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MHFC Marketing thread


Ando
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This thread is for the discussion of potential marketing ideas that the forum may eventually forward to the club. I think we're all aware the club could be marketing itself in a slightly more efficient manner, and there's some fairly savvy people on this forum.

The intent is not to denigrate existing marketing, but to look for a way forward that will help the club better define itself in an already crowded sporting market.

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There's a few things that I think the club is pushing, but they've lost their way a little bit.

I'd like to see a little more respect shown to the fans. That's not to say it isn't, and I think initiatives such as the third strip are great. Marketing them, however, is not.

Rather than just a shitty facebook post, I can't imagine it would cost too much time and money to produce something like this.

Get it trending on social media, football websites, alternative football websites etc. Perhaps the club needs to be a little more edgy (I hate that term hey).

Also regarding the third kits, what's stopping the club from doing a photoshoot with ten or so entrants to the comp playing some five-a-side against a few of the squad players? Make a day of it, get the members down to Knox and give those people who put some time in to designing the shirts something to remember. Knox is pretty cheap to hire out...

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I think the club seem to be selling to the wholesome family friendly market (or at least trying to anyway)- the 4WD Volvo driving, Ikea buying middle class.

Makes sense being that there is a lot of money to be made from this market, but very difficult to capture and not sure that our club is the right fit for this angle- particularly if the results and style of play are not up to scratch.

I agree Ando, I would love the club to start taking more of a risk in its marketing. Its not as if it could make things any worse.

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I think the club seem to be selling to the wholesome family friendly market (or at least trying to anyway)- the 4WD Volvo driving, Ikea buying middle class.

SNIP

Getting these people to buy memberships is fine. The club should be looking for that as a basis, but how would you define them? Consumers/supporters/fans/fanatics?

Although my opinion is clearly very biased, I think the club should also be seeking to turn the first two (consumers/supporters) into the last two (fans/fanatics).

The club can start a culture, but it's the fans that sustain and build it.

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I think this is a lot of the problem. The people the club are marketing to are never going to be fanatics who come back week in week out through the hard times and the good, etc. We seem to be selling to the "theater goers" who look at a sporting events as another branch of the entertainment industry rather than something you belong to and believe in.

I dont know the first thing about marketing and what not, so I could be way off the mark but I would say that we are better off targeting a younger male audience (15-20ish)

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I think that the club should make a highlight of the every game that we play in and offer it for free to all the people who were unable to watch or make the game.

Vlad, this is the point (and I know you are new around here) that I have been making during the off season based on the MLS and the extended highlights available on YouTube and via links on club websites.

I agree with you that it is a great way to involve supporters who cannot get to games and keep them up to date with the club, team and supporters. Hopefully the A-League will see the value of this.

eg.

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I dont know the first thing about marketing and what not, so I could be way off the mark but I would say that we are better off targeting a younger male audience (15-20ish)

Agree in part with this, but I'd suggest that it isn't just a younger male audience that needs to be reached. Girls of those ages like football too and are just as likely to get involved and stay involved- but ALL of the marketing from ALL teams forgets this.

One of the (many) things that football has over AFL is the fact that it is a non threatening place for girls to be- very few drunken meathead dipshits etc etc. Get into the high schools and the universities and get all of the 15-20 demographic involved in the club- having primary school clinics is great (and important) but there is only so many much that that can do. Particularly if there is a feeling that the club needs to move away from the Volvo driving set.

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Agree in part with this, but I'd suggest that it isn't just a younger male audience that needs to be reached. Girls of those ages like football too and are just as likely to get involved and stay involved- but ALL of the marketing from ALL teams forgets this.

One of the (many) things that football has over AFL is the fact that it is a non threatening place for girls to be- very few drunken meathead dipshits etc etc. Get into the high schools and the universities and get all of the 15-20 demographic involved in the club- having primary school clinics is great (and important) but there is only so many much that that can do. Particularly if there is a feeling that the club needs to move away from the Volvo driving set.

This really makes little sense...

No sport is more followed/ attended/ passionately supported by women more than AFL. If anything Heart should be looking at what the AFL clubs are doing to attract such high amounts of female fans.

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This really makes little sense...

No sport is more followed/ attended/ passionately supported by women more than AFL. If anything Heart should be looking at what the AFL clubs are doing to attract such high amounts of female fans.

So you both agree. Heart should be looking at reaching that demographic cited by LeNoir but don't currently. Perhaps they see it as that "one step beyond" at the moment and don't have the resources/technical knowledge to pursue it.

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Further to marketing the third kit this season, Portland Timbers and FC St Pauli do a cracking job of engaging fans.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150668127020193.693071.235079235192&type=3

http://www.portlandtimbers.com/promotions/we-are-timbers

Bit of a quick photoshoot with some members and those who submitted designs around Melbourne's landmarks wouldn't go astray. The club needs to provide that agency for fans to interact at a deeper emotional level.

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I think the club seem to be selling to the wholesome family friendly market (or at least trying to anyway)- the 4WD Volvo driving, Ikea buying middle class.

Makes sense being that there is a lot of money to be made from this market, but very difficult to capture and not sure that our club is the right fit for this angle- particularly if the results and style of play are not up to scratch.

I agree Ando, I would love the club to start taking more of a risk in its marketing. Its not as if it could make things any worse.

Hey that's me but I hate Volvos and no IKEA stuff. What would appeal is better food, now I know that there's a food distribution deal tied into the stadium rental deal but highlighting the multi-cultural nature of the team with food stalls selling food from each player's culture, maybe a different player each game would attract family foodie football fans (FFFFs)!

When we went to the finals in Perth there was free public transport to anyone with a match ticket, another good idea.

Frankly though the best way to market the club is to play exciting football and to win at home, the rest is all 'the cherry on the cream'.

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Hey that's me but I hate Volvos and no IKEA stuff. What would appeal is better food, now I know that there's a food distribution deal tied into the stadium rental deal but highlighting the multi-cultural nature of the team with food stalls selling food from each player's culture, maybe a different player each game would attract family foodie football fans (FFFFs)!

When we went to the finals in Perth there was free public transport to anyone with a match ticket, another good idea.

Frankly though the best way to market the club is to play exciting football and to win at home, the rest is all 'the cherry on the cream'.

Just following on from your culture thing. The round ball game is universal and attracts people from many countries. We should be tapping into our Asian and African residents. Making each game day an event where we can highlight the diversity of the games followers - dare I say allowing flags from different countries to be flown, special half time events put on by different ethnic groups. That gives them a reason to come to the game and maybe coming more often as they are made to feel comfortable at Heart and in time maybe membership. The African immigrants are mad about the game but how many do we see on game day?

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I dont know the first thing about marketing and what not, so I could be way off the mark but I would say that we are better off targeting a younger male audience (15-20ish)

Marketing is about increasing the number of contacts between potential customers and the organization that has the product, and may involve advertisements, publicity, promotional events, public relations, presentations to and events with potential sponsors, etc., and includes internet contacts via websites and social media. Essentially good marketing of a product increases the opportunities for more sales of the product. The two are closely linked of course, but selling is more about unit prices, volumes, delivery, quality etc.

But first of all you have to have a product to market and sell. While at face value this may sound completely stupid, it isn't. Are we just another A-League franchise that happens to be in Melbourne, or are we something more than that? How do we differentiate ourselves from other similar organizations in Melbourne? What are our visions and values? Our standards of behaviour? People toss around phrases such as 'youth policy' - but what do we really mean by that in practice? How can potential customers see how we're delivering on that? Community involvement - for example, is there any real intention for part community ownership? What does being a member actually mean - just a discounted seat at AAMI or perhaps something more? How well does the organization listen to its members? And so on and so forth.

And when it comes to the match-day product what is it that we're selling? Match-day experience? Means different things to different people. To those in the active area it is something probably rather different to what young families and middle-aged husbands and wives would prefer. Not to mention the much-maligned prawn-sanger-nibbling, chardonnay-quaffing, Volvo-driving set (who actually have most of that most-sought-after substance called 'dosh'). Does the product meet the customers' expectations? Do we ever invite feed-back on that? We might find that a few small tweaks would improve things no end. (Like, for example, the club actually getting involved with security issues rather than washing its hands of the whole affair, which is the impression I get.) Do we want to see a big-name player? Do we want to see a young team reflecting our 'youth policy'?

Then you come down to the actual transactions of buying the product. Ease of getting a ticket in the place in the stadium you actually want to be. How much tickets cost and what the on-costs are, and ultimately what you think you are getting in terms of value for money.

I do not have the answers, except to what I want from the product. I would suggest that only club insiders know what is going on in terms of high-level marketing to potential sponsors and investors etc. All we can really see is the what is being done in terms of spectators. In terms of that, the franchises are heavily shackled by the FFA and really don't have much room to move, the club web-site being a perfect example. IMHO FFA has made a fundamental mistake on directing its spectator marketing to the young male demographic, so I differ completely with KSK on this. It is precisely the perception that this demographic has a fringe hooligan element (as we know, gleefully picked up by the media at the slightest opportunity) that dissuades many people from even considering football as a potential entertainment outlet.

Heart's future lies in embracing all the various demographics in Melbourne. I hate the term 'family-friendly', but that's what we are going to have to be if we are to grow and be sustainable. I think we are focussed on that, but possibly it hasn't been so obvious recently.

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Just following on from your culture thing. The round ball game is universal and attracts people from many countries. We should be tapping into our Asian and African residents. Making each game day an event where we can highlight the diversity of the games followers - dare I say allowing flags from different countries to be flown, special half time events put on by different ethnic groups. That gives them a reason to come to the game and maybe coming more often as they are made to feel comfortable at Heart and in time maybe membership. The African immigrants are mad about the game but how many do we see on game day?

Are you forgetting our huge Chinese cheer squad?

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Quick question. What's the go with the club and food on match day? Do we get amy cut of the profits? Do we have to pay to have it there or is it entirely run by the stadium?

Also same thing with the merch sold at the ground. Does the stadium get a cut of the sales? Is all the money going into the club?

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The propaganda department should be strung up and hung from the tallest building in the village. That is how to send a message.

The slogans these Kulaks produce do not instil fear and fail to raise class consciousness.

We must use imagery that demonstrates our relentless desire for world domination and our hatred for the bourgeois pigs at MVFC who would try and deny us our destiny!

Perhaps something like this.

russian_propaganda_world_war_two_propaganda_posters-s550x386-48186-580.jpg

btw Agree or enjoy Siberia ;)

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Vlad, this is the point (and I know you are new around here) that I have been making during the off season based on the MLS and the extended highlights available on YouTube and via links on club websites.

I agree with you that it is a great way to involve supporters who cannot get to games and keep them up to date with the club, team and supporters. Hopefully the A-League will see the value of this.

eg.

I've seen your MLS thread but I've been a tad shy to post so didn't post on it sadly :/ I think that Social media is one of the best way to go forward if the club wants to attract attention. Now don't get me wrong it would be a pity if the club went and whored itself out and posted non stop low quality content on Facebook/Youtube but I agree with you that the extended highlight reels would be amazing, especially for fans outside the country such as me. But there are so many things we can do. This video being a perfect example

or

Edited by Vlad
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Alrighty then. I think the answer is relativly simple. Give value for money.

The 2 fastest growing clubs in the aleague (excluding del piero fc) happen to be the cheapest to get a membership at.

1. membership price

Both Wanderers and the Jets, have seats for sale on the wings for the same price (or thereabouts) as our GA seats.

Both are $240 for the equivilant of our "A" class Seats.

If our GA seats only allow people to watch from the ends, (which is OK - or ace if you are active) but not nearly the experience from watching on the wings, why would we expect people to come back

I think our whole seating system and pricing structure is wrong.

2. Value for money

Apart from a seat , we get no value add.

- Sydney, brisbane, wanderers all get free transport on match days. That alone is a fair incentive. - i hear so many people complaining about the cost/hassle of getting to the game.

In reality its not that much hassle - but is perceived hassle.

Wanderers/jets also get a cap with a membership # included in there membership.

- again not much , but we pay $25 for the same thing.. Just another value item which also equals every member advertising.

Anyhow that's my opinion, others might not agree.

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- Sydney, brisbane, wanderers all get free transport on match days. That alone is a fair incentive. - i hear so many people complaining about the cost/hassle of getting to the game.

Pretty lame by the club to be sponsored by PT but yet cant give us something as supporters in terms of trains

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Just following on from your culture thing. The round ball game is universal and attracts people from many countries. We should be tapping into our Asian and African residents. Making each game day an event where we can highlight the diversity of the games followers - dare I say allowing flags from different countries to be flown, special half time events put on by different ethnic groups. That gives them a reason to come to the game and maybe coming more often as they are made to feel comfortable at Heart and in time maybe membership. The African immigrants are mad about the game but how many do we see on game day?

Absolutely. This is a great example of marketing. Increasing the number of of potential buyers. When you look around AAMI Park on a match day the crowd looks representative of pre-1960 Melbourne, not 2012 Melbourne. Heart is already reaching out to this demographic in terms of young footballers - there's a video on the website featuring Joe Palatsides on this - and we could so easily do so much more and make Heart their automatic club of choice.

Also suggest that we could do a lot more via Westpac branches. They're our major sponsor, but there's zilch about the club in a Westpac branch, not a leaflet, poster, or even a telephone number to call.

Edited by jw1739
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First up......Ando, great thread.

Now, I haven't read everyone's two cents worth, but I got a bit of a general feel for things. I would say that Heart aren't necessarily marketing to "theatre goers" or "middle class".......more so on an all inclusive basis - hence being community oriented. yes, they want families, I think it's fair to say they don't want some of the yobbo, hooligan culture that you can associate with Victory.

I'm going to have more questions/ideas than answers here, but hopefully they are considered and used by the club. In my opinion, there is still a massive latent soccer/football supporter base in Victoria that doesn't attend games. Africans are clearly an emerging community and generally, soccer is the sport they know and love. Through some volunteer work with African communities, I've seen it first hand. And I can also verify that Melbourne Heart was/is a supporter of these communities and work they do, particularly in regards to getting involved in soccer. On the whole, Heart have been great.....however they could be better and do more. The only thing I would say on some African communities (and this is from experience, and confirmed by African friends), is that a large number of things have come for free to African communities - and don't get me wrong, in a lot of cases, this was necessary to assist people to establish a new life in Australia - but this has created a welfare type mentality where some Africans think Australia is a "free country". In other words, they don't have to pay for much, they can relax and everything will be given to them for free. The difficulty in these cases, whilst it is changing, is to change this type of mentality, which doesn't happen overnight.

South American community.....there is quite a decent community in Melbourne, and I would say annecdotally, they haven't been engaged all that much by either Heart or Victory. I think it;s fair to say that South Americans tend to be very passionate in the way they support soccer and would be great to have on board. Then we have the Asian community, which yes, are more interested in the highest levels of the sport - Europe, etc - but again, it's an emerging community, loads and loads of international students wanting to engage and interact with the Australian community. Well, if we have soccer in common, then there's a hook for the Heart.

I heard from a friend that late last year/earlier this year (last season), there was a game where the club arranged a South American band/group - I think Brazillian - to play on the concourse leading to AAMI Park. It created a fun, carnival atmosphere and got people in a festival mood for the game. It sounded like a great idea and could be something they could look at more often for home games. They could at least trial it!

Anyway, these are by no means the full extent of the ideas or markets which the Heart need to explore sooner rather than later, they are just the tip of the iceberg. It's about time they became prepared to be daring and push the boundaries with their marketing and get ahead of the competition. If they sit on their hands, they won't go forward. Time to at least change the status quo and try something different. At least if they try and fail, they won't die wondering.

That's my two cents worth.....for now.

Edit: By the way, I just saw the above comment, and I totally agree. What the hell does Westpac do to help promote the club?? About time they did something and gave back to the fans on match day, etc.

Edited by willo
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this has nothing to do with heart marketing but the A-league needs to air games on normal T.V liek channel 9 or seven instead of just foxsports or austar.... they would make alot more money and have a shit load more fans but ya sorry it has nothing to do with heart..

But with heart marketing they might want to have like free transport or some sort of transport in the country towns. Im from Bendigo and their are alot of heart fans that live here and it is a pain to catch a train from the station then another one to Richmond station and on sundays its like $25 for a bus so why not on match day like a shuttle bus to aami park and back again for country towns or something if this is a bad idea its because i have no clue what so every in marketing ha

Edited by Brodiek96
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Now, I haven't read everyone's two cents worth, but I got a bit of a general feel for things. I would say that Heart aren't necessarily marketing to "theatre goers" or "middle class".......more so on an all inclusive basis

This is probably a more accurate description of our target audience, which for me highlights the same problem. When you are trying be all inclusive, you are essentially appealing to nobody in particular. It just makes your campaigns bland and forgettable.

For the build up to this season I did notice a change in direction though, with the "We Will Rule This City" ad, but I dont think it was really effective. For a campaign like that you need to saturate the town. To say to Melbourne "we are taking over". One billboard announcing that we are going to rule this city is hardly going to get people talking.

Like I say. I dont really know anything about marketing so I am not saying the club should listen to me, but it seems we have a very very thin margin to work with and need to maximize appeal with very little. Again I would say first step would be to pick a specific target audience and bombard them. I still think 15-20 year old males would be best. They are the ones that will stick with the club plus are more social media savvy which can be a much cheaper way to get the word out if done properly. Plus from my experience, most females that get into football are attracted to the same elements as males, so its kind of like branding to males and females without having to differentiate.

Once you have your foundations laid and have a loyal following of your "brand", then you try to reach out to a wider market.

Edited by KSK_47
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This is probably a more accurate description of our target audience, which for me highlights the same problem. When you are trying be all inclusive, you are essentially appealing to nobody in particular. It just makes your campaigns bland and forgettable.

For the build up to this season I did notice a change in direction though, with the "We Will Rule This City" ad, but I dont think it was really effective.

No, no! You're appealing to everybody. If your marketing is bland and forgettable, then you have the wrong marketing campaign, and probably the wrong marketing team.

Of course 'We will rule this city' had no impact whatsoever. Because it is language that appeals to only a small demographic and that everyone else associates with graffiti and therefore young male hooligans.

Did you go to the pre-season game between the Knights and Heart? The incident there is precisely the sort of thing that continues to be the perception of the wider community and that Heart needs to get completely away from.

Edited by jw1739
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No, no! You're appealing to everybody. If your marketing is bland and forgettable, then you have the wrong marketing campaign, and probably the wrong marketing team.

Is it possible to come up with an effective campaign that appeals to everyone on a budget of next to nothing? If so I think who ever can come up with it is wasted at Heart and should be working for a a world renowned agency.

What does a scuffle at Knights have to do with anything?

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