Tigers to prowl all year
By Lyall Johnson
July 17 2003
Richmond is set to launch an all-out marketing and publicity campaign in an attempt to make it the most recognised and financially sound club in Victoria.
The unprecedented push centres around using the club and its iconic Punt Road Oval all-year around, with events such as summer rock concerts and becoming involved in the Commonwealth Games in 2006.
According to Richmond's new chief executive, former Olympic triple jumper Ian Campbell, the club is already involved in talks with concert promoters and several leading rock bands for a series of concerts at Punt Road Oval over the summer.
Campbell, who before taking the Richmond job was involved in the US National Basketball Association and the Nike corporation, said the club could no longer simply rely on the seasonal nature of the football season to ensure financial viability.
"We need to offer 12 months a year marketing and promotional programs for our sponsors, and that's what we hope to do," Campbell said.
Signing members were important, and Richmond had to sign its huge untapped supporter base as well as keep its present members.
But Campbell said football clubs needed to provide "value adds" that ensured the club had recognition and coverage outside the football season and also provided a focus for activities that kept people rewarded and interested in the club.
Campbell said that while Richmond was looking only at a break-even balance sheet situation this financial year mainly because of the slump in poker machine revenue as a result of Victoria's new smoking laws, the club is aiming to have $3 million in the bank within three years.
To launch the new promotional campaign at tomorrow night's match against Collingwood, the club will roll out a new mascot and what the club has named a "Tiger Patrol" vehicle that will roam Melbourne and Victoria for promotional purposes.
Campbell said Richmond was keen to capitalise on Punt Road Oval's location, with more than 100 million people a year passing by either in cars or on trains, and has negotiated a major agreement with Cody Outdoor Advertising.
Massive advertisements promoting the club and its sponsors will appear both at the Punt Road Oval as well as around Melbourne.
"And being next to the main Commonwealth Games stadium and the Vodafone Arena, traffic will stop at Punt Road - so it will be essentially a giant pedestrian mall for X number of weeks. I think clearly we can offer opportunities for the community and maybe the games organisers to use us as a facility," he said.
Campbell is also keen for Punt Road Oval to be linked in with other sports, such as the Boxing Day Test.
"During the Boxing Day Test, why isn't Punt Road being used as an interactive site for cricket and for kids?"
The Tigers have also recently received an in-principle verbal agreement with its major sponsor, the TAC, to re-sign.
Campbell said the club, had a massive untapped and under-used supporter base, but needed also to reward members who continued to support the club.
He said football clubs were getting carried away trying to get new members but were failing to realise they must recognise the present ones.
"You know we have 90 members who have been members for 50 years or more. We have to realise the importance of that."
By Lyall Johnson
July 17 2003
Richmond is set to launch an all-out marketing and publicity campaign in an attempt to make it the most recognised and financially sound club in Victoria.
The unprecedented push centres around using the club and its iconic Punt Road Oval all-year around, with events such as summer rock concerts and becoming involved in the Commonwealth Games in 2006.
According to Richmond's new chief executive, former Olympic triple jumper Ian Campbell, the club is already involved in talks with concert promoters and several leading rock bands for a series of concerts at Punt Road Oval over the summer.
Campbell, who before taking the Richmond job was involved in the US National Basketball Association and the Nike corporation, said the club could no longer simply rely on the seasonal nature of the football season to ensure financial viability.
"We need to offer 12 months a year marketing and promotional programs for our sponsors, and that's what we hope to do," Campbell said.
Signing members were important, and Richmond had to sign its huge untapped supporter base as well as keep its present members.
But Campbell said football clubs needed to provide "value adds" that ensured the club had recognition and coverage outside the football season and also provided a focus for activities that kept people rewarded and interested in the club.
Campbell said that while Richmond was looking only at a break-even balance sheet situation this financial year mainly because of the slump in poker machine revenue as a result of Victoria's new smoking laws, the club is aiming to have $3 million in the bank within three years.
To launch the new promotional campaign at tomorrow night's match against Collingwood, the club will roll out a new mascot and what the club has named a "Tiger Patrol" vehicle that will roam Melbourne and Victoria for promotional purposes.
Campbell said Richmond was keen to capitalise on Punt Road Oval's location, with more than 100 million people a year passing by either in cars or on trains, and has negotiated a major agreement with Cody Outdoor Advertising.
Massive advertisements promoting the club and its sponsors will appear both at the Punt Road Oval as well as around Melbourne.
"And being next to the main Commonwealth Games stadium and the Vodafone Arena, traffic will stop at Punt Road - so it will be essentially a giant pedestrian mall for X number of weeks. I think clearly we can offer opportunities for the community and maybe the games organisers to use us as a facility," he said.
Campbell is also keen for Punt Road Oval to be linked in with other sports, such as the Boxing Day Test.
"During the Boxing Day Test, why isn't Punt Road being used as an interactive site for cricket and for kids?"
The Tigers have also recently received an in-principle verbal agreement with its major sponsor, the TAC, to re-sign.
Campbell said the club, had a massive untapped and under-used supporter base, but needed also to reward members who continued to support the club.
He said football clubs were getting carried away trying to get new members but were failing to realise they must recognise the present ones.
"You know we have 90 members who have been members for 50 years or more. We have to realise the importance of that."
