As the men’s basketball team plays in the Final Four on Saturday, the UCLA Store will be rapidly updating its merchandise to reflect the team’s progress.
The success of UCLA’s sports teams tends to result in high sales of apparel and other items, said Patrick Healey, director of apparel and accessories for the store.
The store’s apparel lineup has closely mirrored the progress of the basketball team. After the team was designated as the Pac-10 Conference champions, a T-shirt commemorating the title was released.
Similar T-shirts came out as UCLA entered the Sweet 16, the Elite Eight and now, the Final Four.
Healey said there would be no T-shirt if UCLA beats Memphis in Saturday’s game, but added that a considerable amount of new merchandise would rest on Monday’s national championship game.
“If we make it to the championship and win the title, we would release a wide assortment of items,” he said.
Lisa Perez, the marketing director for Associated Students UCLA, said a national championship for the basketball team would create a huge flurry of merchandise and publicity.
“We’d sell a lot more than just T-shirts ““ we would include sweatshirts, hats, jackets, polos, knitted shirts, glassware, mugs and more,” Perez said.
All of the items would include some variation of “UCLA ““ 2008 NCAA National Champions.”
Perez added that marketing the products during the basketball season is challenging, since the schedule is unpredictable and moves quickly.
“We’re never sure if we’re going to win a game, so we have to implement backup strategies,” she said.
Healey said a significant part of the marketing campaign is the placement of congratulatory banners throughout the store.
“The banners congratulate the team every step of the way, from Pac-10 champions to Final Four, and show that ASUCLA supports UCLA Athletics,” he said.
Not all basketball fans were swayed by the marketing campaign. Second-year biology student Marcus Perry said he was not interested in buying merchandise because he thinks it is expensive.
Healey said ASUCLA creates its sales budget without consideration for basketball season, because of the sport’s unpredictable nature.
Any extra money the association would make from national championship sales would go back to the students, he said.
“The revenues would support ASUCLA’s mission and go back to support funding for student groups and initiatives,” Healey added.
Perez said a national championship win would lead to an intensive marketing campaign that goes beyond sales.
In the event of such a win, ASUCLA would place banners throughout campus, send out congratulatory e-mails, and revamp the Web site to reflect the victory.
“I think the big difference between a possible win this year and 1995 (the last year UCLA won a basketball championship) is our Web site,” she said.
ASUCLA also follows spring sports closely and releases merchandise according to teams’ performances.
“If any of the spring sports win a national championship, we sell a congratulatory T-shirt,” Healey said.