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Re: Stan Marshall
Well, I won't issue an opinion right now on the department's overall marketing effort, but I will say that I think trying to make a big deal out of "marketing" the Stan Marshall is way off base. I was on the original SM committee and have attended every one, but one, of the events. There is no more marketing to do on the golf portion. We had 200 golfers on the course, two teams of five on 14 holes, and four teams of five on four holes, this year. It takes 5 1/2 hours to play. The cost is $225 per person, not including the cart. We no longer pay celebrity expenses, so it nets more. It is advertised every place it needs to be IMHO.
Now as to the auction, which is where the big money is...years ago it used to be an auction for the players in the tournament. The department came up with the idea of holding the auction on Friday night, and including anybody who wants to pay $20 for the right to come, enjoy a social evening, eat some hor d'oeuvres, buy some drinks and shell out money for auction items. It has been a fantastic money raiser. The amount each year grew tremendously for awhile, but has naturally leveled out. The amount received is directly related to the number and quality of the donated auction items, and, of course, the bidding levels.
I don't know the exact figures, but I would venture to say that of the $78,000 total of this year's auction, 60-70% came from 10-15 people popping for $2,000-$4,000 for the items purchased. This is mainly a tap on the Brookings supporters. Sure we get a few out of towners, and would welcome anybody. But few want to drive a 100-mile roundtrip to attend the auction and spend their money, when they aren't playing in the tournament. This is a local event (the auction) that doesn't fit into broad-based marketing and its attendant costs.
You also have the tapped-out factor. We've been in the $1,000-$3,000 bidder group for a number of years, but our time is waning on being able to do that. So donors come and go. The department and the SM committee works on the local support group and auction donors very, very hard...I don't believe they can be faulted on that count.
Well, I won't issue an opinion right now on the department's overall marketing effort, but I will say that I think trying to make a big deal out of "marketing" the Stan Marshall is way off base. I was on the original SM committee and have attended every one, but one, of the events. There is no more marketing to do on the golf portion. We had 200 golfers on the course, two teams of five on 14 holes, and four teams of five on four holes, this year. It takes 5 1/2 hours to play. The cost is $225 per person, not including the cart. We no longer pay celebrity expenses, so it nets more. It is advertised every place it needs to be IMHO.
Now as to the auction, which is where the big money is...years ago it used to be an auction for the players in the tournament. The department came up with the idea of holding the auction on Friday night, and including anybody who wants to pay $20 for the right to come, enjoy a social evening, eat some hor d'oeuvres, buy some drinks and shell out money for auction items. It has been a fantastic money raiser. The amount each year grew tremendously for awhile, but has naturally leveled out. The amount received is directly related to the number and quality of the donated auction items, and, of course, the bidding levels.
I don't know the exact figures, but I would venture to say that of the $78,000 total of this year's auction, 60-70% came from 10-15 people popping for $2,000-$4,000 for the items purchased. This is mainly a tap on the Brookings supporters. Sure we get a few out of towners, and would welcome anybody. But few want to drive a 100-mile roundtrip to attend the auction and spend their money, when they aren't playing in the tournament. This is a local event (the auction) that doesn't fit into broad-based marketing and its attendant costs.
You also have the tapped-out factor. We've been in the $1,000-$3,000 bidder group for a number of years, but our time is waning on being able to do that. So donors come and go. The department and the SM committee works on the local support group and auction donors very, very hard...I don't believe they can be faulted on that count.
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