FFA needs to look beyond the rules of Marketing 101

Columnist

By Adrian Musolino, 13 Oct 2009 Adrian Musolino is a Roar Expert

Tagged:: A-League, FFA, football, FourFourTwo magazine, Melbourne Victory, Socceroos, Sydney FC, Trevor Treharne, Warwick Capper

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Central Coast Mariners players (L to R) Tom Pendeljak, Matthew Simon and John Hutchinson sit dejected after loosing 0-1 to the Newcastle Jets in the A-League Grand Final in Sydney on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2008. AAP Image/Paul Miller

Just imagine the following happened: Sydney FC played an A-League home game against the Melbourne Victory at the Sydney Football Stadium as a curtain raiser to the Socceroos-Holland friendly on Saturday night. Yep, I’m dreaming right?

Absolutely.

There are numerous and obvious reasons which would preclude an A-League-Socceroos double billing on the same night.

However, I can’t help but think it is this type of far out thinking that the FFA needs to start exploring to kickstart publicity for the A-League.

The thought came to me when reading the thoughts of Australian FourFourTwo magazine’s Deputy Editor Trevor Treharne, who makes the correct point that the A-League needs the Socceroos as a booster to lift the profile of the league.

But even the Socceroos success is no absolute guarantee for bumper A-League crowds.

As Trehane says, “There is no single sickness or remedy to the poorly nature of A-League crowds.”

However, aside from Socceroos success, the most likely stimulant to create a ripple in the marketplace is through concerted advertising campaigns in key markets – campaigns that vary in their approach.

Rather than going for the jugular in the first season of expansion, the FFA has stuck with the method of what appears to be limited advertising when the other codes are in season.

We are lead to believe promotion is ramped up when the AFL and NRL seasons are consigned to the history books.

We are at that stage now, so there should be clear and visible signs that these campaigns will go up a couple of gears.

If not, then questions need to be asked about why such campaigns appear unfeasible to the FFA.

The fans are concerned by this lack of intensity. A poll on the FourFourTwo website showed that 42 percent of voters thought a lack of promotion was to blame for the dip in crowds.

It’s time to ramp up the message and start thinking beyond the usual avenues of the one fancy advertising campaign run throughout the season, the odd billboard splattered around CBDs, and Warwick Capper.

I’m no marketing guru, but it seems there is a real staleness to how the A-League is promoted.

The “Be Part of Something Bigger” tag line for this season’s promo is fine, but it loses its sting after repeated hearing, especially when that’s as far as advertising for the league seems to go.

There needs to be some differentiation in advertising campaigns, perhaps a new aggressive approach separate to the ‘official’ promo.

The Socceroos double-header is obviously a fanciful idea, but if it were possible, would the FFA be brave enough to take up such opportunities?

It needs to look beyond the conventions of ‘Marketing 101’ basics and start thinking laterally, addressing some of the doubts that have emerged about the A-League from football supporters who turn up for the Socceroos but not their local team, and enticing them into the turnstiles.

It sounds simplistic, but it is surely a marked improvement on the little advertising – let alone the little imagination of that advertising – that is around now.

There will be no excuse for us to still be pondering low crowds next March when the AFL and NRL awake from their slumber.

Despite how the weather looks across parts of Australia, summer is coming and the reality is that the Aussie summer is a baron place for sport, with a few irrelevant cricket matches against a weak West Indies, a couple of golf tournaments, the stuttering NBL and the Australian Open tennis in January.

With little else around, encouragingly, media coverage of the A-League appears to be on the rise.

While watching sports reports over the weekend, it was gratifying to see A-League highlights second only to reports on the Bathurst 1000.

The ‘combo’ of a Socceroos game in Australia against one of the great footballing nations and an intriguing round of A-League matches certainly generated some great press.

The A-League’s time is now. It’s time the FFA took advantage of this and ramped up its advertising aggressively.

If not, then at least explain to us the reasons for their inaction.

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The Crowd Says (35) | Page 1 of Comments

Robbos said | October 13th 2009 @ 6:23am | Report comment

Being a Sydney FC season ticket holder & an avid football fan, I was sitting in the Socceroos v Holland match & thinking, now wouldn’t this be great if we got this crowd every week to a Sydney game. The fans of football are there, just not the fans of the A-League.
How do we convert football fans to A-League fans?

I too agree promoting is very important & directing that promoting to the millions of people involved in football in clubs around the country, the players, the coaches, the adminstrators & the mums & dads of the players.

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- megatron said | October 13th 2009 @ 8:10am | Report comment
  
  Maybe a promo that shows the great goals, atmosphere etc. I feel showing the product is often better than some imaginative concept.
  
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- Pippinu said | October 13th 2009 @ 8:46am | Report comment
  
  Maybe something along the following lines:
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad9hBMNrg3U
  
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  - megatron said | October 13th 2009 @ 9:00am | Report comment
    
    Exactly. Look how effective that promo was.
    
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- Simone` said | October 13th 2009 @ 11:44am | Report comment
  
  Correct Robbos- their are plenty of football fans in Australia. That thing the A-league plays though isn’t football. Get better quality, and play some good football and the crowds will come. Most people turned out to glimpse the netherlands in action. You can do all the marketing you want, but if there is no product on the pitch, the casual fans will stay away.
  
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  - Robbos said | October 13th 2009 @ 3:39pm | Report comment
    
    Simone, Chicken or the egg?
    
    How do you improve the quality & play good football? The salary cap is only A$2.5 million. So how do we improve the salary cap without sending the clubs broke. Yes football in this country needs more money, how do we get more money, TV rights, crowds, merchandise buying, sponsorship (based on big crowds & TV viewing).
    
    Yes the A-League is not at a high standard, how do we get it at the high level? I got Foxtel since the A-League started, I watch most games on TV, I am a season ticket holder & try to get to most matches , I’m doing my bit, but do I prefer to watch Man U v Barcelona (Sh!t yeah). But every great leap forward starts with little steps.
    To make the A-League a better product football fans in this country should support the A-League.
    
    Pip talks about Theatre goers, yes there are those, but i know alot of football people, real football people who don’t go to the A-League, yes it will take time.
    
    Chicken or the egg.
    
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Pippinu said | October 13th 2009 @ 7:18am | Report comment

A big game like the Socceroos vs Holland attracts a stack of theatre goers, content to watch one or two international soccer games per annum.

We should all know by now that theatre goers are only of marginal assistance when it comes to clubs. They will occasionally assist in causing a spike for one game, maybe even for part of a season – but they do not assist in any way in providing a rock solid supporter base that commits to clubs for decades on end.

By definition, the latter cannot occur until you have existed for decades.

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- Chris said | October 13th 2009 @ 10:29am | Report comment
  
  I’m not sure, the Titans have existed for all of two years, and the Victory not much longer than that. Both these teams have pretty “rock solid” supporter bases.
  
  I do love the “theatre goers” line though. It reminds me somewhat of the North Sydney trendies who would have never attended a Waratahs game but turn up in force when the Wallabies are on. The problem is they are never quite sure when to clap!
  
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True Tah said | October 13th 2009 @ 7:40am | Report comment

Adrian up in Brisbane at least there has been a huge amount of marketing for the Brisbane Roar, especially out in the western suburbs, and this was prior to the Broncos exiting the finals. Having said that, I travel to Brisbane at least twice a month, and I see hardly any Roar jerseys being worn up there. There is clearly an issue with their crowds, which make the Queensland Reds look popular, and the Reds are hardly a successful team!

Looking at the crowds for the Gold Coast United which are dire, I can only think that Australians, unlike the United Kingdom, will not support a side that is essentially the plaything of a richman, and GCU was certainly marketed as Clive Palmer’s team and not the Gold Coast’s team. Contrast this to the Titans, who are also privately owned, but you wouldnt even know who the owners are. I suspect that Newcastle are perhaps in a similar situation to GCU, although the owner of the club has not really endeared himself to fans after threatening to throw them off a balcony.

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Tom said | October 13th 2009 @ 8:02am | Report comment

The ‘Be part of something bigger’ campaign seems to suggest that the FFA are waiting for the world cup to kickstart interest again.

We’ll see if it works or not.

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whiskeymac said | October 13th 2009 @ 9:18am | Report comment

i agree Tom. It appears (from this armchair at least ) that there is a strategy based on a four season cycle revolving around the World Cup. disappointing, and risky if we stumble at the WC and Asian Cups, or fail to qualify (which will happen one day, am sure)….
Organic growth (as i think Pip is talking about) is the best way to have sustainable support – it doesnt happen over night and it does require grass root development and interaction – the more clubs address this fundamental the rosier their future will be. Hopefully the new clubs follow CCM’s blue print and not GCU’s in connecting with their residents (substance over bling, especially when the bling we can afford here is not 24ct, for longetivity).

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- Chris said | October 13th 2009 @ 10:31am | Report comment
  
  True – and I doubt the next World Cup will give Australian soccer anything like the “sugar hit” that it got for the last one. This will be even more pronounced if Australia qualifies for a string of World Cups.
  
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Chook said | October 13th 2009 @ 9:46am | Report comment

Adrian,

Good call, I thin the ! – Leageu need to look carefully into thier marketing. Unlike AFL and NRL the main focus an highest level of competition is external in international matches. The A- League is at a lower level.

The A- League need to think out side the square and maybe should look at the USA for marketing soccer or football. Football in the US is by far the poorer cousin the the NFL, NBA, baseball, even motor sports. I think they have had to look hard at the campaign of hwo they sell football. Im not sure what statergies they have used but it just a thought.

I had a few promo idea

1/ A double header at Suncorp might be a good option with a GCU v Syd and BR v MV. back to back. 5.30pm and a 8pm game slot.

2/ When the final for the local Queensland League is a opener to a Brisbance Roar Games.

But what ever happends the 610,000 registered fooball players in Australia need to feel that they have some connection to the A-League teams.

3 / Im still for a FA cup type comp. All A – League teams get an automatic place in the final 10. All other teams across Australia compete to fill the other 10 places. Each local comp weather it in the states aleady have this type of Cup competition and this could just add another tear.

2 Vic teams, 2 NSW teams, 1 Tas , 1 SA , 1 WA, 1 Qld, 1 Can or NT.

I played at a pretty low level in the UK but played in what was effectively a FA cup games. Its great an occasionally a team will get up and make it to play a big league team.

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AndyRoo said | October 13th 2009 @ 11:24am | Report comment

To a certain extent I believe Pip is correct, you have to give it a bit of time. That’s why I don’t mind the expansion plans into Nth Qld even though it’s not an instant home run because every year that passes once they are in the comp they become more and more a part of the landscape.

That said it’s possible to accelerate the process and make just a 5 year period feel like the team has been around for a lot longer. Look at Sydney Rovers when they finally kick of in 2011/2012 they are not going to feel like a 1 day old club.

I like Chooks suggestions to have a look at what the MLS are doing (very similar markets) and his idea for a double header seems a good one too.

Adelaide give out bumper stickers to all their fans. That’s not the be all and end all by itself but whenever a kid signs up for junior football in the Brisbane and Sunshine Coast area he should get something Roar related. Wether it’s just a sticker and a poster for cost reasons at least something.
You have to do a lot of little things and they do add up.

Also big picture wise it’s very hard for people to get emotionally invested into the A league because the players are hidden away from 75% of the population on Pay Tv. The NRL has a similar turnover (I would guess less though) of players with them going to England or other clubs, but thy make up for this because they are always in the news and on fta tv. You know them whereas for most people an A league game is 11 randoms vs 11 randoms with a few exceptions (MV’s Muscatt and Thompson come to mind).
There is only one FTA show that gives the players any face time and that is TWG who normally have one a league player on a week. It helps but is a long way of what they need. It’s easy to support an overseas team when the players are just as well known to you as the local boys. FTA is essential to grow the profile of the players and make more people care.

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Brian said | October 13th 2009 @ 11:34am | Report comment

Are crowds really that poor or are our expectations too high? There were 45,000 people at the Holland game, 30,000 watching Melbourne v Sydney, all in all there will be more than 100,000 people watching live football this week. Factoring in the high ticket prices ($50 for Oman) I’d say football is now Australia’s 3rd most watched sport. In the last ten years its overtaken Cricket & Rugby Union in spectator numbers and is catching up to Rugby League.

When you put in new teams crowd averages will suffer. The AFL will do the same they won’t get 40,000 watching Gold Coast or West Sydney. I think just a little more patience is needed. GC crowds are low because there are only 500,000 living there, per capita they are doing better than Sydney, Brisbane and probably Perth.

With regard to football supporters I enjoy the HAL but you cannot expect everyone who wants to see Holland to see Sydney FC. People know standrards. Kuyt, Sneijder, Babbel, Cahill are of a different class to the guys running around Sydney FC, we should not like our supporters to be ignorant of this.

25 years ago we played a WCQ playoff at the 15,000 Olympic Park, 15 years ago Argentina came to the SFS cause it was thought the MCG wouldn’t be sold out. 5 years ago we didn’t have a league. PAtience is needed and things take time.

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- San Jorge said | October 13th 2009 @ 5:39pm | Report comment
  
  Dude you did have a league 5 years ago, everyone needs to stop acting as if football/soccer only sprouted into existence in Australia with the advent of A-League
  
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Ben said | October 13th 2009 @ 11:40am | Report comment

I completely agree with Chook’s point three.
Start a cup similar to the FA Cup for the UK. start off with the Amateur clubs competing against each other for the qualifiers, then bring in the semi pro teams, then the A league.
that way you can get rid of a finals series in the A league and give the fans their cup finals.

My old club UWA won the state cup final on the weekend in WA, and there was about 2-3000 people. Now why wouldnt you play that game before a Glory game. Get more people through the gates and create an atmosphere. And hopefully, pull those same people through the following week.

A league clubs need to generate an obvious relationship with the local semi pro and amateur clubs from their area.

I used to be a mad Northern Spirit fan, purely because guys I played with at my club were in the Spirit U23′s.
If people thought Sydney FC was their representative club, which all players and clubs aspire and relate too, then they would have more passion for the club, not just the game as a whole, which we all do.

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Chook said | October 13th 2009 @ 11:59am | Report comment

FYI going from last years number round 10

Average up 16%

crowd numbers up by 16%

Overall

Crowd no. up by 9.6% 45867 more people watch football live than this time last year
Average downs -10.5% last year 11907 , this year 10656

Melbourne haev got 120,000 thru the gate this year while

NJ only have had 23,000 thru the gate

WP up 1000
PG up 1000
SFC up 1000
AU up by 600
CCM down 1800
MV down 1000
BR are down a massive 3000
NJ down by 3000

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- Michael C said | October 13th 2009 @ 12:30pm | Report comment
  
  Good to see a soccer person keeping proper tabs on the crowds!!
  
  only point of contention – - Rnd 10 V5 should really be compared with Rnd 9 V4,
  
  when MVFC hosting SFC for 31.5K crowd (biggest H&A crowd for the season). That round was 59K, which is just a tad above the 57K odd this year.
  
  because of the MVFC hosting of SFC – - MVFC home matches generally have the biggest impact, so, year on year round vs round comparisons can be very misleading.
  
  NJs may be crap so far thru the gate….but, they’re better (just) than big mouth Palmers GCU.
  
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  - Chook said | October 13th 2009 @ 1:26pm | Report comment
    
    Fair go it would take me forever to compare games but I think we need to look at it wholistiacally with out MV average crowds would be 8000. I try to past Round by Round every week on the roars web site.
    
    MV v SFC was 30668
    
    Yeah its not all bad news and it good to see improvement in Wellington and Perth
    
    We bag, NJ but i think they have been punching above thier weight for a while,
    
    any non capital city team should be stoked with any crowd over 10,000
    
    As far as GCU and NF keep the faith they are still got good crowds and they will still need to find thier place in the community I think that it a 15 – 20 year commitment not a 3 – 5 year
    
    For me its the Brisbane Roar that are the real concern
    
    B
    
    a
    
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