Dan Gargan and a Box of Crayons: The Marketing and PR Thread

This was a good one from earlier in the season. I sent a tweet suggesting they proof-read and received a reply from Sports Roadhouse. Someone smarter than me may know if this is a 3rd-party social media company.
@LAGalaxySRH

 

Thanks for starting this thread.

But is it OK to discuss the Portland game here too?

(Ducks and covers)

 

I sometimes get the feeling that the marketing department has been taken over by a group of 22 year old, smarter than the rest of us, social media experts.

 

Yeah, there needs to be a tighter, better marketing upgrade soon. Stuff feels haphazard to me (STH perks, game day posters, Beer Garden-El Torito Cantina, Rose Bowl advertising capitulation, World Cup tie-ins, etc.).

IMO, one place where The Galaxy have excelled is the partnership with TWC and their Backstage: Galaxy and Galaxy Confidencial shows.

 

The best marketing would be to move the stadium downtown and un-do the Magee trade.

PS.: FOOD FIGHT!!!

 

Actually, I think the marketing department has been run for years by the social media consultant from the Jack in the Box commercials. My former company actually hired one and the similarities were amaze .

 

Even the TWC partnership has its BS moments. Some examples, not showing a game live on TWC Net when showing it live in Spanish on the TWC Desportes channel becuase TWC Net is showing the 33rd replay of a 6 months old high school football game for those viewers who missed the original broadcast and the 32 other replays.

Or how about having a English subtitles to the Spanish soccer discussion programs that are on TWC Desportes.

 

I don't remember TWCSN displacing live Galaxy matches in recent memory. I'm generally pretty fond of their coverage, as they'll sometimes lead into matches with the Backstage show or a pre-game round-up and usually have a recap and post-game show at the end. I'm astounded when ESPN will show the final minutes of the Broward County Regional Finals of Hot Dog-Eating right up until the kick-off of a playoff, but I haven't seen too much of that with TWCSN, personally.

I do notice TWC Deportes is better though. For example: the Spanish version of the Donovan "Galaxy of Goals" feature is a full hour instead of a half-hour and has more commentary and stuff. Like, English-speaking fans won't sit through an extra half-hour of LD goals?

 

Let's be honest: TWC Sports is really just The Laker Channel, and occasionally they throw in a little Galaxy or Sparks coverage.

 

Well, that's not quite fair. Sure, Lakers are their number one focus. But, with Backstage: Galaxy, and Access Sportsnet Galaxy and a substantial post-game show there is a LOT more coverage, analysis etc. than we have ever had before with Fox or ESPN. It is certainly an improvement on the game coverage with Joe Tutino and better picture quality than the fuzzy box from Fox. Would I like more? Sure. But we have to recognize that progress has been made.

 

I am almost certain that the US Open Cup games that involved the Galaxy were almost all broadcast live on TWC Deportes but were not broadcast on TWCSN. I believe the 2nd game was streamed live by the RailHawks.

 

I'm impressed that we as a forum even have this thread. Great idea.

 

Good points Cadaver. Backstage Galaxy is quite good.

 

Guardians of the Galaxy. Surely there was a cross-promotional opportunity there. I mean, AJ De La Garza is basically Rocket Raccoon. Put him on a poster with Gonzo, Penedo, and Rogers. Hand it out with a movie ticket to everyone entering the stadium. Plaster the film title on the advertising boards all game during a national telecast. Boom. Done.

(Also, can we please get SpaceX or Tesla Motors to sponsor us instead of this ********ing pyramid scheme? I'd like to buy a jersey sometime this decade, but I can't, because Herbalife is an embarrassment.)

 

I'll be doing a lot of complaining in this thread but something I noticed today and something that was being discussed on twitter this afternoon was making me really happy: making stubhub LOOK like our home. I love the blue nets and the blue customized corner flags. Little things like that make a big difference and give the SHC a little more flavor.

 

More content on the team page on the MLS app for Apple TV? More player and coach interviews, and can the highlights not be in below standard definition???

 

Don't know how many people saw it b/c the signage wasn't the best, but at today's game, there was a GotG booth. They were taking photos with a green screen background and were giving out branded t-shirts, posters, key chains, and stickers.

 

Also previously...a whole row of one section all won tickets to see Guardians of the Galaxy. It was just a random giveaway during a home game.

 

Right-o. But those are basically examples of the film's marketing department seeing some value in advertising at Galaxy games. It was probably like, "Hey Galaxy, we'd like to put a up a kiosk for our movie next week. It'll be family friendly. A nice distraction for whining kids. We'll give away some stuff. In exchange, here's X tickets you can give away to your fans." Maybe a few bucks were thrown in as well, but quite possibly not. It wasn't something we'd advertise. It wasn't something that was going to make people decide to attend a Galaxy game.

What did our marketing department do? Did they put up Galaxy kiosks outside theatres on thursday and friday evening and give out swag and tickets? Omar and Landon (and Cosmo, if only he were't the lamest mascot on the planet) hanging out in front of the Chinese Theatre, taking photos in front of a green screen with fans? (Maybe it's a terrible idea, but it's analogous to what GotG did at StubHub.) Did they run Galaxy commercials in theatres before showings of the movie? Limited to theatres within 20 miles of StubHub? Maybe offering $10 off any Galaxy ticket when you present your movie ticket stub at the stadium? I mean, we don't have the budget, nor the nation-wide reach, nor the star power, to have attracted truly integrated partnership with the studio (on the level of a Batman/TacoBell cross-promo). Our brand isn't worth leveraging to Marvel, and my initial post was mostly tongue in cheek. But surely we could have done more. (If we did do more, do tell.)

As an aside, I think the Galaxy putting on public screenings of USMNT World Cup games was an intelligent allocation of resources. But damn, we're playing great soccer right now, and the franchise should be all but bribing people to show up and watch. Trust that it will pay off down the line.

 

There was a roomer that there was going to be a USMNT WC viewing party at the Stub, but it didn't happen. The beach was pretty happening, I guess. It would have been nice to get newbs out to the stadium, though.



P.S. Cozmo Rules!

 

I apologize if this is not the right thread to post this but I was wondering if anyone attended the Town Hall after the Portland game? I left a few minutes early to get ready for the autograph signing so I missed the last couple of questions. Would love to get a recap of it, specifically Chris Klein's answer about losing fans.

 

This is the pre-match photo from yesterday. Something seems to be missing from Omar's shirt.

 

I thought all of Klein's answers yesterday were very vanilla.

Tailgating? We're looking into it.
Chivas moving out? Don't know, but we're going to make SHC feel like our house.
As far as the fan question, he acknowledged a "spike" during the Beckham years, but stated that the team is not losing fans.