Marketing plan a success for Pederson, Pitt

When Pitt athletic director Steve Pederson arrived on campus last December, no one was sure what… When Pitt athletic director Steve Pederson arrived on campus last December, no one was sure what to expect. Football ticket sales were down as Pitt finished its third-straight losing season. The program, which hadn’t earned a bowl bid in three years, seemed like it was falling apart. But only a few days later, Pederson realized that he was standing over a sleeping giant. He just needed to wake it up. While football programs like Penn State and Notre Dame have enjoyed continual financial success over the past few years regardless of their records, Pitt has been doing the opposite. Heading into this season, the football team hadn’t had a sellout since the opening game in 2005. But Pederson, along with Pitt’s marketing director, Chris Ferris, saw potential in the program, which had a rich history in the past. So throughout the offseason, they sat down with students and fans to figure out the best thing to bring the program back. Their final plan resulted in more than 12,000 season-ticket packages sold before the season even began. That success continued throughout the season as Pitt finished the year with its first nine-win season since 1982 and earned a bid to the Sun Bowl in Texas. Ferris said that student ticket sales jumped by 76 percent, while total ticket sales increased by 50 percent. The key to the plan? They made it personal. Pederson, Ferris and the rest of the Pitt athletic department made phone calls and sent out personally signed letters. They even teamed up with marketing students from Pitt, Slippery Rock and Robert Morris to call old season ticket holders and pitch the upcoming season to them. The approach with the fans was simple. ‘Chris [Ferris] and I, we said, ‘Tell us what you want?” said Pederson. The fans got almost everything they asked for. Pitt slashed student ticket prices in half ‘- cutting last season’s price of $49 to $25. It also discounted ticket prices for regular season ticket plans, lowering non-student packages by 28 percent. But it was more than just the price of tickets, which Pederson said wasn’t the biggest problem. An off-campus NFL stadium, Heinz Field is about four miles from campus. And while the off-campus location has never been a major worry for the athletic department, the fans wanted a few things changed. ‘They said they weren’t happy with being dropped off on the other side of the bridge,’ said Pederson. ‘And I thought, ‘I don’t blame you.’ It’s your stadium, and you can’t even get dropped off closer than a mile away?’ After developing logistics with the city, Pitt arranged to drop the students off closer. It also started tailgates and added new student entrances. But the goal wasn’t just focusing on the students. After polling and speaking with fans, Pitt offered all season ticket holders an opportunity to purchase a season parking pass so that no one would have to worry about parking on game day. Dr. John Hulland, an associate professor in Pitt’s business school, said the key to a good marketing plan ‘- no matter what the product ‘- is understanding the customer. ‘Many people have the misperception that marketing is simply advertising,’ said Hulland in an e-mail. ‘To make good advertising and sales decisions, one has to know who the consumer is and what it is they truly want [and] value.’ Hulland added that Pederson and Ferris are fighting a problem that bigger schools like Penn State and Notre Dame don’t have to worry about: fan support when the team is struggling. ‘They have been able to develop and support a student [and] alumni culture that embraces football,’ said Hulland. ‘At the moment, Pitt does not have such a culture. I think it may be possible to change this, but it will take time to do so effectively.’ He added that getting feedback from customers is critical. ‘If they can excite the current student base, get them into the habit of attending the games and enjoying the rituals of tailgating,’ he said, ‘then they will be more likely to come back as alums.’ Beth Hunter, Notre Dame’s director of sports marketing, said that the vibe at Penn State and Notre Dame could be the thing Pitt is missing. She said that the Notre Dame football following is so strong, the marketing basically does itself. ‘The last time we didn’t sell out was in the 1970s,’ said Hunter. ‘It’s a unique situation. The things that Chris [Ferris] does ‘- all of the brochures, the phone calls, the giveaways ‘mdash; we do none of it.’ Notre Dame Stadium seats more than 80,000 people, while Heinz Field seats about 65,000. Last year, the average attendance at Pitt games was about 33,000. This season, Pitt sold out its game against West Virginia on Nov. 28, more than three years since its last time. Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said after that game that the home field advantage with the filled student section made a big difference. But getting the crowd there has been the problem. Hunter said that a few bad seasons at Notre Dame won’t change the fan base or the number of tickets purchased. But Pitt doesn’t have that luxury. That’s why it took so much work this season to boost sales. Dale Grdnic, an author and journalist who has covered Pitt since 1994, said that the team’s success combined with solid marketing will continually be the best thing for Pitt, because it simply doesn’t have the following. Still, he said Pitt’s efforts throughout the season are something to notice. ‘Pederson is a guy who is going to make an impact no matter what else has happened before him,’ said Grdnic. ‘This year he comes in, he knows they’ll be a pretty good team. Then he cuts the prices drastically and, in the future, the team will be better and people will want to come to the games.’ Grdnic added that he thinks the plan will continue to work with the team’s success this year, but Pitt simply needs to be patient. Ferris agreed. ‘We’re always going to be working,’ said Ferris. ‘We just hope the fans will be behind us.’