ch958 2,393 Posted July 14, 2022 1 hour ago, Skidder1 said: As a serious question - to all those budding Marketing experts on here - what would be your themes and messages in a National Speedway Marketing and Publicity campaign?? Answers on the back of your nearest 'fag packet' please. marketing is the last thing at the moment. House in order first. At the moment its best kept as a secret, new bods wouldn't return the way things are 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikebv 10,240 Posted July 14, 2022 1 hour ago, Skidder1 said: As a serious question - to all those budding Marketing experts on here - what would be your themes and messages in a National Speedway Marketing and Publicity campaign?? Answers on the back of your nearest 'fag packet' please. Start with running the competitions with credibility, as if you dont, you are just wasting your time and money, as enough prospective new followers of a team sport (and major sponsors and mainstream national media), will simply not be interested. And run those competitions on nights when you get your best crowd in, running when your customers want you to, not when your employees dictate to you they are available... And charge an admission fee that people see as reflecting the actual value for money they get, rather than an admission fee that is set to allow competitors in a tiny minority sport to work six months of the year and have six months off... If all you can afford to remain solvent, and have enough for further growth of your brand and sport is semi pro riders, then only use semi pro riders... In short, have a clear structured development plan for your brand, cut your cloth accordingly when it comes to outlay, and, most importantly, open your business for your customers, not your employees, and listen to what your customers tell you... Plenty more obviously but those are the rudimentary obvious starting points.. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lefty 1,257 Posted July 14, 2022 All six Elite teams are riding tonight. Currently five of them are using r/r. Not very Elite is it? 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ch958 2,393 Posted July 14, 2022 funny thing is, i occasionally look at a group on FB called Old Cubland Acts From the Past - they're all going belly up too. Changes in lifestyles among the working classes I suppose - dogs and speedway too. I suppose nothing lasts for ever, maybe its over, amateurs only Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Skidder1 7,632 Posted July 14, 2022 2 hours ago, mikebv said: Start with running the competitions with credibility, as if you dont, you are just wasting your time and money, as enough prospective new followers of a team sport (and major sponsors and mainstream national media), will simply not be interested. And run those competitions on nights when you get your best crowd in, running when your customers want you to, not when your employees dictate to you they are available... And charge an admission fee that people see as reflecting the actual value for money they get, rather than an admission fee that is set to allow competitors in a tiny minority sport to work six months of the year and have six months off... If all you can afford to remain solvent, and have enough for further growth of your brand and sport is semi pro riders, then only use semi pro riders... In short, have a clear structured development plan for your brand, cut your cloth accordingly when it comes to outlay, and, most importantly, open your business for your customers, not your employees, and listen to what your customers tell you... Plenty more obviously but those are the rudimentary obvious starting points.. OK assuming that all those things need correcting (and they are not just your continual drum banging) I ask again what would be the themes and messages of a national marketing campaign, and who would be the target audience of such a campaign? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikebv 10,240 Posted July 14, 2022 (edited) 29 minutes ago, Skidder1 said: OK assuming that all those things need correcting (and they are not just your continual drum banging) I ask again what would be the themes and messages of a national marketing campaign, and who would be the target audience of such a campaign? The whole population of the UK, (minus the circa 0.021% of the population who attend now each week) would be my target audience.. Meaning 99.9+ % of an audience to aim at, many of which will live "close" to a track but wont have even heard of the sport.. And you only need 0.1% of the populace to attend to be "very successful" given such a "sea level" low base.. Imagine 70,000 fans per week.. Imagine selling something in heavily populated towns and cities that you have a total monopoly of for a radius of 25 miles or more... Zero competition for what you provide! "Manna from Heaven" to any decent business person I would suggest.. And I sincerely hope Poole win the league this year, get a full page in the "Dorchester Tribune" (or whatever it is called), opposite the local meat raffle results from "The Legion" and the "Sandbanks Dart and Crib League results, and you and the rest of the "in crowd" all go along and enjoy your buffet with the mayor.. Quiche I reckon with a fair selection of various savoury pastries, like those mini pasties and pork pies. Oh. And sausage rolls obviously.. No one else will in the country whether Speedway fans or not, will give a flying "rude word" by the way which pastries make up the buffet, nor will they give a flying "rude word" who won the league, (either of them).... Get yourself along to Cardiff my friend.. A proper experience, which is well marketed, priced competitively, and reflects the glamour, colour, danger and skill of the sport... Edited July 14, 2022 by mikebv Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Skidder1 7,632 Posted July 14, 2022 6 minutes ago, mikebv said: The whole population of the UK, (minus the circa 0.021% of the population who attend now each week) would be my target audience.. Meaning 99.9+ % of an audience to aim at, many of which will live "close" to a track but wont have even heard of the sport.. And you only need 0.1% of the populace to attend to be "very successful" given such a "sea level" low base.. Imagine 70,000 fans per week.. Imagine selling something in heavily populated towns and cities that you have a total monopoly of for a radius of 25 miles or more... Zero competition for what you provide! "Manna from Heaven" to any decent business person I would suggest.. And I sincerely hope Poole win the league this year, get a full page in the "Dorchester Tribune" (or whatever it is called), opposite the local meat raffle results from "The Legion" and the "Sandbanks Dart and Crib League results, and you and the rest of the "in crowd" all go along and enjoy your buffet with the mayor.. Quiche I reckon with a fair selection of various savoury pastries, like those mini pasties and pork pies. Oh. And sausage rolls obviously.. No one else will in the country whether Speedway fans or not, will give a flying "rude word" by the way which pastries make up the buffet, nor will they give a flying "rude word" who won the league, (either of them).... Get yourself along to Cardiff my friend.. A proper experience, which is well marketed, priced competitively, and reflects the glamour, colour, danger and skill of the sport... Marketing and selling a 'once a year' gp ( even with attendances falling!) is an entirely different proposition to weekly team speedway for 6/7 months of the year. As far as your scattergun approach to 99% of the populous is concerned any marketing expert would laugh all the way to the bank. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
enotian 562 Posted July 14, 2022 2 hours ago, Skidder1 said: OK assuming that all those things need correcting (and they are not just your continual drum banging) I ask again what would be the themes and messages of a national marketing campaign, and who would be the target audience of such a campaign? It is a really important question to which the answer is, I suspect, nobody knows. Nobody knows why it was relatively successful at one point (GB victories internationally?) and nobody knows why it is no longer popular now because nobody knows who it's supposed to appeal to or how it would appeal to them. It's a mongrel. Doesn't really appeal as a sport kids could dream of becoming a star at because it's not accessible. But doesn't appeal to the rich who could access it because it's not F1 or lead to MotoGP. Doesn't appeal as a team sport (even when it was genuinely 7 team members with one club) because there's not a lot of team work on the track. Doesn't appeal to motor sports fans because the bikes are not able to be used anywhere other than on speedway tracks. Doesn't appeal to extreme sports fans because there is no obvious big air thrills despite it being far more dangerous than most of these X games sports. During the sky sports coverage it was always pitched as a great family night out. I never thought that was a good idea but I don't have a family so maybe that's what it should be? But do lots of families do things together anymore? Despite all this it is still one of the most thrilling sports to watch when it's done well. Who knows? 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
steve roberts 9,242 Posted July 14, 2022 4 minutes ago, enotian said: It is a really important question to which the answer is, I suspect, nobody knows. Nobody knows why it was relatively successful at one point (GB victories internationally?) and nobody knows why it is no longer popular now because nobody knows who it's supposed to appeal to or how it would appeal to them. It's a mongrel. Doesn't really appeal as a sport kids could dream of becoming a star at because it's not accessible. But doesn't appeal to the rich who could access it because it's not F1 or lead to MotoGP. Doesn't appeal as a team sport (even when it was genuinely 7 team members with one club) because there's not a lot of team work on the track. Doesn't appeal to motor sports fans because the bikes are not able to be used anywhere other than on speedway tracks. Doesn't appeal to extreme sports fans because there is no obvious big air thrills despite it being far more dangerous than most of these X games sports. During the sky sports coverage it was always pitched as a great family night out. I never thought that was a good idea but I don't have a family so maybe that's what it should be? But do lots of families do things together anymore? Despite all this it is still one of the most thrilling sports to watch when it's done well. Who knows? Absolutely...having endured tennis and now golf on the beeb speedway beats them hands down if only the promoters would get their collective act together! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikebv 10,240 Posted July 14, 2022 (edited) 40 minutes ago, enotian said: It is a really important question to which the answer is, I suspect, nobody knows. Nobody knows why it was relatively successful at one point (GB victories internationally?) and nobody knows why it is no longer popular now because nobody knows who it's supposed to appeal to or how it would appeal to them. It's a mongrel. Doesn't really appeal as a sport kids could dream of becoming a star at because it's not accessible. But doesn't appeal to the rich who could access it because it's not F1 or lead to MotoGP. Doesn't appeal as a team sport (even when it was genuinely 7 team members with one club) because there's not a lot of team work on the track. Doesn't appeal to motor sports fans because the bikes are not able to be used anywhere other than on speedway tracks. Doesn't appeal to extreme sports fans because there is no obvious big air thrills despite it being far more dangerous than most of these X games sports. During the sky sports coverage it was always pitched as a great family night out. I never thought that was a good idea but I don't have a family so maybe that's what it should be? But do lots of families do things together anymore? Despite all this it is still one of the most thrilling sports to watch when it's done well. Who knows? Peter Collins et al "thrilling the nation" most Saturday afternoons on one of just three channels brought excitement and patriotic fervour.. And the domestic Speedway fed off the back of it.. (Big time)... Then in the early 80's we stopped the conveyor belt of British talent by training up the Yanks giving them plenty of spaces... Then we trained the Danes and gave them even more spaces.. Then we trained the (fill any nationally in), and we reduced the chances of GB riders even more.. And now we dont even have a Rising Star system in the bridging league that should be the middle one in a three tier system.. We never learn do we? Still.. I am sure whatever two teams win the top two leagues this year will make the national news headlines and earn millions for their success and have major sponsors beating down their door..... Edited July 14, 2022 by mikebv Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
steve roberts 9,242 Posted July 14, 2022 3 minutes ago, mikebv said: Peter Collins et al "thrilling the nation" most Saturday afternoons on one of just three channels brought excitement and patriotic fervour.. And the domestic Speedway fed off the back of it.. (Big time)... Then in the early 80's we stopped the conveyor belt of British talent by training up the Yanks giving them plenty of spaces... Then we trained the Danes and gave them even more spaces.. Then we trained the (fill any nationally in), and we reduced the chances of GB riders even more.. And now we dont even have a Rising Star system in the bridging league that should be the middle one in a three tier system.. We never learn do we? Still.. I am sure whatever two teams win the top two leagues this year will make the national news headlines and earn millions for their success and have major sponsors beating down their door..... Personally I feel that when the old British League Division Two/New National/National League broke away the conveyor belt started to dry up. Remember the early/middle seventies when British talent was at its premium and we at Oxford/White City drew riders from the lower league due to our promotional tie up with Eastbourne & Peterborough and we weren't the only club who benefitted with having interests in both leagues...years later Mervyn Stewkesbury appeared on the scene with his own agenda which in my opinion proved detrimental to domestic speedway in this country. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JCookie 753 Posted July 15, 2022 12 hours ago, mikebv said: The whole population of the UK, (minus the circa 0.021% of the population who attend now each week) would be my target audience.. Meaning 99.9+ % of an audience to aim at, many of which will live "close" to a track but wont have even heard of the sport.. And you only need 0.1% of the populace to attend to be "very successful" given such a "sea level" low base.. Imagine 70,000 fans per week.. Imagine selling something in heavily populated towns and cities that you have a total monopoly of for a radius of 25 miles or more... Zero competition for what you provide! "Manna from Heaven" to any decent business person I would suggest.. And I sincerely hope Poole win the league this year, get a full page in the "Dorchester Tribune" (or whatever it is called), opposite the local meat raffle results from "The Legion" and the "Sandbanks Dart and Crib League results, and you and the rest of the "in crowd" all go along and enjoy your buffet with the mayor.. Quiche I reckon with a fair selection of various savoury pastries, like those mini pasties and pork pies. Oh. And sausage rolls obviously.. No one else will in the country whether Speedway fans or not, will give a flying "rude word" by the way which pastries make up the buffet, nor will they give a flying "rude word" who won the league, (either of them).... Get yourself along to Cardiff my friend.. A proper experience, which is well marketed, priced competitively, and reflects the glamour, colour, danger and skill of the sport... Have you ever thought that everyone is just doing their best? Yes: the sport is ran as a shambles most of the time. Yes: there is zero direction in this country of where the sport is going. Yes: many fans just want to bury their head deep in the sand. But everyone is just doing their best. Perhaps instead of asking random fans on a forum what the message would be during a marketing campaign, we should instead be asking a marketing expert. After all, didn't we team up with one to get the Eurosport deal? That went well. I think most fans just want to tell themselves everything in this sport is sunshine and rainbows, and that's more dangerous than anything else. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikebv 10,240 Posted July 15, 2022 29 minutes ago, JCookie said: Have you ever thought that everyone is just doing their best? Yes: the sport is ran as a shambles most of the time. Yes: there is zero direction in this country of where the sport is going. Yes: many fans just want to bury their head deep in the sand. But everyone is just doing their best. Perhaps instead of asking random fans on a forum what the message would be during a marketing campaign, we should instead be asking a marketing expert. After all, didn't we team up with one to get the Eurosport deal? That went well. I think most fans just want to tell themselves everything in this sport is sunshine and rainbows, and that's more dangerous than anything else. Indeed, We have on the forum some within the "inner sanctum", who see at first hand some of those who run the sport "doing their best", hence they get very, very defensive... Unfortunately making excuses, justifying poor performance and condoning mistakes doesnt help, as you then become part of the issue yourself, rather than part of the solution.. Speedways greatest opportunity is to market itself as a collective, to sell "the sport" rather than any specific club, and make national team success the over riding priority.. Sadly, you still have some who see winning leagues that hardly anyone cares about, and will have minuscule impact to the sport collectively, as being "the priority".. These narrow minded people, who collude with those who run the sport that it has some relevance, get exactly the contrived nonsense of a sport that they deserve.. Cannot believe Poland doesnt follow the UK operating model to be honest given it works so well, definitely missing a trick the Poles aren't they? ... 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PhilTheAce 498 Posted July 15, 2022 well for starters to claim some credibility they need the top league to be exactly that, in all sports the top league of that sport is what TV is focised on, thats your selling point, right now the top league in speedway is a laughing stock, that will have a knock on affect across the whole sport tin this country. There needs to be a minimum of 8 Teams in top league, if not 10, there are a number of teams in championship that are just to big a club to be there, there needs to be more incentive to persuade them to move up (poole,glasgow,leicester,oxford) the most bsic thing they get wrong every season is having a league sponsor, what sport doesnt have league sponsors, its been a ridiculous amount of time since we last had one. we say this every year but next year is massive (AGAIN), it seems that polish rules will be relaxed, meaning more riders become available, stop the doubling up for riders over an average of 6 in prem. and last but not least, promote the bloody sport 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
steve roberts 9,242 Posted July 15, 2022 1 hour ago, PhilTheAce said: well for starters to claim some credibility they need the top league to be exactly that, in all sports the top league of that sport is what TV is focised on, thats your selling point, right now the top league in speedway is a laughing stock, that will have a knock on affect across the whole sport tin this country. There needs to be a minimum of 8 Teams in top league, if not 10, there are a number of teams in championship that are just to big a club to be there, there needs to be more incentive to persuade them to move up (poole,glasgow,leicester,oxford) the most bsic thing they get wrong every season is having a league sponsor, what sport doesnt have league sponsors, its been a ridiculous amount of time since we last had one. we say this every year but next year is massive (AGAIN), it seems that polish rules will be relaxed, meaning more riders become available, stop the doubling up for riders over an average of 6 in prem. and last but not least, promote the bloody sport When I repeatedly questioned "live" domestic transmissions and who the target audience was I was told having it on TV (albeit SKY and not on a terrestrial channel) it would attract major sponsors? Well it's become abundantly obvious that didn't transpire for whatever reason. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
