Marquette Athletics Marketing Falls Short Once Again

[MulliganMusings]

This announcement represents the lack of creativity emanating from the Marquette Athletics marketing efforts. I realize that the majority of alums live in Wisconsin and, likely, the Milwaukee metro area. That said there are many thousands of us living around the country if not around the world. Partnering with TWC Sportschannel, particularly when it comes to programming like your flagship program's coach's show, severely limits your audience. I find it hard to understand why MU cannot partner with the Fox Sports affiliate in light of the Big East's ongoing relationship with Fox Sports. At the very least there should be a way to access this program via the web with TWC does not provide. I fondly recall the days when Buzz's coach's show was broadcast on a number of sports affiliates with Big East ties such as MASN out of DC/Baltimore and Sports Channel New York. I've railed before about the inability to acquire MU swag outside of a 20 mile radius of Milwaukee (OK that might be a bit of hyperbole but not much as I recently saw a tweet from a MU Athletics person excitedly announcing the discovery of MU gear at a Kohl's location in Menominee Falls. Really? WTF?). I fail to see as a "Jordan Brand" school why we don't do a better job of leveraging Nike to get our gear distributed to a broader geographic footprint but hey, maybe that's just me?

http://www.gomarquette.com/genrel/090816aaa.html

[MUBasketball]

I fail to see as a "Jordan Brand" school why we don't do a better job of leveraging Nike to get our gear distributed to a broader geographic footprint but hey, maybe that's just me?


I've never understood this. MU has some sweet swag with the Jordan partnership, yet you can't find it anywhere. If you see any apparel in stores it's low end crap you'd expect to find on the clearance rack at the spirit shop on campus.

[IrwinFletcher]

Instead of bitching about this on a message board where no one will have an appropriate answer for you, why con't you send an email the to AD or the Assistant AD. I am sure they will gladly give you the reasons why a contract was drawn up with TWC as opposed to another outlet.

Here is a link to people you can reach out to. Wasn't that hard to find. Good luck.


http://www.gomarquette.com/athletic-dept/marq-athletic-dept.html

[MU/Panther]

It's a great question, but I don't think the answer is marketing falls short. I'm willing to bet this TWC option is about more money they are willing to pay.

[Nukem2]

It's a great question, but I don't think the answer is marketing falls short. I'm willing to bet this TWC option is about more money they are willing to pay.
Yep, could do something on gomarquette.com, but that would be negative $$ wise.

[TulsaWarrior]

This could and should be offered a streaming video with a pay component. A win for everyone by doing 21st Century marketing. Hello Brain Trust.

[Gato78]

FWIW the Athletics Department and Advancement are well aware of all the messages on all of the MU message boards. There was a thread here (or maybe Doddsy's site) about one year ago quite critical of certain things done by the Athletics people. One of the people at Athletics, not a senior person, just laughed when we discussed it. This person told me the senior people had read the post and were curious about where the ideas come from, sometimes so devoid of reality. The point is all of the threads are read and if there is a salient post, it is distributed among senior people in Advancement and/or Athletics.



Instead of bitching about this on a message board where no one will have an appropriate answer for you, why con't you send an email the to AD or the Assistant AD. I am sure they will gladly give you the reasons why a contract was drawn up with TWC as opposed to another outlet.

Here is a link to people you can reach out to. Wasn't that hard to find. Good luck.


http://www.gomarquette.com/athletic-dept/marq-athletic-dept.html

[Nukem2]

This could and should be offered a streaming video with a pay component. A win for everyone by doing 21st Century marketing. Hello Brain Trust.Someone is going to pay for soccer/volleyball content? There is only the Rockhurst exhibition BB game in this package.

[TheSultan]

FWIW the Athletics Department and Advancement are well aware of all the messages on all of the MU message boards. There was a thread here (or maybe Doddsy's site) about one year ago quite critical of certain things done by the Athletics people. One of the people at Athletics, not a senior person, just laughed when we discussed it. This person told me the senior people had read the post and were curious about where the ideas come from, sometimes so devoid of reality. The point is all of the threads are read and if there is a salient post, it is distributed among senior people in Advancement and/or Athletics.


So that begs the questions...

Are the ideas truly "devoid of reality?" Or are the senior people too close minded to accept new ideas?

My guess is that its about 90% the former, and 10% the latter. In this case, they likely realize that the audience for televised coaching shows is small and shrinking, so its PR value isn't all that important. Instead they are going to go with whatever they have determined makes the most $$$.

[The Reptile]

This announcement represents the lack of creativity emanating from the Marquette Athletics marketing efforts. I realize that the majority of alums live in Wisconsin and, likely, the Milwaukee metro area. That said there are many thousands of us living around the country if not around the world. Partnering with TWC Sportschannel, particularly when it comes to programming like your flagship program's coach's show, severely limits your audience. I find it hard to understand why MU cannot partner with the Fox Sports affiliate in light of the Big East's ongoing relationship with Fox Sports. At the very least there should be a way to access this program via the web with TWC does not provide. I fondly recall the days when Buzz's coach's show was broadcast on a number of sports affiliates with Big East ties such as MASN out of DC/Baltimore and Sports Channel New York. I've railed before about the inability to acquire MU swag outside of a 20 mile radius of Milwaukee (OK that might be a bit of hyperbole but not much as I recently saw a tweet from a MU Athletics person excitedly announcing the discovery of MU gear at a Kohl's location in Menominee Falls. Really? WTF?). I fail to see as a "Jordan Brand" school why we don't do a better job of leveraging Nike to get our gear distributed to a broader geographic footprint but hey, maybe that's just me?

http://www.gomarquette.com/genrel/090816aaa.html

Are you in reaction mode or do you have a copy of the contract? Did Marquette really sell the rights to the coach's show to a black box with no recourse? How do you know that neither party will put these shows online for streaming later on? Where are the facts - emotion is of little value here.

The truth is that the athletic department has been putting out a lot of content on YouTube. For the last month there were 2 minute profiles by Wojo on each player. MUTV started to profile each of our opponents. Why can't this be part of a professionally done series that is broadcast first and places on YouTube or elsewhere? Just the facts, please.

[Gato78]

So that begs the questions...

Are the ideas truly "devoid of reality?" Or are the senior people too close minded to accept new ideas?

My guess is that its about 90% the former, and 10% the latter. In this case, they likely realize that the audience for televised coaching shows is small and shrinking, so its PR value isn't all that important. Instead they are going to go with whatever they have determined makes the most $$$.

The point is that they read and understand what goes on here and that posting here often gets the point across. They do listen, of course. The parts that are "devoid of reality" are read and appropriately mocked since quite often posters have no clue what is going on at the AL and Zilber. They are pretty smart people, not the fools people like to portray when it seems decisions are against any given posters wishes.

[Cooby Snacks]

The point is that they read and understand what goes on here and that posting here often gets the point across. They do listen, of course. The parts that are "devoid of reality" are read and appropriately mocked since quite often posters have no clue what is going on at the AL and Zilber. They are pretty smart people, not the fools people like to portray when it seems decisions are against any given posters wishes.

"Every job is easy, except mine!"
-People in general

[MulliganMusings]

I'm not suggesting, for a minute, that the job of those, in marketing, is easy. I think I know very well what is involved since I've worked in marketing and public relations for many years (actually, you could say my start came as a student worker in the sports information office during my 79-83 years at MU where I worked with John Dodds among others). Currently I am a Vice President with responsibility for Marketing and Business Development for a national commercial builder.

I found it a little sad when someone, whom I believe is associated with MU Athletics, posted their excitement that they found MU swag at a Kohl's location in suburban Milwaukee. Seriously? MU gear should easily be accessible in the metro area and beyond. I travel frequently and see other universities, who lack the profile of Marquette, on shelves of sporting good retailers. Perhaps more glaringly is the complete lack of MU apparel and other items from national sites that offer legally licensed collegiate clothing and other items. MU likes to trump its Jordan Brand affiliation (one of a select group of schools to wear the brand) but how has that relationship helped to expand Marquette's brand?

When it comes to programming, such as the coaches' show (which will be exclusively aired on TWC), I think the exposure the university gains by having this programming available to a broader audience, via outlets such as Sports Channel New York, MASN and other Big East affiliated outlets is more beneficial than what is likely a very small rights fee paid by TWC. At the very least if they had signed the agreement with the Wisconsin FSN outlet it would have made the programming available to satellite and other audiences, outside of Wisconsin, with access to that channel. Finally, I would think that the university could post the programming to their gomarquette site after it had aired on TWC; that way TWC gets the Wisconsin audience and first airing rights while the rest of the Marquette Nation, around the world, can view the content via the web. Just a thought....

[Smitty]

I travel frequently and see other universities, who lack the profile of Marquette, on shelves of sporting good retailers. Perhaps more glaringly is the complete lack of MU apparel and other items from national sites that offer legally licensed collegiate clothing and other items. MU likes to trump its Jordan Brand affiliation (one of a select group of schools to wear the brand) but how has that relationship helped to expand Marquette's brand?

This!^ Living on the east coast I accept that I will not find MU wear near me and am willing to go online. However the lack of choices online is downright embarrassing. Many smaller, D3 schools appear but not MU.

[Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"]

It's not just at stores but even at the Spirit Shop. My wife wanted a gold zip up hoodie, so I ran to the Spirit Shop since it's 10 minutes from home. Nothing. Very few gold sweatshirts, no zip up hoodies. The selection there is fine if you're looking for mugs, car stickers, or miscellaneous stuff, but the actual clothing selection is incredibly limited. And frankly, online isn't much better.

I get the money aspect, but I also hate the TWC affiliation, especially for non revenue sports. As more and more bars go to DirecTV for NFL packages, putting your content on Time Warner not only eliminates your broader audience from seeing it, it also makes it more difficult for locals that don't have Time Warner.

[Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"]

It's not just at stores but even at the Spirit Shop. My wife wanted a gold zip up hoodie, so I ran to the Spirit Shop since it's 10 minutes from home. Nothing. Very few gold sweatshirts, no zip up hoodies. The selection there is fine if you're looking for mugs, car stickers, or miscellaneous stuff, but the actual clothing selection is incredibly limited. And frankly, online isn't much better.

I get the money aspect, but I also hate the TWC affiliation, especially for non revenue sports. As more and more bars go to DirecTV for NFL packages, putting your content on Time Warner not only eliminates your broader audience from seeing it, it also makes it more difficult for locals that don't have Time Warner.