Why is Bark in the Park the same day as the Big Blue 5K and Spring Football game? I can understand having a baseball game start at 4 that day and encouraging fans from the Spring Game to go over there, but Bark in the Park has got to be one of the biggest attendance games for baseball, so why not save it for another day, instead of trying to cram everything on one day? Isn't the idea to get people coming out to more events, instead of everything all in one day and done? It's npt like there aren't plenty of other home baseball games to designate as Bark in the Park. If I am at the Spring Game, how can I bring my dog to the baseball game? If you are doing the 5K and the Spring Game, your day is already long enough. Few people are going to spend 10-12 hours outside at ODU. All this is going to do is destroy Bark in the Park. It has been one of our favorite events and now we are going to have to miss it. I have to wonder what these people are thinking? Do we have the worst Sports Marketing Department in the entire NCAA? Or are they just lazy? Let's do all our events on one day and be done with them all?
Sounds like Debbie White is trying to get everything done at once. She has one thing on her mind and that's retiring. I will never forget talking to her at one of those pre-game parties in Richmond before the CAA Tournament games. I asked her in passing don't you work for ODU? Her response was "yes unfortunately"!
I asked my (beagle) if he wanted to enjoy the day on campus. He said he was cool with not running the 5k but would enjoy taking in the spring game and then eating hot dogs and checking out the other babes on leashes at the baseball game!!!
Bark in the Park has been on the same weekend every year we’ve held this promo, including this year. The reason is, this weekend works for the Norfolk SPCA, our partner organization, and the benefitting charity for this event. The Spring Game has typically been one week earlier. We had to move Bark in the Park to a Saturday this year, as opposed to a Friday, because J&A Racing is doing their race packet pick-up on Friday night in Rally Alley and there will be 1,500+ runners coming through that area where we normally put the dogs…not ideal to mix all those dogs with all those runners. The UAB series, which is the next home baseball series after the Spring game, has a student promotion already scheduled as their “Exam Break Cookout.” The Final home series of the year the students are out of school and that is half our audience for Bark in the Park.
A lot of the fans bringing dogs to Bark in the Park live close-by, and are students living in off-campus housing adjacent to campus that walk over. For those that do plan to run the 5K or go to the football game, there is plenty of time for them to leave the Spring Game which will be over by 4:30pm at the latest and make it to the baseball game with their pet, which will be going on until 6:30-7pm. We’ve noticed that most dog owners have not stayed at Bark in the Park more than 30-45 minutes anyway. I realize that there are some exceptions and not everyone lives within 10 minutes, so this will unfortunately exclude some fans this year. Hopefully the scheduling will work out better next year so we do not have this conflict.
Keep in mind that this marketing staff is the one that brought Bark in the Park to ODU in the first place…an event fans seem to like. I have no desire to see it diminish. Its not easy on our marketing and ops staff to operate four major promotional events (Big Blue 5K, Charity Bowl, Spring Game, and Bark in the Park) all in one day. Putting them together only makes things more difficult and stressful for us…this is in no way being done for our benefit.
No offense, but park in the park was not originated at odu. Countless other organizations have done similar events before odu.
And the point wasn't that it's easy to put all these events on, it's that they are planned months and months in advance so awful timing really isn't a good excuse, it was just total lack of planning.
Maybe there is more that goes into it, but I'm skeptical.
(03-25-2016 12:27 AM)Razor Ramon Monarch Wrote: [ -> ]No offense, but park in the park was not originated at odu. Countless other organizations have done similar events before odu.
And the point wasn't that it's easy to put all these events on, it's that they are planned months and months in advance so awful timing really isn't a good excuse, it was just total lack of planning.
Maybe there is more that goes into it, but I'm skeptical.
My claim is that our staff "brought" Bark in the Park to ODU. I never insinuated that we came up with Bark in the Park. I've been doing that promo for many years at schools before ODU, and other ball clubs had been doing it for many years before that. It was not being done at ODU when I got here, so we started it, I would hope there is some value in that to our fans otherwise we wouldn't be talking about it.
This decision to combine it with the Spring Game was made well before the baseball season started, so no, timing is not an excuse, and I didn't use it as one. My statement says we kept Bark in the Park on the same weekend it has always been so we could have the partnership of the SPCA, who sends out e-blasts to their database and helps us market the event in pet stores and at dog parks, because their constituents are dog owners. Their assistance is why this promotion has grown so much. We also have two other weekend baseball promotions...Alumni Weekend and the Student Exam Break Cookout that we try to stay away from! That doesn't leave us with other options for home series in April and May when the student are still in class because we try to keep our promos to those months because we run into cold weather too often in February and March.
I know I can be longwinded but all I've referenced is the planning that went into it. Sometimes we're at the mercy of the calendar and the schedules of all the other sports we manage, and everything doesn't always fit perfectly. If this were pro baseball we could pick from 150+ games and not have to worry about events at any other sports.
Call me crazy, but as an effectively sales-based position for ODU, I'd most likely abstain from a public confrontation with an ODU supporter(s) (skeptical or not), and move towards a more private message/individual conversational stance when addressing potential issues that are raised. Common ground can be reached without the drama, whether started by you or not.
No dog in this argument, but on an open sports forum in which you have a role in controlling the message from ODU, I'd recommend a more subtle approach to communications with donors/potential donors. Sometimes one can be correct and still on the wrong side of a PUBLIC debate. Choose your responses carefully. But what the hell do I know, have only been in sales my entire career.
(03-25-2016 01:34 AM)ODUsmitty Wrote: [ -> ]Call me crazy, but as an effectively sales-based position for ODU, I'd most likely abstain from a public confrontation with an ODU supporter(s) (skeptical or not), and move towards a more private message/individual conversational stance when addressing potential issues that are raised. Common ground can be reached without the drama, whether started by you or not.
No dog in this argument, but on an open sports forum in which you have a role in controlling the message from ODU, I'd recommend a more subtle approach to communications with donors/potential donors. Sometimes one can be correct and still on the wrong side of a PUBLIC debate. Choose your responses carefully. But what the hell do I know, have only been in sales my entire career.
I've reread the thread a couple of times, and I don't read it as confrontation at all. Razor (and some others) expressed concern regarding the multiple events and brought up concerns (however you want to call it) regarding the marketing side of things. Chandler came on and, I believe, clearly explained what transpired with the planning of these events. It may not be an ideal situation, but at least there is a presence of transparency. Even in Chandler's response to Razor's questioning of his original post, was professionally written in clarifying some points. At least that's how I read it.
JChandler, while I don't always agree with how ODU does things, I truly appreciate it when you come on this board with insights and clarifications to things. Its great to know the perspective of the school and the logic behind some of the decisions made. Thank you.
(03-24-2016 11:51 PM)JChandler Wrote: [ -> ]This one’s on me…
Bark in the Park has been on the same weekend every year we’ve held this promo, including this year. The reason is, this weekend works for the Norfolk SPCA, our partner organization, and the benefitting charity for this event. The Spring Game has typically been one week earlier. We had to move Bark in the Park to a Saturday this year, as opposed to a Friday, because J&A Racing is doing their race packet pick-up on Friday night in Rally Alley and there will be 1,500+ runners coming through that area where we normally put the dogs…not ideal to mix all those dogs with all those runners. The UAB series, which is the next home baseball series after the Spring game, has a student promotion already scheduled as their “Exam Break Cookout.” The Final home series of the year the students are out of school and that is half our audience for Bark in the Park.
A lot of the fans bringing dogs to Bark in the Park live close-by, and are students living in off-campus housing adjacent to campus that walk over. For those that do plan to run the 5K or go to the football game, there is plenty of time for them to leave the Spring Game which will be over by 4:30pm at the latest and make it to the baseball game with their pet, which will be going on until 6:30-7pm. We’ve noticed that most dog owners have not stayed at Bark in the Park more than 30-45 minutes anyway. I realize that there are some exceptions and not everyone lives within 10 minutes, so this will unfortunately exclude some fans this year. Hopefully the scheduling will work out better next year so we do not have this conflict.
Keep in mind that this marketing staff is the one that brought Bark in the Park to ODU in the first place…an event fans seem to like. I have no desire to see it diminish. Its not easy on our marketing and ops staff to operate four major promotional events (Big Blue 5K, Charity Bowl, Spring Game, and Bark in the Park) all in one day. Putting them together only makes things more difficult and stressful for us…this is in no way being done for our benefit.
My wife and I appreciate everything you guys do. Unfortunately us fans don't always here the whole story and the reasoning behind why things are done. For this, I appreciated your effort in explaining the circumstances around the events and why they are scheduled the way they are.
My beagle said this is complete and totally racism of him and his four legged buddies. He said if Charles The Monarch can prance around campus without his leash so should he!!! He is going to contact Andy Fox and get the Black Labradors Party for Self-Defense aka BL, American Badass Terriers Group aka ABTG, Rotts and Husky aka R&H Fighters, The Protectors aka German Shepherd Society and Chihuahua Ankle Biters aka CAB to unite on campus for their rights!!! March on Monarch Fountain April 16, 2016.
(03-25-2016 01:34 AM)ODUsmitty Wrote: [ -> ]Call me crazy, but as an effectively sales-based position for ODU, I'd most likely abstain from a public confrontation with an ODU supporter(s) (skeptical or not), and move towards a more private message/individual conversational stance when addressing potential issues that are raised. Common ground can be reached without the drama, whether started by you or not.
No dog in this argument, but on an open sports forum in which you have a role in controlling the message from ODU, I'd recommend a more subtle approach to communications with donors/potential donors. Sometimes one can be correct and still on the wrong side of a PUBLIC debate. Choose your responses carefully. But what the hell do I know, have only been in sales my entire career.
I've reread the thread a couple of times, and I don't read it as confrontation at all. Razor (and some others) expressed concern regarding the multiple events and brought up concerns (however you want to call it) regarding the marketing side of things. Chandler came on and, I believe, clearly explained what transpired with the planning of these events. It may not be an ideal situation, but at least there is a presence of transparency. Even in Chandler's response to Razor's questioning of his original post, was professionally written in clarifying some points. At least that's how I read it.
I agree about being very appreciative that Mr. Chandler has entered the board and clarified/expanded on some of the topics we discuss. His insight s invaluable.
As for the particular post that I questioned, you can see that it was edited last night after my response, deleting the swipe taken at Razor. It was mild, but a swipe nonetheless. Just struck me wrong coming from a representative of an organization that needs more passionate fans to support it; which are hard to come by, particularly when one takes swipes at them.
