2018 All Things Lions Marketing & Promotions

[WestCoastJoe]

Of course, "burnt-orange" belongs to the Texas Longhorns (to the extent that they patented Pantone 159 U back in 1967. Fascinating read about the circuitous route to get there starting in 1905.
https://alcalde.texasexes.org/2018/06/t ... nt-orange/
BC should have done the same--get their own Pantone and stick with it. I wonder if this ever came up during the Community Ownership years?

Thanks for sharing this enjoyable and educational article, BC 1988. Love this kind of stuff. Pantone 159 U -- hmm... if any Lionbackers ever start a band this might be a good name! Anyhow, I really liked this section:

“Color is really a vibration. It’s energy,” says Gillian Rose, a New York-based color scientist and consultant. “It is not cognitive, it’s a physical, biological reaction.” Our hypothalamus, at the lower middle portion of our brains, processes color along with other sensory inputs, and translates those senses into emotions and even physical states, like thirst or hunger.

Humans, therefore, have innate reactions to certain colors, ancestral memories that tell us that, for example, black and yellow—the easiest color contrast to see—means danger. Rose claims that extroverted people like vibrant colors, searching for external stimulation, while introverted people seek calm, cool colors. But socially, we’re programmed with additional associations. Think color-coded gender-reveals for expecting parents, or red-and-blue maps in the news. These meanings are constructed, but powerful.

Burnt orange is, Longhorns (AND LIONS!!) will be pleased to know, a special color.

“When we look at orange, we’re looking at how much yellow versus red is in there,” she says. Ours is a patinated orange—browner, darker, and calmer. Rose, looking at a swatch of Texas orange, reads it like a tarot card.

Aggression. Enthusiasm. Rejuvenation. It’s a competitive color. “Courage is a big one. Over-confident,” she laughs. “That’s good for a team, right?”

Great stuff. Thank you.

According to ''string theory,'' quantum physics, everything is a vibration. (subject to correction, modification)

[BC 1988]

I got curious about how Pantone colors are regulated/specified in Sports unis and found this incredible site. The CFL is conspicuous by its absence. (Even MLS is in there, but mostly with Hex and RGB Color Codes, not specific Pantones.)
https://teamcolorcodes.com/

[David]

Great find, BC 1988! Thanks for this link. I hope someone from the Lions' office sees this and gets this figured out.

This Friday will provide a good bellwether for local interest in this football club. Post-Labour Day, with playoff implications and against a Western rival, after winning 5 of their past 6 games, and knocking off perennial powerhouse Stampeders last week - this should set up a decent gate for Friday. The team really deserves it.

The Lions are averaging 19,314 this season. I expect the crowd to be loud Friday, as they usually are. But anything less than 20,000 in paid attendance (almost unfathomable just a few years ago!) will underscore just how far the club has to go to rekindle interest in the team. End zone seats are reasonable and you can get a kid through the turnstiles for $10. There are no excuses this week.


DH

[SammyGreene]

Great find, BC 1988! Thanks for this link. I hope someone from the Lions' office sees this and gets this figured out.

This Friday will provide a good bellwether for local interest in this football club. Post-Labour Day, with playoff implications and against a Western rival, after winning 5 of their past 6 games, and knocking off perennial powerhouse Stampeders last week - this should set up a decent gate for Friday. The team really deserves it.

The Lions are averaging 19,314 this season. I expect the crowd to be loud Friday, as they usually are. But anything less than 20,000 in paid attendance (almost unfathomable just a few years ago!) will underscore just how far the club has to go to rekindle interest in the team. End zone seats are reasonable and you can get a kid through the turnstiles for $10. There are no excuses this week.


DH

Definitely David. There are lots of good deals to be had including this which my buddy took advantage of and it is offered for both remaining games.

https://oss.ticketmaster.com/aps/bclion ... otion/home

TV ratings will no doubt be excellent for what is essentially a playoff game as the loser is in big trouble for making the playoffs. But getting people off their couches and into the stands is the club's greatest challenge in this HDTV era.

On a side note, the sudden passing of Paul Allen yesterday sure had me thinking about the Lions situation with Mr. Braley. It's one thing owning a huge money making NFL team, it's another when it's a CFL team in a very fickle and challenging market.
Yet it was the sale of the club to Allen that kept the Seahawks from potentially moving to Southern California and the eventual building of a new stadium.

Where would the Lions be today in the same situation the Seahawks are now in? Is there anyone in Braley's family willing to continue with ownership? Don't think so. Would the league step in to oversee the sale of the club at a reasonable price given today's marketplace?

Who knows but things can change in a hurry as the Seahawks sadly found out yesterday. For sure I have been frustrated with on and off field developments and decisions in recent years, however, I have always appreciated there has never been any kind of money problems for over 20 years with Braley's ownership.

[Honour Dewalt]

I had those thoughts about the fate of the team and it's relationship in the Vancouver market when Bobby Ackles died. It's never a good time to really discuss that when it happens, since it is a man with a family that has passed. But I knew then that it was bad for the Lions, and my worst fears back then we're that we'd end up like we were before Ackles returned. I didn't really want to believe it was possible, but it happened just as I feared. And now here we are hoping for people to turn out to the game.

It might not be the same financially as it would with Braley, and I hate to say it, but I think the negative affects of Ackles' death is probably worse. Braley really doesn't have any connection to this community.

[SammyGreene]

I had those thoughts about the fate of the team and it's relationship in the Vancouver market when Bobby Ackles died. It's never a good time to really discuss that when it happens, since it is a man with a family that has passed. But I knew then that it was bad for the Lions, and my worst fears back then we're that we'd end up like we were before Ackles returned. I didn't really want to believe it was possible, but it happened just as I feared. And now here we are hoping for people to turn out to the game.

It might not be the same financially as it would with Braley, and I hate to say it, but I think the negative affects of Ackles' death is probably worse. Braley really doesn't have any connection to this community.

Completely agree. It was a huge blow to the franchise and even worse was the suddenness which didn't give him the opportunity to try to put the right people in place to at least continue the momentum he had built.

That said, I still keep hearing the Lions lost a generation of fans especially the 25-to-30-year-old demographic.
How exactly?
Go back 10 to 14 years ago when the franchise was thriving again under Ackles return. 30,000 plus was the norm for regular season games and of course those 45,000+ plus Western Finals as well. So when they were teenagers they were just ignoring the Lions and the CFL even though TV ratings and attendance were among the best in franchise history?

[David]

Interesting nugget on the radio today. LU mentioned on the Halford & Brough Show that the Lions average about 110K local TV viewers for their games which he deemed "decent."

I worked out that our national TV viewership for all 15 Lions games this season averages 493,867, which means that 22% of eyeballs are local.

Somehow, I just can't see the Whitecaps drawing 110K local TV viewers in this market.


DH

[Toppy Vann]

Interesting nugget on the radio today. LU mentioned on the Halford & Brough Show that the Lions average about 110K local TV viewers for their games which he deemed "decent."

I worked out that our national TV viewership for all 15 Lions games this season averages 493,867, which means that 22% of eyeballs are local.

Somehow, I just can't see the Whitecaps drawing 110K local TV viewers in this market.


DH

Agreed.

I think the TSN coverage which dramatically improved in number of games and quality of the extras you get as well as double headers have detracted from the gate itself. However, on balance the CFL cannot thrive and be sustainable without the TSN coverage.

I just wish the local radio dudes were less enamoured with all things NHL and NFL versus giving more the CFL both local and around the CFL.

It drives me nuts how quick Donny gets a CFL interview as they've ran out of time to get some inane discussion of food. If the interview is going great keep going.

[Honour Dewalt]

It should be pointed out that "Family Day" appears to be a league-wide initiative. I don't know if all teams follow the same blueprint, but I believe the CFL was looking to scale more concepts for all teams to use. I am not sure if all teams brought kids out of the tunnel but I think letting them run out on the field after the game was done in other ballparks too.

And, oh yes indeed, as a hobby artist, quite familiar with mixing subtle shades of paint and dealing with the various hues of the colour-wheel, it drives me quite mad that they can't seem to manage burnt orange colour control. Embarrassingly unprofessional. I'm not aware that other CFL teams show such sloppiness, but I could be mistaken on that.

I know to the average person this point may seem nitpicky Ernie, but getting your suppliers to manufacture hats, t-shirts and coffee mugs in one uniform colour orange seems like a fairly simple instruction. I raised the point to Skulsky who paid lip service to it but it hasn't improved. It looked really bush when (Adidas?) brought out the "Diversity Is Strength" t-shirts in that pale orange colour.

We should be uniformly burnt orange and ebony black. Period. Like (pick most any team....) the Toronto Argonauts are Oxford (dark) and Cambridge (light) blue.


DH

I think when the colour is meant to directly reflect the uniform and official colour, it should be the same colour every time. ( such as banners, stadium dressings, Web pages, and of course memorabilia). But I also think these days, they can have a little leeway when it comes to fashion and clothing. The Canucks offer many styles in t-shirts or other apparel that are alternative colours, but it is obviously deliberate for style and fashion purposes. Sometimes you see these varying orange shades when it just seems like a mistake. Just look around the stadium during a game and you can see different orange on branded banners etc.

Also, about the roof, that bugs me so much too. Even after the new president said it would be open by default this year, it hasn't changed at all. This seems to be a battle Wally always wins. Let's see what happens next year. I cant stand when it's a beautiful clear fall evening and they say that due to cooling temperatures, the roof will be closed. What BS. I'm sure that will be the case tomorrow.

[TheLionKing]

What a colossal waste of taxpayers' money to build that retractable roof. What's the point of wasting the money if you keep closing it ??

[Honour Dewalt]

I love the upgrades to the stadium. I love the roof, even though I wish it extended to where you see the catwalk. The biggest problem regarding it is the BC Lions team. When I went through the walk through before it was completed, they showed how most if not all fans would be protected from any rain if it happened to rain with it open. They also went into detail about the drainage in place to handle rain. So basically the mindset that should be used is that it is now open air and will be open at all times. Only if it was pouring rain leading up to the game and possibly a deciding factor should it be closed.

[Belize City Lion]

Interesting nugget on the radio today. LU mentioned on the Halford & Brough Show that the Lions average about 110K local TV viewers for their games which he deemed "decent."

I worked out that our national TV viewership for all 15 Lions games this season averages 493,867, which means that 22% of eyeballs are local.

Somehow, I just can't see the Whitecaps drawing 110K local TV viewers in this market.


DH

Agreed.

I think the TSN coverage which dramatically improved in number of games and quality of the extras you get as well as double headers have detracted from the gate itself. However, on balance the CFL cannot thrive and be sustainable without the TSN coverage.

The CFL was ahead of the curve in some ways by realizing that the sustainability of the league was going to come from TV revenue. The CFL made the right decision to put all their games on TSN (and only TSN). TSN in turn realized that they now had a property that if properly cultivated would not only be a money maker but a flagship for their network. As hockey and baseball moved to Rogers, TSN (Bell) doubled down on the CFL and it is paying off big time for both the broadcaster and the league.

Unfortunately, a few teams (such as the Lions) did not seem to grasp their role in this new business model. Particularly the Lions, under Skulsky, saw the spike in TV ratings and began to believe that their tickets should now grow in value as well. Ticket prices went up, foolishly believing that attending a Lions game would enjoy the same cachet as going to see the Canuck (or Seahawks). It didn't and as ticket prices rose attendance fell.

What Skulsky failed to understand is that fans in attendance were now really just extras for the show being broadcast on TV. As soon as TSN started paying enough so each team could meet their salary cap, the league stopped being a "gate driven" business and became a TV show. A big crowd makes the TV show better to watch. A big crow also makes the live experience better for the fans in attendance. Instead of worrying about how to "compete" with TV, the Lions should embrace TV as their main source of guaranteed revenue and then look at filling the stadium to enhance their bread & butter. Fans who go to games are also more likely to buy merchandise (check how much the Riders make EVERY game day!).

If I were the Lions I would rather have 45,000 paying $22 per ticket than 19,000 paying $50 per ticket. I'm sure TSN would prefer that as well.

[Hambone]

I disagree with your last statement Belize because I don't believe for a minute that if they cut prices in half attendance would magically double. 25% yeah maybe. 33%? Doubtful but possible for those wildly optimistic. 50%? Not a chance. I wonder if the CFL would even allow it because it would have an impact on all other CFL markets as fans there would be demanding their clubs slash prices too.

[Toppy Vann]

Interesting nugget on the radio today. LU mentioned on the Halford & Brough Show that the Lions average about 110K local TV viewers for their games which he deemed "decent."

I worked out that our national TV viewership for all 15 Lions games this season averages 493,867, which means that 22% of eyeballs are local.

Somehow, I just can't see the Whitecaps drawing 110K local TV viewers in this market.


DH

Agreed.

I think the TSN coverage which dramatically improved in number of games and quality of the extras you get as well as double headers have detracted from the gate itself. However, on balance the CFL cannot thrive and be sustainable without the TSN coverage.

The CFL was ahead of the curve in some ways by realizing that the sustainability of the league was going to come from TV revenue. The CFL made the right decision to put all their games on TSN (and only TSN). TSN in turn realized that they now had a property that if properly cultivated would not only be a money maker but a flagship for their network. As hockey and baseball moved to Rogers, TSN (Bell) doubled down on the CFL and it is paying off big time for both the broadcaster and the league.

Unfortunately, a few teams (such as the Lions) did not seem to grasp their role in this new business model. Particularly the Lions, under Skulsky, saw the spike in TV ratings and began to believe that their tickets should now grow in value as well. Ticket prices went up, foolishly believing that attending a Lions game would enjoy the same cachet as going to see the Canuck (or Seahawks). It didn't and as ticket prices rose attendance fell.

What Skulsky failed to understand is that fans in attendance were now really just extras for the show being broadcast on TV. As soon as TSN started paying enough so each team could meet their salary cap, the league stopped being a "gate driven" business and became a TV show. A big crowd makes the TV show better to watch. A big crow also makes the live experience better for the fans in attendance. Instead of worrying about how to "compete" with TV, the Lions should embrace TV as their main source of guaranteed revenue and then look at filling the stadium to enhance their bread & butter. Fans who go to games are also more likely to buy merchandise (check how much the Riders make EVERY game day!).

If I were the Lions I would rather have 45,000 paying $22 per ticket than 19,000 paying $50 per ticket. I'm sure TSN would prefer that as well.

Herein are the operative or INoperative words in your post:

If I were the Lions I would rather have 45,000 paying $22 per ticket than 19,000 paying $50 per ticket. I'm sure TSN would prefer that as well.

It's the fear that 45,000 won't pay $22 that keeps the prices as they are now as well as the marketing principle that if it's too low, it's not considered valued and won't be purchased.

What I fail to grasp at times with the Lions is the weakness - in recent years - with their marketing message. The last time messages in ads resonated with fans it was the local Rethink campaign where I was so intrigued that I looked up who did them.

This was 2008:

This was very edgy and very correct:

https://www.coloribus.com/adsarchive/tv ... -11863005/

Print ads of opposing CFL players hiding in BC Place.

https://www.adsoftheworld.com/campaign/ ... nk-08-2008

2007:
Hamilton fan at Lions game.

https://www.coloribus.com/adsarchive/pr ... n-9923905/

2005:

Vancouver agency Rethink landed a Gold Pencil at the One Show this year for its "Cheering Works" campaign for the Canadian football club the BC Lions. But in this year's follow-up, we find out that cheering does have its limits.

Three spots, directed by Tim Godsall via Untitled, encourage fans to "Save it for the Game," by showing people who didn't. In one, a patient challenges his dentist's opinion as though the latter were a referee, while in another a man gets a little too excited about cookies. In a third spot, the funniest, a guy relentlessly boos his boss for canceling casual Fridays.

https://adage.com/article/creativity-ne ... ign/46365/

2003:

BC Lions – Ceiling Fan, Rethink
As this father and son show, sports enthusiasts and their accoutrements should remain in the stands.

=====
That was then - and this is now.

BUT it's a NEW and evolving world and social media marketing is huge these days as well as really segmenting the market and going after a wider number of niche market groups.

The Lions should try to get more local kids involved in marketing slogans and ideas and local art schools as well as work with college marketing programs to get free ideas.

[Belize City Lion]

I disagree with your last statement Belize because I don't believe for a minute that if they cut prices in half attendance would magically double. 25% yeah maybe. 33%? Doubtful but possible for those wildly optimistic. 50%? Not a chance. I wonder if the CFL would even allow it because it would have an impact on all other CFL markets as fans there would be demanding their clubs slash prices too.

I agree that if you cut ticket prices in half attendance won't double. Not now. But I am saying the Lions created this problem by raising prices year after year because they believed their product was worth it, not because there was demand. I think the Lions attitude moving back to BC Place was that there were about 30,000 fans that were going to show up and the strategy was to squeeze as much as possible out of those 30,000 rather than try to expand the ticket base by keeping prices static or lowering them.

So now 30,000 has become 19,000. Ticket prices are not the only reason for the decline, but I feel it is one of the biggest contributors to the drop in attendance.

So what can be done now that the horses are out of the barn? You are right, the Lions can't just come out and cut ticket prices by 30-50% with looking like they have "devalued" the product. A new owner might have an opportunity to cut prices by marketing it is their way of recognizing the high cost of living and pledging to be the "family affordable" pro sports option. Or a new owner could throw Braley under the bus and simply say he was out of touch with what average football fans can afford.

But even without a change in ownership there are ways the Lions can drastically lower the cost of attending games. Bundle concession drinks and snacks with every ticket. Or make a deal with Translink that fans can use their game ticket to take transit for free on game days. Or a discount with BC Ferries for ticket holders on game day. Or reduced parking fees at Impark. Each ticket has a unique bar code so tracking what goods and services were redeemed would be as simple as scanning the ticket at the point of sale. The Lions would get a bill based on what bonuses were redeemed by each fan. Suddenly a $60 ticket is a pretty good deal if I get a bunch of the associated goods or services that would have cost me another $20 for free.