The Rams today are "debuting their first marketing campaign since the club received permission to relocate from St. Louis in January," according to Daniel Kaplan of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. Dubbed “We’re Home,” the effort features "three players at locations around L.A." The ads, which will appear only outdoors, are on more than 100 billboards and wrapped around city buses, trains and transit shelters." The ads featuring WR Tavon Austin, DT Aaron Donald and RB Todd Gurley "were developed by local ad agency Art Machine in conjunction with the NFL." The league "helped develop the tag lines 'Welcome Home' and 'We’re Home,' which have already appeared on tickets and in sponsor material." The campaign is on "both static and digital billboards, a large scale painted building, and aerial beach ads, in addition to the transit element" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 8/22 issue).
THE NEW PROCESS: THE MMQB's Albert Breer noted Rams Exec VP/Football Operations & COO Kevin Demoff is not "under the illusion" that the Rams can draw a like they did for the preseason opener against the Cowboys "every week without working at it." The challenge is the "three-year runway in front of the Rams" before the new Inglewood stadium opens. There is a "decent chance that the newness of it all carries the team" through the '16 season. Then in '18, it will be the L.A. Coliseum’s "last hurrah as an NFL venue, and a lookahead to Inglewood." So '17 "figures to be the pivotal year, where the Rams aren’t brand new anymore and the new stadium is still away on the horizon." The club also "acknowledges that -- given the competition in a market with eight pro teams, two major colleges and an endless array of entertainment options -- they’ll have to compete for the consumer’s dollar in a market full of people who’ve been conditioned for two decades to watch the NFL from their couch." But the Rams see the possible reward in cracking the L.A. market as being "off the charts." Demoff: "Modern-day Los Angeles and the modern-day NFL really have a chance to combine to create something spectacular" (MMQB.SI.com, 8/18).
