Tom Whitehurst

Sunday, October 1, 2000

Cowboys still have ad appeal

After all these amazing U.S. Olympic victories, with Venus Williams' other-worldly performances of late, and with Tiger Woods continuing to deliver the goods, it only makes sense to build an ad campaign around . . .
   The Dallas Cowboys?
   The winless-in-preseason, 1-2-in-regular-season Dallas Cowboys?
   Speaking not as a marketing professional, but as a longtime fan of the Houston Texans, that does not sound like a wise investment of advertising dollars.
   But a local car dealership and appliance store did it anyway. Love Chrysler Plymouth offered two home-game Cowboys tickets and $100 spending money for new-vehicle purchases, and Appliance Mart offered to reimburse big-screen TV buyers if the Cowboys win six in a row, starting with today's game against the Carolina Panthers.
   Does that make sense?
   Yes, believe it or not, according to a marketing professor who specializes in sports as a marketing tool.
   John H. Antil, who teaches at the University of Delaware, has made a special study of Super Bowl ads and dislikes the Cowboys, says they're a good advertising gimmick for businesses in Cowboy Country, even when they're playing poorly.
   For one thing, he said, the advertisers don't have to pay anything to the Cowboys if they're used in the manner that Love and Appliance Mart used them. They'd have to pay Venus Williams or Tiger Woods to use their names, he said. Love only has to pay for the tickets and Appliance Mart for the TVs - in the unlikely event that they win six in a row.
   Love gave up on its Cowboy campaign within about a week, general sales manager Brannon Brem said. The team needed to do well for the campaign to work, he said.
   "We certainly had our hopes high," he said, speaking as both a fan and a car dealer. "Needless to say, that was wishful thinking."
   A true fan
   Appliance Mart's pitch is a good risk, Antil said, because it generates discussion and puts the store in people's minds. Even if they're saying, "What are the chances?" they're talking about Appliance Mart.
   Also, he assumed, as did I, that Appliance Mart is counting on the Cowboys to lose.
   Owner Buck Floyd dispelled that notion, convincingly. He is a true Cowboys fan and insists that he wants them to win those six games.
   He deliberately chose what he thought would be an easy part of the Cowboys' schedule and took out an insurance policy against the possibility of having to pay for those TV sets.
   "My feeling was that they would be weak this part of the season but that they would gel later in the season. I still feel they can do real well. I honestly believe that they'll go to the playoffs this year, even though they've had a weak start."
   The home team
   Local advertising agency owner Mo Morehead says the Cowboys still have value because they're still the home team.
   "They still have a tremendous following, although their lack of success on the field, obviously, diminishes their advertising value."
   Morehead would rather fashion ad campaigns around products than sports figures or teams.
   "I think you should spend your money on your product or on marketing value showing the product, rather than on the spokesman."
   Football and television
   But the Cowboys, in a sense, are the product when the product is a big-screen TV, Floyd said.
   "We like to associate the sports angle with the big-screen purchase. We noticed years ago, when big screens became popular, that Super Bowls and fights would drive the sales."
   Floyd doesn't need scientific surveys to tell him that the Cowboys can help him sell products.
   He sees customers coming in wearing Cowboys paraphernalia, and that includes men, women, boys and girls.
   "We're just reiterating what our customers are telling us. They're Dallas fans and we're Dallas fans."
   Cowboys sell
   The Cowboys pitch must have worked, he said, because he sold a lot more big-screen TVs this September than September a year ago. "When and if Dallas does win all six of those games, we're going to write checks like crazy. That's the best advertising we can buy. We're rooting for them to win those six games, not lose them."
   Speaking not as a marketing professional, but as a Cowboys fan since the Meredith days, that sounds like a wise investment.
  
  

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