2200 days of Brad Edwards

[MasonSAE4]

Mason is taking bids for Athletic Marketing Services - I can't wait to see what some of you can come up with!

http://fiscal.gmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/RFP-GMU-1429-17_Athletic-Marketing-Services.pdf

I. PURPOSE: George Mason University (herein referred to as “Mason” or “University”) is seeking proposals from qualified sources to establish a contract(s) through competitive negotiations with one or more qualified sources to develop and implement multi-platform marketing and new media strategies designed to enhance the brand, image and revenues of their Intercollegiate Athletics (ICA) program.

IX. STATEMENT OF NEEDS: George Mason University Athletics located in Fairfax, VA is interested in receiving proposals from qualified and experienced advertising agencies 3.0 for providing professional advertising services. George Mason University desires to enter into a contract with a firm to produce and execute a comprehensive plan to drive ticket sales and increase game attendance for Mason Athletic events. This marketing would be primarily for the areas of Men’s Basketball and Women’s Basketball, but may also include other ticketed sports such as Men’s Soccer, Women’s Soccer, as well as other special athletic events which the University is hosting including conference championships and NCAA Tournament events. The advertising agency will provide timely and responsible implementation of the campaign while servicing the account, so as to meet ticket sales goals. The advertising agency will also work with the Athletic Marketing Department on initiatives to help advance our brand and deliver strategic and integrated marketing including but not limited to digital & traditional marketing, new media, brand messaging, and campaigns to increase fan involvement.

A. Sports Advertising Campaign: George Mason Intercollegiate Athletics desires to contract with an advertising agency 3.0 (contractor) to produce a comprehensive plan and execution that drives ticket sales and increases game attendance for home basketball games. The Landscape: George Mason is a major university in a thriving region known for great sports. However, the program faces stiff competition from professional and collegiate sports teams as well as a variety of low cost entertainment options. While Mason has a large alumni base in the DC metropolitan area (over 100K) more can be done to get them excited to buy tickets and attend games. The competitiveness of the program continues to improve and our conference affiliation (the Atlantic 10) brings multiple teams that regularly appear in the NCAA tournament. Our greatest asset to grow our program remains our people. Our Athletic Director and Associate Athletic Director are well known Redskins legends with one inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame. And our basketball coaching staff is engaged, affable and willing to be utilized to drive marketing and awareness of the program. All of the aforementioned are active and engaged on social media with substantial followings in the region.

1. Contractor shall provide distribution strategies and selection on new media platforms and technologies to match consumer consumption patterns and create compelling sports content that can monetize and engage a variety of constituents. Platforms and technologies include, but are not limited to, mobile & digital media first & foremost (geo-fencing, retargeting, pre-roll video, web & mobile ads), produce/generate engaging social media content, create customer engagement programs (i.e. promotional events & contests), video (ideally onsite staff for some or all basketball games for unique short form video capturing game day experience).

2. Contractor shall perform all services including, but not limited to, creative sports design and amazing graphic art (photos, GIFs), sports program design, traditional media buying and planning for print & radio, copywriting, radio & television talent search and production management, email marketing, outbound sales support with a direct mail campaign, media evaluation and analytics including social metrics, marketing research and strategy.

X. COST OF SERVICES: Contractor shall identify all costs associated with providing the products and services offered in their proposal. Costs shall include all overhead, travel and eVA fees. The maximum annual spend for this 5 service is $216,000.

Oh f**k yeah. Finally, something to showcase my MS Paint skills.

 

[GMUSig03]

 

[gmubrian]

X. COST OF SERVICES: Contractor shall identify all costs associated with providing the products and services offered in their proposal. Costs shall include all overhead, travel and eVA fees. The maximum annual spend for this 5 service is $216,000.[/I]

Am I reading that correctly that the total budget for this, including the advertising agency fee as well as marketing costs is $216k?

Doesn't that seem kind of low?

 

[MasonSAE4]

Am I reading that correctly that the total budget for this, including the advertising agency fee as well as marketing costs is $216k?

Doesn't that seem kind of low?

Makes sense, at $20 a pop you would have to sell 11,000 tickets to break even

 

[Vurbel]

Makes sense, at $20 a pop you would have to sell 11,000 tickets to break even

I think it is highly unlikely that we sell 11,000 tickets to a Mason game any time soon.

 

[MasonSAE4]

I think it is highly unlikely that we sell 11,000 tickets to a Mason game any time soon.

I meant over the course of the season to recoup the investment. Obviously there are other numbers that factor in but I wouldn't expect to see women's bball or either soccer team's attendance go through the roof because of a marketing campaign.

My guess is they're trying to get compliant with that spending law sooner rather than later. Ticket sales are the easiest way to do such.

 

[Vurbel]

I meant over the course of the season to recoup the investment. Obviously there are other numbers that factor in but I wouldn't expect to see women's bball or either soccer team's attendance go through the roof because of a marketing campaign.

My guess is they're trying to get compliant with that spending law sooner rather than later. Ticket sales are the easiest way to do such.

I know. I'm just messing since we have a 10,000 seat arena.

 

[mkaufman1]

Am I reading that correctly that the total budget for this, including the advertising agency fee as well as marketing costs is $216k?

Doesn't that seem kind of low?

I have no idea how much marketing and such should cost, but any idea on why you think it may be low? I mean almost a quarter million in advertising is a nice amount, but maybe for this area that seems like a low amount of money?

 

[EXpatriot13]

I have no idea how much marketing and such should cost, but any idea on why you think it may be low? I mean almost a quarter million in advertising is a nice amount, but maybe for this area that seems like a low amount of money?

I work in the industry, and $216k can go a long way if you know how to use it best - especially when your target area is relatively small.

 

[Patriot8]

I work in the industry, and $216k can go a long way if you know how to use it best - especially when your target area is relatively small.

#industryknowledge

 

[MasonSAE4]

Has anyone else gotten a painfully awkward call recently from a student-athlete thanking them for their donations this year?

 

[mkaufman1]

Has anyone else gotten a painfully awkward call recently from a student-athlete thanking them for their donations this year?

oddly enough I've never gotten a thank you by a student athlete over the 5.5 years I've been a donor..but I do get plenty of thank yous from the Patriot Club in general which is cool.

 

[GMUSig03]

Am I reading that correctly that the total budget for this, including the advertising agency fee as well as marketing costs is $216k?

Doesn't that seem kind of low?

Why you gotta poo poo everything Brian?!

I don't know if it should be considered low relative other marketing jobs, but I know it is over TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND more dollars than we are currently paying a marketing agency

 

[GSII]

What's the ROI on this? Anyone care to take a stab?

 

[gmubrian]

I have no idea how much marketing and such should cost, but any idea on why you think it may be low? I mean almost a quarter million in advertising is a nice amount, but maybe for this area that seems like a low amount of money?

I am no marketer or anything as I do all of my marketing by word of mouth, but here is what popped in my head when I read that:

First, my line of questioning wasn't that it wasn't a lot of money. That is not at all what I meant. I am ecstatic that they are doing some out of house marketing. See my comments in other threads where I suggest this very thing.

What seemed to me to make it sound kind of low was several things on the intent of what they might be trying to do:


1. You are going through a competitive bidding process, so that is going to cost all parties a significant amount of money, knowing their odds of winning are, on average, one over the number of bidders. That will inflate the overhead.

2. Given 1, That is not a huge contract even for a very small company like mine when you consider that most of the money should be spent on the advertising itself.

3. If you are looking for more than just a cookie cutter marketing campaign, and instead want a marketing company to come up with something original, I would think you are looking at spending a significant chunk on the design aspect. I could see that taking 50 to 100k.

4. If I am am even close on 3, that leaves about enough money to put the add on about 20 metro buses for 4 weeks.

I was just thinking that it might not be a big enough budget to really come up with something novel and market it too...

 

[TweederGMU]

Mason is taking bids for Athletic Marketing Services - I can't wait to see what some of you can come up with!

http://fiscal.gmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/RFP-GMU-1429-17_Athletic-Marketing-Services.pdf

I. PURPOSE: George Mason University (herein referred to as “Mason” or “University”) is seeking proposals from qualified sources to establish a contract(s) through competitive negotiations with one or more qualified sources to develop and implement multi-platform marketing and new media strategies designed to enhance the brand, image and revenues of their Intercollegiate Athletics (ICA) program.

IX. STATEMENT OF NEEDS: George Mason University Athletics located in Fairfax, VA is interested in receiving proposals from qualified and experienced advertising agencies 3.0 for providing professional advertising services. George Mason University desires to enter into a contract with a firm to produce and execute a comprehensive plan to drive ticket sales and increase game attendance for Mason Athletic events. This marketing would be primarily for the areas of Men’s Basketball and Women’s Basketball, but may also include other ticketed sports such as Men’s Soccer, Women’s Soccer, as well as other special athletic events which the University is hosting including conference championships and NCAA Tournament events. The advertising agency will provide timely and responsible implementation of the campaign while servicing the account, so as to meet ticket sales goals. The advertising agency will also work with the Athletic Marketing Department on initiatives to help advance our brand and deliver strategic and integrated marketing including but not limited to digital & traditional marketing, new media, brand messaging, and campaigns to increase fan involvement.

A. Sports Advertising Campaign: George Mason Intercollegiate Athletics desires to contract with an advertising agency 3.0 (contractor) to produce a comprehensive plan and execution that drives ticket sales and increases game attendance for home basketball games. The Landscape: George Mason is a major university in a thriving region known for great sports. However, the program faces stiff competition from professional and collegiate sports teams as well as a variety of low cost entertainment options. While Mason has a large alumni base in the DC metropolitan area (over 100K) more can be done to get them excited to buy tickets and attend games. The competitiveness of the program continues to improve and our conference affiliation (the Atlantic 10) brings multiple teams that regularly appear in the NCAA tournament. Our greatest asset to grow our program remains our people. Our Athletic Director and Associate Athletic Director are well known Redskins legends with one inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame. And our basketball coaching staff is engaged, affable and willing to be utilized to drive marketing and awareness of the program. All of the aforementioned are active and engaged on social media with substantial followings in the region.

1. Contractor shall provide distribution strategies and selection on new media platforms and technologies to match consumer consumption patterns and create compelling sports content that can monetize and engage a variety of constituents. Platforms and technologies include, but are not limited to, mobile & digital media first & foremost (geo-fencing, retargeting, pre-roll video, web & mobile ads), produce/generate engaging social media content, create customer engagement programs (i.e. promotional events & contests), video (ideally onsite staff for some or all basketball games for unique short form video capturing game day experience).

2. Contractor shall perform all services including, but not limited to, creative sports design and amazing graphic art (photos, GIFs), sports program design, traditional media buying and planning for print & radio, copywriting, radio & television talent search and production management, email marketing, outbound sales support with a direct mail campaign, media evaluation and analytics including social metrics, marketing research and strategy.

X. COST OF SERVICES: Contractor shall identify all costs associated with providing the products and services offered in their proposal. Costs shall include all overhead, travel and eVA fees. The maximum annual spend for this 5 service is $216,000.

This is very interesting since my company does some of this and I actually had a meeting with a couple of Mason AD's last Fall in our office to discuss services like this in the future for Mason Athletics with our company's products. I can speak to a few items here based on what I learned from our meeting last fall and their general vision of Mason Basketball and athletics from a more community engagement and business development standpoint. Plus, we have marketing firms that are partners of ours who can perform most, if not all, of these services so I understand pricepoints for these types of services.

Mason did spend a good chunk of money on revamping the athletic website so I know that took up a lot of funds. Now that project is over we may have money coming in that will be dedicated to more athletic marketing services.

1. This is not a dig at them, however, the people who work in the AD are not solely marketers and have other specific job responsibilities to grow athletics and Mason in many categories. Creating large campaigns like this has never been a priority for them, which we have all griped about in the past, but they are limited by the school and the funds they have allocated to them over the years. They only do what they can with the money and donations they receive year after year. Factor in our losing records and overall spiral of the program the past 4-5 years and donations and funds have decreased as opposed to 2006-2010. Edwards and Cabrera are hoping to change this with soliciting funds from different sources and sponsorships. Hello Darrell Green.

2. I know they have used Learfield in the past for these services. It looks like Learfield's contract is up and they are playing the field to see what is out there. If Learfield wants the contract again then they may try to sweeten the pot and offer additional services or a cheaper contract. I've heard mixed reviews regarding Learfield and the quality of their work so we shall see.

3. $216K is what they have to work with. It does seem a little low for the amount of services they want. I think they want an overall base design and mission statement from companies and really see what they can do. If they do an outstanding job and increase revenues across the board then I would assume they would be willing to open up their pockets more for the quality of the work and results they are providing. It is smart to go low and see what is out there and maybe the can catch a smaller company who knocks out the branding, designs, and campaigns out the park with better ideas. Small marketing firms can produce just as great results as the bigger boys.... they are just looking for that opportunity to shine!

4. It makes me think about Darrell Green and Edwards and really what they are trying to accomplish in bringing in corporate sponsorships and getting butts in seats. They are trying to get companies to donate and I know Darrell has only been here a year but what type of results are we seeing from this from a business standpoint? Can't these 2 call up their business contacts at the Washington Redskins and inquire about marketing services and recommendations. Why spend $215K on marketing services if we don't have to.... Darrell and Brad need to explore all options and use their athletic star status to really drive home these types of services as I'm sure Brad wants Darrell to help in these areas. We have the resources now.... we just need to use them!


A winning product will always help in these areas but any money being used on outside, professional marketing will only help our program. I wish they would do this for getting more alumni donors to give back to sports....hopefully the new campaigns will target alumni and getting donations from them.

 

[Five Two]

2. I know they have used Learfield in the past for these services. It looks like Learfield's contract is up and they are playing the field to see what is out there. If Learfield wants the contract again then they may try to sweeten the pot and offer additional services or a cheaper contract. I've heard mixed reviews regarding Learfield and the quality of their work so we shall see.

I thought Learfield was contracted for their sponsorship sales expertise and less for their advertising creative services. Looking at the RFP, I thought it was more of a advertising creative purpose to sell tickets rather than sponsorship sales. Maybe I missed interpreted it.

 

[patriot2000]

Has anyone else gotten a painfully awkward call recently from a student-athlete thanking them for their donations this year?

Get one every year. I feel bad for them... very few of them seem to want to be cold calling people. I sure as hell wouldn't want to.

 

[mkaufman1]

I am no marketer or anything as I do all of my marketing by word of mouth, but here is what popped in my head when I read that:

First, my line of questioning wasn't that it wasn't a lot of money. That is not at all what I meant. I am ecstatic that they are doing some out of house marketing. See my comments in other threads where I suggest this very thing.

What seemed to me to make it sound kind of low was several things on the intent of what they might be trying to do:


1. You are going through a competitive bidding process, so that is going to cost all parties a significant amount of money, knowing their odds of winning are, on average, one over the number of bidders. That will inflate the overhead.

2. Given 1, That is not a huge contract even for a very small company like mine when you consider that most of the money should be spent on the advertising itself.

3. If you are looking for more than just a cookie cutter marketing campaign, and instead want a marketing company to come up with something original, I would think you are looking at spending a significant chunk on the design aspect. I could see that taking 50 to 100k.

4. If I am am even close on 3, that leaves about enough money to put the add on about 20 metro buses for 4 weeks.

I was just thinking that it might not be a big enough budget to really come up with some novel and market it too...

I got you, thanks for the insight. I suspect they have this budget and can always increase if the need arises or whatever.

 

[gmubrian]

Why you gotta poo poo everything Brian?!

I know it probably came off as being down on it, and I could have worded it to sound less negative. I'll admit that I pretty much hate everything associated with Mason and the AD right now unless it is directly related to the basketball program. I used to be one of the biggest cheerleaders of the school and they have led me the point that I despise it.

That being said, I have a glimmer of hope for Brad Edwards once again. It seemed to me that he was moving too slow on changes and/or making tough decisions. Some of his recent moves, though, make me think he might finally be making some much needed changes in the AD. I don't have a pro or con position on the Masonettes move, but I do applaud him for making a tough decision but one that he seems to think is in the best interest of the basketball program.