WNY Flash marketing (lack of)

Discussion in 'Western New York Flash' started by danjacks10, Apr 23, 2013.

  1. danjacks10

    danjacks10 New Member

    Feb 21, 2012
    I'm very disappointed with the WNY Flash marketing department. Social media and tweets are fine but most people live busy lives and they are best reached by television and newspaper. How many tv ads have we seen in Rochester NY about the Flash home opener? None. How many ads have we seen in the local Rochester papers about the Flash home opener? None. If there are less than 5,000 at the home opener then the Flash need to blame their marketing department and not Rochester soccer fans.
     
    SiberianThunderT repped this.
  2. Scout22

    Scout22 New Member

    Nov 23, 2012
    Interesting. I thought The Flash would go all out for Wambach's first home game. I was also disappointed with the lack of updates about Huffman. It took weeks to find out what happened and it didn't even come from The Flash.
     
  3. CoachJon

    CoachJon Member+

    Feb 1, 2006
    Rochester, NY
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I agree. They seem to be relying on Jeff Diveronica and the Democrat & Chronicle to do all their marketing. You did not mention radio, but there should be Flash players in studio during morning drive all week. And they could also market the Mexican national team players in the Spanish language market.

    Abby's head injury may have derailed a theme of coming out to see Abby and her personal appearances this week; however there are a lot of great personalities on the team that could be on radio and TV.

    I am very worried about attendance for Saturday.
     
  4. danjacks10

    danjacks10 New Member

    Feb 21, 2012
    I just posted this somewhere else but wanted to get feedback from other Rochestarians: " ... the issue is the last year when team went to WPSL there was a big decline in season ticket sales as well as individual game attendances. Most people in Rochester know about Abby being on the team this year but are unaware of when the first home game is. I'm not exaggerating when I say there has been little to no marketing of the team to the general public. We have our soccer writer in the D&C newspaper but he mainly posts blogs online or articles in the sports section once in a while. Television ads and radio ads are non-existent. If the Flash are counting on a huge walk-up crowd on game day then they better hope that the weather is good. Case in point is that Flash season tickets are still under or around 1,000 and have been stuck there since January after the announcement of Wambach on the team. What does that tell you?
     
  5. Cliveworshipper

    Cliveworshipper Member+

    Dec 3, 2006

    I'm not sure what it should tell me.

    But it would have put the Flash smack in the middle of season ticket sales for the WPS in their first year and about 500 less than the Sol, who led the league in 2009 with 6k average attendance.

    It seems clear that expectations are lower this time, and there are not half million dollar salaries, so it might be OK. What were their season ticket sales in the WPS days? They had Sinclair, Marta, and Morgan then.

    1k was about their attendance for the two WPSL games I can find.
     
  6. rochesterian80

    Mar 28, 2013
    Club:
    Rochester Rhinos
    The 1,000 number is actually a huge increase over anything the Flash has ever had in its existence -- including the WPS season. But, they went from 250 to 800 season seats when Wambach was first announced, when they of course had lots of media coverage. When the schedule was released -- which often people wait for before deciding on seasons -- it sounds like the bump was minimal. Why would it be minimal? Because they didn't get the word out about the schedule's release IMO.

    So, like I said, the 1,000+ number is good for the Flash. But, with more marketing it could have been better. But, regardless, I really hope the Flash are putting some feet on the ground to make darn sure every youth team attends a game. If they aren't, that's where they are really leaving lots of money on the table. Getting youth teams out to see a local team with a local star is an easy sell. But, they have to be informed of the group packages available....
     
  7. Renee Meier

    Renee Meier New Member

    Apr 25, 2013
    It's great to see such obvious support of women's soccer in WNY and Rochester specifically. We will continue to promote the Flash in Rochester through the D&C, Channel 13, Freetime Magazine, Sports & Leisure Magazine, Entercom Radio, Lamar Billboards as well as online at our website www.wnyflash.com and through social media. With many months of soccer ahead of us, you can expect to hear and see our marketing efforts throughout the season.

    You will find us promoting your Flash team in person this year at events including the Lilac Festival, Rhino's home opener, Corn Hill Arts Festival and many youth soccer tournaments such as the Greece Cobra Summer Classic and the Lakefront Classic Empire Cup.

    I am personally always looking for "grass root" opportunities in WNY to promote our team at a personal level. I encourage fans to submit events that are popular in our area through our website "contact us" email address.

    I'll sum this up by saying that fans of the Flash in Rochester, WNY and throughout the country are aware of our home opener this Saturday; especially those Rochester fans of hometown hero Abby Wambach. Check out our website, where our fans go!
     
  8. CoachJon

    CoachJon Member+

    Feb 1, 2006
    Rochester, NY
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Hi, Renee-
    Don't take any of these complaints personally. We know you bust your butt for the Flash and we are lucky to have you. We so badly want the team to draw fans and succeed.

    The events and outreach you have planned sound great. I did hear Abby on Brother Wease this morning, which was great.

    Thanks for joining Big Soccer and please continue to stop by and share the conversation.
    Go Flash!
     
  9. necron99

    necron99 Member

    Oct 17, 2011
    Club:
    Washington Freedom
    Renee has been very good to me each year as a season ticket holder going back to the WPS days. She even worked out getting me a team signed jersey in 2011 even though I couldn't make any games. I live in the DC area.
     
  10. danjacks10

    danjacks10 New Member

    Feb 21, 2012
    I thought marketing was also supposed to be done before the season starts, not just during it, which might explain the low season-ticket sales for the Flash. Television spots would have been nice, and front page ads in the newspaper during the pre-season would have helped instead of relying on the newspaper soccer writer who only reaches an already informed segment. But it looks like good weather for home opener so walk-up should be good so we can build on that even though Wambach is out hurt.
     
  11. rochesterian80

    Mar 28, 2013
    Club:
    Rochester Rhinos
    Thanks for the response, and it's great to see that the organization is listening. I thought the Flash did a nice job in their WPS season with the grassroots marketing, but much of it occurred after a large chunk of the season was already done. (Adopt a player, for example, seemed like a nice program.) So, it's great to see such activity is proposed, and the sooner the better in terms of doing it.

    And, as CoachJon said, don't take it personally. We recognize one person can only do so much. And, the social media efforts, among some of the grassroots stuff is impressive. It's just a case of making sure the casual market is also aware. Looks like there will be perfect weather tomorrow -- by April WNY standards -- so that'll only help despite the bad break with Wambach. Looking forward to it.
     
  12. cpthomas

    cpthomas BigSoccer Supporter

    Portland Thorns
    United States
    Jan 10, 2008
    Portland, Oregon
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Maybe Abby could be there signing autographs and they could develop some pre-game chatter about that?
     
  13. CoachJon

    CoachJon Member+

    Feb 1, 2006
    Rochester, NY
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    She will be. From the front of the D&C sports page today:
    The reigning FIFA World Player of the Year did offer some good news for fans: “I’ll probably actually sign more autographs (after the match) than normal just because I’m not going to be on the field and sweating and exhausted toward the end of the game.”

    There is a video about Abby's situation up on the D&C website:

    http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20130425/SPORTS05/304250093/Abby-Wambach-WNY-Flash
     
  14. rochesterian80

    Mar 28, 2013
    Club:
    Rochester Rhinos
    Yeah, and signing will help, but it's still not they same. She just did an appearance at a Lancers game. It provided a bump, but not a huge one. (From what I heard the announced crowd was optimistic for that indoor game.) She also signed at a Rhinos playoff game last year and again provided a modest bump.

    But, if nothing else, now people know about the home opener tomorrow. Certainly, her not playing was news, which served in an odd way to at least tell people that the game is tomorrow. I don't think they'll see an overwhelming walk up like I predicted when we thought she was playing, but there should be a decent one with it being a nice evening.
     
  15. Renee Meier

    Renee Meier New Member

    Apr 25, 2013
    Thank you all for your great support! Let's keep fighting the fight to bring the women's side of the ball to the forefront in professional soccer. I know that Sahlen's Stadium is where the Flash needs to be, as the soccer community is second to none. We all wish we had the attendance of an MLS market. However, we will take our fans, one at a time.

    Stop by my Season Ticket Table and say hi...Go Flash!
     
  16. cpthomas

    cpthomas BigSoccer Supporter

    Portland Thorns
    United States
    Jan 10, 2008
    Portland, Oregon
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Renee, if my daughter still lived in western Mass, I'd be there and come see you. Now, she lives out here in PDX, but good luck, I'm rooting for WNY women's soccer success.
     
  17. danjacks10

    danjacks10 New Member

    Feb 21, 2012
    I'll be there Renee and telling as many people as I can. I agree with an earlier post about getting more to fans who don't use social media a lot, maybe owner can spend a little more for tv ads and front page newspaper ads like the red wings and lancers do.
     
  18. danjacks10

    danjacks10 New Member

    Feb 21, 2012
    Weather for Saturday's game vs KC at 7:30pm looks like 55-degrees and light rain in Rochester. We're into the season and from what I've heard there has still been only 1,000 season tickets sold due to poor pre-season marketing and no ticket promotions. So if the weather isn't great (and who scheduled these early Rochester games in the evening anyway?) and walk-up is poor then I'm guessing 2,000 attendance for the game, maybe 2,500 tops.
     
  19. danjacks10

    danjacks10 New Member

    Feb 21, 2012
    Rochester, NY has tons of soccer fans and Wambach fans, but like many other cities people are busy with their lives and need to be reached out to in order to know when the Flash are playing so they can plan accordingly, the Flash have been mainly using twitter and facebook for their marketing which does not reach the mass general public and thus the attendances have been low, the Flash need to spend money on some tv spots and front-page newspaper spots, other local pro teams advertise on the bottom of the front-page of the Rochester D&C newspaper and the Flash are the only ones who do not, the Flash did poorly with no pre-season deals for season tickets, no promotions, and so there is only around 900 season tickets sold, which leaves the rest of the attendance to walk-ups, so please Flash crank up the marketing and promotions to the general public and pray for good weather on game days
     

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