If you were named Director of Marketing for Penn State's athletic department
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Truly a minor thing that would be way down on the list, but one thing I'd change would be to try and get a more prestigious or nationally known sponsor for the screen in the background that is used during press conferences / post game etc. Blaise Alexander Dealerships may speak to central PA but it's still a local car dealership. Prior to the scandal we had AT&T and before to that it was Sherwin-Williams. I figure by now we're far enough removed we should be able to pull a national sponsorship again.
Doubt that "IMG has all the say so." More likely that they are the ones beating the hustings for sponsors over which PSU has final approval.
That an organization with the reach of IMG can't come up with something better says a lot.
PSU, like just about every entity, has a real challenge ahead. You can see, by the average age of posters on this board, that passion for institutions is waning. At the same time, COVID is forcing a wedge between students/alums and the university. We are now at one year since alums were on campus, for the most part. Student participation has been largely decreased. This is why, IMHO, the football season was so important.
Habits change quickly. I've spoken to several people that, for whatever reason, no longer feel motivated enough to pay the outrageous fees for tickets, parking, hotels, and certified jerseys on weekends.
I feel like we are approaching the age of the individual. Everything is a rip-off, you can trust nobody, you are no longer tethered to a physical location and the basic necessities in life are much less expensive (both in terms of real dollars and in terms of being able to lower your financial run rate as a result of the virtual world).
Others will disagree, and much is major dependent, but I feel I learned little in college classrooms that I used in later life. So for me, the value of my diploma rests in the brand of the college I went to. I'd have loved to have Princeton or U of Chicago on my diploma instead of the one I have. My point is that PSU is going to have to a) advance their virtual offering a lot and b) progress the brand. What is PSU's niche? I have no idea. At one point, we were a "state" and land-grant school. Later, we were competing with NW and Michigan. Nothing wrong with either option, I guess, but today we are serving neither brand.
What does PSU, as a company, want employers to think when they see PSU on a resume? As I help my daughter choose her college this coming summer, that is the question I'll be asking as we consider where to invest.
Habits change quickly. I've spoken to several people that, for whatever reason, no longer feel motivated enough to pay the outrageous fees for tickets, parking, hotels, and certified jerseys on weekends.
I feel like we are approaching the age of the individual. Everything is a rip-off, you can trust nobody, you are no longer tethered to a physical location and the basic necessities in life are much less expensive (both in terms of real dollars and in terms of being able to lower your financial run rate as a result of the virtual world).
Others will disagree, and much is major dependent, but I feel I learned little in college classrooms that I used in later life. So for me, the value of my diploma rests in the brand of the college I went to. I'd have loved to have Princeton or U of Chicago on my diploma instead of the one I have. My point is that PSU is going to have to a) advance their virtual offering a lot and b) progress the brand. What is PSU's niche? I have no idea. At one point, we were a "state" and land-grant school. Later, we were competing with NW and Michigan. Nothing wrong with either option, I guess, but today we are serving neither brand.
What does PSU, as a company, want employers to think when they see PSU on a resume? As I help my daughter choose her college this coming summer, that is the question I'll be asking as we consider where to invest.
ICA is Intercollegiate Athletics (Sandy and crew). IMG is a sports marketing company that has become pretty powerful with a lot of universities, etc. PSU hired/signed with them (how many years ago I don’t know). IMG has gained more stroke with ICA yet I don’t find them very impressive.
I think the BJC is signed with them as well in some manner and must approve sponsorship deals. So say BJC Mgmt could find a sponsor like Lexus. IMG could shoot it down saying it violates a sponsorship deal IMG has with Chevy or another make.
Too much power not enough production IMO.
I think the BJC is signed with them as well in some manner and must approve sponsorship deals. So say BJC Mgmt could find a sponsor like Lexus. IMG could shoot it down saying it violates a sponsorship deal IMG has with Chevy or another make.
Too much power not enough production IMO.
Approaching the age of the individual? Read Future Shock published way back in 1970. If the Baby Boomers were considered the Me Generation today's Generation Z or whatever they called are the Me Generation on steroids.
I agree with everything in your first three paragraphs. Higher education is due for an overhaul. It's coming.
If that's the way IMG's relationship with PSU works, then Serious Sandy is more monumentally incompetent than even I imagined.
I think a difference is, in previous generations, there were physical realities of life. If you wanted to get hired by a company located in Manhattan, you often had to move there. Manhattan typically has about 7,000 homes for sale. Today? Almost 11,000 on Realitor.com. And this is true of many of our largest cities.
In the new age, you no longer have to live at or near where you work. So you can sell your 1,000 square foot apparent in Chicago for $850k and move to Apple Creek Ohio with a 4,700 foot house for $380k.
Regardless the details, times have substantially changed and it will be interesting to see how mankind changes.
They would have the same Lexus-Chevy conflict even if they did everything inhouse--sponsors don't want to see a competitor's branding on purchased space.
IMG likely has exclusive or semi-exclusive rights to sell all PSU advertising inventory. There are several companies around that do this kind of work. If I were marketing director, I would outsource everything I could, subject to a strong bundle of KPIs, which include quality, quantity and revenue guaranties. If IMG isn't delivering (and it's possible they aren't, after all, they are just a specialized consultant), then I would want to have guaranty/termination rights that I could fall back on.
All of the above being said, it's likely that commercial sales have taken a significant hit due to Covid, not a lot that can be done about that at the moment. It would also have helped if the FB team hadn't shit the bed at the beginning of the season.
The amount of change and the pace of change is incredible. In the post war years it was normal for someone to go to work for, say IBM, and stay there their entire career. Now days that's unusual. People jump all over the place. Getting back to the original post the emotional links people have to institutions are much weaker. Coach doesn't have me in the starting lineup? I'm in the transfer portal and out of here. The internet with remote work accelerates all this change and our society is changing in ways we won't fully understand for years.
And regarding what you said about real estate, the mountain towns here are booming. The one place it isn't booming? Downtown Denver.
Agreed. I coach kids today by telling them that they are the company. Even if they work for a company as an employee, it is still the individual's brand and their product to own. LinkedIn is a great tool for building your individual brand. I no longer see my employment as anything but a day to day situation: it serves both of our conveniences. When it is time to move on, I resign and go.
Without consulting the Old Main Brain Trust or the AD, on my first day of employment I would publicly recognize Joe Paterno's many great contributions to PSU and have it be JoePa day. Later in the day I would probably be negotiating my severance package.
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I’d sell the naming rights to Beaver Stadium. You could bring in a ton if money and perhaps finance the renovation. Same with the Bryce Jordan Center although that wouldn’t bring in much. I’d also move all the wrestling matches to the BJC, the women’s basketball to Rec Hall, and the OOC men’s basketball games back there. I’d also reverse the cameras at the BJC so that the student section is in the frame instead of the fans from the retirement community. I’d also arrange to distribute and sell creamery products in stores throughout the State. I’d invest in a PSU brewery and distillery and market “Lion Beer - the Paws that refreshes”, and “Nittany Whiskey Mountain Moonshine” as products. You could create a course in brewing and distilling for students the way they do for ice cream now.
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Guessing that the contract has come up for renewal during her tenure. If she hasn't changed it, it's on her. PSU doesn't make enough from IMG that IMG can dictate.
Now, that's funny, but I guess someone at PSU could be that stupid.
1. Get rid of the stupid music at the football games.
2. Bring Joe Paterno's legacy back in everything we market.
3. Bring the statue back to the north end of Beaver Stadium.
4. Reverse the limited RV parking for games.
5. Add heated restrooms to the parking lots outside Beaver Stadium.
6. Add RV electric and water hookups and dump stations to the Overnight RV lot and keep this lot open throughout the year.
7. Allow kegs at all tailgates.
8. Allow people to party outside the stadium during games.
9. Get rid of the goofy ass parking program.
10. Reduce the capacity of Beaver Stadium by adding 2" to every bench seat in the stadium.
11. Get real companies inside Beaver Stadium to sell their stuff (Chick-Fil-A, etc.).
12. Start selling Beer inside Beaver Stadium.
Yea, I got carried away. Fire away!
I would quietly pay a boatload of cash for Herbie and Barry Alvarez to stump for us publicly and also behind closed doors
Since you bring up courses in brewing at Penn College of Tech they have a program in just that.
Brewing & Fermentation Science | Certificate
This industry-driven program taps into the math, science, technology, business, and art of brewing.
You did get a little carried away. I’m not sure making it more convenient to drink is a good marketing tool. Weekly car crashes after games backing up traffic might discourage attending.
Adding 2” to seating would be an addition of about 11% and reducing capacity by the same or approx 11,000 people down to 96,000. Since people weigh considerably more now than thirty years ago that seems wise.
Lots of interesting and thoughtful points... no doubt that the PSU brand has slipped...much of it self-inflicted...we all know the trigger point/date...
And I would also agree that how the brand is positioned is untethered.
A real University President is required to get our school back on track.
IMG is a sports marketing/media buyer. Basically, they write a check every year to the school, and in return they get the media inventory to sell. Whether it’s radio ads, game programs, ticket stubs, coaches shows, gameday kiosks, stadium signage, etc.. Usually football/basketball account for the vast, vast majority of the action, but at PSU, hockey is probably part of the deal as well. IMG and Learfield merged about 18 months ago, and IMG retained the name.
My brother was the GM of the IMG Ohio State Sports Network for a few years. They wrote a check of upwards of $28-30 million annually to OSU to handle their property. It drove my brother nuts that after paying them, Gene Smith and his office would constantly interfere in potential deals and ideas.
My brother was the GM of the IMG Ohio State Sports Network for a few years. They wrote a check of upwards of $28-30 million annually to OSU to handle their property. It drove my brother nuts that after paying them, Gene Smith and his office would constantly interfere in potential deals and ideas.
Demand a better parking spot. The more senior 40 Assistant ADs have all of the good spots.
You could make everybody sit in a seat sizer and make everyone pay by the inch. There would be a lot less fat assed people spreading over into someone else's seat.
