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

I just continue to fail to understand how anybody can find this acceptable. Whether it be Chris Klein, DTK or whomever is in charge of this portion of operations.

It boggles my mind.

 

Well, Klein did search high and low for Pete and Curt.

 

I don’t think Klein would recognize incompetence if he saw it, in the mirror.

 

Is the teal green color being splashed all over the Galaxy website a sign that it may appear on a Galaxy jersey in the near future? I wouldn't necessarily be opposed. It's a pretty good look.

 

I actually haven't seen it "live" yet; that's the part I'm most curious about.

 

Could be a throwback to the "green-gold" days. Would love to see a throwback 2nd jersey with those colors.

 

I've had that same thought It's a nice color (better then the teal we used to wear) and I was hoping it was a hint for the new 2nd jersey but unfortunately it was not.

 

Well then it will just have to be for the upcoming 3rd jersey! Not that I've heard anything about that, but I think we are due for a new 3rd jersey soon, no?

 

I think 3rd kits were retired a season or two ago.

 

Mods - Although I check in daily, I don't post enough to know what the heck to do when I have a subject of my own I'd love to hear some additional thoughts on. This forever and a day marketing thread seemed closest to the subject on my mind. Here it goes.

I love LA Galaxy. I'm a 13 year season seat holder (we all know who happened that year and yes, I believe his lasting effect on this league is profound). I, like many of you I'm sure, tune into every game no matter the medium - that's probably 400 separate times I have devoted 2-6 hours to this club. BUT, I don't love MLS, no matter how hard I've tried. I'm at the point where I've realized I'm either on an island or part of some contingent that somehow can't connect. I love the NFL and depending on periods of my life have been really into the NBA, NHL and MLB. I have no problem getting into the storylines of teams that I don't have a rooting interest in. MLS just hasn't grabbed me in the same way.

After investing some time to the first few weeks of this season, I think I have a theory and am really curious if anyone is on the same page. I don't connect with seeing hundreds or thousands of strangers in supporters sections holding up scarves, singing and celebrating. They are all the same, just wearing different colors and generally singing different tunes. How is this never-ending motif of "the same" the unending focus of MLS marketing powers that be? It couldn't be less compelling.

Where are the athletes? The coaches? The city skylines? The incredible state of the art stadiums? Seriously. I'm not exaggerating. Focus on this for a game and you'll see the only thing vying for your emotion is the crowd. Someone will score the most mind-melting goal you've ever seen in your life and they just cut to people jumping up and down. I can't tell you the number of times they'd need to show a replay of Robbie Keane rolling and "six-shooting" because they didn't catch his celebration live. And this will happen all game. Every game. Crowd 1st. Any and everything else last. Their camera angles to capture the crowd are far and away superior to the angles actually used to capture the action on the pitch. Some games you literally can't watch on television without it looking like AYSO swarm ball.

Being in Los Angeles, take yourself through some cut scenes of a Lakers television experience as a juxtaposition. Scenes of the beach, downtown, the Hollywood sign. Scenes of championship teams gone by. Scenes of Staples from the sky. Magic, Kobe, Shaq and on and on and on making plays and then actually seeing their emotion in the moment. All of this comes before showing the guy in Section 10, Row 5, Seat 2 looking really happy.

I get the angle. They want everyone to know that people actually care. I can flip it on and say, "look, it's really cool, people care". But, I think they are completely missing the boat when it comes to the fans they already have.

Maybe I'm alone in this, totally fair. If so, let me know and I'll find a way to get past it and admit I'm out of touch. Or maybe I'm just bored because I'm watching Cincy FC rather than LA Galaxy.

 

I think Garber has done a great job handling the business side of MLS but has done little to improve the league’s PR/marketing side. Unimaginative TV production is one of the symptoms of this neglect. I’m not as bothered as you about the crowd shots but I am bothered by the poor announcing, the limited TV angles, games beginning with a blurry smoke-filled screen, lack of promotional ideas (like say a farewell tour for Donovan), lack of human interest video pieces to connect the audience to the players, the lack of sophisticated development of fantasy league stats to engage fans, the lack of interesting content creators on mlssoccer.com, and so on. I mean how expensive could Rachel Bonetta have been? Not saying everyone liked her but at least she was producing original video content for the site.

Look at how the NBA went from a struggling league playing in mostly empty stadiums to landing $20 billion+ TV contracts almost entirely due to Stern coming in a completely revamping the way they marketed their teams and the league. MLS is pre-Stern. No reason our TV ratings have to be comparable to bowling shows. MLS needs to realize this and bring in people who can similarly pivot our marketing and grow our TV audience way beyond us diehards.

 

The fireworks smoke was less this game - they seemed to have less fireworks and they were less smokey.

 

I watched the NYCFC game. I was actively rooting against the goats. NYCFC’s new guy, The Romanian Giovinco, has blinders on.

I also watched the Cincy vs Portland game. I was rooting against our Western Conference rivals. I thought it was interesting to see Adi against his old club. I think MLS Expansion is cool.

I don’t really care or concern myself with people in the stands. I watch the game. But, to each, their own.

I do agree that the league needs to do much more and try a lot harder at attracting and keeping fans.

 

Especially if he saw it in a mirror.....

 

I'm not sure the best course of action either way but, those other leagues are the best in the world in those respective sports. I don't know what factors the powers that be take into account when they make those decisions you point out but, maybe that has something to do with it... ?

 

It's a sort of chicken and egg issue. Are they the best in the world (in part) because of the way they are marketed, or are they marketed well because they are the best in the world to start with

 

While LAG probably has minimal direct control on how the league markets itself, it can control how this team markets itself. The fact that the marketing dept has produced sloppy copy too often is an indication of how the team prioritizes that end of the business. Apparently this stuff bothers us a lot more than it bothers management.

 

“We’ll sell more tickets than LAFC this season” in response to a query about LAFC’s massive season ticket base shows their exact mentality. There’s no desire for the Galaxy to be the best or the gold standard anymore. Beating your cross town rival on a metric they’re physically incapable of competing on is good enough for them, it’s like Fulham bragging about Arsenal the day they’re relegated.

Reminds me of this scene from Mad Men

 

Can't say much about this, except I've passively observed that crowds and supporters culture are a big, big deal to league marketing. Clubs like Seattle, Portland and ATL have done well on the field, but are league darlings because of their supporters culture. There are two pieces up on MLS about Cincy's supporter culture; it's easier to find that than the results of their game over the weekend. The Galaxy have also asked LARS and ACB to sit together on the North end, which I imagine has to be for TV optics.

It's been a big selling point for league's gameday experience. Now maybe focus should pivot to the actual TV viewing experience. It'd be nice to have a real pregame most times. Do I literally have to sit through the final minute of the South East Regional Hot Dog Eating Semifinals right up until kickoff?

 

Again a chicken-egg problem. Good pregame show would help our ratings but until our ratings are up networks will stick with the hot dog eating semis.

 

Agree. The organization being ok with sloppy typos is more than irritating - it both reflects and projects a Galaxy culture of low expectations.

 

Speaking of needing more creative MLS marketing, I came across this article. Finally doing what I mentioned above - further developing and using analytics as a marketing tool, like every other sport. Finally a step in the right direction. Well not saying sports gambling is the right direction, but increasing MLS visibility and broadening the reach of our product is:

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019...-gaming-partnership-mgm-resorts-international

 

Just to dredge this up again. Spurs opened their new £1 billion stadium for a test event this weekend. There’s a sign with prices posted for one of the food vendors.

Beer is £4-5.50 or $5.25 - $7.25 for an English pint
Water was £2 or $2.65
Soda was £2.50 or $3.30
Pie was £3.50 or $4.60

Maybe those prices were just for the test event, and to be fair the cheapest season tickets are £800 or $1025, but half price for concessions in one of the most expensive cities in the world and one of the most expensive stadiums ever built.

So the Galaxy concessions are more expensive than Disneyland and more expensive than a state of the are EPL stadium.

 

According to this summer's ICC schedule, we ARE in LA:


Wednesday, July 17

Arsenal vs. Bayern Munich -- Los Angeles, Dignity Health Sports Park