Falcons marketing strategy not focusing on Matt Ryan, Mike Vick, or Pet Adoption
It must be hell to work in the Falcons marketing department right now.
Your team finished with a “crap-tastic” 4-12 season last year, your former star QB is currently trying his best not to “drop the soap”, your head coach of last year jumped ship to the college ranks during the regular season, and the most reliable offensive weapon you had left (Alge Crumpler)? you released him in February.
So…who wants some season tickets!
Needless to say, the Falcons advertising campaign will be “slightly altered” for the 2008 regular season. Taking a page from the “Lesson Learned” playbook, the advertising campaign will not be focused on one player, as it had been in the past, meaning that newly drafted QB Matt Ryan will not be the face of the 2008 Atlanta Falcons. From the AJC,
Newly drafted quarterback Matt Ryan will not be a prime player in an advertising campaign planned by the Atlanta Falcons to try to rebuild the team’s sagging season-ticket base.
“I don’t think we’re going to sit there and try to harp on one player,” said Falcons president Rich McKay, who oversees the team’s business operations. “It doesn’t mean [Ryan] won’t have some appearances or that you won’t see him in the community, but I don’t think he’ll be the focus of our campaign.”
So, what exactly will be featured in the advertising campaign, if none of the players are going to be the draw? Well, dear reader, it is the aforementioned “great seats” of course!
…we will focus on the fact there is a unique opportunity for fans to buy pretty good seats in the Dome at a low price, and if they don’t take advantage of it the opportunity won’t be there in the future. We don’t plan to make this about one player. — Falcons President Rich McKay
Lets review. Atlanta can’t sell tickets because their franchise QB is in jail and the team isn’t good. How do they decide to go about selling tickets? By letting people know there are plenty of seats available to watch a bad team that no longer has a franchise QB cause he’s in jail. Sounds strange, right? Uh, did I mention the tickets are cheap? Yeah, don’t everybody form a line all at once. How bad are things in Atlanta right now? Fans haven’t even been buying season tickets (ticket for individual games aren’t available until the summer) after some drastic price cuts by the Falcons, some of which made season tickets available for $250 per seat.
The Falcons strategy isn’t really a new one. Bad teams always approach fans with a “team first”, hard- working, we love the fans, media blitz”. Sometimes its effective, sometimes its not. I really would have liked to have seen the Falcons do something different though because of the significant effect the loss of Michael Vick has had on the franchise. When Vick played people used to always joke about “Vick being the whole team.”, and apparently truer words have never been spoken. Last season’s record, Coach Bobby Petrino’s exit, the price cuts made to tickets, and the lack of ticket sales can all be traced, directly or indirectly back to Vick’s incarceration. Vick’s departure probably has cost the Falcons franchise and the city of Atlanta $100 hundreds of millions of dollars in terms of merchandising, transportation, concessions, football tickets, etc (I would love to see some economist’s estimate on this). Is there any other situation in the league like this? Will the city of Indianapolis refuse to go to any more Colts games if Peyton Manning is gone? I doubt it. Manning is a phenomenal player and sales would drop, but without him the Colts still have other stars to attract fans (Harrison, Wayne, Freeney, Sanders etc.). Who else do the Falcons have? Even a team of hard-working no-names will only convince so many people to buy season tickets. So…who else do they have? Go ahead, think about it. I’ll wait.
…Michael Boley? No, not so much.
While you’re pondering, I would like to remind you that Atlanta Falcons tickets are on sale and great seats are available. If you don’t believe me, look out for that new advertising campaign featuring…uh, one of those guys in a Falcon’s uniform.
Atlanta Journal Constitution: Falcons alter marketing strategy after Vick debacle
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I recall what the Falcons’ situation was like pre-Vick and I don’t envy them post-Vick. Atlanta has always struck me as an odd sports town. Their size gets them big-time events but I’ve not so convinced their fans deserve them. Honestly, I always felt Atlanta should have continued to play in an outdoor stadium. I grew up in an era of domeless sports, and I think the game has a certain appeal to folks when it is played outside. Whether fans in Atlanta would show up in greater numbers just because they are outdoors…well, likely not. It’s just that if they want that franchise to grow and prosper from here on out all sorts of strategies should be considered to get the local fanbase “back in the game.” That Dome will wear out in the not to distant future and one thing I would definitely look at would be an outdoor venue. Maybe the NFL would no longer be inclined to have the occasional Super Bowl there anymore, but a football only stadium designed uniquely with the Falcons in mind (similar to Tampa Bay’s) might not hurt their overall need to overhaul the mindset in Atlanta.