Spring Break
ISU events useless unless marketed to students
Opinions Council
Issue date: 2/1/05 Section: Viewpoint
As the ISU v. Bradley men's basketball game approaches, the problem of marketing ISU events to actual ISU students is again a matter of discussion.
While the game against Bradley is one of the few events on campus which sees a sell-out student section, many other events are less than filled with the 20,000-plus students who attend classes on this campus.
And for those of us who have attended ISU athletic events, or events put on by the University Program Board, a lot of marketing for the event and the organizations involved occurs, but the majority of it starts and ends at the event.
A good example is the recent men's basketball team's home game against Evansville University. Prizes were given to students in 1970s attire. Yet, only a small handful of students came to the game decked in disco flare - mostly because not many of us knew about it.
The same thing happens at events at Braden Auditorium. The venue recently featured a couple who specialize in the paranormal demonstrating their abilities, at no charge to students, but the number in attendance was still relatively small.
Other schools are using an easy solution to this problem and are starting to sell beer at events to draw students in. ISU could do this, but rather than spark the arguments between the levels of ISU bureaucracy, other steps could be taken.
ISU, like most colleges, universities and private companies, has a media relations department. One of their purposes is to promote ISU to the general public. Media relations does a great job in doing so, but ISU students are a special sub-group of the general public, and should be targeted differently.
Knowing there is a stigma of apathy on campus, ISU should take all possible steps to dissolve this stigma and put students in the stands.
Creating a student equivilent to ISU media relations could be that first start. With the hundreds of marketing and public relations students walking across the Quad each day, the labor pool is more than full.
Instead of each group or department working individually to promote their own events, this group could be used to do all of the promoting for events, but only to students.
The College Democrats showed ISU this exact idea before the 2004 election. Students promoting an idea to other students makes students motivated, and encourages them to act.
Plastic signs on the Quad, advertisements in the student and city newspapers, and marketing at an event only get through to so many students. These methods are simply not cutting it.
If ISU really wants to address the student apathy problem, they would look into creating an office similar to that which succeeds in promoting the overall university, and employing students focused on promoting events to students.
While the game against Bradley is one of the few events on campus which sees a sell-out student section, many other events are less than filled with the 20,000-plus students who attend classes on this campus.
And for those of us who have attended ISU athletic events, or events put on by the University Program Board, a lot of marketing for the event and the organizations involved occurs, but the majority of it starts and ends at the event.
A good example is the recent men's basketball team's home game against Evansville University. Prizes were given to students in 1970s attire. Yet, only a small handful of students came to the game decked in disco flare - mostly because not many of us knew about it.
The same thing happens at events at Braden Auditorium. The venue recently featured a couple who specialize in the paranormal demonstrating their abilities, at no charge to students, but the number in attendance was still relatively small.
Other schools are using an easy solution to this problem and are starting to sell beer at events to draw students in. ISU could do this, but rather than spark the arguments between the levels of ISU bureaucracy, other steps could be taken.
ISU, like most colleges, universities and private companies, has a media relations department. One of their purposes is to promote ISU to the general public. Media relations does a great job in doing so, but ISU students are a special sub-group of the general public, and should be targeted differently.
Knowing there is a stigma of apathy on campus, ISU should take all possible steps to dissolve this stigma and put students in the stands.
Creating a student equivilent to ISU media relations could be that first start. With the hundreds of marketing and public relations students walking across the Quad each day, the labor pool is more than full.
Instead of each group or department working individually to promote their own events, this group could be used to do all of the promoting for events, but only to students.
The College Democrats showed ISU this exact idea before the 2004 election. Students promoting an idea to other students makes students motivated, and encourages them to act.
Plastic signs on the Quad, advertisements in the student and city newspapers, and marketing at an event only get through to so many students. These methods are simply not cutting it.
If ISU really wants to address the student apathy problem, they would look into creating an office similar to that which succeeds in promoting the overall university, and employing students focused on promoting events to students.