New Buffalo Bills Graduate Management Assistant

[HalftimeAdjustment]

I'll go first. In no particular order:

 

1) Don't feature a photo of Brian Moorman punting out of his own end zone on any marketing, advertising, or promotional items (like the Bills did last year).

 

 

Excellent suggestion.

[Gray Beard]

All these posts that say winning games is the best marketing plan are correct, but I assume any ability to effect that issue is beyond the scope of your assignment.

 

I live in the Utica area, and our CBS station that plays Buffalo Bills games on Sunday afternoon is out of Syracuse on Time Warner Cable. It stinks that we are subject to the black out rules even though we are 200 miles from Buffalo. The Syracuse CBS station is the only CBS station between the Rochester area and the Schenectady area. That is a lot of coverage (of course, there aren't that many people for all that area).

 

Most people in this area are Giants fans, since the Giants are broadcast on the local Fox network, are not subject to blackout rules in this area, and generally win more often than the Bills. You could stop people on the street around here and ask them to name three players on the Bills team, and they probably couldn't. And this is a local broadcast market. Think about that.

 

Do the players do local commercials on Buffalo TV? I never see any out here in Central New York. It seems like a no brainer to get some name and face recognition with things like public service announcements. "Hi, I'm Fred Jackson of the Buffalo Bills, and I would like to remind you to put fresh batteries in your smoke detectors twice a year."

 

My daughter is a Colts fan because she thinks Peyton Manning is funny in TV commercials. Of course, it's much easier for your agent to get you TV commercials if you are on a winning team, but if a few guys can be successful with local spots, maybe their agents can then start to work on bigger deals. Maybe in the Buffalo area these things are common, but like I said, I'm in Central New York, and I NEVER see anything that is related to the Bills on local TV.

[ICanSleepWhenI'mDead]

Over the years Ralph has promoted his niece Mary Owen from marketing intern to Executive VP. She has been heavily involved in efforts to "regionalize" the Bills brand into Southern Ontario, including, IIRC, some work related to the Bills-In-Toronto Series:

 

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2011/02/28/People-and-Pop-Culture.aspx

 

Ralph ain't gonna be around forever, and he knows which way the wind blows at NFL owners' meetings. He has publicly said (some years ago) that the team is gonna be sold when he's gone. Ask yourself, out of everyone in the Bills organization, who is Ralph most likely to throw a life jacket to when the ship goes down?

 

Then find a way to make yourself valuable to Mary Owen, whatever she may be working on these days. Don't be a brown-noser or suck-up, but try to bring something to the table. If Ralph has her working in areas that will make her most employable by a future team owner (as seems likely), it wouldn't hurt to be considered a valuable contributor on the same projects - - no matter who eventually buys the team and whether or not it moves.

 

You can sleep when you're dead.

 

Good luck!

[San Jose Bills Fan]

you will prob be promoted to GM by the end of the season so you had better start preparing for who you want to draft in April. we are all counting on u so make us proud!

Freaking hilarious.

 

SJB - while I think the majority of your posts are spot on this is terrible. Norwood's career should not be defined by one kick. The Bills team lost that game. If you really want to lay blame call out Levy for being flat outcoached.

Sorry BB.

 

I've stated numerous times that the hold by Reich on the infamous field goal attempt was off (the laces faced the right sideline), and that Marv WAS outcoached and I've pointed out the numerous plays upon which the razor-thin margin could have changed… the clock mismanagement, etc.

 

I do not mean that Scott is a failure… only that he is a symbol of our failure in that game.

 

Thus in reflection (at the time I thought it was a warm, fuzzy idea) I saw no reason to honor him at this time.

 

Honor him when we are celebrating a Super Bowl victory… but at any rate, honor him AFTER Saban, Gilchrist, Flutie and several others.

 

 

[bbb]

AFCE had a stupidly early bye week that season in week 4.

 

That does make sense, because I remember the game being early October, and that was back when they started the season on Labor Day Sunday, so Week 5 would have been then.