Open letter to athletic department re: marketing this team

[CalallenStang]

Dear Steve Orsini & the SMU Athletic Department:

Thank you for hiring June Jones and for every effort that has been put in by the athletic department to re-instill the winning culture at SMU. Our recent football success is due in no small part to the various moves the athletic department has made to position our football program as one of the premier programs in the nation.

A direct result of this success was last Saturday's win over TCU. The SMU victory over the #20 ranked Horned Frogs shocked the nation by ending TCU's home winning streak and knocking the Frogs out of the polls. It also announced to the entire world something that we Mustang fans have wanted to shout from the rooftops for years: SMU is back!

The win over our cross-metro rivals undoubtedly caused an uptick in interest in the Mustangs among casual college football fans in DFW. Whenever you have a sudden uptick in interest in your product, it is best to take advantage of it.

Other sports teams across the country sell "season ticket mini plans" which include tickets to a set number of games. These are sold based upon what time of year it currently is. For instance, a Rangers fan in May may be able to purchase tickets to all Thursday and Friday home games in June & July. That same fan at the end of August may be able to purchase tickets to all September home games.

With only six home games, it is often impractical for a college football program to offer these sort of ticket packages. The cost of marketing the plans would simply outweigh the revenues the plans bring in.

However, our situation is unique: We did not sell as many season tickets as we may have hoped to sell this year. The interest was not there...until now. We have four home games remaining. It is time that we sell a "Rest of the Season" ticket mini plan, at a price slightly discounted from the price of the individual game tickets. Market this aggressively. Get the "bandwagon" fans to Ford and turn them into long-time fans!

I know that the budget is tight; however, the benefits should outweigh the costs. When considering the benefits, be sure to take into account not just the revenues from the ticket sales, but also the revenues associated with concessions, the potential to sell season tickets to these fans for next year's games, etc.

We always talk about wanting to be Dallas' team. Let's take the necessary steps to make that a reality.

[Clubs]

AYE! Well done sir.

[Comet]

Is something like this even feasible? Marketing is everything in business sometimes, and it irks me that SMU does so little of it.

[Clubs]

Why wouldn't it be? This should not be a hard deal to put together. Getting the word out would be the challenge.

[redpony]

Calallen- great letter. I hope it does some good and we can get the ball rolling on something like you suggest. Thanks for the effort.

GO PONIES!!!

[CalallenStang]

If anyone here has a contact in the athletic department that can pass on a link to this, it would be much appreciated.

[Duke Blue Blood]

Send multiple hard copies to them, don't send them a link to Pony Fans.

[CalallenStang]

Send multiple hard copies to them, don't send them a link to Pony Fans.

That works too, is Brad Sutton the best contact over there?

[RGV Pony]

If it has to do w "marketing" it is..id cc hemme too being the ticket guy

[CalallenStang]

Sent it to Orsini, Brad Sutton, and Terry Hemme.

[CalallenStang]

If any of you have good contacts in the athletic department and want to send it yourself, feel free.

[SMULaxer]

Ah yes, I love it when people send me letters at work telling me how to do my job.

[Blvd_Stang]

Ah yes, I love it when people send me letters at work telling me how to do my job.

haha funny

[CalallenStang]

Ah yes, I love it when people send me letters at work telling me how to do my job.

If you aren't open to new ideas, you are closed to the potential they may have

[Blvd_Stang]

Ok since I am in advertising I'll let you know how I would do this campaign:

Billboards: Two Billboards one on the 75 and one on the 35. Show remaining schedule and show the packaged deal price. Maybe throw FoxSports on there to add some credibility.. and while we're at it an iron skillet.

Social Media: It's inexpensive, it's targeted, it's effective. SMU already had the infrastructure in place and would be able to deliver the message. Also as a thought, have a grassroots campaign where dallas-area students post the deal for their friends. People are more receptive to advertising in social media from people they trust and have a relationship with. This is why you see brands not just posting deals on their social media pages but also content that opens a dialogue and a relationship. Anyways I regress.. If there's enough buzz on campus this could work too.

Newspapers: Similar ad as billboard bought for newspaper format. However, with a twist I would advertise this in the local colleges like UTD newspapers as well.

Direct Mail: Targeted, really nice mail pieces that offer something tangible. I would even do something like include mockups of the tickets for the rest of the season where you have something to hold and make it real. You can make a really nice DM piece for about .42 cost per piece. I'd make it super classy looking and target west village and highland park, north dallas and the local colleges without football programs.

TV commercials: Doubt we could afford this, but obviously you sell the BLVD experience like a mofo showing awesome shots of Bishop going off with highlights from the games.

PR: Any PR contacts our dept. has for free.. get this drive PUBLISHED

Event Marketing: Raffle off the package tickets at events where there are large groups. This is all about making smart strategic partnerships to give away tickets that lead a couple people to win then ultimately bring people with them. Texas state fair is huge, high school football games, HR dept. of companies is a huge asset. Call them and offer two four game passes that they can raffle off. That's huge for getting others involved.

Take or leave what we can afford. But obviously most effective if all done together.