The Business Behind How Texas A&M Marketed Johnny Manziel For The Heisman

The Dallas Morning News, Brad Townsend

http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/college-sports/texas-aggies/20121226-how-texas-am-marketed-johnny-manziel-including-400-billboards-and-more.ece

As the final seconds of Texas A&M’s Nov. 10 upset of Alabama ticked down, school officials realized they had a problem, albeit a pleasant one.

Johnny Manziel, previously a fringe Heisman Trophy candidate, suddenly had credentials to be the front-runner, but he had two significant obstacles:

He was a redshirt freshman. No freshman had ever won the Heisman.

Aggies coach Kevin Sumlin has a policy of not allowing freshmen to speak to the media.

How could A&M officials shift Manziel’s candidacy into overdrive, persuading 870 Heisman voters across the country that this muted Aggies freshman deserved college football’s most prestigious award?

Jason Cook, Texas A&M’s vice president for marketing and communications, huddled with athletic director Eric Hyman and sports information director Alan Cannon and came up with an unorthodox game plan.

“I’ve heard some people refer to it as one of the greatest non-Heisman-campaign campaigns ever,” Cook said with a laugh.

They felt so strongly about Manziel’s chances of winning that they developed a two-pronged, pre- and post-Heisman strategy.

Pre-Heisman would be more of a public relations/public-influencer effort. Post-Heisman would be more of a marketing approach.

“Usually you have marketing on the front end, then p.r. and just fulfilling media requests on the back end,” Cook said. “Ours was completely flipped.”

A&M’s regular season-ending victory over Missouri was Nov. 24. Sumlin agreed to allow Manziel to do a teleconference with national reporters on Nov. 26 and a news conference on campus the following day, leaving less than a week to the Dec. 3 Heisman voting deadline.

Meanwhile, Texas A&M had set up a web site, www.heisman.aggieathletics.com, filled with all things Johnny Manziel.

“Although our fans wanted billboards and blimps, we had a website,” Cook said. “And it proved to be extremely successful.”

Cook said that Cannon, in his 21 year as SID and 30 year overall at A&M, was invaluable to the effort because of his experience and the media relationships he has forged around the country.

When Manziel won the Heisman, phase two of A&M’s campaign kicked in immediately. Cook said the signature piece was a huge Times Square billboard, on Broadway between 45 and 46 streets.

Although the billboard is high-def, video-capable, A&M went “old school,” and paid to have rotating static images. That way, people in Times Square could have their photos taken in front of the billboard, then share them on Twitter and Facebook.

While Manziel did a whirlwind of national TV appearances, A&M posted congratulatory messages on more than 400 billboards across the country and paid for digital ads on the home pages of ESPN.com, SI.com, USAToday.com and major Texas newspapers, including dallasnews.com.

Cook said A&M’s expenditures from the pre- and post-Heisman campaigns will be less than $500,000. Compare that investment with the estimated $250 million that Baylor said it reaped in increased donations, licensing fees and sponsorships, ticket sales and enhanced media partnerships after Robert Griffin III won last year’s Heisman.

“We wanted to extend the conversation about a quarterback from Texas A&M winning the Heisman Trophy,” Cook said. “We didn’t want it to be a one-night affair.

“Secondly, we wanted to broaden the conversation, to reach more of a general audience.

“It’s always been said that athletics is the front porch of a university. Where universities have failed in the past is getting people off the front porch to walk through the front door and see everything that is about what these universities have to offer.”

Cook and Texas A&M president R. Bowen Loftin believe that the school’s move to the high-profile Southeastern Conference, and Manziel winning the Heisman, give the university a platform unlike any it’s ever had.

“We think,” Cook said, “it gives us an incredible opportunity to broaden the discussion about Texas A&M.”