the stadium. The problem Akron has are the 20,000+ empty seats at every game...the 1,500 empty seats on average at the JAR for MBB and the 5,000+ empty seats for WBB.

We are going to have a little exercise to prove my point. When I was working at GP, we made a roof coverboard used in low slop roofing. Around 30% of all low slope roofing projects at the time used a coverboard. There were lots of different types of coverboards and we had the best, but there was still some level of competition. Let's say the market share broke down as follows: Board A 15%, Board B 20%, Board C 25%, Board D 10%, Board E 30%. If you are Board E, who is the real competition?.........

.......A narrow minded person might pick one of Boards A-D. This person is a fool. The real competition was the architect who did not specify a coverboard at all. If you maintain 30% market share and expand the coverboard business by working with architects from 30%-40% of all low slope roofing, don't you sell 33% more product? UofA is already getting great market share from the die-hards. They are going to get that business.

What they really need to do is get the business of those not attending at all. Spending a lot of time trying to please masochists is not the way to go. I'm one of the masochists and if I still lived around, all I would want is a decent place to park within walking distance to a bar and the stadium, food at the game that wouldn't choke a goat and a seat that didn't require physical therapy after a game. I could care less about the silly game of golf or ever meeting a coach...I've met enough and they really aren't very smart guys. Everyone else wants to watch winning, or at least a team that doesn't make you want to throw up when you watch them.

The hardest thing to do in sales is bring on a new customer. It is also the most expensive. It's easy to throw up billboards, buy ads in the ABJ, buy a bus ad, etc. Going out and asking people for their business is hard. It's why they don't do it. It costs NOTHING to be a speaker at a public forum. Most of the time you get a free dinner and all you have to do is get yourself there.

They should put up signs around the Athletic Department saying, "Get them to the game and give them something worth watching." It's so freaking simple.