I feel the complete opposite 
After years of no communication I think FAU communication is at record levels. Emails from athletics often, tons of social media exposure
If you follow Twitter Facebook Instagram FAU is constantly posting content and info. Ticket master and FAU are both running sponsored ads I see daily online promoting ticket sales and the theme for the next game which is family day btw. Maybe some folks are not big on email or social media but that is where the world is going and they are doing a ton on those platforms

I do post pictures and how we enjoyed the game all the time on Facebook. We would do it during the course off the game but data plan is a killer, so we do it from home because of no wifi in the seats. lol. I mean the department does the whole #FAUGameday thing for twitter and instagram and FAU Football is doing event creation for Facebook, and the same thing for the athletic department is doing the same thing, but it takes time. I see ads for tickets all the time on facebook so they are trying to change it.

I have some thoughts on this but am not 100% crystal clear on what "marketings" responsibilites are and what other arrangements might get in the way.

1.  Game Day Experience:
- Restaurants/Cookoffs - there are literally TONS of restaurants in the local area (Palm Beach/Broward County).  They spend money on marketing and advertising themselves to get people through the doors.  Why dont I see cook-offs in front of the stadium on Saturdays?  How about theming the cookoffs (seafood, chili, BBQ, etc) and inviting area restaurants to compete?  They will advertise in thier restaurants and do some of the work for us, give them an allotment of tickets to handout to thier customers.  
-Breweries  - We now have quite a few local breweries (Funky Buddha, Copper Point, Due South, Islemorada Beer Company, etc) in Broward/Palm Beach.  They spend a ton of $$$ trying to gain customers and get there name out there.  People like beer and we have anywhere from 8k-15k people for them to market to.  They should be encouraged to setup EVERY home game.
-Local Musicians - Setup a stage and have a list of local musicians play EVERY game.  Maybe different types of musicians for front of the stadium and then setup whatever the student like in their area (I'm old now, have no clue what they listen to).
-Set up large TV screens in front of the stadium with other games on during tailgate hours.  
-Steel Drum band next to the bar area in the deck.  Used to have it, didn't have it for opening day.  I was upset they didn't have it.  Nothing better than cold drink in hand, football, wind blowing in from the beach and a steel drum playing.  Its the best.

We need to make coming to the game an experience.  I know we have tried a few items above in the past but inconsistently.  We need to commit to doing these things at EVERY home game for the next 3 years before pulling the plug on any of it.  This will take a lot of disciplined effort and coordination, but the reality is if we want to fill this stadium we have to be selling more than FAU football.

2.  Away Games - We NEED to commit to a bar/restaurant and stick with it.  Needs to be a partnership between a local or a few local bars/restaurants and the University.  The challenge we will face for the near future is…how many people will still  show up to watch us play Old Dominion in November?  If we are 3-8 going into the game, not many.  I have been to watch parties with 200 FAU fans and literally 3 FAU fans.  There has to be a partnership  thought of where FAU pays the bar to make FAU football a priority when the games are on and maybe even help them decorate the bar with FAU memorabilia.  I would consider paying a fixed amount per game no matter the number of fans that show up (something like here's $2,500 per game I dont care if there isn't a single FAU fan in here you keep the game on, play the fight song over the loud speakers, whatever).

We need something consistent that people know will have the game no matter what.  No restaurant/bar is going to focus on FAU if they cant make enough $ to pay thier bills doing so.  On the flip, we cant gain consistency or new fans without people knowing where to go and feeling confident the game will be the focus when there.

3.  Scheduling sheduling scheduling…

I know we are working on this now.  But if we play UCF, USF or Miami @ FAU its sold out no matter what.  We sold out Lockhart when we played USF, yes 20k people paid to watch us play USF at Lockhart.  Our first 2 home games are Illinois State and Ball State …if you think that excites ANYBODY aside from FAU diehards who want to go to a bowl game so badly, you're wrong.  I know the coaches want this to help get to 7 wins, I get it.  

Revenue from TV is a big part of it, but getting to a conference where our level of opponents increase is so imporant.  

4.  Lastly, marketing on logo's and apparel.  I love the state of florida with atlantic written within, why cant I find any of this ANYWHERE!  What about the logo that is painted on the entire visitor side of the stadium?  Cant really find that anymore either.  Why cant we incorporate the blue wave in (its even an emoticon on this site for crying out loud )?  We've debated it before, but now I am really tired of it.  Auburn, Alabama find ways to be successful with different emblems/logos (war eagle, tiger, elephant, roll tide, etc).  

I know this was long just frustrated.  I understand some of this takes money, we spend what $17 million (I just looked this up, its closer to $28 million  on athletics, we can find the money.  Whats the point of spending the $17 million if people dont want to watch and support?  DONT DO SOMETHING FOR 4 WEEKS OR 1 SEASON AND THEN QUIT!  Make the commitment, its part of what we do.   We have cookoffs, we have breweries, we have bands, we have huge tv's, etc.  Give it a legitamate run, dont look for immediate ROI. It wont be there.  And for the love of anything can I please buy one of the polo's our freaking coaching staff wears!  

walty12 said

I have some thoughts on this but am not 100% crystal clear on what "marketings" responsibilites are and what other arrangements might get in the way.

1.  Game Day Experience:
- Restaurants/Cookoffs - there are literally TONS of restaurants in the local area (Palm Beach/Broward County).  They spend money on marketing and advertising themselves to get people through the doors.  Why dont I see cook-offs in front of the stadium on Saturdays?  How about theming the cookoffs (seafood, chili, BBQ, etc) and inviting area restaurants to compete?  They will advertise in thier restaurants and do some of the work for us, give them an allotment of tickets to handout to thier customers.  
-Breweries  - We now have quite a few local breweries (Funky Buddha, Copper Point, Due South, Islemorada Beer Company, etc) in Broward/Palm Beach.  They spend a ton of $$$ trying to gain customers and get there name out there.  People like beer and we have anywhere from 8k-15k people for them to market to.  They should be encouraged to setup EVERY home game.
-Local Musicians - Setup a stage and have a list of local musicians play EVERY game.  Maybe different types of musicians for front of the stadium and then setup whatever the student like in their area (I'm old now, have no clue what they listen to).
-Set up large TV screens in front of the stadium with other games on during tailgate hours.  
-Steel Drum band next to the bar area in the deck.  Used to have it, didn't have it for opening day.  I was upset they didn't have it.  Nothing better than cold drink in hand, football, wind blowing in from the beach and a steel drum playing.  Its the best.

We need to make coming to the game an experience.  I know we have tried a few items above in the past but inconsistently.  We need to commit to doing these things at EVERY home game for the next 3 years before pulling the plug on any of it.  This will take a lot of disciplined effort and coordination, but the reality is if we want to fill this stadium we have to be selling more than FAU football.

2.  Away Games - We NEED to commit to a bar/restaurant and stick with it.  Needs to be a partnership between a local or a few local bars/restaurants and the University.  The challenge we will face for the near future is…how many people will still  show up to watch us play Old Dominion in November?  If we are 3-8 going into the game, not many.  I have been to watch parties with 200 FAU fans and literally 3 FAU fans.  There has to be a partnership  thought of where FAU pays the bar to make FAU football a priority when the games are on and maybe even help them decorate the bar with FAU memorabilia.  I would consider paying a fixed amount per game no matter the number of fans that show up (something like here's $2,500 per game I dont care if there isn't a single FAU fan in here you keep the game on, play the fight song over the loud speakers, whatever).

We need something consistent that people know will have the game no matter what.  No restaurant/bar is going to focus on FAU if they cant make enough $ to pay thier bills doing so.  On the flip, we cant gain consistency or new fans without people knowing where to go and feeling confident the game will be the focus when there.

3.  Scheduling sheduling scheduling…

I know we are working on this now.  But if we play UCF, USF or Miami @ FAU its sold out no matter what.  We sold out Lockhart when we played USF, yes 20k people paid to watch us play USF at Lockhart.  Our first 2 home games are Illinois State and Ball State …if you think that excites ANYBODY aside from FAU diehards who want to go to a bowl game so badly, you're wrong.  I know the coaches want this to help get to 7 wins, I get it.  

Revenue from TV is a big part of it, but getting to a conference where our level of opponents increase is so imporant.  

4.  Lastly, marketing on logo's and apparel.  I love the state of florida with atlantic written within, why cant I find any of this ANYWHERE!  What about the logo that is painted on the entire visitor side of the stadium?  Cant really find that anymore either.  Why cant we incorporate the blue wave in (its even an emoticon on this site for crying out loud )?  We've debated it before, but now I am really tired of it.  Auburn, Alabama find ways to be successful with different emblems/logos (war eagle, tiger, elephant, roll tide, etc).  

I know this was long just frustrated.  I understand some of this takes money, we spend what $17 million (I just looked this up, its closer to $28 million  on athletics, we can find the money.  Whats the point of spending the $17 million if people dont want to watch and support?  DONT DO SOMETHING FOR 4 WEEKS OR 1 SEASON AND THEN QUIT!  Make the commitment, its part of what we do.   We have cookoffs, we have breweries, we have bands, we have huge tv's, etc.  Give it a legitamate run, dont look for immediate ROI. It wont be there.  And for the love of anything can I please buy one of the polo's our freaking coaching staff wears!  

Posted On: Sep 12th 2016, 9:09 PM #359101

I agree with all of this, and not just because I sat next to Walty at the Miami game and never knew it until after the game lol

Merchandise wise I would love to see a lot of the gear the team and coaches wear with the state logo for sale but don't see that anywhere. Agree on watch parties and sticking to a location to make it work.

walty12 said

I have some thoughts on this but am not 100% crystal clear on what "marketings" responsibilites are and what other arrangements might get in the way.

1.  Game Day Experience:
- Restaurants/Cookoffs - there are literally TONS of restaurants in the local area (Palm Beach/Broward County).  They spend money on marketing and advertising themselves to get people through the doors.  Why dont I see cook-offs in front of the stadium on Saturdays?  How about theming the cookoffs (seafood, chili, BBQ, etc) and inviting area restaurants to compete?  They will advertise in thier restaurants and do some of the work for us, give them an allotment of tickets to handout to thier customers.  
-Breweries  - We now have quite a few local breweries (Funky Buddha, Copper Point, Due South, Islemorada Beer Company, etc) in Broward/Palm Beach.  They spend a ton of $$$ trying to gain customers and get there name out there.  People like beer and we have anywhere from 8k-15k people for them to market to.  They should be encouraged to setup EVERY home game.
-Local Musicians - Setup a stage and have a list of local musicians play EVERY game.  Maybe different types of musicians for front of the stadium and then setup whatever the student like in their area (I'm old now, have no clue what they listen to).
-Set up large TV screens in front of the stadium with other games on during tailgate hours.  
-Steel Drum band next to the bar area in the deck.  Used to have it, didn't have it for opening day.  I was upset they didn't have it.  Nothing better than cold drink in hand, football, wind blowing in from the beach and a steel drum playing.  Its the best.

We need to make coming to the game an experience.  I know we have tried a few items above in the past but inconsistently.  We need to commit to doing these things at EVERY home game for the next 3 years before pulling the plug on any of it.  This will take a lot of disciplined effort and coordination, but the reality is if we want to fill this stadium we have to be selling more than FAU football.

2.  Away Games - We NEED to commit to a bar/restaurant and stick with it.  Needs to be a partnership between a local or a few local bars/restaurants and the University.  The challenge we will face for the near future is…how many people will still  show up to watch us play Old Dominion in November?  If we are 3-8 going into the game, not many.  I have been to watch parties with 200 FAU fans and literally 3 FAU fans.  There has to be a partnership  thought of where FAU pays the bar to make FAU football a priority when the games are on and maybe even help them decorate the bar with FAU memorabilia.  I would consider paying a fixed amount per game no matter the number of fans that show up (something like here's $2,500 per game I dont care if there isn't a single FAU fan in here you keep the game on, play the fight song over the loud speakers, whatever).

We need something consistent that people know will have the game no matter what.  No restaurant/bar is going to focus on FAU if they cant make enough $ to pay thier bills doing so.  On the flip, we cant gain consistency or new fans without people knowing where to go and feeling confident the game will be the focus when there.

3.  Scheduling sheduling scheduling…

I know we are working on this now.  But if we play UCF, USF or Miami @ FAU its sold out no matter what.  We sold out Lockhart when we played USF, yes 20k people paid to watch us play USF at Lockhart.  Our first 2 home games are Illinois State and Ball State …if you think that excites ANYBODY aside from FAU diehards who want to go to a bowl game so badly, you're wrong.  I know the coaches want this to help get to 7 wins, I get it.  

Revenue from TV is a big part of it, but getting to a conference where our level of opponents increase is so imporant.  

4.  Lastly, marketing on logo's and apparel.  I love the state of florida with atlantic written within, why cant I find any of this ANYWHERE!  What about the logo that is painted on the entire visitor side of the stadium?  Cant really find that anymore either.  Why cant we incorporate the blue wave in (its even an emoticon on this site for crying out loud )?  We've debated it before, but now I am really tired of it.  Auburn, Alabama find ways to be successful with different emblems/logos (war eagle, tiger, elephant, roll tide, etc).  

I know this was long just frustrated.  I understand some of this takes money, we spend what $17 million (I just looked this up, its closer to $28 million  on athletics, we can find the money.  Whats the point of spending the $17 million if people dont want to watch and support?  DONT DO SOMETHING FOR 4 WEEKS OR 1 SEASON AND THEN QUIT!  Make the commitment, its part of what we do.   We have cookoffs, we have breweries, we have bands, we have huge tv's, etc.  Give it a legitamate run, dont look for immediate ROI. It wont be there.  And for the love of anything can I please buy one of the polo's our freaking coaching staff wears!  

Posted On: Sep 12th 2016, 9:09 PM #359101

The band/food cook off thing is a catch 22.
Those restaurants want to go somewhere where there is people, but we them to bring us the people.
I wouldn't blame them for spending money to set up outside the stadium for four hours paying people and making food along with the work for that and have 100 people come by.
I'm not a big fan of all the frills for a
game I think many are not worth the energy that would require.
The whole official watch party thing is a tad overrated.
Yea it's fun to pick a bar in Boca and way it with fans, but it's not really driving anything new just the same fans that show up to anything else watching the game together.

When I was I college I always preferred watching it at the house with the buddies or a bar that was just Greeks etc. The Irishmen does a good job of promoting and showing the game with the speakers in lost TV's for students.
I live down town now and I'm a die hard and I don't even care to drive to Boca just to watch a game at a titled kilt where there one 500 yards away come my current apt.

I just think FAU needs to be grass roots with its tickets sales plans more of going to the local football/baseball leagues and working with locals somehow.

I remember couple years ago I went into a gated community in Boca and I saw a sign that said something along the lines of so and so community has tickets for the FAU Marshall game. (the one where we lost on the FG at the end).
More stuff like that FAU should be spending 90 percent of its effort just on Boca.
I mean FAU isn't trying to get 90k show up it would awesome just add another 5-10k a week.
They can find that in Boca/West palm with more focused energy.
Fighting to sell tickets in the Broward market is just to much competition.
What is FAU doing to get people from Jupiter, West Palm, Hope sound?

Also with the FAU apparel I understand that fustration why can't I buy a coaches Polo?
I know it has a lot to do with addias but WTF.
The school just offers this years alternate polo in the stadium and Addias will send Mark the polos on the last day of the year.

So the real question everyone is asking now is how do we continue to improve on the whole marketing aspect? People are right, the Athletics department is doing a better job at trying to increase its promotions for football, and such by using the social media, but the real question is can your old fashion ground game also work? when they do the surveys we can mention that.

My feedback on food / drink and having breweries and restaurants participate, etc., keep in mind Chartwells controls the campus.  Anyone (brewery & restaurant) wanting to come onto campus for such events will have to pay Chartwells a fee. With our small market, it probably isn't always a good business decision for someone to do it.  they will fall for it the first time, but when they make no money because of the small market, they will drop out for future opportunities. 

Same goes for merchandising opportunities. i can assure you it is a tiny market and adidas isn't clamoring to help the situation. Nike would be the same situation.

I am doing the best I can and ask for the continued support.  if I drop out, the situation is not getting better, I promise. We have to continue to grow the program together to make a difference.

fauowl said

My feedback on food / drink and having breweries and restaurants participate, etc., keep in mind Chartwells controls the campus.  Anyone (brewery & restaurant) wanting to come onto campus for such events will have to pay Chartwells a fee. With our small market, it probably isn't always a good business decision for someone to do it.  they will fall for it the first time, but when they make no money because of the small market, they will drop out for future opportunities. 

Same goes for merchandising opportunities. i can assure you it is a tiny market and adidas isn't clamoring to help the situation. Nike would be the same situation.

I am doing the best I can and ask for the continued support.  if I drop out, the situation is not getting better, I promise. We have to continue to grow the program together to make a difference.

Posted On: Sep 12th 2016, 10:14 PM #359105

And you have a great selection of stuff too Mark. I know a lot of students that recommend your store over the bookstore for alot of stuff.

USMCOWL said

fauowl said

My feedback on food / drink and having breweries and restaurants participate, etc., keep in mind Chartwells controls the campus.  Anyone (brewery & restaurant) wanting to come onto campus for such events will have to pay Chartwells a fee. With our small market, it probably isn't always a good business decision for someone to do it.  they will fall for it the first time, but when they make no money because of the small market, they will drop out for future opportunities. 

Same goes for merchandising opportunities. i can assure you it is a tiny market and adidas isn't clamoring to help the situation. Nike would be the same situation.

I am doing the best I can and ask for the continued support.  if I drop out, the situation is not getting better, I promise. We have to continue to grow the program together to make a difference.

Posted On: Sep 12th 2016, 10:14 PM #359105

And you have a great selection of stuff too Mark. I know a lot of students that recommend your store over the bookstore for alot of stuff.

Posted On: Sep 12th 2016, 10:16 PM #359106

And as much as a few people want adidas coaches gear, we have proven we can do it without it.  I still have a couple of sideline polos in the store from 2 years ago.  The majority of this tiny market could not care less about adidas. I am living proof. I still want it because I want to have many choices. But when given the choice of a adidas polo vs a generic polo for less, the generic polo sells 10 times more.

I have said this ad nauseam,  here is what happens…I order 150 red sideline polos one year in advance from adidas.  Every "red" school in the US orders their quantities of red sideline polos. Adidas orders those number of red polos. They do not embroider the logos on until the last minute. The more prominent "red" schools then call adidas and say they need more red polos and then adidas steals the inventory from the FAU's of the world to give to the Big 5 schools and say there was a production problem.

This is how it goes.  No one will ever say it. I will.

fauowl said

The more prominent "red" schools then call adidas and say they need more red polos and then adidas steals the inventory from the FAU's of the world to give to the Big 5 schools and say there was a production problem.

This is how it goes.  No one will ever say it. I will.

Posted On: Sep 12th 2016, 10:39 PM #359107

 Birty Dastards!