Last night's event at TCF

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CP Gopher

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Surprised no one has posted about it. Or maybe I missed something.
Good food. Burgers, chicken sandwiches, potato salad, beans, dessert. All free... Free beer which surprised me. You could buy season tickets or check out the ones you have. They placed tags on all available seats. Quite a few chairbacks available in 244 and some other sections. They let people take a self-guided tour of the stadium, including the locker room and as much time on the field as you liked. Coach Kill gave a nice talk and answered a lot of questions.
Disappointed in how few people were there. I arrived when the gates opened and stayed until 7:00. Maybe 300 would be a high estimate.
 



CP Gopher said:
Disappointed in how few people were there.
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How many people even knew about the event? I did not, but would have gone for sure.

Now let's start hammering the marketing department. And I'm serious. How tough would it have been for them to get some ads on KFAN, tell the listeners that they can tour the locker room, etc. It needs to start somewhere, but they don't even know how to get the oars in the water.
 

Barreiro broadcasted live and KFAN talked about it quite a bit in the past week or so. I received two reminders in the mail and 3-4 emails as well. It was on the front page of the GopherSports website. Tough to blame marketing for this one.
 


I'm as big of a Gopher football rube as anyone, and I didn't hear a single word of any of this taking place. This is the first I'm hearing of it. I would assume that's why there was hardly anybody there. How did they publicize it? How did you hear about it?

P.S. I receive all the season ticket holder e-mails (or so I had thought), and I never received a single mention of this. Not a one. Also nothing through snail mail.
 

I have a question, maybe someone that was there can answer this. I was planning on going to the U2 show next week. Do they take down all of the temporary chairbacks after the season? I have seats that would be in the bleacher section, but was hoping that maybe I'd get lucky and would luck into seats that someone purchased the backs for. My wife's got a broken disc in her back, there's no way she can sit for 3 hours on a backless bleacher.
 

I sent an E-mail to coach Kill last week regarding my idea to add a patch/helmet sticker honoring the various Minnesota regiments in the armed forces. And perhaps getting the ROTC and Veterans involved more. He responded the next day and forwarded the email onto someone at the Marketing Department. It's progress in my eyes.

Here is what was sent back:

I just wanted to touch base with you on your email to Coach Kill last week.

We do offer free tickets to military families, as well as, tie in many
military elements to our games.

We are in the process of finalizing how many tickets we will able to
give the military families this year.

We currently have military tributes scheduled during the home opener
as well as, at the Wisconsin game right after Veterans Day. I can get
you all the specifics once details are finalized.

Plus, the National Guard just signed on and we will be doing the push
ups,etc. With the spirit squads and Goldy in the end zone following
touchdowns.

We appreciate your support! Thanks for your comments and thoughts.
Please let me know what other questions you have!

Thanks!
 

Unregistered User said:
How many people even knew about the event? I did not, but would have gone for sure.

Now let's start hammering the marketing department. And I'm serious. How tough would it have been for them to get some ads on KFAN, tell the listeners that they can tour the locker room, etc. It needs to start somewhere, but they don't even know how to get the oars in the water.
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CP Gopher said:
Barreiro broadcasted live and KFAN talked about it quite a bit in the past week or so. I received two reminders in the mail and 3-4 emails as well. It was on the front page of the GopherSports website. Tough to blame marketing for this one.
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CP is right. KFAN talked about it quite a bit and I received multiple emails about it. I remember being upset I didn't hear about it earlier, I looked back through older emails and sure enough, I missed it the first couple times in the emails.
 



Gold Vision said:
CP is right. KFAN talked about it quite a bit and I received multiple emails about it. I remember being upset I didn't hear about it earlier, I looked back through older emails and sure enough, I missed it the first couple times in the emails.
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Well...that's my fault then, I don't listen to KFAN. I'm surprised that there was no mention of it on the board though.
 

I listen to Barreiro quite a bit (not sure why), and he mentioned it often in the past week. The two notices I received in the mail arrived in early June and another about a week ago.
 

dpodoll68 said:
I'm as big of a Gopher football rube as anyone, and I didn't hear a single word of any of this taking place. This is the first I'm hearing of it. I would assume that's why there was hardly anybody there. How did they publicize it? How did you hear about it?

P.S. I receive all the season ticket holder e-mails (or so I had thought), and I never received a single mention of this. Not a one. Also nothing through snail mail.
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Same here. I generally get all the emails in duplicate because of being a season and student season ticket holder. Not a one this time. As for putting it on KFAN....psh...rarely listen to it cuz of terrible reception (not the U of M fault :) ). Would have loved to have gone.
 

There was also a post about it by GopherHole Staff on this board (I can't remember if it was stuck on top) and multiple times on Twitter.
 



Gold Vision said:
There was also a post about it by GopherHole Staff on this board (I can't remember if it was stuck on top)
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It was mentioned as the 4th item in a post over 2 weeks ago. Not exactly broadcasting it to the world.

I'm simply flabbergasted that this wasn't more highly publicized.
 

The event wasn't for current season ticket holders. It was for prospective season ticket buyers. It was designed to invite non-season ticket holders, those on the waiting list, people who had inquired about potentially buying tickets, etc. The entire goal of the program was to sell a few hundred remaining season tickets. They weren't out to feed the world or throw a big bash with 20,000 people. They wanted a smaller, targeted audience to sell their product. I have no idea how they did or how many they sold, but if they got 300 people there, it probably went exactly as they had hoped.
 

tjgopher said:
The event wasn't for current season ticket holders. It was for prospective season ticket buyers. It was designed to invite non-season ticket holders, those on the waiting list, people who had inquired about potentially buying tickets, etc. The entire goal of the program was to sell a few hundred remaining season tickets. They weren't out to feed the world or throw a big bash with 20,000 people. They wanted a smaller, targeted audience to sell their product. I have no idea how they did or how many they sold, but if they got 300 people there, it probably was fine.
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You may be right, but I really don't think niche marketing is what you want to do with a major college program.
 

I've been a season ticket holder for several years and I was invited, as were several people I spoke with. Could it be because I upgraded?
 

Unregistered User said:
You may be right, but I really don't think niche marketing is what you want to do with a major college program.
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Actually, niche marketing is exactly what you want to do when almost your entire product line is sold out and you have only a few remaining widgets left to sell.

This was a simple, one-night event with the sole purpose of selling a few hundred season tickets to people who had expressed a previous interest. Let's say they sold 300:

300 X $275 = $82,500 in revenue

Not a bad take for a one-night event (assuming they sold 300 - I have no idea if they sold 15 or 1500).
 

CP Gopher said:
I've been a season ticket holder for several years and I was invited, as were several people I spoke with. Could it be because I upgraded?
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No idea.

The only reason I say it was for non-season ticket holders is that is what KFAN guys said. I was listening most of the afternoon. They explained it was something like "Pick Your Seat" night and designed to talk potential first-time season tickets buyers into purchasing a ticket. They continually talked about "if you are thinking about buying, come on out and see your seats." I was impressed with Barriero. He was talking up Kill pretty good, did an interview with him, and had a little fun with Goldy.
 

tjgopher said:
Actually, niche marketing is exactly what you want to do when almost your entire product line is sold out and you have only a few remaining widgets left to sell.
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If they believe that their goal (in this event or any event they sponsor) is to sell a few hundred remaining season tickets for this year, I think they are incredibly short-sighted.
 

email from the ticket office

I received an email about the event on 7/1 from the ticket office. I presume that all ticket holders got one as well. Everyone that sits with me got the same email.
 

I never thought to post it here.. and for that I apologize. I guess because I knew I wasn't able to make it (effin' 2nd job) I didn't bother posting anything about it. I REALLY wish I could have made it.
 


Breakin' The Plane said:
I have a question, maybe someone that was there can answer this. I was planning on going to the U2 show next week. Do they take down all of the temporary chairbacks after the season? I have seats that would be in the bleacher section, but was hoping that maybe I'd get lucky and would luck into seats that someone purchased the backs for. My wife's got a broken disc in her back, there's no way she can sit for 3 hours on a backless bleacher.
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The temporary chairbacks have all been taken down.
 


Unregistered User said:
If they believe that their goal (in this event or any event they sponsor) is to sell a few hundred remaining season tickets for this year, I think they are incredibly short-sighted.
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My guess is they believe their goal last night was to sell their remaining tickets. If they accomplished the goal, its likely they are close to being sold out for the year and maybe garnered $80K. That's a great one-night goal. They have a limited supply of tickets left, a targeted audience interested in buying the limited supply and that audience was invited there to purchase on the spot. Pretty good business, IMO.

Obviously, their overall job is more than just that. But, for one night, they likely did exactly what they wanted to accomplish.

I'm not suggesting there are a bunch of marketing wizards over there, but why must we always knock everything they do? This sounds like they got 300 people to an event and sold some tickets. I mean god forbid, we let the football coach mingle with 300 fans who currently don't have tickets, but might want to buy them. Not to mention get the coach on the highest rated sports radio show in the market for 20 minutes as part of the event. Grassroots efforts are often times the best way to go about marketing your product, especially in a saturated market. I'm sorry, but I don't see that as short-sighted.
 

I was there last night. Got an email on June 24 from MyGopherSports ([email protected]) inviting me to the event - I think because I am a now-former hockey season ticket holder - as well as a flier in the mail. My assumption was that all season ticket holders were invited ... that looks to be incorrect now. Nevertheless, anyone who walked in was welcomed, whether you were a season ticket holder or not.

From the (free) meal, to the opportunity to see open seats, to the program with Coach Kill, to the self-guided tour, to the open field for the kids to enjoy, everything was very well done. They made season ticket holders out of my parents who liked what they saw from 206, row 3.

It was the sort of event they really should do more often to make season ticket holders feel valued.
 

tjgopher said:
its likely they are close to being sold out for the year
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If you check your Gopher Points, you will see that only 28,000 season tickets have been sold this year, 10,000 or more short of being sold out for the year.
 

hubbabubba said:
It was the sort of event they really should do more often to make season ticket holders feel valued.
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First my hope to move to the sunny side was rejected and now I find out I missed the party. I don't feel very valued right now. :(
 

dpodoll68 said:
I'm as big of a Gopher football rube as anyone, and I didn't hear a single word of any of this taking place. This is the first I'm hearing of it. I would assume that's why there was hardly anybody there. How did they publicize it? How did you hear about it?

P.S. I receive all the season ticket holder e-mails (or so I had thought), and I never received a single mention of this. Not a one. Also nothing through snail mail.
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DP-

I am with you. I heard NOTHING about it. I tend to listen to KFAN off and on throughout the day and heard nothing of it until the day of. I am a current season ticket holder and got no emails or nothing via snail mail. Now, would I have gone? Doubtful, I know where my seats are, I did not move them and I have heard Kill speak in person on several occasions.

I know that Justin Gaard said on the radio he purchased 2 season tix. Not sure why he would because he is going to have a roll on the broadcasts, but that is 2 tix sold from the event.
 

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