Brooks Boyer Q&A -- Part I

[greasywheels121]

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Brooks Boyer Q&A -- Part I

VP marketing and broadcasting discusses his goals

By Scott Merkin / MLB.com

 

CHICAGO -- Wearing a 1959 throwback White Sox jersey and looking as young as a rookie pitcher, it should have been very easy for Brooks Boyer to blend in with the big crowds this past weekend during the 13th annual SoxFest.

But the astute White Sox fans already have identified the team's vice president of marketing and broadcasting, who has begun his first full season on the job.

 

South Side supporters approach Boyer with suggestions on everything from promotional ideas right on through ways to handle ticket sales. Boyer always has a smile ready and gives time to all of these staunch White Sox supporters, whether he's standing behind the ticket sales table, answering questions on stage with just the right amount of humor during the weekend's final seminar or responding to a plethora of e-mails from his office.

 

The former Notre Dame basketball standout took over the reins late last April after Rob Gallas resigned, overseeing the team's marketing, promotions and broadcasting, as well as ticket, sponsorship and suite sales. He came to the White Sox after a decade with the Bulls, serving the final six years as senior director of corporate partnerships.

 

As Boyer makes his mark on the White Sox, his focus remains true to the same ultimate goal that was front and center with Jerry Reinsdorf's NBA franchise: Boyer wants to see the White Sox win a championship.

 

After the official close of SoxFest, Boyer sat down with MLB.com and talked about a wide range of topics, ranging from what he has learned about the White Sox to his specific plans involving the marketing of the team. Part one of the interview runs today, with part two following on Monday.

 

MLB.com: Talk about your first SoxFest and the entire experience.

 

Boyer: You know, I really enjoyed it. My favorite part was the interaction with the fans. It wasn't necessarily sitting up on the seminar podium but being on the floor. It was people stopping by and sharing ideas.

 

Jerry Reinsdorf said it best. I was with him at one of our season-ticket holder signings, and someone came to him and said, "I love what you have done with your team." Jerry stopped him right there and said, "It's our team." That's what it really is. It's our team. I'm the marketing guy for our team. That's how I really want people to think about it.

 

I hope people feel comfortable approaching me. People have all sorts of ideas -- some of them good, some of them bad. Some of them we could use. Some of them that might be good enough to polish up and do certain things. I know that there's no way to make everyone happy all the time. You try to make most people happy, most of the time. If you have done that, then it's an A [grade].

 

There are going to be people disappointed with decisions I make, and there will be people who enjoy some of the things we do. You take the good with the bad, and from a marketing perspective, you just try to make it about the fan experience. It's not about the marketing department. It's not about me. It's not about Kenny [Williams] or Ozzie [Guillen] or Jerry. It's about the whole experience.

 

MLB.com: You said last year when you took over that things already were pretty much in place, in terms of marketing for 2004. But what did you learn about the White Sox, in regards to marketing the team, to draw a broader fan base?

 

Boyer: Be more relevant to more people. Give people an experience they are proud of, and invite people. Make U.S. Cellular Field not only a destination for a tourist or an outsider, but also a destination for people in our own community. It's a destination for people in Chicago.

 

We want people saying, "You know, I have so much fun when I go to those White Sox games. Let's go tonight." If we can start doing that and start churning and churning ... It's not a one-year thing.

 

My staff and I can't be miracle workers, but it's a process we are committed to and we are going to keep working and keep working and keep working to make it more relevant to more people. We want to make the entertainment experience what our fans want.

 

Ultimately, the fans will decided what's good and what's bad. We will pay attention to what they want.

 

MLB.com: Baseball on the other side of town gets criticized as more of a party, with the park being as much of a destination as the team itself. You don't want to turn U.S. Cellular into that sort of situation, but then again, this is a game and shouldn't be taken so seriously as something such as performing brain surgery. What I'm trying to say is that the team's goal always is to win, but there's nothing wrong with fans going to the park simply to have fun.

 

Boyer: Absolutely not. The key is to have fun at the ballpark. If having fun is sitting and drinking beers with your buddies in the Wrigley Field bleachers, that's great. I've done that. There are probably a lot of White Sox fans who have done that. On the flip side, give our experience a try as well.

 

MLB.com: You aren't shooting to be Wrigley Field. You are shooting to make White Sox baseball a product of the whole experience.

 

Boyer: We will be something completely different from Wrigley Field. There's no comparison. We have too much stuff here. The Wrigley Field experience can't compare itself to us. They don't have a Diamond Vision. They don't have the technology we have. They don't have the organist we have. They have an organ, but they don't have the organist we have.

 

They don't have the Fundamentals deck. They don't have the Conference and Learning Center. They don't have terrace suites like we have. We have certain things that they don't have that makes our experience unique. I don't ever find myself comparing us against the Cubs because the experiences are so different.

 

MLB.com: Talk about the "Sox Pride" campaign you implemented and how well that panned out in 2004. Was that part of your plan to make the product more relevant?

 

Boyer: I thought that worked great. It hit the core fan, but it also made the peripheral fan think, "I identify with that." That's the first step, saying I do understand the blue collar mentality and I do understand hard work. There are a lot of White Sox fans that are affluent and have a lot of money, but the roots they identify with are blue collar. It's really what we are. That's what Sox Pride did for our brand.

 

MLB.com: So, what are you trying to do this year to build on that theme and make the product more relevant?

 

Boyer: We started our own game entertainment department, a brand new department within the marketing department, that is focused solely on the experience the fan has when they walk into the ballpark. From the time they get into the parking lots, to the ticket takers, to the pre-game entertainment, to the in-game entertainment, to the post-game press conference, we are really going to focus on what the experience is all about.

 

Hopefully, that makes it more relevant. That's how we will do it from a game presentation standpoint. From an advertising standpoint, we are going to start pulling at some of those emotional heart chords of what it is like, what does the logo mean? What's the emotional connection the logo has to the people?

 

MLB.com: How are the changes being made to the ballpark moving along as the season approaches?

 

Boyer: The Fundamentals will be ready. Scout seats will be ready.

 

You will have green seats in the scout seats, the club seats and all of left field. For the Fundamentals deck, the seats will be green and the bleachers will be green. Over the course of the season, we will put in green seats, section by section, in the upper deck when the team goes out of town. In the off-season next year, the whole lower level will be done.

 

MLB.com: There seems to be a trend in some of the modern ballparks, where baseball takes a backseat to the entertainment. It's almost like an amusement park that features baseball. White Sox fans are pretty hardcore baseball fans, so how important is it to find that balance?

 

Boyer: With this knowledgeable fan base and with what their expectations are, you can't slap them across the face and say this is your new experience. You have to blend the old and new. But I think we have a plan that does that really, really well.

 

MLB.com: Obviously, nothing helps your marketing of the team more than Freddy Garcia winning 20 games, Mark Buehrle winning 20 games and the team winning the American League Central.

 

Boyer: How about Jon Garland winning 20 or El Duque winning 20? If we can get all five our guys to win 20 games, then that's the greatest marketing tool ever.

[YASNY]

It sounds like Brooks knows the best way to fill the ballpark. Let's hope he can convince JR.

[CSF]

Wearing a 1959 throwback White Sox jersey and looking as young as a rookie pitcher, it should have been very easy for Brooks Boyer to blend in with the big crowds this past weekend during the 13th annual SoxFest.

 

 

A "suit" that's not really a suit. Nice.