This year's marketing campaign 2011

Discussion in 'San Jose Earthquakes' started by futbol monkey, Feb 22, 2011.

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  1. JazzyJ

    JazzyJ BigSoccer Supporter

    Jun 25, 2003
    I think we are witnessing a transformation here. futurequakekeeper -> futurequakeGM? :)

    We all have opinions and a sort of common sense about how to advertise the product, but probably very few of us are actually in this business, myself included. To fqk's point, the quirky, goofy act ads probably play well on youtube and may have a better chance to go viral than the game footage stuff, where the viewer may feel like they are just purely being "marketed to" and there is nothing funny or quirky or interesting to make them watch the clip. And then you get into the questions of target demographic and all that stuff. There are a lot of factors at play.
     
  2. TyffaneeSue

    TyffaneeSue moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 15, 2003
    Upstairs
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    I grew up with a father who had a one-man ad agency, got an MBA, and started my career in advertising. I also read Ad Age for years. Advertising remains very much an art rather than a science, and if every agency could come up with a "just do it" they would...just do it.

    My problem with the FQK analysis is that I have a hard time seeing people take step 2, visiting the website. You can get laughs aplenty all over the Internet, and spend hours flipping through Youtube videos. How often do you watch a funny video and then follow up with research on its origin vs clicking on to the next video? The video takeaway needs to be compelling enough to make people take the action you want them to take. Why on earth would I want to attend a game after watching one of those ads? To see someone getting dunked or kicking a pinata?

    Yes, the Crew ad is formulaic, but you know, it's a tried and true formula that works. When someone on our team scores at a game, the crowd goes nuts...we don't say "oh, that happens at every game, who cares?" I am not exactly a Nike fan but some of the ads in their "write the future" series are among my all-time favorites, e.g. showing people from all walks of life cheering their team to victory. Formulaic, yet brilliant:that's the kind of emotional resonance you want to evoke. A cheap laugh is just that.
     
  3. JazzyJ

    JazzyJ BigSoccer Supporter

    Jun 25, 2003
    Well sounds like you are much more knowledgeable in this field than I am, but seems to me that you don't necessarily place an ad with the thought that it will directly result in a purchase of a product. You may just do it to create brand awareness that somehow results in a product purchase somewhere along the way by somebody, not necessarily even the person who saw the ad.

    For example, someone sees the ad and gets some vague notion that there is a soccer team called the Earthquakes in San Jose. Six months later this person meets a co-worker who is a soccer fan say from Europe somewhere and this person says that they miss watching live pro soccer. You remember the goofy pinata ad and mention the Quakes, maybe even a bit derisively. But the seed is planted and the Euro dude decides to check out a Quakes match.
     
  4. Childs Play

    Childs Play Member

    Mar 29, 2008
    Behind you,.. BOO!
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    Spain
    I can almost make the guarantee that this seasons ads will NOT garner the acclaim that last seasons did. they simply do not rise to the standards.



    I'm sure you are a brilliant young man with a bright future, but your premise is suspect. I sincerely doubt that the "average" person;


    • Knows or even cares what a Vuvuzela is.

    • I'm not even convinced that the "average" person knows what Soccer is.

    Judging from English speaking TV ratings of the 2010 World Cup final, slightly more than 15 million viewers tuned into the highlight match culmination of the previous 4 years of Soccer played on the Planet Earth.

    Here are some shows that regularly drew more viewers than the once every 4 years telecast of the world Cup finale;



    • "Glee". has more than 15 million viewers for basically every show, last months episode on the 10th had 26.5 million.

    • "The Bachelor" season 3 finale drew 17.5 million viewers.

    • "The Mentalist"

    • "NCIS"

    • "Law and Order"

    • "Boston Legal" final season

    Just for comparison the Super Bowl drew 98.8 million, the Oscars 41 million and the lowest rated Worlds series in history 2010 clinching game 5 drew 15 million.

    Loosely looking at these numbers might suggest the the "average" American knows more about The mentalist, NCIS, Boston Legal and the Bachelor than they do soccer.

    So seeing some dude blowing a horn get dunked, brings a strip mall carnival more to mind than a professional soccer team.



    Like Don G. before you, you offer a scenario that has no context or any degree related to the San Jose Earthquakes or the game of Soccer.

    Don's scenario of a person sitting in a porta pottie riding out an earthquake was ridiculous if the point was the market a soccer team. however if his brand was a porta pottie...Brilliant!

    Your's is similarly devoid of anything related to Soccer or the Earthquakes team, but maybe it would work for a flatulence preventing drug. Marketing is an art and identical ads could succeed or fail totally, depending on the product marketed or branded.

    Same ad, different product, different results.


    That is the 64k question. Another question is would you even know the product that was being marketed after viewing these ads?

    While branding, and brand recognition is critical and sometimes is more the point of an ad than anything else, ads are never really directed at people who never see them.

    This is why last seasons ads were so much better. They left the viewer with a completed branding of "Earthquakes". What happened next may have been immediate or delayed, but it is undeniable that the viewer was left remembering the brand "Earthquakes"

    Last seasons ads were largely geared toward people who were not familiar with the San Jose Earthquakes.

    This seasons ads appear to be targeting the fan who is already familiar with the Earthquakes.

    My concern is that there are not enough existing fans in the "already familiar" category and marketing to them at the expense of the not familiar" group" will not yield the kind of results demanded by a TV marketing budget.

    But ultimately the judge will be the number of Butts in the seats.
     
  5. bigdumbgod

    bigdumbgod Member+

    Jun 25, 2005
    San Jose, CA
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    That's the point: Are we celebrating the "art" of making goofy ads or are we promoting a soccer team? Using the medium to simply get a rise out of people seems to be aiming pretty low. If that's the goal, then we should hire Charlie Sheen as our spokesman right now!
     
  6. JazzyJ

    JazzyJ BigSoccer Supporter

    Jun 25, 2003
    But who are the people that "never see" the ads or the people that do see them? It's not like the old days when you place the ad in some kind of slot on some network and you have some reasonably predictable number of eyeballs in some reasonably predictable set of demographics. If the ads go viral you could get crazy kinds of numbers of eyeballs. Or not. I don't know if these ads are more likely to have "virality" or not compared to something less quirky and more mainstream. But I'm guessing that factor played into the decisioning.
     
  7. SJTillIDie

    SJTillIDie Member+

    Aug 23, 2009
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I heard some Quakes radio ads for the season opener against RSL on bay area sports radio stations today. Good stuff.
     
  8. JazzyJ

    JazzyJ BigSoccer Supporter

    Jun 25, 2003
    BTW, I just noticed that the "pinata" and "dunk tank" 2011 ads have, after 2 weeks, 3-4x as many views on YouTube as the much lauded "coffee spill" spot from 2010 has, after 11 months. Take it with a grain of salt. The numbers are still fairly low, and there may be many reasons for the disparity other than just that the 2011 ads might be more naturally "viral" (I'm not convinced that they are). But it's an interesting data point.
     
  9. dakotajoe

    dakotajoe Member

    Jan 4, 2001
    Medford, OR
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I work with a lot of "average" people. A few soccer fans amonst them (in the Portland, OR area). I brought up getting a bunch of people to go to a Timbers game, even some who don't know soccer but would like to have a good time and maybe be getting them hooked on the great atmosphere. A lot of them mentioned those annoying horns from the World Cup. A lot. I explained that you won't see them at games but some of them were totally turned off to the idea of going to a Timbers game because of those stupid horns. So I'm afraid that my anectodal evidence says that a lot of non-soccer folks out there are aware of the v-horns from SA.

    And I enjoy the new ads--especially Wondo's--but I would like to see a quick 2 or 3 seconds of the crowd going crazy after a goal instead of a player standing quietly in front of empty stands.

    My two cents.

     
  10. West Syd

    West Syd New Member

    Mar 6, 2011
    Sydney
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Australia
    Thanks for that KMJvet. You know a lot about the a-league. There is a great rivalry between Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory. I think this is also in part due to the rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne throughout Australia's history. They are Australia's two largest cities, and infact Canberra was made the capital of Australia due to the constant arguing between Sydney and Melbourne about who should be the capital. Melbourne Heart is a new team but at the moment they don't really represent anything (even though the Melbourne derbies have been great) so there is more sting to the Melbourne v Sydney clash. Although Melbourne Victory is clearly the most arrogant team in the league (and most well supported), so Heart will remain the little brother for a long time. Heart will probably tap into the market of Victory haters (which there are a lot of). Especially in Sydney, Adelaide and even Melbourne itself.

    In terms of MLS here in Australia, we can only get it through Setanta. Which is a shame as I don't have it in my house. So I have to go outside somewhere to be able to watch a game. I read a bit of history about San Jose. The relocation to Houston, the change of name from Clash etc. I also found that Landon Donovan played for San Jose. He is probably the most well known US player here in Australia and most Aussies would say he is your best. We have seen him at countless World Cups and when he toured here with Galaxy. I notice Wondolowski is also in the men's US national team which is great for San Jose.

    In terms of attracting crowds we have our problems here in Sydney. One thing that I think is important in attracting people is the style or brand that a team plays. In its short time Sydney has won two a-league titles, but not once in their history can I say they played an attractive brand. Even when they won their titles there were plenty of 1-0 wins, and shutting down the opposition or "parking the bus". I think this played a part in the crowds decreasing. A manager comes here and tries to get as many percentage wins as possible (to keep his job), instead of trying to entertain. This season they came near the bottom of table and played crap, so their crowds plumetted. A least previously they played crap and won.

    I think being in American and Aussie sports markets we all know that people complain about lack of entertainment of soccer because of the low scoring. I think therefore it is always vital that there are entertaining teams in our leagues, otherwise you get the same old diatribe from people who don't follow the sport. Anyway I will read about more on San Jose and hopefully I will catch many of their games on Setanta.

    P.S- I think you have a very cool looking stadium at the moment even though you plan to move into new one. If it was full I think it would create an awesome atmosphere.
     
  11. fadedtoblack

    fadedtoblack Member+

    Nov 6, 2007
    San Jose
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I liked the original 3 ads. This one I just don't get.

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zT9HMnG3eI&feature=player_embedded"]YouTube - San Jose Earthquakes 2011 Commercial: Carl[/ame]
     
  12. KMJvet

    KMJvet BigSoccer Supporter

    May 26, 2001
    Quake Country
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I've seen it posted elsewhere that there are ways around this...you just need some advice from an internet nerd. The internet package available on mlssoccer.com is restricted to the USA (Canada too maybe, not sure). But we've heard of ex-pats and others getting it to work by making their iPs come from the US. They still pay for it, but at least they are not excluded.

    I wanted to watch the Australian teams in the Asian champions league, but so far, no tv.

    I expect this is a matter of patience. Young leagues have growing pains in this regard. Some teams think win at any cost and the fans will come. Others hope that playing entertaining soccer that even if you lose, the fans will be patient and still come. The best is probably a mix of those two philosophies. And then being patient that if the league grows, you get better players, play improves. Quakes fans are pretty pleased this year because we're getting signs that our manager thinks the team as progressed enough to play less long ball.

    At some point you should weigh in on A-League playoff format vs MLS (although MLS playoff format is a moving target).

    True.

    The current stadium situation is actually pretty horrible. It's intimate for sure....close to the action so a lot of intensity. But it's a patched together college stadium and it's no attraction for fans that don't already love and support the team and would watch them anywhere. We expect a new home will make a lot difference for our credibility and attendance. You can have a decent game experience in Buch Shaw, but Porta-potties are Porta-potties. But we hope that the ongoing demolition of the previous buildings on the stadium site means we're on our way.
     
  13. KMJvet

    KMJvet BigSoccer Supporter

    May 26, 2001
    Quake Country
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Me neither.
     
  14. TyffaneeSue

    TyffaneeSue moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 15, 2003
    Upstairs
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Obviously, the FO has not been reading this thread.
     
  15. JazzyJ

    JazzyJ BigSoccer Supporter

    Jun 25, 2003
    They are. They are just placing special emphasis on my posts. :) Although, I have to say - they're just getting plain weird now with this latest vuvuzela ad. But maybe that's the point.
     
  16. proud smurf

    proud smurf Member

    Jul 30, 2005
    Uranus
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  17. Earthshaker

    Earthshaker BigSoccer Supporter

    Sep 12, 2005
    The hills above town
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Ike is freeing the Galactofan from the Galacto spell that held him in evil servitude. Kind of like how Gandalf cured Theoden in Lord of the Rings.

    It would have been better if they had the guy also throw off his shirt as a visual metaphor of breaking the bond.
     
  18. fadedtoblack

    fadedtoblack Member+

    Nov 6, 2007
    San Jose
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    What's with Carl? All I can think about is this.

    [​IMG]

    ...but he's New Yorker and probably a Red Bull fan. hah.
     
    1 person likes this.
  19. TyffaneeSue

    TyffaneeSue moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 15, 2003
    Upstairs
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Why Carl? Carl's Jr? Carl Sagan? Carl Icahn? The first three ads were inside jokes that we fans got. This fourth ad is apparently directed to an in-group that's so exclusive that none of us belongs to it.

    Also, I don't get the point of using two ads to knock the vuvus. Apart from the fact that I personally have a perverse fondness for them (had a vuvu app for my phone but I think a kid deleted it when I wasn't paying attention), do we really want to be the brand that's associated with such universally despised instruments? Maybe Carl should have been playing the accordion, just to mix it up a bit.
     
  20. bigdumbgod

    bigdumbgod Member+

    Jun 25, 2005
    San Jose, CA
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Me neither. Not much going on there.

    Trying to be quirky like the A's, maybe?
     
  21. KMJvet

    KMJvet BigSoccer Supporter

    May 26, 2001
    Quake Country
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Out of curiosity, who here actually responded to the Quakes' request for "Quakes vs" ideas?
     
  22. don gagliardi

    don gagliardi Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    Feb 28, 2004
    san jose
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    I suggested Quakes vs. Manchester United but not sure it went over very well. :)
     
  23. fadedtoblack

    fadedtoblack Member+

    Nov 6, 2007
    San Jose
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I suggested the Quakes vs. other Bay Area teams idea.
     
  24. don gagliardi

    don gagliardi Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    Feb 28, 2004
    san jose
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    "Ryan Clowe is not a very good soccer player but . . ."
     
  25. fadedtoblack

    fadedtoblack Member+

    Nov 6, 2007
    San Jose
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Have Niemi in a soccer goal with a Quake setting up for a PK.
     

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