Michigan State is running a non-campaign campaign, which seems to be in vogue among the Sports Information chattering classes these days.
“I’m more old school with these things,” (Michigan State SID John) Lewandowski said. “We live in an era where gimmicks are not going to win awards. It’s more important to make sure he’s accessible, manage the media opportunities and be mindful of what else he has going on. But the bottom line is the team has to be successful.”
I wish people understood that when you put out a marketing gimmick, the goal is not to win the award, but to increase name recognition for your candidate, who then can win the award with his play on the field. The worst scenario you can have is a player dominating on the field and no one knowing about it.
Those Geico cave man commercials don’t make anyone buy Geico, but they make you remember the name Geico when it is time to buy insurance. We live in an era when gimmicks most certainly help with publicity. Paris Hilton is very adept at such gimmicks and I’m sure most of you hadn’t heard of her until you viewed that ‘gimmick’ she put out.
The No. 1 reason Javon Ringer is not a serious threat for the Heisman right now is that he isn’t very well known to Heisman voters. Sure, the working media portion of the voters know who he is and they are rewarding him by putting him on Heisman lists, but the rank and file voters–I’m talking the ones who work construction or sell Amway until they cast their votes in early December (and I’m being facetious here)–have no clue who he is.
No harm could be done if Michigan State put Ringer’s name out there. Unfortunately, there are a lot of SIDs who like to sit on the media capital they’ve accumulated over the years and not spend it. They worry about their credibility being damaged if the player screws up and the campaign implodes (in reality, no one cares if a PR campaign doesn’t work–they are quickly forgotten). They don’t want to be seen as ‘crying wolf’ for a player who ends up being a bust. It’s a ‘safe’ mentality that can end up negating a lot of opportunities for so many hard-working players who are busting their butts for their schools.
Javon Ringer carried the ball 44 times last week. Give the man a bobble head, for crying out loud.
There are still plenty of people in the state of Texas that deride the Heisman campaign of ‘lectric Leland McElroy.