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To ever get ahead in the AFL clubs need to diversify revenue streams to make more money. Especially small clubs wanting to grow. Pokies have been the backbone of this off field earnings but there isn't the same opportunity to expand there and (hopefully) over time that business model becomes less rewarding. So I've thought up a couple of ways for the club to branch out and make some money. 1. Demon Dinners - and other meals With more and more time pressure people are buying take away - especially now every restaurant delivers through delivery companies, prepared meals and even ingredient boxes to make gourmet meals. At the same time there's a lot of health conscious people as well and footy participation numbers have grown on the back of the increase in girls and women's football. Most games are Saturday and Sunday. Most people love take away or conveniently prepared meals on Friday or Saturday night. Put all those things together and there's surely a market for either Demons branded or AFL branded food. Imagine knowing your 15 year old son or daughter has a footy game on Sunday but it's Saturday night and you're going out for with adult friends. You could leave them money for pizza or you get them a dietitian approved and chef made meal (either prepared or delivered) with Nathan Jones or Daisy Pearce on the packaging. Apparently it was Goody who suggested Luke Hodge got on the lite n easy and Hodgey turned that in to an ad campaign, but people don't really want to buy diet food and advertise that to the world. Instead they get Demon Dinners that are formulated throughout the week to be nutritious enough to make you fit and healthy with some exercise (like a couple of footy trainings) and then you can market pre game and even post game meals. Presumably there's a way for the club to access the kitchens at the Leighoak and Bentleigh clubs if they want to start with local deliveries to the heartland suburbs maybe on Thurs-Sat. Or maybe approach a prepared meals company like Healthy Choice and say we want to make branded meals. The actual specifics of which way you want to do it are pretty endless but I'm certain there's a big gap in the market in selling meals to footballers, especially kids. Parents are spending big money on boots, gear, travel, extra coaching and academies. They already have to feed their kids and are spending big money doing that how it is. There should be an opening to get in on that. 2. A one of a kind experience viral marketing raffle. Everyone buys club raffle tickets from time to time right? I know the club volunteers get on the phones or on match days and do their best to sell them. I also know the club are generous to big donors or sponsors with behind the scenes and match day experiences. But why not combine all of that in one go? I first learnt about how a company in America combines viral marketing and experiences for charitable causes here: https://www.theringer.com/tech/2017/10/25/16528024/omaze-online-charity-rick-and-morty And an example of an experience here: https://www.omaze.com/experiences/south-park-matt-trey-notms Pretty much, the club create the biggest and best match day experience and make the biggest and best viral marketing video they can make. They already have the ability to do that. Get Hamish Blake, Robbo and Clayton Oliver to sit down and make a funny video, can't be that hard right? And prepare the ultimate fan experience - training with the boys, coffee with Goody, lunch with the team, match committee, game day room pass, kids run out with the team, even sing the song if they win, flights and hotels paid for, just get it all in there. Make it too good for fans to refuse. Then sell tickets 100 for $10, 250 for $25 and escalating like that, with members getting a bonus 10-50% of tickets, however you want to do it, add merchandise with a number of tickets bought. Is anyone not buying $10 worth for the chance of a lifetime?

I worked in the industry for a long time so I understand the difference between Toyota and Lexus, their products and marketing strategies. (I have a slightly different view as to when their products are competing against each other but that isn't relevant to this thread). Nonetheless, your post is important for those that don't know how Toyota and Lexus are connected. My post was primarily to direct attention away from Lexus in case the attention given to it in this thread undermines the MFC's launch strategy (if it is Lexus). Hence my invitation to posters to suggest other Japanese brands with luxury cars.

The club made a statement.

In my minds eye I see his face so clearly and I think that demonland remembering him each year has a lot to do with that. I think it's terrific and congratulate those that post this yearly tribute.

The MFC website is your friend FD Currently no training sessions due to Christmas and New Year break. Players will be returing Monday 8th Janurary, please keep an eye on this page for all open training times We look forward to seeing you all next year! GO MELBOURNE!

1 winning games 2 winning more games to make the finals

http://melbournefc.com.au/news/2017-12-28/inside-casey-taking-it-to-next-level Good write up about where the Club and alignment is headed, everything looks great and from what I hear it's only going to get better over the next 5+ years for anyone wanting to give VFL a crack, Casey is gonna be where players want to go.

Yep ... that's the idea! There's a meeting at Doomben on Saturday which has a few feature races on show as well - including the listed Bernborough Handicap - 1600m $300.000 There's also a couple of Group 3 events for the 2yo's & 3yo's on the card - both races are lead-ins to the mid January Magic Millions meeting on the Gold Coast. I might leave the latter 2 races alone but the Bernborough Hcp has a half-decent field ... I like the 1600m races too. The formline is a bit easier for me to read in the middle distance races - I like to compare times & weights over the distance (more so 1400m - 2000m)

Spot on Macca, the "Dee" rode him to 3 wins in a row in the early part of 2016. The horse was red hot back then. Lets see if he can recapture some of that form on Saturday. I'll also be concentrating on the multiples for that race. He will add some value if he lands in the first 4.

3 wins from 7 rides by Michael Dee according to racenet. Of course the 'Dee' in the jockeys name doesn't go unnoticed either! Quite a good open betting race too - Tri & F4 dividends could be healthy. I'll be including the Zephyr in my multiples D77.

Thanks Macca, Dan is running on Saturday. https://www.racenet.com.au/racing-form-guide/sandown-20171230/ladbrokes-info-hub-handicap-race-6 Michael Dee to ride, he's had success on the horse previously and comes in at 54kg. Juicy odds at the moment.

While I think of it, here's the line up for the Perth Cup next Monday (Jan 1) ... Racenet.com.au Race 8 Ascot (Perth Cup) 16 runners so it isn't a small field ... Pounamu, Material Man, Trap For Fools, Royal Star, Dark Alert & Zarantz have all accepted and because of the extra distance & handicap conditions, the race could well be fought out by the aforementioned horses and a few others. And I'll be looking out for the Zephyr race at Sandown on Saturday too! (if it runs) By the way, Racenet.com.au is a more than decent website for form & odds (Thoroughbreds only by the looks of it) The site provides a few interesting links and the race fields, form & odds are up a number of days in advance.

I wonder whether 'Old Dog' and 'Old Tiger' said something similar in 2016 and 2017 respectively. While you may well be right, why risk it? 2018 may well be our year.

My boy has done the guard of honour twice, and loved it. They generally post the guard of honour photos on their Facebook page. Worth checking.

Sorry if this is reported elsewhere, Mitch White will line up for Casey next year. http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2017-12-27/mitch-to-make-most-of-new-opportunity It sounds like the pressure of being an AFL player got to him but at 21 he has every chance to get back to AFL as a mature age recruit. Casey will be the better for having him in the side next year.

Thank for the response, Pro, but you must have misread my question. I asked (quite genuinely- I know you've read more widely on this than I have) if there were any credible scientific organisations that support your views on climate change and the only one you could come up with was the Heartland Institute? Pleeeezzze... They are not a scientific organisation's cake-hole. They are a rabidly right-wing American think-tank funded by a bunch of self-serving billionaires whose most significant entry into public policy to date has been working with Phillip Morris to question the link between smoking and cancer. I tend to trust the science on most things - when I go to the doctor, when I step onto an aeroplane, when I look at the weather chart. That's why, even though I'm progressive, I don't trust things like homeopathy, anti-vaccination, etc... So I'll ask the question more clearly: is there a single, professional scientific organisation anywhere that supports your view on climate change?

Would like to see a brand that provides some metaphor to performance. Caterpillar provides more grunt than any suburban vehicle and could get improved exposure in NT.

What exactly is dragging on..? It's done and will go no further.

I was at that match too. It was very moving.

Saints Jaguars and........... ahhhh why not - my '49ers

As Deemania said above, Troy was a quickly developing player who at the time I thought would definitely make it. Still clearly remember the memorial match at the G. Teams united and the game played accordingly. Just the way Troy would have wanted it.

Bears Jets Browns If I get all three I deserve to win ?

Price, while important, is a consideration. But as good as AFL is on TV (and in my view it is one of the best sports for TV viewing), it's still not as good as being at the ground. Emotional investment increases when actually at the game and you can also see much more tactically than the limitations of TV can allow.

well they didn't with milne. iirc. but i suppose that was quite some time ago and things have changed. still, they would need to have some good info/facts to do that and go public

It would surprise me... If there are no charges then there is nothing the club should or needs to do, creative or otherwise. Move on...

Well the Toyota brand that sponsors the Crows is the Toyota line of cars, not the Toyota that's the paent company of Lexus. There's a difference. While Lexus is a division of Toyota, it's its own brand and line, with its own board, branding and marketing. The audience for a Toyota is different than that of a Lexus. I think a lot of people here are making the mistake of seeing Toyota and Lexus as one in the same, which they're not. You have Toyota the corporation, then the Toyota line and the Lexus line. I don't think there's any sort of market cannibialisation there. Besides, Lexus has lent its name to Collingwood in the past.

An increase of a minute fraction of one hundredth of a per cent in CFCs increased the ozone hole over Antarctica. It only takes 2-3 parts per million of chlorine to disinfect a swimming pool. Some toxic substances at .001 per cent will kill you. Arguments about "small percentages" are spurious. ProDee, when 80% of Australians believe more needs to be done about climate change, the world's largest mining company (BHP) is threatening to leaving the Mineral Council because of lack of climate change policy, and other large companies like Wesfarmers are getting out of coal to avoid future stranded assets, do you feel like you're winning anything? Are the captains of industry deluded? I would imagine they're fairly clever. What are you doing spending all your time here gish galloping in a pointless forum seen by a handful of people? Shouldn't you be out proselytising to the world with your apparent "truth" that wil save the world wasting vast sums of money?

If white men weren’t such scum then Clementine Ford wouldn’t be so lonely @Biffen.

I wouldn’t consider Honda to be a luxury car though LH. My guess is Infiniti.

Wonderfully coherent, reasonable and relevant as always, ENYAW.

You must be new here.

We should play off the stereotype, get Range Rover and Mt Buller or Auski as sponsors. May as well, at least we have an opportunity, not like Collingwood will get Centrelink as a sponsor or Richmond the Australian Dental Association.

so you want to play hypotheticals about "some truth", "probable", "in real trouble"? life is not always neat, fair, or just in all situations to all concerned let the process play out and don't torture yourself over something you know next to nothing about, and have no control over this issue was (reportedly) raised nearly 3 months ago and as far as we know nothing has happened since

Don't get caught up on specifics with the first idea. I've just spitballed a few ideas. The part I truly believe in is that footballers and particularly kids would eat AFL branded meals before games and the reason I believe it is because I sure know I'd do it myself, or at least try it and I don't even play any more. Also after witnessing the creation of two women's football teams at a local level this year I've seen the girls dive in with the "all the gear and no idea" attitude (which is fantastic) and I think they'd be all over it. I'm not one for late sign up member promotions or raffles either. The beauty of this idea is it's a lottery and the base price could be $10 and get a member 150 chances, I'm sympathetic to the less fortunate but the majority of us can afford $10 if we want. Yes the wealthier might buy 2000 tickets for $200 but the odds will be overwhelmingly in favour of a joe average person winning given 90%+ of demon supporters I'd describe as pretty average folk and they'd probably buy 80%+ of tickets. Sponsors are afforded special privileges but in terms of a 1 off special for 1 game with all the perks I'm sure there's a way to free up that time.

ditto, ditto... Winning matches would be great, too - filling the 'G with Dee supporters when playing there. Reclaiming territory long lost to other teams with an AFL profits agenda. Match receipts, on an ever-increasing cycle of significant success. Developing a win mentality that is antagonistically arrogant to all opposition. Become a feared opponent, once again. Pass the rock'n'roll jukebox, Baby.

We had a thread not long ago about additional income streams. It's obviously something the club need to look at, but I would question the effectiveness of those listed above. Firstly, there would be no bistro/kitchen in town that would want to give up and/or share their kitchens on a Thursday-Sunday. This is their peak time. I do think there are catering facilities at AAMI Park, so that may give an opportunity. But even then, it's being restricted to people in Melbourne. I would want to know the demographics of our members, in particular their place of residence. It would also count out a number of families that don't have two bob to rub together, but still manage to buy a membership (I sincerely admire these families). The second idea just further puts a gulf between the haves and the have nots. Those with more money will buy more tickets and give the "poorer" kids less chance of living their dream. It's also requiring those lesser families to put their hand in their pocket further, with a high chance of nothing in return. I like the idea of raffles where you can only buy 1 ticket. Up the ticket price, but at least if your average Joe buys one, they know they have just as much chance as the high-rollers. The other thing to remember is that some sponsors use these match day privileges that they receive as part of their sponsorship package as a carrot for their customers. We can't be taking that away from them. You could add a "sweepstakes" style of raffle to the memberships, but rather than winning a $30,000 car, give away 10 prizes of $3,000. Also, one thing that annoys me is when they have promotions for members who sign between certain dates, in a bid to get more members before the new season. I'm a Dedicated Demon, why should I miss out on additional promotions because I just roll over from one year to the next? I also hat those online auction things that the clubs run. I have looked at them once or twice, and never bothered to consider a bid. Am I poor? No, but I'm not rich. I would love to sit in the coaches box one day. or pay for my boy to run out with the players, but I know I'm going to get blown out of the water, so why bother. I said it in the there thread that was going about the additional income streams. We need to find services that everyone uses, and try and get involved in something there, even if via a strategic partnership with someone already in that space. Health Services, Education, Groceries, Utilities (ie gas, power, water), these are all things that we all have to put money in to on a regular basis. To generate the best income, we have two main starting points. Offer something that no-one else does, and market it so that even opposition supporters will need it, so that we aren't relying just on the Demon faithful for income. Or, we need to offer a product/service that everyone needs/uses, but offer a "Demon" alternative. This will most likely restrict our customers to the Demon faithful. But we also need to make sure that anything we come up with is accessible for all our supporters around Australia, not just the CBD and outer suburbs of Melbourne. It's not easy - if it was we'd be already doing it, and so would most other clubs.

bandaid solutions. the only way to make money with a snall fanbase is to win games consistently over a sustained period.

I've always been under the impression it was a pro not a prue.

Ripper photo, ripper idea...ripper year ahead. All fits...

Andy Maher back in the lunchtime slot. Cue the 3 minute preamble before an actual question gets asked of the 'guest'.

It was probably more boring than I expected. And I didn't expect much.

I might be in the minority, but I like a 'vanilla flavoured' President. He can do what needs to be done behind the scenes and let others, like PJ, Mahoney and Goody do the talking. He's done that well so far and worked really well with all areas of the club. We can't ask for much more than that.

So we (Mrs Worship aka "The Stalker) went down for our first training session for the season. Generally I thought the boys looked good and went through a solid session. As others have noticed in recent times training is at high intensity/speed for the most part and you rarely see the ball hit the ground by comparison to other years. I particularly wanted to have a look at Lever, Balic, Maynard and the new boys. Lever is everything others have said, we're very happy with the addition. Balic had more size to him than I thought and didn't do a lot wrong. I think he is building nicely. Maynard with a full preseason will be pushing everyone for a permanent midfield role. Of the new "kids" Bayley Fritsch seemed to be in everything and that seemed to be by design ie a lot of players were looking for him and finding him. Also liked the look of "Krusty" although he appeared to be on limited time. One piece of late info I overheard, which we're not happy about if true, is the absence of Hunt (a Stalker favorite) may be linked to a back injury and the word serious was mentioned.

Bitter's observations Snags and coffee were very good but I managed to show reasonable restraint. Saw Hogan run a bit a have a couple of kicks. He didn't train in the main session but seemed to be moving freely. Saw the Weid but he didn't train. Neither did Trac but I was told he was there. Max looks like the world's tallest marathon runner. He took a couple of clean strong grabs in the match simulation but, in fairness, there was no opponent near his height on those occasions. Pedo also looks like he has kept off the cheeseburgers and got a couple of slick handballs away during the simulation exercise. Balic, who I have never seen before, also showed a bit. He maybe a surprise. Tmac looks great. He left the main training and finished running some laps. Jeffy looks really fit. As you would expect he showed form in the sprints and was certain in set goalkicking. I never really watched Lever before. But he did everything well and was always near the front in running drills. He gave the impression that he's going all out to show what he can do and set a positive tone and example. Very impressive. Generally kicking looked good but a couple of easy marks were spilled. The stand out for me though was Clarrie. He looked mean and lean and had very safe hands. He appeared to have more of the ball than anyone. Like Moonie above, I did not see Jones injured.

Jones limped off the ground after injuring himself in a marking contest.I think it’s an ankle.Taken to rooms in the buggy.Did not appear to be in much pain.

Sounds like Vandenberg’s foot will end his career soon.

Agreed. I remember watching him play at the G in 2004 vs Port Adelaide. Beautiful sunny afternoon, the boys in bay 13 in full voice. Neita kicked 6, we won by 9 goals. Fond memories. Sadly missed.