What can Everton do to improve the Commercial aspect of our club?

[obc]

Need to try and break the overseas market too, forget trying to get asia like everyone else, we stand no chance against the likes of utd and the [Poor language removed], but places where we've had a leg up,

We had australias poster boy, didnt do a thing ,
One of africas poster boys, never done a thing,
Had USA's 2 big poster boys havent done a thing,

Now we have besic who seems to be one of the poster boys over in bosnia,

And we have half the bloody irish team on our books, open up a little club shop or outlet in one of the main citys over there, have a freindly or 2 and give the youth free tickets to get in to watch us

This.

Tack on you have the lone Paraguayan in the Premiership and this futbol mad country hasn't been tapped either. People look at me like "really?!?! for reals!? no joke!? (Or the Spanish equiv thereof) when I explain that not only is Tim Howard from my Estados Unidos on the squad, but so is un hombre de Paraguay... Antolin Alcaraz.) Trying to convert the locals I play Friday Night Futbol with...

Lack of merch is a embarrassing and a HUGE detriment to marketing abroad. I have a friend, Spurs fan, one of his daughters plays footy and is pretty good. Has a thing for blue... has a Spurs kit from her dad, a Citeh kit from my brother. After watching them play us last year, she wanted our kit... he asked me how to get one. Uh, *coff*, uh, you'll have to order online...

We *SHOULD* have had deals in place to get our merch into, at the very least, directly into any market where we have a player from.

Allegedly they are moving forward and supposedly Dick's Sporting Goods will carry Everton stuff (naturally after I leave...) but both the club and Dick's should have gone into overdrive to have this finalized the day after the USA - Belgium match when Tim Howard was on everyone's mind, even the people here that maybe kinda sorta vaguely follow soccer once every four years. Cash cow for both sides. Hell, it *SHOULD* have been done the moment NBC picked up the Premier League and made all matches available.

(Not sure how far in advance friendlies are set up, but roadtripping the US with Howard prior to this season would have been good. NYC, near his place of birth, PACNW - maybe Portland as they might like the blue collar aspect of the club and that part of the country packs the fans in for matches...)

Kit sponsorship - I appreciate loyalty, but with our recent performance, and the rates our competition are getting, it's time to renegotiate. Have a base price, then set incentives. EFC finish above 7th? An extra 500,000 per (as higher finishes will attract more fans). European futbol? Going to cost you extra, as you'll be getting extra exposure into new markets.

I don't think getting an American sponsor would help crack American markets for fans (I'm not going to buy a club shirt because of the freaking sponsor, though I might avoid buying one solely for that reason), but at least they'd put added pressure to get merch up.

FFS, here in Asuncion, it's easier for me to find Arsenal, Chelsea, rs, Man U, Citeh stuff than it is Guarani, one of the local sides. They, along with their makers, do a great job. Every freaking mall has them.

And the merch itself.

Really like the kits this year. Have the royal blue one and am probably going to order the black away kit as well.

Beyond that... uh.

As an American, who got into this later in life, EFC is, by far, my favorite team and the only one (aside from my hometown d-league FC Tucson) I participate in forums discussing, etc... but I've kind of viewed the rest of Europe like a buffet. I root for 1860 Munich because I loved the city and my friend who lives there converted to them from Bayern, and sold me as well. I like AS Roma as I loved the city. Portland Timbers, same.

I have a Sechzig t, and there are a couple more I want. There are 3-4 Roma shirts I am tempted to buy. I have a Timbers t, and, as with 60, a couple more that tempted me.

EFC - for the last year and change, nothing. They FINALLY have a nice, simple t I want. And it's only in small.


TL;DR - they need to design better stuff, need to get it EVERYWHERE, and negotiate at least incentive-laden deals with Chang or move on.



EDIT: The name of the sporting good chain in the US where EFC merch will be sold is not actually [Poor Language Removed], but rather the diminutive form of Richard. Would be hilarious if they offered us 10m to sponsor and proceeded to wreak havoc on GOT because we couldn't mention them by name.

 

[riddick]

I actually did write a letter to the club and very suprisingly I did get a response from Robert Elstone. The letter stated that Daniel Conlin is working on it..it said he has been asked to scope the club's international potential across territories and products. A clear assessment will then allow us to refine our international strategy..... He then continues with some open ended comments like "what's most important is we go forward with a clear perspective" and a couple others, but to me his final line of his response about sums it up (again I am an ex-pat now living in Canada so my letter was focused on opportunities in North America) he says when it comes to marketing over here "Almost every club, with perhaps only a couple of exceptions, have had very modest returns"......... He then promised Daniel would be in touch to advise of any marketing strategy..... That was in August and I have still haven't heard from him, but to me it was clear at the time that we have no idea how to take advantage of the US (and I'll throw Canada in) market, and ultimately don't even regard it as an opportunity

That last line he said could not be further from the truth. The Premiership is the fastest growing sport being watched in the US. People really do watch it really often. The fact is, Yanks love underdogs. Look at how hard the country rooted for Kansas City in the World Series. Everton are the epitome of what we would be looking for in a team.

 

[SerenityNigh]

I actually did write a letter to the club and very suprisingly I did get a response from Robert Elstone. The letter stated that Daniel Conlin is working on it..it said he has been asked to scope the club's international potential across territories and products. A clear assessment will then allow us to refine our international strategy..... He then continues with some open ended comments like "what's most important is we go forward with a clear perspective" and a couple others, but to me his final line of his response about sums it up (again I am an ex-pat now living in Canada so my letter was focused on opportunities in North America) he says when it comes to marketing over here "Almost every club, with perhaps only a couple of exceptions, have had very modest returns"......... He then promised Daniel would be in touch to advise of any marketing strategy..... That was in August and I have still haven't heard from him, but to me it was clear at the time that we have no idea how to take advantage of the US (and I'll throw Canada in) market, and ultimately don't even regard it as an opportunity

It's a long game, but there's plenty of money in it. Step one is to increase exposure.

 

[SerenityNigh]

This.

Tack on you have the lone Paraguayan in the Premiership and this futbol mad country hasn't been tapped either. People look at me like "really?!?! for reals!? no joke!? (Or the Spanish equiv thereof) when I explain that not only is Tim Howard from my Estados Unidos on the squad, but so is un hombre de Paraguay... Antolin Alcaraz.) Trying to convert the locals I play Friday Night Futbol with...

Lack of merch is a embarrassing and a HUGE detriment to marketing abroad. I have a friend, Spurs fan, one of his daughters plays footy and is pretty good. Has a thing for blue... has a Spurs kit from her dad, a Citeh kit from my brother. After watching them play us last year, she wanted our kit... he asked me how to get one. Uh, *coff*, uh, you'll have to order online...

We *SHOULD* have had deals in place to get our merch into, at the very least, directly into any market where we have a player from.

Allegedly they are moving forward and supposedly [Poor language removed]'s Sporting Goods will carry Everton stuff (naturally after I leave...) but both the club and [Poor language removed]'s should have gone into overdrive to have this finalized the day after the USA - Belgium match when Tim Howard was on everyone's mind, even the people here that maybe kinda sorta vaguely follow soccer once every four years. Cash cow for both sides. Hell, it *SHOULD* have been done the moment NBC picked up the Premier League and made all matches available.

(Not sure how far in advance friendlies are set up, but roadtripping the US with Howard prior to this season would have been good. NYC, near his place of birth, PACNW - maybe Portland as they might like the blue collar aspect of the club and that part of the country packs the fans in for matches...)

Kit sponsorship - I appreciate loyalty, but with our recent performance, and the rates our competition are getting, it's time to renegotiate. Have a base price, then set incentives. EFC finish above 7th? An extra 500,000 per (as higher finishes will attract more fans). European futbol? Going to cost you extra, as you'll be getting extra exposure into new markets.

I don't think getting an American sponsor would help crack American markets for fans (I'm not going to buy a club shirt because of the freaking sponsor, though I might avoid buying one solely for that reason), but at least they'd put added pressure to get merch up.

FFS, here in Asuncion, it's easier for me to find Arsenal, Chelsea, rs, Man U, Citeh stuff than it is Guarani, one of the local sides. They, along with their makers, do a great job. Every freaking mall has them.

And the merch itself.

Really like the kits this year. Have the royal blue one and am probably going to order the black away kit as well.

Beyond that... uh.

As an American, who got into this later in life, EFC is, by far, my favorite team and the only one (aside from my hometown d-league FC Tucson) I participate in forums discussing, etc... but I've kind of viewed the rest of Europe like a buffet. I root for 1860 Munich because I loved the city and my friend who lives there converted to them from Bayern, and sold me as well. I like AS Roma as I loved the city. Portland Timbers, same.

I have a Sechzig t, and there are a couple more I want. There are 3-4 Roma shirts I am tempted to buy. I have a Timbers t, and, as with 60, a couple more that tempted me.

EFC - for the last year and change, nothing. They FINALLY have a nice, simple t I want. And it's only in small.


TL;DR - they need to design better stuff, need to get it EVERYWHERE, and negotiate at least incentive-laden deals with Chang or move on.



EDIT: The name of the sporting good chain in the US where EFC merch will be sold is not actually [Poor Language Removed], but rather the diminutive form of Richard. Would be hilarious if they offered us 10m to sponsor and proceeded to wreak havoc on GOT because we couldn't mention them by name.

Everton USA now have an agreement to sell goods... although I haven't yet seen where to buy them

 

[SerenityNigh]

The fact is, Yanks love underdogs. Look at how hard the country rooted for Kansas City in the World Series. Everton are the epitome of what we would be looking for in a team.

You have been talking to @RaleighBlue?

 

[SerenityNigh]

EFC - for the last year and change, nothing. They FINALLY have a nice, simple t I want. And it's only in small.

Kitbag/Everton Direct is horrible at correctly identifying stock--showing S only may indicate that's all that's in stock instead of indicating that's all that's available. You may want to check directly with the club on this. They did make improvements showing when some items are returning to the shelves, but I wouldn't take what you see as necessarily correct.

That said, Nike's Heritage stuff was really, really good, and I could go for more of that quality.

 

[rochdaleblue]

Embarrassing merchandise figures. We are talking about 'global markets' 'exposure' and 'developing the brand' but it says it all when we are 3 months into the season and many kids have been unable to buy a home shirt from the club shops says it all. I wonder what difference Sir terry leahy would make to our commercial activities if he was an advisor to the club?

 

[RaleighBlue]

I actually did write a letter to the club and very suprisingly I did get a response from Robert Elstone. The letter stated that Daniel Conlin is working on it..it said he has been asked to scope the club's international potential across territories and products. A clear assessment will then allow us to refine our international strategy..... He then continues with some open ended comments like "what's most important is we go forward with a clear perspective" and a couple others, but to me his final line of his response about sums it up (again I am an ex-pat now living in Canada so my letter was focused on opportunities in North America) he says when it comes to marketing over here "Almost every club, with perhaps only a couple of exceptions, have had very modest returns"......... He then promised Daniel would be in touch to advise of any marketing strategy..... That was in August and I have still haven't heard from him, but to me it was clear at the time that we have no idea how to take advantage of the US (and I'll throw Canada in) market, and ultimately don't even regard it as an opportunity

And this is the problem with Bob.

Short term, yes, the US will return modestly. However if the groundwork isn't laid now, and the US continues to experience growing interest in football Everton will find themselves left behind again. Left behind by Arsenal, Spurs, Chelsea, City, United, and..yeah...them.

Tapping the US market isn't something that will return profit (or even pay for itself) for the next 5-10 years. It's called investment. It's a bet that the thirst for football will continue to grow in one of the world's largest economies that has no top-tier league of it's own and shares a cultural heritage with the UK. The Premier League is poised to explode in the US. It may take 10-15 years (and explode is relative), but if we continue to see consistent growth then it is absolutely mind boggling that our commercial team would say, "Yeah but the US hasn't historically returned dividends." Of course it hasn't! It's an emerging market!

 

[exiledtoffee]

That last line he said could not be further from the truth. The Premiership is the fastest growing sport being watched in the US. People really do watch it really often. The fact is, Yanks love underdogs. Look at how hard the country rooted for Kansas City in the World Series. Everton are the epitome of what we would be looking for in a team.

That was my exact thought too. He sent this to me less than a month after 110,000 or so had just paid to watch a friendly in Michigan....... The US national team just coming off a successful WC, probably never had a stronger following, and we have arguably the most marketable player on that team..... Add to that, in my opinion the US will win the bid to host the WC in 2026 and the likes of NBC, ESPN etc are only going to promote the game more and more.... Talking about other clubs past success or failure over here is ridiculous, but accurately illustrates the lack of vision at EFC when it comes to international branding

 

[SerenityNigh]

That was my exact thought too. He sent this to me less than a month after 110,000 or so had just paid to watch a friendly in Michigan....... The US national team just coming off a successful WC, probably never had a stronger following, and we have arguably the most marketable player on that team..... Add to that, in my opinion the US will win the bid to host the WC in 2026 and the likes of NBC, ESPN etc are only going to promote the game more and more.... Talking about other clubs past success or failure over here is ridiculous, but accurately illustrates the lack of vision at EFC when it comes to international branding

Don't hide the real news!! 110,000 paid to see a friendly in Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor barely has a population that size. It is near Detroit, but Detroit is a city in serious decline. That crowd pulled from Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, and Toronto, plus more from further markets, I'm sure.

But the returns are modest...

FFS, someone send Elstone a link to @MeninBlazers...

 

[ToffeeDan]

I've been over this time and again. I even wrote to Elstone and a number of obvious improvements were forthcoming. Would like to see us seize the moment - imitate our rivals in their marketing (since whatever they do that works is designed for Locked in customers and maybe new ones). We should find a market - whether it be North Wales or North America and repeatedly spread the message. Thailand is all very well but the benefit in terms of any ROI must be minimal. With the opportunity to win hearts, minds and wallets the US market must be a priority. What's stopping us playing a 2 legged friendly against NYRB for example - the Tim Cahill link is all too obvious. One game in NY would be a major attraction to everyone - here and there - and once a serious fanbase gets an affiliation with our brand we could be reinforcing that with a repeat double header or even a new opponent in the US - any thoughts on this?

 

[bizzaro]

Get hospitality suites that can be used for business meetings and conferencing.

This gets business people into the club regularly.

I know several multi national companies that wanted to arrange something like this.

Liverpool-Anfield was "tatty"

United-Old Trafford very expensive.


We can get in there and attract this 24/7 revenue into the club. With bigger suites snd conferencing.

Not all companies want to go to generic hotels.

They want a novel environment. Like a well respected football club.

 

[Divver]

Mantra @Eggs win something then win something again then win something again 'til fade

 

[sageyefc]

Simple solution,

For a fiver you can throw any piece of fruit you want at Leon Osman.



We could buy all the belgiums then

 

[Kiwi]

Simple solution,

For a fiver you can throw any piece of fruit you want at Leon Osman.



We could buy all the belgiums then

Buys Pineapple in anticipation...