League of Ireland brand review.

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Originally Posted by Dodge

Facebook is still the biggest social medium, and it isn't even close

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Well, YouTube as well - but apart from the LOI goals feed - is there anything decent in LOI terms on YouTube? - missing a trick there as well.

Schools, schools, schools, particularly in the city. When I was in school there was a significant campaign by St Pats, which caught on, and there was about 25 lads who regularly would go, from Kilnamanagh, Walkinstown, Tallaght and Drimnagh to Pats games at home and some away. This started in 2nd year and continued all the way through secondary school.

My eldest boy is in 4th class and his class are soccer-mad, including the girls. The principal is progressive and will openly encourage any form of activity in the school. They have 3 different Gaa coaches in, they have a chess coach in, they have athletics endevours every week, gymnastics, and then things like skipping rope projects, food-dude days, breakfast buses etc. I know my Pitch and Putt club has organised social initiatives with the school too throughout the past two years. Basically anything that the school can use to encourage healthy-living, that doesn't cost them they will support. They've not had one approach from anyone in the FAI, either from a local schoolboy club, or the FAI themselves.

I'm sure that the part-time nature of the league (not disparaging the players here) makes it hard for the more-recognisable players to maybe get involved at this, nor the part-time nature of the promotion the FAI does either. Surely given the high-profile launch of the Primary schools 5-a-side a month ago, the FAI could build on that with coaching or something in conjunction with the LOI?

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Originally Posted by Kingdom

Schools, schools, schools, particularly in the city. When I was in school there was a significant campaign by St Pats, which caught on, and there was about 25 lads who regularly would go, from Kilnamanagh, Walkinstown, Tallaght and Drimnagh to Pats games at home and some away. This started in 2nd year and continued all the way through secondary school.

My eldest boy is in 4th class and his class are soccer-mad, including the girls. The principal is progressive and will openly encourage any form of activity in the school. They have 3 different Gaa coaches in, they have a chess coach in, they have athletics endevours every week, gymnastics, and then things like skipping rope projects, food-dude days, breakfast buses etc. I know my Pitch and Putt club has organised social initiatives with the school too throughout the past two years. Basically anything that the school can use to encourage healthy-living, that doesn't cost them they will support. They've not had one approach from anyone in the FAI, either from a local schoolboy club, or the FAI themselves.

I'm sure that the part-time nature of the league (not disparaging the players here) makes it hard for the more-recognisable players to maybe get involved at this, nor the part-time nature of the promotion the FAI does either. Surely given the high-profile launch of the Primary schools 5-a-side a month ago, the FAI could build on that with coaching or something in conjunction with the LOI?

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This is something Finn Harps are actually fantastic at. The Finn Harps Schools Programme is fantastic. Goes around every single primary school in the county to the best of my knowledge. There's a different school or club invited in as guests of the club every match through the school year. There's a noticeable dip in attendance during the summer months when the school kids and their parents aren't attending.

http://www.finnharps.com/fhfc/?p=4069

Folks I have written up what I took from the launch and from the report itself and have posted it in a blog here: http://foot.ie/entries/210-My-Take-O...I-Brand-Report

I haven't been online much over the past week as we've a newborn in the house and he has been a bit unwell (he's grand, but we're fecking wrecked) and may not get much time over the coming days either. So apologies for not having read the thread and likely not being able to answer much on this. But I thought it worth posting anyway.

Congratulations on the new arrival. Hope you get a bulk discount on the old season tickets!

Are the two divisions being renamed as part of the review?

3 to go down.... rollix

John Delaney Premier Division sponsored by SSE Airtricity and the Fran's Atmo First Division sponsored by SSE Airtricity.

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Originally Posted by gufcfan

John Delaney Premier Division sponsored by SSE Airtricity and the Fran's Atmo First Division sponsored by SSE Airtricity.

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lol

Rebranding of neighbouring leagues has sometimes resulted in renaming of the divisions involved.

Here's the PCA document in full for anyone who hasn't seen it: https://www.documentcloud.org/docume...html#document/ .

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Originally Posted by EatYerGreens

In fairness, they're still pretty sh!te as suggestions go.

None of these so-called marketing geniuses seem to have a fecking clue about marketing. Everything you do with it is to either :

1) Raise Awareness (let people know something exists),
2) Create Trial (encourage them to use it for the first time), or
3) Generate Loyalty (i.e. second and subsequent usage).

The Awareness of the LOI is ok, but it's image is poor. This is in part responsible for the trial level of the League being abysmal - how many people in Dublin who like sport and football have been to an LOI game ? A tiny portion. So the key focus should be on making people think about the league in a different way and getting as many as possible along to a game in the first place (assuming the product is good enough to reel them in, which is another discussion entirely). Ideally in a way that captures their data (age, email etc) so you can then follow up with them later to encourage loyalty.

The single most simple and cost-effective proposal I can think of for the FAI to promote the LOI would be to have an equivalent of Non-League day here. An LOI day - on a weekend when there is no 'top level' football in England or Scotland to act as a distraction or excuse. Schedule the derby matches on that weekend, to maximise the crowd and vibe - the way that the Irish League always has derbies on St Stephen's Day. Have a big FAI-backed campaign about it all, using LOI stars past and present who the public would recognise. Rope in a few celebrity fans like Dara O'Briain to say why they love the League and will be there on LOI Day, through both ads and social media. And use things like the FAI's database of international ticket buyers to encourage people to go and sample the LOI on 'LOI Day' (I'm not suggesting that specific name btw - it needs a better one. Like 'Community Day' or something less cheesy). Get the league clubs themselves fully on-board and to run all sorts of things themselves to improve the matchday atmosphere before during and after games - samba bands, bar promotions, competitions etc etc. Get entire schools along etc.

Easy to do, relatively cheap, if done properly it could see a big increase in awareness and attendances on that day, and it could be replicated every year and become part of the Irish sporting calendar the way that Non-League Day is in England.

So feck these so-called marketing gurus who haven't got a clue. It's about raising positive awareness, encouraging trial and then securing loyalty. Nothing more complicated than that.

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Tbf that's a great idea. Get the players visiting the schools the few weeks beforehand too and you're on to a winner! 10 out of 10!

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Originally Posted by Cosmo

Tbf that's a great idea. Get the players visiting the schools the few weeks beforehand too and you're on to a winner! 10 out of 10!

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No. 10 out of 12.