Am I over-reacting?

[Ruckus]

I was excited when I got home today and received a marketing mailer from my Hawks. I hadn't thought about the team much lately because I have been super busy at work. When I have tried to tune in to the team, I am presented with tales of drama, dysfunction, lies and overall distastefulness. As a fan, this is not the media attention I desire so I have avoided it for the most part. So when I receive this mailer it makes me forget about all this BS momentarily and it reminds me that the season is right around the corner. Excitedly, I pick up the mailer and begin to read. When I turned it over to read the back is when it happened. My throat dried out, my knees weakened, and I felt my blood begin to boil. And then I said to myself... "Why in the f*ck is LeBron the focal point of the first HAWKS mailer of the season?" SMDH. Sometimes it is so difficult to stay patient with this organization.

[benhillboy]

I didn't even read that caption, I saw players from other teams alternated with Hawks on the front and trashed it.

All you can say is it's the business of the NBA at the least, lame as hell at worst.

Edited September 24, 2014 by benhillboy

[Guest]

It's not over-reacting to get pissed at this.  It's sickening we don't/can't find a way to market the product we're putting on the court.  If I'm James I walk into Philips looking for a royalty check.

 

Does anyone know whether or not other teams market like this?  I googled a few (DET, ORL, MIL, IND) and none of them featured players on other teams in their season ticket ads.  IND even featured George freakin' Hill.

[Wretch]

I'm drinking liquor.

[PSSSHHHRRR87]

Are you really surprised though? This IS the organization that did this:

I hate it, but it's a fact of the Hawks current situation: They only sellout the Philips when Kobe, LeBron, Melo, or Durant comes to town, so they're selling out to sellout...

That is poorly worded though. That marketing/ticket sales department needs a swift kick in the ass after that. Leave Lebron's name off of it. Just put "Secure your chance to see your Atlanta Hawks take on the league's best this season" or something like that... Stop acting desperate, Hawks. Desperate people only attract other desperate people. Stop playing on other team's players.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

This should also let everyone know what the marketing dept. and the front office REALLY think about this team.   If the team can't sell itself, then how appealing is the team to the fan base?

 

28th in attendance last year.  The hard core fans supposedly love this team and their team ball makeup.  The soft core and casual fans could care less, and frequently bypass seeing them at Philips.

[MaceCase]

Well anything is still better than this

 

And of course the hilarious Deaspin title:" Nets Try To Trick Fans Into Wearing Nets Gear"

 

http://deadspin.com/5336263/nets-try-to-trick-fans-into-wearing-nets-gear

Edited September 24, 2014 by MaceCase

[Admin]

It sucks but I'd bet you anything the numbers back up their marketing strategy. The vast majority of fans who come out to Hawjs games are either casual Hawks fans who come out to star games or they're bandwagon or star chasers who show up on those nights to cheer for the other team. Sad state of affairs but it's true.

Doesn't make their marketing any easier to swallow though.

[BrazilianHawk]

It's really lame. But of course, as Dolf stated above, there's a reason they are doing things like this.

[YP2K]

This . . .

 

This should also let everyone know what the marketing dept. and the front office REALLY think about this team.   If the team can't sell itself, then how appealing is the team to the fan base?

 

28th in attendance last year.  The hard core fans supposedly love this team and their team ball makeup.  The soft core and casual fans could care less, and frequently bypass seeing them at Philips.

 

Just like the Braves, these corporate/cooperative/uncooperative ownership groups give the city a boring/underwhelming/mediocre team and wonder why the vast majority of the city think they are boring/underwhelming/mediocre.

Edited September 24, 2014 by YP2K

[Guest]

I'm drinking liquor.

 

Yeah, the following post by you kinda gave that impression:

I hope......with all the hope that I can hope with...  

 

That Danny Ferry gets his job back.  I hope that we do not have a single major injury over the next 3 years.  I hope we drop ALL the owners and a new guy comes in with all the money.  I hope so bad.....lol.  I hope there is not one single obstacle in our way over the next 3-5 seasons and that Danny Ferry doesn't change one single thing about how he works.

 

For the love of cheese, let it be so.  lol

 

I was waiting for a slurred, "I love you *burp* Danny Ferry".

 

It sucks but I'd bet you anything the numbers back up their marketing strategy. The vast majority of fans who come out to Hawjs games are either casual Hawks fans who come out to star games or they're bandwagon or star chasers who show up on those nights to cheer for the other team. Sad state of affairs but it's true.

Doesn't make their marketing any easier to swallow though.

 

Do the numbers really back them though?  I kinda think their "strategy" is basically a weird version of confirmation bias.  If they didn't market at all, I think the numbers would still be what they are.  If that's the case, do you really need to "market" that way?

 

I mean, the whole idea is to sell to folks who aren't coming, right?  Their problem is they're incapable of thinking outside the box of "well, that's who's showing up anyway so let's print s'more Kobe shirseys."  (not yelling at you, just thinking out loud ... well maybe I'm yelling at you a little but I had a bad morning so I gotta take it out on somebody)

[Guest]

Sigh - as sad as it is it's the Hawks reality.

It sucks big time though. I went to NBA.com, it's also on the website.

I checked a few of the other teams site: Charlotte is also pushing their 12 game plan mentioning OKC and Cavs.

[Wretch]

Yeah, the following post by you kinda gave that impression:

 

I was waiting for a slurred, "I love you *burp* Danny Ferry".

 

 

LOL.  I'm tired of excuses man.  I can already hear it next year after our loss in the 2nd round:

 

"If Danny Ferry was allowed to do his job, he would have gotten us the pieces we needed by the trade deadline.  We could have beaten Chicago."

[macdaddy]

Well I over react to everything but my guess is that this is typical for all nba teams.   I'm sure Cleveland is marketing matchups with Rose, Duncan, Kobe, Durant, Dwight.    It's not debatable if it's effective.  Way more people will be at the Hawks - Cleveland game than the Hawks - Bucks right?   

[Bahamut]

I saw this in the mail and laughed all the way to the shredder.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

The crazy thing is this. Even if they didn't do one single thing to encourage fans to go to the marquee games, they'd still go to those games.

I understand the mentality behind it. I just think it's ass-backwards. The question for the Hawks should be ... how do you increase attendance for non-marquee games? How about a "Family Package" of games, in which you can see the Hawks play "decent" competition at a reduced price.

To me, those are the best type of Hawks games to attend anyway.

[Guest]

The crazy thing is this. Even if they didn't do one single thing to encourage fans to go to the marquee games, they'd still go to those games.

I understand the mentality behind it. I just think it's ass-backwards. The question for the Hawks should be ... how do you increase attendance for non-marquee games? How about a "Family Package" of games, in which you can see the Hawks play "decent" competition at a reduced price.

To me, those are the best type of Hawks games to attend anyway.

I couldn't agree with this more. 

I've been checking the Hawks website, they have flexplans and group plans.  A Family pack would be nice.

They used to have a Chick-Fil-A family pack.  It might have been something they offer for certain games during the season.

[macdaddy]

The crazy thing is this. Even if they didn't do one single thing to encourage fans to go to the marquee games, they'd still go to those games.

I understand the mentality behind it. I just think it's ass-backwards. The question for the Hawks should be ... how do you increase attendance for non-marquee games? How about a "Family Package" of games, in which you can see the Hawks play "decent" competition at a reduced price.

To me, those are the best type of Hawks games to attend anyway.

 

I agree with you but just playing devil's advocate I think they'd tell you that even with concerted effort and promotion to get people to non-star games that people don't go.   I think they find it more profitable to get a high price for a game in demand than get a really low price just to put butts in the seats for the Bucks (i'll just keep picking on them).

 

Still you would think with concessions and parking that giving away tickets would be more profitable than not having people show up.

[PSSSHHHRRR87]

I'd also suggest a college night like the Predators do.  Half priced tickets to all students at Georgia-based colleges to select games (mid-market games, i.e. Golden State, Dallas, Detroit, etc.).  Another suggestion I'd make is Kids night.  Give away t-shirts and hot dogs to all kids under 15.  You want to grow the fan base, you gotta get them while their young.  Most members on this board has been a Hawks fan since childhood...

 

Is it sad that I'm doing the marketing teams' job for them right now? lmao

[Guest]

The biggest difference from the Hawks perspective is that they do have college night....to a certain extent. They offer discounts if you have a college ID. So they'd respond with "hey we do that and it doesn't work!" except for that whole marketing aspect. It takes someone with a great deal of knowledge of their organization to realize the actual deals they have. So they are immediately failing in the advertising department here.

I bet following the A$G practices would make for a great case study in a business class. Left and right students would be able to pick apart their mistakes if you lay out their entire strategy.

 

Gearon's gonna set this up to get some free focus group info. #seehawksquawkwedomarketresearch