Marketing Ideas

[wimberga]

I have seen some very good marketing ideas on woof and BF, so thought we could dedicate a single thread here on woof for it.

Anyone goit any marketing ideas for 2008?

[bornadog]

Marketing Ideas to create more members, or what other things did you have in mind?

[bornadog]

One of the greatest marketing campaigns has been the promotion of the four day carnival by the VRC. In the past, over the four days they were lucky to get 40,to 50000 to Derby day, 30,000 for Oaks and Emirates Stakes day. Of course the actual Melbourne Cup was always around the 100,000.

All of this changed about 10 years ago and it would be interesting to look back some how and learn how the VRC were able to achieve the growth in attendances to 400,000 over the four days. Emirates Stakes day is now growing to be close to 90,000 this year and infact the campaign has been so successful the VRC had to limit the attendance this year after 129,000 showed up to Derby day in 2006. These are incredible numbers? What can the dogs do to create more value out of membership and attract younger people for the future of the club? I am a member at the VRC and during the year there are alot of events happening, such as special nights where they invite guest speakers, supply finger food and drinks, tours of stud farms, tours to Hong Kong for racing etc etc.

Has any one else got some thoughts? I might look back and see what else the VRC do and come up with some ideas.

[Mantis]

This is a pretty pathetic thread. Most people who post on WOOF also post on BF so we do not need the same threads popping up on both.

I too want to see the club prosper, but I think a discussion thread like this is better suited to the people of BF.

[The Coon Dog]

This is a pretty pathetic thread. Most people who post on WOOF also post on BF so we do not need the same threads popping up on both.

I too want to see the club prosper, but I think a discussion thread like this is better suited to the people of BF.

I think you're being a bit harsh (I love the way Tony Greig says that word) there Mantis. There are threads on BF I just prefer to give a wide birth to, but don't mind posting on here at WOOF.

[wimberga]

Mantis - If you dont have anything to contribute then dont contribute. If you do, we would love to hear it. If what you just said is all you had, thankyou.

[Bulldog Revolution]

Ok when I was in Thailand I was noticed that the Thai national flag colours were the same colour as the Bulldogs

I also noticed how high profile their tennis players (Paradorn Srichaphan, Tamarine Tanasugarn, Danai Udomchoke) seemd to be throughout the country

I thought some Australian Open Tennis PR type story that formed part of our vision to become the AFL Team that Thais supported. Trying to brand ourself as the team for the Thais - there such nice people and their foods great, whats not to like?

[Crizza]

I have often thought we should use our colours and jumper in a one off or two off promotional way. Perhaps using companies and organisations with the same colours such as AXA, Virgin Blue, Pepsi, Ampol for example. We may never be able to compete with Collingwood and their Million dollar jumper, but any addition would be great.

[Sockeye Salmon]

One of the greatest marketing campaigns has been the promotion of the four day carnival by the VRC. In the past, over the four days they were lucky to get 40,to 50000 to Derby day, 30,000 for Oaks and Emirates Stakes day. Of course the actual Melbourne Cup was always around the 100,000.

All of this changed about 10 years ago and it would be interesting to look back some how and learn how the VRC were able to achieve the growth in attendances to 400,000 over the four days. Emirates Stakes day is now growing to be close to 90,000 this year and infact the campaign has been so successful the VRC had to limit the attendance this year after 129,000 showed up to Derby day in 2006. These are incredible numbers? What can the dogs do to create more value out of membership and attract younger people for the future of the club? I am a member at the VRC and during the year there are alot of events happening, such as special nights where they invite guest speakers, supply finger food and drinks, tours of stud farms, tours to Hong Kong for racing etc etc.

Has any one else got some thoughts? I might look back and see what else the VRC do and come up with some ideas.

Girls.

The VRC did a fantastic job of making a day at the races a girls day out. Get dressed up, have a glass of bubbles or chardy and watch the horsies.

And anywhere there's lots of girls dressed up lots of boys will find them.

Can't see how we could apply it to the Dogs, but.

[FrediKanoute]

Maybe a young bulldogs social membership, with social activities for young bulldog fans.

Could try a bullies kids club with coaching sessions in the school holidays.

[mjp]

Maybe a young bulldogs social membership, with social activities for young bulldog fans.

Could try a bullies kids club with coaching sessions in the school holidays.

The club already does this, and the sessions are excellent.

[Dry Rot]

I'd be thinking local and mining the western suburbs of Melbourne. Ditto pushing our new facilities.

I'd even look at what pollies are doing now, getting out into shopping centres, schools etc. I presume we do a bit of this now, but I'm sure we could do it a lot harder.

Last but not least I'd like to get this article to Cam Rose NB the bold bits - last time I tried to help the club with marketing, all I encountered were lazy fools


Out of the shadows
July 18 2003

They ended the 2001 season with the wooden spoon, but now Penrith sit on top of the NRL ladder. To get there, the Panthers had to improve as much off the paddock as on it, writes Roy Masters.

A report highly critical of a Panthers culture of drinking, gambling and nepotism demonstrates how far the NRL leaders have come in such a short time.

Penrith, who play Newcastle tonight, sit on top of the premiership ladder. They set a club-record crowd of 22,147 in June, are backed by the richest licensed club group in the southern hemisphere and challenge Parramatta as the new kings of the west.

Yet at the beginning of the 2002 season, when Penrith were wooden spooners and the Eels grand finalists, Panthers CEO Shane Richardson presented a report to the board that savaged the club culture.

The report is referred to in a letter to Panthers Group general manager Roger Cowan, dated September 27 last year, signed by five rebel directors who sought to end the administration of Cowan.

The six-page letter says: "The gravity of the state of affairs of the football club was further evidenced by Shane Richardson's report to the board dated March 22, 2002, in which he chronicled a substantial number of criticisms about the football club's operations, including poor player recruitment, a culture of drinking and gambling, poor allocation of the club's salary cap and the existence of widespread nepotism in the appointment of football and coaching staff and in the selection of players, particularly at junior representative level . . . In 36 years of first-grade competition, the football club has seen coaches, players and administrators come and go, however you have been the one constant."

Richardson, who arrived at the club two months before he submitted the report, said: "I'm disappointed that a confidential report would be made available to the media but I'd have to say we wouldn't be where we are today if those problems had not been addressed. We're now getting the fruits of our labour."

Cowan, who saw off the five directors when they all lost board positions at the October elections, is more tempered in his optimism. After all, for years the Panthers have treated a fan's heart the way Lucy handles the football for Charlie Brown's place kicking, pulling it away just when hopes were highest. "I'm all excited about it," Cowan said. "We could be a chance again."

Cowan's son, Max, the club's marketing manager, said: "We became arrogant after we won the premiership [in 1991] and the community sensed this. Then came the tragic death of Ben Alexander and in '94 our coach left us mid-season.

"Super League started the following year and in '96 we had our worst year ever for crowds. It was then we decided to position ourselves, making sure we went back to grassroots."

Richardson, who came to Penrith from English club Hull, said the club had borrowed the strategy of UK soccer clubs: if a supporter was not hooked by the age of 14, he/she was a lost cause.

"In the last 18 months, we targeted the primary schools, starting a program called Panthers on the Prowl," he said.

Last year, as an experiment, the Panthers distributed 60,000 tickets in the region - one to each primary school child - offering free admission to a game against Newcastle if the child reported with an adult. "We got a crowd of 17,000," Richardson boasted.

While everything is golden in the world of the Panthers, it helped finding a few nuggets in their own back yard.

Penrith have found there is more value in the bargain bin of their junior league - players such as Luke Lewis, Trent Waterhouse and Luke Rooney - than big-ticket items.

Second-rower Tony Puletua, still at school when he made his first-grade debut for the Panthers as a 17-year-old in 1997, said the feeling within the club now was the best he had experienced.

"It's like Parramatta was a few years ago," Puletua said. "We're bringing in a lot of good young players and building a team. [Previously] there was a bit of tension between some people, you could just feel it and I think it affected the team.

"At the time, I wasn't sure if I wanted to play any more, it wasn't what I wanted out of football.

"But . . . those things make you a stronger person and you can learn a lot from it. The only way was up and we're No.1 now."

Richardson said: "Parramatta have a mass of people who have always been Parramatta supporters whereas we've got a mass of people coming through who have never had an allegiance to any club. Their parents may have had an allegiance to St George but the kids are fanatical Penrith supporters and now their parents are, too."

Geoff Gerard, who played more than 100 games for both Parramatta and Penrith said: "There's been a shift in power in the west. There's a new belief in themselves out there. There saying, 'We're a community', and it flows through to the players because they're saying, 'We're representing our town'."

But few realise how close rugby league came to having only one king in the west.

In the letter written by the five rebel directors, they accused Cowan of attempting to force a merger with Parramatta.

"As late as 31 July, 1999, at a special board meeting you tabled a submission to the NRL that had already been signed by Parramatta's Denis Fitzgerald," they wrote."Such a submission constituted a request by both clubs to the NRL to approve a joint venture for participation in the 2000 competition. The board again rejected this proposal on a split-vote basis."

Roger Cowan said: "In hindsight, the merger would never have happened anyway. North Sydney were ahead of us on criteria points but it rained at Gosford, they spent a year without a home and went broke. Penrith people should breathe a sigh of relief. It's the only reason we are there."

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/07/17/1058035140959.html

[Mantis]

DR,

The club already run programs such as the bolded section, have done for the best part of 20 years. Leaseplan, our major sponsor hold a Care for Kids day each year were a heap of school kids go to the footy at there expense. The only downsight is that we tend to get beat in thse games which probably isn't a great thing if we are trying to convert these kids to support for our club.

[Sockeye Salmon]

DR,

The club already run programs such as the bolded section, have done for the best part of 20 years. Leaseplan, our major sponsor hold a Care for Kids day each year were a heap of school kids go to the footy at there expense. The only downsight is that we tend to get beat in thse games which probably isn't a great thing if we are trying to convert these kids to support for our club.

And therein lies the best marketing idea we can get - don't get beaten and watch the kids join up.

[The Underdog]

And therein lies the best marketing idea we can get - don't get beaten and watch the kids join up.

Winning a premiership would be a top marketing idea.
I'd be buying any old crappy merchandise til I sobered up.

We seem to have a pretty good system in place now for tapping "Western suburbs youth" and getting them to games. However nothing gets people on board like success.

[aker39]

Were we the 1st club to introduce the Bulldog Backyard type program

[GVGjr]

Were we the 1st club to introduce the Bulldog Backyard type program

Has any other team copied it?

[LostDoggy]

I've got a couple of flags that they used to give away for free, such as a Vodafone one and a BENQ one, they're obviously sponsor oriented, but they have our colours/logos on them and it makes a difference at the matches, as far as being out...coloured by other teams. They wouldn't be the cheapest way to get more colour out there, but they're popular and people actually use them (well, while the sponsor is still with us).

[bornadog]

I've got a couple of flags that they used to give away for free, such as a Vodafone one and a BENQ one, they're obviously sponsor oriented, but they have our colours/logos on them and it makes a difference at the matches, as far as being out...coloured by other teams. They wouldn't be the cheapest way to get more colour out there, but they're popular and people actually use them (well, while the sponsor is still with us).

I thought Teddys towel was a stupid idea and it should have been a flag. If the club went to China and had say 5000 flags made up and gave them to the kids, can you imagine what the Dome would look like.

[bornadog]

Girls.

The VRC did a fantastic job of making a day at the races a girls day out. Get dressed up, have a glass of bubbles or chardy and watch the horsies.

And anywhere there's lots of girls dressed up lots of boys will find them.

Can't see how we could apply it to the Dogs, but.

What about doing a deal between the VRC and the Club some how linking memberships at the Doggies with a special day at the races or some thing, like a special marque on Oaks day??. Or doing a deal with another club. There could be lots of ideas to encourage people to pay for a membership and have some added value, and I don't mean discounts at shops. For example, there could be a $1000 (or whatever $$$), membership that also is linked in to a golf club, or reciprocal rights.

The club has to think out of the box.

[LostDoggy]

Do a deal with a inner city Melbourne property agent. But an apartment and get a free Bulldogs membership for the family. Get cashed up people coming to the games. Some of them will stick

[bornadog]

Were we the 1st club to introduce the Bulldog Backyard type program

Yes I am sure we were.