Earthquakes print ad in the San Jose Mercury News (Sunday, 3/14/04)

Forget Adu. There is only one Jesus in this league, and this ad proves it.

 

Yeah, I noticed that one. It caught me by surprise a bit because I'm so used to seeing SaberCats and Stealth ads instead. Anyway, I thought it was reasonably well done. I think they also had season ticket prices "starting at...". Hopefully we'll see more in the next few weeks before the start of the season.

 

I also saw an Earthquakes ad flash on Great America's jumbotron off 101N near the Mission College Exit. It was pretty cool...

 

Damn, too bad there isn't an SSS right there at Mission College for the Quakes to play in...

 

Great!

Looking....looking...looking.....try section again....still looking....

oh..THERE it is!

Anyway, nice ad. We'll expect a big production closer to opening day.

 

How in the HELL can the Stealth afford all of their advertising? Nobody goes to those damn games unless they have free tickets. We are the defending Champs and there is JACK for advertising.

Crap I tell ya! Pure crap! Once again....failing to take full advantage of the momentum a Championship creates.

 

Well, not to make excuses for the Quakes management, but the Stealth are in the midst of their regular season and the Quakes regular season hasn't started yet. But still, when the Quakes regular season starts, I doubt we'll see Quakes ads to the level of advertising that the Stealth are doing. Don't know what to say about that, other than that the Stealth owners are apparently more willing to invest in print advertising at this point. Personally, given the Quakes apparently low budget for advertising and promotions, I'd prefer that they do more promotions rather than print advertising, like 2 or more for 1 deals with the youth leagues, etc.

 

Well, actually, NLL has been re-positioning their franchises in partnership with NHL teams. It is no accident that the Stealth moved from somewhere that had no NHL franchise to somewhere that does. It is no accident that many of the NLL franchises are playing their games on fields that get laid down over hockey ice. And I venture a guess that their marketing budgets are supplemented by their partnership with the Sharks. Something about loud, echoing arenas, rock music, fights, and complementary crowd demographics.

Also, we have four season tickets which, I can assure you, we paid for.
(section 101, row 20, seats 1-4).

If my 15-yr old was still playing soccer, I would know nothing about this stuff, but he started playing lacrosse three years ago, and well...

DougO

 

But, you would think that the Quakes would be blasting the market in every way possible leading up to their title defence. Furthemore, I hear about Stealth stuff in more than just the printed media. However, that is probably because of the Sharks relationship mentioned in DougO's post.

 

Damn....I went to the first game (using free tickets), and almost crapped my pants at how much they were charging when I looked up ticket prices in the game program. You must have paid a nice chunck of change for those seats.

Moreover, isn't it like $40 bucks for a happy meal at the arena now?

 

Doesn't this sound like a short-term deal? Or are the reports of NHL's impending death greatly exaggerated? Sorry, I know next to nothing about Ice Hockey. The only news I've been hearing are about how NHL's days are numbered with contraction, and how Disney/ESPN is throttling coverage for future season (if any!!??).

 

The NHL has some major problems, facing a likely long work stoppage pending next season, and a significant reduction in future TV revenues. Owners are saying some teams will fold if they don't get significant concessions from the union. The Sharks organization, which is almost as much an arena management company as it is a hockey franchise, is positioning its to weather the storm by keeping the arena booked with other events such as the lacrosse team.

 

Yeah, I've had similar experiences regarding Quakes name recognition. One guy kept saying "aren't they an indoor soccer team?" until I realized he was getting confused with the SaberCats indoor football.

Given that, maybe the Quakes advertising focus should just be built around creating a basic, basic awareness: there is a "major league" soccer franchise in San Jose, their name is the Earthquakes, they are the defending champions, they are exciting to watch, etc. As much as every hardcore Quakes fan relates to the "believe" slogan, it doesn't mean anything to the prospective fan or even possibly the casual fan. Of course, with the recent ads, they're really going after prospective season ticket holders, which is a different audience, so the "believe" campaign is more suitable.

On a tangential note, last year I invited a friend and his two sons (ages 8-12 or so) to a Quakes game, and, even though they had both played some soccer, they spent much of the time talking about the SaberCats and even NFL Europe! That was a sobering experience. That was a pretty good game too (2-1 over Columbus on Walker goal). I guess it's just hard to compete with the gladiator style contact, cheerleaders, and all the other lowest common denominator aspects of football. (I have to admit, though, I've been a Niners fan for many years, but after catching the soccer bug, I'm rapidly losing interest in pointy ball.)

 

WooHoo!!! One down. Many more to go!!! Just kidding....

 

Well, in terms of Quakes long-reaching brand awareness, there's the guy in Australia, the guy in Japan, the guy in Minnesota, the guy in Washington state, the guy in San Diego, the LD fan in Texas...I think maybe about 6. Did I leave anyone out?

 

There's a guy with a user handle "Conrad" who posts from Liverpool, England on another board. He's not on BigSoccer.

 

Well, Lori and I both did a double-take last night around 10 PM when Spike TV (channel 45 on our Comcast) ran the "Landon and Goose heading the ball in the hotel room" TV ad right, smack at the one-hour break during WWE Raw. I think I had only previously seen that ad on sports channels like FSN.

So, at least we're catering to wrestling fans.

FWiW, I still have yet to see one Spanish language TV ad for the Quakes airing DURING an MFL game or sports report on Univision, Telemundo, et al. Have I just missed them, or are they non-existent?

 

I saw an ad for the Alajuelense game on Telemundo.

 

Makes me wonder why they didn't snatch up an MISL franchise for the expansion next year. I can't believe Stockton got an MISL team.