Of the multitude of local celebs who appear in the above clip (Oklahoma University President David Boren, Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett amongst them, Daily Thunder‘s guest editorialist Clark Matthews writes, “I like some of those guys and respect most of them, but is seeing them cheese into a camera going to coax me into shelling out $60 to go sit underneath the basket? Or even $10 to traipse up to the nose bleeds?” More to the point, why are the Thunder so hellbent on goofy videos and billboards showcasing Nenad Krstic (!) and Russell Westbrook when they’ve got a bona fide megastar on the roster?
Seriously, any advertisement the marketing team sends out the door should feature Kevin Durant’s image prominently. This is similar to the mid-80™s Bulls trying to sell tickets by featuring Charles Oakley and John Paxson.
Most markets seem to understand this. When I was in Minneapolis last Summer you could not walk ten feet without seeing Joe Mauer or Adrian Peterson™s face on something. In Seattle this past Summer, Ichiro was everywhere. Even in Washington D.C. the Nationals were trying to use their star, who, let™s be honest no one outside of the Capitol had heard of, to convince people to buy tickets to their 100+ loss team.
Here? It™s as if the first superstar we™ve ever hosted is treated by the Thunder marketing office as that ugly statuette their mother-in-law got them that they hide in the closet until she comes over to visit. Put me in those marketing meetings and I™m pitching a line of comic books to be given away free to Oklahoma City public schools that feature the Durantula playing one-on-one against a giant gila monster and a series of commercials where Durant shows up at people™s office and gives them bad advice¦the catch line œKevin Durant¦he may not know double entry bookkeeping, but don™t leave him open at the three point line.
Excellent points all around by Matthews, but I must take exception to his diss of the Nationals’ Adam Dunn. Even within the Beltway no one wants to see him.