Wow, having a look through all the CFL websites and seeing the marketing pieces the teams do at games....
I have to say the Alouettes by far have the ugliest and most inconsistent marketing of any team in the CFL. The Argos website is not far behind(in design and inconsistency).
From a marketing and design standpoint the teams that seem to have a consistent look and a strong strategy are the ti-cats, bombers and Lions.
As a fan of the Al's and a businessman/entrepreneur I've seen the design of the handouts, guides, brochures that the Als produce degrade year after year.
Their website has continued to fall apart visually as well, the splash page is horrible, and the visual elements along with the mess of fonts they use has turned the site into an unusable pizza with pages not found and horrible navigation.
Even the fundraising campaign for the stadium facelift did not visually create enough confidence for me to consider donating money to help the rebuilding effort. The web pages didn't even work properly. If you're going to ask for money for something at least make things look and work like you're going to put it to good use.
Design and marketing is part and parcel of what a team needs to do to give the fans the confidence in their team aside from fielding a solid team.
The synergy of what is done on and off the field makes the team click in the minds of fans and the community. The Ti-cats have done a tremendous job of creating a visually interesting and cohesive marketing strategy, now they just need to field a good team. When it all clicks the city will be buzzing. The Bombers also have a very strong and controlled look and their rebuilding efforts are going well.
I think Mr.and Mrs.Wettenhall need to look closely at the team behind the team and look at bringing new blood in to help right the marketing ship(among other areas). They have a great team with a great logo that works well for young and old fans alike. But the marketing "gurus"(yes that's sarcasm) have massacred/sacrificed all the equity in the brand to bend to $$$$. Yes it is about the money, but clever out of the box thinking can help.
The best campaign I've seen done for the Al's was done by Molson, smart, uncomplicated and entertaining. You can stretch a budget and make things work, you just need people with enough forward thinking to do that.
The tickets may be selling and the sponsors may be knocking but if they don't give them visual value for their money they'll move to another local team that is doing it right...like.... The Impact.
They've done a great job of creating a great team and connection with the community(both french and english) through marketing. Having been to autograph signings, both the Als and Impact players are entertaining, humble and great with fans but the Impact just looked prepared.... providing banners, flyers, cards, pictures, and structure to the event whereas when the Als do the same it is as if the team just lets the players fend for themselves, recycles product and throws in a cheerleader or two to sell their calendar.
This team has great ownership, they have some amazing players that constantly give to the community and are at a multitude of events, giving their time to help others.... why can't the team put that little extra into their things to make everything that much more special.
That is my two cents(maybe a little extra), what do you guys think?