San Jose Airport advertising

ur right... thid is Lala's ********ing job...... we as fans seem more commited than his sorry ass does!!!

 

Apparently he's too busy playing in tribute matches and stupid celebrity matches in L.A. to do his job for the Earthquakes.

 

Lack of advertising signs in the airport = not doing his job. Great.

16% attendance increase is irrelevant.

 

16% = Freddy Adu......do you really think Alexi is responsible for any increase in attendance so far?

 

This year had Freddy, last year had Mia. If Alexi isn't responsible, who is?

Comparing the first 6 games last year to this year, apples to apples:

Big hyped event:
2003: WUSA doubleheader: 17,032
2004: Freddy: 17,667

Day game vs. Chicago:
2003: 7,410
2004: 8,230

Early season LA game:
2003: 9,187
2004: 12,207

Ordinary Saturday vs. Eastern Conference team:
2003: (Crew) 7,180
2004: (Metros) 7,522

Another ordinary Saturday vs. same Eastern Conference team:
2003: (Crew) 8,058
2004: (Metros) 9,999

Last Saturday in June vs. Kansas City:
2003: 7,817
2004: 10,188

 

Word of mouth......5-4 over LA after being down 0-4......3-2 in OT over KC.....MLS Cup 4-2 over Chicago. Alexi doesn't get credit for an increase by default. The WUSA game was paired with the Quake match for marketing purposes......someone was doing their job somewhere. Freddy Adu was coming here no matter what, and if you ask me.....it wasn't marketed very well at all. I have a feeling if Johnny Moore were still here, the Freddy match may have had 20k.....IMHO.

 

Obviously doing ads above urinals is advertising they can control, but they probably view it as mainly tourists seeing it (eventhough people from San Jose fly too.)

Getting stuff in the gift shops is a much trickier proposition. The shopkeepers have to think they're going to move some of it if they're going to invest. I'm sure the last thing in the world they want to get into is consignment, unless the shopkeeper is a big soccer fan.

My mom was in Chicago recently and couldn't find me any Fire gear in the airport or in shops near her hotel. I'm sure this is a league-wide problem.

 

I wasn't responding to you.

 

Thanks Noah, good post.

Folks, Alexi is not an experienced professional marketing executive. He's learning on the job. It's not his fault they offered him the job. Really.

Although comments like those on this thread are well intentioned, remember that most advertising is too expensive for the return on investment it brings. Most advertising doesn't directly result in sales. It's a lot more complex than that.

And that every time you see a new kind of advertising vehicle, it doesn't mean 'the Quakes should be doing ___________." Seriously.

Urinal ads? C'mon.

 

This is a "Professional" sports team......Alexi sucks at his job and the people that hired him either suck or they have given up. I think the hiring of Alexi as our GM is another slap in the face to the SJ fans and it is proof that they don't take this market seriously. There are posters on this board that could do a better job than Alexi with none of his connections or his icon status. The fact that there is a 16% increase in attendance has nothing to do with Alexi or anything else that AEG has done. This fact irritates me even more because with a natural increase of 16%, imagine how much that increase would have been with a serious marketing plan in place. If it comes out that Johnny Moore left over some petty crap, I would be dissappointed in him also. My guess is that Moore would have had a good attendance year here, he was headed in the right direction......for him to leave only tells me he knew he was fighting a losing battle. He doesn't strike me as a quitter who would give up a battle that was still actually a battle. Hiring Alexi confirms that there is no battle.

 

The key is that the problem was the 'hirers', not the 'hire'.

Anger directed at Alexi is misplaced. The problems start from the top, and Alexi is not the top. Alexi was put in an almost impossible situation. That said, everything could come up roses by the end of the year. If people are willing to blame him for not filling up Spartan for these historically crappy, essentially meaningless late-spring/early summer games, I wonder if they'll give him credit if attendence skyrockets as we approach the playoffs, and if we get some kind of stadium deal.

My guess is he's being unreasonably blamed for whatever ails the team now, and will get no credit if anything goes well later on. But that's the position he was put in by the folks with the real authority.

Brilliant move by AEG, huh?

 

Based on what? The increased attendance? And, no, Adu didn't put more butts in seats at all the other games Noah listed yesterday.

No, they had a kneejerk reaction to our former GM quitting at a really, really inconvenient time. Sorry they didn't bother to interview Billy Beane or Brian Sabean-level candidates.

Yeah, because picking someone who's one of the few recognizable faces in US soccer history is SO much worse than, say, Lynne Meterparel.

I seriously, seriously doubt that.

It has just as much to do with Alexi as it does our previous GM. His team has continued getting the mainstream advertising (local papers/buses/TV ads) we started to see the last couple years. However, nothing has reverted, so I don't see why Lalas should get any blame.

It already came out that JM left over some petty crap. He didn't like hearing about CA in the newspaper before he heard it from AEG. Turns out it was just talk, anyway, and JM would still be the GM if he had thicker skin. Doesn't matter what he strikes you as, that's what happpened. Ask him.

Yeah, because hiring some MBA-decorated generic office twerp from some other MLS team's office would've been so much of a better decision.

Look, Lalas stepped in a steaming pile when he took this job given the timing of the hire, and he's still wiping lots of the mess off his shoe. I really believe, after talking with him (have you tried this?) that he wants the team to stay in the area and succeed. Unfortunately, lots of things totally out of his control (like AEG's corporate desires, and the potential whims of local voters) play into the equation. IMHO, it took balls to step up to this opportunity because it's seemingly a lose-lose situation for him. If he does a good job, it's still "not as good as Johnny would've done." If the team moves, "it's his fault because he's gAlexi the AEG spy."

 

That's a damn good post. So, why haven't we heard Alexi mention this little factoid anywhere? And if the team ends up +16% for the year, will that be considered successful?

 

Because attendance isn't the issue. Stadium is the issue. If a stadium doesn't happen yesterday...well, you know.

 

The key is, Alexi "stepped"......he wasn't pushed. I don't care for AEG anymore than I care for Alexi's ability to GM a professional soccer team. The notion that Alexi gets a free pass because he took on a crap job is ridiculous. Alexi is a very charismatic guy and very personable.....I still get the feeling that he talks alot without really saying anything......not that he would tell me if the team was moving......but when I talked with JM, I felt like I was talking to a GM and a fan like myself......someone that had the same concerns that I do. Alexi is a fan of the game, not the Quakes......he's not familiar with the area logistically or demigraphically, which seems important to me. Alexi reminds me of Eddie Murphy in Trading Spaces. Seems like a few of you have been swayed by his charisma and choose to ignore his short-comings and even defend him. He chose this job knowing full well what he was getting into without any experience so, he's either dumb.......or......he knows something that we don't. I personally don't think he's dumb.

 

Nobody's giving him a "free pass." That insinuation is even more ridiculous than the concept that anyone who isn't Johnny doesn't get a free pass.

Most GMs are like this. They're part politician. And he's a level or two below AEG's real decisionmakers on the corporate food chain.

This is true, JM is definitely a Quakes fan more than Lalas. But he was a rare bird in sports management. Really, considering all the pro sports GMs, how many were fans before they became GM of their team? Almost none, pal.

And how does one become familiar with an area? Live there a while, perhaps?

But you think any of us who don't think he sucks are dumb enough to be "swayed by charisma"? Trust me, I'm not like that.

The team was doing so well last year with Johnny as GM that there were relocation rumors and CA-takeover rumors. Come on, take off your crazy specs or whatever it is that's impairing your view. This team was facing a crucial year going into this season, and it's no given that the team would be doing better business-wise with anyone else as GM.

 

Trading Spaces is the show on TLC or whatever, where they have people switch houses and work with a designer to redo a room in the other people's house on a budget.

Eddie Murphy was in Trading Places.

Johnny Moore is a great guy and I felt like he put the San Jose fans first when he was GM, while I do not get that feeling from Lalas -- I feel like he is putting AEG first. I would love to have Johnny Moore back as GM, but the reality is it's not going to happen.

That said, I feel like the team's presence is growing under Lalas -- there seems to be more advertising and the name is getting out there more. Attendance is improving, and while you can choose not to attribute that to Lalas, it is happening while he is in charge.

 

Um... I think you're mixing up Alexi Lalas and Johnny Moore.

Johnny's the one with charisma. Alexi seems nervous around people and reserved.

A perfect example was Saturday's tailgate. Johnny held court with the admiring throngs (myself included). Alexi hangs out in the shadows, keeping a respectful distance, watching and learning.

I love Johnny for all the reasons you can imagine but it's unfair to lay years of frustration with the various owners/operators at the feet of Lalas.

See you at 'Hawaiian Night.'

Oops, sorry, I forgot. Lalas isn't doing anything.

 

See, this is the thing. People need to understand Johnny -- GREAT guy that he is -- was an anomaly as a GM. Not unique (the Revs' first GM, Brian O'Donovan, used to be pretty hands-on with the fans, too), but rare. Fans made that extra connection with him because he not only played for the old Quakes and the USMNT, and had previously even been GM for the old Quakes, he stayed in the area and contributed to it. When he was named GM of the MLS Quakes, he was a known quantity to many of us local supporters.

But some people are acting like Linus, where Johnny was Linus' blanket.

Apparently, some people think these improvements would be even "more" and "greater" with a different GM. Totally unproveable, but it's not stopping anyone.

 

The only way it could be worse was to hire a guy with Alexi's lack of experience but without his charisma or icon status or love of the game. So if you wanna look at it as "The Glass Is Half Full"......sure, they could have done worse. Sure the attendance went up while Alexi was at the wheel......is it because of him, I say no.

 

I think you are mixing charisma and what JM is.....JM IS one of us....he IS able to entertain Club Quake because he is a fan first. Was Alexi and Johnny both there at the same time? If I was Alexi, that would be uncomfortable for me too. It's like being at a party where your significant other and his/her ex are having a great time conversing.....even though you are the 2nd wheel, you feel like the 3rd(no, i'm not projecting ). Alexi IS more charismatic.....JM is just alot more comfortable.

 

Alexi was there first; he showed up around the same time as Dayak. Johnny and his wife showed up afterward. We did notice that the two had separate circles of stalkers/sycophants/etc. around them, and that they didn't seem to interact.

What? Bad analogy.

Dude, there were plenty of people talking to Lalas, offering him beers, etc. It's not like everyone flocked to Johnny and Alexi was abandoned. As much as you'd probably like to believe that.