Marketing Dept Makes Beautiful Ads for Status Quo

[BroadwayVik]

One can see that Kenny Dow and the Marketing staff are doing good aesthetic work. One can also see that no one is more thorough than Mike Lund when it comes to putting together a pre-game compilation of facts and opinions. They do good work. They are very good at the safe kind of work that any place would be happy to hire them to do.

Failure is never an option and the oft-quoted definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing expecting (new) results.

I thought the "Always have a good time" video was a step in the right direction because the fundamental issue is and will always be "Failure to Launch." More than their aesthetic productions, this is what the AD staff will be remembered for if they are ultimately unable to solve the primary marketing conundrum. They deserve some credit for the fact that something has to be done in the meantime.

P R I M A R Y M A R K E T I N G C O N U N D R U M

Look at what Boise State has done to see what Portland State has thus far failed to do. Their colors, for one seemingly trivial example, are bright and bold; ours are drab and dreary. Absolutely depressing.

We need a brainstorming session with follow-ups to more of them. These need to include any and all who wish to solve this perhaps greatest of collegiate sports marketing conundrums. Are Portland State Athletics unsellable? Is there no unique appeal or feature that can be uniquely our own that others will not try to rip off? Do we have to keep those disgusting colors? Can we possibly get a handle on the real issue(s) and make inroads to identify them so we can begin catalyzing progress? What is really holding us back?

Torre and Kenny are a breath of fresh air of strategy. We need to listen to what they propose and break away from the status quo modus operandi. Because it simply isn't working.

 

[Pounder]

One of the stories that come from Boise... "the good thing about choosing to be a Denver Broncos fan in Boise is never having to change your clothes between Saturday and Sunday." Just saying.

The main sports radio host in Boise played LB (sparingly) on their 1980 championship team and seems to be a marketing nut. Thing is, he would follow ALL the research regarding the colors people were buying and bore the heck out of Boise by using it on a monthly basis on his show.

Blue sells. Red sells a good number. Black sells a lot these days.

Orange is a problem. Think about saying that to a Boise audience... however, think about Corvallis, too.

Green is a problem. Why do you think U of Oregon do what they do anymore? OTOH, do you really think gray sells?

Purple? As if. Most anything else? Really not.

So that was my listening Hell for 15 years. However, it doesn't take a lot of observation to figure out that there's a lot of truth to the statements. OTOH, I can show Timbers, Ducks, and even up north to demonstrate that green isn't out of its element in the Pacific Northwest, west of the Cascades. So that's a local conundrum we deal with.

I think "smart" trumps "bold." That can be called into question when you look at the number of shirts the Sounders have sold. I think that shade of green (officially "Rave Green," unofficially "Nuclear Vomit Green") is a passing fad, and when Timbers fans saw the "moss green hints" in the new logo design, that was a major part of the protest against Merritt Paulson when that was released. It was too much like Seattle. The Timbers haven't got too much wrong since then. I like the original two-tone green kits, distinct but understated.

So I'm not sure I agree with simply a "bold" color change. However, you now know a potential second reason why black was an interesting direction in which to go when Jerry Glanville pushed it here.

Let's consider a couple other things. First, the flag of Portland:

Second, think Rose City Red.

Green and red would be way too bold, no? But a dull grayish green or a maroon? Eh?

Or green and blue?

Pondering time.

 

[BroadwayVik]

This is very good to ponder as there is no hard-and-fast rule to say we have to use green (isn't that the UO's color? What image does PSU want? A cheap knock-off of them?). I think it wise for uniqueness sake to have colors not found at UO or OSU (or uP for that matter). Blue, Red, Tan, Gold, Silver, Platinum, Chrome. Everybody has access to white and black.

Using the Status Quo Colors

Given the status quo, we have a stylish combination in green and black, but in order to pull it off for a winning image, the green must be near-fluorescent It cannot be that dark forest green we use now. I would call the needed color "fluorescent forest green" (combination of forest and sunshine).

This combination is the look of a winner (in the combination we have now, dark forest green is in minimal, dull contrast to black, the look of a loser).

Additionally, for some reason, someone in the AD wants to highlight a dull silver that looks like a dreadful overcast day in the Portland Area. What? We need to take pride in what most people find disappointing? Again, the look of a (self-deceived) loser. We need instead to tout silver as a color of value, as many institutions use gold to indicate the value of their graduates. The kind of chrome-like reflective silver the UO is currently using on their helmets is a good example. Status quo PSU school color on their helmets, here silver and white.

So, again, the way to turn PSU's image from a loser to a winner, using the status quo colors, would be to take the two current dull colors and make them birght colors: Turn the green from dark forest green to near-fluorescent green and the expected dull silver to bright chromatic silver. Oh, and the numbers on the jerseys may look dignified and regal, but they are also stolid and anything but dynamic. We need to have numbers that say bold, unshackled, with great "hustle and flow."

Yes, how a team looks matters. If someone in the AD is doing all they can to spend money on the current loser image, they are either doing it out of ignorance or for the purpose of holding the team back knowingly. Incorporating the winning hues of the status quo colors, as we see here, would give PSU the appearance of all-weather NW raiders, which is what they are, complete with a winning image.

* * * * *

NOTE: The one case in which the current dark forest green works is when it is contrasted against white (also the bright silver). Black could be used (very) sparingly in such case. Home uniforms using the dark forest green jerseys, for example, would require white pants or bright silver pants or same-colored pants. Black pants, in this case, weaken the contrast and, thus, the effect of the home jerseys.

 

[Viktorious]

How about we use the fluorescent green trims that the seahawks use, haha.

 

[BroadwayVik]

Nice Unis! The intersection of the two tails on the back of the helmet is a nice touch. We definitely need the fluorescent green to contrast with the black, as already in use below:

 

[goviks2]

Broadway,

I sometimes wonder what you're smoking when you write these things. And, I see that "conumdrum" is your new favorite word. What exactly were you trying to say?

According to GoViks, the PSU athletic department's marketing program is winning a lot of awards for imagination. No matter how good your marketing--and theirs, apparently, compares very favorably to other collegiate programs--the best, and perhaps only, successful sports marketing strategy is winning. That's really the only way you're going to put people in the seats.

By the way, green and White may be "tired" to you, but they are the school's colors.

 

[PDXMACMAN]

if we continue to go 3-8, colors won't matter. funny thing though, if the program turns around to more like 8-3,
i'll bet that the discussion turns from colors to national championships. we just need to WIN games!!!

 

[Pounder]

Broadway,

I sometimes wonder what you're smoking when you write these things. And, I see that "conumdrum" is your new favorite word. What exactly were you trying to say?

According to GoViks, the PSU athletic department's marketing program is winning a lot of awards for imagination. No matter how good your marketing--and theirs, apparently, compares very favorably to other collegiate programs--the best, and perhaps only, successful sports marketing strategy is winning. That's really the only way you're going to put people in the seats.

By the way, green and White may be "tired" to you, but they are the school's colors.

Sometimes I also wonder what Broadway's smoking.

However, a marketing program that wins awards but can't get fans to the stadium and the arena... do they really deserve the awards? Or are we asking the right questions?

Caveat: I don't give a squat about the record. I watched the Timbers draw better in years they got worse. Of course, is that all marketing, or are there twists and turns to be learned from that whole scene? Saying that the attendance all depends on Ws and Ls is more than a bit of a cop-out in my humble opinion.

Meanwhile, a set of questions: did the lottery redistribution get enacted in the legislature? Are donations up or down? The little birdies tell me that PSU football averaged 1,500 paying attendees last year (not to be confused with announced attendance). There are serious problems here. All the ideas need discussion, now.

 

[BroadwayVik]

I sometimes wonder what you're smoking when you write these things. And, I see that "conumdrum" is your new favorite word. What exactly were you trying to say?
According to GoViks, the PSU athletic department's marketing program is winning a lot of awards for imagination. No matter how good your marketing--and theirs, apparently, compares very favorably to other collegiate programs--the best, and perhaps only, successful sports marketing strategy is winning. That's really the only way you're going to put people in the seats.
By the way, green and White may be "tired" to you, but they are the school's colors.

I'm smoking the truth, man. Actually, some of us have developed an extensive vocabulary and use words with a flair quite extensively, especially those of us who've been to graduate school. I've been using "conundrum" since 1979 when I won a t-shirt for correctly finishing a puzzle in "Conquer the Conundrum" in a Eugene publication while attending (and later graduating from) the UO. We built the UO up, now its PSU's turn.

The point I made was we don't require ourselves to use green, silver and white as school colors. Who says they must be? Tradition? That's a laugh. We can change them. Who are we supposed to be, UO, Jr.?

By the same token, we can keep them and use the combination of hues that accentuate contrast and appeal to make those unis look great, like winners.

The other point you identified correctly: Does it really matter how pretty your ads are when they are ineffective? The goal here is to get fans in the stands, to create a true following. F.I.R.S. was a non-profit advertising group whose goal this was. Did they fail? Are they still working on it? They haven't done it yet. Do they still exist? Will they be able to succeed?

It may be more comfortable to use the word 'puzzle' rather than 'conundrum.' Let's not be egocentric in postings and attack one another, let's instead be collaborative. Let's build on one another's ideas as they do in design engineering.