Athletics announced White Out for Old Dominion

[8993]

Ashley Payne is the Director of Fan Promotions & Engagement and she is not an App grad. While she has done a few good things in her short time here, the marketing/fan promotions & engagement department have been severely lacking over these last few years. Between the "Stripe the Stadium" and now the white out/pink out, I don't think she or her employees have a stern grasp on what it means to work at App/live and breathe black and gold. I don't think they fully understand the traditions and background of Appalachian State, which leads to bad ideas, such as these. Ashley Payne reigns from Gonzaga University and has previously worked at the University of Houston, the University of Oklahoma, and the University of Alabama, all which have extremely different atmospheres from Appalachian State's. Her staff includes Shae Wesley, an Illinois State grad, Stephanie Marion, a UTK grad, and Erin Hughes, a Wayne State University grad. None of them have had much experience with App and don't full understand the motives or traditions that our fans have.

In addition, some of Appalachian State's marketing as of late has just been poor. The picture below was posted on the Appalachian State Mountaineer's Facebook page on May 19. It was seen by over 10,000 fans. Is this what we want associated with App? A low quality, run of the mill, pixelated ad that looks sloppily thrown together?



Compare that to what Payne's former employer is putting out on their social media accounts and the two don't even compare.

[APPARJ]

Any kind of color scheme only works IF a vendor pays for the shirts and they're laid out on your seat. Trying to disseminate info on a color scheme is spotty at best and asking people to change their game day habit of is tough.

twitter.com/DieselOnRadio

That is accurate. However, they can put a blinding white Nike Dri-Fit t-shirt on my seat and I will fold it up, put it in my wife's purse and continue watching the game donning black.

...and I'm not in the minority with that sentiment.

[bigdaddyg]

I mean say a couple of things out loud:

"Black Saturday"..."white out". I mean which one sounds the most bad ass? Not even close. I always got chills when we played Back in Black over the PA when the team got ready to take the field. Somebody on I think ESPN commented during the NBA playoffs that Miami seemed to do a white out at every meaningful game. We wear black damnit!

[EastHallApp]

Personally, I didn't mind the Stripe the Stadium idea. If it had worked, I think it would have looked great. But you need a full stadium for that, which we weren't getting at any point in 2014. Plus App hadn't really gone all-in on the gold merchandise (or uniforms) at that time, so not many people had gold shirts in their existing wardrobe. I think it was a combination of poor timing/execution and bad luck (it was also unseasonably cold and windy that day, so people who did wear gold t-shirts had to cover up with a coat or sweatshirt).

Taken as a whole, though, it looks like our staff is just trying to do everything that everyone else started doing a few years ago, i.e., a one-size-fits-all approach. As T-Dog alluded to in his column, a white-out works great at Penn State: It's one of their primary colors, they fill the stadium for most games, and they can play it at night, when the white pops under the lights. But what works for Penn State doesn't necessarily work for App State, and vice versa.

[hapapp]

Any kind of color scheme only works IF a vendor pays for the shirts and they're laid out on your seat. Trying to disseminate info on a color scheme is spotty at best and asking people to change their game day habit of is tough.

twitter.com/DieselOnRadio

Exactly! Where those ideas have worked is when the apparel in question is provided to the attendees.

I don't like the idea and furthermore it will likely be an abject failure as few, if any, folks will be sporting white that day.

[Black Saturday]

Let's not do this. E-mail everyone you can to stop this.

Whiteout is very UNAPP.

Bad idea.

[Black Saturday]

I mean say a couple of things out loud:

"Black Saturday"..."white out". I mean which one sounds the most bad ass? Not even close. I always got chills when we played Back in Black over the PA when the team got ready to take the field. Somebody on I think ESPN commented during the NBA playoffs that Miami seemed to do a white out at every meaningful game. We wear black damnit!

Sorry to be repetitive, but a "white out" for a football school that has associated itself with the BLACK for decades is a DAMN DUMB IDEA.....DUMB, DUMB, DUMB!

Double Barreled Dumb ASSed Idea....You can't make up this type of stuff.

ODU colors are Blue and Silver are they wearing blue that day?

[boonetown1]

In addition to know app traditions, know that dad gum weather in Boone. Do not schedule a color game (other than black) in a place where weather is a big piece of the puzzle. Focus promos around fan engagement.

[MDaniels84]

Here is my reply from the powers that be regarding the "white out".

"Thank you for the email and your thoughts. This is something our student-athletes asked us to try. "

[Saint3333]

This is going to be this administrations cups and ice.

[appfanz]

I have a white App polo. Believe it or not I bought if off the close out rack at the bookstore. They were trying to get rid of slow movers!

[App74]

Here is my reply from the powers that be regarding the "white out".

"Thank you for the email and your thoughts. This is something our student-athletes asked us to try. "

I received the same reply.

[Rekdiver]

Guess what my reply was and I don't believe it:

David,

Thank you for your e-mail, thoughts, and support. This is something our student-athletes asked us to try.

Ashley


Ashley Payne
Assistant Athletic Director of Promotions & Fan Engagement
Appalachian State Athletics
425 Jack Branch Drive
Boone, NC 28608
payneae1@appstate.edu

[Budman2154]

Update to my email to Doug Gillin. I just received a response from Doug Gillin to my email regarding reconsidering the "White Out" of KBS for the ODU game. His answer was short and to the point. "This is something our student athletes asked us to try". I didn't get the feeling that it is negotiable.

[Rekdiver]

Well we will just see how it goes..........I dont think there will be a buy in...could be wrong, been wrong before. If anyone knows any of the football players (maybe we ask the S&C coach since we are funding some stuff). If its true so be it, but the canned answer seems designed to shut us up.

[Budman2154]

Well, I for one will be wearing BLACK!!!!

[EastHallApp]

Basically using the players as a shield for criticism.

Your student-athletes aren't your marketing department. It's fine to seek out suggestions from them but that doesn't mean you have to take them all.

[TheMoody1]

A few emails about how a "white out" doesn't sound diverse or inclusive and it will be cancelled in a hurry.

[/\PP ST/\TE GRAD 09]

Any kind of color scheme only works IF a vendor pays for the shirts and they're laid out on your seat. Trying to disseminate info on a color scheme is spotty at best and asking people to change their game day habit of is tough.

twitter.com/DieselOnRadio

I agree with you Diesel. Even Black Saturday, you don't see all black. I've been preaching since I was a student that the only way to get people to wear a certain color like black for Black Saturday, you have to provide the shirt. When you look at a school like Penn State or Michigan State (Those two came to mind when I saw "White out") they are handing out t-shirts. Watched the OKC-Warriors game the other night. They successfully striped the arena, because fans were given shirts. Golden State does the same with yellow shirts. Miami Heat with white shirts. The list goes on.

[appst89]

Obviously, from the replies sent back to people, they aren't interested in feedback from the fanbase. They can have their white out, but I can guarantee there will be one seat in 205 wearing black.