This is what I think we need to do

by **mrydel** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 2:20 pm

This is just another marketing thread because I do not think we have met our 2014 quota. Feel free not to read because it is just me killing some lunch time.

One of our attendance problems that we have along with not winning is an on campus stadium. Ford is great and if we had 40,000 students it would be filled. But we don't. Even if all the students went it would still be empty. Then we have the 1500 but that does not make a dent. So we need Dallas. Problem is, people not intimate with SMU do not know where to park, where to tailgate, or the layout of the campus and stadium. No one is just going to wake up and say they think they will take in an SMU game on a given Saturday like you may a Rangers or Cowboy game if tickets were available.

My suggestion would be every Tuesday to have a full page ad in the sports section of the DMN that has the layout of the campus, Mockingbird Dart lot, Dart schedules from various areas, and information on the Boulevard and how a person or family can participate in the game day. It has to run every week. Once at the beginning of the year will not do it. That is expensive but all marketing is.

If we were still at one of the large stadiums we would be inconvenient to 6,000 students. On campus we are inconvenient to 40,000 potential fans.

Long post, sorry but as much as I love Ford, I wonder how many potential fans we lose just because they do not know where to park?

by **MustangStealth** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 2:23 pm

mrydel wrote:Long post, sorry but as much as I love Ford, I wonder how many potential fans we lose just because they do not know where to park?

Or because the event staff at gate 3 turns away season ticket holders and tells them to find another gate, this is students only...

by **Johnny Utah** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 2:44 pm

You could put in your full page ad that SMU will pay for limousine home/stadium pickup/drop off for every fan and still no one would read it or go to the games. Marketing is the biggest waste of money at this juncture with our winless depressing team/program..... It's sad that anyone thinks marketing is going to do anything. Focus needs to be 100% on how to win every game and be relevant over a sustained period of time.

by **LakeHighlandsPony** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 3:01 pm

Maybe we should tarp the North endzone to cover the empty seats.

by **DiamondM75** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 3:08 pm

I would run the full page ad and also include a coupon for free general admission, or get 50% off any other available seat. When you get the discount, you also get a package of souvenir junk and ways to buy season tickets (with Mustang Club or without Mustang Club). I would also include a free drink or candy.

So now I can get a good deal on tickets, see other things that are going on and also get directions on how to get there.

But wait, this is SMU. Never happen.

by **mrydel** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 3:11 pm

LakeHighlandsPony wrote:Maybe we should tarp the North endzone to cover the empty seats.

If we do I certainly am going to stop buying the tickets in that area that they are supposed to be giving away to special groups.

Probably going to stop that anyway.

by **EconPony'10** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 3:13 pm

I'll give my two cents. I grew up in a suburb by Grapevine Lake and I didn't even know SMU existed (literally) until Bennett and Co. came and talked to me at my high school my Junior year.

WINNING CURES EVERYTHING... If SMU was 11-1, 10-2 while I was in high school with nationally televised games, I guarantee I would've known who they were and wanted to come to a game.

The only person in the history of Dallas sports that has defied all odds is Jerry Jones. He is the only person on the planet that can have a decade full of bad teams and still keep the seats full.

by **mrydel** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 3:33 pm

You and Johnny Utah are wrong. I am not sure how they did it, but in the 70s (pre BCS and playoff) Northwestern University had the longest losing streak in college football history. It may still stand, I am not sure. They sold out most of their games. They promoted the school. They even promoted the losing streak in some way. My parents lived outside of Chicago at the time and bought season tickets just because of the buzz surrounding their program.

Winning always helps and believe me I am all for it, but you can get people to come if handled properly. It will never happen like the old days because of the saturation of TV coverage and P5-G5 split, but it can improve even before we start winning.

But my thoughts were not about specific promotions. That is all apart from what I am saying. Giving away tickets will not bring anyone if they do not know how to get to the game.

by **Nacho** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 3:34 pm

maybe a billion dollar stadium will solve our problems.

by **RebStang** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 3:34 pm

That's an interesting idea but it kind of assumes that people in Dallas want to go to an SMU game... the only people that sort of campaign would reach are people who are probably already coming to games.

In my opinion, talking about marketing when the product is this terrible is wasted energy.

Coca-Cola marketed the heck out of "New Coke" but, in the end, the product was so terrible that no amount of marketing was going to make people want to buy it.

Whether we like it or not, we're New Coke right now... a product that most don't want to buy no matter how much we market it.

by **smumed** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 5:15 pm

MustangStealth wrote:
mrydel wrote:Long post, sorry but as much as I love Ford, I wonder how many potential fans we lose just because they do not know where to park?

Or because the event staff at gate 3 turns away season ticket holders and tells them to find another gate, this is students only...

I was thoroughly confused when I was turned away at gate 3, as a season ticket holder. A gate I have been going through for the past five years. I can understand if they wanted to make it a "show your ID and get in gate". But, considering our attendance, it wasn't going to exactly slow them down having to scan a few season tickets etc.

by **ponyboy** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 6:21 pm

I flat out love mrydel's idea. Maybe run another ad on Fridays before home games, same full page, same theme as mrydel's ad, but all it says is BOULEVARD TOMORROW and then a running mustang logo

by **Ponymon** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 7:39 pm

mrydel wrote:My suggestion would be every Tuesday to have a full page ad in the sports section of the DMN that has the layout of the campus, Mockingbird Dart lot, Dart schedules from various areas, and information on the Boulevard and how a person or family can participate in the game day. It has to run every week. Once at the beginning of the year will not do it. That is expensive but all marketing is.

The DMN still has subscribers? :roll:

by **ALEX LIFESON** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 7:55 pm

Social media.

by **Stallion** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 7:58 pm

Ponymon wrote:
mrydel wrote:My suggestion would be every Tuesday to have a full page ad in the sports section of the DMN that has the layout of the campus, Mockingbird Dart lot, Dart schedules from various areas, and information on the Boulevard and how a person or family can participate in the game day. It has to run every week. Once at the beginning of the year will not do it. That is expensive but all marketing is.

The DMN still has subscribers?

yeah sadly when you read a paper in public you get funny looks these days