Crowds - The thread of Australian whining

Just for starters I'd stick a small advertising banner on the front page of Stuff a week in advance with details of the next home fixture and whatever deal the club/stadium is offering.

I think it's fair enough for the owners (Gareth) to challenge the supporters to help boost crowds and come up with good ideas for increasing attendance numbers - and there are plenty of supporters who do actively bring along newbies and there have been plenty of good ideas mentioned. Whitby boy2012-01-23 17:58:35

No surprise that people who don't really understand Social Media etc aren't really bothered about the idea. No, these things aren't going to suddenly bring thousands of more people, but they can help with brand awareness, and getting a wider audience to know when the games are, promotions etc.

Not meaning to sound derogatory (not intended) but here's how it works at a basic level:

- I tweet something about the Club.
- Someone else "retweets" it.
- Anyone that "follows" that someone sees the tweet, even if they have no interest in following me/genuine interest in the Nix.

On Facebook:

- Phoenix post something
- I click "like"
- Every one of my friends sees that I liked it, and the associated post

While these people may not pay attention, and may choose to ignore these posts, it still gets the message out there. As exposure and interest grows, people will catch onto the message.

It's also essentially free - the Club officials can just carry on doing their normal job, and don't have to do a lot more (they can but currently it won't be worth putting money into it).

What does this have to do with anything? There are clubs with more and fewer members on Facebook. There are also more clubs in Australia (9) vs. New Zealand (1).

A lot of ex-pats as well as out of region Nix fans will be members. IMHO the numbers don't really mean much as we don't know how many of those Facebook fans are actually in the greater Wellington region.

It doesn't matter - refer to post above.

Facebook is a leading social media site, so these figures fit your argument for more releases on SM for better sucess or if these figures are irealivant then so would the twitter etc use be.

I totally endorse these sentiments.

You asked me to compare them to other clubs - why and to what purpose? Bigger isn't *always* better.

Talking to the chap who came over with the "Red Army" flag at auckland game. He arrives very early to each game at each stadium he goes too so he, if required can open the flag for inspection and explanation if required. I think he said he had tried pre approval but they still want to see the content on the flag.

Are there actual regulations? FIFA actually has dimensions I think. They are pathetically small. My Bahrain banner was slightly oversize. Thank GOD Red Badge didn't real the manual.

Correct how the h@ll do you tell the difference between active and none active persons in the large list of likes or followers, I beleive SM has still a long way to go before it is a true marketing tool.

Check out the Nix Facebook page. It IS active. You can see the activity. Just visit the page yourself. All this activity is pushed out to non-fans via the fans.

I don't know what you are getting at here. It's not as if the Nix Facebook has 40,000 fans that don't post on it. On the contrary it's fairly active.

Anyway not sure why there is such SM hate. I think it's lack of understanding as hinted by someone above.

It doesn't cost the Club anything apart from as much time as they want to invest in it, which isn't much at the moment, and isn't very likely to change unless there are additional staff employed (and I HIGHLY doubt any SM "specialist" would be employed by the Club which already runs on skeleton staffing).

It serves a purpose. It doesn't take away from other efforts.

Gareths Tweet making the radio news. Great way to get some publicity for the Heart game during the week. Gets people talking about going. Good marketing I say.

Not getting to worried as of yet

Heard that at 5pm on Radio Sport. Along with a short interview with MANNY

And Gareth's on again tomorrow at 7:10am as Piney posted before.

NZ Media are typically lazy (except Piney, he's a legend ). Tweets ARE news these days.ahmad2012-01-23 18:32:21

You can bloody so win.

It is NOT a case of EITHER use social media OR use mehtods which "us fossils" can be reached by.

I nearly replied to Ballane's "Rather than" and said Who says there has to be a choice between the two?" But then I saw that Ballane had said they should ALSO look at other avenues.

You can easily increase your social media pressence/efforts, appeasing those who say the social media pressence is lacking AND AT THE SAME TIME increase non-social-media marketing efforts too.

And I believe the club IS doing both.

I don't understand why people have to eat while you're at the game - I probably shouldn't say this because I work there but I'm sure what I say won't change anything - by saying "it's part of the experience" you're letting them win. Have a feed before you go you fools and if you like to get on the piss there then you just have to accept that it will cost you, just like it does at the pub. You drink sh*t beer because they sponsor the team, you drink the sh*t beer out of plastic because you're at a stadium. Also, maybe the fish they buy is marked up somewhat but they have to pay the people preparing and serving it. Some things won't change and if people are really saying these are the reasons they aren't turning up then I seriously think they're either a) stupid or b) making stupid excuses because they can't f**ked or c) people who always think they're being ripped off no matter what.

How much ls a movie, coke and ice cream. i think relitive to coke and chips at football

first game seasoon one stadium caterers set up for rugby crowd. Could not understand why they had to throw out so much food. Fans went out side to watch game, hence did not buy during game.

The fans went outside to watch the game?

Play Phoenix City more often.

Some thoughts around increasing crowds (not sure if they will improve the bottom line as well, at least not directly)

Post of the day there Kapitinix.

Good point. If Gareth really wants to "crowd source" some marketing insights then how about releasing all related data and information held by the Phoenix. Apart from anything else it would be interesting to know what information has even been captured in the past.

I put this in the Black Heart thread but it makes sense here so have re-posted.

I have my thoughts on this.

When we had our playoff run 2 years ago and we had massive crowds, what bought the casual fan along then to be part of that massive crowd. Was it to support a winning team, was it to support a playoff game, was it because the media covered the sh*t out of it? Probably a combination of all 3.

1: Its quite a common saying in Laker land that the fans don't turn up until April when the playoffs start and the games then start to mean something. I know that's an American way of thinking but do we as a sporting nation suffer from that too? Too many meaningless games where the fans don't bother until it counts for something because even the casual fan is not going to tune in for 8 months/82 games? Perhaps playoffs are the death of the casual fan attending sports games during regular season because of the fact that regular season game don't always mean something and are just that, regular games? There is now talk in the NBA of reducing the 82 game regulation season (baseball has like 150 I think) purely to keep the players fresher to produce a better product, makes the games mean something and keep the fans engaged. Super 15 - no one really tunes in seriously until near the end of the season when playoffs are close and then the people start coming along. The Breakers are probably the only team that don't fit that mould because they tend to sell out their games regardless although you are talking a smaller base with a max crowd of 3000. All Blacks have been struggling to sell out Eden Park games against AU and SA - perhaps cause they have seen it too often and its just another game? To sum it up, do the Phoenix now suffer from this whereby fans are only really going to tune in closer to the end of the season and playoffs when it starts to mean something? (from another persons perspective)

2: Nothing breeds success like success. Compare the Kingz crowd to the Phoenix. In the beginning when they were at least mid table, they were getting good crowds. As the team dropped down the table, the crowds did too. The Phoenix average has been dropping off but when you look at it, we were bottom 1st year, just missed 2nd, play offs the last 2 and most likely again this year. So perhaps the size of the crowds are not related to the success of the Phoenix?

3: It is interesting to note the correlation between the coverage of the side and the attendance and thus, the chatter. Media will cover sides extensively when they are doing well. The coverage the Warriors got on last years run is a good one but think back to our run 2 years ago when there was positive articles everyday and in volume. Everyone knew what was going on and everyone was talking about it and thus, everyone got along to the home playoff games. Attendances in the EPL are usually a full house but again its the dominant sport. Do they suffer from fan drop off (no) or is it because its constantly in the media and thus front and centre in the psyche. Do we simply suffer from not enough media coverage for the Phoenix?

I only put these out as something to think about. I find it interesting that people will come for a one off but not regular season games and thus require 'marketing' to get them there and found chord with Ahmad talking about word of mouth.

THIS.

Giving away a single free child's ticket costs very little. Yet not many children can make it to Westpac stadium and home on their own!*

Great suggestion.


*KiwiHatter may or may not have had a minor as a caregiver on the night of 12 Pubs.

Agree, good thoughts. I'm assuming Gazza will read this thread too so keep the ideas coming people.

Thanks for re-posting Jeff. I was meaning to reply but was very busy today and forgot when I finally had the chance.

Is "spectator fatigue" a recognised phenomenon? As a fair weather fan of some teams I must admit I don't really pay much attention to them unless they become prominent for some reason (winning streak, gunning for the playoffs, or even losing every game in the season - I'm looking at you Otago Nuggets).

I guess those that haven't come down with Yellow Fever are the same. They'll come along to the Mariners game if that's a "must win virtual knockout match" with a lot on the result, and definitely will come along to any semis. But Glory on Dec 10 staring down the barrel of Christmas mid-season mid-table is a bigger ask for supporters that don't quite care as much as us.

As you suggest, it's a long season and it's hard to keep up the interest if they aren't fully on board (and let's be honest we can't expect everyone to be on board).

That's why themes such as this Black Out this weekend *are* important even though this weekend's theme has drawn disgust from many here. It might not have captured the imagination of Yellow Fever but doing such things do help the bottom line.

sign a TOP player or 2...problem solve, IF HE WANTS TO SPEND THE MONEY .......and chrildren go free with a paying adultChopperHarris2012-01-23 21:07:15

Yeah we should do what Melbourne Victory are doing.

And what North Queensland did.

Gareth already said in the podcast that he wasn't prepared to just throw money at new signups (I think that's a fair summary), and that's a reasonable approach I'd have thought.

I think that the Nix should pay good money for the *right* signing, but shouldn't (and won't) pay obscene money just because someone thinks it might attract the ladies.

I understand not rushing a marquee signing when you take over a club less than a fortnight out from the start of the season, but if it's not something that they're looking at for next season then I'd be disappointed.

Have we ever had a marquee player in Nix history? Is one necessariy vital to the future of the Club?

Don't get me wrong - if it was right for the Club, and right for the fans, then I'd be mad keen. But otherwise it would end up a square block in round hole scenario wouldn't it?

Yeah maybe I shouldn't have used the term marquee. I'm not suggesting buying a 'superstar' such as Kewell, Fowler etc. because obviously this has been tried, and tends to fail. I guess I'm more advocating that the Nix 9 loosen the purse strings a little so that Ricki can do some proper recruiting of top-drawer players such as Ifill, Hernandez, Van Dijk etc.

Was so heartbroken to learn in the Transfer Discussion thread how impossibly unlikely it would be for us to afford/sign up van Dijk. In the little time I've watched the A-League he's always stood out to me as a really lethal striker (and no, I knew nothing about his goal scoring statistics, etc. before I thought that).

To have him in the team...

Even if we can't afford van Dijk if we are going to sign someone up for more than average coin then surely it has to be money for a striker. We lack finish. Ifill is there when fit and has proven himself. Sanchez - love him but what's up with him the last few games??

Goals draw crowds, especially the "casual fans". The 5-2 and 4-2 wins will surely have contributed to pre-sales for this weekend's game over and above the mere fact of winning.

We've got a pretty tight backline now that has a lot of love from the fans so probably no need to work much on that third.ahmad2012-01-23 21:37:35

...I said ..TOP PLAYERS.....not has beens

If Gareth wants to do some proper research: Leagues clubs and AFL club systems.

Phoenix don't need to be the top shelf of a single club entity as someone else mentioned, but they could easily do 100x better getting local football club members engaged and keen to attend games, with some ideas like these.

You please me. I was going to reply to Hard News with exactly that, but decided to let it lie, as I figured I'd get told that's not a football example. But now you've said it... exactly what i was thinking...