Another Marketing Own Goal | Thebigtip

The main summer sport in Australia was on its knees last week in Melbourne with fans calling for mass sackings of players and officials. Worst of all, English sports fans were happy and boisterous.

England has retained the ashes. The Australian cricket team were horribly outplayed in Melbourne and the popularity of the Australian team has never been so low.  So what is the marketing department at Football Australia doing to take advantage of this? Nothing. That's right, nothing at all. From all observations, the entire department has not fired a shot this season and this is heavily reflected in crowd numbers.

The league is a summer competition so it doesn't compete with other football codes in this country.  In order to survive in the overcrowded battle for crowd numbers, football must take on cricket, especially now that cricket is struggling.  The Australian cricket team is currently ranked 5 out of 10 in the world which would be comparable to the Socceroos sitting in the mid seventies.

The marketing window, albeit a small one, was a definite opportunity to grow the game and the league. A strong marketing campaign over the Christmas period would have taken advantage of cricket's failings.  Now the state based Big Bash Twenty20 competition has grabbed the public attention. It won't be too far away before the tennis world has arrived on Australian shores.

The standard of football has never been so high in the A-league. Brisbane are playing the most attractive football ever seen. The Victory are now producing some great results. The battle for finals spots have never been so close.  Sadly, crowds have never been so low. North Queensland doesn’t know if they will survive until the 2011/12 season. And football is still struggling to gain its footing on the crowded sporting calendar.

I think that the FFA should have taken advantage of the 'Barmy Army' travelling around the country.  We all know that the English love football and a drink so why didn't we promote A-league games around the Test schedule?  A five game 'Barmy Army' membership in Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne and Sydney could have been a great revenue source for all the clubs with any profits to be split 11 ways.

One other idea could be a December/January Christmas party for all clubs.  Around this festive period, each club could nominate one home game each, then every member would receive the Christmas gift of a free ticket  This ticket would not be seen as a handout but a 'bring a friend' opportunity. Bigger clubs such as the Melbourne Victory might have to use this ticket for a midweek fixture but for the majority of clubs it would be a positive step forward to grow the league.

These ideas may not be the answer but those in the marketing department need to stop sitting on their hands.  The A-league needs a marketing revamp to ensure current clubs survive and build a platform for success for years to come.