Hunter Lochmann does not appreciate you complaining about ads
Another beautiful quote
Lochman, on why Michigan does not do in-game sponsorships: “We don’t do anything in the stadium. Us and Notre Dame are the two cleanest stadiums in college football, so that makes it easier. But, for instance, we had a Cadillac display this past year outside of the stadium, two beautiful cars with winged helmets on them, and we were getting some grief from our fans on social media about them. ... We're trying to entertain our fans, so we have a new partner that sponsors a dance contest, so it’s about trying to be smart like that. Our fans have told us front and center they don’t want sponsors, though.”
December 12th, 2014 at 3:28 PM ^
https://record.umich.edu/articles/michigan-athletics-presents-fiscal-ye…
$146 million in expenses? And that doesn't count facility projects. So where is all this money going?
http://annarborchronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Athletics-FY201…
This is from 2013. Salaries, wages, and benefits make up the biggest piece of the pie by far. So that 72% increase is rather glaring.
December 12th, 2014 at 3:36 PM ^
Thanks for linking this. I upvoted you.
But doesn't "salaries, wages, and benefits" include coaches? The salaries that all of us on here are advocating increasing? I'm not sure how much is administrators. And even of that, I'm not sure how much is wasteful, or how we compare to other universities that we compete with for good administrative staff.
I guess all I'm saying is: I think we're a little quick to assume that we can meet our moral advertising ideals and still achieve all of the things that we want the athletics department to achieve. My guess is that it's not so easy as many on this board want to believe when they assume that DB and every one of his ideas are the spawn of satan himself.
December 12th, 2014 at 3:32 PM ^
I recently read something about how much money Dave Brandon managed to go through during his time as the AD and it was alot for various thing's at Michigan. Apparently alot is being invested in upgrades expansion projects across many athletics and there was something about staff. But he did spend or invest alot of what Bill Martin had managed to put into the black. I am not saying the U of M is in the red it has been awhile since I read the article.
I do think this is part of the reason that ticket prices and everything else was going up was all of his marketing/ideas. I'm sure that you could google this.
December 12th, 2014 at 3:37 PM ^
You know, all of this "I have an opinion, but I haven't looked at the publicly-available numbers to back it up" only goes so far. DB brought on a TON of low- to mid-level staff, a lot of twenty-something marketing kids who sit in cubicles all day and think this stuff up. Go to the Athletic Department office and you'll see them "at work." They ran out of freaking desks, and built/are building a new building near the golf course to put them all somewhere. It's absurd.
The money isn't for academic support--it's to pay for these people whose jobs it is to find new, synergistic ways to extract more money from all comers. Not a positive.
December 12th, 2014 at 3:16 PM ^
The athletic department has had zero sensitivity in how they handle ad placement, and who they choose to sponsor ads. It's like using a chainsaw to do neurosurgery. There are much more tasteful ways to bring appropriate sponsors on board without compromising the integrity of "the brand."
December 12th, 2014 at 3:28 PM ^
December 12th, 2014 at 3:07 PM ^
I don't see anything offensive or unreasonable about this quote.
December 12th, 2014 at 3:15 PM ^
December 12th, 2014 at 3:25 PM ^
December 12th, 2014 at 3:29 PM ^
This, to me, is the heart of the problem though:
"Our fans have told us front and center they don’t want sponsors, though."
If the fans have told the AD they don't want sponsors, why does the AD continue to insist on sponsors? Saying that you're "trying to be smart" or "entertain" the fans is a really bad justification.
December 12th, 2014 at 3:13 PM ^
I personally wouldn't have a problem with ads at M sports facilities, if the adversting was tasteful and unintrusive. Sometimes, well-placed signage can actually enhance the charm of a stadium, and promotional activities on the concourse or outside the gates don't have to be bothersome. Unfortunately, Brandon and his cronies were not capable of doing anything in a tasteful and unintrusive manner; everthing (even things other than advertising) is garish, obnoxius, and in-your-face. I won't be able to trust the athletic department until Lochmann and all the other Brandon detritus are flushed out.
December 12th, 2014 at 3:16 PM ^
Thanks Brandon. This is the mess you created.
December 12th, 2014 at 3:16 PM ^
Based on the "context" they are about done trying to entertain the fans. Fans don't want and don't need the entertainment. Isn't that what the football is for.
Hell if the fans needed entertainment this year all they had to do was set up a dunk tank with Dave Brandon in it and let the fans throw footballs.
December 12th, 2014 at 3:27 PM ^
A good football team and a marching band filled the stadium to capacity for decades.
Everything else is bread-and-circuses bullshit. If the team is good, you don't need dance competitions or drones or whatever.
December 12th, 2014 at 3:20 PM ^
"We're trying to entertain our fans, so we have a new partner that sponsors a dance contest, so it’s about trying to be smart like that."
About 5 years ago, you had arguably one of the most entertaining venues in all of sports in Yost Ice Arena. Last week against Ohio State, the band had to cut the signature "Blues Brothers" dance short during the second intermission because Michigan's marketing team spent almost 10 minutes of the intermission trying to be smart like that.
The arena actually has hired a second PA announcer just to read the commercials.
The band no longer has time to play all of the "traditional" Yost songs like "The Good Old Hockey Game," "William Tell Overture" and "Rocky and Bullwinkle" because the commercial PA announncer is speaking during the TV timeouts.
So thanks, Hunter Lochman, for trying to be smart like that. Now perhaps you can go try to be smart like that for the Saginaw Spirit.
December 12th, 2014 at 3:29 PM ^
^this. i remember in the late 90's and early 2000's when yost was a madhouse. better environment than chicago madhouse on madison now. it was so awesome. i was back for a game last year and it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. the students were stuffed in one section and no one even stood up during goals. the lamest hockey environment i have ever seen.
December 13th, 2014 at 1:01 AM ^
but Yost is noticeably different now from even just 5 or so years ago. The renovations did a lot, marketing did some, and I still hate the goal horn
December 13th, 2014 at 2:13 AM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
December 13th, 2014 at 2:50 AM ^
That place used to be packed, standing room only for every game. It's never like that anymore even when this team was in the tourney streak. Don't blame the AD for Yost, blame the fans who don't show up.
December 13th, 2014 at 12:01 PM ^
"Don't blame the AD for Yost, blame the fans who don't show up."
Fair enough as far as it goes...but why don't they show up? Have the fans changed, or has something else changed?
December 13th, 2014 at 3:32 PM ^
Prices, band playing over all the student section chants, more advertising.
December 12th, 2014 at 3:26 PM ^
The marketers that are actually good at their jobs.... The general public doesn't know what they're up to.
A bunch of n00b mistakes here by him.
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
December 12th, 2014 at 4:11 PM ^
December 12th, 2014 at 7:39 PM ^
These Brandon-appointed guys just can't stop stepping on their own dicks, can they?
Why aren't these Brandudes GONE??
Who the fuck does this guy think he is?
December 12th, 2014 at 9:37 PM ^
I Mgodon't give a shit what Hunter doesn't appreciate.
December 13th, 2014 at 2:44 AM ^
There's nothing wrong with this quote. He's talking about advertising without upsetting the fans, but this board is so brainwashed by Brian's anti Dave Brandon schlep that anything with a sponsor or a corporate title must be horrible.
December 13th, 2014 at 2:51 AM ^
Or he's an out of touch dick-wagon that is incapable of making a salient point without coming off as an arrogant douche-nozzel.
December 13th, 2014 at 3:05 AM ^
That's the problem with the MGoSheep. You want a 21st century football program in the win column and 1970 everywhere else. It doesn't work.
December 13th, 2014 at 3:49 AM ^
December 13th, 2014 at 11:26 AM ^
December 13th, 2014 at 1:24 PM ^
You're done with me? I was done with you yesterday.
Run along back your MGoDreamland where everything is Dave Brandon's fault.
December 13th, 2014 at 3:33 PM ^
I don't think ads are required to have a good football team. Neither is piped in music, t shirt cannons, or dance contests.
December 13th, 2014 at 3:36 AM ^
about advertising without upsetting the fans . . .That's not what it sounds like:
we were getting some grief from our fans . . . Our fans have told us front and center they don’t want sponsors . . .I would think the most revenue-affirmative thing to do would be to walk back the steps that evaporated a 300,000-fan season ticket wait list, for starters. It sounds like you would like to blame Brian for destroying the wait list, or maybe blame the fans for abandoning a game experience featuring a wretched HC hire and contemptuous degradation of the game-day experience and abandonment of the 130-year tradition that filled the stadium in the first place to boot. Cheerleaders for the cult of corporate inevitability will have to face the fact that David Brandon isn't coming back. We will see about the $5 water.
December 13th, 2014 at 11:17 AM ^
This guy can go fuck himself sideways with a 9-iron.
He sucks gigantic bags of cock.
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
December 13th, 2014 at 10:54 AM ^
December 13th, 2014 at 11:54 AM ^
only understand promotion. Unlike Lochmann, good CMOs include a mix of advertising, promotions and public relations. And top CMOs know how to effectivley incorporate and blend these components into a total marcoms package either at the product, services or corporate level of their company.
Not to nitpick, but advertising can be entertainment - recall, I think it was Folgers coffee company that ran a series of cleverly tasteful TV vignettes about a young couple living in the same apt. bldg with one who was out of coffee, inviting each to have a cup - it had everyone wondering will they, or won't they get together. The series was quite entertaining and had a huge following. AXE personal care products also leveraged an entertainment platform. So advertising can be entertaimment while providing information/selling. Even the university advertises its attributes - question is a matter of taste.
That said, Lochmann is a low-level CMO who only understands the promotional aspect of marcom model and is not strategic in any sense of the word. He is a direct reflection of the meager skills set requirements sought by a Brandon-type guy - tactical promotions. His type is well suited to the pizza mentality of a Dave Brandon or NY Knicks or any professional sports marketing model for that matter. Both of these entities - Dominos/NY Knicks - engage in cheap crass promotions, e.g. bogos, first 500 people at the gate get a free Knicks photo of team Prez, Phil Jackson sitting courtside etc. They only see fans as ATM machine, much like Brandon/Lochmann treated students, alumni and fans. So the universuty got what it paid for - a low level one-dimentional promoter with a single frame of reference and insensitive to the college community and environment, not a strategic marketing executive.
Clearly putting winged helmets on the hood of a Caddy anchored inside the stadium during a game doesn't qualify as strategic advertising, nor does promoting to come have your marriage ceremony on the Block M (I suppose Lochmann believes that's how you protect the longevity of the brand /s) stand as marketing genius. It cheapens the brand regardless of how many dollars that stunt generated.
And certainly for a CMO to make as stupid a comment as he did to Sports Business Daily indicates does not understand public relations. Nor do I believe Lochmann was trained to speak with media, else he would not have delivered such a derisive quote, creating another public relations embarrassment.
My question to Hackett: Did someone prep him? That is was he informed what are the core department/university messages (not talking bullshit here, but clear concise messages that reflect the unversity's point of view it wants to convey to its constituents); was he prepped how to answer questions properly before being sent to do media interviews? If he was and still did this, if I were Hackett I'd be kicking his ass up one side and down the other while showing him the door.
BUT worse if Hackett abdicated his role (refused to do the interview) as the key spokesperson by sending Lochmann out there with little or no prep, or for whatever reason, if I was Schlissel I'd be all over Hackett for exposing the university like that.
It's like a never ending soap opera with this university of late - - -