[Official Site] Introducing The Reds Membership...

I must sound stupid but i don’t really understand it lmao, I do want to see what’s in the goody bags though

 

A lot of this and the other thread on loyalty points reminds me of Soccer AM's Yorkshire News - Change is not Good!

At the end of the day, I think whatever the club did there'd be some of this but it looks to me that this is a decent attempt at moving to a more modern marketing strategy which will provide as a minimum:-

- Database on BFC's customer base and what their profile and preferences are, helping to focus future 'fan experience' developments
- Something that provides further identity and linkage for the fans with the club
- Revenue increase at the same time as holding season ticket prices the same for the majority of existing supporters
- Better information from which to make future decisions on away ticket allocations and consistency of approach
- Better information on away attenders which should give more of a way to deal with troublemakers - eg withdrawal of membership

It may not work, it may fall flat on its arse but it gets my backing to move forward with.

The only grumble I personally have is the implied notion that loyalty starts from August 2019 - for those of us who have regularly done 20+ away games for the majority of the last X number of years (X is a big number in my case!!), surely there ought to be some recognition of that?

 

Agreed, obviously gonna get some old lads living in Stone Age but seems good to me we’re taking on a professional approach

 

That isn't implied at all. It's just impossible to measure loyalty retrospectively. Some, for example, would want recognition back to the 1950s.

 

Think you mean the Cryne days.

 

That wasn't irony - it was sarcasm.

In any case, I would say it is late when they give you 30 days to pay without punishment.

 

I had a response to that but thought better of it!

 

That's not like you, Conan.

 

- Database on BFC's customer base and what their profile and preferences are, helping to focus future 'fan experience' developments
I wince personally at my club referring to me as a 'customer'. I'm a fan with an emotional attachment, who will not take my business elsewhere and so should not be treated as being in the marketplace like I am with my choice of supermarket. Surely the best way to inform fan experience is by way of qualitative engagement, fans forums etc?

- Something that provides further identity and linkage for the fans with the club
How exactly does a points system and rebranded ticketing do this other than the chosen few 'plus' members having a sense of entitlement?

- Revenue increase at the same time as holding season ticket prices the same for the majority of existing supporters
That's true but it rewards fans with deeper pockets even more than the current system. Inevitable to some degree but it's been exacerbated.

- Better information from which to make future decisions on away ticket allocations and consistency of approach
I fail to see the impact. Data on volume and type of away ticket sales will surely be available now in as much depth.

- Better information on away attenders which should give more of a way to deal with troublemakers - eg withdrawal of membership
So like the 'Fan ID Card' accreditation scheme Thatcher wanted to bring in?


I'm certainly not in the Stone Age and I actually work in Marketing for a major organisation. I despair daily at the amount of unnecessary and misguided wrangling and word soup that goes on which isn't anywhere near as clever or applicable as data analysts stuck in front of Excel sheets like to claim. A lot of it sounds amazing but is completely vacuous. Different isn't always better and 'modernising' is quite often a flashy, shiny way of doing the same which makes a Marketing executive look like they must be genius, with little actual impact.

 

I'm not saying that but I'm never going to be impressed by having my spending habits analysed, as much as that may drive the club forward. I'm a fan, not a bank balance.

I'd rather they invest in more detailed data by consulting us on our opinions and level of engagement as fans more than what we may or may not put into the club financially. I'm sure there may well be things of the like in the pipeline which I would applaud but crunching my data to sell **** better and get more money out of me, well, that leaves me cold.

 

How long do you want?

 

It's the overall commercialisation of football I'm feeling disenfranchised with Gally, not the club itself I suppose. I particularly feel it as a fan who puts as much money into the club as I can afford even if I don't attend as much as I'd like.

You are right that we are in a position where commercial acumen can help us close the gap on other competitors but when it's now billionaires at the head of a millionaires' game, I feel less and less like it's my role to stretch myself to fund it all.

 

31 days.

 

And like many Reds I'd love to see us in the Premier League as much as I deeply dislike a lot of what it stands for. So long as we are aware of it and can do what we can to keep the game ours.