8 minutes ago, Akum said:

Bulldogs have a very strong partnership with Victoria University here in the western suburbs. Works well for both parties.

Isn't the Whitten Oval now VU Oval, or something similar???

2 minutes ago, 1 red eye 1 blue eye said:

Disagree, I'm a pome lad as rusted on as you can get, had 2 daughters, same. Saw my Indian neighbours in the crowd at Subiaco while watching an Eagles game and subsequently found they're Eagles members. Got invited to the Eagles v Bullies game last week by my pome accountant who's mad Eagles supporting Thai wife was away visiting family.

Might have been a bit extreme with the "far too" part of my statement but I'll stand by the difficult part

4 minutes ago, Rafiki said:

Might have been a bit extreme with the "far too" part of my statement but I'll stand by the difficult part

Again have to disagree, as a migrant I know the feeling it is to arrive in such a rich and amazing country, that excitement encourages you to embrace Australia and if you are a bit sporty Aussie Rules is quintessentially Australian.

1 hour ago, ProperDee said:

Dees2014 I don't agree that China is a huge opportunity for the AFL. Outside of Shanghai, most people didn't even know about last Sunday's game. Most Chinese lead much too busy lives to give recreational sport much thought. Apart from the occasional summer evening badminton or table tennis generally played by families, the boys tend towards basketball. The run-of-the-mill Chinese female doesn't play or have any interest in sport. Many sporting stadiums are barely used and in various states of disrepair. Chinese winters from the southern central Hunan Province north are very cold and snow and ice dominate. Not conducive to our game. It snows in Shanghai too.

There is actually an Aussie Rules league in China but it is dominated by expats and generally only played in the south of the country.  The AFL would have got a much better reception I believe by playing the game in Hong Kong but still, it would only have had novelty value.  

As I said in another thread, it would have been a far better option to target a game to the Chinese that live here in Australia.  Maybe involving Melbourne and Sydney, homes to our two largest Chinese communities. Those people come from all over China, not just Shanghai so the millions of photos taken and sent back home via WeChat would have gone to all points of the compass in China not just one east coast city.  Still, what would I know, I am just a waiguo shagua!

Shanghai 's population is 20 million people....enough said!

2 hours ago, ProperDee said:

Dees2014 I don't agree that China is a huge opportunity for the AFL. Outside of Shanghai, most people didn't even know about last Sunday's game. Most Chinese lead much too busy lives to give recreational sport much thought. Apart from the occasional summer evening badminton or table tennis generally played by families, the boys tend towards basketball. The run-of-the-mill Chinese female doesn't play or have any interest in sport. Many sporting stadiums are barely used and in various states of disrepair. Chinese winters from the southern central Hunan Province north are very cold and snow and ice dominate. Not conducive to our game. It snows in Shanghai too.

There is actually an Aussie Rules league in China but it is dominated by expats and generally only played in the south of the country.  The AFL would have got a much better reception I believe by playing the game in Hong Kong but still, it would only have had novelty value.  

As I said in another thread, it would have been a far better option to target a game to the Chinese that live here in Australia.  Maybe involving Melbourne and Sydney, homes to our two largest Chinese communities. Those people come from all over China, not just Shanghai so the millions of photos taken and sent back home via WeChat would have gone to all points of the compass in China not just one east coast city.  Still, what would I know, I am just a waiguo shagua!

Sorry, but I thought most of the post I set was about targeting Chinese and Indian students already in Australia, particularly Melbourne which is the centre of Australia's international student population. My point is we should target them first, but to surrender the advantage we have to a back block like Port Adelaide is, I'm sorry, sheer incompetence. 

Those in charge clearly do not understand marketing strategy and how to build a brand. We have many many advantages, but thinking strategically and going outside our narrow locally based target of 40000 members is not one of them. 

We have a potential global brand like Manchester United, but we are stuck in a city based parochial mindset sadly. 

 

9 minutes ago, Dees2014 said:

Shanghai 's population is 20 million people....enough said!

When the Dees played in Shanghai, Expo was in full flight and so there were millions more visitors from all parts of China, and the queues for the Australian pavilion were hundreds of metres long, yet they still couldn't get more than maybe 5,000 mostly expat and die hard AFL tourists, along to the game (which was widely advertised).  It's nice to think the Chinese would like the sport, but I think you'll find it's an uphill battle.

On attracting migrants looking to 'assimilate'. They will select a team in the same manner as any former neutral. Success (or at least a suggestion thereof), marketable super-star players, and social associations (as well as random matters out of our hands such as colours and nicknames). Australians might select a team to be socially antagonistic (such as some supporters of Vic clubs in SA and WA), but I think this is unique to Anglo culture. If a migrant was looking to assimilate, they would take their cues from their work-place, community etc. Melbourne's lack of supporters, and the broader general demographic of those supporters, means that it would be pointless and unattractive to select the club as a tool of assimilation. We're also lacking that 'Australiana' vibe.

The only way would be to target one specific migrant community over a very long period of time - for that 'tribal' connection (which leaves me feeling a little uneasy) - as it gradually assimilates and becomes accepted in Australia as a whole, but those newer communities generally have sporting associations elsewhere by which newcomers can readily assimilate into those specific communities. There's no magic bullet for an insta-boost to membership numbers, only long-term success and the strong marketing of our stars will ever allow us to catch-up in a sustainable fashion. Hawthorn's massive recent boost was achievable through past success. Unfortunately, we still have a generation-worth of abject failure as a future penitence awaiting our club. 

48 minutes ago, hardtack said:

When the Dees played in Shanghai, Expo was in full flight and so there were millions more visitors from all parts of China, and the queues for the Australian pavilion were hundreds of metres long, yet they still couldn't get more than maybe 5,000 mostly expat and die hard AFL tourists, along to the game (which was widely advertised).  It's nice to think the Chinese would like the sport, but I think you'll find it's an uphill battle.

As I said before, this is not primarily about Chinese and Indians in China and India. It is about those people who come here to study and most of them also want to live here in the long term. What better way to assimilate than become an AFL tragic like me! 

The other point I made is that people (even me -a 40 year veteran) do not always understand the subtleties of the Game. If we offered that tuition during and after the game in the context of social interaction you would have them forever, and would do wonders for their overall assimilation, which I understand is a major issue for overseas students who become migrants. 

What better migrants could we have - educated,  used to Australia, employable, and love the Dees! Absolutely perfect in my view. May even eventually barrack for us in the Cricket!

8 minutes ago, Skuit said:

On attracting migrants looking to 'assimilate'. They will select a team in the same manner as any former neutral. Success (or at least a suggestion thereof), marketable super-star players, and social associations (as well as random matters out of our hands such as colours and nicknames). Australians might select a team to be socially antagonistic (such as some supporters of Vic clubs in SA and WA), but I think this is unique to Anglo culture. If a migrant was looking to assimilate, they would take their cues from their work-place, community etc. Melbourne's lack of supporters, and the broader general demographic of those supporters, means that it would be pointless and unattractive to select the club as a tool of assimilation. We're also lacking that 'Australiana' vibe.

The only way would be to target one specific migrant community over a very long period of time - for that 'tribal' connection (which leaves me feeling a little uneasy) - as it gradually assimilates and becomes accepted in Australia as a whole, but those newer communities generally have sporting associations elsewhere by which newcomers can readily assimilate into those specific communities. There's no magic bullet for an insta-boost to membership numbers, only long-term success and the strong marketing of our stars will ever allow us to catch-up in a sustainable fashion. Hawthorn's massive recent boost was achievable through past success. Unfortunately, we still have a generation-worth of abject failure as a future penitence awaiting our club. 

Thanks for your constructive comment Skuit.

Part of building a brand is to do things that the run of the mill don't do. In my original submission to the club I went  into a great deal of detail about how the MFC  could become a social hub for overseas students so that the AFL via the Demons could become their social hub of assimilation.

My University friends who work in the overseas student industry all the time see this development of social networks as being a huge challenge particularly outside their immediate ethnic group. For Indians, cricket has played a critical role in their past assimilation and the AFL has started to for Africans. To attract university types though you need to give them a bit more than just a seat at the game. 

Make them a "student of the game" you would have them and their families for life and if that came from the MFC, we would have literally hundreds of thousands of them and their offspring being as fanatical as we are for the mighty Dees well into the future.

None  of the clubs are doing it strategically -  it is a huge opportunity. 

3 hours ago, Tony Tea said:

Took me 10 years to read.

No one said you had to. Ideas clearly are not you thing!

I suggest most international people's love of a footy team comes from who introduced or how they were first introduced. I think ladder position or even colours have little to no bearing, it's more relationship based or feeling part of something win or lose.

I think the thing that needs to be defined is the idea and differences in 'assimilation. There's individual assimilation and then larger cultural assimilation. The first is a poor base for attracting large numbers, I don't believe we're attractive for the reasons outlined, and generally migrants will seek to assimilate into their local cultural communities as a first priority. The second doesn't really happen at once en masse - and in a supporting sense, any success in attracting large numbers will derive from a long-term, gradual process as a systemic result of individuals within the community getting on board according to the first instance of assimilation. 

.

2 hours ago, 1 red eye 1 blue eye said:

Again have to disagree, as a migrant I know the feeling it is to arrive in such a rich and amazing country, that excitement encourages you to embrace Australia and if you are a bit sporty Aussie Rules is quintessentially Australian.

Totally agree mate. Had the amazing experience of watching the grand final last year with a Ghanaian family and a couple of young Ethiopian guys. They're all mad Doggies supporters (& the Ghanaian family are members), decked out in Dogs scarves & beanies, all because of the incredible amount of work that the Doggies do in schools out this way. 

Create an alliance through AFLNZ - AFL is growing in NZ,  it is an untapped market.  Kiwis love sport, it's not far enough away to jetlag players, bring the big game to NZ to encourage further growth.

7 hours ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

Do we have a partnership or any association with one of the big universities? 

I thought we had something with Melbourne Uni though maybe that was just a proposal

7 hours ago, Rafiki said:

As others have said, it is far too difficult to get foreigners emotionally invested in the AFL.

Are you talking about people living here or overseas? Because if you're talking about migrants that is just plain rubbish.

5 hours ago, Dees2014 said:

Thanks for your constructive comment Skuit.

Part of building a brand is to do things that the run of the mill don't do. In my original submission to the club I went  into a great deal of detail about how the MFC  could become a social hub for overseas students so that the AFL via the Demons could become their social hub of assimilation.

My University friends who work in the overseas student industry all the time see this development of social networks as being a huge challenge particularly outside their immediate ethnic group. For Indians, cricket has played a critical role in their past assimilation and the AFL has started to for Africans. To attract university types though you need to give them a bit more than just a seat at the game. 

Make them a "student of the game" you would have them and their families for life and if that came from the MFC, we would have literally hundreds of thousands of them and their offspring being as fanatical as we are for the mighty Dees well into the future.

None  of the clubs are doing it strategically -  it is a huge opportunity. 

I agree wholeheartedly and think it offers far better opportunities than trying to expand into Casey or the NT.

7 hours ago, Dees2014 said:

Shanghai 's population is 20 million people....enough said!

Actually about 24 million or around 1.8% of China's population. The Australian equivalent population ratio of Wollongong. Enough said. 

8 hours ago, 1 red eye 1 blue eye said:

Disagree, I'm a pome lad as rusted on as you can get, had 2 daughters, same. Saw my Indian neighbours in the crowd at Subiaco while watching an Eagles game and subsequently found they're Eagles members. Got invited to the Eagles v Bullies game last week by my pome accountant who's mad Eagles supporting Thai wife was away visiting family.

My little Filipino wife is obsessive with her following of the Dees. Only took one visit to the M.C.G to get her hooked.

Goes off her nut when we play, and has picked up the rules lightning fast. 

(she was a little concerned about her future prospects of having a baby with Jesse Hogan when she heard the recent news)

Somehow the A.R.L found a way to get the western Sydney Lebanese community deeply involved through the fully sick Bulldogs. Just need to find a way to spark that "tribal" instinct that people have, and get them to relate it to us. Love the initiative of the stand in China Town, in mandarin. Well worth a try.

10 hours ago, Thrice said:

TL;DR

Put your money where your mouth is and run for the board with this as your platform and see how you go.

I know how i'd feel if some bloke off the street who doesn't work in my industry wrote me a report telling me how to do my job. 

Well that is where I would strongly disagree. New ideas are the life-blood of successful organisations, it doesn't matter where they come from. In fact those organisations that don't have a process to capture, nurture and recognize them, die-out, along with those internally who resist change.

The best way to increase supporter and member numbers is be a successful club and win premierships. As trite as that sounds it is critical to the future. The key age for youngsters to latch on to a team is 7 years old. I'll bet you any amount of money that there'll be a big spike in doggies supporters of this age group after last years heroics by the Bulldogs. Win a flag and win the hearts and minds of a new generation.

A lot of you people should remember that it is easy to be armchair critics and much more difficult to generate, embrace and execute ideas.

We need to embrace ideas from everywhere we can. If it is true that the club did not engage with Dees 2014 or at the very least reply then that is poor form indeed.

My experience working in professional sports is that the majority are largely myopic and come from within the sports themselves with little outside commercial experience. They need all the help they can get yet I am not surprised they did not respond to the letter sent by Dees 2014.

I knew the OP would be ridiculed as soon as I started reading.  It was too long for me, but I got the jist and very much admire the passion.

At least you've come up with some ideas and bothered to articulate them.  

Unfortunately, you're low hanging fruit for Demonland.

I thought Peter Jackson said was last year or the year before? That they were thinking of a Demon shop in the CBD to get our brand out about in Melbourne.

Second why can't we find a place for a social club and training ground? We miss out on hell of a lot of money by not having some where to have a drink and catch up with fellow Demon member and supporters?

Instead of tapping into countries like China, why don't we look at the USA, England, and as we have in the past Ireland? 

We should be going hard at playing a game in the USA because like us they love their sport and i think we could people to become Demon members and it could pay big time for our club.

44 minutes ago, pineapple dee said:

The best way to increase supporter and member numbers is be a successful club and win premierships. As trite as that sounds it is critical to the future. The key age for youngsters to latch on to a team is 7 years old. I'll bet you any amount of money that there'll be a big spike in doggies supporters of this age group after last years heroics by the Bulldogs. Win a flag and win the hearts and minds of a new generation.

Exactly! Migrants are no different to any other members of the community that "adopt" the game, in that they will be swayed in their choice of team to follow by their friends/associates and by who is making the biggest noise in the media and which team is the most successful.  I doubt it is possible to just go out and expect to convince young (or old) adults to become a member of your club unless they are already interested to the point that they are already to some extent following the team (and that will usually be based on the team's success rate).  How many of you on here have become Jehovah's Witnesses based on the copy of Watchtower that was kindly given to them by some well meaning chap in a dark blue suit (Seventh Day Adventists wear the brown and push bicycles) knocking at your door?

The JW don't visit my house anymore. I painted an outline of a human body on the driveway, and scattered a few copies of "The Watchtower" around it.