Rovers Trust’s Suggested Marketing Prospectus

[Herbie6590]

From the latest Rovers Trust mailing :

 

 BRFC Marketing Prospectus:

Making it EASY to support Blackburn Rovers
The key aims of Rovers Trust are to:
-Preserve the Assets and Heritage of the Club. -Regenerate Support.
-Mitigate a Lost Generation of Support.

This Prospectus lays out suggestions from Rovers Trust members, under the following headings:
1. Pride of Lancashire
– Celebrating the history and heritage of Blackburn Rovers.
2. Season Ticket Holders
- Rewarding those who make the biggest commitment to our club.
3. All fans
- Encouraging all fans to come to Ewood, be they lapsed Rovers fans, new fans, or neutrals.
4. The Next Generation
- Ensuring every local child’s first experience of football is with the Rovers at Ewood Park.
5. The Matchday Experience
- Improving the matchday experience at Ewood Park.

            
Pride of Lancashire:
Plans are in place for East Lancashire/Blackburn to bid for ‘Capital of Culture’ status in 2025, and at the heart of this will be its famous football team; celebrating the 150th birthday of Blackburn Rovers. The Rovers Trust will assist through their Memorandum of Understanding with the Club.
-Lancashire citizens need to be exposed to the Heritage of the Rovers. This can be achieved by the club developing a more active partnership with Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council.
-2020 plans to celebrate 25 years since our Premier League win. There are also ongoing discussions to build a physical Hall of Fame / Museum / Time Tunnel around Ewood Park, to be opened by the greatest living Rover; Bryan Douglas.
-Ewood Park should more prominently depict key aspects of Rovers history. A statue of Bob Crompton will be crowd-funded in the grounds; the first ‘greatest footballer in the world’ and died-in-the-wool Rover as a fan, player, and manager.
-The Ewood area should be regenerated as an entertainment hub, with more promotion of events at the Empire Theatre, more events in the stadium such as the successful Elton John concert of 2017, other sporting events, and the inclusion of a café/restaurant area attached to the ground.
-Blackburn Rovers should sponsor more local events, particularly sporting events and music events, such as ‘Darwen Live’.
-A ‘history trail’ should be installed from the Museum in Blackburn town centre, to Ewood Park, with close ties between the town and its football team.
-Long term, plans should be made through Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council to twin Blackburn with the Spanish city of Bilbao, owing to the shared history of the towns thanks to Blackburn Rovers. An annual summer friendly will be arranged between Rovers and Atletico, alternating grounds to preserve and celebrate this link.

      
Season Ticket Holders:
Season Ticket Holders have a long-term commitment. The club needs to acknowledge this commitment by making continued support an EASY thing to do. Rovers Trust members suggest:
-Promotion of Season Tickets much earlier in the season (March, rather than in May). This allows Rovers fans to plan their budgets ahead of the costly Summer holidays.
-Add the option of a Rolling Season Ticket. This would mean a supporter could simply pay for the next Season Ticket automatically on a given date each Season, or via a continuous Direct Debit.
-Allow Season Ticket Holders to bring a friend to a match at a reduced price. For example, ‘Bring a friend for £10’.

      
All fans:
There are more Rovers supporters NOT going to Ewood than going. A half- empty stadium suits nobody; not the club, not the team, not the fans. We need to encourage more Rovers supporters into the ground, paving the way to a Season Ticket commitment. Rovers Trust members suggest:
-More graded Season Ticket pricing to include those fans who are Students at College and University regardless of age. This would be in addition to the standard age-related format.
-At least three £10-ticket games per season, to be planned 3-months in ahead Season Ticket Holders warned in advance.
-Promote a loyalty scheme for ‘walk-on’ supporters, which uses the additional walk-on charge to guarantee
a reward. For example, ‘50% off the price of every 5th game attended’ (excluding Category A).
-Give a voucher for a reduced-price game for one-off walk-on fans. For example, ‘10% off the price of the next game’ (excluding Category A).
-Promote a ‘10-game ticket’, which a fan can use to enter 10 games of their choosing (excluding Category A). Sometimes the commitment to a Season ticket, or the restriction of a Half-Season ticket, can be too much. Offering a reduced commitment at a good price gives more fans another option to commit to Rovers and may lead gradually to a full Season ticket commitment.
-The club should ensure there is an area for our disabled fans both inside the stands and outside on the terraces.
-Rovers should open a ‘Neutral Section’, similar to Fulham, for mid-week matches. Perhaps the Darwen End Lower Tier, near the Jack Walker Stand. With this in mind, the Rovers Trust would liaise with Bury Football Club Supporters Trust.
-‘Freshers Week’ incentives for UCLan, Blackburn College, and Lancaster University 1st year students.

      
The Next Generation:
Every child should have their first experience of football with the Rovers at Ewood Park. Rovers Trust members suggest:
-Include a Rovers Shirt in the price of a Junior Season/half-Season Ticket. A Summer Holiday or Christmas present alongside their ticket, that gives them that vital status symbol on matchdays.
-Promote the permanent ‘Next Generation Stand’ in the Upper Tier of the Blackburn End with £5 entry to a child under 11, with one parent going free.
-Rovers players and staff should each ‘adopt a school’, ensuring the school is provided with tickets to games, as well as access to P.E. coaching sessions and healthy eating lessons with players.
-Rovers should provide every Primary School in Lancashire with a digital version of the Matchday Programme, available to be printed as reading material in the classroom.
-Rovers could devise/sponsor a set of lesson plans relating to the P.E. (Ball Games), Geography (links to Bilbao, exploration of another culture), and Science (Healthy Eating) curriculums.
-Liaise with the DW Dome at Shadsworth to encourage new supporters.

      
The Matchday Experience:
-Blackburn Rovers should open a Kiosk in the Blackburn Mall, to be open on all Fridays and Matchdays for same-day ticket purchases.
-Test arrangements for transport from wider areas of Lancashire to matches; Ribble Valley, Haslingden, Chorley, and Lancaster. Arrange for transport and tickets for Blackburn College and UCLan students during ‘Fresher’s Week’ and term holidays.
-Hold a ‘Happy Hour’ in the concourses and Blues Bar after victories.
-Encourage flags and banners:
Hold ‘Get Creative’ events where flags/clappers can be designed by children, with matchday in mind.
Reinstate the Blackburn End flag crossing the stand at the start of games.
-Plan to introduce ‘Safe Standing’ in an area of the ground. For example, the Blackburn End side of the Riverside Stand or the Riverside side of the Blackburn End, taking care not to block the views of fans in seats.

We welcome your reactions, encouragement, and further suggestions. Please send them to:

[email protected]
or
[email protected]

        

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Who wouldn't back these proposals to the hilt?

On the subject of the Club's long and proud History how about BRFCS / Rovers trust pushing the club to produce a well overdue official history on DVD....

Edited December 22, 2019 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[Vinjay]

Adopt "think BIG" as a slogan. That's my one demand. Otherwise I'm not gonna waste my time providing any other feedback which would probably be ignored anyway.

[Herbie6590]

I’d love a Rovers Museum...fans & former players could offer up artefacts...

[Vinjay]

Speaking of marketing the club have just advertised for a new "head of commercial" position. So presumably Greg Coar's title has shortened/changed or he's leaving/left. You should send this to whoever the new hire is on their first day.

 

Edited December 22, 2019 by Vinjay

[matt83]

A lot of really decent ideas in there. Whether any are allowed to come to pass is another thing. Re lost support I believe a public sincere apology from the owners would go a long way. 

Ps Blackburn to bid for capital of culture 2025!?!?! Seriously. No chance of winning that unless up against Chernobyl. 

[philipl]

Just now, OnePhilT said:

I've been a bit dubious about what an apology from the owners would practically do, especially when we were in our downward spirals, but if they did it now while we're on a bit of a high, I think it could do the world of good and even win back some supporters to Ewood. Still, I think the most important thing is to carry on as they have been doing in recent times... Keep the funding levels reasonable and allow sensible decisions to be made. If you consider the state of the club now compared to just a few years ago, it's night and day.

Given a choice between £15m a year and an apology, I would vote for Brexit..

[only2garners]

The prospectus needs a little re-writing. The City of Culture bid is not from Blackburn/East Lancashire but from the whole of the current Lancashire County but also including Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen. Whilst Rovers may well get involved and clearly will celebrate the 150th anniversary as well they are not going to be at the heart of the bid.

[Herbie6590]

Giving this a bump as there will be a podcast episode out later this week with John Murray, chair of the Rovers Trust about the aims & objectives of the Trust these days and what happens next regarding the prospectus.

The Trust is actively canvassing for opinions & more details can be found here:-

https://www.roverstrust.com/2019/12/18/brfc-draft-marketing-prospectus/

 

[mhead]

Thanks Herbie and a better New Year to all the Rovers Family. Has there ever been such a monthly change of fortunes. We need February to be a good month.

Meanwhile our DRAFT Marketing prospectus still welcomes any comments,support, alternative ideas to make it a fully engaged document.. It will be handed to the Club at the end of the Month.

It is not a short-term document and really asks questions like "Okay, we do not use the Lower Darwen End for Away Supporters, but what do we use it for?" and tries to answer that. Anyone at Hudders will see what they used the Away End(or half of it) for.

You can email me at  [email protected] and I will reply to all emails I get.

[Herbie6590]

Podcast out now featuring @mhead 

 

[Vinjay]

Don't you think if fans part ownership was realistic that Jack would have made arrangements in event of his death? Then again maybe he did along with the countless things we already know about that were ignored.

Speaking of ignored I'm not one to make new years resolutions. However "decade resolutions" are an exception and I'm certainly not going to be spending this decade suggesting marketing direction for this football club. Been there done that.

[PeteJD13]

On ‎06‎/‎01‎/‎2020 at 12:13, mhead said:

Thanks Herbie and a better New Year to all the Rovers Family. Has there ever been such a monthly change of fortunes. We need February to be a good month.

Meanwhile our DRAFT Marketing prospectus still welcomes any comments,support, alternative ideas to make it a fully engaged document.. It will be handed to the Club at the end of the Month.

It is not a short-term document and really asks questions like "Okay, we do not use the Lower Darwen End for Away Supporters, but what do we use it for?" and tries to answer that. Anyone at Hudders will see what they used the Away End(or half of it) for.

You can email me at  [email protected] and I will reply to all emails I get.

I've sent you an email, i'll be really interested to see how the club respond to the prospectus there are some excellent ideas on there

[mhead]

On 13/01/2020 at 12:04, PeteJD13 said:

I've sent you an email, i'll be really interested to see how the club respond to the prospectus there are some excellent ideas on there

Hi Pete....not got your email as yet and keen to read any comments. 

Can you forward it to  [email protected]    please(one of my many email addresses). Thanks.