Re-branding Melbourne

[wisedog 352]

I get the impression from a few people around here that things will be changing soon, at least in terms of Melbourne's image. And I guess it may have to be that way, if we're to survive long term.

We have the lowest supporter base in the AFL, and that won't change unless we chance upon the next Franklin, or have some long term success... But even North Melbourne's era of greatness with Carey hasn't done alot for their current situation, who knows where they'd be now without those years.

Somehow, the club has to find away to increase it's supporter base and membership at a rate signifcantly higher than other clubs. Given our endeavors in China, it's obvious that they're the group who've been identified. But how hard Melbourne is sold to the Chinese remains to be seen. Will we be seeing oursleves called the 'Melbourne Dragons' in the future? I think I've read suggestion here before.

I see it increasingly likely that this 'MelbourneFC' may just be a temporary phase to get people used to being removed from the Demon. An overnight swap, would have only upset and confused people.

Every footy club in Australia has a moniker, and I thought it was extraodinary that the board took that decision. I can't see it bringing huge improvements in sponsorship opportunities, and I wouldn't say it's best way to cultivate a young supporter base. Kids want to support the Tigers! or the Bombers! not.. MelbourneFC.

So this 're-branding' I keep hearing... what do you think it will mean for Melbourne? As long as we're still Melbourne, and still red and blue, that's all that really matters to me.

[Weedster 174]

I get the impression from a few people around here that things will be changing soon, at least in terms of Melbourne's image. And I guess it may have to be that way, if we're to survive long term.

We have the lowest supporter base in the AFL, and that won't change unless we chance upon the next Franklin, or have some long term success... But even North Melbourne's era of greatness with Carey hasn't done alot for their current situation, who knows where they'd be now without those years.

Somehow, the club has to find away to increase it's supporter base and membership at a rate signifcantly higher than other clubs. Given our endeavors in China, it's obvious that they're the group who've been identified. But how hard Melbourne is sold to the Chinese remains to be seen. Will we be seeing oursleves called the 'Melbourne Dragons' in the future? I think I've read suggestion here before.

I see it increasingly likely that this 'MelbourneFC' may just be a temporary phase to get people used to being removed from the Demon. An overnight swap, would have only upset and confused people.

Every footy club in Australia has a moniker, and I thought it was extraodinary that the board took that decision. I can't see it bringing huge improvements in sponsorship opportunities, and I wouldn't say it's best way to cultivate a young supporter base. Kids want to support the Tigers! or the Bombers! not.. MelbourneFC.

So this 're-branding' I keep hearing... what do you think it will mean for Melbourne? As long as we're still Melbourne, and still red and blue, that's all that really matters to me.

The China experiment is a waste of time FULL STOP ! I see no reason why Melbournefc and the Demons cannot co-exist as brands - I agree wholeheartedly that throwing out the Demon moniker is totally wrong - Melbourne fc ALONE is conservative,boring, bland and re-inforces everything that others day about us - people might be happy enough to nominate Melbournefc as their club, but on match day they want to support THE DEMONS !!!!!

[TonyMelb 7]

I get the impression from a few people around here that things will be changing soon, at least in terms of Melbourne's image. And I guess it may have to be that way, if we're to survive long term.

We have the lowest supporter base in the AFL, and that won't change unless we chance upon the next Franklin, or have some long term success... But even North Melbourne's era of greatness with Carey hasn't done alot for their current situation, who knows where they'd be now without those years.

Somehow, the club has to find away to increase it's supporter base and membership at a rate signifcantly higher than other clubs. Given our endeavors in China, it's obvious that they're the group who've been identified. But how hard Melbourne is sold to the Chinese remains to be seen. Will we be seeing oursleves called the 'Melbourne Dragons' in the future? I think I've read suggestion here before.

I see it increasingly likely that this 'MelbourneFC' may just be a temporary phase to get people used to being removed from the Demon. An overnight swap, would have only upset and confused people.

Every footy club in Australia has a moniker, and I thought it was extraodinary that the board took that decision. I can't see it bringing huge improvements in sponsorship opportunities, and I wouldn't say it's best way to cultivate a young supporter base. Kids want to support the Tigers! or the Bombers! not.. MelbourneFC.

So this 're-branding' I keep hearing... what do you think it will mean for Melbourne? As long as we're still Melbourne, and still red and blue, that's all that really matters to me.

The branding concept behind "Melbournefc" was modelled on Manchester United and the current MFC Admin's (up unitl 2003-2007) marketing strategy was to seek to market the MFC as a prestige up market brand and was also based on "we are Melbourne" theme. Part of the theory was that members would pay more for a prestige brand in terms of both membership amounts and in purchasing of club merchandise.

As I commented to Directors and CEO at the time that strategy was flawed as an up market focus inevitably relates to fewer members than a broadbased focus and was in conflict with AFL edict and focus on increasing membership numbers. In my view this was what the AFL assessment recently meant by saying the MFC's brand was worthless (that is Melbournefc as a prestige brand an not the MFC and red and the blue as such). This has proven the case with dwindling attendances at MFC events and the President's lunch at $300 per head and the 150th heroes dinner at $500 per head simply out of the normal members' reach!

As has happened several times in past 40 years, the MFC's sense of deja vu will return us to a "new" strategy of the Admin to re-engage with the bulk of the MFC members and supporters to yet again bring people back to the club.

What is required is not rocket science but is startinlgy simple. Get back to basics. Provide ways in which all MFC members and supporters are able to get invloved in the MFC at whatever level they can afford! What will make supporters join up and remain members is events and ways they can participate in the MFC and interact with other members and players and club officials and feel by doing so they contribute to the spirit and growth of the MFC.

Letting the kids have kick on the G after this Sundays game is a small example and with zero cost!

[Cards13 9,117]

The China experiment is a waste of time FULL STOP ! I see no reason why Melbournefc and the Demons cannot co-exist as brands - I agree wholeheartedly that throwing out the Demon moniker is totally wrong - Melbourne fc ALONE is conservative,boring, bland and re-inforces everything that others day about us - people might be happy enough to nominate Melbournefc as their club, but on match day they want to support THE DEMONS !!!!!

Hi Weedster,

Have you got facts and stats to back that up? How do you kno it was a waste of time full stop? I'm not disagreeing with you but would like to see some actual cost benefit analysis before saying ti was a failure or not. If it cost us $x yet we only had 100 members sign up leaving us with an actual cost of say $5,000 then it could be seen as a failure in the short term.

What about the long term... how many of the Chinese we signed up will stay in the country and there children will support us? I see a number of other clubs are targetting migrant communities for new, non traditional member areas. I see this as a great way of trying to target new members. We can not all keep going to the same well for members.

One of the issues though is we are playing such [censored] footy no one wants to support us especially new members. I took 1 SAFO and 2 Irish to round one and they were keen to follow us, they are all Hawks supporters now...

I'm curious as to why everyone is saying this China thing was a failure along with thinking we should be targetting all mirgrant groups to look for members. Why not target the African Mirgrants? Helps them assimilate into our "culture" whilst providing us with new members and potentially new steams of players to our game long term... I would see it as a win win win if if it done correctly.

Cards

[Yencks 8]

the demons "moniker" has NOT gone...yes, the logo has changed. we are still the dees, if you look on our websight, it still says dees this, dees that...our mascot is a demon...the kids kid a beanie with a demon on it...our mascot is currently ronald "dee-man" who goes on the field before the game...kids dont even notice logos so i dont see how it will make a difference in that regard...we are still known as the dees

look at carlton, if you can find me somewhere on their logo that has anything to do with the blues i will commend you...it says carlton football club on it...yet they are thriving off field at the moment (compared to us) and people still say "GO BLUES"

i think the new logo looks much sharper...

[RickyJ45 407]

Screw the Morons who think that the Manchester United model is the way to go. (Who employed these idiots?)

We should follow the U.S. franchise system eg NFL basball etc. We still live in an immigrant nation and links to past and prestige are still pretty tenous- at best.

Melbourne redlegs to melbourne demons, to melbourne dragons ?!? WTF?!?!? We MUST KEEP Our IDENTITY that is central to any brand. Dont change your name too many times. As far as a franchise GOES - No matter what, these are the most import points.

1. We are the FIRST CLUB. This should be written on all our bloody logos FFS.!!! This fact is always underplayed. It should be on our jumper - just to let everyone know.

2. We are red and blue.

3. We are the DEMONS.

4. If we want to be melbourne DEMONS we have to own melbourne and be the heart sole of the place, in a national game.

I guess we have to own inner city melbourne at least, maybe the burbs as well. The spirit of the CBD?!? the corporate team, exchange personal development programs with team bonding sessions in companys, share winning pyschologies etc. Try something.

5. We need an IDENTITY fast and STOP PLAYING WITH IT !!! That looks soft as. No dragons bs... ffs.

Become LOUD and PROUD!!!!! I dont think chasing immigrants is the best way to build the footy club, but it could help in the outer suburbs.

[RickyJ45 407]

AS far as US franchises go, keeping your colors and logo are FAR more important than the City in which you are based, eg. Rams, Dodgers, Raiders etc. We seem to have our basic strategy on branding, identity, what the market can support etc., the wrong way around.

We could up stumps for a couple of years and go to another city eg south west sydney for 5 years, grow the game and the club brand and then come back to melbourne. THAT IS WHAT WE SHOULD BE DOING - u heard it first here. Steal my idea - feel free.

5 years in 150 is nothing and wont affect premiership chances at all. Being based in melbourne is less important with constant media coverage. It accepts our errors of the past 40 years and does something about.

We were the first club in melbourne - lets become the first truly national franchise.

Id like to see the D's in melbourne but maybe we should be the Bankstown DEES to recharge our batteries for a while.

Dstar

[rpfc 28,780]

AS far as US franchises go, keeping your colors and logo are FAR more important than the City in which you are based, eg. Rams, Dodgers, Raiders etc. We seem to have our basic strategy on branding, identity, what the market can support etc., the wrong way around.

We could up stumps for a couple of years and go to another city eg south west sydney for 5 years, grow the game and the club brand and then come back to melbourne. THAT IS WHAT WE SHOULD BE DOING - u heard it first here. Steal my idea - feel free.

5 years in 150 is nothing and wont affect premiership chances at all. Being based in melbourne is less important with constant media coverage. It accepts our errors of the past 40 years and does something about.

We were the first club in melbourne - lets become the first truly national franchise.

Id like to see the D's in melbourne but maybe we should be the Bankstown DEES to recharge our batteries for a while.

Dstar

I don't know where to start.

I know where to end it though.

Nah, don't think we'll do that. There's thinking outside the box for you...

This makes you really appreciate the virtues of 'in-box' thinking.

[45HG 1,559]

who is this y8ter guy? is he for real? none of it is making sense.

Far out. Man U system is exactly the same as most of the US franchise system, and if we move out of melbourne we LOSE our history and therefore cease to become melbourne.

[Cards13 9,117]

AS far as US franchises go, keeping your colors and logo are FAR more important than the City in which you are based, eg. Rams, Dodgers, Raiders etc. We seem to have our basic strategy on branding, identity, what the market can support etc., the wrong way around.

We could up stumps for a couple of years and go to another city eg south west sydney for 5 years, grow the game and the club brand and then come back to melbourne. THAT IS WHAT WE SHOULD BE DOING - u heard it first here. Steal my idea - feel free.

5 years in 150 is nothing and wont affect premiership chances at all. Being based in melbourne is less important with constant media coverage. It accepts our errors of the past 40 years and does something about.

We were the first club in melbourne - lets become the first truly national franchise.

Id like to see the D's in melbourne but maybe we should be the Bankstown DEES to recharge our batteries for a while.

Dstar

Well fark me silly... That is outside of the most inside out square i've ever seen. Move to western Sydney for 5 or so years to recharge our batteries.. I'm trying to think of any sporting club in the world that has done that and coming up with nothing. Obviously moving a "franchise" is part and parcel of US sports and has been done here with success but moving for a short period then coming back.. Not my cup of tea, but it might be a world first and a precursor to historic changes to franchise sports world wide....

As to the China experiment.... nothing to back up the negative thoughts as yet? If anyone has any info please pass it along as I think we'd all be keen to see how it has worked or not for us instead of making broad statements without fact on it not working. I also still think we should be targeting immigrant communities with "welcome packs" with details on the city of Melb, the history of the city and where it is going intertwined with how we fit into the city of Melb...

I also think our lack of $$$ really hampers our promoting/marketing of the club, from a small marketing dept to a smaller budget than the big clubs. If we go with a China experiment and it doesn't work that is money we can not spend in other areas that other clubs will focus on.

[Weedster 174]

Hi Weedster,

Have you got facts and stats to back that up? How do you kno it was a waste of time full stop? I'm not disagreeing with you but would like to see some actual cost benefit analysis before saying ti was a failure or not. If it cost us $x yet we only had 100 members sign up leaving us with an actual cost of say $5,000 then it could be seen as a failure in the short term.

What about the long term... how many of the Chinese we signed up will stay in the country and there children will support us? I see a number of other clubs are targetting migrant communities for new, non traditional member areas. I see this as a great way of trying to target new members. We can not all keep going to the same well for members.

One of the issues though is we are playing such [censored] footy no one wants to support us especially new members. I took 1 SAFO and 2 Irish to round one and they were keen to follow us, they are all Hawks supporters now...

I'm curious as to why everyone is saying this China thing was a failure along with thinking we should be targetting all mirgrant groups to look for members. Why not target the African Mirgrants? Helps them assimilate into our "culture" whilst providing us with new members and potentially new steams of players to our game long term... I would see it as a win win win if if it done correctly.

Cards

My point is quite simple. We are at baseline membership - around 24,000 for second year in a row, because for the second year in a row our season has been shot to pieces after 4 games. As admirable as last night's effort to re-sign lapsed members ( 5,000 was the number quoted ) it's too little, and way too late. THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE AS A PRIORITY PRE-SEASON instead of the China experiment, no matter how admirable the intent. Face it, we're strapped for resources in all areas, we should be grabbing the low hanging fruit first and foremost. As for the Melbournefc logo, I have no issue with this as a "brand" for letterhead and corporate positioning, but the decision to lose (or at best hide) the Demon moniker is flawed - it is the most aggressive image we have. And finally, the decision to offer ties instead of scarves in the membership package again shows no understanding of what a football club is - I've got plenty of ties - MFC, MCC, MCC/MFC - all this does is drab down our image at games..WE WERE THE FIRST - WE SHOULD BE PROUD (AND LOUD) about it.

Cheers - GO DEES - SUNDAY IS OUR TIME !

[Cards13 9,117]

My point is quite simple. We are at baseline membership - around 24,000 for second year in a row, because for the second year in a row our season has been shot to pieces after 4 games. As admirable as last night's effort to re-sign lapsed members ( 5,000 was the number quoted ) it's too little, and way too late. THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE AS A PRIORITY PRE-SEASON instead of the China experiment, no matter how admirable the intent. Face it, we're strapped for resources in all areas, we should be grabbing the low hanging fruit first and foremost. As for the Melbournefc logo, I have no issue with this as a "brand" for letterhead and corporate positioning, but the decision to lose (or at best hide) the Demon moniker is flawed - it is the most aggressive image we have. And finally, the decision to offer ties instead of scarves in the membership package again shows no understanding of what a football club is - I've got plenty of ties - MFC, MCC, MCC/MFC - all this does is drab down our image at games..WE WERE THE FIRST - WE SHOULD BE PROUD (AND LOUD) about it.

Cheers - GO DEES - SUNDAY IS OUR TIME !

I think we agree on it all but i want to see the facts before casting aside anything on face value..... Working in business development you have to think outside the square, justify the opportunity you ant to chase then report on the facts whislt staying within your budget. Then report on the outcomes, winner, looser or break even. Lets see the dollars and cents of it.

I agree that it is potentially taking away our limited resources from the low hanging fruit but as you said our terrible starts to the year are hindering all membership and lets not give up on something just because we do not like the sound of it.

[Little Goffy 14,645]

What is required is not rocket science but is startinlgy simple. Get back to basics. Provide ways in which all MFC members and supporters are able to get invloved in the MFC at whatever level they can afford! What will make supporters join up and remain members is events and ways they can participate in the MFC and interact with other members and players and club officials and feel by doing so they contribute to the spirit and growth of the MFC.

Letting the kids have kick on the G after this Sundays game is a small example and with zero cost!

EXACTLY!

The way you get the club promoted and build up support and memberships is by getting the members involved. Every extra story they can tell about how good the Melbourne Football Club is (and that is still the Demons) is another impression made on a bystander.

It also builds up a more resilient attachment to the club - people will keep coming during tough times (eg. now), and keep talking about their club positively, if they have the bond of having being involved.

[Freak 100]

the china experiment is an interesting one. They are a very very large target market, with potentially very high rewards however I think if you segmented the market into passionate football follower/interested follower/mildly interested follower/disinterested in football about 95% would fall into the last category and it is extremely difficult to convert people in to this category, not to mention more expensive.

[Little Goffy 14,645]

Yeah, I don't mind the China idea in theory but it doesn't seem to be developed well at all, to be frank.

Seems to be a pet project rather than a strategic imperative.

If we were serious, the emphasis would be on making 'visiting a game of Australian Football' as much a stock part of the Australian tourism message as 'hug a koala', 'get stung by a bluebottle' and 'accidently choke down a blowfly'.

We want 'China' coming to Melbourne games, not Melbourne skipping along around China.

[RickyJ45 407]

As to the China experiment.... nothing to back up the negative thoughts as yet? If anyone has any info please pass it along as I think we'd all be keen to see how it has worked or not for us instead of making broad statements without fact on it not working. I also still think we should be targeting immigrant communities with "welcome packs" with details on the city of Melb, the history of the city and where it is going intertwined with how we fit into the city of Melb...

I also think our lack of $$$ really hampers our promoting/marketing of the club, from a small marketing dept to a smaller budget than the big clubs. If we go with a China experiment and it doesn't work that is money we can not spend in other areas that other clubs will focus on.

[rpfc 28,780]

So the way to avoid being relocated is to relocate...

It sounds so stupid and nonsensical it has to make sense...

It's all coming together. Phew! I was getting worried there.

When I worry about whether I will crash on the freeway, I just turn the wheel suddenly and do it myself before circumstances dictate my crashing...

It's just smart thinking.