With a good start to the Wallabies comeback under coach Dave Rennie, residents of the Rugby Australia corridors have a lot of work to do in carving up a campaign and piquing the interest of what appears to be a resurrected and interested Wallabies community.
Interest, however, isn’t good enough. Audiences taking action is what is needed to increase engagement numbers.
While the team in the paddock recalibrate themselves and work on their Game 2 errors, we know the Bledisloe competition is still alive with two games to go. Australia need to win both games to take home the silverware. We are still in the running, this time doing battle in our own territory.
We’re all believing Rennie, win or lose, will continue to take us through an era of refreshing team leadership, bringing the troops more tightly together, challenging the team, taking them places they have never been before.
While Rennie does that, let’s talk fandom and engagement. This piece is a critical analysis on engagement. I am by no means an expert, but I know enough about engaging audiences to be able to provide basic insight of the work that needs to be done further via increasing our audience engagement through simple strategies that will go a long way.
The writing is on the wall. A pivot is needed. Content is king, and if the engagement formula isn’t achieved quickly, Australian audiences will be left with no sense of ownership or direction under the ‘our team, our journey’, banner rhetoric.
RA will need to capture our attention via capitalising from moment to moment. An engagement that invokes strategic audience action at various points of their campaign. What we need is an experiential journey – seamless with great impact.
I will touch on digital and face-to-face community engagement, as this is where RA has not had much success in previous months. This aims to capture diverse audiences in a meaningful, authentic way. Unlike their rugby league counterparts, engagement has been somewhat linear over the years when it comes to tapping into the strength of diversity within their audience demographics.
(Matt King/Getty Images)
For example, Rugby Australia, have often left out a critical part of Sydney that is much needed to fill up stadiums at major rugby events. I am addressing the elephant in the room, an existing bone of contention: that is, the Greater Western Sydney and Western Sydney regions. I will expound on this in my next few articles in highlighting the need for further engagement. This area is where our friends in rugby league have managed to capitalise in terms of sustainable and meaningful connection.
Let’s take a look at the digital platform figures (captured on 18 October 2020) and make comparisons between the two rival teams on three key platforms of engagement: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
| Platform | Wallabies | All Blacks |
|---|---|---|
| 687,944 | 4.6 million | |
| 326,000 | 1.7 million | |
| 233,000 | 968,000 |
From the table above we can see that RA has a lot of work to do. A quick browse of their content in the last two weeks demonstrates there has not been maximum fan engagement. On average it barely scratches the surface, and I would be interested to find out how many tickets have been sold for Australian games since announcement.
Keeping this article short, there are some suggestions for Rugby Australia:
- segmented campaigns that are savvy, innovative and unique away from past traditional campaigning strategies;
- regular posting during team camp with narratives – the Wallabies are your greatest asset, so tell their individual stories, create a family storytelling framework and bring the team closer to your audience. Consider online conversations in the style of the NFL and football leagues prior to game day;
- integrate footage of team humour – the highs and lows of team dynamics and how they overcome their daily challenges – to connect your audience;
- knowing your audience means recognising that Australian audiences love a good underdog story, so to increase engagement numbers telling visual stories is gold; and
- integrate cultural activities by recognising the acknowledgement of country. We know this has already begun with cross-cultural activities such as singing. The All Blacks success in this area is due to their acknowledgment of Indigenous land and its peoples. There is power in doing this, and Rennie understands the culture and spirituality spectrum fully well.
As I said, I am not declaring myself an expert. However, like 20 million-plus people in Australia, I want to see in our lifetime a Bledisloe victory. We are waiting for the onslaught engagement campaign to support our team. We all want the Wallabies to succeed, also knowing that a pivot change is needed to bring us closer together as a wider diverse Australian family.
Wow......50% of the two teams named.....
Tom
Guest
17 eligible kiwis in NRL grandfinal. I think that's a full team. :thumbup: to
Stu
Roar Rookie
Do the top players do regular meets & greets with the general public and their kids?
Joe
Guest
I lost interest in the wallabies a few years with the way the western force debacle was handled and also the vocus by the board on political correct issues rather the Game. Recently with the performance of the last 2 games against the all blacks , the wallabies were impressive by the their honesty in the performance however I now see that they are talking about kneeling to the black lives movement , If they go that route I will give them a wide berth ,how about performing as professionals and worry less about political crap.
Moog
Guest
It’s just criminal the way a great brand like the Wallabies is being ‘marketed’ at the moment. How about back to basics. Try doing some of the following: 1. make sure your audience know all the players in the team - player profiles 2. Get the audience on board with the team’s struggles - analysis of key areas of the game or skills focus 3. Give the audience more to engage with, and more ways to engage. Don’t see your job as selling tickets, or that’s all it will be.
yep spot on. All the development of NZ league players is done in the NRL. They have scouts at every possible school rugby program and come to plunder our talent ( lol ). You couldnt rely on the small League comps in NZ. Soccer and Basketball are different as NZ has its own systems but NZ league is a success because of the NRL only...
Panana split
Roar Rookie
If the 'average kiwi' refers to comments found on the internet then you may have a case. Lets be honest though, online blogs, social media platform and news sites tend to attract the opinions of trolls. The average Kiwi or All Black fan, in my experience, is quite humble and in reality only a small percentage could be described as unbearable. Even online All Black fans are generally humble in defeat and victory. I think its just easier to focus on petty digs.
pm
Roar Rookie
Very worthwhile article, Tia :thumbup:
Micko
Roar Rookie
And despite the cultural dominance of rugby union, NZ does exceptionally well in rugby league helped in large parts due to the ethnic/racial makeup of NZ (Polynesians etc) and the fact Australia lets NZ have access to our pro comps, which helps develop their players, rather than forcing NZ to develop their own players, which just isn't feasible.
Micko
Roar Rookie
You kiwis and your "systems". :laughing: It's culture which builds the system. Being not just the biggest football code, but clearly the culturally dominant sport in NZ, with the all blacks being revered with an almost religious and fanatical fervour and worship by kiwis. This creates an atmosphere of intensity and passion as players from a young age dream of reaching the top, which drives standards up as there is intense competition. Also, the happy accident of whites bringing this sport to a country with a large population of Polynesians (& eventually other PI populations), which basically seems like a game specifically made for them as it suits their aggressive and confrontational warrior culture. Similar to the happy accident of basketball in the US, with the huge size and natural athletic ability of the black population being a match made in heaven.
Jim
Guest
Best thing RA can do is get the posturing, infighting and marketing spin off the front page and get the sport on it. At the moment, all I hear about and read about is the RA board and, the disagreements between states. Everyone seems to spend all their time white-anting each other to try and gain some perceived financial benefit or marketing edge. IMO It is not about the game but so they can beat their chests and tell everyone what they are doing for the sport they profess to love. Simply setting up a social media campaign does little apart from giving everyone yet another channel to interact. It doesnt change perceptions or reality.
Micko
Roar Rookie
Agreed Jacko re Campese. Great player, but shoots his mouth off too much in retirement. I was part of the "wait & see" crowd. The Wallabies these days are a long term proposition as they're so inconsistent the past decade or so. And yes, some fans shouldn't get cocky and mouth off after one draw against NZ.
The average Aussie can be very unbearable at times too Micko....The arrogance shown after a draw was comical and the RA boss and guys like Campese and many others suddenly claim that the ABs are on the decline and then its only the Wallabies fault that NZ wins. There is zero admission that the ABs outplay the wallabies just claims of "the wallabies had a bad day"
Gary NZ hardly has a league comp yet NZ is no 1 in the world in League. Numbers are a bit subjective when it comes to success. Yes having a million players means you are far more likely to produce a 1 in a million player but it doesnt garrantee success and countries like Fiji show you that population and player numbers are always subjective. . i think the systems are more important than the amount of people who play.
Micko
Roar Rookie
They're ok. It's the average kiwis who can get unbearable sometimes because NZ found a sport they are very good at, and which is minor enough globally that NZ can be dominant in it.
Micko
Roar Rookie
We'd have a lot better record, no doubt about that.
Gary
Guest
Yeah well they should be grateful because if it were our National sport the Kiwis wouldn't get a look in.
Panana split
Roar Rookie
The word arrogant gets thrown around a lot these days. For the record, arrogance is defined as having or revealing an exaggerated sense of one’s own importance or abilities. Not sure how the conduct of the All Blacks on or off the field could be described as arrogant.
Gabrielle Spillane
Guest
Gees you guys are harsh, apart from these guys playing a different game there are new combinations to contend with and even a new playing group. They all come from all over Aus and you expect them to play as a melded team. Give them a break they are trying like hell infact I think they are doing a not bad job unfortunately they weren’t expecting the All Blacks to make as many mistakes as they did. The ABs were arrogant as ever and that was a large part of their win, but to be honest they weren’t all that brilliant either. I don’t think that I have ever seen so much dropped ball on their part and also we were quicker to their reciever off our high ball which I don’t think they were ready for. Yes we had our mistakes and our set pieces could have been better, but all in all I wasn’t as upset as the last couple of years
Pappagaai
Guest
Please stipulate that there is to be no Martin, Kerns or Kafer in any commentary team covering Wallaby games. They spoil it to the extent that I have to watch the game with the sound off.