Value for sponsors

[RP London]

12 minutes ago, whatmichaelsays said:

There are now millions of those "first in the family to go to university" people out there and whilst BUCS RL has been a success, how good is the sport at engaging those people once they graduate? How good is RL at keeping connected with those people who leave the heartlands for work or study, and never come back? Their interest in RL doesn't die just because they no longer live within earshot of the M62.

I've said this for ages too.. i played at Uni its where i first got the chance (also the first generation to go to Uni) being born and brought up in Sheffield and privately educated there was no chance of me playing RL but my grandparents were from warrington so i always wanted to. Got the chance and played, was in the first year of our Uni team being set up too.. BUT have heard precious little from Student RL etc since and they had my details.. no reach out etc I am still in touch with people from that team and there are loads of successful people in it who have drifted away.. though one was Jon Flatman who has got himself nicely involved. But it goes to show who comes through student RL and who can easily be missed.. 

Everything we bemoan with the old boys network, journalists, CEOs, MDs, Marketing Directors etc etc will have come through SRL and I bet many will have had a great time and would have positive experiences but we allow it to fade.

[RP London]

7 minutes ago, Dave T said:

I've just bought tickets for Sweden v Portugal at Leigh taking my young daughter. She's really looking forward to it and actually asked to go to a football match. 

with you on this.. our whole family is going to Netherlands v switzerland  at bramall lane mostly because my daughter is excited to go... I would not be doing this for a mens match!

[Dave T]

2 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Hope she enjoys it - I'm sure she will as I've heard Alex Simmons is doing the pre-match fan village.

Disappointingly, I first read that as Alex Scott and took your post as a positive. Then I realised. 

[gingerjon]

1 minute ago, Dave T said:

I first read that as Alex Scott and took your post as a positive

Respectfully

[whatmichaelsays]

6 hours ago, RP London said:

I've said this for ages too.. i played at Uni its where i first got the chance (also the first generation to go to Uni) being born and brought up in Sheffield and privately educated there was no chance of me playing RL but my grandparents were from warrington so i always wanted to. Got the chance and played, was in the first year of our Uni team being set up too.. BUT have heard precious little from Student RL etc since and they had my details.. no reach out etc I am still in touch with people from that team and there are loads of successful people in it who have drifted away.. though one was Jon Flatman who has got himself nicely involved. But it goes to show who comes through student RL and who can easily be missed.. 

Everything we bemoan with the old boys network, journalists, CEOs, MDs, Marketing Directors etc etc will have come through SRL and I bet many will have had a great time and would have positive experiences but we allow it to fade.

In fairness to BUCS, their remit and resources only really extend to the student game but you're absolutely right that the sport needs to find a way to keep these people engaged post-graduation, because it's a valuable audience.

I think this is probably what Our League was created to do, before the RFL were sort of forced to turn it into a streaming service. 

[Tommygilf]

I was having a think overnight about which sponsors RL has the most synergy with at the moment, ie who we fit most closely with regards audience etc.

Aldi - already signed up with Team GB Olympics.

National High street brands - limited value in RL as a regional game, can get exposure to broader audiences for less elsewhere/digitally.

Budget Airlines: Jet2 had a brief sponsorship of Leeds but other than that it seems beyond their remit and not worth it.

Wetherspoons: as above, they don't need to sponsor anyone.

Looking at the main sponsors we do have:

Local building society, local bargain basement shop, a variety of other local brands, Asus...

Its a real conundrum for the game.

[EastLondonMike]

Another example of F1 adding value for their fans. Or actually, in this case, the promoter, Silverstone race track. 
 

I was in Austin a few years ago for a GP, and Britney Spears was playing afterwards, which added a good few thousand at least to the attendance.

https://accessaa.co.uk/silverstone-to-increase-live-music-activity-in-bid-to-retain-formula-1-british-grand-prix/

[Dave T]

On 08/07/2022 at 10:04, Tommygilf said:

I was having a think overnight about which sponsors RL has the most synergy with at the moment, ie who we fit most closely with regards audience etc.

Aldi - already signed up with Team GB Olympics.

National High street brands - limited value in RL as a regional game, can get exposure to broader audiences for less elsewhere/digitally.

Budget Airlines: Jet2 had a brief sponsorship of Leeds but other than that it seems beyond their remit and not worth it.

Wetherspoons: as above, they don't need to sponsor anyone.

Looking at the main sponsors we do have:

Local building society, local bargain basement shop, a variety of other local brands, Asus...

Its a real conundrum for the game.

In reality, sponsors can absolutely fit in with the sport, even if regional. Many advertisers and sponsors play across various assets, they don't put all of their eggs in one basket. 

RL can absolutely be effective, particularly if grouped with other assets. We've seen this before in that we have a lot of similar sponsors with Scottish sports, not sure of we have used the same agencies, but by sponsoring both of those sports they have a wider geographical footprint, with a modest outlay. 

I think the problem is that we appear to have stopped offering as much to sponsors. We used to have a lot more presence as per the OP. 

[Tommygilf]

1 hour ago, Dave T said:

In reality, sponsors can absolutely fit in with the sport, even if regional. Many advertisers and sponsors play across various assets, they don't put all of their eggs in one basket. 

RL can absolutely be effective, particularly if grouped with other assets. We've seen this before in that we have a lot of similar sponsors with Scottish sports, not sure of we have used the same agencies, but by sponsoring both of those sports they have a wider geographical footprint, with a modest outlay. 

I think the problem is that we appear to have stopped offering as much to sponsors. We used to have a lot more presence as per the OP. 

I don't disagree of course, particularly on our similarity with Scottish football - noticeably however that doesn't include their top end sponsors. 

I suppose my point was that a lot of the sponsors with natural synergy with RL don't seem to need to sponsor us.