Daily Mirror: Insight into Warrington's marketing

[Adelaide Tiger]

6 hours ago, Eddie said:

I’d much rather go to a game with loads of away fans rather than just a few, it’s so much better. 

I think everyone would agree with you.

But, as some have pointed out on previous threads like this, a club should not rely on away supporters to fill one end of their ground, or leave it looking like a desolate space if few away supporters turn up.

IMHO clubs should be aiming to fill 90% of their ground with home fans.  If it means that some visiting clubs have supporters that cannot get a ticket then the game will be in good health.

[Adelaide Tiger]

11 hours ago, Dave T said:

Very nice quote:

Thursday nights are not excuse. As a club we signed up to that TV agreement and accepted the money that comes from it, plus the figures last year have given us great exposure.

Totally agree with that view.

To raise the profile of Thursday night games, and reduce travel that hopefully would increase attendance I would have an alternating Yorkshire fixture followed by a West of Pennines fixture the following Thursday.  IMHO no Thursday games should feature Catalans or Toronto.

Leave the Friday night game for the ‘Blockbuster of the Week’.  This could include Catalans or Toronto when necessary.

If Catalans and/or Toronto home games are shown on TV on a Saturday then we can promote an ‘international’ game of the week.

[Yakstorm]

No one is discounting the value of an away fan, not in the article and nor have I seen anyone on this forum ever say 'away fans are bad', but I think we can all agree a filled seat is better than an empty one, regardless whether it is a regular fan, and away fan, a random local attracted to their first match, curious person, or what not.

Whilst atmosphere's in the Southern Hemisphere aren't like the Northern (they're a lot weaker), there are scenarios where one team dominating the crowd can create a great atmosphere.  Origin in Queensland, many Tonga Tests in NZ these days are just some league examples.  Sure it maybe different than back and forth banter but doesn't mean people can't have a good time.

What Warrington is doing well is actually bothering to analyse each game individual pre-season and then again as the season rolls on,  and build a plan to get bums on seats.  This includes away fans, however as some people have said above, one advantage if you can find a new Wolves fan to attend a game is you might be able to draw them back another 2,3,4 or more times that season if they have a good time, and they'll bring a mate.  If they're a Wigan fan, they are unlikely to come back until the next time the two teams meet, and then there are other factors involved.

Anyway great work Warrington.  It's refreshing seeing some of the clubs really start to focus on this area and that it is starting to produce results for them as well.  It will hopefully lift everyone up as a result.  

[RugbyLeagueGeek]

Are there still some posters on here who insist that marketing doesn't work??...

[The Future is League]

5 minutes ago, RugbyLeagueGeek said:

Are there still some posters on here who insist that marketing doesn't work??...

There are, and also there are some posters on here who defends clubs who don't have academies. They are easy to spot in everyday life as they wear flat caps and can been seen walking there whippets near the M.62.

[GUBRATS]

2 hours ago, The Future is League said:

There are, and also there are some posters on here who defends clubs who don't have academies. They are easy to spot in everyday life as they wear flat caps and can been seen walking there whippets near the M.62.

Once again , the number of academies we currently have is about right , tell me now which club should have an academy that doesn't ?

[GUBRATS]

2 hours ago, RugbyLeagueGeek said:

Are there still some posters on here who insist that marketing doesn't work??...

Some marketing works , and some doesn't , a return on investment is what is required , that can be costly and sometimes needs a long term plan to come to fruition , it isn't easy 

[Hull Kingston Bronco]

57 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

Some marketing works , and some doesn't , a return on investment is what is required , that can be costly and sometimes needs a long term plan to come to fruition , it isn't easy 

Aye, Wanamaker, one of the pioneers of modern marketing said “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half” which was about right for the first 10 years of my own career n’all to be honest - in fact probably more than half 
 

That’s not really true any more though, the move to online & social marketing and buying has made almost everything measurable - Wire will be doing endless micro-testing and so probably get a positive ROI from almost every action they take

[Tre Cool]

The most pleasing thing for me is that they analyse which areas of their district they aren't selling tickets to and actively target them.  In my experience RL is very strong in it's traditional communities but struggles to break out of it.  I know there are middle class and private school educated RL fans but not anything like enough, the game needs to work harder to modernise and appeal to everyone in their area.  I'm still not convinced Wolfie being a nob on social media does much good but maybe I'm wrong.

[lucky 7]

13 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

Once again , the number of academies we currently have is about right , tell me now which club should have an academy that doesn't ?

I'm in the camp that says no academy no Super League place.

[tiffers]

21 hours ago, Tre Cool said:

The most pleasing thing for me is that they analyse which areas of their district they aren't selling tickets to and actively target them.  In my experience RL is very strong in it's traditional communities but struggles to break out of it.  I know there are middle class and private school educated RL fans but not anything like enough, the game needs to work harder to modernise and appeal to everyone in their area.  I'm still not convinced Wolfie being a nob on social media does much good but maybe I'm wrong.

Agreed with most of your statement here.

All clubs should be rigorously looking at this type of data on ticket sales, membership sales etc. Data informed decision making comes across strongly in their approach and its refreshing to see. Not something we hear much about in RL.

The basics of just understanding your audiences (and non-audiences) are key to understanding the actions, beliefs, feelings that drive decision making. How can Warrington influence that and tap into it in order to push their agenda in a way that appeals to that person. I get the impression clubs largely treat all supporters the same. i.e. Mass marketing. They should be capturing data and information to produce more personalised marketing content.

If they hold demographic data, geo data and putting it to use then good on them. It's not expensive or difficult to do these days. Do all Super League clubs use a CRM system for instance? If yes, how are they using the data captured...

I've mentioned before that when I have bought tickets at SL clubs in the past, I've walked in, given over my cash and not had any data capture at all. Very short sighted, and they walk away with nothing but the £25. They have no way of trying to market to me in the future. Lifetime value of that sale = £25. They also have no way of capturing my feedback as a new customer, or even to thank me for my custom.

Capture my data and re-market to me effectively, lifetime value = more than £25. Potentially a lot more than £25.

I do disagree with you re. Wolfie being a nob on social media. It works at a brand awareness level. Keeping the Wolves at the forefront of the more casual fan that may not turn up every week, generating excitement in the week building up to the game. The key is linking it up to other harder campaigns (email perhaps) that specifically says - "BUY A TICKET". Its all about multi-channel approaches, generating excitement and then getting people to part with cash. Most people's buying patterns go through several stages before parting with cash. It helps to soften the GIVE ME CASH message with giving people reasons to part with cash/justifying parting with cash. Instilling the thoughts that its unmissable i.e. Wire vs. Wigan is a critical game in the season. You need to be there etc.