Grassroots
March 6th, 2009 . 9:10 am . By: Buzz CarrickOne thing FCD used to be very good at back in the Andy Swift and Billy Hicks eras was the grassroots marketing. FCD, notably in the Hispanic community, reached on a small local level and made the team feel a part of the community. The last few years that kind of local, small outreach has fallen by the way side for FCD in favor of large media marketing like bill boards on highways and ads in the Dallas Morning News. While there isn’t a proven casual relationship, the numbers in the stands seem to indicate it’s not working. A street level, grassroots, guerrilla kind of effort that integrate the club into the community, when successful, can take on a viral effect, develop a ground swell, and if your lucky, take on a life of it’s own. Which brings me to the point I want to make. The Seattle Sounders have hit one out of the park with their Scarf Seattle campaign. (www.ScarfSeattle.com) The premise is simple, either buy or print a Seattle Sounders Scarf, place it somewhere in Seattle, take a picture of it and submit it. It’s brilliant. Not only do the fans get a sense of involvement, but it’s also free advertising and marketing as the scarves pop up all over the place. As the fans try and one up each other and the thing goes viral you even start to get news stories and publicity on it.
That my friends is marketing gold. Is it any wonder the Sounders have sold over 20,000 season tickets? That’s more than the Mariners in fact. 17 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment |
There’s no copyright on something like this, right? FCD should just steal the idea, or modify it slightly.
Awesome.
guerilla/guerrilla = guerra + diminutive = little war
gorilla = large primate
It never even occurred to me it wasn’t gorilla the animal.
sounds like a great idea. How do we get it started and can FC Dallas put out a good price for it?
The sounders fan’s are showing a lot of team spirit and pride
How about the FO do their jobs like they used to in the old Burn days and so some grass-roots marketing?? Like in the Hispanic parts of town?? Or, Arlington and Irving, Ft Worth, etc..If they can’t figure out how to do that, go ask Andy. He’s around..Or ask a few of the old Hispanic marketing people.. Jesus, Cecilia, Victor…to name a few. Or, to name the best….
Steve…you have to be a past employee!
It has already been proved that hispanics will not support a MLS team in Frisco. The cotton bowl sure. Sucklake…no way. To get to Frisco from any of those places you mentioned costs at least $5.00 each way in tolls (and hispanics don’t like toll tags) and is at least 20 – 30 miles of driving each way. I am so tired of people copping the excuse of “invite the hispanic” I could just choke on my taco!
Harry C – Grassroots marketing doesn’t just mean marketing to Hispanics. True, the Burn were particularly good at targeting that segment. But to Buzz’s point, you can grassroots market to any segment. It just means marketing through non-traditional methods. Like the scarf idea. I think that’s the point of the story.
No, they will come to Frisco. But they were shit-on when the team moved out there. They could be persuaded to go again with the right technique.. And no, I didnt work there..
And Harry. Who proved they wouldnt support the team/? And how did they do that??
7 months from know let’s have this conversation again. FCD has hired according to the staff chart a Hispanic marketing manager. Let’s see who’s right.
Additionally, FCD moved to Frisco in 2005…3+ seasons ago. What you’re saying is the “Hispanic” was wronged back then and therefore does not go today? Tell me…how were they “****-on” exactly? I’d love to know specifics to be able to keep this debate going.
Might have something to do with the fact that Seattle employs an actual advertising agency
I don’t think they were “s****” on. They just stopped becoming a priority as far as their marketing efforts. Just like customer service stopped being a priority. Now we are among the worst teams in the league in attendance. The Hispanics not coming to Frisco has nothing to do with that. It has everything to do with piss poor, and I mean piss poor, customer service. Don’t matter what color or race you are for that. Bad customer service sucks wherever you are from.
And hiring a hispanic marketing manager is nice, but 7 months aint near enough to get that thing rebuilt again.
As a Sounder fan I can tell you that the public awareness of the team dramatically increased this week. I didn’t think it was possible but putting 80 foot scarves on two iconic buildings and a 1000 scarfs around the town will do that.
That was their fuel, and now it is spreading out of the urban core into the burbs. The culture of scarves is starting out here, and there are now more than 70,000 Sounders FC scarves that have been sold or given away (STH got one per seat).
non-soccer fans want a Sounders scarf. The Rave Green is capturing the soul of the city.
I hate to break it to the rest of the league, but Qwest is a SSS – just bigger.
DON’TLOSE SIGHT OF THE FACT THAT BEFORE THERE WAS MLS, THERE WAS THE A LEAGUE, AND THE SEATTLE SOUNDERS WERE ONE OF THE BEST TEAMS. THIS HAS CONTINUED UP TO THEIR IMPENDING ENTRANCE INTO THEIR MAIDEN MLS SEASON.
I think part of the success is due to the Sounders more or less being a new thing in Seattle, an unknown quantity to those who weren’t die-hard fans in the USL days. I don’t think if you replicated the scarf thing in Dallas, it would bring about the same results. That said, I really hope your marketing department a) gets a clue and b) figures out a way to reach more people at the grassroots level.
FCD did/is doing something similar. They have asked supporters to wear their hoops have a photo taken and then submitt the same from different parts of the world. Perhaps FCD may want to narrow their focus to DFW instead of the World.