Why The Revolution's Hispanic Heritage Night Is Already Falling Short

Crap.

Ok, this is ridiculous... a ticket package that includes "Four Nachos Grande" to help promote Hispanic heritage night. Wow... whoop-dee-fucking-doo.

Seriously guys? A few people are alluding this to be racist and while I'm not willing to go that far it is a bit misguided.

The Revolution have decided a proper celebration is to offer generic food service nachos to cater to the Hispanic crowd.  I'm just a white middle class kid of Irish decent, but here's what I do know....

Finally a Revs commercial that doesn't suck

Good job... someone is starting to figure it out... it actually... [gasp] looks professional!

2012 Supporters Summit Quotes and Editorial Part 1

This past Thursday the Revolution hosted its 3rd Annual Supporter Summit.  Members of the Midnight Riders and The Rebellion were invited ti ask questions of both Brian Bilello and Mike Burns.  Over the course of a few posts we will present selected in depth quotes on a number of subjects as well as some of our own editorial notes in italics where warranted

Bilello on an opening day doubleheader

"We are working on a double header for the opening game, it won't be extra, it will be your ticket to the game. The price will stay the same so for people who don't have season tickets it will be the price of a regular game, so just a bonus game that we're adding to the home opener, if it happens."


Burns on off season

"Without question this has been the busiest off season we've had since I started working in the Front Office. everything from new locker room , to new weight room, new video room, a new head coach, new assistant coach, another new coach and reserve coach who we haven't hired yet and are still going through the interview process, a new equipment manager, a new strength and conditioning coach.

Rancid(sorta) x Real Salt Lake

As if Real Salt Lake's videos over the past few seasons haven't blown the Revs out of the water (and many other teams quite honestly)... Here is the newest with a song written and lead by Rancid drummer Branden Steineckert... oh and the video... completely funded and produced by fans... This should be taken as a challenge...

Take A Seat And Shut Yer Haggis Traps

Awesome... need we say more?

Revolution Advertising-Where We Are, Where We Should Be... TV/Video

So we covered the marketing campaign that the Revs rolled out a few weeks ago and we said that we would post the TV spot when it became available. Well we just noticed that it became available today. So we have our thoughts on it which basically comes down to, good concept... poor execution.

We took a look at some of the video work that other teams have done around the league. We won't sit here and go into a long winded discussion on video production (though we could) we think the other videos speak for us. Revs marketing staff.. this isn't a rip on you but consider it a kick in the butt, although we sadly also have our suspicions that there isn't the money in the budget to pull off some of what other have done; there is nothing that the marketing staff can do about that... For a team that has been struggling to get close to 8000 for attendance in the past couple of games we hope that more is put into raising the brand awareness and identity in the area...

What A Revolution Re-Brand Could Look Like

A one "M. Willis" has been posting over the past week or so about how he would "reboot" the New England Revolution.  There are some interesting ideas for sure as well as some very interesting design work.  He touches on brand identity, colors uniforms and marketing and does it well.  While we don't fully support everything, there are some great concepts and ideas that with some work have the potential to be great.

Check out his blog, if you're into that kinda stuff, for a good read...

M.Willis

More On Why Revs Season Ticket Holders Need To Shell Out For ManU

So this afternoon I spoke with New England Revolution COO, Brian Bilello.  While I am still not swayed in my opinion from yesterday I am willing to give the Revs an opportunity to give their story to us from their point of view.

The back story on this is that when MLS decided that two more games would be added to the schedule, the team decided not to add more tickets and increase the ticket price but rather to take away 2 special event tickets leaving the package with one remaining ticket.  The team wanted to focus the package on MLS knowing that in years prior there were some special tickets that went over really well and others that well... didn't.

We raised the issue of value for money with the prices of season tickets of the other teams involved with this years friendlies (DC United, Seattle Sounders, Sporting KC, Chicago Fire), Bilello had this to say

"It's unfair to say that they are giving those games to their season ticket holders, if you look at the pricing on those tickets they are paying up front"

Bilello went on to tell us that the Revs have not priced their ticket packages to reflect including a high level friendly whereas these other teams have.  The team does not want to not be able to deliver that high level friendly and then have STH's complain about the price of the season.  Since they set prices and packages in September they have no way of knowing what friendlies may or may not happen.  Bilello stated that if they had known that Manchester United would be coming way back in September they may have priced the package up and possibly even sold more season tickets as a result.  Bilello thinks people would rather have the option of paying more than having the ticket built into the price.

Bilello asked us to price out the other teams involved season ticket packages compared to ours with the ManU game added in, so we have.  We present what we have gathered for season ticket prices for the cheapest level:

• Seattle $436
• DC $342
• Chicago $200
• Sporting KC $324*
• New England $234 + $40 = $274

Bilello made the argument that we are doing better than DC (well we are, they are horrible) and that on the field Revs season ticket holders are getting a much better value for their money.

Here is my gripe, to myself there is more than on the field performance that goes in to my value for season tickets.  Let's break it down team by team...

Seattle

Ok Sounders fans are more than annoying, I hope we all realize that.  That being said the gameday product in Seattle is second to none in MLS and there really isn't any denying that (Yes I have been to a Sounders game at Qwest Field).  Seattle has also in it's short history signed 4 Designated Players, nevermind if they have worked out or not they have done something that to this point the Revs have not been able to do.

DC

DC last year was worse than us and that was hard to do.  DC has however won MLS cups and signed 3 Designated Players in it's history.  RFK is a dump obviously and United don't control the revenue there...  they are slumming it... In addition to hosting Manchester vs. Barcelona, DC will be playing Everton and Ajax this summer.

Chicago

They have their own stadium, have signed DP's.  On top of that they are playing Man U at Soldier Field and will have to pay for use of that facility in addition to paying Manchester's fee (All teams are paying the same).

Sporting KC

Sporting KC will be opening their brand new stadium that may even rival Red Bull Arena this summer. They have launched a massive rebranding and marketing campaign and also have had 2 DPs in their history.

New England

No stadium, no DP, no MLS cup wins.    I absolutely expect our season tickets to be cheaper than most, we have very little to show in the new generation of MLS.  We are not a team that can price the tickets high. The Revs have had a decent year increasing the base but we don't have much to help them other than their determination to sell more tickets.


On the field performance is only a part of the fan and STH experience,  for the most part I think the other teams are doing better and therefore a higher season ticket price may be justified and not purely based on on the field performance and building in the price of a high level international friendly.

Don't get me wrong, the price of Revs season tickets is quite good, however when you include a "special event" ticket,  a leak gets out(whether it was the Revs or not we don't know and won't assume) that Manchester United will be playing us and there is a track record of these special tickets being used for international friendlies, people are going to rightfully assume that they are already in.

This is a huge marketing opportunity for the Revolution, a great opportunity to showcase the team and the fans and hopefully convince people to come back.  Instead of rewarding your most die hard fans, the ones who have put faith in the team that they are going to go out there, win, sign great players, build a stadium and eventually return to the glory days and finally win that MLS cup, the team has said that's great but you still have to pay for what should be a perk and a thank you to all of those STHs.  We were very excited for this game but this fiasco has seriously soured many people's outlook on it.  You will get free parking however... whoop-dee-do....

Oh and that special event ticket that we still have? It will be used for US Open Cup or Playoffs should we make either, if we don't the cost of that ticket will be refunded... A bit of advice, instead of calling it a "Special Event" ticket next year call it a playoff/open cup ticket up front...


*Sporting KC's STH package is based on the per game price for a ticket, we were not able to come up with the total price in their website

Revolution Ramp Up Advertising...

Revolution taking over billboards in Central Sq., Cambridge, Ma.

No your eyes are not deceiving you, there are actually Revolution billboards showing up in the city.  They started to appear this week and will be part of a larger advertising campaign that is ramping up including print, radio, television and bus advertising on buses in Providence, RI.

People have been asking questions of a billboard that has shown up in Central Square that has Darrius Barnes hangin' tough with a construction worker, don't get your hopes up it's not a stadium hint.  We spoke with Revolution Marketing Director, Cathal Conlon, earlier tonight who says this is a broad campaign tying Revolution players with New England characters, such as a fisherman, a construction worker, etc.  The TV spot is expected to hit the air tomorrow or Friday, and will help tie the print and billboard themes together.

We here are a little concerned at the lack of a website on the billboards but Conlon had this to say about billboards:

"Billboards by their nature are intended for people driving by them so the time spent focusing on them is way shorter than a print ad for example. We feel that it is not necessary to crowd our message with the website and the phone number in order for the visual to be effective. For us specifically, if someone sees the board and it grabs their attention, we don't expect them to have the time to write down and or punch in an email address. They will most likely look it up later, and if it does grab someones attention, to the point that they want to find us, not having the website on the board won't stop that. Some of the most effective visuals out there are simple and clean and almost make people ask the questions. ...[F]or the billboards, which are all about quick impactful imagery, I believe it (the web URL) is unnecessary."

We'd still like the website to be on the billboards but we respect and understand the reasoning. The billboards look good overall and we look forward to seeing the other parts of this campaign later on this week.  We will post the TV spot here when it becomes available, you can expect to see that on ESPN and Comedy Central, but especially on ESPN during EPL coverage and Sportscenter.


Want to see the billboards for yourself? Here are their locations:

• 2 on I-93 Southbound
• East Broadway in South Boston
• Kneeland St. in Chinatown
• 2 on Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge, Ma.

This is way better than their phonebook campaign...

Hey Rev Girls...

Step up your game:



...That is all.

New York Cosmos Have A Broader Market Reach Than The Revolution

... and they don't even exist yet... What the hell... what the hell...  Look at these pictures from their little publicity stunt today.

The Cosmos have just hired on the legendary Manchester United player Eric Cantona as their Director of Soccer... are you kidding me?!??  Says Eric Cantona, “I am very honored to join the legendary club New York Cosmos. It’s a big project, a wonderful project. The Cosmos are very strong, beautifully made, with a great past. It’s kind of a mix between football and art.  In addition to my artistic engagements, I will do everything that I can to help us first find our way to regain the #1 position in the United States, and then for us to become one of the best clubs in the world over the coming years.”

Here is a 'team' that has never played a game, do not have a league, do not have a stadium (well the Revs don't either), and do not even have any players, yet they are making bigger splashes than many MLS teams, Revolution especially included.  Honestly I am not sure whether I am angry, sad or impressed by this.  They are doing something that we as Revolution supporters can only dream of, yet we have a team and are in a league.  One can only hope that as the league grows the Revs will grow with it, however it is sad to see that the Revolution need to go with it.

Just in case you were worried that the Revs weren't doing enough marketing...

...if you are one of the 1000 people in the country who still regularly use a phone book you are in luck... I wonder how many ticket sales will actually be generated from this...  I know many people are always asking for more marketing but not quite sure this is what we meant...

The Power Of Thor Compells You...

Probably the best MLS team print ad ever, apparently this is also on billboards around Salt Lake... well done RSL, well done...

Some teams get it....

...and some don't.

RSL Playoffs 2010 from T. Isaac Halasima on Vimeo.

Ran across this gem of video production from Real Salt Lake promoting the playoffs and their run to potentially a second in a row MLS cup. This season has seen a lot of high quality production and marketing for the MLS but we here in New England apparently are still working with the Foxboro High AV club... who as I now see don't even have the one ad they made for the entire season posted online... way to market Revs... way to market....

oh and more examples of top notch production and promotion from our hated neighbors to the south



Oh ya... stadium, designated player, spending money on the team... might as well get those out of the way in one post.

I should not be up at 4am watching soccer videos.