Selling Stanford Football - Printable Version

Selling Stanford Football - Printable Version

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Selling Stanford Football - aflan - 05-18-2011

I am a part of a team recently hired by Stanford to help sell and promote Stanford Football. Having recently moved here from across the country (Philadelphia) to be part of the Stanford Athletics tradition. I have followed Stanford football and basketball from a distance, but do not know the traditions and what really makes Stanford.Stanford. My alma mater of Villanova has the hoops tradition to match up with just about anyone, but football is played at the FCS level.

I am asking for your help in letting me know what you think works at Stanford and your opinion on what does not. I know the people on The Cardboard are the backbone of the fan base. I know this because Vusports.com at Villanova is the same way and those fans are the most passionate about the school and the athletic programs. They follow everything about every program, from practice to recruiting to the games.

My job is to market and sell Stanford season tickets, 3 game packs, and group sales. With the product Stanford has on the field and the schedule I hope that we can pack Stanford Stadium not just this year, but for years to come.

Any feedback, ideas, or leads would be greatly appreciated. My contact info is listed below feel free to call and/or email me anytime.

Go Cardinal,

Drew Flanagan
Stanford University
Athletics Sales Consultant

650-724-7274 Office
aflan@stanford.edu

PS: I posted this on The Bootleg as well. I am just trying to hit every aspect of the Stanford Fanbase

Re: Selling Stanford Football - 97fan - 05-18-2011

First, I\'m really glad that Stanford hired you. This season represents an exceptionally rare opportunity for Stanford to market the football program. We are coming off a 12-1 season, we have the Voldemort Trophy favorite and the odds-on #1 overall draft pick at QB, and we will be in the top 10 pre-season. The Bay Area likes a winner. In terms of marketing, the next several months are critical.

A few suggestions:

1) Send ticket information to all Stanford alumni - both undergrads and grad students - who live within 90 miles of campus, even if they\'ve never been season-ticket holders. Stanford alums are going to remain the core of the fan base. Marketing that\'s targeted toward them is going to have the highest success rate.

2) Find ways to target Bay Area football fans. This may involve ads on the web site of the Chronicle and Mercury News sports sections. It may involve outreach to families through youth football leagues. It may involve ads in the programs at high-school football games. I\'m sure there are many other possibilities.

3) Good word-of-mouth is perhaps the best way to sell a product. So offer a 10-percent discount on their tickets to existing season-ticket holders who make a referral that results in season-ticket sales.

4) Continue the effort to become more visible in the Bay Area sports media. David Shaw is a good interview. Get him out there as often as possible on KNBR and other local news outlets. It will also be important to publicize the fact that this is not a one-man team. Let\'s see stories about Stepfan Taylor, Anthony Wilkerson, Jonathan Martin, David DeCastro, Zach Ertz, Shayne Skov, Chase Thomas, Delano Howell and Michael Thomas. Some of these guys may leave for the NFL after the 2011 season, but some of them will be back, and those returners will be the face of the program in 2012. If Andrew Luck gets all the publicity in 2011, it will be much harder to market the team in 2012.

5) If all else fails, devise giveaways for the San Jose State, UCLA, Colorado, and Washington games. I have no doubt that the Oregon, Ca.l, and Notre Dame games will sell out. But it is imperative that we fill the stadium for every game this season. The best way to fill the stadium is not by lowering ticket prices - which cheapens the product you\'re selling - but by offering an enticement. So an Andrew Luck bobble-head seems like a no-brainer as a giveaway for one of these games, assuming that lots of seats remain unsold by early August. You could give away a Stanford mini-football at another game. I have no idea if there\'s a lot of precedent for giveaways at college football games - obviously this is most common in Major League Baseball - but I don\'t see why you can\'t do it.

The bottom line is that scarcity creates demand. If it becomes hard to get a ticket to Stanford football games this fall, there will be more demand for tickets prior to the 2012 season.

Thanks for stopping by, and good luck!

Re: Selling Stanford Football - fullmetal - 05-18-2011

You\'ll find, as the tagline of this community says, more signal and less noise on this board. Â Though some of us live too far away to be of much use, there are many who have posted on this topic before. Â If you have the time, search all the forum threads for relevant keywords to see what people have posted before.

Welcome to the Farm :) Â I\'m sure all of us wish you the greatest success!

Re: Selling Stanford Football - stanfan - 05-18-2011

I\'m a life-long Stanford fan who now lives in the Northwest. Â We have purchased season tickets for the upcoming season and will travel to see several home games.
I assume Coach Shaw (who I met a couple of weeks ago and really like) will have a weekly TV and/or radio show. Â Get the rights to that show and make it available on-line for those of us who aren\'t in Bay Area. Â Also, more interviews and more comprehensive video hi-lites build interest and would be great to see on line.

Re: Selling Stanford Football - aflan - 05-18-2011

Everybody,

Great feedback. I have received several emails and phone calls and even some responses concerning season tickets (LET\'S GET STANFORD STADIUM FILLED!)

I am only handling season, 3 game, and group plans. Individual tickets for the Notre Dame, Cal, and Oregon will not go on sale as individual tickets.

I am using the budget and marketing platforms I have available through the athletic department. We will be calling people all over the Bay Area and going to events like the Sunnyvale Art and Wine Festival and other community events like this from now till October trying to sell Stanford Football. We are targeting the youth of the Bay Area with different offers and events. I have received several emails concerning this and I agree that getting to the youth is the way to build a long term fanbase.

Keep the feedback coming and if you have any questions or concerns please contact me anytime. If you or if you know anyone that wants to:

-add season tickets to their current plan
-knows someone interested in season tickets for personal, business, charity

-3 game packs
-group outings for work, non profit, school, youth groups, any group really

Please let me know and I can reach out to them and get them a part of the Stanford Football Experience.

I can also help with parking and tailgating packages as well.

Thanks again for the help call-email me anytime- I need all I can get !

Drew Flanagan

Stanford University

Athletics Sales Consultant

650-724-7274 Office

610-888-1697 Mobile

aflan@stanford.edu

Re: Selling Stanford Football - Extra Point - 05-18-2011

I think the local alumni market is probably close to tapped at this point. I would focus on the other 12 million people in the bay area.

I think a television spot of Andrew leveling the Cal DB would do wonders.

Cheap Stanford pennants along the main arteries in Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and Los Altos would provide a constant reminder for local residents who are considering attending a game.

Charging people outside the radio broadcast area to pay in order to listen to a game on-line will never attract new fans. Making radio re-broadcasts available on-line will increase fan support.

Making video highlights of games available on-line would help.

Making Stanford screen savers available on-line would help.

"Insider" updates on the progress of fall training camp on-line would help.

A lot of Stanford alumni read the Stanford Daily on-line. The ESPN Pac 12 football writer (Ted Miller) always has a link to each article in the daily. Sit down and talk with the sports writers on the Daily staff. More articles and links to them from the front page will help. For that matter, talk to all of the sports writers in the bay area papers. Give them all the information they want. Make it easy for them to write stories.

Revive the Junior Rooter program. The first game I went to there was some guy named John Brodie on the field. I have been a fan ever since.

Talk to the Stanford Band. When they play at local events it gets people in the right mood.

Do something about the psychopaths that dominate the free bulletin board on the Bootleg. They repel a whole lot more potential fans than they attract. They also repel cash paying customers rooting for opponents.

Re: Selling Stanford Football - Robbie - 05-18-2011

Move all game times to 1:00.

Make it always sunny.

Cancel all soccer or other youth activities on the peninsula on Saturday afternoons.

Make the 49ers perpetually mediocre.

Change the enrollment and educational policies of Stanford such that graduates are not attracted by graduate programs or employment opportunities outside the Bay Area.

Go back to a \'Wink Wink Nudge Nudge\' policy on alcohol consumption by students before, during and after football games.

Change the workplace dynamics of Silicon Valley companies such that nobody feels compelled to work on Saturdays.

You can do it!

Re: Selling Stanford Football - yvonne - 05-18-2011

I think this is the first time Stanford AD has ever reached out to fans online. Please use us and all other social networking sites to further the cause!

Re: Selling Stanford Football - JeffInCorvallis - 05-18-2011

Drew,

Am I understanding your post correctly in that I will not be able to purchase individual tickets to the Oregon game? Â

Re: Selling Stanford Football - Leftcoast - 05-18-2011

The bay area is FULL of college educated folks who are fans of some other team. The trick is to get that Texas, UCLA or Michigan Alum, maybe even (gulp) that Ivy league alum to adopt Stanford rather than the 49ers.

Some thoughts:

1) Pop Warner:
The south and East bay are hotbeds for Pop Warner football teams - some of them with ex-Stanford players as coaches. Pop Warner players always have football loving parents (or in my case, ONE football loving parent - my wife, not so much). I\'d work that angle.

2) Saturday Day Games
Early in the season the Saturday Day games conflict with youth sports and back-to-school activities. These are the same games where being in the stadium has been compared with being a piece of MuShu Pork in a hot oiled wok. Try early evening games on Sept and early October Saturdays. (Sorry Robbie - clearly we differ on this) ;) Well either this or a retractable canvas awning on the south side.

3) Beer!
Hmmhhhh .... yeah, I remember the late 80\'s games with random fights in the stands. But I also remember games in the late 70\'s where beer and Stanford sports mixed just fine. How about experimenting with bringing back beer sales in some safe and sane way? Great way to break the country club stereotype (more on that later.)

4) Basketball
The experiment with seat licenses has failed and drove away fans. Really dumb marketing idea to put this one in play when the fans were already alienated by losing and football was resurgent. Rethink this. (Ok .... I admit this is my pet peeve.)

5) Tailgating
Tailgating is a big part of Stanford sports but the demographic is starting to skew older. Play up this tradition for younger fans and alums! Perhaps get McCarthur Park (nearby restaurant) to sell picnic baskets with barbeque ribs and sandwiches. Select a randomly chosen <30 yrs winner for a catered tailgate party for him and his/her friends. Encourage Toby the Fan knock-offs. Encourage young alum clubs to throw their own parties. I bet you can think of your own ideas but figure out how to get new fans to join this vital tradition.

6) Statues garden of great Stanford players
Help educate the fans on Jim Plunket, John Elway, Toby Gerhart, Darrin Nelson, John Brodie, Ernie Nevers, etc. Maybe a statue garden outside the stadium? A quarterback corner? Eh .... considering how we\'re treating the statue of Hank Luisetti maybe this isn\'t such a great idea.

7) Don\'t play to the stereotype
Some folks have this stereotype that Stanford games are peopled with the country-club set that doesn\'t include them. Promote the games as THE place to be for a fun party where everyone (and in particular every college football fan and non-alums under 40) can connect with great college football even if they went to school somewhere else.

I think your biggest roadblock will be the perception that Stanford is a closed club where non-alums aren\'t included. Â It\'s not the reality so getting folks to come and have a great time is the best way to counter this. Â Surround the game experience (which is already a winner) with inclusive and fun events outside the stadium walls and connect the best ambassadors for Stanford (the players and coaches) with the community and you should do just fine.

/Lefty