How to promote the game

[Dan54]

I know we look at how to make the game more popular here in Aus, and hear time and again that AFL and League etc are more popular. I personally think one of AFL's reasons are the way the game is marketed towrds the kids, have seen a lot of Ads etc on tv, and NZRU do the same thing in NZ to keep rugby No 1 (yes it's hard work)the players are used a hell of a lot with this. Just thought I would post a couple of things I have got off facebook to show what I mean.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=750805098297449 .worth watching to see peoples faces in photo booth!!
And this how you make a kid very very happy.

This is aimed at young kids, a tv programme called Small Blacks. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=667219296647934
I know it NZccentric but just thought it worth seeing ways used to keep game popular!!

 

[Dismal Pillock]

And this how you make a kid very very happy.

This is aimed at young kids, a tv programme called Small Blacks. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=667219296647934

Has this forum got sand leaking in from somewhere? I think its in my eyes. Stupid forum! Fix the sand leak!

 

[BeastieBoy]

You are just throwing good money after bad, our product is crap for a paying audience. Let's get the Asia's right. Firstly, change the name of the ARU to the Australian International Rugby Union and let them be responsible for Wallabies ans Super 18. Remove Australian contract top ups except for a marquee player at each super 18 australian team. Select wallabies from those playing overseas. Franchise all our 5 super teams and hence get proper management and funding. The ARU hare only interested in the wallabies, so let's get real. Set up a Australian Domestic Rugby Union to run rugby domestically.cannot have common directors to ARU. Change the rules of the domestic comp to give players and payers what they want..Running Rugby. Can't happen under current rules unless Everone in both teams want it..Poms wants scrums and penalties so they can kick for goal. We are different to them. Let's realize it and move on..we will develop better players and the game will prosper.

 

[mst]

Has this forum got sand leaking in from somewhere? I think its in my eyes. Stupid forum! Fix the sand leak!

Yeah, seem to cause leaks bloody thing!

There are a couple of key ingredients in this mix you need to have for it to work, and trust me it works. (I grew up in mexico and still have AFL in my blood as they used the same "conditioning"tactics"). It needs to be accessible so needs to be marketed the correct way on FTA TV. That way kids see it and attracted to it on their terms, and helpfully if they are exposed to it enough and its attractive they will be playing it in the street (we used to play in the road out the front and cars the footpath and road gutters were just a obstacles you dealt with), backyard, park, school etc (as a kid my brothers and I got in trouble sop many times for kicking the AFL footy up and down the hallway in the house which usually devolved in to someone making a tackle and it was on!).

Once you get this happening next you know they are playing in juniors or evolve directly in to people like us - strong supporters of the game. It may also be the way to out manoeuvre league marketing overall via junior marketing (as Union is perceived as safer and less thuggish) and use the kids to get the parents to games.

The ARU and super rugby teams seem obsessed with marketing to the adult market which is fine (they desperate need new ides though!) see to overlook kids or women etc. They also need to look at a marketing strategy that breaks the "white collar"perception!

Now, just one other minor point. You see these All Black blokes in the video; well they are all pretty good decent down to earth blokes. If the ARU want to use the Wallabies we may need to sort out who they would use and deal with a few other Wallaby blokes who are simply cocks! We have a few whingers, sooks, ego centric knobs, those that spray officials and other players etc etc. So before we can do the above, need to sort out the product before we can promote it.

In the mean time, if someone can tell me how to enter the competition I will be here eating by weetbix talking in my kiwi accent!

 

[Omar Comin']

I think Australian rugby needs to embrace the sports complexity. At the moment rugby is perceived by a lot of people as overly technical and boring when compared to other football codes. Perhaps there is scope to change that to more technically and strategically diverse and interesting than the other codes. That's what works for the NFL!

Most people that have never played the game don't really understand what's happening at set pieces or the breakdown. Or for that matter the back line. They have little idea of the skills or tactics involved. Perhaps you could get the Honey Badger and some other characters like TPN to make humorous but educational style videos on the different technical aspects of rugby.

 

[mst]

I think Australian rugby needs to embrace the sports complexity. At the moment rugby is perceived by a lot of people as overly technical and boring when compared to other football codes. Perhaps there is scope to change that to more technically and strategically diverse and interesting than the other codes. That's what works for the NFL!

Most people that have never played the game don't really understand what's happening at set pieces or the breakdown. Or for that matter the back line. They have little idea of the skills or tactics involved. Perhaps you could get the Honey Badger and some other characters like TPN to make humorous but educational style videos on the different technical aspects of rugby.

Very true. A but I will say as a person who found the game late in life and being from an AFL background its the speed of the game, the flow where there are a multiple phases, the competition / battle at the breakdown and the power of a scrum, and tactical play that is the attraction. Some of the rules do need better clarity and the stoppages are painful. But its a very attractive and marketable game.

Sadly though some of the biggest detraction of the game is off the field. The politics, the "white collar"perception that I bang on about (its rare you hear of players from public schools so you start to get sick of hearing about private school and it has an elitist connotation we cant escape - it may only be a perception not a fact) and some of the supporters who have segmented the game in to a territorial based fan base and arguments that eats at main carcass as their territory is superior - failing to see they have split a single game in to pieces! This is a massive turn off for those basic supporters who just want to watch the game, or the die hards who love the game as a whole.

 

[Dan54]

Yep fellas, in posting those I not saying it the end all and be all, just a few things I have seen that I think shows that taking the market to kids (as AFL does) seems to be a good way to do it. I particularly like Omars idea of players like the Honey Badger etc being used , nothing like having characters of the game in front of kids. As an example is even Corey Jane being used at the end of Random Rugby one, (not my thing) but being aimed a bit at the young teenage market.
DP, thats a good smile on that kids face at the end isn't it?

 

[Dismal Pillock]

the guy that mentioned some of the Wallabies being a bit dickish reminds me of the AB's recent culture, of "good people", (which to some might seem a bit Dudley do-right, monastic even, although seems to work results-wise) eg, in dressing room after a test, after post-match debriefing, as everyone's leaving, one of most senior AB's, a Carter or Mccaw, will grab a broom and clean the place up. Not the juniors. Sends a huge message really. Stuff the coaches, if we make a mess, on or off the field, we're responsible for it and will fix it.

Would that have worked even as recently as when blokes like Ian Jones or Fitzy were there? they wouldve blanched at that sort of thing I bet.

Would that type of egoless culture work for Aus?

DP, thats a good smile on that kids face at the end isn't it?

yeah didn't make it that far, was busy looking for the stupid sand leak in my computer, tech support!

 

[boyo]

No dickheads.

Rinse and repeat.

 

[Pfitzy]

That's a great ad - Sanitarium's operation in NZ have done a good job there, even if it is kind of like shooting fish in a barrel.

The FTA TV thing is so key - yesterday at work Will Skelton and Michael Hodge were out there doing some promo work supporting the Brian Cancer fundraising we were doing. I got a poster for the boy and a photo with both of them. Took it inside to show the guys I work with just how fucking huge Will is. Most of them were, shall I say, politely nonplussed - not surprised at all, just unaware what to say.

After a few awkward seconds, one guy (who is a Bulldogs NRL supporter) said "I wouldn't know any of the Waratahs" and the others assented (with a caveat for Israel Folau of course).

The "utter dickishness" thing also translates too. One of the guys at the table mentioned some footy player who was posing at a Sydney nightclub and trying to hit on girls with the "I play for the Waratahs" line. The girls were all basically "who?" - and I won't name names.

But there is a definite disconnect between how good some of these guys think they are, and how much they've failed to appreciate how privileged they are.

 

[Pfitzy]

And I just saw that "Golden Thread" thing, or "Ode to the Wallabies" if you prefer.

Moving stuff, IF you're a Wallabies.

If you're NOT a rugby fan, its banal tripe. How does that show the physicality? The skill? There are some choice frames there but its hardly going to grow the audience on poetry and old photos.

 

[mst]

And I just saw that "Golden Thread" thing, or "Ode to the Wallabies" if you prefer.

Moving stuff, IF you're a Wallabies.

If you're NOT a rugby fan, its banal tripe. How does that show the physicality? The skill? There are some choice frames there but its hardly going to grow the audience on poetry and old photos.

BINGO! - and its been done! Its called Ode to Mungo ball by Thomas Keneally. NRL's 1999 marketing campaign - also their least successful marketing campaign in recent history. KNUF SAID!

See paragraph 14 of link below: Kicking off the 1999 NRL season with a poem by a famous author and some moody shots probably sounded like a good idea to someone in the NRL marketing department, but it failed to translate in any way as a marketing campaign and is used as an example of marketing failure in sport.

http://www.leaguefreak.com/league-f...op-rugby-league-marketing-campaigns-may-2013/

Also its like version 2.0 of this rehashed "Ode" crap just like Gus Gould spouts under the post before the mungo state or origin minus the old photos!

I am not trying to devalue Wallaby history or tradition, but honestly it really didn't do much for me other than wonder if Rugby (ARU and Super Rugby) has any other idea than slow motion shots with grandiose music trying to evoke emotion????? It seems to be all they fucking do (and yes I have exceed my usual quota of using the work f**k but i am so over this repetitive crap!)

FFS - we see amazing quick highly skilled running rugby each week, and big hits, and then we get on here or with other supporter face to face and go wow, did you see Folau cut through that defence, did you see that hit potluck made on........

Its not fucking hard to workout what people are interested in and what may get peoples attention.

Hello, operator? We seemed to have been disconnected from the ARU. Sorry? What do you mean there no such listing...........

 

[Dave Beat]

The country NRC team could do it if they took a game out to the country. Bid Wool shed breakfast, have their Wallabies join in the morning, Tamworth maybe as they can handle the population growth with the music festival.
Not sure if they have a ground suitable

 

[Omar Comin']

I particularly like Omars idea of players like the Honey Badger etc being used , nothing like having characters of the game in front of kids.

Yeah it really is key. The Honey Badger is just starting to get mainstream exposure now - a number of his videos have gone viral. A lot of people (and especially kids) that don't follow the sport know who he is now because of his post match interviews. Rugby needs to have house hold names.

And his personality and positivity is perfect for kids. There's no one else like him in Australian sport. The ARU could centre entire campaigns around him.

'The Adventures of the Honey Badger'

 

[Bardon]

If I were head of the ARU or one of the Aus franchises I'd have a rotation of the squad with 3-4 players going out into the community every week.

I'd have them in schools, clubs, community halls, basically anywhere you can put the stars of the game in front of or next to kids who can be fans of the future. I'd weight the distribution towards areas that aren't considered rugby strongholds.

I'd arrange for some of the Wallaroos to go on each visit because ignoring girls/women is just a stupid mistake. Then over time I'd be asking men or women who'd won Olympic medals through rugby to bring them along to show to the kids.

Put the hard work in now for the future of the game. For me it makes much more sense to target kids who haven't yet made a lifelong commitment to a sport or a team than to try to convert diehard fans of other sports.

Trying to convert league mad fans by turning rugby into some form of league-lite just seems crazy to me. Making the criteria for success all about which sport is more like league is going to end up with only one winner. Embrace your sport, all of it's glorious complexity, then back it to make an impact among young boys and girls.

It doesn't just have to be running rugby. You've got a game where you could throw the scrum machine on the back of a very big impressive truck. Set up the scrum machine with the truck on the other end. Then let the kids watch in stunned silence as 8 guys, headed by 3 fat guys, precede to shunt the truck back just from the power put through the scrum. Once the kids have collected their jaws from the floor you can let someone from league or AFL explain to the kids how that isn't so impressive.

Give kids days to remember all their lives. Who's more likely to be buying wallaby tickets in the future, a kid who was given the honey badgers hat (the one off his head not in still in the wrapper) or a middle aged league or AFL fan who thinks everyone connected to rugby is a tosser?

 

[boyo]

The country NRC team could do it if they took a game out to the country. Bid Wool shed breakfast, have their Wallabies join in the morning, Tamworth maybe as they can handle the population growth with the music festival.
Not sure if they have a ground suitable

Tamworth Rugby Park?

 

[Omar Comin']

Trying to convert league mad fans by turning rugby into some form of league-lite just seems crazy to me.

No one wants to do that. You're using the kind of defence people use to try and avoid change. From a marketing of the game perspective the 'product' is far, far more important than anything you can do around promotion.

The only (almost only) things I ever hear fringe rugby fans complain about with rugby as a 'product' is penalty goals and scrum resets/time wasting.

As a rugby tragic I think they have a point. And eliminating or drastically reducing those things wouldn't change the technicality or competitive nature of the game (other than to promote more positive play).

Scrums...who knows, but more has to be done. I like the idea of grip panels on the side of props jerseys. They trialled them in the Varsity Cup in South Africa this year. No idea how that went.

And I'd love to see the NRC introduce a no penalty goal rule (which would mean if teams wanted to kick 3 points from a penalty they'd have to do it with a drop kick). Just use yellow cards for cynical infringements or more quickly for repeated infringements.

 

[p.Tah]

BINGO! - and its been done! Its called Ode to Mungo ball by Thomas Keneally. NRL's 1999 marketing campaign - also their least successful marketing campaign in recent history. KNUF SAID!

The failure of that ad wasn't because it was a poem. It failed because it was crap

 

[mst]

The failure of that ad wasn't because it was a poem. It failed because it was crap

The whole campaign failed and was labelled dud. The ad was the vehicle to make sure it was publicly known how bad the idea was.

 

[wamberal]

I go back a long way, I have seen a lot of low points. I have never seen the game in such a vulnerable position in Australia. At least back in the amateur days we knew that we would always surivive. If all you need is the smell of an oily rag to survive, survival's easy.

Now we need $50 mill a year, or something like it.

To earn that, we can promote our heads off. But if the basic product does not appeal to the potential marketplace, we are just wasting our time and money.

I watch a bit of FTA, either ABC1 or the 24 hour news channel. The occasional rugby news item sometimes contains a few seconds of "highlights". More often than not, the vast majority of the highlights are not tries, but kicks for goal.

You could put together a five minute package of the highlights of the Brumbies Sharks game, I suppose, I would love to see it. What was it, 150 kicks, something like that? One try. Gee, that's get them in.

Only a rusted on tragic could watch something like that. And there are rapidly diminishing numbers of us tragics.