Marketing Campaign

[Alaric]

I can live with the Pony ^ campaign and I'm excited SMU is trying to build awareness and putting some money into marketing. I love the banners. The Boulevarding thing is horrible though. It isn't going to win any fans in Dallas. SMU's air of elitism is a big reason, in addition to our record, why almost no non-SMU alum care about SMU.

[93Mustang]

I think the marketing campaign is ambiguous enough to have created chatter around the city about SMU football. Usually at this time of year, no one is talking about us. Not saying the arrow up is the best slogan we've had, but people are talking about us and it's very visible around town. With respect to the "Boulevarding" billboard, I think building a unique "brand" for our tailgate scene is smart. Talk to people from Tech, Baylor, or OKlahoma St. about going to games at Ford, and they uniformly praise our tailgating scene on the Boulevard. While I totally agree that our elitist image has been a problem for attracting a broader audience in Dallas, I do not interpret "Boulevarding" as elitist. Rather, I see it as branding our pregame tradition.

As for the idiot on the linked page, it is apathetic alums like her who hurt our attendance. To suggest our tailgate scene is not well attended or not a good time is absolutely ridiculous. The Boulevard is one of the few things we've done well for the past 7 years at Ford. You can certainly criticize the results of our team since 1986, but why rip the few positive things we've done?

[mrydel]

Realize also that Dallas has a few million people. We do not need all of them to fill up Ford. Those that do not like the "elitist" feel can stay home. Those that want to "Boulevard" and enjoy football are invited to attend. I bet there are 40,000 or so of them out there. We just need to reel them in.

[jtstang]

Realize also that Dallas has a few million people. We do not need all of them to fill up Ford. Those that do not like the "elitist" feel can stay home. Those that want to "Boulevard" and enjoy football are invited to attend. I bet there are 40,000 or so of them out there. We just need to reel them in.

SMU should start with alums. Blogster and I were discussing this yesterday, and he makes a good point. It is not obvious that the marketing campaign is directed at alumni, but I hope whoever came up with it had that in mind. That way the concerns about people going "?" when they see Pony ↑ go away, because at least alums will be familiar with the symbolism and the location of campus. If you could just get another 15k in local alums back the games, hell with the rest of Dallas.

[RGV Pony]

Realize also that Dallas has a few million people. We do not need all of them to fill up Ford. Those that do not like the "elitist" feel can stay home. Those that want to "Boulevard" and enjoy football are invited to attend. I bet there are 40,000 or so of them out there. We just need to reel them in.

SMU should start with alums. Blogster and I were discussing this yesterday, and he makes a good point. It is not obvious that the marketing campaign is directed at alumni, but I hope whoever came up with it had that in mind. That way the concerns about people going "?" when they see Pony ↑ go away, because at least alums will be familiar with the symbolism and the location of campus. If you could just get another 15k in local alums back the games, hell with the rest of Dallas.

15k in local alums would be what, about 40% of all the alumni living in Dallas? Do 40% of students even go now? Is it possible that 40% of students ever would go? If you include undergrad only, that would be somewhere between 2500 and 3000 at every game...include grad students and that's 4000. I know that's something to aspire to, but getting 40% of the alumni at the game likely requires that they would have had to have given a sh*t while they were students, no?

[Peruna2001]

Does anybody know when the tv spots are going to start?

[jtstang]

15k in local alums would be what, about 40% of all the alumni living in Dallas? Do 40% of students even go now? Is it possible that 40% of students ever would go? If you include undergrad only, that would be somewhere between 2500 and 3000 at every game...include grad students and that's 4000. I know that's something to aspire to, but getting 40% of the alumni at the game likely requires that they would have had to have given a sh*t while they were students, no?

I hear ya. I am not saying it'll work, just if there's any hope of filling Fiord it needs to start there.

[mrydel]

I hear ya. I am not saying it'll work, just if there's any hope of filling Fiord it needs to start there.[/quote]

You give me a Nordic kinda feeling.

[MrMustang1965]

Does anybody know when the tv spots are going to start?

According to a DMN article a couple of weeks ago, I believe it said the radio spots would start early next week and the TV spots would begin the latter part of the same week.