Go for a drive down the highway, and you’ll see the spot
where Oregon running back Maurice Morris’ mural resided last
year.
Head into downtown, and you’d have to be blind to miss the
three Duck receivers gracing the entire side of a hotel.
And in the shadows of the hotel?
None other than the University of Southern California.
Oregon, this ain’t.
The Ducks’ marketing blitz has taken the college football
world by storm; its wings span from Times Square in New York City
to the Hotel Figueroa in downtown Los Angeles.
“Donors ponied up the money to tout our program across the
country,” said Greg Graziano, marketing director at the
University of Oregon.
“We have a slew of donors that are down in Southern
California that are proud of what we have turned our program into.
I think USC Athletic Director Mike Garrett said it best when he
said that it’s a free country and we can put up a billboard
wherever we want to.”
Last year, in an effort to promote Heisman candidate Joey
Harrington, Oregon had the same type of football marketing blitz.
This year, the Duck marketing department has devoted about $250,000
to publicize its football team. The $40,000 to keep the Hotel
Figueroa billboard up for three months and the half-million dollars
to put up billboards in Times Square for two consecutive years were
all coughed up by donors.
“It has generated a tremendous amount of publicity for the
University of Oregon,” Graziano said. “The returns come
in so many ways. More donors have come to the table, and
there’s a recruiting twist to it as well. There are very
little monetary returns. This isn’t going to sell tickets;
it’s going to promote the program.”
By contrast, UCLA has taken a starkly different approach to its
marketing techniques. The Bruins prefer to stay within the local
market, and the goal isn’t necessarily to increase the
exposure of the program, but rather to increase local fan support.
The marketing department has approached this in myriad ways,
including newspaper and television ads, schedule cards, posters,
brochures and, of course, UCLA’s own billboards.
UCLA currently has about a dozen freeway billboards, and another
200 smaller billboards are dispersed throughout the Los Angeles
area. The billboards usually promote either right tackle Mike
Saffer or defensive back Ricky Manning ““ a far cry from
Oregon’s skill-player promotion approach.
“This year, we wanted to promote the team as opposed to
the individual,” UCLA Marketing Director Scott Mitchell said.
“Back in January the marketing group got together and thought
of who fit into this approach. We ended up with an offensive
lineman and defensive back.”
Interestingly enough, senior quarterback Cory Paus wasn’t
selected, but Mitchell is quick to point out that Paus fits that
blue-collar mentality.
“It fits with Cory’s playing style,” Mitchell
said. “He hasn’t always been the prettiest, but he gets
the job done. It was just that the strength of the team this year
is the offensive line, and they’re more blue-collar than
anyone.”
UCLA has also taken a different approach in marketing its
Heisman candidates. While Joey Harrington’s 80-foot billboard
in Times Square was erected in July 2001, UCLA waited until
mid-season to promote running back DeShaun Foster.
“We have a plan in place to enable the voters and the
public to see our player,” Mitchell said. “That goes
into effect when they perform on the field. We don’t want our
public relations plans to win them the Heisman. We want them to win
it on the field.”
As it turned out, Foster was suspended toward the end of last
season and his Heisman hopes were dashed.
Some of USC’s football players were offended by
Oregon’s vast billboard in what they called
“Trojantown.” Trojan wide receiver Kareem Kelly told
the Los Angeles Times, “I feel as if that’s an
insult.”
While the mural isn’t too terribly far from UCLA either,
head coach Bob Toledo doesn’t seem to mind too much.
“It’s their business how they spend their
money,” Toledo said, laughing. “We don’t have any
billboards over in Eugene. Maybe we should get some.”
Some may be offended by the brash nature of the Oregon
billboards while others believe that the Ducks are far overstepping
their bounds. Washington State has already responded with its
banner of quarterback Jason Gesser on the side of a grain elevator
in Dusty, Washington, which has a population of 11 people.
UCLA, on the other hand, refuses to engage Oregon in what would
be a costly billboard war. Rather, Mitchell says he likes the
current message just fine.
“We wanted to promote the blue-collar approach,”
Mitchell said. “Those are the kinds of things that are
important to UCLA fans and the UCLA team. I personally think it
adds to the growing rivalry between Oregon and UCLA. The bottom
line is this: Oregon will do what’s best for Oregon, and UCLA
will do what’s best for UCLA.”