The TCU football brand has been established for marketing success

In this modern era of college football, the brand and online presence of the program are as important a part of the puzzle as almost anything else. At TCU, it has always felt like a lost opportunity.

While other schools pumped content that connected fans to the players and coaches of their favorite teams, TCU football remained relatively quiet and unattached. In fact, the marketing efforts of football seemed dilute even compared to basketball and baseball teams.

Much of it was related to Gary Patterson. Known superstitiously, Patterson often uttered the phrase, “If I tell you, I’ll tell [insert opponent here], Was more than just a mantra. It affected the flow of information inside and outside the TCU program.

Those times seem to be behind us now. For the past 96 hours, TCU Football has been more active on social media than I ever remember seeing before, and it is a deliberate attempt at a new administration whose efforts are supported by AD Jeremiah Donati.

“I think you can already see last night in just a few social media teasers what the potential is.” Donati said after a preliminary TCU press conference with Sonny Dykes.

TCU introduced Dykes on Monday night as he landed by helicopter in the middle of Amon G. Carter Stadium – a movement that spread all over social media.

After a while, TCU Football’s Twitter text changed to “DFW’s Big 12 College Football Team.”

While these may not seem like big shifts, it is a sign that the TCU will be outgoing and more creative in the Sonny Dykes era. According to Donat, much of the creativity comes from Sonny and his staff.

“One thing that’s really impressive about Sonny’s staff is that they’re very creative. They themselves have a lot of original ideas, they don’t expect the marketing department to come into the hallway to say “do this, do it”. Talking to Sonny, the “Dallas” brand, it was his idea. It wasn’t the marketing department that said “hey we have to be a Dallas team,” it came from him.

SMU’s marketing has been top-notch since Dykes arrived in Dallas, and it turns out that Dykes himself was SMU’s head of branding for the Dallas team. How did he get the idea?

“I’m not going to lie, somehow I stole the idea of ​​what was already here.” Dykes said with a laugh on Tuesday, “It was one of those things, the year I was here, I was so impressed with the city of Fort Worth, I think getting here has been a process, but this city loves TCU football.”

“There is an incredible synergy between Fort Worth and this university,” Dykes continued. “It was completely clear to me, they’re wearing purple on Fridays, everything I saw, companies with signs supporting TCU, I got my coffee in the morning, people were dressed in purple and talked about the game, I was just wondering what an incredible support system is here, and I think universities have to do that.They are meant to serve their communities.I always had the feeling that the TCU got it to serve the Fort Worth community and the Fort Worth community responded to it and supported the TCU.

Don’t expect “Fort Worth” uniforms any time soon, but TCU fans should expect a time when TCU football is much more public than ever in the last 20 years.

Of course, winning helps, as we all know.

“I’m really looking forward to working with you there,” Donati said. “I’ve experienced that we’ve been less successful. I felt like our brand could be bigger and it’s going to be bigger. A lot of it has to do with football success. When things go really well, it’s easier. When they’re not, it’s harder. “

“But we have new thinking and a new, fresh, objective way to look at it. Look, we have 90,000 live alum. We need every t-shirt fan we can get. We need every Fort Worth member – there are 1.3 million people in the country. 12th largest city, we need everyone.

Donati is dealing with a great thing here. The size of the TCU is somehow an obstacle. When your living alumni barely fill Jerryworld, you have to be creative in how you bring other people into the ranks.

Winning helps, creative marketing works, and TCU has a great chance of succeeding in both areas. Donati agrees.

“If we get it done, we’ll do as well as we want.”