Brisbane Lions reveal their new Guernsey

[snooplions]

Daniel Rich looks like a Byron Bay local with that hair-do.

 

[Xtreme]

Hope we get to see the away jumper under lights at Subi next year.

Absolute cracker it is at night!

Does the Lion's jumper glow in the dark or have flickering disco style lights around the Lion ?

I prefer the 01 - 03 design so it's good to see them revert to past awesomeness.

 

[BlakeyNoFlakey]

Thank god sense prevailed at the Lions and they got rid of that awful paddle pop lion jumper. This is far more respectful of the clubs history and its association with Fitzroy.

 

[pantskyle]

Looks awesome.

By all accounts the wings won the vote for the #returnthewings campaign.

 

[CasuallyDressed]

I dig it.

 

[BlakeyNoFlakey]

Is it a case of the new board undoing some of the bad decisions of the previous one?

 

[Hollow Knight]

Is it a case of the new board undoing some of the bad decisions of the previous one?

Was brought back via member vote at the AGM last year but yeah, have a feeling the new guys would have got around to it eventually anyway.

 

[El_Scorcho]

I'm not paid six figures to come up with such suggestions, so I'll admit, I don't know.

I do know though that floating stories about lions, real lions, on match days & other such nonsense is not the way to do it.

Such suggestions make them sound & appear as flaky as Clive Palmer. Or should I say Christopher Skase?


The Lion isn't the issue. The messaging is.


Brisbane need to decide what's more important - appealing to the converted or expanding the influence of the club.

Fitzroy supporters need to accept too that they no longer support Fitzroy. If preserving the past limits their future then whose interests are being served?

As a supporter of another club who abandoned it's roots to market itself as "new" and "exciting" to a chorus of "meh" and the disenfranchisement of the core supporter base, before going back to our history and heritage and suddenly becoming a much, much more strongly branded and well supported club, I am quite comfortable in saying that the line of argument you are running with is total bullshit.

Here's the thing that people don't get about marketing in football:

Marketing in football is not about attracting new fans. That's right. It's not about attracting new fans to the club.

Marketing in football is about turning existing casual fans into paid up supporters who attend games, buy merchandise, buy memberships etc etc etc.

You attract brand new fans by winning, having exciting players and playing exciting football. No one has ever picked a club because of a good marketing campaign.

When clubs like mine and Brisbane moved away from their roots with regards to marketing, the attracted exactly zero fans. None. Nobody was willing to change clubs or start supporting a new club just because it had become a little more vanilla and a litlle less interesting, especially while it was losing. What both clubs had done was generate a lot of support during their successful era. For Port that was 1870-1996. For Brisbane that was Fitzroy's history and 2001-2004.

When our clubs turned their back on that history with their marketing, they not only failed to attract any new supporters whatsoever, they upset their core supporters who had come on board when they were successful and stuck with them throughout the poor years up until that point. All of a sudden people who should be financial contributors felt disenfranchised and disconnected with their club.

It's really, really awful marketing.

Football marketing 101 - Keep your existing supporter base feeling like they are a part of your club.

 

[Sir Priddis]

#returnthewings

Did suggest ochre wings

Well done Brisbane, for listening to your fans above anything else.

 

[SJ]

When our clubs turned their back on that history with their marketing, they not only failed to attract any new supporters whatsoever, they upset their core supporters who had come on board when they were successful and stuck with them throughout the poor years up until that point. All of a sudden people who should be financial contributors felt disenfranchised and disconnected with their club.

It's really, really awful marketing.

Football marketing 101 - Keep your existing supporter base feeling like they are a part of your club.

 

[El_Scorcho]

Exactly.

They'll be the Tigers again or fold within 5 years.

 

[JeffDunne]

As a supporter of another club who abandoned it's roots to market itself as "new" and "exciting" to a chorus of "meh" and the disenfranchisement of the core supporter base, before going back to our history and heritage and suddenly becoming a much, much more strongly branded and well supported club, I am quite comfortable in saying that the line of argument you are running with is total bullshit.

Here's the thing that people don't get about marketing in football:

Marketing in football is not about attracting new fans. That's right. It's not about attracting new fans to the club.

Marketing in football is about turning existing casual fans into paid up supporters who attend games, buy merchandise, buy memberships etc etc etc.

You attract brand new fans by winning, having exciting players and playing exciting football. No one has ever picked a club because of a good marketing campaign.

When clubs like mine and Brisbane moved away from their roots with regards to marketing, the attracted exactly zero fans. None. Nobody was willing to change clubs or start supporting a new club just because it had become a little more vanilla and a litlle less interesting, especially while it was losing. What both clubs had done was generate a lot of support during their successful era. For Port that was 1870-1996. For Brisbane that was Fitzroy's history and 2001-2004.

When our clubs turned their back on that history with their marketing, they not only failed to attract any new supporters whatsoever, they upset their core supporters who had come on board when they were successful and stuck with them throughout the poor years up until that point. All of a sudden people who should be financial contributors felt disenfranchised and disconnected with their club.

It's really, really awful marketing.

Football marketing 101 - Keep your existing supporter base feeling like they are a part of your club.

I don't disagree for the most part when talking established teams but you're comparing apples & oranges comparing Port & Brisbane. A new stadium, new president and winning might have had something to do with it too.

Regardless, Port have an existing market that needs to be tapped. Brisbane don't & do need to attract new fans. You'd be a fool to think otherwise (even more so after the Suns introduction). I'm not sure where you got your marketing degree but I'm guessing it was by correspondence. The AFL have enough data on the subject & have spent 100's of millions developing new markets for a reason. You either don't understand the Brisbane market or you don't understand the AFL's expansion plans (or both). I can assure you the AFL have never banked on new Port fans in Adelaide.

Queensland, SEQ & Brisbane are still a developing market for the AFL. I reckon Brisbane often lose sight of that.

Marketing a Brisbane based team to supporters in Melbourne should be cream & not the focus. They didn't need that support when they were winning flags (& for the most part didn't get it) and they shouldn't need it now. I'm not suggesting they ignore that base but I would question why the club continues to be beholden to it if it's counter productive to what should be their primary focus.

However I do agree they were silly to change the jumper when they did. Unless a hit-out-of-the-park option was presented (like Port eventually stumbled upon) then they risked alienating existing supporters in both Brisbane & Melbourne. Sports franchises in SEQ suffer from a lack of continuity because most are struggling for an identity. Brisbane have sort of pissed that up against the wall too in recent years with the changes.

As I said in my opening post I do like the jumper & I do like the traditional look. My question is more about the general approach of the Lions in Brisbane and how they are squandering the King's ransom that's been spent to expand the game in Brisbane.

 

[Kram]

Soooo much better.

 

[El_Scorcho]

I don't disagree for the most part when talking established teams but you're comparing apples & oranges comparing Port & Brisbane. A new stadium, new president and winning might have had something to do with it too.

Regardless, Port have an existing market that needs to be tapped. Brisbane don't & do need to attract new fans. You'd be a fool to think otherwise (even more so after the Suns introduction). I'm not sure where you got your marketing degree but I'm guessing it was by correspondence. The AFL have enough data on the subject & have spent 100's of millions developing new markets for a reason. You either don't understand the Brisbane market or you don't understand the AFL's expansion plans (or both). I can assure you the AFL have never banked on new Port fans in Adelaide.

Yes, the AFL do, and it's pretty clear that they realise that success is everything in terms of building a football supporter base, from the COLA to the ridiculous draft concessions to the academies. The AFL has undoubtedly left Brisbane behind compared to the other northern sides, but the AFL knows quite well that the way to make them popular is to make them win.

Brisbane averaged 10000-15000 more to home games during their successful years, and have dropped away since they've dropped down the ladder like any club would, but it was a very silly move to get rid of a guernsey that had so much currency with supporters for a shiny new toy to appeal to the kids at the same time as they were falling down the ladder.

Queensland, SEQ & Brisbane are still a developing market for the AFL. I reckon Brisbane often lose sight of that.

Marketing a Brisbane based team to supporters in Melbourne should be cream & not the focus. They didn't need that support when they were winning flags (& for the most part didn't get it) and they shouldn't need it now. I'm not suggesting they ignore that base but I would question why the club continues to be beholden to it if it's counter productive to what should be their primary focus.

However I do agree they were silly to change the jumper when they did. Unless a hit-out-of-the-park option was presented (like Port eventually stumbled upon) then they risked alienating existing supporters in both Brisbane & Melbourne. Sports franchises in SEQ suffer from a lack of continuity because most are struggling for an identity. Brisbane have sort of pissed that up against the wall too in recent years with the changes.

As I said in my opening post I do like the jumper & I do like the traditional look. My question is more about the general approach of the Lions in Brisbane and how they are squandering the King's ransom that's been spent to expand the game in Brisbane.

Brisbane supporters don't resent Fitzroy or the Victorian connection. If they did, the threepeat quickly put that to bed.

You seem to be arguing that Brisbane are sacrificing their chances of attracting more QLD based fans by pandering to Victorian based fans. I really, really don't see what you mean by that. The home guernsey is well and truly a Brisbane guernsey by now. The lion is popular amongst Brisbane supporters. It's only a purely Fitzroy thing in a historical sense.

It wasn't campaigning from Fitzroy that brought the old lion back, it was Brisbane die hards who weren't happy with the way their club was heading marketingwise and started a campaign about it. It's not much different to what West Coast supporters are doing with the #returnthewings campaign. The supporters want a guernsey that they identify with and that they were successful with. They want something that represents them.

Brisbane are never going to attract a lot of fans while they are down the bottom of the ladder. It doesn't happen. What they need to be doing is shoring up their existing supporter base and trying to cash back in on new supporters the next time they rise up the ladder.

 

[Lion for Life]

Yes, the AFL do, and it's pretty clear that they realise that success is everything in terms of building a football supporter base, from the COLA to the ridiculous draft concessions to the academies. The AFL has undoubtedly left Brisbane behind compared to the other northern sides, but the AFL knows quite well that the way to make them popular is to make them win.

Brisbane averaged 10000-15000 more to home games during their successful years, and have dropped away since they've dropped down the ladder like any club would, but it was a very silly move to get rid of a guernsey that had so much currency with supporters for a shiny new toy to appeal to the kids at the same time as they were falling down the ladder.



Brisbane supporters don't resent Fitzroy or the Victorian connection. If they did, the threepeat quickly put that to bed.

You seem to be arguing that Brisbane are sacrificing their chances of attracting more QLD based fans by pandering to Victorian based fans. I really, really don't see what you mean by that. The home guernsey is well and truly a Brisbane guernsey by now. The lion is popular amongst Brisbane supporters. It's only a purely Fitzroy thing in a historical sense.

It wasn't campaigning from Fitzroy that brought the old lion back, it was Brisbane die hards who weren't happy with the way their club was heading marketingwise and started a campaign about it. It's not much different to what West Coast supporters are doing with the #returnthewings campaign. The supporters want a guernsey that they identify with and that they were successful with. They want something that represents them.

Brisbane are never going to attract a lot of fans while they are down the bottom of the ladder. It doesn't happen. What they need to be doing is shoring up their existing supporter base and trying to cash back in on new supporters the next time they rise up the ladder.

Couldn't have said it better myself, it certainly wasn't just old Fitzroy supporters fighting for the return of this guernsey, an even greater number of Brisbane based fans strived for this to happen, it's exactly what both sets of supporters wanted and for that reason alone its a no-brainer and that's before we even start on how much it just improves the club's image across the board

 

[The Cryptkeeper]

Best jumper in the league.

Good on them for making this long overdue change.

 

[DAWESOME!!]

Pretty marginal difference to be honest from perspective of someone who never normally takes much interest in the Lions jumper. But understand people invested with the old design so good if this makes people happy.

Never understood the comparison to the Paddle Pop Lion though. Looks nothing like the bloke.

 

[DAWESOME!!]

Second best banner ever, behind this doozy from 1981 (also by Fitzroy!)

It's the misplaced apostrophe and failed pluralisation of "pussy" that makes that banner.

 

[Eons]

Am i the only one who didn't even notice it had changed? Ican't even picture the one they wore this season.

Not surprised. When you played us at the Gabba we only turned up for the first 5 minutes.

 

[Collins-Langford-Ayres]

Love the bright red one.

 

[Balance]

It was supposed to be changed last year. The watermarks look crap, the lion still looks too cartoon-like.

 

[Hollow Knight]

It was supposed to be changed last year.

It was voted on last year but the change was always going to be at the end of this year. Contracts in place etc...

the lion still looks too cartoon-like.

It's a heraldic emblem, identical to the one Fitzroy had for years. Not a cartoon. How long have you been following football out of interest?

 

[Balance]

It's a heraldic emblem, identical to the one Fitzroy had for years. Not a cartoon. How long have you been following football out of interest?

It's fitzroy's emblem I know, so what?

 

[JeffDunne]

Brisbane supporters don't resent Fitzroy or the Victorian connection.

Of course they don't resent it.

Why would they?

The reason I question Brisbane's marketing is because of it's ultimate negative impact on the rest of the league. The return on investment so far has been dismal and a repeat of that sort of investment over the next decade should have people asking questions. If clubs in developing markets can only be viable with ultimate on field success too, even after decades of being in that market, then we know we're destined for more competition rigging from the AFL to make it happen.

I don't have a problem with the jumper as such, I have a problem with an administration that seems utterly clueless on how to market Brisbane in Brisbane beyond restoring a jumper and floating stupid ideas about live lions on matchday.

 

[walhawk]

Just need blue sorts for the away jumper.