I scanned the recent topics and didn't see any obvious reference to this article in the Chronicle (sorry if I missed it)... Rockets changing tune on marketing What do you folks think about this? Since I haven't lived in Houston in 10 years, I'm a bit out of touch with their marketing efforts, but this made it sound pretty bad. No wonder attendence has been so bad when you combine that with ticket prices. --Drof
What I got out of the article is that the Rockets are going to stop being stupid. No wonder they have had attendance problems...
This is great news to me. I had a couple marketing people from the 76ers come in and talk to one of my classes once. It was a small class so there was a lot of interaction and you could really see the effects that their marketing campaign had on the city. That, in combination with the emergence of a playoff team led by A.I., and Sixers games are fun to go to. I see a lot fo similarities with the Rocketsw and hope by this time next year we canhave full houses again. On a side note, I found this paragraph funny The Rockets have been recognized for their efforts in the community via charitable and grass-roots promotions. But translating community relations to ticket sales is like having a team with great passers but no shooters. There is potential but no results.
I think that the article was pointless. The Rockets' attendance problems have little to do with marketing. The Rockets can fix their attendance problems by doing the following: 1 - Lowering ticket prices for people with student IDs. And I mean all tickets - not just the crap seats at the top of the second deck, behind the basket. (A real marketing problem is pretending to be fan friendly by offering $10 seats, then screwing those that take your offer by putting them in the worst seats in the house.) I think that everyone knows that Les priced most people out of the seats. A cut for those with student IDs would benefit the poorest among us and would make it easier for a father to take his kids to more than one game a year. 2 - Dumping the cartoonish uniforms and logo. The introduction of these jokes was Les' first big "f-you" to Rockets fans. Fences could be mended and new interest could be generated by returning our team's look to respectability. 3 - Steve & Moochie bobbleheads! Can't you just see a Moochie bobble with a ten foot 'fro? 4 - Promotional giveaways. Surprise fans by drawing 5 or 6 ticket numbers during the game for truly cool items (stuff actually used by the players or Rudy): jerseys, warm ups, shoes, game balls, coaching notebooks, headbands. You could also give out premium promotional items at random too: cardboard stand-ups of the players, coupons for free concessions, an NBA Live game, a box of basketball trading cards, dinner with a player, etc. These giveaways would cost the organization little (if anything), but would create a neat opportunity for fans and give a few of them something to talk about. A lot fans leave games feeling cheated by high ticket prices, high food prices, high beer prices, and bad seats. Wouldn't it be nice to have a few fans leave every game feeling that they got more than what they originally expected? Five fans a night would equal at least 205 fans a year, each spreading positive word of mouth, each raving about the great prize they got from the Rockets - that would be more effective than 3 or 4 TV commercials running the same highlights with the same tired techno music behind them throughout the entire season. 5 - Having patience. In two years the team will be contending for a championship in a new arena - they'll have a much higher profile then.
Whoa, what? Les thought he could capatilize off the Rockets back-to-back titles by getting new duds. Obviously, it didn't work out but he wasn't doing it to piss off fans. You should learn to appreciate Les and his willingness to pay money for a winner. Look at the Astros, every year they are in a slash-payroll mode. Be glad that money is not the deciding factor of roster moves on the Rockets.
You can't give Les praise for maintaining payroll while damning the Astros - the economics of the two sports are very different. While spending varies wildly in baseball, the NBA operates with a salary cap that prevents teams from engaging in bidding wars that drive player contracts up - thus, Les is able to afford a competitive team. Also, Les created the new uniforms in an effort to appeal to the passing fashion interests of urban youths in the hopes of tapping that market across the country (little did he know that gaudy, pinstriped, cartoonish uniforms had already peaked as a trend at the time). The uniform were never meant to be appreciated by long-time, local Rockets fans, hence my catagorizing their introduction as a big "f-you" to all of us. A large part of the Rockets' problems are Les. He doesn't live in Houston and doesn't give a damn about us beyond whatever money he can make here.
If you don't advertise or don't market yourself, your ship will certainly sink!! More promo nights, T-shirt nights, more bobbleheads, more promo tosses into the audience, more giveaways, more advertising, more billboards, you gotta let the people know you have a product to sell..... more, more, more. Good luck Rockets Marketing Team!! rH
Actually, he was capitalizing on the FIRST title. The decision to change uni's was made long before they actually won their second!
If someone can sit in the comfort of their own home and eat hot dogs they didn't pay ten dollars for, than why go to the game? The angle on television is superior to most of the seats in Compaq Center anyway. Staying at home, one also doesn't have to deal with the insane traffic getting out of the parking areas. It's not too hard to drop $100 at a game, for the tickets alone. Factor in insanely priced food and merchandise and you find a ridiculous sum for two-and-a-half hours of merely so-so(sorry Francis fans) basketball. You guys are right about the giveaways. Fans should get their money's worth... T-shirts, posters, bobble-heads, cards, banners, you name it. Maybe assemble some sort of "prize pack" consisting of all of those items and hand them out to the first 5000 or so attendees at EVERY game... About the jerseys, a "retro night" may appease some of the hardcore old school Rocks fans. Attract more people to games against mediocre opponents with the prospects of seeing the Rocks decked out in their old duds on a re-fitted circa 1993 court.
Well pardon Les the business from trying to make some money. It is very easy for us non-millionaires to sit here and criticize some owners. When the truth is that if we were in their position we would be doing all that is possible to squeeze every dollar available. Mark Cuban is full of ****. He pretends he cares for the fans or how he is one of us when the Mavs ticket prices have skyrocketed this year. And who the hell cares if Les doesnt live in Houston?!?!?! He tries hard to put a competitive team on the court and that is all we as fans have a rite to ask for. And the Rockets are one of the best sports teams when it comes to helping out in the community. Of course his major concern is to make money. I dont know why people think he is out there to help out the people. If I owned a big time business in Montana, my biggest concern would be about "whatever money" I can make there.
Why can't they do some kind of discount on season tickets??? You know, something like buy 40 games get the 41st free. It seems like everywhere else you get discounted for buying in bulk.
There is some truth to that, but I don't totally agree. There are things you get from the comfort of your living room and there are things you get from being there. Attending an NBA game is very fun. It is amazing to be a part of a crowd as the emotion of a game turns and things really heat up. But you have to get fans there! Last year, I got about 20 co-workers and friends to go to a Mav's game because they did a special with 4 tickets, 4 dogs and 4 drinks for $49. Sure, the seats were pretty lame, but everyone had a blast. Many had never been to a Mav's game and several have asked for me to take them to games this year. Does Houston ever do anything like that? They have a handful of games like that here in Dallas every year. They are usually Friday or Saturday night games and they are not always against lame opponents (we saw the Spurs) (insert Spurs joke here). --Drof
What many of you aren't realizing (or maybe you are but I cant tell) is that owning an NBA team is a business. Sure, it's nice to do some promotional stuff and have giveaways etc but face it...getting the fan who cannot afford a ticket is not a primary concern of Les or any other owner for that matter. Is it a concern? Yes, but not to the extent that they will jeopardize making money over the course of a season by "giving" away the house. I pay through the nose for my Knicks season tix but so do people that sit behid me and so do the people who sit behind them...and so on...but the bottom line is that the Cablevision organization that owns the Knicks is out to make money. (as are all owners) The Knicks have an occasional promotion like a t-shirt or a poster or CD...big friggin deal. For what we pay for season tix, they should send the Knick city dancers to my house. My point is that even in an arena that is 90% season tix or at least close to it, the ownership isn't doing us any favors or sending a "thank you" card. Les will not and should not have to compromise his investment in the Rockets because he is already rich and should have a "freebie" night because its a nice gesture. No offense but he's not going to do anyone any favors by offering up freebies etc if fans aren't going to buy tickets to begin with.
NJRocket, I'm not following your argument at all. Why is marketing "compromising his investment" as you put it? You are making comparisons to a top drawing market that sells itself. Les is losing money because he has seats priced out of his local market demand, due to poor marketing. You don't have such a drastic drop in ticket sells when priced correctly; there are economic laws that refute any claim otherwise. At least, that is what the <b>new VP is saying</b>, the top gun hired from outside the industry. If Les's marketing was working, he would have no need to revamp his staff. NJR, do you actually think Les is happy with being one of the top worst drawing teams? Do you think lowering prices and increasing marketing is just lost money and expense? Why does marketing exist? Doesn't Price Elasticity say how lowering prices can increase revenues?
I understand that in business you try to make money. But just as HeyP was saying, he has outpriced his local fan base. Look at our cost of living - much lower than most of the other NBA markets but our prices do not reflect that. I do recall something in an economics class about price/profit. Basically if The Rockets lowered ticket prices and sold out they would recover their losses buy selling more tickets. Kinda like the airlines do with Priceline.com. You would rather get someone paying a lower price for a ticket than an empty seat. Rockets need to consider that. But I am sure they will raise prices again as soon as we start making the playoffs consistently.
Marketing, itself, is not compromising his investment. Giving away good seats (or average seats for that matter) for next to nothing is. Antisonic said why not sit in the comfort of your home and have a hot dog and watch the game (or something to that extent)...what I am saying is that the comment made by Antisonic seems to represent the philosophy of many Houston sports fans...the Rockets especially. Why would Les bend over backwards to draw people when you have people not wanting to go to games because of traffic??? Why should Les have to give away things for people to want to go to games? Maybe Im jaded by living in an area where people kill to see a crappy Knicks team play and I can't understand why Houston Rocket fans dont want to go to games to see Steve and co. As a Rocket fan, I hope the marketing works because there is nothing worse for me than watching the Rockets on Directv and seeing half of the lower section empty. Unfortunately, in this day and age, lowering tix prices doesn't seem like a viable option for owners if they want to make money.
Wink, the one argument against Price Elasticity is that Les might be looking two years ahead with the new stadium. He might be gambling that demand will return naturally at that time. If he believes that, which I could be persuaded to believe, then it could be economically better for him to take his loses now rather than drop prices. The idea is to artificially prop up your prices now, to avoid having to increase them significantly later when demand returns. He might just be banking on the new stadium returning demand instantly, like Enron did. If so, why drop prices now, and have a media backlash for timing a significant increase with an unveiling of a new stadium. Just stay status quo, and wait out the bad times.
I disagree. Lowering prices can sell more seats and increase revenue straight away. Further, even if increased sales fails to offset losses in the drop in prices, it is an investment in the future. This is a business of renewals. It requires much less marketing to generate renewals than it does to create a new season ticket holder.
I could agree with that, but don't you think that a price increase would be expected around then? I would expect it just to help recoup some of the cost and hopefully by that time you have an awesome product on the floor every night. I could see Les waiting it out, but maybe he alienates too many fans? Why not build a base of fans now with good packages and gradually raise prices to retain them? Also, any normalization of food/beer prices inside the Summit would create a huge increase in fans.
Two things... 1. crispee is right that lowering ticket prices will increase revenue. However, it is a short-term increase, not long-term. Ultimately, if you devalue the tickets now and keep them that way for an extended period, other economic factors will catch up to you. It would probably be a good way to get fan interest going NOW because a little money for a seat is better than nothing for an empty one, but once the Rockets tickets do become in demand, the prices will have to go up or they risk underpricing and losing revenue. 2. Just for the record, the Rockets are never going back to their old uniforms...EVER. Get over it. Move on. IF they make a change, it won't be until after the arena opens and they won't be red and gold. Those are gone forever just like Columbia Blue and the horrid Astros orange.
