Bold Marketing Move

[GP1]

Link

Since we are on the topic of marketing and the need to look at what others are doing to market their programs, I have to ask if Akron ever had anything like the above link when they built the Big Dialer? Could they have done something like this at Akron?

UNCC is starting a football program in 2013. They will be I-AA. They are building a new stadium. See the link for purchasing a seat license. Could they have ever done this in Akron and did they even try? Look at the three boxes at the bottom and look at the one on the far right where they list those who have purchased PSLs. It's an impressive list. That many people purchased PSLs already for a team that won't exist until 2013.

UNCC is doing everything right in starting a football program. Akron has done mostly everything wrong since 1987. A successful program requires more than just a good AD. You have to have money coming in from the community. Public support, not just corporate support, is a must. I'd say by the list on that web site, they are getting plenty of support from the community. Akron is a much better school than UNCC in every way you could look at a school. Both are urban schools with a large commuter population. UNCC is an ugly campus...actually looks a lot like Can't State. Akron has a very nice increasingly modern looking campus.

Allow yourself to look at other ideas.

[Zips Win!]

The answer is NO.

The list is very impressive. I wish UA fans and alums did the same.

-But, Columbus isn't two hours away

-North Carolinians haven't been brian washed when it comes to college football, so they can and do think for themselves.

-Locals and alums have school pride, so they donate.

-Most are probably respectful of their school......Ours are too stupid to even know the name of their school, let alone donate.

-There are more....too tired to think of them.

I'll take a few more season ticket holders....Heck, I'll settle for a few more single game purchasers at this rate...

[skip-zip]

The answer is NO.

The list is very impressive. I wish UA fans and alums did the same.

-But, Columbus isn't two hours away

-North Carolinians haven't been brian washed when it comes to college football, so they can and do think for themselves.

-Locals and alums have school pride, so they donate.

-Most are probably respectful of their school......Ours are too stupid to even know the name of their school, let alone donate.

-There are more....too tired to think of them.

I'll take a few more season ticket holders....Heck, I'll settle for a few more single game purchasers at this rate...

Sadly, I have to say there's a lot of truth in what you're saying.

If we had taken this approach, I think it's safe to say that the diehards would have paid for the seat license, but the potential fans out there on the fringes would have been pushed even further away. So, I think we're better off right where we are at.

Remember something. With the UNCC situation, they're selling a brand new product in a major city. We're selling something that's been around a long time, and needs repairs. These two situations differ greatly in this respect.

[Hilltopper]

The "Diehards" are already paying for a seat license every season. I pay $100 per seat to be able to keep the same seats.

http://www.gozips.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_...TCLID=205085466

Season Ticket Prices (as of January 31, 2011)

Priority Reserved - $250

Be in the center of all the action with the best seats in the house. Includes a $100 donation (per ticket) to the Z-Fund.

[GP1]

The answer is NO.

The list is very impressive. I wish UA fans and alums did the same.

-But, Columbus isn't two hours away

-North Carolinians haven't been brian washed when it comes to college football, so they can and do think for themselves.

-Locals and alums have school pride, so they donate.

-Most are probably respectful of their school......Ours are too stupid to even know the name of their school, let alone donate.

-There are more....too tired to think of them.

I'll take a few more season ticket holders....Heck, I'll settle for a few more single game purchasers at this rate...

I believe we could have done something like this. We never try.

Chapel Hill is two hours away. Duke is two hours away. NC State is two hours away. USC is 1.5 hours away.

Maybe they haven't been brainwashed for college football, but they have been for college basketball.

UNCC struggles with alumni support the same way Akron does.

The student and alumni culture at UNCC and Akron are the same.

Keep in mind. The school is still two years away from having a team.

[GP1]

The "Diehards" are already paying for a seat license every season. I pay $100 per seat to be able to keep the same seats.

People are paying these prices at UNCC just to have a seat for a team that doesn't even have any players yet.

[GP1]

If we had taken this approach, I think it's safe to say that the diehards would have paid for the seat license, but the potential fans out there on the fringes would have been pushed even further away. So, I think we're better off right where we are at.

Remember something. With the UNCC situation, they're selling a brand new product in a major city. We're selling something that's been around a long time, and needs repairs. These two situations differ greatly in this respect.

Since we never tried, how would we know?

UNCC is selling something. They are selling a I-AA football program that doesn't even exist scheduled to play in a bad conference, in a major city that shows little to no interest in any sport other than NASCAR. All they have is a new coach, a new stadium and an AD who is working her ass off to get the program going.

If we can't do this type of marketing in Akron, everything I have ever said about UofA not belonging in D-IA is true.

[GP1]

This is how you treat the community and small business owners who could buy tickets to your events. I belong to an organization that has nine meetings a year on various topics in the construction industry. I'm in charge of putting together the dinner presentations next year. After our discussion last week, the idea of having the AD at UNCC speak on the planning of the new stadium. On Saturday morning at 8:46, I sent the note below to the Athletic Director UNCC:

Dear Judy,

I am writing on behalf of the Charlotte Chapter of the Construction Specifications Institute. We are a Professional organization in the construction industry. Our members are the architects, specification writers, contractors and manufacturer's representative that work together to build structures in Charlotte. We are currently planning our membership meetings for the Fall of 2011 and Spring of 2012. At each meeting, we have a dinner presentation relevant to something interesting going on around Charlotte. I believe the development of a football team along with building a new stadium would be of interest to this group. The presentation would be to 40-60 professionals and would last 40-50 minutes leaving time for questions.

Would you or someone from your office be interested in speaking to our members about your new football stadium and some of the planning that went on around this new structure?

At 9:22, the following note came back:

We would be happy to present. I assume you want one of the architects,general contractor and myself.

What dates are available and where do you meet?

Organizations like I belong to struggle to get speakers to come to dinners. There will be 10 owners of large architectural firms around Charlotte at this one meeting. There will be many people interested in sports and many UNCC graduates of their Architecture Department at the meeting. The AD at UNCC knows how valuable these types of meetings are and will come herself and make her architect and general contractor come as well. She responded in less than 45 minutes. That's how you treat the community. That's how you sell PSLs. That's how you have a successful program two years out from even having a team. She's coming to the meeting herself, not having a low level employee do the speaking. The UofA grad in me even gave here the option of sending an employee of her department thinking she wouldn't do it herself.

You guys say it can't be done. I say it can be done. Gaining public support is the most important thing Akron could do right now. We built a new factory (InfoCision Stadium). You have to use the factory to make money or the factory was a waste of money to build.

If we could just get that darn team fixed....

[lance99]

Look at the three boxes at the bottom and look at the one on the far right where they list those who have purchased PSLs. It's an impressive list. That many people purchased PSLs already for a team that won't exist until 2013.

There are doing this for one reason, to raise cash!

And NO it would not work here on a large scale. Would the Die Hards pay? Of course, but must fans are too cheap to "pay, just to pay"

[GP1]

Look at the three boxes at the bottom and look at the one on the far right where they list those who have purchased PSLs. It's an impressive list. That many people purchased PSLs already for a team that won't exist until 2013.

There are doing this for one reason, to raise cash!

And NO it would not work here on a large scale. Would the Die Hards pay? Of course, but must fans are too cheap to "pay, just to pay"

Doing it to raise cash? EXACTLY! That's the purpose of the Marketing Department, Development Staff and the entire reason for selling tickets.

If we can't do things like this here at Akron, we don't belong in Division I-A football.

I hate to keep bringing up UNCC (I really didn't notice them until my wife pointed out their internet marketing of PSLs), but all they really have (they have other sports that nobody pays attention to) is a basketball team and a I-AA football team that won't be on the field until 2013. This link takes you to their Foundation site. They raised $64,000 in ONE golf outing. It takes us two to reach that dollar limit. They raised $90,000 at a womens lunch. They raised $200,000 at their Gold Rush Auction.

We can do things like this, we just don't even try. Step one: Put a winner on the field.

[lance99]

Look at the three boxes at the bottom and look at the one on the far right where they list those who have purchased PSLs. It's an impressive list. That many people purchased PSLs already for a team that won't exist until 2013.

There are doing this for one reason, to raise cash!

And NO it would not work here on a large scale. Would the Die Hards pay? Of course, but must fans are too cheap to "pay, just to pay"

Doing it to raise cash? EXACTLY! That's the purpose of the Marketing Department, Development Staff and the entire reason for selling tickets.

If we can't do things like this here at Akron, we don't belong in Division I-A football.

I hate to keep bringing up UNCC (I really didn't notice them until my wife pointed out their internet marketing of PSLs), but all they really have (they have other sports that nobody pays attention to) is a basketball team and a I-AA football team that won't be on the field until 2013. This link takes you to their Foundation site. They raised $64,000 in ONE golf outing. It takes us two to reach that dollar limit. They raised $90,000 at a womens lunch. They raised $200,000 at their Gold Rush Auction.

We can do things like this, we just don't even try. Step one: Put a winner on the field.

I know that GP1, but it takes more that a winner on the field. I said in another thread that the sports food chain in the area is the following: Browns, OSU, HS Football, Cavs, all others. There is the real issue Could they do it? Oh yeah they could, would the area support it? There is the question that is the unknown.

Always remember, to make money you have to spend money. That is why they call it a investment. UNCC has nothing to fall back on (as already stated). If NFL Football dosen't happen this year, They will do everything in their power if fill the info. This might be the wait and see outlook.

Here is a novel idea, instead of going after the Marketing Department, lets just go strait to the top on this subject?

[ZachTheZip]

The difference is that UNCC hasn't proven to the average fan that they're a perpetual loser yet. Akron has had 24 years to show to local people that they can't win in the FBS.

So people are willing to gamble their money away on UNCC, while people already know they have a losing product with Akron.

[GP1]

Always remember, to make money you have to spend money. That is why they call it a investment. UNCC has nothing to fall back on (as already stated). If NFL Football dosen't happen this year, They will do everything in their power if fill the info. This might be the wait and see outlook.

WARNING: The above statement is an example of the "building" mentality killing the Zips.

We have been investing. There are no results.

If there is football, they won't try? Amazing.

I guess after waiting 20+ years for something to happen, what would another 20 years be while we wait and see?

[GP1]

The difference is that UNCC hasn't proven to the average fan that they're a perpetual loser yet. Akron has had 24 years to show to local people that they can't win in the FBS.

So people are willing to gamble their money away on UNCC, while people already know they have a losing product with Akron.

That's a lot of people gambling. I think it is more related to community support and actually asking for community support.

[ZachTheZip]

The difference is that UNCC hasn't proven to the average fan that they're a perpetual loser yet. Akron has had 24 years to show to local people that they can't win in the FBS.

So people are willing to gamble their money away on UNCC, while people already know they have a losing product with Akron.

That's a lot of people gambling. I think it is more related to community support and actually asking for community support.

Maybe it's a combination. How long has it been since the coaches and players (many of which are local and have ties to the community) have actually gone campaigning around Akron and its suburbs? The occasional speech at the Hall of Fame luncheon doesn't cut it, nor does going on a sports talk radio show every other month. That plays into the mentality that the area has developed in regards the program.

It takes a large combination of things working well to get a strong fan following. It takes community support, winning, media coverage, the list goes on. The question is, what comes first and what can we do to get that going? Winning is obviously the big one and the least dependent on the others to get going, but community support helps facilitate that by generating a home field advantage and pumping money into the program. Media coverage stems from winning, but also from a community that demands coverage, however coverage can also create the community that supports the team.

I think the answer comes down to doing everything we can on all the fronts. If we sit around and hope that fixing one thing will solve all the other problems, we'll never get anywhere.

[Dave in Green]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with "building" when done right. Building is the path to success when done right.

When done wrong, it really isn't building. It's called spinning your wheels.