new message from marketing!

[Cadillac]

... we are sending out a solid white cover with "horse arrow" on the cover. That's it...

It's the regular cover, with a white cover OVER it. My first reaction was WTF is THAT? But I talked to a friend of mine who's a coach (at another school) and he pointed out that media guides aren't for the general fan base, and not for the media. Media guides are designed for one group of people: recruits. Every school
out there will have multiple images splashed all over their covers, as we usually do. If Recruit X has a dozen media guides sitting on his desk at home, or on the kitchen table, and they all have a busy collection of images, this one definitely will stand out. It's not exactly a flashy homage to Doak Walker, or even Mario Walker, but on a one-time basis, I don't think it's bad at all.

It should certainly have a lot of appeal to recruits who can't actually read.

I'm excited to see where they go with this. I agree that the soft launch has been very underwhelming but I think there are a lot of great ways they can take this thing.

-CoS

[Pony4Life]

Pretty weak is all I can say. Then again, the replacement for Sweet was really weak! I question the thought process for hiring a new Director of marketing after Sweet has told Orsini that he is leaving SMU for a bigger paycheck(knowing the stupid Pony Up campaign is on the way). Immediately, Orsini knows that if you want people to fill the stadium you hire the marketing genius behind the latest marketing campaign for the flower and vegetable zoo in Dallas. I think this years Arboretum campaign was "Come watch grass grow for $8."

Laugh all you want, but the Arboretum sells a hell of a lot of tickets. My wife has made me go twice this year, and she's been twice more with the kids.

If the new marketing director can market, she can market — doesn't matter if she marketed plants or widgets or pet rocks before she got here. If she got numbers of customers, sponsors, media imprints, etc., up at the Arboretum, she might well be able to do this. Can't bash a campaign we haven't yet seen, in my opinion.

[MrMustang1965]

But I talked to a friend of mine who's a coach (at another school) and he pointed out that media guides aren't for the general fan base, and not for the media. Media guides are designed for one group of people: recruits.

Then they should quit calling it a 'media guide' and call it a 'recruiting guide'.

[Pony4Life]

Perhaps you're right, MM65! But you know the NCAA wouldn't allow that. At least now the NCAA doesn't allow budgetless behemoths to print up a million-page color media guide that weighs more than your car and has a special section about every player in the school's history. UT used to print up a volume that was almost as big — literally — as the phone directory. 400 or 500 pages, high-gloss, full color, etc. Small-budget schools couldn't compete with that.

[Cadillac]

Laugh all you want, but the Arboretum sells a hell of a lot of tickets. My wife has made me go twice this year, and she's been twice more with the kids.

That's a good point. I don't know anything about how the Arboretum markets, but the wife has dragged me out there more times than I can count. We have a family pass to the damn place.

-CoS

[Pony4Life]

I don't know anything about how the Arboretum markets, but the wife has dragged me out there more times than I can count. We have a family pass to the damn place.

-CoS

Ditto!
That's exactly my point.
Maybe I'll see you there one day. I'll be the guy quietly mainlining beer into my veins.

[KnuckleStang]

I don't think the Pony Up thing is stupid at all. It's simple, which is what you want in a marketing campaign. I agree with somebody who said if you put enough of those things around, people will get curious about it. Hell, go guerilla like some people do up here. Send a bunch of students around every inch of the metroplex with sidewalk chalk. Have them draw that symbol on every concrete surface they can find. It washes off, so there's no damage to property, and even if people don't understand what it is at first, they'll get it eventually. If somebody tries to charge SMU with defacing public property, tell them to PROVE that we wrote it. ha ha

[friarwolf]

And after a two game losing skid, the tired old joke will be our new marketing campaign with the arrow pointing down or worse, the arrow pointing down and the pony's 4 legs pointing up...................

[BUS]

Hello All,
Man it's hot and I bet you bills are getting bigger

Give this program some time. What was "Ding" the first time you saw or heard it?????

With a good year on the field, this program will reach out to the masses. I hope the masses see this and remember. Execution is the key.


Personally, I was hoping for a big budget promotion with a lot of punch.

Viagra, Cialis, the other one?, Want Excitement - SMU Football " It lasts for hours" TradeMark on that thank you.gss

Willis, Martin and Henderson - "It lasts for hours" TradeMark on that thank you.gss

Something that would get peoples attention.

The readers of this site will be at the games... how do we get others to come?

[VarsityShop]

New Blvd chair

[35straight]

Got it. This just hit me at midnight. Our new campaign should have Gary Coleman walk out and give the ole "What ya talkin bout Willis?", then boom we run some highlights and have JWill say anything.

[PonyKai]

Got it. This just hit me at midnight. Our new campaign should have Gary Coleman walk out and give the ole "What ya talkin bout Willis?", then boom we run some highlights and have JWill say anything.

He'd come really cheap too...seen those cash call commercials?

[PonyKai]

From Mr. Farrell at mustang maniacs...

"Media guide cover praised: SMU media relations director Brad Sutton said he's getting plenty of props for the media guide cover featuring SMU's new "Pony Up" logo. The cover has the Mustangs' logo and a black arrow pointing up as the only images on a white background.

"It has built a buzz around the room today," Sutton said during the C-USA Media Days. "I've had two people say it's the best cover they've ever seen. It's simple, but it's the message we wanted to present."

SMU's cover sat in stark contrast to nine of the other schools' media guide covers featuring the usual assortment of action photos of their top players and coaches. Central Florida's cover shows their new helmet logo, and UTEP's shows a shadowed player standing with a pick ax against a dark background."

[EastStang]

There's only so much you can do with a billboard or print ad. At least it makes people ask WTF is that about? Which is one way to create a buzz. Not the way I'd do it, but we all approach things differently. Me what do I know, I'd have comic type strip with a crypt keeper telling a fan that we have something very scary that's been in the cellar for years. And out bounds Peruna which runs up the stairs. Obtuse, but would be interesting.

[jtstang]

Good call East. After twenty years of death, I think we should change our mascot to the Crypt Keepers as well.