PonyFans.com

Hey guys,

I met with the SMU2BCS guys on trying to relaunch Thad's video, Your City Your Team:



I want to push it in conjunction with the bowl game. This video is too good not to use more than we have. I don't know if SMU will use it, so I wanted to use the collective intellect (if you can call it that) of ponyfans to coordinate the relaunch. We will be working on a story to pitch the media, but y'all need to help with you ideas to promote it going into the bowl game (please put aside the coaching situation) for unconventional marketing alternatives. We can come up with some great ideas, so please let loose.

On the finance front, ponyfans have raised $6500 dollars for this project. This is a great testament to the commitment of the diehard fans on this board, and to Thad's talents. Thanks to all that have donated. I am still working on raising additional funds to make sure Thad doesn't loose money on the deal.

Thanks again ponyfans!

And did they support financially or in other avenues to broadcast? This was my fear all along - not enough eyeballs

Tapatalk

GiddyUp wrote:And did they support financially or in other avenues to broadcast? This was my fear all along - not enough eyeballs

That is the exact problem. It is too good of a product not to be seen. It is my fault for not focusing on that aspect of it. I was so worried about funding, that I did not push the broadcasting and should have asked for help. I am asking for help now. We will see what happens.

Angles I (we) are looking at:

1. Paid Broadcast - Local news sportscast, bowl game; how much on cost, is it worth the cost
2. Story in print media
3. online promotion via youtube, facebook and other platforms
4. local radio - ESPN, Ticket, the Fan- who would be interested, who should we contact

We have contacted Wilonsky on the Observer to pitch Thad's participation.
Anyone interested in helping with ideas?

Does anyone know the cost for a 1 minute add on one of the local sportscasts?

There has to be guys with more talent and smarts than me to get this thing started. Don't let me down.

Has this ever been posted on the Big East board? Shouldn't it be?

AusTxPony wrote:Has this ever been posted on the Big East board? Shouldn't it be?

Even if it has, wouldn't hurt to post it again. Maybe we can convince American Eagle Outfitters to play it on the screen in Times Square (pipe dream, I know, but damn that would be cool).

If you want to reach out about local TV spots, here's what I have found in terms of contacts:
WFAA-TV Sales contact: Nicki Hakrider Director of Local Sales, [email protected]

WFAA.com ADVERTISING OVERVIEW:

To reach WFAA.com's highly coveted audience, send an e-mail to Rob James, Online Sales Manager, [email protected] or call 214.977.6333

Fox 4 Sales: Sales: 214-720-3237

CBS 11 Sales email: [email protected]

You likely have all of this, but figured I'd put it out there

AusTxPony wrote:Has this ever been posted on the Big East board? Shouldn't it be?

Yes it has and the fans there want Thad to do a Big East commercial

ryan,

Thanks for the info. I did not have that info. Will check it out. Also, thanks for the reminder on the American Outfitters. The SMU2BCS folks asked me who put it up and I could not remember. I will see if I can get in contact with them.

anybody have a contact?

Austex thanks for the suggestion. Some one posted, but we will repost. I am thinking we coordinate all activity, as I dubbed it, the relaunch, on a specific day. So I will collect the to do list and we can decide a day to launch and we can all pick one or two things we want to do to put the plan into effect.

Create a FB page 'SMU Bright lights- Big City- Big East' and make sure we all 'like' it and it will help with viral coverage.....create another YouTube page as well with that title....we all have to 'like' it on the YouTube also...only 311 likes on there now.

ponyscott wrote:Create a FB page 'SMU Bright lights- Big City- Big East' and make sure we all 'like' it and it will help with viral coverage.....create another YouTube page as well with that title....we all have to 'like' it on the YouTube also...only 311 likes on there now.

Everyone post it on their individual Facebook page, Linked in page, and tweet it.

What hashtag do you want us to use?

what about smu2bigeast or smu2BE?

I will set up the FB page and let everyone know when it is up.

Treadway21 wrote:what about smu2bigeast or smu2BE?

I will set up the FB page and let everyone know when it is up.

cool

Update:

got a quote from WFAA - Thinking the week before is a good time to do this. So I will need to formulate a plan to implement starting 1/1. Will post again with more details soon.

I have a friend in NYC that does media buying and asked her for some info on running commercial spots. Here is what she wrote back:

1. Are these :30 or :60 second commercials?- :30s are easier to place. :60s give the viewer more information

2. Are you going straight to the stations to purchase or working through an agency?- if you're looking to run 1 or 2 spots only then you're probably better off going straight to the stations. But you really show your hand by doing that and you're at the mercy of what the stations decide to charge you. With an agency you have a veil of not having to release your objectives and having other clients with larger budgets in the market to help leverage what you're paying for your spots. But you're also looking at an agency fee which for a short media campaign can probably be very steep.

3. Idea of what kind of budget you'd like to spend? Idea of flighting- ie how many weeks do you want to run the spot? Idea of dayparts you want to run?- If you're going straight to the stations don't release your budget. Call it a test campaign with lots of future potential (i.e. small budget now but maybe big budget later IF it works). Play stations off each other. Station people are as bad and as sleazy as car salesmen. Agencies will get you the best bang for your buck and have the relationships/media savvy but I would strongly suggest SMU have someone who knows media assist with the negotiations w/ the agencies. They can sniff out clients w/ no media knowledge to take advantage (trust me ...)

4. What are the objectives for running the spots? (i.e. phone #/url on spot to drive to call/website to purchase tickets? Exposure to SMU ftbl w/out going in depth to have a "call to action"? SMU branding?)- Having a phone number or website will help you track the results... i.e. this spot that ran at this time generated this many calls which led to this many purchases. Will help if you plan to run the campaign for a while. But you will have to implement potentially expensive things like services that encode each indivial spot that runs so you can track it and professional telemarketing services that will track where the call was generated from and whether it led to purchase or not. If it's just branding then you don't need any of that... but you're also blind in a lot of assumptions.

5. What is your demographic you're trying to reach? Very basic. like Men 25-54.

5. Is this a one and done? Like a superbowl spot are you looking for a major event to air 1 spot around with potentially tons of exposure or are you looking for frequency- so less exposure with each airing but over time more people will see/potentially be influenced by exposure?

Here are my thoughts. The local Dallas market is pretty volatile. Lots of auto comes in and I hear right now there's a fair amount of issue money being spent and anticipated political. This will only increase in the next year, especially with the Rick Perry factor going on. We haven't been actively buying in Dallas since 4Q last year mainly for the auto factor.

Buying on the big broadcast affiliates (WFAA, KXAS, KTVT, KDFW) you are going to be looking to spend somewhere around $1000/spot for Daytime to up to $2500/spot for Prime. These are just rotator rates though (i.e. you're only buying a timeperiod, say M-F 8p-11p). If you want to buy a specific show... let's say a breakout hit like Pan Am on ABC you'll be spending probably double if not more. Something less of a hit- let's say a Friday show of CSI NY or something (totally making this up) will be less. You have more control over where you air by buying show specific but will definitely be paying for it. Airing around a broadcast sport will be just as expensive as a show speicifc prime spot but this depends completely on the game. In Dallas if it's around the cowboys it'll be $5k+? But if it's around 2 crappy teams no one in Dallas really cares about it'll be a lot less.

You could also go the cheaper route and buy independent stations or the CW or MyNetwork, but this depends on what your objectives are- if you're trying to reach Men than it's probably wasted dollars, if you're trying to reach teens/65+ with low income, than it's great. Same with buying local cable- probably the best if you're looking for frequency with a tailored buy. If you can narrow down your demo- say Men 25-54 who make $75k+ then you can get on buys that would include probably all ESPN, CNN, AMC, History, etc for the price of 1 high rated Broadcast prime spot.

Hope this helps. If you have any specific questions I can forward them on.

Looking for Thad's "Your Town, Your Team" on YouTube.com, I stumbled across this:


Pretty nice video production for a small school. I really think those who are well connected within the athletics department should heavily encourage SMU to contract Thad as producer for the third SMU Football Climb/Stampede installment. Thad's "vision" for SMU commercials is a lot more polished and "current" than what we've seen come out of The Climb/Stampede. The game video quality/editing needs to improve and the player interviews need better scripts and background locations. I think it would be nice to have some continuity between PonyExce$$, Your Town, Your Team, city billboards, banners, etc. I think this particular series is being produced by the older brother of Portland State's QB, who is himself a QB at Oregon State. Surely SMU/Thad can dig up the resources to produce something of a similar quality.