Oklahoma City Thunder and Oklahoma City in the media

[HOT ROD]

Ok Guys, in this thread - please comment on your thoughts of the Media coverage of the team AND the city, as well as reactions. Please post any pics or videos as well.

[HOT ROD]

I'll start, ESPN coverage of the opener is spectacular. They did a very good job including the urban landscape of downtown during the pregame show and used the skyscrapers in backdrops as much as possible. My only suggestion is they just used the East front but didn't really do anything inside the cbd or the 'more appealing' west or NW/SW fronts - at least so far in the Pre-Game.

Also, Im surprised there wasn't any celebrations going on downtown - as it looked quite bare in the lower bricktown interviews. But that could have been on a different day, but still ......

Also, not very much of Devon tower - I only saw it once, barely made it viewable from LowBrick fountain.

[ndmoore]

Well I noticed one shot right before the start of the 2nd period from the fountains in front of Harkins. The footage was is about 3 years old, the current Mid-America tower had the old Devon logo on it.

[metro]

The media coverage as well as the team's advertising is LAME at best. It boggles me how little promotion goes on for this MAJOR LEAGUE team, we certainly have MINOR LEAGUE levels of promotion. I assume they are just saving advertising dollars since the team is doing just fine, but I think they dismiss the branding and PR opportunities that are so important, especially for a young team in a new market. I can't ever recall seeing a Thunder TV commercial on anything other than half McClendon/Ward owned rinky dink station KSBI.

[Popsy]

"LAME at best"? Seems to me most everyone in Oklahoma knows who they are as they are in the newspaper and on TV constantly during the season. They are well known to most people that follow basketball in the Country from the national press and TV exposure from ESPN and Fox Sports. They have fans in other countries and that will only grow. They are constantly sending their players and employees to retirement homes, schools, hospitals, etc. representing the Thunder. What do they need to do to get you to take them out of the LAME category Sparky? There are many times that I think you and Spartan were separated at birth from the brain as you both strive to appear superior by critizing most everything. To your credit however you do not appear to make up quite as many facts as he does. Bottom line here is that I would rather see them spending on talent than on marginal TV advertising.

[OKCisOK4me]

I would really like to know what percentage of OKC metro area residents are actually Thunder fans. It's the beginning of the season and driving out and about, rarely leads me to believe many of us are fans. I replaced my OSU plate on my car with my Thunder plate and I'm still down to get some window flags and the state license Thunder plate. I've seen a few other cars decked out but not very many!

[HOT ROD]

I understand what you're saying metro, but give it some time. The team is still new and like you've said - they are already quite successful. Sometimes, it is best to let a team settle in organically THEN once the Ford Center is complete and downtown is more complete - promote the entire product.

Like Popsy has said, the Thunder gets GREAT national and worldwide exposure/promotion. EVERYBODY in China knows who Kevin Durant is and while they may not realize or know he plays in Oklahoma City - I imagine that will begin to change as more of OKC's games are shown on China Television CCTV5.

It seems in a way, tha the Thunder leadership is doing things organically and letting the Thunder's results speak for itself for a while. It would be risky to roll out but the team not gell or start to fail. However, if we can have years of improvement and perhaps make it to the conference finals and downtown gets 'finished' - I would imagine local promotion would skyrocket since it would also be a sense of pride.

As for the local media coverage - I can't speak for that and it is a shame if they aren't covering. In Seattle, the Sonics received instant and frequent coverage stories and reports, even in the bad times. So perhaps we just need the OKC media to step up to being major league and maybe it isn't really much of an issue for PBC yet.