Webisodes a Gimmick?

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Per another contentious thread, is the Webisode phenonmena a brilliant, long overdue Gopher marketing/recruiting campaign conceived by Joel, Dave and Jerry or simply a Brew-type gimmick?

Gimmick or not, the Gophers have generated a great deal of attention/buzz in Minny and across the nation with this promotion of Kill's staff and program. Great content for fans and recruits...I hope these continue right through the summer and into 2/d camp.

My tip-of-the hat to Joel and Dave for making this happen.
 

Gimmick, no. But I think we've seen enough. Seems like they filmed 4 interviews and 50 minutes of practice footage and have stretched it as far as humanly possible. You can only use Kill chasing down Dajon once. Enough of the same Rallis interview. New content please!
 

Section2 said:
Gimmick, no. But I think we've seen enough. Seems like they filmed 4 interviews and 50 minutes of practice footage and have stretched it as far as humanly possible. You can only use Kill chasing down Dajon once. Enough of the same Rallis interview. New content please!
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I love the webisodes too, but you are correct. Maybe they should take a hiatus until they have some new content. It does seem that they could do some stuff with players even while practice is over, such as follow them around campus and get a peek into their personal lives. Just something besides watching the same practice every time.
 

I don't see any problem with it. It's not like there is a lot of other things going on right now with Gopher football.
 

Yes, they are a gimmick by definition.

A gimmick is not necessarily a bad or negative thing. A gimmick can be a good thing.

The webisodes are one of those positive gimmicks - IMO enjoyable, informative, and most importantly, well-put together.
 


GophersInIowa said:
I don't see any problem with it. It's not like there is a lot of other things going on right now with Gopher football.
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I love them. I would just rather have 8 awesome ones, than 20 diluted ones.
 

I believe when they came out with the webisode series they also mentioned they were going to have a couple 30 minute long specials on BTN throughout the summer.....If that is accurate I wonder what type of footage and content they are going to dig up to have a 30 minute episode?
 

Found it...

"Four 30-minute shows and weekly webisodes are being produced in a reality-based, documentary-style production that will give Gopher fans a never-before-seen look at the inner workings of the Minnesota football program. "Minnesota Football: Seeing Is Believing" will chronicle the Gophers' journey from the first day of spring practice through the kickoff of the 2011 season. The four 30-minute "Minnesota Football: Seeing Is Believing" television shows are slated to air later this summer on Fox Sports North and the Big Ten Network. "

I hope they have some sweet content up their sleeve for these!
 

Section2 said:
I love them. I would just rather have 8 awesome ones, than 20 diluted ones.
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I get what you're saying, and I kind of agree, but the content of each webisode has for the most part been different each time, though obviously some main themes definitely repeat. It's the footage that is very repetitive, since the football action of Kill they're gonna have is from those 15 spring practices. Where else are they gonna get it from?
 



Hammer Time said:
Found it...

"Four 30-minute shows and weekly webisodes are being produced in a reality-based, documentary-style production that will give Gopher fans a never-before-seen look at the inner workings of the Minnesota football program. "Minnesota Football: Seeing Is Believing" will chronicle the Gophers' journey from the first day of spring practice through the kickoff of the 2011 season. The four 30-minute "Minnesota Football: Seeing Is Believing" television shows are slated to air later this summer on Fox Sports North and the Big Ten Network. "

I hope they have some sweet content up their sleeve for these!
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I'll bet a large portion of the shows are the webisodes re-aired together.
 

Section2 said:
Gimmick, no. But I think we've seen enough. Seems like they filmed 4 interviews and 50 minutes of practice footage and have stretched it as far as humanly possible. You can only use Kill chasing down Dajon once. Enough of the same Rallis interview. New content please!
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Hit the nail on the head! I think they only had the budget for limited filming and didn't realize how popular they were going to be. So they're really reaching now, but it's the same thing every week.
 

It's clear that they've spent a lot of time focusing on the coaching staff and given the "who is Kill?" response that was very prevalent early on (especially by the casual fan not reading GHole, etc) that makes sense. What I'm hoping is that they can find more angles like Beal's visualization board. That stuff is even farther "behind the scenes" and further connects the fan base to the team.
 

josh087 said:
I'll bet a large portion of the shows are the webisodes re-aired together.
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Maybe the first parts of the series. But if it's going to tell stories all the way until the season then we'll get plenty of new fall practice stuff too.
 



BisonGopher said:
Hit the nail on the head! I think they only had the budget for limited filming and didn't realize how popular they were going to be. So they're really reaching now, but it's the same thing every week.
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This could be true. 3 Penny has gotten recognition for this concept (also doing these for Miami) so it's possible that as a new idea they didn't know how people would respond. Not sure if budget plays any role...it could just be underestimating the appetite for these segments which could lead to less planning ahead for new story lines.
 

GoAUpher said:
It's clear that they've spent a lot of time focusing on the coaching staff and given the "who is Kill?" response that was very prevalent early on (especially by the casual fan not reading GHole, etc) that makes sense. What I'm hoping is that they can find more angles like Beal's visualization board. That stuff is even farther "behind the scenes" and further connects the fan base to the team.
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Sorry AU, you can't convince me that 3P planning meetings went something like this "ok guys, we've got a new coach at Minn - lets spent 10.5 of the first 12 episodes having Kill repeat the same thing over and over and while we're at it, lets show him giving the same speech to the team on a knee and the same scene of him running after a player over and over too".

They had enough content for about 4 episodes and have managed to stretch it into 11. The episode where they went to the player's apartment was original and great stuff.
 

I'm not saying that they planned out all 12 episodes thus far and thus planned to rerun stuff. To me it looks like they fulled planned out the first 6 or 7 webisodes since those were the ones with the freshest content. So look at the focus of the webisodes before they had to start repeating themes (as well as the rest of them):
#1: First Spring Practice - Not focused solely on the coaches, but obviously explaining who they are and what they care about is a big part of this.
#2: Defensive Coaches - self explanatory
#3: I'll Trust What You Do - introduction to Kill and his philosophy
#4: Meet The Offensive Staff - self explanatory
#5: Cosgrove Visits Practice - the first webisode to focus in on the backstory of a specific player
#6: Buying In - focuses on how the team is buying into the new coaching staff and their philosophy
#7: Chasing the Dream - introduces us to walk-on DB Chase Haviland
#8: Loyalty - more on the coaching staff. As I recall this is where is started to get somewhat repetitive#(.
#9: Building Trust - also focuses on players trusting/buying in to the new staff. More repetition.
#10: Envisioning Success - Introduces us to Beal and his vision board (as well as Rallis and his take on it).
#11: The Minnesota Way - more focus on the Kill's style and philosophy. Some new stuff, some repetition.
#12: Kill's Enthusiasm - Another focus on Kill...much more repetitive.

The majority of the early webisodes before things started to get repetitive (5 of the first 7) all focused on the staff or how the players were buying into the staff (which in turn was telling everyone more about the staff). That is clearly a conscious choice.

From that point on they've made a choice to continue with similar storylines even though they are getting more repetitive. Why? Could be lots of reasons. But it's clear they meant to use these to sell Kill's version of the program.
 

GoAUpher said:
I'm not saying that they planned out all 12 episodes thus far and thus planned to rerun stuff. To me it looks like they fulled planned out the first 6 or 7 webisodes since those were the ones with the freshest content. So look at the focus of the webisodes before they had to start repeating themes (as well as the rest of them):
#1: First Spring Practice - Not focused solely on the coaches, but obviously explaining who they are and what they care about is a big part of this.
#2: Defensive Coaches - self explanatory
#3: I'll Trust What You Do - introduction to Kill and his philosophy
#4: Meet The Offensive Staff - self explanatory
#5: Cosgrove Visits Practice - the first webisode to focus in on the backstory of a specific player
#6: Buying In - focuses on how the team is buying into the new coaching staff and their philosophy
#7: Chasing the Dream - introduces us to walk-on DB Chase Haviland
#8: Loyalty - more on the coaching staff. As I recall this is where is started to get somewhat repetitive#(.
#9: Building Trust - also focuses on players trusting/buying in to the new staff. More repetition.
#10: Envisioning Success - Introduces us to Beal and his vision board (as well as Rallis and his take on it).
#11: The Minnesota Way - more focus on the Kill's style and philosophy. Some new stuff, some repetition.
#12: Kill's Enthusiasm - Another focus on Kill...much more repetitive.

The majority of the early webisodes before things started to get repetitive (5 of the first 7) all focused on the staff or how the players were buying into the staff (which in turn was telling everyone more about the staff). That is clearly a conscious choice.

From that point on they've made a choice to continue with similar storylines even though they are getting more repetitive. Why? Could be lots of reasons. But it's clear they meant to use these to sell Kill's version of the program.
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Nice breakdown. Ok, here is what I'll concede: episodes 1-4 did the job of introducing the staff, Kill's philosophy and some nice footage from a spring practice, episodes 5, 7 and 10 were exceptional and what the off-season webisodes should be. Episodes 6, 8, 9, 11 and 12 are worthless.
 

BisonGopher said:
Nice breakdown. Ok, here is what I'll concede: episodes 1-4 did the job of introducing the staff, Kill's philosophy and some nice footage from a spring practice, episodes 5, 7 and 10 were exceptional and what the off-season webisodes should be. Episodes 6, 8, 9, 11 and 12 are worthless.
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+1
 

The point of repetition is learning. You are able, bright, intelligent people who tune into these things and that is great. Although, I am sure you hate the repetitive nature of the posts. Not everybody is going to pay attention to the whole group of episodes. So, repetition of important points is a must. Your professors, the good ones, would repeat major themes time and again, allowing it to sink in. Good presenters repeat themes. Good advertising hones in on the brand image so often you know Coke is the Real Thing, or whatever their jingle is today. They are not worthless and they are enhancing the brand image of the school and the staff. All of the episodes show different context of similar content. Congratulations for discovering the repetitive themes so quickly. Move to the head of the class.
 

I think the Webisodes are well done - keep them coming! Ignore the harters!
 


Parski1 said:
I think the Webisodes are well done - keep them coming! Ignore the harters!
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Forget about trying to make the GH crowd happy. Those who have been around for awhile have never seen as much pub. Now that we have more and more, it gets ripped!

Go figure.
 

Section2 said:
I love them. I would just rather have 8 awesome ones, than 20 diluted ones.
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I agree but I don't think the first 8 are all of a sudden not as good now because they may end up doing 20.

8 awesome ones and 12 average ones is still better than 8 awesome ones only in my opinion.
 

GophersInIowa said:
I agree but I don't think the first 8 are all of a sudden not as good now because they may end up doing 20.

8 awesome ones and 12 average ones is still better than 8 awesome ones only in my opinion.
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It's just if you like quantity or quality I guess. I was just so blown away by the first bunch, I hate to see them reaching. I'll still watch everything they pump out. My only point is, if you want to do more, just get some different footage, do new interviews, etc.
 

GophersInIowa said:
I agree but I don't think the first 8 are all of a sudden not as good now because they may end up doing 20.

8 awesome ones and 12 average ones is still better than 8 awesome ones only in my opinion.
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Why not do 20 awesome episodes that focus on players, coaches, the experience of being a football student athlete at the U of Minn, etc?

Why not do 20 episodes like the Chase Haviland episode or the vision board episode?



That's not an unreasonable gripe. Not when we've seen how well they can be done - only to have to settle for the same regurgitation of Kill running after a player in spring ball.
 

It is no more a gimmick than is going on TV to give an interview. The only thing is, with the internet, the U doesn't need to restrict itself to what media access other people give you.
 

Drip, drip, drip. Marketing 101, just keep getting the message out there.
 

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