DB Says MSU Road Unis "Not a Marketing and Merchandising Strategy"
http://detnews.com/article/20111021/SPORTS0201/110210321
"It's not a marketing and merchandise strategy," Brandon said. "It was to fire up the team as far as our own competitive edge. I'm glad we did it. It worked out well, but like everything else, some people love it, some don't love it."
October 21st, 2011 at 2:02 PM ^
Yes, they say it and then it plays no role in their decision (see T Richardson).
October 21st, 2011 at 10:28 AM ^
On the list of things recruits care about I wonder where nike over adidas factors into a decision? I can't imagine it's very high.
Maybe i'm wrong.
October 21st, 2011 at 10:17 AM ^
I want to go back to Nike. I liked the apparel better, we won more (I know it has no affect on that), plus recruits like Nike more.
October 21st, 2011 at 10:20 AM ^
You can double post, triple post, or even quadruple post, it won't make any of it any more true.
October 21st, 2011 at 12:41 PM ^
Sorry, this is what happens when you post from a phone. My bad.
October 21st, 2011 at 10:54 AM ^
Hell, even people in Ohio are starting to buy adidas.
October 21st, 2011 at 10:20 AM ^
The article stated that he said that the players thought "they were very cool".
"They were going nuts," Brandon said of the players. "They were excited and thought the jerseys were very cool. They were well aware that State had unique uniforms on, and I think they were happy they had their own special thing."
I did not care for them myself, and as an old guy, I understand the importance of keeping the damned kids off the lawn, but be factual or the kids will catch on.
October 21st, 2011 at 10:20 AM ^
Duly noted.
October 21st, 2011 at 10:19 AM ^
Dave Brandon also thinks Dominoes pizza taste good.
October 21st, 2011 at 12:07 PM ^
Domino's pizza does taste good
October 21st, 2011 at 1:59 PM ^
Yeah after he left the place
October 21st, 2011 at 10:20 AM ^
If he'd been CEO of Pepsi in the 80's he would have rushed New Pepsi to market, because Coke had its own special thing. Total genius.
October 21st, 2011 at 10:23 AM ^
Yeah the New Coke worked out really well for KO.
October 21st, 2011 at 10:36 AM ^
Not stating this as fact but it has been suggested that the formula for Coke was changed to new Coke to transition the US market to corn syrup based products. New Coke came out in Apri 1985, which is officially the same year coke switched to high fructose. If true, while evil and obviously horrible for obesity porobelm in America, It was utter brilliance from a business standpoint and something DB would fit righ tin with.
Of course, this is all just urban legend right?
October 21st, 2011 at 10:41 AM ^
If the players sincerely like the UNI's and it "fired" them up then I can find a place to put aside my dislike of the change becuase it is after all just a road uniform. I can only hope that the team could embrace my passion for what the uniform stands for as is without hideous stripes and such but I can bite the bullet and deal if I must.
October 21st, 2011 at 3:19 PM ^
I can't. I'd rather burn DB alive than let them wear those uniforms again.
October 21st, 2011 at 10:46 AM ^
So, by rolling out the bumblebee monstrosities early DB is just prepping the fanbase, so when the new-uni-every-week marketing plan is finally unrolled we'll all say "well, they aren't nearly as bad as they could be...they almost look like our old uniforms"?
October 21st, 2011 at 11:05 AM ^
Wait, so you're blaming DB for changing the recipe for Coke now??
/s
October 21st, 2011 at 10:29 AM ^
Are you F'ing kidding me? Here is just another notch the insane column in my internal debate about whether Brandon is a genius or insane.
WE ARE PLAYING OUR BIGGEST ROAD GAME OF THE SEASON AGAINST OUR IN STATE RIVAL AND YOU THINK YOU NEED TO FIRE UP THE TEAM BY HAVING THEM CHANGE INTO CLOWN COSTUMES 15 MINUTES BEFORE KICKOFF?!?
THEN WE GET MAN HANDLED FOR THE 4TH STRAIGHT YEAR AND YOU THINK IT WENT WELL?!?
AAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH.
(sorry for the rant)
October 21st, 2011 at 10:50 AM ^
Hey man, like, ease off the caps-lock.
October 21st, 2011 at 10:51 AM ^
You have a good point. He's showing a certain tone-deafness that's going to get him into trouble. He very clearly thinks he knows better than us and doesn't care about tradition, even though it's one of the things that sets Michigan apart.
October 21st, 2011 at 10:33 AM ^
Competitive edge is the new hard edge, yo.
October 21st, 2011 at 10:33 AM ^
My hope is that Brandon brings in insane amounts of cash for the department, builds a bunch of incredible facilities, and then is replaced by someone who wants to get back to all the traditional stuff we love. We shall see.
October 21st, 2011 at 10:36 AM ^
"It's not a marketing and merchandise strategy"
October 21st, 2011 at 10:37 AM ^
I agree with the previous poster about going back to Nike. Here's a fact. The recruits take into consideration what kind of gear the schools have that are recruiting them. My good friend has a cousin that was being recruited by Arkansas, Boise State, Oregon, Stanford, Cal, and some other schools. He told me that his cousin was only going to go to a Nike school. He now plays for Boise State.
Forget about the fact that no Adidas school has ever won a NC. Which is wrong by the way because Tennessee did in 98.
Forbes has listed Nike as the most valuable sports business brand:
http://business.transworld.net/74449/news/forbes-names-nike-most-valuab…
Nike is #1 at $15 Billion, ESPN is #2 at $11 Billion, and Adidas is #3 at $5 Billion
Why do you think the NFL is going to Nike next year?
Hopefully DB will consider switching when the contract ends with Adidas. I also spoke to a Nike Rep within the last 6 months and asked him about Michigan and he said he doubts they'll (Nike) partner with Michigan again because he seemed to think Michigan screwed Nike. Anyone have any inside info on why Michigan went to Adidas?
October 21st, 2011 at 10:49 AM ^
I'm a lot more familiar with recruiting for basketball than for football, but when I hear that player X "will only go to an ApparelBrandX school" I assume that's where the AAU money trail leads.
October 21st, 2011 at 10:52 AM ^
Wait, he was being recruited by Oregon, was dead-set on going to a "Nike school" but ended up at Boise??
Interesting.
October 21st, 2011 at 11:12 AM ^
of the team's athletic wear really does need to go to Boise State. I think that was the best result all the way around.
October 21st, 2011 at 10:52 AM ^
It's my understanding Jason Carr (LC's son) is the Adidas rep for the UM account. That probably has some bearing on which brand we're wearing.
GO BLUE!
October 21st, 2011 at 10:53 AM ^
Either that or Adidas gave us a ton more money, and demnded less controll over the uniforms (both true, by the way).
October 21st, 2011 at 10:59 AM ^
A business decision was made for *gasp* business reasons? The horror!
October 21st, 2011 at 10:59 AM ^
Or it probably had something to do with the fact that Adidas more than doubled what Nike was currently paying us, and included a clause in the contract that UM would be their highest university contract.
October 21st, 2011 at 11:04 AM ^
To my knowledge JC was not an adidas employee when the deal was made. Historically, adidas has put an employee on campus at all of their premiere all sport schools.
I'm not sure if that is still the case as the number of adidas promo schools has grown in the last 10 years.
October 21st, 2011 at 10:52 AM ^
I like Nike products as well, but Adidas is giving us A LOT of money. It doubled what Nike was giving us before:
http://www.michigandaily.com/content/adidas-just-did-it
I remember also reading, somewhere else, that we are now Adidas flagship university. If this is what it takes to keep advertising out of the stadium on gameday, I don't mind this sacrifice.
October 21st, 2011 at 10:37 AM ^
If the players love them then I am all for it. This senior class in particular has been jerked around probably more than any Michigan class ever, so screw the haters and get-off-my-lawners, I want them to make THEIR mark on the program and do things their way.
October 21st, 2011 at 10:41 AM ^
The best way for the seniors to make their mark is by winning games. Michigan is bigger than one senior class.
October 21st, 2011 at 10:42 AM ^
Michigan is also bigger than a JERSEY.
October 21st, 2011 at 10:43 AM ^
I think you just made my point.
Thanks.
October 21st, 2011 at 10:51 AM ^
Care to explain how I made your point?
KTHANX :)
October 21st, 2011 at 10:58 AM ^
You originally said this senior class could make their mark and wear what they like. I responded that michigan is bigger than one senior class. You then responded that Michigan is bigger than a jersey.
My point is that this senior class does not have a free pass to do whatever they want and just because they like the jerseys does not mean we should all say ok well since you have had a rough 4 years its ok. Like you said, michigan is bigger than a jersey.
October 21st, 2011 at 11:10 AM ^
I wanted the senior class to leave a mark.
You said the best way to leave their mark is to win, to which I agree but I think we can also agree it is not the only way. Let's also be honest in that they were never destined to go undefeated this year, but they will win all they can.
Michigan is bigger than a senior class, also bigger than a jersey, so by the seniors leaving a mark through wearing jerseys they like they are not changing the program.
Sorry, but I just think if you never change anything in the name of "tradition" you become Notre Dame. Some new things are ok (and they dollars they bring are great), people just need to chill, shrug your shoulders and have a beer.
October 21st, 2011 at 10:52 AM ^
is a joke. What the team wears and what music is played in Michigan Stadium (I'm looking at you Pop Evil) should not be decided by 100 teenagers, even if they are the players.
The uniforms and stadium experience represent 35,000 students, 500,000 alumni and millions of fans and over 100 years of tradition. Sure, the players input matters, but it should never be the deciding factor on issues like this.
My guess is that it is just cover for DB to make more "marketing" decisions, but either way it is a terrible justification, true or not.
I can't wait until DB annouces a ridiculous mascot becuase the players liked it.
October 21st, 2011 at 11:01 AM ^
Sorry, but you have to do things like this to attract fresh fans sometimes. Winning is obviously the number one way to attract fans, but when you have a fanbase that is so locked on to what they perceive to be tradition to the point that it becomes very difficult for a new fan to become incorporated it becomes counter-productive.
The fact of the matter is every team needs its band-wagoners, fair weather fans and "Walmart Wolverines" to make enough money to maintain the program and the number of other sports football supports.
So, yeah maybe it is "marketing" (why the quotes?), but we need it.
October 21st, 2011 at 11:03 AM ^
So you need to attract new fans at the risk of alienating your base? I think that can be true for pro teams and certain college teams, but not for a school like Michigan.
October 21st, 2011 at 11:11 AM ^
Are you about to stop watching Michigan football because they have had two games with different jerseys?
October 21st, 2011 at 12:16 PM ^
Some of you make me laugh at how bent out of shape you are getting over this! The players thoughts do matter and in this day and age anything you can do to make us seem like a "cool" school to go to because we care what you the players like has to help in recruiting and I'm all for that.(holy run on sentence Batman)
<br>It might seem stupid to us but 16-18 yo kids like stuff like this. Making some $ for the athletic department and helping with recruiting should cancel out all this overblown outrage.
October 21st, 2011 at 2:33 PM ^
We have had 110,000 plus coming to the Big House for every game in recent memory and are national tv every week. I think the previous forumla has worked pretty well.
October 21st, 2011 at 3:25 PM ^
I agree. I heard some of the guys on the team thought that army camo would be pretty damn cool, with bright orange helmets. They actually want to change the colors to red and white instead of blue and maize so that should probably be done. Also, we need those crazy arm sleeves and LOTS of sweatbands. O boy, we are going to be rocking the country we these!!
Yeah, fuck that. We wear traditional jerseys, I don't give a damn what the players want.
October 21st, 2011 at 3:30 PM ^
Fortunately, you are not in charge.