Stop tarring us with the same brush

The big worrying thing for me while watching Week In Week Out just now was when Mark Davies, our very own CEO said that our conventional marketing budget was non-existant!!!!!  non [beep]ing existant.......................your kidding me right!!!!

Edited by Mrfwon - 07 February 2012 at 11:38pm

solihullscarlet wrote: (soft spot for Ponty) There should be a valleys region though shouldn't there.

I found it quite funny to watch Mr and Mrs Bridgend asking for 'more than just a game to watch now - we need things to keep the kids occupied' - my thoughts turned to the barn, crazy crepes, bouncy castles, 5-a-side pitch, Tommo and Cochyn etc etc. I thought - we have what you're looking for - you need to make a trip down to Pemberton not the Library! Then our CEO went on record to highlight our advertising budget - so I immediately realised why Mr and Mrs Bridgend didn't realise what a great experience we actually have down at Y Parc!   He was referring to traditional marketing though - I do think we do some great things with the tag teams, things like the Pembrokeshire day of inviting kids from the feeder West wales clubs up for the day, excellent season ticket deals for families etc etc. I'm sure we could do more, but at least we are trying things and it seems to be starting to work - and after the 6 Nations is over there will be hopefully loads of youngsters who'll want to watch Georgie, Jon, Rhys etc playing again - the club will need to target that potential market over the next few weeks while the interest is there - perhaps another cheap mini-season ticket deal to pull 'em in, and hope we can hook them with the excellent family season ticket deals we have for next season. 

The point that people keep forgetting is that Llanelli rfc was always a region. Growing up in Carmarthen, Llanelli was the club that most of us in school supported

Scarlet Growler wrote: I found it quite funny to watch Mr and Mrs Bridgend asking for 'more than just a game to watch now - we need things to keep the kids occupied' - my thoughts turned to the barn, crazy crepes, bouncy castles, 5-a-side pitch, Tommo and Cochyn etc etc. I thought - we have what you're looking for - you need to make a trip down to Pemberton not the Library! Then our CEO went on record to highlight our advertising budget - so I immediately realised why Mr and Mrs Bridgend didn't realise what a great experience we actually have down at Y Parc!   He was referring to traditional marketing though - I do think we do some great things with the tag teams, things like the Pembrokeshire day of inviting kids from the feeder West wales clubs up for the day, excellent season ticket deals for families etc etc. I'm sure we could do more, but at least we are trying things and it seems to be starting to work - and after the 6 Nations is over there will be hopefully loads of youngsters who'll want to watch Georgie, Jon, Rhys etc playing again - the club will need to target that potential market over the next few weeks while the interest is there - perhaps another cheap mini-season ticket deal to pull 'em in, and hope we can hook them with the excellent family season ticket deals we have for next season.  But Mr CEO - you really do need an advertising budget to let others know what a great family deal we have these days..... Roger Lewis - don't get me started. I laughed when he threw the toys out of the pram towards the end. TV schedules and constant changes, short notice notice of kick-off times etc are killing the supporter base. How many times have we been at a home game for us to have no idea of which day the next home game will happen, let alone a kick-off time!! Look at all the last minute rush for times on this forum over sorting out away travel. As a teacher with no leave flexibility I just give up on even thinking of overseas trips as the game is likely to be on late on a Friday or Sunday which would destroy any chance I may have to get there from work, or back by am Monday. By the time the kick-off day /time is notified all the cheap train / flight tickets are long gone. How many times have people had to book long weekend trips to cover all possible kick-off dates / times that could happen. The fixtures are a mess - we need a structured season Rabo Pro12 > Heineken Cup > 6Nations, and we should be able to see at the start of the season when and what time all games (except cup knock-out ones) will happen. The TV schedules affect Wales Regions far more than the English Clubs and look at how their attendances compare! Finally, and apologies for the long rant, but there should be a Valley's Region - Bridgend's leader trashed the last one, at a time when Ponty were struggling financially. I'd base that region at Pony myself - after all they seem to have crowds not much less than the NGD's already!

Yes he was I agree, but working as a professional business, you can not rely on the rugby to do the marketing for you, not anymore. Times have changed, and we as a region and as a business need to move with the times. Having a near to zero marketing budget and no resource to promote what we have is absolute suicide!  It isn't what we need to hear either, but our rugby isn't good enough at present to market itself either, and as you have rightly pointed out, Mr & Mrs Bridgend are after what we currently offer, yet they probably know very little about it!

Can we stop this 'Marketing' nonsense?

Huwbach wrote: I am sick to death with Reading generalised rugby commentary which highlights the plight of low attendances at all regions . I am not saying we are munster we probably never will be but not once have I read anything positive about our increase in attendance in all competitions , our family approach off the field and our development programme on it . We have all been through tough times recently but why doesn't someone report positively on the way things are for us and use them as a model . The ospreys back to flat caps and working class boys was a joke and insulting . They would have been much better to admit they were going to go down our route . I am sure with shane in charge and players like tipuric they will have a rebirth but for once it would be nice for someone outside the region to acknowledge what we have done . In the current climate we have excelled ...

What paid-for marketing do you think we're not doing that would be cost effective?