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re: I'm about to piss off half the board
Posted on 2/25/14 at 1:12 pm to cardboardboxer
Posted on 2/25/14 at 1:12 pm to cardboardboxer
But there was one King Gill, not 12. 12 is not a number of anything. It honestly makes no sense and the more I think about it the more contrived it comes across.
I know a thing or two about marketing and branding. This appears to be a rather transparent attempt to build "character" into the stadium - all newer stadiums try this as they want to be the future Green Monster or Ivy at Wrigley or whatever. Fenway and Wrigley are must visits to baseball fans because of this.
We're obviously going for making Kyle a destination college venue. I think that's great. I hope they succeed. But some of the features really rub me the wrong way. It's obvious the goal of this one is to have some symbol in the stadium so when they tell the 12th Man story they have a camera shot. These sort of shots are extremely important to branding. You can see them an identify the stadium right away. Just so many better ways to do this imo.
The current classic Kyle shot is looking up at the jam packed student section with Towels waving or with them swaying. On the stadium you can read Home of the 12th Man. This is the national image of Kyle and it's a great one. It's not contrived at all and really hammers home our branding message.
I know a thing or two about marketing and branding. This appears to be a rather transparent attempt to build "character" into the stadium - all newer stadiums try this as they want to be the future Green Monster or Ivy at Wrigley or whatever. Fenway and Wrigley are must visits to baseball fans because of this.
We're obviously going for making Kyle a destination college venue. I think that's great. I hope they succeed. But some of the features really rub me the wrong way. It's obvious the goal of this one is to have some symbol in the stadium so when they tell the 12th Man story they have a camera shot. These sort of shots are extremely important to branding. You can see them an identify the stadium right away. Just so many better ways to do this imo.
The current classic Kyle shot is looking up at the jam packed student section with Towels waving or with them swaying. On the stadium you can read Home of the 12th Man. This is the national image of Kyle and it's a great one. It's not contrived at all and really hammers home our branding message.
2
Posted on 2/25/14 at 1:15 pm to tmc94
quote:
the more I think about it the more contrived it comes across.
That is where I am.
Posted on 2/25/14 at 1:25 pm to cardboardboxer
John Sharp is someone who has become too big for his britches. Time to pop his leash some.
This post was edited on 2/25/14 at 1:27 pm
Posted on 2/25/14 at 2:13 pm to tmc94
If we HAVE to set aside 12 seats for something, why on earth should they be empty? If we just have to do some hokey marketing thing with the seats, instead of emphasizing waste, we should give them away to veterans.
Say: "A&M, which has a strong military tradition, honors America's veterans and its tradition of the 12th Man by setting aside 12 free seats for veterans at every game - because while Aggies stand ready for their team, our military men and women stand ready for America."
That at least makes sense. And it's a pitch that would sell. I hate that we have to do a marketing thing with 12 stupid seats in the first place, but if we do it, let's do something logical and useful instead of empty and wasteful that no one can understand.
Say: "A&M, which has a strong military tradition, honors America's veterans and its tradition of the 12th Man by setting aside 12 free seats for veterans at every game - because while Aggies stand ready for their team, our military men and women stand ready for America."
That at least makes sense. And it's a pitch that would sell. I hate that we have to do a marketing thing with 12 stupid seats in the first place, but if we do it, let's do something logical and useful instead of empty and wasteful that no one can understand.
This post was edited on 2/25/14 at 2:14 pm
Posted on 2/25/14 at 3:05 pm to Cooter Davenport
That's why I said it would be cool if they let the families of the victims get to sit in those seats or something. That way they are set aside for a purpose and they are also being used on gameday
Posted on 2/25/14 at 3:25 pm to Houston Summit
TOS( 
) is running a poll in the Zoo and on M&W and so far about 90% are against it, I may need to update my thread title.
) is running a poll in the Zoo and on M&W and so far about 90% are against it, I may need to update my thread title.Posted on 2/25/14 at 3:50 pm to WhiskerBiscuitSlayer
I've been following the discussion on Twitter too. Our fanbase is more united on this than the move to the SEC.
Posted on 2/25/14 at 4:06 pm to WhiskerBiscuitSlayer
quote:
TOS( ) is running a poll in the Zoo and on M&W and so far about 90% are against it, I may need to update my thread title.
Before I ran my article on GBH today, I was worried about getting backlash. I was sitting on that thing for a week thinking to myself, man, people are going to hate this.
Turns out, I wasn't anywhere near being in the minority on that.
Posted on 2/25/14 at 4:14 pm to TelcoAg
Keep fighting the good fight. This empty seats business is the worst idea since New Coke. It's like that three-wheeled car they showed on Top Gear that toppled over in a curve.
Posted on 2/25/14 at 4:17 pm to TelcoAg
enjoying your work telco 
Posted on 2/25/14 at 4:26 pm to TelcoAg
quote:
Before I ran my article on GBH today,...
Ditto on tmc94's post. That was nicely done.
Posted on 2/25/14 at 4:29 pm to TelcoAg
Excellent write up Telco.
Posted on 2/25/14 at 4:48 pm to WhiskerBiscuitSlayer
For those that haven't read Telco's article: LINK
Something I'd add. Branding is about having a clear, consistent and easy to digest message. What you absolutely don't want, is mixed messages, exactly like what Sharp has put out here (and highlighted in Telco's article). If you can't sell your captive audience on the what's and why's, chances are exceptionally high that this will be difficult to explain to your greater audience. Instead of a brand enhancement, it ends up creating confusion and has the opposite effect by weakening the overall message (and brand).
I'm going to guess Jason Cook is not behind this in any way. The rollout and explanation make it clear this is being done by amateurs. That doesn't mean it can't be a good idea. But a simple well thought out message probably would have kept this from ever blowing up.
Something I'd add. Branding is about having a clear, consistent and easy to digest message. What you absolutely don't want, is mixed messages, exactly like what Sharp has put out here (and highlighted in Telco's article). If you can't sell your captive audience on the what's and why's, chances are exceptionally high that this will be difficult to explain to your greater audience. Instead of a brand enhancement, it ends up creating confusion and has the opposite effect by weakening the overall message (and brand).
I'm going to guess Jason Cook is not behind this in any way. The rollout and explanation make it clear this is being done by amateurs. That doesn't mean it can't be a good idea. But a simple well thought out message probably would have kept this from ever blowing up.
This post was edited on 2/25/14 at 4:50 pm
Posted on 2/25/14 at 5:04 pm to tmc94
I don't expect this to ever come out, but my guess is this was originally intended to honor the 12 dead bonfire students. And then one or more families said "Oh, hell no. We don't want you using our child's death in your marketing campaign." But then they (whoever "they" is) didn't know how to shut it off, as they had talked themselves into believing this was a brilliant idea.
Posted on 2/25/14 at 5:09 pm to tmc94
quote:
I'm going to guess Jason Cook is not behind this in any way.
I agree. Cook seems, to me at least, to be one of the best in the marketing business. I doubt he lets any idea get out in public before its thoroughly brainstormed and vetted. He surely would have run this past some of our top donors and some of the Bonfire families.
Posted on 2/25/14 at 5:10 pm to tmc94
I doubt Cook knew about this until yesterday when it blew up.
It doesn't seem like him at all.
Cook's a guy who will explain that the end-zones say "Texas A&M" and not "Texas Aggies" because of a desire to streamline branding and keep it consistant. He'll tell you we've de-emphasized many of our old logos for the same reason. Spider A&M, AMC, Sarge, stuff with Reville, mostly all gone. Eveything you see is the block aTm. One name, one logo.
A guy who gets all that isn't on board with a marketing ploy that requires a great deal of explanation, an inversion of logic, andeven the alumni can't understand.
How are broadcasters going to introduce this? "Here we see the 12 empty seats, which symbolize how the student body packs the stands". That's absurd.
It doesn't seem like him at all.
Cook's a guy who will explain that the end-zones say "Texas A&M" and not "Texas Aggies" because of a desire to streamline branding and keep it consistant. He'll tell you we've de-emphasized many of our old logos for the same reason. Spider A&M, AMC, Sarge, stuff with Reville, mostly all gone. Eveything you see is the block aTm. One name, one logo.
A guy who gets all that isn't on board with a marketing ploy that requires a great deal of explanation, an inversion of logic, andeven the alumni can't understand.
How are broadcasters going to introduce this? "Here we see the 12 empty seats, which symbolize how the student body packs the stands". That's absurd.
Posted on 2/25/14 at 5:11 pm to finestfirst79
quote:
I don't expect this to ever come out, but my guess is this was originally intended to honor the 12 dead bonfire students. And then one or more families said "Oh, hell no. We don't want you using our child's death in your marketing campaign." But then they (whoever "they" is) didn't know how to shut it off, as they had talked themselves into believing this was a brilliant idea.
BINGO.
Posted on 2/25/14 at 5:11 pm to Cooter Davenport
quote:
Here we see the 12 empty seats, which symbolize how the student body packs the stands". That's absurd.
I fully expect this whole thing to go away.
Posted on 2/25/14 at 5:19 pm to Projectpat
I threw together a petition that allows people to put their names on getting rid of this thing.
Feel free to sign if you have a chance.
https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/12thMan
Feel free to sign if you have a chance.
https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/12thMan
Posted on 2/25/14 at 5:20 pm to TelcoAg
Also, yeah, Cook isn't behind this. This is a board driven memorial that someone, who has almost no marketing experience, thought was a good idea.
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