Thoughts on the new Gophers football billboard in downtown Mpls?

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>New billboard in downtown Minneapolis, Ski-U-Mah! <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Gophers&src=hash">#Gophers</a> <a href="http://t.co/BsqKLrpicA">pic.twitter.com/BsqKLrpicA</a></p>— GopherGridiron (@GopherGridiron) <a href="https://twitter.com/GopherGridiron/statuses/367694308440174592">August 14, 2013</a></blockquote>
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Go Gophers!!
 

I like that they put a billboard up to drum up business, but honestly, I hate it. The image is kind of weird, and the lettering doesn't make sense to me. Why is the "N" a different font than the rest of the wording? I would get it if it were an "M".

Just odd...
 

Same here. I like the location of the billboard, but would have liked to see a color photo of Hageman sacking Gardner.
 

glad we're spending money, good location, awful execution. apparently we don't believe in consistent branding at the u. this looks nothing like any of the collateral the u puts out, this looks nothing like the new gophersports web site, it is black and white which makes us feel antiquated.
 

Who the fu_ck is running the athletic marketing department? Whoever it is must be sleeping with or the son/daughter of someone important because they don't know jack about marketing.

I can't believe we don't have kids at Carlson who couldn't do better than this...get some interns!
 


I am also glad the U is spending money marketing the football program, but have to agree with others that this billboard lacks much advertising punch. I have always felt that a bill board picturing several of the players, native to Minnesota, would be an approach worth trying. I envision a billboard with a color photo with the players in uniform, this year Rasheed would be the front man, flanked by Nelson and Campion and then Engel, Fruechte, the Olsons, Bak, Christensen etc.etc take your pick. No fewer than five players pictured and more if deemed necessary. This might have an influence on local/Minnesota recruits assuming it is not an NCAA violation while promoting/advertising for the U as well as the state of Minnesota. The marketing ninnys could come up with a bazillion catch phrases for a poster like this that many Minnesotans, Gopher fans or not could relate to. Just my two cents.
 

Our marketing department is passive aggressive.
 

GopherSOB said:
I am also glad the U is spending money marketing the football program, but have to agree with others that this billboard lacks much advertising punch. I have always felt that a bill board picturing several of the players, native to Minnesota, would be an approach worth trying. I envision a billboard with a color photo with the players in uniform, this year Rasheed would be the front man, flanked by Nelson and Campion and then Engel, Fruechte, the Olsons, Bak, Christensen etc.etc take your pick. No fewer than five players pictured and more if deemed necessary. This might have an influence on local/Minnesota recruits assuming it is not an NCAA violation while promoting/advertising for the U as well as the state of Minnesota. The marketing ninnys could come up with a bazillion catch phrases for a poster like this that many Minnesotans, Gopher fans or not could relate to. Just my two cents.
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The "one of us angle" is a vastly VASTLY underutilized marketing tool for gopher athletics.
It confuses me to no end why we have so many decisions that are very obviously bungled. The frickin Vikings have done very well with the "our state, our team" angle, and the team is owned by east coasters and most of the athletes are from down south. Likely very few even live in MN for more than a few months a year, few raise their kids here, etc.
Run the hometown angle Teague! We're suckers for it and the U has a heck of better claim on being Minnesota's team than any of the pro sports franchises do.
 

Like the concept, hate the execution. I like the play on what "Minnesota Nice" really is, hate the generic football players and the Nebraska N. Replace the picture with Hageman blocking the pass versus Texas Tech, and get rid of the block N.
 



Now we know what Husker70 does for a living.
 

GopherSOB said:
I am also glad the U is spending money marketing the football program, but have to agree with others that this billboard lacks much advertising punch. I have always felt that a bill board picturing several of the players, native to Minnesota, would be an approach worth trying. I envision a billboard with a color photo with the players in uniform, this year Rasheed would be the front man, flanked by Nelson and Campion and then Engel, Fruechte, the Olsons, Bak, Christensen etc.etc take your pick. No fewer than five players pictured and more if deemed necessary. This might have an influence on local/Minnesota recruits assuming it is not an NCAA violation while promoting/advertising for the U as well as the state of Minnesota. The marketing ninnys could come up with a bazillion catch phrases for a poster like this that many Minnesotans, Gopher fans or not could relate to. Just my two cents.
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Ole said:
The "one of us angle" is a vastly VASTLY underutilized marketing tool for gopher athletics.
It confuses me to no end why we have so many decisions that are very obviously bungled. The frickin Vikings have done very well with the "our state, our team" angle, and the team is owned by east coasters and most of the athletes are from down south. Likely very few even live in MN for more than a few months a year, few raise their kids here, etc.
Run the hometown angle Teague! We're suckers for it and the U has a heck of better claim on being Minnesota's team than any of the pro sports franchises do.
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+1 on these two posts. Sometimes, I wonder who in the world is in charge of marketing at the U. It has been just awful at times. I think the 'hometown' angle is one of the best ways to market it to the rest of Minnesotans that aren't season ticket holders or do not have tickets already to games. Something like, "Minnesota bred - Minnesota fed - Minnesota Football." I know that wasn't very good, but you get my point. Something that promotes the kids being from MN.

The portion on the being an NCAA violation, Living in West Central Minnesota, I venture to the F-M area often and NDSU is ALWAYS advertising photos of current players on their sports teams on billboards all over the F-M and surrounding area. If they are doing it, I cannot fathom that it could be an NCAA violation. :rolleyes:
 

highwayman said:
Like the concept, hate the execution. I like the play on what "Minnesota Nice" really is, hate the generic football players and the Nebraska N. Replace the picture with Hageman blocking the pass versus Texas Tech, and get rid of the block N.
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+1.
 

The text is clever, but I agree, it draws too much attention to the "N". A good billboard should instantly grab your attention, and you should be instantly aware of what product it is advertising. People know the "M", and they know Maroon and Gold. Gold letters on a maroon background would have been much better, you could also throw a block M on there. This billboard has a block M, but it's tucked away in the corner, and it doesn't use the U's colors.
 



Ugh, this is bad. This is almost as bad as the 1994 "the way the game was meant to be played" campaign which included prominently displayed banners inside the metro-dump. I recall that the campaign got off to an ominous start when we played and got hammered by Penn St. Sometimes our marketing folks just don't have a clue. Unless this is one of those clever "add on" things with more to come, I hope they yank this billboard by midnight tonight.
 

That block N looks like it could be for Nebraska
 


If you look at it quickly, you wouldn't have a clue who it is even for. Tiny logo, hardly any branding going on there.
 

Big time fail here. Use an intimidating image of Hageman or something. It's not hard. Take the "We're the only sports team who hasn't and will never threaten to leave the state" angle if you have to.
 

I'd be curious how many people are driven to purchase tickets, or anything for that matter, because of a billboard.

That said, who decided to put the M in the far corner, where it's hardest to see? If you're driving quick, all you really see is a block N and a weird doodle of a football game.

Plus, passive aggressiveness is about as Minnesotan as hot dish, why are you putting down the locals?

The keys to selling football tickets:

1. Win (this actually #1-10)
2. Get them young (how about rather than trying to stick WIU tickets into Iowa fans pockets, make it an option to donate the tickets when purchasing Big Ten 2-packs, then give these tickets to local youth organizations)
3. Show them a good time. Ok, so if the team loses, did they tailgate? Have fun? Or did they show up in the middle of the 1st quarter and watch us get trounced and leave midway through the 4th?

Billboards are a waste of money.
 

As someone who works in advertising, love the idea, not thrilled with the execution. Downtown billboard is such a great idea, but that one looks meh.
 

Are you efffing kidding me?

EVERYTHING ABOUT IT IS STUPID.

Looks like an ad for a laxative.

Are you effing kidding me?

PLEASE FIRE SOMEONE FOR THIS!

Take it down, it's an embarrassment.
 

Come on folks. This has nothing to do with The U. This is by a Nebraska fan, or booster group, encouraging their local fans to buy tickets. The U would not put that up. Similar tactics other places in the past.
 

Ozzy&Ray said:
Come on folks. This has nothing to do with The U. This is by a Nebraska fan, or booster group, encouraging their local fans to buy tickets. The U would not put that up. Similar tactics other places in the past.
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haha. i so wish that was true. it's about the only thing that would explain it. unfortunately its u paid and u executed.
 

What a POS! Would appreciate Woody's e-mail at the U. I'm so piseed right now my BP must 200 over ready to die!
 


Looking at that lame billboard reminds of the the principles set forth in the book The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations

One of the key tenets of the book is groups are remarkably more intelligent and are often smarter than the smartest people in them. It would have taken only a smattering of GopherHole community members a split-second to decry that piece of advertising a complete waste of money.

Oh well, it's not like those responsible for the approval of that billboard took away a couple hours of tailgating prior to the season opener...
 

What about the Gopher helmet with a stripe down the middle? HUH??? Who came up with this....the p.a. announcer and his wonderful, "And that is another Golden Gopher.......FIRST DOWN." Woody is really reeling here folks. This is turning out to be a disaster (except for Pitino)
 

Who pissed in everyone's Cheerios this morning? I must know so I can give that bastard a swift kick in the balls.
 

NateDawgUM said:
I'd be curious how many people are driven to purchase tickets, or anything for that matter, because of a billboard.

That said, who decided to put the M in the far corner, where it's hardest to see? If you're driving quick, all you really see is a block N and a weird doodle of a football game.

Plus, passive aggressiveness is about as Minnesotan as hot dish, why are you putting down the locals?

The keys to selling football tickets:

1. Win (this actually #1-10)
2. Get them young (how about rather than trying to stick WIU tickets into Iowa fans pockets, make it an option to donate the tickets when purchasing Big Ten 2-packs, then give these tickets to local youth organizations)
3. Show them a good time. Ok, so if the team loses, did they tailgate? Have fun? Or did they show up in the middle of the 1st quarter and watch us get trounced and leave midway through the 4th?

Billboards are a waste of money.
Click to expand...

There are an awful lot of businesses that think billboards are a good investment. People don't often look at a billboard and think "That looks good, I'll buy it," but advertising does affect people's behavior. If you have a billboard for McDonald's, it puts the idea into their head, and if it is in their head, they are more likely to consider McDonald's at lunch time.

That being said, if this was a McDonald's ad, it would be instantly obvious that it was a McDonald's ad. It would use McDonald's colors and prominently feature the golden arches. Simple works. A good billboard might just be GO GOPHERS in gold letters on a maroon background. It's the sort of think that if you leave it up long enough it becomes a landmark, like the Gold Medal Flour sign.


Halsey Hall said:
What about the Gopher helmet with a stripe down the middle? HUH??? Who came up with this....the p.a. announcer and his wonderful, "And that is another Golden Gopher.......FIRST DOWN." Woody is really reeling here folks. This is turning out to be a disaster (except for Pitino)
Click to expand...

A stripe on a helmet is just a design choice, not a disaster. The first down cheer isn't a disaster, it's something that Gopher fans <u>actually participate in</u>. The billboard isn't very good, but the sky isn't falling either.
 

I live a couple blocks from Wrigley Field.

Miller Lite has a billboard on one of the rooftops which overlooks Wrigley Field, which you can also view from Sheffield Ave. if you're walking.

They change the sign into a funny slogan that mocks/salutes whichever team they're playing.

Brewers: http://cdn.faniq.com/images/blog/Picture 27(7).png
Giants: http://www.thecubdom.com/pictures/2006/09/Picture-297.jpg
Braves: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1404/536881547_0c4f5a1fb2.jpg

etc. etc. It changes every series.

If we could get a billboard in a visible part of the city, and make it CLEARLY obvious that it's a Gopher Football billboard. I think it would be awesome to get something similar to those old school homecoming pins where there's a pun on the team we're playing that week.

People would drive past it on Monday mornings on their way to work, chuckle at the slogan for the week, know who's on the schedule, and maybe buy tickets.

That's how I think a billboard could actually work.
 

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