Crowds - The thread of Australian whining

I think this is the main winner "WORD OF MOUTH"
Social media allows user to spread the word but the personal backing and promotion of the individual is best.
Oh and scantily-clad women giving out game flyers would help.

Nope, not the Nix' marketing guy, just the former media guy. And yes, it is pent up frustration. Try working to a scenario that always went something like this:

You've gotta be a little more specific

goldienz2012-01-26 14:43:38

Been there, done that, I feel your pain.

Different owners now, different circumstances perhaps?

Dear God of Pax

Don't bring us problems, bring us solutions JM

Yeah if we got those two we'd have to pay their bus fares down from Palmy too

Was ticketek on board? I just don't recall the option of doing so although perhaps I did subconsciously and that was what made me think of it.

Wellington rugby memberships  have just gone on sale.  For 7 Horrorcanes and 5 Lions games, cheapest membership is $199 or $17 per game.

More... although the Phoenix are actually contenders.

$250 for 12 games plus auckland. I doubt the revenue split would be 7:5 for the rugby though. Hurricanes probably take more.

Okay, here's the solution: jackschitt2012-01-26 15:31:08

Ken ring can predict the weather.  We should get him over to FFA headquarters when they are sussing out the draw.

Do they get dibs on sevens tickets also? That was a big selling point in the past.

Speak to China. If you shoot enough rockets into incoming clouds you can apparently make it rain somewhere else.

Warriors are $180 for 12 games too. 2ndBest2012-01-26 15:32:35

And we are $250 for 12.

Probably need to qualify that with Mt. Smart (almost certainly) being cheaper than Westpac and Rugby heavily subsidised by the Rugby Union. Hard News2012-01-26 15:31:47

In fact, the Soviet Union developed "weather machines" to make sure that it was fine in Moscow for the 1980 Olympics. These were later bought by Michael Jackson for his concerts - don't know who has them now.

Like over the Crafar farms that need to be more productive?

Have they surveyed members that didnt renew to ask them why they didnt? Cost might not have even been a factor for many but they wont know for sure unless they ask them.

Yes indeed, buy a season ticket and get first call on a seat in your area for 7's.

Surely Wellington rugby memberships are slightly cheaper than Phoenix ones because of the Super Rugby/NPC split. It's almost like a nix membership being for 7 nix games and 5 Team Wellington games. I know it's not quite the same, but it's similar.

Definately. Cheapest hurricanes single tickets are $25 while it was $16 for lions tickets last year.2ndBest2012-01-26 16:38:30

Couple of other things Wellington Rugby do is give all Club coaches free tickets to NPC and kids go free to every game in NPC.

Despite the freebies, the Lions almost always get smaller numbers turning up ( I think!) than the Nix do.
Freebies are not really the answer

And here's another quote from Gareth: "We keep it viable, but then we change our strategies so that we don't keep bleeding."

"Bleeding" three months into a three-year plan? Crikey, it'll be interesting to see what his take is if things don't improve massively next season.

But please, don't get me wrong, I'm stoked Welnix stepped in. Stay the course - great - but take a longer term approach than three months. Invest in some off-field activity and see what happens. I guess I just got a little grumpy with the timing and tone of Gareth's comments.

jackschitt2012-01-26 18:42:52

They are bleeding. It is a fact. Crowd numbers ARE below break even. That means every time the team plays at Westpac at the moment the owners loose money. That is bleeding.

I think that there has been more marketing, and more initiatives to get the crowd numbers up for this match than for any previous match since the Welnix took over. Would you agree with that?

Is it not possible that when he said "then we change our strategies" that he was meaning all of the new initiatives they have undertaken to promote this game against the Heart?

If so, what is wrong with such a change in strategy? Why would they need to take a longer term approach than 3 months to try and turn the crowd figures around? Why not try and fix that straight away?

They ARE investing in some off-field activity.


bwtcf2012-01-26 18:49:13

Agreed it's a fact they're bleeding. Hell, Terry haemorrhaged from his carotid for five years but still brought in Beckham, Boca and was always active in recruiting. The club established a benchmark in the A-League for community engagement. The retail store was an amazing focal point.

Now the club is being run, off-field at least, by essentially ONE BLOKE.

I agree marketing for this match has been superb. It will draw a good crowd. But it's only a first, relatively tentative, step in the right direction. Keep it going and then see what transpires.

By all means canvass YF for ideas. That's great and incredibly advisable. But don't issue threats (veiled though it might have been, but a threat nevertheless) without first looking at what the consortium can also bring to the table.

before kick off in season 1, I recall Terry saying we needed 12,000 - 12,500 each game to break even. We've never got to that figure.

I'm sure Welnix are well aware of the break even crowd. and what we actually achieved

Unless terry was telling porkies...............

I saw a billboard in Lower Hutt near the roundabout for the Melling Bridge.

It was all black, talking about "Black out the Heart". I am not sure many people would read it, as the black colouring didn't make it stand out much.

But still good to see the advertising effort, and people who read the billboard will at least know about the game this weekend

Anyone else notice the Phoenix cups were back at Mojo this week for the first time in months and months? Nice to see the marketing dept. doing the little things too.

I literally BEGGED Mojo to send a stash down to Dunedin stores for the December game but that never came into fruition. Slightly off-topic but damn it was frustrating.

Oh that's a bit sh*t, surely that wouldn't have been hard for them to do.

But I digress...

Back on topic those cups are win win surely?

I spoke to someone I used to work with today. I asked her if she was going to the game. She said: "Yeah, stab the heart ae." bwtcf2012-01-26 19:46:09

How do you think an "out of towners" membership package would go? I, for one watch the Phoenix every week on TV but can't get to home games as I live in Christchurch. I'd more than likely be willing to buy a package that has maybe one or two tickets to game (one for a South Island game and one for a Wellington game would be ideal) and maybe some sort of other assorted trinkets (fridge magnets, lanyards etc etc).

Not going to save me any $$ but at least I'd feel part of the club.