October 11, 2007

UCI, mid-majors focus on getting word out
The Anteaters basketball team is hoping to ride the momentum of the baseball program's success.
By JANIS CARR
The Orange County Register

President Bush and the anteater became fast friends on the South Lawn of the White House.

"Go Anteaters. Fight Anteaters," Bush said last spring during a ceremony celebrating a handful of NCAA championship teams, including the UC Irvine men's volleyball team.

When President Bush uttered Irvine's rallying cry, and was later seen holding a stuffed anteater, he gave the school its biggest marketing boost — a slogan heard 'round the country — and school officials knew it.

Quickly, the school's marketing department latched onto the nation's No. 1 sports fan, using his words and image to promote the school, not just the athletic teams.

"That was huge. The school used that on its Web site and the alumni used the pictures," said Stephanie Krogius, director of marketing for athletics. "It certainly got us publicity for our athletic teams."

Kroguis, like other marketing directors in the area, has the unenviable task of promoting a mid-major school's athletic teams in an area saturated with two Division I football-playing schools, two Major League Baseball teams, two NHL teams and two NBA teams.

The task at hand is basketball, which opens practice today. UCI, along with USC, kicked off their seasons with Midnight Madness events, while Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State and UCLA will hold practices today.

Kroguis' job of selling tickets is difficult considering the hurdles, but made easier by the school's recent success of its volleyball and baseball teams. The baseball team reached the College World Series for the first time since it moved to Division I and suddenly "Eater Nation" was born.

"We are trying to ride that momentum into the basketball season," she said.

Kroguis said "Eater Nation" posters and flyers will blanket local businesses, school rallies and the campus as basketball season approaches. There also will be advertising on OCTA buses, like last year, and approaching grassroots organizations, such as NJB leagues.

Steve DiTolla, associate athletic director/marketing at Cal State Fullerton, is latching his marketing success on the men's basketball team's record over the past four years. The Titans have had three consecutive winning seasons, including last season's 20-10 mark, and qualified for the National Invitation Tournament in 2005.

"We are focusing our efforts on the fact that we are a much better product than we were five years ago and sell it to people within a five-mile radius of the school," DiTolla said.

Through posters and schedule cards in downtown businesses, newspaper advertisements, on-campus promotions and free tickets to students, DiTolla said he hopes to create a sense of pride that people in the area can grasp.

"Our target is the city of Fullerton and the campus," he said. "We're not trying to be sophisticated, but trying to do what we think will sell the most tickets."

Long Beach State has taken a much broader approach to selling its basketball and other teams. First, the school's marketing department has trotted out Coach Dan Monson to six "meet-and-greet" sessions around Long Beach and Orange County. Monson, the 49ers' new coach, helped boost Gonzaga into the national spotlight with two successful seasons in the late 1990s.

The 49ers once again will have a billboard on Second Street in Long Beach, touting season tickets, and promote their basketball season tickets in the local newspaper.

Long Beach State officials also have turned to its fan base to spread the news, or "Paint the Town Black and Gold." On the school's Web site, they're asking fans to hang posters at their businesses or homes in exchange for free tickets.

Fans are being asked to distribute ticket brochures and schedule cards to friends and family, and compile a list of organizations that might be interested in group outings.

"It's difficult to sell a mid-major in this area because we aren't the only game in town in an area where we not only have two major Division I teams, but a lot of other mid-majors, such as Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine, Irvine and Long Beach State," DiTolla said. "You have to work at getting your name out there."