Promoting the A-League - New Agency Appointed

[midfielder]

I could say a lot ... so maybe leave it at ... at least they are doing / trying something ... is it to little to late in the season ... the budget is small ...

http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/188264,selling-the-aleague.aspx

Selling The A-League

Aidan Ormond
Nov 10 2010 00:56

EXCLUSIVE: FFA’s new PR company say they’ll heavily promote the A-League and its stars leading into February’s finals – although exactly how isn’t being revealed right now.

Sophie Paterson from Frank PR says her firm has been brought on by the national governing body to expand A-League profile outside regular sports media and into national ‘consumer media’.

With local coverage driven by the clubs’ media officers, Patterson’s role is to go beyond that.

“We’ll be focusing on a lot of the national coverage like FHM, Zoo, Women’s Weekly, Breakfast TV, fashion shoots, CLEO bachelors,” she told au.fourfourtwo.com.

“It’s all about raising the profile of the A-League to the everyday consumer rather than the existing fans who follow it.”

Numbers of participants is regularly cited as one of football’s strengths - yet how many of these grass-roots fans go to A-League games? Paterson hopes to target this segment of the market.

“Our main mandate is consumers who aren’t watching A-League," she said. "They may be playing it – for instance mums with kids playing football on the weekend but not necessarily watching the A-League."

She is also hoping to entice those who watch the Socceroos but might not be regulars on A-League terraces.

Patterson – whose company has also worked with FBi radio, Coopers Ale and Virgin – has also been given the job of promoting the burgeoning W-League.

Promoting football has long been an issue for Australian administrators. Then head of ASF (Australian Soccer Federation) marketing Rik Booth’s brief was to promote the old NSL (then called the Phillips Soccer League).

He told Goal Monthly in 1980, “We’ve got to create national sporting heroes in soccer.”

Thirty years later and Frank PR have similar goals - although they're not revealing their plans just yet.

“There’ll be some amazing stuff coming out and a lot more awareness of individual players and the A-League as a whole [with] things the players haven’t done before or we’ve seen before,” said Paterson.

“At the moment we’re going out to the non-sporting media. In the next few months you’ll see an influx in A-League personalities in these non-sporting magazines.”

 

[midfielder]

There’ll be some amazing stuff coming out and a lot more awareness of individual players and the A-League as a whole [with] things the players haven’t done before or we’ve seen before,” said Paterson.

“At the moment we’re going out to the non-sporting media. In the next few months you’ll see an influx in A-League personalities in these non-sporting magazines.”

This makes sense to me its called brand awareness I think... and would be seen as soft selling to those who play the game but don't have any real connection to Australia Football... and yes they could support AFL & NRL ... but this IMO is clever it is outside the sports pages were we get thumped everyday...

 

[Jerem]

if its the ads i hear on the radio at the moment
i think FFA should pass, they are woeful

 

[style_cafe]

Outside of SBS there aren`t many ex footballers in the media. We need to educate our players more & encourage them into media based jobs.
This is a step in the right direction.