Dave in Green Posted February 21, 2015 Report Share Posted February 21, 2015 Why We Blame Others Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sportsjunkie330 Posted February 21, 2015 Report Share Posted February 21, 2015 This might be one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. Almost as bad as the NFL wanting Katy Perry to pay them to perform at the Super Bowl.Every Super Bowl performer pays to perform at the Super Bowl btw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZipFrom86 Posted February 21, 2015 Report Share Posted February 21, 2015 I didn't see anyone post this, but it is kind of hard to get people to turn out to games when the marketing dept runs ads for games from two days earlier. If you still have your ABJ from Friday (Feb 20) that advertises a 7pm tipoff against Toledo on February 18th. It is at the bottom of the front sports page. How can something like this get through? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper Posted February 21, 2015 Report Share Posted February 21, 2015 I didn't see anyone post this, but it is kind of hard to get people to turn out to games when the marketing dept runs ads for games from two days earlier. If you still have your ABJ from Friday (Feb 20) that advertises a 7pm tipoff against Toledo on February 18th. It is at the bottom of the front sports page. How can something like this get through?I would be willing to wager the mistake was made by the ABJ,not UA marketing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZachTheZip Posted February 21, 2015 Report Share Posted February 21, 2015 Bottom line: to attract students to games, you need to actively engage them. Almost every marketing effort I've seen has been passive. Putting something out there and hoping that they pay attention to it just doesn't work anymore, even if you're handing out free money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skip-zip Posted February 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2015 Bottom line: to attract students to games, you need to actively engage them. Almost every marketing effort I've seen has been passive. Putting something out there and hoping that they pay attention to it just doesn't work anymore, even if you're handing out free money.Yes, it is rather passive. It's signs that say "game today" or a game announcement sent through FB. Neither of which are going to get anyone excited about going to a UA basketball game if they don't have an interest in going to a UA basketball game. You can make 30,0000 students aware that there's a basketball game, but that doesn't make them act. But when you say "actively engage them", I'm curious what you're specifically thinking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balsy Posted February 21, 2015 Report Share Posted February 21, 2015 Bottom line: to attract students to games, you need to actively engage them. Almost every marketing effort I've seen has been passive. Putting something out there and hoping that they pay attention to it just doesn't work anymore, even if you're handing out free money.Bingo. Yes, it is rather passive. It's signs that say "game today" or a game announcement sent through FB. Neither of which are going to get anyone excited about going to a UA basketball game if they don't have an interest in going to a UA basketball game. You can make 30,0000 students aware that there's a basketball game, but that doesn't make them act. But when you say "actively engage them", I'm curious what you're specifically thinking. This is why I think it's important for athletics to actually look into it. We'd also need to find out how many we can realistically draw to a game (commuters, those living on campus, jobs, other campus activities that may meet during game times...). I'd start by getting every game not having outside groups sing the anthem, to have the anthem sung by one of the million capella groups that UA has. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZachTheZip Posted February 21, 2015 Report Share Posted February 21, 2015 Think about how college kids get their information. It primarily comes through their phones. Twitter and Facebook are nice, but unless you are on at the time something is posted, it gets lost in the feed and most followers of an account never see it. But send them a notification and they'll pull their phone out and check what it has to say, even in the middle of conversations or in class.I think there should be a text notification thing set up to remind students (and fans) when it's gameday. Offer to sign them up during orientation, like they do with the school closing text notifications.It's still not at the level of engagement I would like to see, but it's a step closer to active marketing.One thing that really helped get students involved in the past was that athletes, especially the men's soccer team, were approachable and made friends with the students. Too many of the athletes are insular and stick together with only their teammates and the gym rats at the Rec. Football players, especially, have a reputation on campus for doing this. When I first started high school, I didn't care for sports very much despite my family being huge Browns and Indians fans. But I made friends with some football players and went to a few games, and I was hooked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balsy Posted February 21, 2015 Report Share Posted February 21, 2015 But I made friends with some football players and went to a few games, and I was hooked.+1. Zeke occasionally came into places where other students were to drum-up support for athletics...but those were specific athletic events...but when you talked to Zeke, you realized he was actually a pretty cool guy and it made you want to cheer for him and the team.I was friends with a couple of the W. Basketball team players (from class and labs) and other friends and I from those same classes would go to the games to cheer on our friends on the team. Soccer players were also pretty cool, the ones I met in my classes anyways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RowdyZip Posted February 21, 2015 Report Share Posted February 21, 2015 Some good ideas here. Maybe have someone develop an Akron athletics app for android and iOS. Introduce it at orientation and set up some cool prizes you can be entered into for downloading said app. BAM you're in kids phones and therefore lives. Have the app send out a notification for home games. Have to be careful though to make sure notifications aren't excessive. Keep it to spectator sports, maybe football, soccer and men's/women's basketball. The notification could include any game giveaways such as shirts, rally towels, food, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K92 Posted February 21, 2015 Report Share Posted February 21, 2015 Another thing that may help get students to at least consider coming to games would be pro-athletics RAs that could actively promote sporting events. Do they still have one RA per floor? Put 'em to work. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZachTheZip Posted February 21, 2015 Report Share Posted February 21, 2015 Another thing that may help get students to at least consider coming to games would be pro-athletics RAs that could actively promote sporting events. Do they still have one RA per floor? Put 'em to work.There used to be residence hall challenges. Which ever hall got the most students to show to a game won something. Don't know if they still do this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K92 Posted February 21, 2015 Report Share Posted February 21, 2015 I bet if the University would just put about 30 zealots from this board on scholarship for sports management for 4 years and let us assimilate back into the current college culture we could drastically improve attendance. Who's game? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balsy Posted February 22, 2015 Report Share Posted February 22, 2015 Another thing that may help get students to at least consider coming to games would be pro-athletics RAs that could actively promote sporting events. Do they still have one RA per floor? Put 'em to work.There used to be residence hall challenges. Which ever hall got the most students to show to a game won something. Don't know if they still do this.Yes they did used to do the Resident Hall challenges, but I don't think it's been hotly promoted for several years...sorta like what's happened to Roowards. They used to do something for Homecoming with Greek life, but I think that has dropped off too. If I were Athletics those are three things I'd get going again immediately.One of the biggest groups on campus, with one of the biggest activities on campus (both student volume and outside person volume) is Relay for Life. Couldn't Relay For Life partner with Athletics for a game...counting Relay Team attendance towards points in the RFL competitions, and allowing RFL students to set up donation tables. Pretty inexpensive, and I guarantee would be better student engagement...wouldn't cost Athletics a thing.As for RA's Keener...from my experience the RA's are some of the most Pro-Akron students we got. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkwgriswold Posted February 23, 2015 Report Share Posted February 23, 2015 How about you can only use your dorm food credits on the night of a game for concessions at the game? LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a-zip Posted February 25, 2015 Report Share Posted February 25, 2015 Wouldn't this be nice!!! I was at the Wisconsin game, I got chills it was so loud and fun!!https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=934591643218130Fun at Terps basketball gameshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1qoZxWAsk8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6Heonx4F9k 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balsy Posted February 25, 2015 Report Share Posted February 25, 2015 How much you wanna bet students + student groups were included on orchestrating this? Like, idk...treated like adults and approached as if they were valued members of the university? Freakin awesome!Also: Look how close the students are to the court? Take note Akron Athletics. Take note. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skip-zip Posted February 25, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2015 Unbelievable. I can't image what it would take to organize that.It's not like Maryland is the best football and basketball program in the country. And Akron isn't either. But, I get a clear indication that their students love being there, care about showing pride and want to have some fun. Good for them. I'm jealous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UAZip0510 Posted February 26, 2015 Report Share Posted February 26, 2015 How much you wanna bet students + student groups were included on orchestrating this? Like, idk...treated like adults and approached as if they were valued members of the university? Freakin awesome!I bet their students show up for more than their rivalry game too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balsy Posted February 26, 2015 Report Share Posted February 26, 2015 I bet their students show up for more than their rivalry game too.Well...when you're treated like you matter... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UAZip0510 Posted February 26, 2015 Report Share Posted February 26, 2015 Well...when you're treated like you matter...Sorry man, I just think that's a cop out. The marketing/promotions/engagement hasn't always been bad and students have never shown up consistently in large numbers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balsy Posted February 26, 2015 Report Share Posted February 26, 2015 Sorry man, I just think that's a cop out. The marketing/promotions/engagement hasn't always been bad and students have never shown up consistently in large numbers. One season of good marketing/promotions/engagement doesn't make up for years and years of not good marketing/promotions/engagement. For my time on campus there was maybe one year that we really had good marketing/promotions/engagement...and it wasn't my first three years on campus. You breed the culture you want. UA has improved (a little) in trying to change the culture since my freshman year on campus...but it's got a long, long way to go. Just an observation of mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave in Green Posted February 26, 2015 Report Share Posted February 26, 2015 It sounds like the current generation of college students doesn't buy into anything unless there's a big marketing program behind it. The older fans here will recall the good old days when students didn't need a marketing program to tell them what to do with their lives. We figured it out for ourselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UAZip0510 Posted February 26, 2015 Report Share Posted February 26, 2015 One season of good marketing/promotions/engagement doesn't make up for years and years of not good marketing/promotions/engagement. For my time on campus there was maybe one year that we really had good marketing/promotions/engagement...and it wasn't my first three years on campus. You breed the culture you want. UA has improved (a little) in trying to change the culture since my freshman year on campus...but it's got a long, long way to go. Just an observation of mine.I guess it depends on what you're looking for. I look for an entertaining team, likable players that represent the school well, and wins. I have received a ton of that since Keith Dambrot took over.I honestly don't know what, if anything, would bring students out. However, I do think marketing/promotions and the general student population have both failed to live up to their respective expectations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balsy Posted February 26, 2015 Report Share Posted February 26, 2015 I honestly don't know what, if anything, would bring students out. However, I do think marketing/promotions and the general student population have both failed to live up to their respective expectations. Though I agree students should show up to games in higher numbers...this thought process is part of the problem. Why should students be expected to show up? Student's should be catered towards not have expectations made of them. Because it's the 22,000 student's $800 a year that make our athletic department, not our donations or ticket buying.I don't know what would bring them out either, that's why I'm saying go and engage them. From a recent student's perspective: what is promotions/marketing doing to make students want to sit in uncomfortable wooden bleacher seats, in a high-school-esque stadium, where you change where the student section is ever couple a years, where a guy shouts at you through a microphone that you're in the wrong section and you need to move to the "new" section (embarrassing, making UA feel like a community-college, and did happen a couple of years ago), to watch your team beat up on 80% of the opponents who visit. What exactly makes students want to come? Has anyone in marketing/promotions actually asked the students? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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