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Officials see priceless publicity in Obama-Clinton matchup
By Carol Biliczky
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Saturday, Feb 23, 2008
Cleveland State officials' jaws dropped when they got the chance to host a debate between Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The debate Tuesday, plus two tapings of Chris Matthews' Hardball, will offer CSU more publicity than it could buy.
In addition, NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams will broadcast live from CSU's Wolstein Center both Monday and Tuesday.
''If it's properly managed, it will be a gold mine,'' said Benoy Joseph, CSU's associate dean for academic affairs and a professor of marketing. ''It does nothing but good.''
The event will bring back 1976 Cleveland State law graduate Tim Russert and anchor Williams of NBC to moderate live from CSU's Wolstein Center. Random public, Democratic Party
and student lotteries, with some tickets going directly to NBC, already have divvied up the 1,500 tickets for the debate.
That isn't a big audience, given that the sports and entertainment complex can seat 13,000, but more than 600 media representatives will be on hand to report the event around the globe.
NBC's ground rules require Cleveland State to cover or remove any advertising — for the university or others — in the Wolstein Center for the debate.
But the university is requiring those who attend the Hardball tapings to wear CSU T-shirts that it will provide. And banners and signs promoting the university will go up in the Wolstein Center's media room and other nondebate areas and at student ''watch'' parties outside the center, CSU spokesman Brian Johnston.
CSU student workers and volunteers are being encouraged to wear Cleveland State T-shirts and caps where they can. ''Nothing outlandish or terribly distracting. Lots of green, our school color,'' Johnston said.
While there won't be any outright sales pitches for the 16,000-student urban university, the debate will function like product placements do in the movies, Joseph said:
''It will be like when you see a Cadillac or a Chevy in a movie. You'll hear our name,'' he said.
On Friday morning, just 12 hours after the University of Texas at Austin hosted a similar debate, the university was the 10th-most searched item on the Internet search engine Google, Vice President Don Hale was told.
That debate was one of the biggest events ever to be held at the campus of 50,000 students, he said.
Yet it is the Cleveland State debate that may turn out to be the most pivotal of the 19 Democratic ones held so far, said Ned Hill, CSU's vice president for economic development.
Not only does the Cleveland debate come days before Ohio's March 4 primary, but also ''the networks have managed to take the Democratic primary season and turn it into a reality TV show,'' Hill said.
''They've brought Policy Wonk Survivor to a new level,'' he said.
Cleveland State is seeking sponsors of $2,000 to $50,000 to help underwrite the estimated price tag of $250,000 to $300,000 for the event. What it doesn't get in donations it will pay for in private funds, Johnston said.
Donations or extra enrollments that stem from the debate could take the edge off that, but that isn't for sure.
''It's the warm and fuzzy of any advertising campaign,'' Hill said. ''We hope you walk away with a really good impression of Northeast Ohio and Cleveland, associate it with an important event and that we put on a really quality production.''
Positive reactions probably would be short-lived, Joseph, the CSU marketing professor, said, because the public has a short memory.
But the biggest impact may be the enthusiasm the debates stir in students. Hale, the Texas university's vice president for public affairs, said students and faculty took ''amazing pride in the fact that it was held here.''
''They were saying, 'This is a big-time thing and it's at my university,' '' Hale said.
Joseph echoed that. ''This is a great learning experience for the students and builds strong positive feeling internally. It gets people to feel good about the university.''
Carol Biliczky can be reached at 330-996-3729 or cbiliczky@thebeaconjournal.com.
Cleveland State officials' jaws dropped when they got the chance to host a debate between Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Get the full article here.
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