Thoughts on the new Gophers football billboard in downtown Mpls?

Donate To GopherHole
I would guess that the white billboard and black/white doodle of a football tackle was an attempt to standout from the standard colorful billboards? I am honestly perplexed as to why this drawing was used instead of an actual image from a Gopher game. I really don't think a billboard is going to make a much of a difference for a team coming off 3 consecutive 2 win B1G seasons, but if they are going to put one up at least do a good job. Nate's Miller Lite idea is a good one.
 

Halsey Hall said:
"And that is another Golden Gopher.......FIRST DOWN."
Click to expand...

Do you have any idea how many NCAA & NFL teams do this? I usually don't even notice while watching other games, but my son points it out to me constantly, acting like they stole it from us.
 

Unregistered User said:
Do you have any idea how many NCAA & NFL teams do this? I usually don't even notice while watching other games, but my son points it out to me constantly, acting like they stole it from us.
Click to expand...

It's a good question, I'm not sure myself but I hope we end it here in the near future. It's beyond pathetic.
 

goldengophers said:
It's a good question, I'm not sure myself but I hope we end it here in the near future. It's beyond pathetic.
Click to expand...

It's not going to happen. It's a tradition that is not going away. Why would we get rid of something that fans actually participate in?
 

A few things I am surprised about:

1. We didn't use any image of Gopher Football
2. The Block M isn't very prominent
3. There is a serious lack of Maroon and Gold
4. The font is Times New Roman instead of the font used on the Football Unis, tickets, website, etc.

It honestly looks like someone forgot they needed to submit a new design for a billboard and just said, "Oh crap! Uh, Google - football tackling image, Word - type something....here you go! Nailed it!"

Definition of lazy = that billboard
 


Gopherdrummer said:
A few things I am surprised about:

1. We didn't use any image of Gopher Football
2. The Block M isn't very prominent
3. There is a serious lack of Maroon and Gold
4. The font is Times New Roman instead of the font used on the Football Unis, tickets, website, etc.

It honestly looks like someone forgot they needed to submit a new design for a billboard and just said, "Oh crap! Uh, Google - football tackling image, Word - type something....here you go! Nailed it!"

Definition of lazy = that billboard
Click to expand...

Disagree.

You have to do a lot of hard work to come up with something that bad.
 

EG#9 said:
I would guess that the white billboard and black/white doodle of a football tackle was an attempt to standout from the standard colorful billboards? I am honestly perplexed as to why this drawing was used instead of an actual image from a Gopher game. I really don't think a billboard is going to make a much of a difference for a team coming off 3 consecutive 2 win B1G seasons, but if they are going to put one up at least do a good job. Nate's Miller Lite idea is a good one.
Click to expand...

Perhaps the O'Bannon lawsuit has something to do with not using the likeness of a football player on the team. However, even if that was a factor, I agree with other posters that it could've been much better.
 

NateDawgUM said:
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.
Click to expand...

This is pretty cool. I like the idea and hell it may even strike up the occasional conversation around ye ol' water cooler
 

MINNESOTA
FOOTBALL
Gopher_Helmet_2012.jpg

Since 1882
 



station19 said:
MINNESOTA
FOOTBALL
Gopher_Helmet_2012.jpg

Since 1882
Click to expand...

come on Station 19 how long did it take you to come up with this? And what did it cost? More proof the advertising isn't rocket science, and most effective when the message is clear and remembered.

Thank you Station 19, for proving it could be done.
 

NateDawgUM said:
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.
Click to expand...

Nice. I like this idea!
 

station19 said:
MINNESOTA
FOOTBALL
Gopher_Helmet_2012.jpg

Since 1882
Click to expand...

Why can't Dr.Don do something like this in marketing his pick six contest. All he does is tell us that he has drink/drank/drunk one more beer off his wall and therefore we are one more day closer to the beginning of his contest. I suggest that Dr.Don takes station19 to Mabel's, buys him lunch and asks him for some marketing advice.
 

I was reading the Strib online and got hit with an add that played prior to a video and it had the Gopher Football 2-pack sales pitch and it was done well and have logos, and color and everything you needed to know what, how much and where to buy and it even included a why.

I am guessing the Strib did the video for them because no way the same person who did that billboard did this video. Video=good, Billboard=dumba_ss
 



It is so far off-brand for the football program / athletic department that it had to have been a 3rd party project entirely. Then again, seeing the Block M on there makes me think it might be *shudder* official.

The creative is awful, and triply awful when you consider the whole rest of the program pushing a modern, blacked-out, futuristic aesthetic.
 

Definitely should have just made a billboard that made Hageman look bigger than life. That is the sort of marketing that will be embarrassing when other fan bases catch wind of it.
 


holereader said:
houw abouta pic please for us out of towners
Click to expand...

OP has it in its post.

Now, here is what I really wanted to say. The billboard has lots of people noticing it and talking about it. It did its job.

That is the power of advertising.
 




Thanks for your additions to GopherHole, Aggie. And to think on one thread one of our experts called you a dbag. (I think it was the Manziel thread.)
 

Wasn't Iowa considering putting up some billboards in the Mpls/St. Paul area? Perhaps this is just an imposter billboard put up by Iowa to piss everybody off. So far, it's working.
 


Yeah, there's not a great collection of Minnesota stock photos out there, unfortunately.
 

RodentRampage said:
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.




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.
Click to expand...

DID NOT SAY it was a disaster. Just can't believe the artist didn't know we don't have a stripe on our helmet. It just looks amateurish. It's all about image.
The cheer IS a disaster. It is obnoxious.
 

Unregistered User said:
Do you have any idea how many NCAA & NFL teams do this? I usually don't even notice while watching other games, but my son points it out to me constantly, acting like they stole it from us.
Click to expand...

So if others do it, it must be good
 



To me the "sketch" looks like a player in a Nebraska road uniform (white, with stripe on the helmet) tackling a player in a dark Minnesota home uniform. Coupled with the parody of a Nebraska "Block N", clearly they're trying to reference past humiliations. This makes me wonder - is the billboard tying into something about the 30th anniversary of the 1983 game?
 

Dr.Don said:
OP has it in its post.

Now, here is what I really wanted to say. The billboard has lots of people noticing it and talking about it. It did its job.

That is the power of advertising.
Click to expand...

If that's the case, I would have included a highlight pic from the '83 Nebraska game and said something like "Gopher football sucks, it has sucked for a long time, it will continue to suck but nothing sucks more than Fatrick."

Of course, I don't mean it (except for the part about Fatrick) but this would really get people talking if that was the goal. I really think it is better to have a billboard that sheds a positive light on the program because we all know the ugly things haven't worked all that well in the past.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom