Your in Charge of Marketing Soccer

Give away a few season tickets to families who attend games. Second: Give away an easy pass or two for all the home games. Invite Howard Stern to a weekend game so he can talk about it on Monday morning good or bad, still puts the league on the spot light.

 

Duhh....sign the most famous 14 yr old player in the world...

Good thread.
HOUNDS SUCK!

 

I'll get back to you when I quit picturing the Riverhounds giving away a jock strap to the soccer mom who tried to get me thrown out for heckling a linesman after a bad call (tastefully, I might add, with no profanity or vague references to his obvious cross-specie ancestry). I'm imagining her irate letter to the Tribune Review, and it's making me laugh too much.

 

Actually...I thought about this a minute after I wrote it...and now I'm serious. Of course there are only so many players out there that can be touted as the next Pele, Maradona, etc...but I think that there is something in marketing the concept of "accelerated youth". Think about how infatuated Americans are with stories of young people who break the age boundary and excel in whatever it is they do. We are starting to see this in MLS with Adu and Szetela to some degree. I think that this would also work at all levels in American soccer as well. Take the PSL for example. If a team could sign a local teenager or high school star to their team that was capable of playing at that level, it would surely give that team an attendance boost.

 

Well, given that PDL teams actually do have local young players in their teams, I'm not so sure a young player or two helps. At the PSL level, what are they really proving? That they can blow up their NCAA option by playing for a low-level minor league team? Many of the PSL teams aren't as strong as many PDL teams. I think you can market soccer in as many creative ways as you want, but that doesn't necessarily sell tickets. One may lead to the other, but the two need to be connected to eachother to mean anything.

There's a slippery slope with freebies. When people start getting a lot for free, they seem less likely to pay. With sports, I see this with the Flyers in the NHL. A number of companies buy season tickets and they end up in the hands of a variety of people for free. I know people that can go to 10-20 games a year and never pay for the ticket. When it comes to paying, obviously much much higher prices, for tickets, they don't do it. I've recieved free tickets to things I'll never spend money on like the opera, orchestra, and ballet. The key is finding soccer fans and then selling to them. Once that is done successfully, you can mass-market to create added buzz.

 

OK...so how do you do that?

 

Well, I think people responsible for selling tickets can arrange to sell them onsite at soccer tournaments and other places, like the pubs people go to to watch soccer, and offer them the chance to buy tickets. Start by using the international matches teams may play. Follow up afterwards and use direct mail and other vehicles to get those people back. Staff can treat these people well when they arrive and make sure they enjoy the experience. Target people that attend national team matches and the champions tour. Don't get these people in the door once. Get them in the door two or three times. Do what you can to make these people identify with and become fans of the team. I think there are plenty of adult leagues, in addition to the youth leagues, which are full of people interested at the very least in soccer as a spectator sport. Surveys of what soccer fans want or expect when they go to a match may help as well. Find out what the market wants and see how you can meet this need. The problem is, this all costs money which is usually in short supply. Too often, though, we expect a billboard or a tv commercial to be the magic bullet. You can't make the sport seem more than it is to people that have no interest. That's why I think you need to get the people who have one, in the doors more than once.

 

In terms of what people want to see and go watch, Soccer is like Minor League baseball in America. That is not to say soccer is bad, but the interest level is not like the MLB, NFL, NASCAR, etc. I like the fact that many of the teams in the MLS are starting to get their own stadiums. That is important. I think the key to marketing to a soccer audience is to make the fans have a fun, entertaining time with their families. When one goes to a minor league baseball game, there are always announcements and games being played on the field between innings. Letting the kids run around on the field, etc. While money is the key issue, I think teams in the MLS and other soccer leagues need to really use some initial money to get the word out on the street about going to games. Tickets should be reasonably priced and the teams should offer some giveaways. In addition to some small giveaways at the gate sponsored by a company or something, having raffles every 15 minutes giving away signed jerseys, free tickets, etc. Do not make everythin free as it will make people not want to pay as somebody mentioned, but give some small things away to the crowd. Making the crowd feel at home and comfortable is what is needed. Having a winning team and good product on the field is important as well. Winning will always help with attendance.
This is a good thread. I will have to try and think some more and get back to you. I am curious as to what others will say.

 

First thing I do is take English 101 (thread topic should be you're, not your). Next I try to be as different from NFL, NBA, MLB as possible. Dallas finally figured it out with their new name. Next I totally forget about everybody who isn't a diehard soccer fan. Then I make the live soccer experience the greatest event they have ever gone to (how? details, details...). Cater to the hard-core, let them become your evangelists. But that's already happening you say? Yes, but me trying to drag a non-soccer fan to a crap event doesn't work. Make the events better, make them sell-outs. Then the influencers will start coming, then the general fan will want to start coming just for the experience which has to be better than any NFL, NBA, MLB game he's ever been to.

I'd get somebody to infiltrate Hollywood. I want to see characters on TV and in movies wearing MLS gear. I want to see musicians with MLS gear.

Next I'd figure out how to get urban youths in NYC to wear MLS gear. If they adopt it, everybody in middle America will be wearing it in 6 months.

 

Isn't that what the question ultimately comes down to? How do you make them sell outs? How do you make it where people want to come. Going for the hardcore fan is all fine and dandy, but those are not the fans who will make or break soccer in this country. It is the average fan who wants to come on board and enjoy soccer as a casual fan. The MLS and other such soccer leagues need to do things to bring that type of fan in. Hard core fans are always going to be there. That is why they are called Hard-Core.

 

Stadia are important, not only because of the experience they offer, but because of the message they send. Concrete and steel tell the fan and potential fan that it is OK to make the emotional investment in a team becuase they are here to stay. And, seeing the game in a well-designed venue IS a different experience than seeing it badly presented in a venue that's three times too big.

 

One thing that I have always favored is working with a supporters' group to bring a large number of loud, chanting crazies into one end. You know, the ones who will create the sort of atmosphere everyone here thinks of when we think of soccer overseas. Provide a clear example of how soccer fans should act, and how to support the team. A block of 500 people can make all the difference, if they're singing, chanting, and having fun making noise for 90 minutes.

I would do that by offering discounted tickets, supplying banners and flags, offering cool club-only apparel, even springing for a bus or two for a selected away game. Make it clear that these perks are contingent upon their being reasonably non-offensive (not namby-pamby necessarily, but just try to keep the F-bombs to a minimum), constantly loud and that they police their section for goons. I'd also give one free hot dog or bratwurst or whatever coupon per game with season tickets.

 

I'd have an open day and ask those 1,500 to come on down to the stadium. Then I'd say, "this is your team, what do you need/want from us to help make this better?" Wanna have one fan every game down on the sidelines? ok. Want to be coach for a day? ok. I'd create experiential opportunities that people in the community aren't going to get from the Steelers, Bucs or Penguins. Stuff that would make a sports fan say, "my team never did that for me."

 

See, I disagree with all of this. Why focus on the 1500 hardcore fans or the block of fans that are crazy about the team to rent buses, bring them to the games, etc.? Those are not the people who are going to make a soccer club make the money they need to survive. After all, it is a business. Making soccer successful from a marketing standpoint means that clubs need to do things to attract the normal average person into the stadium. I mentioned it before, but Soccer clubs should take the lead from Minor League baseball teams. Many minor league baseball teams have recently moved to new parks or completely renovated their own parks. They have really made the atmosphere something to behold. Family sections, kids carnivals, raffles, giveaways, special guests at halftime, etc. The marketing has to be grassroots. As some people start coming to the games and enjoying the atmosphere and the way things go at the stadium, they will want to come back. The hardcore fans do help establish the team, and they are very important and should not be forgotten, but they do not fill stadiums and pay bills.
A soccer club should have a "Fever Pitch" night where 1000 DVD's and 1000 Books of "Fever Pitch" are given away to randomly through drawings during the game. It is a good book and a good movie depicting the life of a soccer fan in England. If someone who does not get into soccer wins one, that is all the better as he/she might watch the movie and come back again and again. Also, going along with that idea, having DVD giveaways to a random 500 people at all games might be cool too. Everybody loves a free movie.
The whole point here is there has to be a way to bring in the average and casual fans. If this is not done, the MLS and/or other soccer leagues here in the US will not do as well as they can.

 

Casual fans are not going to pay the bills long term, they just aren't. A casual fan doen't NEED to go to games. A casual fan will only support a winner when there can only be one each year. What you need to do is create an environment where, say, 1500 hardcore fans become 15,000. Think about the NFL. In most NFL cities, the entire crowd is hardcore support and it creates a more dynamic atmosphere. These people will turn out regardless of the record or standings. Casual fans, long term, are good to make up the numbers.

There is a lot of research out of, I think, Wayne State Univ. on fan identity and the intensity of their support. The ones that keep going back over and over again are the ones who have a greater attachment to the team. You need to build a relationship between the fan and the team. Think back to how you became a hardcore fan. How did that happen? There have to be ways to encourage and develop this. You need to make people want to be fan, not just spectators. That is the kind of support that will span generations, not just last for a few games a season.

This goes beyond giveaways and freebies. The idea is to create addicts, not people who buy tickets once or twice a year and sit on their hands. People don't form emotional attachments to minor league baseball teams based on how they are marketed. People see it as a night out, the team is not the focus, the event is. We need soccer fans first. There are plenty of those not coming to games as it is.

 

While I do think the hardcore fans are important you cannot go from not a fan at all to a hardcore fan overnight. There has to be something that makes the average fan who comes 1 or 2 times a season and makes them want to come back. Comparing the NFL to the MLS or any American soccer league is like comparing apples and oranged. It took the NFL a long time to get the fans and supporters that they have. It would be great if the MLS could do this and have supporters like this for every game. However, people do not perceive Soccer in the same way Football is perceived. I do agree with some of your points, but hoping that 1500 turns into 15000 in a year or two is not going to happen. While winning is important, it is not the only thing that matters. Putting a respectable product on the field is important. Championships are nice, but not completely necessary to build a fan base. Soccer needs to be a night out for some people and families. That is a fact. Based on their experience they have will determine if they come back.

 

I don't think you turn 1500 to 15,000 overnight. I think the game, and all major sports, need to be marketed in a way that develops a fan's emotional relationship to a team. A night out doesn't do that. Those people may not come back. You need to give them a reason to come back. You have to make them love the team. That is a process not a marketing strategy. What do we do to facilitate that? This goes beyond the players and the support on the field. I think it starts with the kids. If you hook them early, you have them for life, so maybe that's where the families come in short term.

There are an awful lot of soccer people in ths country that do not follow our leagues though. Finding a way to appear to their emotions through the local team is something we haven't done. We may find the Chivas model to be wildly successful. If you see such passion, maybe that hooks you. I'll be interested in seeing how the Chivas USA thing works because Vegara may be on to something.

 

NFL comparisons don't fly for one major reason: gambling. That is the reason the NFL has jumped so far ahead of the other sports.

Here's another key, when the three majors were developing a player would play for the team that drafted him and then ten years later would retire. THAT'S how the emotional connection to the team was formed. Also, team's need to build identities. When you say NY Yankees or Oakland Raiders, you can get a mental image of not just the uniforms or the players, but an emotional vibe on what the team stands for. What does MetroStars stand for? Or Galaxy? These teams have no soul because they were created by marketing depts. and they have crazy player turnover. If I ran an MSL team I'd be meeting with a different fan everyday. If they are the ones shelling out the cash, shouldn't you be offering them exactly what they want? I'd let the hardcore sit where they want, I'd ask them to design t-shirts, then sell them high-quality and cheaply. I'd invite them to player parties. I'd have them create the team song which is played before and after every game. I'd have them co-host a local radio show/cable access TV show. I'd feature them in ads. I'd have picutes of the fans in the front office. Hell, I'd have players walking around with t-shirts that had fans names/faces on them. When was the last time your local MLB team did ANY of those things? MLS has the opportunity to say "we are the league that puts fans first" Can any of the three majors make that claim? Of course not. Is that going to make people stop watching NFL and follow MLS? No. But there are people out there who want to belong, who want to feel they've got something special. The vehicle (pro team, spelling bee champ, Olympian) doesn't matter. What matters is making the community feel they have ownership in the team. Do people in Phoenix feel they "own" the DBacks, Suns or Cardinals? Probably not.

 

Make the standings available -- so available that folks not looking for soccer standings would see them, anyway. In San Diego, there is a bush-league hockey team that does surprisingly well because the local paper puts their league's standings along with the big leagues. That, and they were in first place for most of their first three years.

To whit: The local soccer club by me has a nice new stadium. Advertising this stadium and events that happen there is a large lit sign that looks out over I-405 -- one of the most heavily traveled freeways in the area. If they were to put the Western Conference standings on this sign, folks in the area would be able to see that they were (were! ) in first place most of the season, and ambient buzz would have been higher as a result. As it is, we do pretty well, but for those tough sells (October vs. Dallas, etc) this could be a difference maker. Being from LA, I don't know how the Riverhounds are doing, but I'll bet that most steel-city denizens are in the same boat. Let them know; sports fans, more than anything else, love a good story to follow.