Bulldog entrepreneurial brainstorms

[Ghost Dog]

Lantern and Sedat, the business 'dragons' of woof had some interesting comments today regarding taking a more business oriented approach to club decision making.

There seem to be a few entrepreneurial types on here. I seem to recall having cert IV in small business myself ( from the Ivy league of the south eastern suburbs, Homesglen TAFE. ). So business types, what are your big ideas?

Let me start this.

I happened to be having a yarn with a bloke in a pub who's partner helps run the MCC. He was very fat, wore a lot of bling and was a real estate agent in Sydney. In short he seemed quite qualified.
His view, for example, was that we should dump Mission as a sponsor immediately and find a more 'upmarket' sponsor, as they look ' cheap'. Anyone agree? Personally, I like their wraps but can see the logic.

One other idea or comment business wise. I was told by a Bulldogs staff member that the reason we can't hold VFL games at Whitten oval is because it is an open ground. This is great for community events but is a problem as you need a gated oval to collect takings. Anyone can comment on this? It seems nuts to have a ground so close to the city and not be using it for VFL games.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Lantern and Sedat, the business 'dragons' of woof had some interesting comments today regarding taking a more business oriented approach to club decision making.

There seem to be a few entrepreneurial types on here. I seem to recall having cert IV in small business myself ( from the Ivy league of the south eastern suburbs, Homesglen TAFE. ). So business types, what are your big ideas?

Let me start this.

I happened to be having a yarn with a bloke in a pub who's partner helps run the MCC. He was very fat, wore a lot of bling and was a real estate agent in Sydney. In short he seemed quite qualified.
His view, for example, was that we should dump Mission as a sponsor immediately and find a more 'upmarket' sponsor, as they look ' cheap'. Anyone agree? Personally, I like their wraps but can see the logic.

One other idea or comment business wise. I was told by a Bulldogs staff member that the reason we can't hold VFL games at Whitten oval is because it is an open ground. This is great for community events but is a problem as you need a gated oval to collect takings. Anyone can comment on this? It seems nuts to have a ground so close to the city and not be using it for VFL games.

I went to a VFL game there a few weeks back.

Victoria Park doesn't have a fence either

[Ghost Dog]

I went to a VFL game there a few weeks back.

Victoria Park doesn't have a fence either

So they plan to hold regular games at Whitten oval? or it was just a one off thing?
Re the gate thing, that's what I was told, by a member of staff.

[jeemak]

I'm glad last night's earthquake didn't reach the lofty heights on the Richter Scale that your post reached on the Self-deprecation Scale mate! :D

Thread has some merit, though I'll immediately state that I'm not sure your friend from the MCC quite understands the logistics behind dumping a major sponsor, when in our situation. Not knowing the context of your discussion with him it's hard to say a lot more on his proposal, other than it sounds as if his point of view comes from somebody used to working with an established premium brand, rather than one like ours.

The MCC is in a position where numerous suppliers are lining up to get its business and practically speaking, as far as stadium contracts are concerned in this country it has more pull than Coles and Woolworths do over their vendors when they tender their business.

In an environment where both international and local businesses are becoming exremely frugal with their advertising and sponsorship dollars, our football club will not be in a position to expose itself to a lack of sponsorship in the manner suggested.

With respect to VFL games, I prefer to have Williamstown play football at Williamstown, where they belong. That club's culture is as rich as ours, and it shouldn't be diluted any further than it has been to this point.


So, what do I think needs to be done? I'll draw from your first point and the position suggested by the man from the MCC. Ultimately, we should consider being in a situation where we put our club brand out to tender for sponsorship interest as an end goal. To do this, we need to completely accept the desperate nature of our current situation, where three consecutive preliminary finals has resulted in some overall growth in membership, counterbalanced by a recent dip in membership. A dip in membership in a market where every other team seems to be increasing in membership should ring panic bells for the club's administration, its members and supporters. Realising we're in a dire situation immediately, will be beneficial to our future cause.

My limited marketing experience and education tells me we are a club struggling with its positioning, and a club that is not managing the external noise and interference very well. On the spot I'm not prepared to post anymore, and even though I've given our situation much thought to this point, this week's occurences have set me back a little in my thinking.

[chef]

Lantern and Sedat, the business 'dragons' of woof had some interesting comments today regarding taking a more business oriented approach to club decision making.

There seem to be a few entrepreneurial types on here. I seem to recall having cert IV in small business myself ( from the Ivy league of the south eastern suburbs, Homesglen TAFE. ). So business types, what are your big ideas?

Let me start this.

I happened to be having a yarn with a bloke in a pub who's partner helps run the MCC. He was very fat, wore a lot of bling and was a real estate agent in Sydney. In short he seemed quite qualified.
His view, for example, was that we should dump Mission as a sponsor immediately and find a more 'upmarket' sponsor, as they look ' cheap'. Anyone agree? Personally, I like their wraps but can see the logic.

One other idea or comment business wise. I was told by a Bulldogs staff member that the reason we can't hold VFL games at Whitten oval is because it is an open ground. This is great for community events but is a problem as you need a gated oval to collect takings. Anyone can comment on this? It seems nuts to have a ground so close to the city and not be using it for VFL games.

Problem is these companies won't want to sponsor us(the smallest membership outside the new franchises, not a glamour side, plus our crowd sizes and lack of prime time free to air games). Beggars can't be choosers, we should be thankful for what we can get.

[Ghost Dog]

Problem is these companies won't want to sponsor us(the smallest membership outside the new franchises, not a glamour side, plus our crowd sizes and lack of prime time free to air games). Beggars can't be choosers, we should be thankful for what we can get.

Yes Yes but this is the entrepreneurial thread. And we must not only learn to spell that word without a spell checker, but begin to think in that way. Not beggars. A red white and blue start up with enormous potential. In some way, the risk of being our sponsor also may bring about opportunities, especially for a company that wants to establish itself in the west. Personally, I like Mission, but it's ok to debate and try to think a bit bigger.

[Maddog37]

It is a little bit chicken and egg GD. If we are succesful and Mission is on the jumper of a premiership team it will look alot sexier all of a sudden. On field success is the be all and end all.

[always right]

Can't say I've ever associated the Mission brand with "cheap". Long may they support us I say.

[Twodogs]

Yes Yes but this is the entrepreneurial thread. And we must not only learn to spell that word without a spell checker, but begin to think in that way. Not beggars. A red white and blue start up with enormous potential. In some way, the risk of being our sponsor also may bring about opportunities, especially for a company that wants to establish itself in the west. Personally, I like Mission, but it's ok to debate and try to think a bit bigger.


As far as competitive advantages go to me this is our biggest plus. Our colours, red white and blue, are the most famous and prestigious combination on the face of the planet and I think we could be using them a lot better.

Many, many organisations-from companys to nations-use R, W & B as their corportate branding. I think we could use our colours to our advantage a lot better than we do. Even something as simple as using the internet to establish an online presence in countrys like America and the UK seems to me like something worth doing.


All aboard the red white and blue express!

[Ghost Dog]

Right. and The move to the hoops was a good one I think.

"Anything worth doing has got moments of discomfort or even pain. And the pleasure so grossly outweighs everything else that you don't even notice."

[Mantis]

One other idea or comment business wise. I was told by a Bulldogs staff member that the reason we can't hold VFL games at Whitten oval is because it is an open ground. This is great for community events but is a problem as you need a gated oval to collect takings. Anyone can comment on this? It seems nuts to have a ground so close to the city and not be using it for VFL games.

If or when we have a VFL team this might become important, but as of right now our players play for Williamstown who last time I just checked had just spent a truckload of $$'s upgrading their own ground... One would think they would want to see a return on their investment.

[Ghost Dog]

If or when we have a VFL team this might become important, but as of right now our players play for Williamstown who last time I just checked had just spent a truckload of $$'s upgrading their own ground... One would think they would want to see a return on their investment.

Ok fair point. So is the ground being utilized enough in your view? if not, what other sorts of events could be held there?

[Twodogs]

Ok fair point. So is the ground being utilized enough in your view? if not, what other sorts of events could be held there?



The footy club doesnt own the ground. As far as I know officially it's a community asset owned by the City of Maribyrnong, the same as any other park or garden in the municipality. We have use of it for training purposes but any money making schemes would have to be OKd by council and I dont know that relations between council and the footy club are not at an all time high at the moment.

However to say it's not enclosed is wrong. It still has a fence around it and access is impossib le if the door to the Pound is locked. It just doesnt have gates or turnstiles the way it used to.


That's my reading of the situation. I'm happy to be corrected by anyone who has a better understanding.

[bornadog]

Ok fair point. So is the ground being utilized enough in your view? if not, what other sorts of events could be held there?

Have you been out to the ground at all?

Following on from the redevelopment of the ground the buildings are being used as follows:

* elite training centre - say no more

* 8 Old Grandstands - Now renovated and rental income received from Victoria UNi and Other tenants - estimated income $1 million. Plus Bulldogs Shop and Cafe

* Multi purpose sports centre consisting of four full size basketball courts - used 7 days per week, estimated $1 million in income.

* Day care centre - also earning dollars.

I think Whitten Oval is earning its keep.

[EasternWest]

However to say it's not enclosed is wrong. It still has a fence around it and access is impossible if the door to the Pound is locked. It just doesnt have gates or turnstiles the way it used to.

Is that true? A friend of mine is a football romantic and he recently organisd a pushbike tour to all the old VFL grounds, including WO. As far as I can recall, we just rode our bikes right up to the oval, no fences or gates in sight, straight off Barkly St.

[Eastdog]

I think when they were doing the Whitten Oval redevelopment it was just going to be a training facility for us and wasn't intended to play games there. The Showgrounds idea of developing a new ground there might be where the future 3rd stadium might be for games that don't draw big crowds. The East meet West day I think could be promoted a lot better than it is. What do people think of it being held in January?

[BulldogBelle]

Could we consider what Colllingwood have done and what I understand many European soccer clubs do?

Customers buy our merchandise for the club name, not for the sporting apparel brand associated with it


Collingwood has gone into partnership with a Melbourne-based company that will make the famed guernsey in China — with the club taking a share of all profits from merchandise sales.

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/pies-put-their-shirts-on-move-into-rag-trade-20120505-1y673.html

[Twodogs]

Is that true? A friend of mine is a football romantic and he recently organisd a pushbike tour to all the old VFL grounds, including WO. As far as I can recall, we just rode our bikes right up to the oval, no fences or gates in sight, straight off Barkly St.


I'll check the next time I go past.

[LostDoggy]

Any marketing types here who have a business-minded opinion on the pros and cons of dropping 'Western' from our name and going back to 'Footscray'? I know a majority of supporters would love the idea, but how will it affect our bottom line?

[boydogs]

Any marketing types here who have a business-minded opinion on the pros and cons of dropping 'Western' from our name and going back to 'Footscray'? I know a majority of supporters would love the idea, but how will it affect our bottom line?

Suicide. Why alienate supporters in other western suburbs, and exclude ourselves from one of the fastest growing areas in the country?

[AndrewP6]

I think when they were doing the Whitten Oval redevelopment it was just going to be a training facility for us and wasn't intended to play games there. The Showgrounds idea of developing a new ground there might be where the future 3rd stadium might be for games that don't draw big crowds. The East meet West day I think could be promoted a lot better than it is. What do people think of it being held in January?

Love it. Would not be so excited if it was mid-year or another time. Gets us Eastern dogs (Sth Eastern in my case) a great chance to connect with the current squad.

[Eastdog]

Love it. Would not be so excited if it was mid-year or another time. Gets us Eastern dogs (Sth Eastern in my case) a great chance to connect with the current squad.

It's not too busy like the Whitten Oval family day in Feburary and you get easy access to the players for a chat. I went this year and might see you Andrew at the next East meets West day in 2013.

[immortalmike]

Don't know a huge amout about buisiness and the like. But I have a slight bit of expertise in Psychology and what people respond to, and I feel the one thing we are missing is something to rally behind, i.e., a club that stands for something other than being bland and safe. The membership commercial earlier this year was a good start but the Minson debacle has brought to light further that our administration is rather spineless and impotent when it comes to the AFL and people will not rally behind spineless and impotent. We ask our players to be tough, hard and unforgiving on the field, is it too much to ask the same of our leaders off the field.

[jeemak]

Don't know a huge amout about buisiness and the like. But I have a slight bit of expertise in Psychology and what people respond to, and I feel the one thing we are missing is something to rally behind, i.e., a club that stands for something other than being bland and safe. The membership commercial earlier this year was a good start but the Minson debacle has brought to light further that our administration is rather spineless and impotent when it comes to the AFL and people will not rally behind spineless and impotent. We ask our players to be tough, hard and unforgiving on the field, is it too much to ask the same of our leaders off the field.

It's an interesting point. I mean, our playing group and administration are probably right now thinking the same thing about our supporter base.

They bust their gut each week, for not many back slaps. Afterall, they only come when you're winning for the most part, and even then they can be few and far between.

[immortalmike]

It's an interesting point. I mean, our playing group and administration are probably right now thinking the same thing about our supporter base.

They bust their gut each week, for not many back slaps. Afterall, they only come when you're winning for the most part, and even then they can be few and far between.

Fair point. But I saw plenty of backslapping after the consecutive finals series. Plus isn't what you're suggesting blaming the customer (a big no no in marketing from what I'm told). The fact is the administration has done very well to keep us solvent, okay on field but they've done horribly when it comes to engaging the greater western area of Melbourne.

Just brainstorming here a little so bear with me for a second...but just think about it, we have an area the size of Adelaide that is basically our backyard, yet we have the lowest membership in the league (which was still relatively low when we were making prelims), have allowed Hawthorn, Collingwood, Essendon and Carlton to own clubs and bars in the area, barely visit schools west of Sunshine, and have lost significant ground to the roundball game. This all goes on top of alienating some supporters by changing our name from Footscray to the bland, safe and corporate Western in the hopes of engaging that area. Mind you in that time since the name change every team except maybe Brisbane, Port, Melbourne and North have grown their membership significantly more than us and at times with inferior on field success. Does this sound like a successful marketing/buisiness strategy to you?

So while I've always been the first to say well done to Smorgon and co for keeping the FFC solvent and alive. I thought that was no longer the goal, rather the goal was to get us to start thriving, and to that I believe our administration has failed miserably. And I think some of that failure can be attributed to our bland, corporatized image from the top down.

[chef]

Any marketing types here who have a business-minded opinion on the pros and cons of dropping 'Western' from our name and going back to 'Footscray'? I know a majority of supporters would love the idea, but how will it affect our bottom line?

I doubt that.
http://www.woof.net.au/forum/showthread.php?t=9826&page=4&highlight=footscray

[SonofScray]

Fair point. But I saw plenty of backslapping after the consecutive finals series. Plus isn't what you're suggesting blaming the customer (a big no no in marketing from what I'm told). The fact is the administration has done very well to keep us solvent, okay on field but they've done horribly when it comes to engaging the greater western area of Melbourne.

Just brainstorming here a little so bear with me for a second...but just think about it, we have an area the size of Adelaide that is basically our backyard, yet we have the lowest membership in the league (which was still relatively low when we were making prelims), have allowed Hawthorn, Collingwood, Essendon and Carlton to own clubs and bars in the area, barely visit schools west of Sunshine, and have lost significant ground to the roundball game. This all goes on top of alienating some supporters by changing our name from Footscray to the bland, safe and corporate Western in the hopes of engaging that area. Mind you in that time since the name change every team except maybe Brisbane, Port, Melbourne and North have grown their membership significantly more than us and at times with inferior on field success. Does this sound like a successful marketing/buisiness strategy to you?

So while I've always been the first to say well done to Smorgon and co for keeping the FFC solvent and alive. I thought that was no longer the goal, rather the goal was to get us to start thriving, and to that I believe our administration has failed miserably. And I think some of that failure can be attributed to our bland, corporatized image from the top down.

Great post. In terms of my understanding, I slept through a few years of Marketing at uni, did marketing strategy and consumer behaviour and heaps of research topics in combination w/ Psych. Work in mental health now in a management position but don't get a great deal of opportunity to keep up with marketing principles and try my hand at high level strategy stuff so I wouldn't claim to have the most solid of view, but:

In throwing out Footscray, we turned our back on some features of the Club'd identity that lend itself t our stories and myths which in turn play a huge role in brand identity and culture. Garlick seems to understand but the previous efforts admin wise have thrown the baby out with the bath water, ran with an unsuccessful campaign and robbed the existing supporter base of its right to be proud of, and explicitly understand what following this Club sys about them.

HOF, Footsray End and #westernfront have been good, but we are coming from a long way back. There doesn't seem to have been any real solid evaluation built into the Western change, but the sort of data you raised is pretty damning, just IMO.

[Ghost Dog]

Some good points. First, we have to be far more Visible in the west. More billboards, more of the colours, more community programs.

Secondly, football is primarily about fitness. Bulldogs gyms?, ( of even just a few cars with the logo all over them doing those morning fitness clinics for mums in the park. )

Bulldog sports suppliments ? , Adam Cooney / Barry Hall appearing on 'the biggest loser', or other weight loss shows, tapping into that whole fitness, weight loss, health area. Just thinking broad brush stuff.

Happy community is a healthy one, and would like to see Bulldogs at the forefront of public health in the West. Get a great following, build our brand like that.

[LostDoggy]

Not a comprehensive post by any means, but just responding to some of the Footscray/Western connotations. There seems to be an assumption that successful businesses can only be built on the back of a white collar customer base ie. that we have to go after the middle class or higher.

The biggest and fastest growing businesses in the US are targeting the working class. Wal-Mart sell $300 80-inch plasmas etc., and have grown into the biggest corporation in the US on the back of selling to blue collar consumers. Fast-food chains like Subway etc. have done the same, and in Australia, Bunnings, JB, Rebel etc. have a very strong blue collar market strategy, and haven't done too badly.

I really don't understand the cultural cringe that forces us to reject our blue collar roots. The only other club smack bang in that market in Victoria are Collingwood, and we have even more working class bona-fides, being part of the West that isn't invaded by hipsters the way modern-day Collingwood (the suburb) is. Every other club is already saturating the middle and white collar markets, so why would we corporatise and move into the areas of strengths of our competitors?

The stupidest part of all of this is that in the last two years, blue collar workers have for the first time in the history of Australian statistics overtaken white collar workers in terms of median wage, so there is actually MORE disposable cash in our prime demographic than in the areas we seem to keep wanting to tap into.

Purely from a marketing perspective, we should be looking to become MORE bogan, not less. If we had some lateral thinkers, I would absolutely turn the Will episode into a positive, not a negative: don't be all apologetic about being nutcases, tack on a picture of Will to an ad campaign centred around the concept of 'Snarling' (a key codeword in our song) and just really play up our tough guy image, standing up to the man, taking no backward steps -- stuff that really play with the blue collar demographic (just see any ute ad for how to be commercially sexist). Without being disrespectful to women or anything, let's really take back the blokey concept. Brands become stronger when you stay true to them and really focus on what they stand for, not try to broaden them too much.

[LostDoggy]

Turn our lack of success into a strength - play up our outsider status, really push the us against the system image, forget being politically correct;

when it comes to our 'Bulldog' brand, forget being cute and cuddly dogs, really go for the crazy rabid dogs on a chain imagery, create an intimidating identity around that, encourage rabid support of the team, really go for the 'cage fight' atmosphere at our home games. I know the AFL want to broaden our appeal to families etc., but we can let the Hawthorns and Carltons of this world worry about htat, let's take back the male bogan market who are happy to spend money on football. Get on beer ads, get a whole bunch of utes painted in red, white and blue as our company vehicles etc.

Make sure we are constantly competitive on the field. Forget the lack of premierships, focus on making sure every team is scared of playing against the Dogs, regardless of the score. Much like Wimbledon (in soccer) back in the '80s with their crazy gang. It didn't matter if they didn't win titles, they were the scariest team to play against.

[Eastdog]

Turn our lack of success into a strength - play up our outsider status, really push the us against the system image, forget being politically correct;

when it comes to our 'Bulldog' brand, forget being cute and cuddly dogs, really go for the crazy rabid dogs on a chain imagery, create an intimidating identity around that, encourage rabid support of the team, really go for the 'cage fight' atmosphere at our home games. I know the AFL want to broaden our appeal to families etc., but we can let the Hawthorns and Carltons of this world worry about htat, let's take back the male bogan market who are happy to spend money on football. Get on beer ads, get a whole bunch of utes painted in red, white and blue as our company vehicles etc.

Make sure we are constantly competitive on the field. Forget the lack of premierships, focus on making sure every team is scared of playing against the Dogs, regardless of the score. Much like Wimbledon (in soccer) back in the '80s with their crazy gang. It didn't matter if they didn't win titles, they were the scariest team to play against.

Do you think Lantern as Ive suggested in a previous thread that we could benefit if we went to other areas of Melbourne and have a connection in the community. What do you think?

[LostDoggy]

Make sure we make finals every year. Shut games down. When playing against better teams, make sure you just make it as ugly and slow and grinding as possible. Be unapologetic about it. Make it a hard slog, become the best wet weather team in the comp.

Get in the face of the opposition, especially the 'AFL sanctioned stars' like Buddy, Gablett, Judd et al -- lots of people hate this aspect of football, so let's be the club that gives voice to this discontent. Smash into these guys, make sure you draw blood, make ads out of it, be proud that we give it to city hall. You'll see people coming out the woodwork rallying behind our anti-AFL stance. When Demetriou gives us a warning, give him the finger. When they threaten to pull our funding, make a federal case out of it and let Australia know that A.D are threatening our existence unless we tow the line -- this will automatically tap into the inherent anti-authoritarian streak in our culture and people who aren't even Dogs supporters will join up just to tell A.D. where to go.

Become the 'anti-AFL' club, represent the battler, the discontented, those who are sick and tired of Big Brother telling them how to enjoy their footy. You'll be surprised how much of this sentiment there is out there. Give them a voice and they'll rally behind you.

[LostDoggy]

I like what has been said about our colours -- there is a lot of pro-British sentiment at the moment, we can be the daggy, 21st century club of the monarchists (not seriously, but you know, pop culturally). Really play up our British Bulldog heritage, stick the Queen's face on everything we do in an ironic way. Become the anti-establishment yet cool, politically incorrect team.

Get into social media in a real way, not the AFL sanctioned Bigpond crap -- build a British Bulldog social media presence, with our own, much better (but not more corporate) website, twitter accounts that connect our team to bigger social movements around the world (like the anti-government protests in the Arab world and in Europe).

Is this coherent? Does this make sense? No, but people GET IT. People want to protest against something, rally behind something. We are the perfect club to do that. Have a 'F*** Collingwood' campaign. Just for the heck of it.

(To balance this out, support incredibly powerful social justice programs, to show that we are only crazy as a football club, but we really do care about the world. In other words, become Will Minson!)

[LostDoggy]

Basically, just steal Tony Abbott's political campaign.

I think it's irresponsible for an opposition government, but perfect for a football team.

[LostDoggy]

Once it's clear that we have the battler/bogan/blue collar market cornered, that's what we can sell to sponsors looking to target this market. Great Wall Utes, Bunnings, Four & Twenty, K-Mart, etc. -- it would make sense for them to ally with a club that has a massive following in this market.

Currently, with our brand being more confused than a monkey in a chip shop, it's no wonder we can't attract more sponsors -- who the hell would they be exposed to as part of our team? If we're not clear about who we're delivering to our sponsors, they won't be able to tell whether we're worth partnering with.

[LostDoggy]

Will it stir up righteous indignation from the Caros and Patrick Smiths of the world? Of course it will. And it would be perfect, because that's exactly the kind of negative publicity we want. You know how many people are just looking for a vehicle to tell the Caros of the world to sod off?

Would a 'F*** Collingwood' campaign have Eddie on the warpath? You betcha. You know how many people will pay money just to piss Eddie off?

I can just see it. Just an ad with no voiceovers -- Bulldogs growling, interspersed with wordless close-up clips of Bulldogs players just smashing into opposition players: Crossy smashing into a pack. Growling bulldog close up. Will cleaning up a couple of players. Bulldog straining at its leash, barking, foaming at the mouth. Picken smashing Judd into the ground headfirst. A pack of bulldogs going off their nut. Ominous music. A final card with white bold text on a black background reading something like: 'Who F***ing Needs Premierships', or 'Everyone Can Sod Off, Bulldogs 2013', or 'You're Going Soft, Demetriou'. Something ridiculous and over the top.

I've got it: "Bite Me. Bulldogs 2013."

[LostDoggy]

Will it stir up righteous indignation from the Caros and Patrick Smiths of the world? Of course it will. And it would be perfect, because that's exactly the kind of negative publicity we want. You know how many people are just looking for a vehicle to tell the Caros of the world to sod off?

Would a 'F*** Collingwood' campaign have Eddie on the warpath? You betcha. You know how many people will pay money just to piss Eddie off?

I can just see it. Just an ad with no voiceovers -- Bulldogs growling, interspersed with wordless close-up clips of Bulldogs players just smashing into opposition players: Crossy smashing into a pack. Growling bulldog close up. Will cleaning up a couple of players. Bulldog straining at its leash, barking, foaming at the mouth. Picken smashing Judd into the ground headfirst. A pack of bulldogs going off their nut. Ominous music. A final card with white bold text on a black background reading something like: 'Who F***ing Needs Premierships', or 'Everyone Can Sod Off, Bulldogs 2013', or 'You're Going Soft, Demetriou'. Something ridiculous and over the top.

I've got it: "Bite Me. Bulldogs 2013."

Funniest thing I've read on WOOF

F***ing Brownlow Medals are for pansies!!!

Collingwood supporters drink Light Ale - not us!!

[azabob]

I've got it: "Bite Me. Bulldogs 2013."

Great brainstorming Lantern.

I love the membership slogan and I love how you want our vision to be us against the rest.

McCartney's brand of football would complement that marketing message perfectly.
Consistent strong message on and off the field.

The Western Front video touched on our working class roots, so surely that is the perfect starting point?

[SonofScray]

Lantern - thank you for throwing that into the mix. Exciting concepts, you're onto something and it really resonates with our story (not that anyone would know). You've pretty much articulated some strategy in response to some of personal thoughts about what this Club is, what it means to m and what I wish it was. Made for a good read.

Cede Nullis
Bulldog Tenacity

Two of the most important phrases in our narrative. Mac is bringing that tenacity aspect into our play, the 'yield to none' stuff is sorely missing in our Office.

[LostDoggy]

F***ing Brownlow Medals are for pansies!!!

Love it. Instead of the Chris Grant lost Brownlow being a tragic story, lets be proud of it. Play up Chris's punch that lost him the Brownlow. Just have an ad with a slow mo close up of Chris's mistimed punch, really play up the moment of impact, BANG. See the face crumple under the impact. Play it over and over. BANG BANG BANG. Cut to slogan 'Biff Over Brownlows. Bulldogs 2013.'

[LostDoggy]

Sorry for the crazy brainstorms, but I'm on a bit of a roll.

The good thing about being relatively vanilla is that since no one really knows us all that well we can take the 100 years of our history and package it up to tell it however we want - we can talk about 7 failed prelims or we can talk about one of the most successful finals teams in the post VFL era. We can talk about a sad club with one premiership or we can talk about how we are part of the fastest growing region in the country, and really tacking our brand onto EVERYTHING the Western suburbs stands for. I for one am sick of our mythology being limited to Charlie's 1954. It's a beautiful part of our history, but our mythology has to be updated for the 21st century.

I would love our style of football to become well-known in its own right. Bulldog Footy to become a brand -- a bit like Bloods football, but a more bushman version. All our players grow as much facial hair as they can, develop a steely gaze that never wavers regardless of the score. Playing us becomes like playing a bunch of wild men from the northern frozen wastelands of the Arctic. Our forwards don't muck around when they take a mark. Just go back, put the foot through the ball as straight and hard as they can, if it misses it misses. Just do everything with conviction, on and off the field. This way, being true to ourselves (whatever we discover that is), we have our own internal yardstick of success and don't have to rely on external measures of success to know if we are being a successful and strong club.

Lots of people like to say that we're their second team. Give them somewhere to put their money where their mouth is. Create a 'Screw You Demetriou' 2-game membership pack, complete with bumper stickers that say stuff like 'get your hands off my AFL' and the like, has a hilarious stubby holder, a politically incorrect calendar, coupons for Big Ms etc. and let it develop its own cult following.

Our pre-game banner is a massive untapped opportunity for free publicity. Every club's is boring and pointless, we can really make ours the talk of the town by making them as interesting as the floats at the Macy's Christmas Day Parade in New York -- doesn't have to be fancy, just a huge talking inflatable dog's head one week, a flying pig the next, a huge whale's mouth -- that kind of irreverent crap which would take on a life of its own and make people tune in every week just to see what hilarious nonsense we came up this week. It would become such a thing that it would have its own segment on the FOoty SHow or commercial news outlets would close with it. Other clubs would wish they had come up with it.

The singing of the club song after a win is so perfunctory these days with most clubs, it's another opportunity for differentiation -- we could take a lead from some soccer clubs in Europe (mainly Germany) where we would have the players sing it with the crowd.. just throw a podium together in front of the main grandstand and have the team run up there and give a bullhorn to one of the players to ham it up and lead the crowd in the song. The crowd would stay back after a win just to get in on the action.

Basically, if you are perceived as 'small', you have to develop a cult, uber-devoted following, and you only do that by being different, irreverent etc. -- the funny thing is that a lot of these 'cult' things actually become huge, but still retain that 'cult' quality, which is what you want: lots of people feeling like individuals and special for making the choice to support whatever it is you are selling, even though lots of other people are doing the same.

[LostDoggy]

Develop a cool streetwear range with our apparel sponsors. This would only work if it's very, very cool -- think Ben Sherman meets skatewear. Predominantly white backgrounds, but using our red white and blue motif, abstractions of the British flag, that kind of thing. Give it some underground cred by getting Banksy or someone to design it, sell it in skateshops, hook up with a couple of hip-hoppers to make it part of their wardrobe/look. Work with Puma to release a limited edition Bulldogs motif skateshoe -- maybe some hi-tops. Again, has to be very cool and well designed. Red Blue and White hightops, it will sell like hotcakes.

Sell it overseas -- in the UK especially (you know, play up the Australian angle). It would only have to be a small part of their underground scene, but the cred would rebound back here and really 21st century up our brand.

We update our look -- website etc. -- accordingly as well. Slick, yet a bit daggy -- I dunno, Bogan Cool?

I mean, our administration has thrown away our heritage, but have only done a half-arsed job of updating our identity for the 21st century, so we're kind of stuck halfway in a limbo time-warp of confused late '90s corporate identities - Robodog and the like.

[LostDoggy]

Make our membership scarves/caps age appropriate -- if they are for younger members/teens, give them a design they would be proud to wear out/to school etc. Again, it's not expensive to get underground designers to work on these. Red White and Blue striped foldbacks (caps), that kind of thing. Not just for gameday, but for everyday. Get our colours and our name out onto the street, make us part of a movement.'

Make our merchandise desirable objects. (I mean, this is not rocket science. Merchandising is the biggest scam going around if you can pull it off -- people PAY YOU to advertise YOUR BRAND. Genius. Yet, look at the stuff we sell. Well, most footy clubs are crap at cross-selling anything except gameday merchandise, so we're not alone there, but there's another opportunity.)

[Ghost Dog]

:
Make our membership scarves/caps age appropriate -- if they are for younger members/teens, give them a design they would be proud to wear out/to school etc. Again, it's not expensive to get underground designers to work on these. Red White and Blue striped foldbacks (caps), that kind of thing. Not just for gameday, but for everyday. Get our colours and our name out onto the street, make us part of a movement.'

Make our merchandise desirable objects. (I mean, this is not rocket science. Merchandising is the biggest scam going around if you can pull it off -- people PAY YOU to advertise YOUR BRAND. Genius. Yet, look at the stuff we sell. Well, most footy clubs are crap at cross-selling anything except gameday merchandise, so we're not alone there, but there's another opportunity.)

Some of this stuff is pure gold Lantern. I really hope someone from the club has a look.
I like the idea of making us 'gym' animals not just in terms of the players, but in a general image sense.
Can we never again use ' who let the dogs out' again at home games please?
Put on the ACDC instead.
I have a bit of a design background so if you would like, I could knock together some visuals to go with some of the best proposals in this thread and we could put them to the club. Nothing to lose.

[1eyedog]

It's an interesting point. I mean, our playing group and administration are probably right now thinking the same thing about our supporter base.

They bust their gut each week, for not many back slaps. Afterall, they only come when you're winning for the most part, and even then they can be few and far between.

A player on 350kpa gets about 30k a month, not a bad back slap for busting your gut.

[SonofScray]

Baltimore Ravens and the Philly Flyers are good exponents of some of the ideas Lantern has posted.

See Baltimore's anthem - 'Baltimore Get Up' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4QneKf6MIY

Philly's reputation as Broad Street Bullies and some of the mythology around 'old time hockey' shared in America's North/North-East lends itself to good branding. Here they are kicking commie ass and getting a swarm of patriotic Americans around them http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxzimDYlTCs

As a Bulldog's fan I want to show my association and have it explicitly understood.

Also, Mission = mexican food. More luchadore masks in the crowd!

[Ghost Dog]

Baltimore Ravens and the Philly Flyers are good exponents of some of the ideas Lantern has posted.

See Baltimore's anthem - 'Baltimore Get Up' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4QneKf6MIY

Philly's reputation as Broad Street Bullies and some of the mythology around 'old time hockey' shared in America's North/North-East lends itself to good branding.

As a Bulldog's fan I want to show my association and have it explicitly understood.

Baltimore - 'The wire' did wonders for their image! That's all I think of now when I hear that name. :D

[LostDoggy]

Make our membership scarves/caps age appropriate -- if they are for younger members/teens, give them a design they would be proud to wear out/to school etc. Again, it's not expensive to get underground designers to work on these. Red White and Blue striped foldbacks (caps), that kind of thing. Not just for gameday, but for everyday. Get our colours and our name out onto the street, make us part of a movement.'

Make our merchandise desirable objects. (I mean, this is not rocket science. Merchandising is the biggest scam going around if you can pull it off -- people PAY YOU to advertise YOUR BRAND. Genius. Yet, look at the stuff we sell. Well, most footy clubs are crap at cross-selling anything except gameday merchandise, so we're not alone there, but there's another opportunity.)

Can't reply to everything you have written Lantern :D , but a lot of very good ideas and more importantly a fresh perspective and energy on how the club can portray itself. Its only a matter of time IMO before a club breaks the mould and trys something like this.

We are letting a golden opportunity slip through our hands with the rapid expansion
of the west and seem to be nowhere near as proactive as we should. The time is now..
i hope we don't look back in the years to come and regret this missed opportunity.

Why can't we get more involved in the new rail links coming to the west ...?
A red white and blue train on that line. A bulldogs shop / kiosk / presence at one of the
stations? 'sponsoring' a station for 10 years, ie: buying the naming rights and calling
it 'western bulldogs station' . Owning the west.

Agree with your points on the merch also . I want to support my
club outside of gameday , but those caps are ill fitting and ugly. A US style truckers / baseball cap
with an old school sown on badge or something would be awesome. I will sometimes
wear a baseball cap of a US team i have NO IDEA ABOUT!!, because it looks good and fits well.

I think the club would want to temper some of the more left field or extreme
slogans you have mentioned but something like "Bite Me. Bulldogs 2013." would be
awesome with the ad you described.
Some brands subtly make their less politically correct merch / ads on the sly too,
under a different/separate arm of their company.
Red white and blue 'You're Going Soft, Demetriou' bumper stickers / T Shirts etc
could be made in this way..would almost look like bootlegs or fan made.
Like the old "Hadlee's a wanker" badge and sticker I bought at the cricket
when i was a kid that my mum hated so much :p

[SonofScray]

https://yfrog.com/hssawusj:iphone

Luchador masks, mission sponsorships, backs to the wall type stuff. Lets get nasty.

[LostDoggy]

:
I have a bit of a design background so if you would like, I could knock together some visuals to go with some of the best proposals in this thread and we could put them to the club. Nothing to lose.

No offense to the club, but after this week, I have no faith that anyone in the current administration will even be capable of understanding a good proposal, much less do any justice to it.

The reality is, my brainstorm was just a fun lark -- I've been responsible at various times in my professional life for annual income targets in the $75-$100m range, so if the club is serious about large-scale commercialization they can hire me as a consultant, but I doubt that they could afford me.

I would have happily done anything for free for a club I love, but after this week, I no longer love anything to do with the AFL or the Dogs. I've had a great time on WOOF -- it was such an accident stumbling over it when I was just surfing the net one day, commented on a cricketing thread and was hooked -- and the reality is, if WOOF didn't exist I would probably have walked away from football a long time ago. As it is, it has at least given me a community to shoot the breeze with, especially when traveling.

Not to be dramatic or anything, but this will probably be my last post on WOOF for a while. My wife, my books and my colleagues will no doubt wonder where I've found all this extra time, and I can get to that painting I've been meaning to finish. Cheers!

[GVGjr]

Not to be dramatic or anything, but this will probably be my last post on WOOF for a while. My wife, my books and my colleagues will no doubt wonder where I've found all this extra time, and I can get to that painting I've been meaning to finish. Cheers!

I hope you reconsider. I mean this sincerely, WOOF needs a few more like you not one less.

[LostDoggy]

Nice thread Ghost, I enjoy your work.

Not sure if it's been said (havnt had the chance to read it all yet) but what about having a separate Facebook sponsor, like the shorts and smaller secondary sponsors. It's free to advertise for now so the club would make 100% returns on it and run competitions for 'likes' so that we get updates on everyone's walls, therefore being seen by more and more people.

Target have preety much stopped printing catalogues for the future and are concentrating on Facebook exposure for everything, it's free and they are saving a fortune in advertisement.

[Ghost Dog]

No offense to the club, but after this week, I have no faith that anyone in the current administration will even be capable of understanding a good proposal, much less do any justice to it.

The reality is, my brainstorm was just a fun lark -- I've been responsible at various times in my professional life for annual income targets in the $75-$100m range, so if the club is serious about large-scale commercialization they can hire me as a consultant, but I doubt that they could afford me.

I would have happily done anything for free for a club I love, but after this week, I no longer love anything to do with the AFL or the Dogs. I've had a great time on WOOF -- it was such an accident stumbling over it when I was just surfing the net one day, commented on a cricketing thread and was hooked -- and the reality is, if WOOF didn't exist I would probably have walked away from football a long time ago. As it is, it has at least given me a community to shoot the breeze with, especially when traveling.

Not to be dramatic or anything, but this will probably be my last post on WOOF for a while. My wife, my books and my colleagues will no doubt wonder where I've found all this extra time, and I can get to that painting I've been meaning to finish. Cheers!

Ah Lantern. You have every right to feel the way you do. You're such an important person on this forum, as this thread attests to.
In the dressing rooms of Hamilton football club is an old painted sign. "A winner never quits and a quitter never wins. " I know you are a winner, so I suspect you're going to just take a break. And sometimes, that's what you need. Today was a sh** sandwhich, and we all had to swallow a bite.

[Ghost Dog]

Nice thread Ghost, I enjoy your work.

Not sure if it's been said (havnt had the chance to read it all yet) but what about having a separate Facebook sponsor, like the shorts and smaller secondary sponsors. It's free to advertise for now so the club would make 100% returns on it and run competitions for 'likes' so that we get updates on everyone's walls, therefore being seen by more and more people.

Target have preety much stopped printing catalogues for the future and are concentrating on Facebook exposure for everything, it's free and they are saving a fortune in advertisement.

Great call Rooner. Not an unrealistic suggestion at all.

[LostDoggy]

Adding to the Bunnings, Kmart mention why hasn't a team (maybe they have) got into Westfarmers and Woolworths? Bunnings and Masters are currently going at each other. Especially Masters trying to get into the Bunnings market.

I think Lantern said we are missing a golden opportunity by not coming up with new things and jumping on the West Corridor expansion or explosion depending on if you live there or not? Werribee, Melton, Point cook, Tarneit is one of the fastest growing areas outside of W.A for young kids and there are certain local footy clubs who are missing the boat as well.

I think we should definitely aim at the younger generation we can't rely on kids being born into Bulldog houses, Parents are all for giving kids choices these days and it's killing us!

[Sedat]

Can we never again use ' who let the dogs out' again at home games please?
Put on the ACDC instead.
Can't believe I've just stumbled onto this thread - nice work GD and contributors to this thread.

You can start by making 'Dog Eat Dog' by AC/DC our home anthem. Aside from the fact that it is a fantastic song, "every dog has its day" is a lyric that perfectly encapsulates the intimidating atmosphere we should be trying to achieve for travelling supporters and teams. Or if you wanted something a little more alternative (playing up to our minority status in the competition), how about 'The Underdog' by Spoon....the lyric "you've got no fear of the underdog, that's why you will not survive" resonates perfectly.

I've worked in brand management for 13 years, and buggered if I know what our brand stands for. Lantern's suggestions are left field and probably alienate too large a sector of the community (ie: all women and most children :D) but at least it is a distinctive and discernible brand identity. I like the idea of playing up to our rich and colorful history, even if the trophy cabinet is a little bare. We have so many wonderful stories and characters that we can tap into, and give existing fans and new converts a true story to associate with - to 'clan' in Lantern's words. The 'Western Front' is a start but it feels a little contrived and lacks the direct association with our club and its history.

As for our name, the change from Footscray to Western was sound in theory but it has proven to be nothing more than a symbolic gesture to associate ourselves with a general region - my suspicions are that we only changed our name because of the cultural cringe of Footscray at the time. That clearly is no longer the case, with Footscray now a hot bed of culture and the arts with a strong student population, and undeniably a suburb of true diversity. It also happens to be the gateway to the western suburbs, which is something that we should actively promote in our brand messaging. How many other clubs play their home matches barely a suburb away from home base? I would revert back to our original name and have the phrase "gateway to the west" in all official collateral and PR. And let's actually work the region and embed out footprint everywhere west of the city. We should be proud of the stickability of our fans and play up to the lack of success, playfully ridiculing other clubs for their 'johnny-come-lately' supporter base, who drop off at the slightest hint of lack of success.

Agree wholeheartedly with Lantern's suggestion that we embrace our blue-collar roots. This is what we are and who we are, and the mass market is where the majority of the blue collar demographic spend their money. We need to fish where the fish are. Target, Big W, Kmart, Aldi, Bunnings - this is where 80% of the fish are. It's not sexy but it is fact. Brands like Bonds do not reside at DJ's anymore, they reside in the likes of Dimmey's and Forges now.

Some great points raised about our colours and associating ourselves with other RW&B organisations - what a fantastic, untapped opportunity! Why don't we seek an official association with Ben Sherman when our jumper sponsorship rights are next up for grabs instead of the bog-standard run-of-the-mill b-grade sports brand like KooGa, Diadora and Fila? We could then get seriously creative with our product ranging, and generate tons of PR and brand impresions with such a left-field association while everyone else is swimming in the same pool of substitutional sports brands.

Hopefully there are some forward-thinking successful businessmen and women who bleed RW&B and want to take our club to a new and exciting direction because we desperately need a shot in the arm off the field.

[LostDoggy]

Starting to win more games of footy would help the cause a bit too.

[Eastdog]

Starting to win more games of footy would help the cause a bit too.

Need to get that winning culture.

[LostDoggy]

Having worked in sales and marketing roles for the last 10yrs or so with $20m budgets, this thread has given me a few smiles in a dark year.

While the concept of tapping into our blue collar roots is enticing (and humorous), the key challenge will be to do this without bringing the negative baggage associated with this demographic (misogyny, homophobia and racism all leap to mind, hence the use of Will Minson, while satisfying would be risky given his comments). Given our geographical position in an area that is saturated with Australians from non-anglo backgrounds (and 50% of the population are women, who also control another good chunk of the population in the children), handled poorly this tapping into our blue collar roots could be a disaster. I understand the Bulldogs already target the non-Anglo local community with a variety of Bulldog based community programs.

However the concept of becoming (somehow) cool with schmick merchandising could well work because we all know, to be cool is everything. But in being cool we would have to ensure we didn't alienate people in the process (including our blue collar supporter base who might call cool hats - 'poofy'!)

[boydogs]

I hope you reconsider. I mean this sincerely, WOOF needs a few more like you not one less.

This. I might not say so often but I enjoy reading his posts.

[bornadog]

This. I might not say so often but I enjoy reading his posts.

Lantern, love your work too.

[boydogs]

While the concept of tapping into our blue collar roots is enticing (and humorous), the key challenge will be to do this without bringing the negative baggage associated with this demographic

I think the Western Front campaign does a good job of making people in the west stand taller, and be proud of their community. Making statements about the west being substance over style, and not afraid of hard work.

The idea is right, just need to take it to the people - schools, universities, road signs, auskick, local footy grounds, and community visits in the off season.