When we last left our intrepid Crew blogger, he was offering a couple guiding principles for Crew Nation to chew on before it could establish a true DTBM strategy. Step 1: Accept the fact that we’re a small market team. Step 2: Act accordingly! When we buy DPs, we need to buy the loaded 3 Series, not the 7 Series. Stadium improvements should be small but smart, and we need to avoid own-goals like in-town scheduling conflicts whenever possible.
Step 3: Scarf Ohio
My favorite Crew marketing campaign was last year’s Scarf Ohio. It was perfectly timed before the playoffs, and gave a sense of solidarity not just in the Columbus community, but all throughout Ohio. It incorporated statewide celebs and socialites (you’re not a celeb for reading the news) and offered fans priceless morsels like seeing Anderson Varejao in a Crew scarf. It was also super fun as it was an interactive game played with fans. I hope to see it again very soon… I said NOW Silent Bob!
The playoffs are an obvious time to send out a rallying cry, but this message is one that should be reinforced year-round: The Crew is not just a Columbus team, it’s an Ohio team. While we have accepted that we are a small market team (see Step 1), The Crew benefits from the fact that it’s situated smack dab in the middle of the 7th most populous state in the union. 10 million people live within a 2 hour drive of Crew Stadium, and 1.5 million people get Crew matches on ONN (“get” is a stretch; more on this later). 10 million people is about the size of Chicago. Is it a lot to ask to drive an hour or two for a “home” match? Maybe, but I’d rather drive an hour from Dayton or two from Cincy than 1 ½ hrs. in Chicago traffic any day. The fact is that if The Crew want to gain fans, they might not have to look too far. What could they immediately implement that would help to bolster state-wide support?
a) Additional Locations for Non-League Matches. What works better than try-before-you-buy? I love Crew Stadium as much as anyone, but until it starts pulling more than 1,845 fans for US Open Cup matches they should give other Ohio communities a chance to see the black and gold up close. This could be in the form of pre-season or midseason friendlies, or even Open Cup matches. A few potential venues:
o FirstEnergy Stadium, Akron (Capacity: 4000)
o By winning the 2010 NCAA national championship, the University of Akron’s men’s soccer team solidified themselves as a true juggernaut of college soccer. They recently renovated their field and can pack their stadium (5241 record attendance, but don’t tell the fire marshal). This community has rallied around the Zips’ success; let’s feed the beast.
o Jesse Owens Field, Columbus (Capacity: 10,000). I know, boring. But if paired with a students-get-in-free with BuckID promo, to match Ohio State’s policy for all other soccer games, The Crew get a huge helping of target-market fans served on a home field platter.
o Baujan Field, Dayton (Capacity: 2,000).
Ok, a little dinky. Am I just being sentimental b/c I think it would be amazing to see The Crew at this site? Probably. Is the actual Dayton location obviously going to be at the new Dutch Lions venue, against the USL squad? Yes, and I hope it becomes an annual tradition. Still, look at this picture and tell me it wouldn’t be gorgeous. Maybe a 2-game swing in Dayton?
b) Media and Moychendising
o Pro teams deserve match highlights from major network local news, each time. How about also on Dayton, Cleveland, Akron and Cincinnati’s local broadcasts? Anticipating a rebuttal around “lack of viewer interest,” let’s use supporter group sway and the FO to help influence that. Treating the Crew like an actual professional team will keep the team top-of-mind with the casual fan throughout the state, which will drive interest and attendance.
o ONN – In the name of Guillermo, who has the ability to improve the picture/production quality of Crew broadcasts on ONN? Can a supporters group hold a bake sale or something? Getting Duncan in the booth was a fun and important improvement, but we must do better. We live in an HD world, and every single Crew broadcast should have an HD feed available. It’s like buying a steak at Hyde Park and then dumping ketchup all over it. The slightly-better-than-scrambled-p0rn visuals are likely a strong factor in why the Crew feed was almost never selected by MLS Direct Kick this year. This makes me sad. (Speaking of Direct Kick, the guide has been a total mess lately. How about sending the Intern back to his Comm 103 lecture? Also, DK needs to offer home and away feeds. I would pay an extra $3 a game to guarantee that I get to hear Duncan.)
o Wearing gear to rep the brand is as basic and grass roots as it gets. That said, why can’t I get a Crew hat in my local Target or Wal-Mart?! Why can’t I get a Crew key ring at the gas station? I suppose perhaps the market has spoken on this front many years ago; maybe these angles died out after ’96. If the gear just doesn’t move in some parts of Ohio, I get that. But kids in Columbus all have the inherent right to an Eddie Gaven lunchbox. Please, merch people, make it so. And make it so that Mom doesn’t have to go to Crew stadium during business hours to do it – Target will be just fine.
c) Scarf Columbus, Too. As we learned playing Risk, you need to win over your base before rolling the dice in adjacent lands. While the ‘bus has become much more Crewish since the magical season of 2008, we’re not done yet. Some notions on how to get there:
o Can we get the High St. arches lit up in black & gold during the MLS Playoffs? I always liked the streetlight banners downtown – let’s have playoff banners, too. That kind of advertising goes a longer way with me than highway billboards, and is probably way cheaper.
o Cleanup on aisle CMH. Why does Port Columbus have all that ridiculous junk about cow tipping and zero Columbus Crew and Columbus Blue Jacket gear?! This is an extension of the gear availability argument, but it irks me so much that it demanded its own bullet point. Airports are representations to the world of what a city thinks of itself. Port Columbus does admirably in the food and beverage category (CBC, Charley’s, MoJoe), but fails in the red zone: zero pro sports gear is available. It’s completely expected that Ohio State has its own shop, but it’s confounding that we don’t think enough of our pro franchises to promote them to the 6.2 million passengers that visit CMH each year. No, the ancient images on the baggage claim wall don’t count.
o Be involved in youth soccer. With Crew Juniors, hundreds if not thousands of kids are now growing up in central Ohio wearing Crew colors and going to matches. In addition to being straight-up fun to wear the same kit as your on-field heroes, it is brilliant for fan-base building. If you are a skilled former player, consider coaching or refereeing. It’s fun and very rewarding. Pay it forward.
o Game On ColumbUS: How about cross-ticket package promotions with the Blue Jackets and Clippers? Crew – CBJ ticket packages for the fall or spring, Crew – Clipper Packages for the spring. In the immediate future, you’ve potentially got a home Crew playoff match at 4pm & a home Blue Jacket game at 6:30pm on 10/30; why not provide a discount and/or transportation for super fans who want to make it a double? And by the way, what’s next? What’s on the status report? I’m not saying that people aren’t working on it, just that I don’t know what’s happening behind that great slogan and I’m interested to find out. Will the Crew, Blue Jackets & Clippers be joining forces to get a stadium for The Crew downtown? Sharing digital media advert space & costs? Carpooling?
The great thing about ideas is that they’re free. Everyone reading this article could tweet @ColumbusCrew, @GameOnColumbUS or even @MichaelBColeman and share their brain wealth. In the interest of your attention span, I’ll table Step 4: Getting Crew-ative on Game Day to next week. Thanks for spending your time & battery life reading me this week.
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