This year's marketing campaign 2011

so far last year ad were the best over the last three years (including this one) No only they were "expect the unexpected" type of commercial but also they used to show part of whats going on in the stadium...they were very inviting.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dGxsr9PcSE"]YouTube - San Jose Earthquakes 2010 Commercial[/ame]

 

CP, I meant to respond to this earlier, but I've been really busy.

I thought the spilled coffee ad was horrific, bordering on abusive. So clearly, you and I are a different demographic. I'm glad that someone liked it, but I was not among that number.

This is so. If they use the ads that we were looking at on the web (Facebook, on the Quakes site, and so on) then I think that's just fine. Heck, they could e-mail these things to STH's.

Do we even know if these are finished ads? They could just as easily add crowd footage to each at the end.

Notice that they end with: Become a fan on Facebook. I think these are targeted for internet use.

Also, there's no comment that says: "We faced all kinds of adversity last season." Which ought to be part of this campaign. There's a chance that they are still trying these out.

OK. I'm not sure what brings in new fans. I'd try to sell the in-stadium experience, as I think most of us would.

Maybe, maybe not. But what does spilled coffee scalding the crap out of some poor guy have to do with soccer? or the Earthquakes?

So what do you suggest? Footage of Ampai playing in the College Cup? A shot of Khari serving that sweet assist to Wondo? Convey burying goals against the RedCows? Ike scoring on a header? Bushy making a killer save? And then some sort of: Back and better than last season tag?

JD hanging himself?

Maybe images of better toilets at BuckShaw and shots of people drinking suds in their seats?

I'm all for constructive criticism, and I've been plenty critical of the organization. I just thought that this crop of ads were better than last season's. You're welcome to think otherwise.

I do agree that these ads could be even better. I do agree that the Quakes have missed a ton of marketing opportunities.

GO QUAKES!!

- Mark

"We have the Marxist-Leninist weapon of criticism and self-criticism. We can get rid of a bad style and keep the good." Chairman Mao Tse Tung

 

Yeah, last year's were better IMO. I don't care for the sadistic aspect of them, but the "richter scale" thing ties it into game clips with goals and Shrader calls, etc.

 

I kept on wondering what kind of anti-burn cream he was going to use on his nuts.

 

That's a great idea. Free advertising, tap into the creativity of the passionate fanbase, more stuff on youtube, send them to your friends, all that kind of stuff.

Come to think of it, if I had to guess I'd say that this year's ads (featuring players and minimal props, etc.) were homegrown and last year's (with actors and "sets", etc.) were contracted out.

 

Let's go to the heart of the discussion. "This years MARKETING campaign". The operative word being "Marketing."

Effective marketing has nothing to do with whether you like an ad or think it's "horrific". Effective marketing is whether or not your campaign leaves the target audience with your name or brand in their memory. It doesn't even have to be a positive memory, just a memory that cements your brand.

An example of this is perhaps one of the most vile, dismissed and offensive ad campaigns ever, yet also one of the most effective;

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XghJuH6GSCo"] Nausea, Heartburn, Indigestion, Upset Stomach, Diarrhea...Yay Pepto-Bismol![/ame]

There's not a person alive whose seen that ad or one of it's versions and not retreated in revulsion, and yet that ad is probably responsible for more sales of Pepto Bismol than any other ad campaign.

The average non Pepto using consumer who suddenly finds themselves beset by cramps nausea, diarrhea and any other kind of gastric problems, is many times more likely to now go out and buy some Pepto than some other product. It's just a fact, like it or not.

Marketing is about leaving your audience with an image of your brand and the most effective way to do that is with surprise. Whether the surprise is humor, shock or disgust, is just a matter of degree.

The spilled Coffee ad from last year, as well as many of last years TV ads did exactly what they were supposed to do, leave a brand in the viewers memory. This years ads are for the most part completely devoid of this brand memory.

Whether an audience likes or dislikes a particular ad has very little to do with whether or not the ad is successful in leaving a brand memory which is after all the point of any marketing campaign.

Maybe you see this years ads and think you get a good "brand memory" from them. My guess is that no one outside of the core San Jose Earthquakes fan base would get any such "brand memory" from these ads and they are thus not likely to be very effective.

You are probably correct as this years ads do not appear to be the product of a marketing professional.

My guess is that more people in general and on this board in particular could describe in detail last years "Coffee spill" after not seeing it for over a year, than could describe either the "Pinata" or "dunked" add after just viewing it.

 

So, in other words, to sell more seats, next year's Quakes marketing campaign should involve a fan sitting pants down in one of the Buck Shaw porta-potties while it is being shaken by a 7.1 tumbler. "Did you feel that?" (I'll leave the rest of the scene to the reader's imagination.)

Humor. check.

Shock. check.

Disgust. check.

That would pretty much cement the Quakes brand. Yup.

 

The dream of many youth players is to become a professional player. I think a great ad would to get youth video of Wondolowski scoring goals and then flip to Wondo scoring as a Quake..............then they show a video of other little kids running around screaming and carrying on, and then cut to the Ultras in all their glory.

The tag line could be something like:

"The San Jose Earthquakes, fulfill your dreams"

 

You're hired.

 

Kinda like this?

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZGsyoJ8nEo"]YouTube - "Where's Salinas?"[/ame]

 

Anybody have the link to the Landon pinata highlight on YouTube? Thanks...

Mike

 

Sort of, but, not quite.

 

http://a1503.v115042.c11504.g.vm.ak...05/open/gp/archive06/062505_lagsje_gp_384.wmv

hopefully will work !

 

How about this one Don. The Wondo family must have some youth footage where you can hear or see Chris's family cheering for him when he scored a goal. Show that, then cut to footage of Chris scoring at Buck Shaw and running over to where his family is cheering from their seats in the Corona Cove.

"Chris Wondolowski and the San Jose Earthquakes, still a family affair".

Or something like that.

 

Thanks PS!

Mike

 

Your suggested scene, actually would be very funny. To see someone sitting on the pot during an Earthquake. Schadenfreude, we all, well, most of us, understand the concept.

But none of us would want to be that person sitting on the pot. Your idea has merit, but lacks any sense of the degree to which it leaves it's audience in a negative frame of mind toward the brand. So stick to your profession and leave the marketing to people who understand it.

 

Exactly. As I said earlier, whether someone "likes" or "dislikes" an ad is relatively unimportant in determining it's success as a marketing tool. The "lingering message", as you framed it, is the "brand memory".

The determiner of a campaigns success is whether or not that "brand memory" will be;

• Recalled by the target audience.

• Leave the "brand" in the viewers memory as a product the viewer needs or could benefit from.

This seasons ads don't appear to do either. Last seasons ads, though not great, were much better and were obviously done by professionals. They were very successful at leaving the brand (Earthquakes) in the viewers memory. Where they failed was to leave that brand memory as a product the viewer needed or could benefit from.

 

I wasn't "suggesting" the hypothetical ad I described. I was using it as a sarcastic illustration of why your point about shocking or disturbing marketing might not be helpful for the Quakes.

 

these ads weren't done by professionals? the Quakes just went out and rented a couple super slo-mo high definition cameras?

 

Not that we could find out easily, but I'd be willing to bet those ads were shot with some pretty expensive cameras.

The ads were also made by the same firm as last year. SF based, so...yes on the homegrown part. I guess.

http://sa5-sf.com/

 

I liked last year's ads better - because they included some in-game excitement. But this year's ads are good. Psrticularly the dunking one.