More details about the re branding/future plans : Thu Jul 02, 2015 2:11 pm  

OK so all the talk is of the new logo, and I haven't seen much detail about the other things anywhere else however I attended last night so I will expand more to see if we can get a bit of positivity going. The presentation lasted about 50-60 minutes so a lot was said, I will try to remember most of it.

- The new logo. This has been designed to incorporate the history of the town, the formation of the club, and I like it. I think it is very modern and it looks a bit digital which fits into society these days. It also looks like an NRL badge but this could tie in with us trying to promote abroad which I will mention later. Also comments in the survey that kids found the wolf too scary which could explain the change in that, and the need for both 'the wire' and the wolves to still be prominent as they are both the big thing for different ages.

- The presentation started with Roger Draper talking about how we obviously aren't going to be as big as Real Madrid or Barcelona, but there is a reason people wear the colours of those teams in all corners of the earth, even though they may never have seen them play or know the history of those clubs. He did say there is no reason why we can't be the biggest and best rugby club in the world, which I love the ambition of. I'd also like to say that I think the club will go from strength to strength with Roger in charge.

- We then went through the results of the fans survey, with a couple of quotes from fans on each section. A lot of comments were saying how it was just 80 minutes of rugby and that there wasn't really anything else to buy into, no real identity etc, which is where the re-branding of the logo and the use of 'hardwired' comes into play.

- He talked about fan numbers. We have 6000 season ticket holders and ticket sales across the board are down. There was a cycle shown which showed greater fan experience leads to more fans which leads to more revenue, then to more success, then back to more fans and so forth. I agree with this so its good they are trying to do something about it.

- He talked about making changes to food and drinks and prices I think, he did say we were having a new bar in the north east and south east corners soon.

- Memberships. Big one for me, replaces the book with tickets in and is a card, but is also more than a season ticket. discounts, rewards, loyalty etc will be featured in it, members areas etc. Also a reason why they are doing this is for data purposes, to keep up to date with their customer base etc.

- Crowds. He said we have 6000 season ticket holders, 9000 casuals, 50000 on the database and the town has 252,000 people. The focus at first is to retain the 6000 then try to turn the 9000 into memberships and build from there. Then further down the line look branching out to North Wales, Chester and Lymm.

- Retail. Wolfware will be getting re-done in the autumn which it massively needs.

Website/Club app - Both are being done from scratch. They acknowledged that nobody liked the app so mentioned they are looking at it and Draper said we will go from the worst website in the league to the best.

- Matchdays. We have a new announcer, the guy from leeds who does the finals and we had last week is here to stay I think he said, also I think we have new improved dancers. We are also hoping to get a permanent screen into the stadium.

- Stadium quarter. When asked about a social bar, Draper said over the next 5 years they are re-developing the stadium quarter, he said that from the stadium upto the bus station they will be doing it up so it could possibly be included in there, they want the stadium to really shine out in the town.

- Advertising. He said that there are 14 entry points into warrington, and he is working with the council to have them all for us. He also acknowledged they need to target their audiences differently so for example the marketing of a game for a family compared to a young adult or a corporate fan will be different. Also there was a brief mention after a fan question that we do have fans in America and Australia, particularly Queensland they said which they should try and build on. Also they mentioned that Warrington has a big polish community that they have never tapped into.

There was plenty said and I cant think of anything else, if anyone else attended that wants to add something I have missed then feel free.

All I will say is that I was in a bad mood regarding our rugby recently but after this meeting I am under no illusions the results need to improve, but the club is looking to make massive strides and I think it is going to be an exciting time in the near future.

Re: More details about the re branding/future plans : Thu Jul 02, 2015 2:23 pm  

Cheers for that pies, It's great that the club are thinking/planning for the future and not standing still more to come I feel, It's cheered me up also.

Re: More details about the re branding/future plans : Thu Jul 02, 2015 2:24 pm  

I'd be more enthused if the underlying message wasn't ultimately based upon wringing more money out of the fans through various different ventures.

Maybe we should introduce a mobile app with micro transactions, where, let's say, for every 100 people who pay 69p during the game, we get an extra 1 min pitch time from big Roy.

Re: More details about the re branding/future plans : Thu Jul 02, 2015 2:27 pm  

Thanks for the update on what went on, sounds positive. Going on from the point of having lots of fans in Australia especially, i wonder if the club can have an overseas membership club, one where you can watch streams of all the games or watch them on demand. They pay a monthly subscription for the service so they get to see all the games?

Re: More details about the re branding/future plans : Thu Jul 02, 2015 2:28 pm  

Sounds like your club is in great hands. Points to this season being a cyclical blip that all teams go through rather than an indication of declining ambition.

Did they mention anything about the ground? If you are going to be the biggest RL club in the world, you would need a much bigger capacity. Brisbane Broncos average 34,000 and even back in this stratosphere Leeds average 17,590.

You are currently capped at 15,000? I remember back when it opened there was talk of the ground holding 23,000 ultimately?

Re: More details about the re branding/future plans : Thu Jul 02, 2015 2:33 pm  

Lets not run before we can walk. We extended the corners in the hope of getting more fans. Crowds have declined ever since.

: Thu Jul 02, 2015 2:34 pm  

They didn't mention anything about expansion. I'm not entirely sure wether they used the word biggest, I think it was 'best' but I can't remember for certain wether they said biggest or not.

To be fair, our crowds are way off needing more expansion but I do remember the comments a few years back that we are available to expand more in the future if needs be.

Re: More details about the re branding/future plans : Thu Jul 02, 2015 2:50 pm  

Great post and thanks for the general update

Re: More details about the re branding/future plans : Thu Jul 02, 2015 3:01 pm  

Thanks for this IHP. Not seen any of the elsewhere, would've thought they'd incorporate this into the big relaunch. I'm a fan of all of this (except the badge - but this isn't the place for that - and maybe the stadium announce guy too, he always does my head in at Wembley etc. but I'm not really bothered). We're a good ten years off further expansion. Need to get to the stage that we regularly sell out v Wigan/Saints/Leeds/Widnes/WCC before we can think of extra tiers and what not. From memory we've only done that once against Saints in 2013 (I think). That's not good enough.

Re: More details about the re branding/future plans : Thu Jul 02, 2015 3:03 pm  

He makes some good points on there but nothing most of us wouldn't have come up with so it's surprising why it has took the club so long.

Bringing in more fans is a difficult one without a successful team though. Looking to communities that have only moved here in the last few years, and I include exiled southerners in that as well as any immigrants, will gain you a few fans, but not that many for the amount of effort you'd need to put in; you need to get them young.

and

also I think we have new improved dancers.

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