10/28/04- SBC UM/OSU Sponsorship- Marketing Run Amok

This has been a strange week for Michigan and Ohio State fans. 

For once they agree on something. 

On Monday, it leaked out that SBC was close to signing a two year deal to sponsor the Michigan/Ohio State football game or as fans refer to it "THE GAME."  But UM President Mary Sue Coleman responding to the outrage of alumni shut the deal down.

Marketing 101

How did this happen? Well, it's seems clear to me that the development people at the the athletic department have forgotten one of the primary tenets of strategic marketing- know your organization.  You need to know what makes your organization unique from others.  What are your strengths?  What are your organizational values?  And most importantly- WHO ARE YOUR CUSTOMERS?  These things help shape your strategy and form your business tactics. 

They should have had clue that this deal was going to upset a lot of people.  Or maybe they did and thought that it just didn't matter what alumni thought.  It wouldn't be the first time that people in the athletic department arrogantly went ahead with a bad idea.

Management 101

But it just wasn't a marketing failure. It was also a management failure.  It appears that Athletic Director Bill Martin didn't make UM President Mary Sue Coleman aware of the impending SBC deal until it was almost done.  You may recall that Martin's predecessor, Tom Goss, hastened his own departure by not keeping his boss, UM President Lee Bollinger in the loop.

To Bill Martin's credit he not only admitted that mistakes were made but he's taking responsibility.  Extremely refreshing when you contemplate how previous athletic directors dealt with mistakes.

Hard to Understand

It's hard to understand why this was handled so poorly.  The personal seat program (AKA, PSP. seat tax) rollout was superb.  Bill Martin and other athletic department personnel did a great job of selling a difficult program.  I think that the general lack of outrage was due largely to their efforts to educate alumni and season ticket holders.

So with a successful model on place for rolling out bitter medicine why was it ignored?

Tradition 101

The athletic department is "selling" tradition.  I think they forget that sometimes.  By accepting annual ticket price increases and even the PSP Alumni and season ticket holders have shown they are willing to pay.  But mess with tradition by adding a gaudy facade to Michigan Stadium or changing the name of THE GAME and they'll bite back. 

Upsetting their customers is bad enough but diluting the tradition of Michigan is an incredibly stupid thing to do. 

It would be surrendering the main advantage that keeps Michigan distinct from other schools.

It Could Have Worked

The really sad thing is that if the SBC sponsorship deal would been handled better it may have worked.  Unfortunately, the athletic department did none of the things that could have made this deal more palatable to its supporters.  They didn't get Alumni input, they didn't check with UM President Mary Sue Coleman, they didn't even get Head Coach Lloyd Carr's support.  It's no surprise that people reacted so negatively to this announcement. 

And no matter what the average fans thinks they do need the money.  Only by building up their endowment can they ever hope to alleviate their dependence on ticket revenue.  That's the argument they should have made to alumni.

Other Battles Ahead

It's great to see that so many people care about the great Michigan tradition and are willing to voice disapproval when people trifle with it.  But there is a much larger and more important battle ahead. 

The Big Ten is moving towards adding a 12th team.  This will mean adding a conference championship game, which will seriously weaken the tradition of not only the Big Ten itself but the annual Michigan/OSU game.  Imagine a two division Big Ten where some games against Big Ten teams don't count in your division standings.  Imagine Michigan and OSU being in different divisions and meeting twice year, one being a made-for-TV neutral site game.  Or even worse being in the same division and not having THE GAME be the final regular season game for each season. 

I was hoping that the money from SBC deal would lessen the pressure to adopt a conference championship.  You can be sure that there people in the Big Ten, and at UM and OSU, who are pleased that the SBC deal has fallen through because it will the make case for a conference championship that much easier to make later.

Lead More, Follow Less

The Athletic Department needs to stop following the lead of other institutions.  I've said it before and I'll say it again.

Go Blue!

Phil Callihan
UMGoBlue.COM, Editor-in-Chief
phil@umgoblue.com
 

Phil Callihan is the Editor-in- Chief of UMGoBlue.COM.  Phil graduated from the University of Michigan in 1993 and has been a football season ticket holder since 1994.

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