Strategy Off field ideas (was "Crowdsourcing @ ...")

[Saintly Viewed]

There are some seriously good ideas in there '76. But the problems with legal liability and the risk that entails to the club would be a very major impediment to such supporter empowerment. The club and AFL are hugely concerned with image and PR. As was seen with the anti-muslim banners at games, there are plenty of supporters who we really don't want anywhere near these sort of things. How do you vet it?

I was thinking Kreuger heads a committee to vet,
That's Gold on the committee ofcourse.

 

[Chameleon75]

76woodenspooners would the cheer squad marching the boundary line with blanket outstretched at Victoria Park be considered crowd funding?

 

[Obese Arachnid]

76woodenspooners would the cheer squad marching the boundary line with blanket outstretched at Victoria Park be considered crowd funding?

Excellent idea, bring it back. There's a couple of Cheer squad members I wouldn't mind piffing a few dollar coins at.

Seriously though, we could use this money to train cats to ride horses dressed as unicorns around the boundary before the game.

With all the manure from the horses we could sell that to Richmond supporters. This could boost our coffers considerably.

Make it so Ed!!!

 

[ColinWood]

Another idea ...

Membership Liaison / Advisory Boards

I gotta admit, this is a rehashed version of something I posted ages ago.

Have the club establish a set of membership liaison / advisory boards.

Each one would consist of a bunch of members (dunno, maybe 12 to 20 people?) who would represent their particular demographic. They would serve as a contact point for the wider membership to provide feedback about things like the gameday experience, merchandise, membership packs, etc, etc. They would collate and feed this back to the club. They could also provide help to fellow members - members helping members. Which kinda happens on forums like this anyway, but there's currently no support from the club so it can seem like the blind leading the blind at times.

For example, ColinWood posted recently about how the gameday experience has been going downhill for her and her dad. Some of the things she posted about seem like they could be caused by some of the club's recent measures to try and improve the gameday experience (eg Barracker's End stuff). ... Maybe it's just been poorly communicated / planned / surveyed by the club? With a member's liaison / advisory board she'd have recourse beyond waiting on hold for ages to get through to the membership department (for what end?) or posting on a fan forum.

Perhaps different membership liaison / advisory boards could be broken down into the following demographics ...

(1) Primary School Age Kids and younger ... Run by members who are parents, primary school teachers, childcare, etc. This is the age that kids pick their footy club ... for life (for those who have a choice ) These are the members of the future. It's important to consider how this demographic perceive the club. For example - what effect has the Essendon drugs saga had on kids of this age group not choosing to follow Essendon? What effect will this have on their club in 15 years?

(2) Secondary School age kids ... Run by members who are parents, school teachers, etc. At this age kids have settled on their team and are learning about the game.

(3) 18 to 29 ... "Tomorrow's leaders". These folks are the same age as the players.

(4) 30 and older.

(5) Interstate and Overseas ... If we're going to be the biggest club in the land, let's consider the wider land outside of Victoria.

There are a bunch of things that would need to be considered for this. How to govern them? Who do they report to? The club can't just hand out contact details ... How can contact be made whilst maintaining anonymity? None of these problems are insurmountable.

76 I really like this I idea. Thank you for posting it. I think this is effectively market research across key member segments and could be done even on an annual or biannual basis and lead to some valuable insights for the club.

In terms of member engagement it is a worthwhile strategy to demonstrate a listening architecture which is vital to keep the board and key operational mangers connected to their diverse membership.

From a member perspective we understand we're part of the AFL's largest collective so wouldn't be unrealistic in our expectations but it would enable effective representation and two way communication. I'm not sure this happens now excluding when someone has an axe to grind (not always the majority view.)

This is a common approach of large corporates (I currently manage 2 states for an ASX5 listed company & this is part of our regular approach.)

It would also be a way of showing in our annual report/media the different faces of Collingwood - important to balance the corporate atmosphere at times.

Cheers!

 

[ColinWood]

I also meant to say another way of thinking of this is a hackathon - word du jour but regularly a process that drives an innovation culture

 

[Temploar]

Agree Gary would be excellent.

(Jokes)
Would be hilarious if he was Mr alert in disguise lol.
Yes 76 would be great

Reckon we should email this thread to the board down at the Holden Centre? Ed might have his bags packed by Thursday.

 

[76woodenspooners]

I also meant to say another way of thinking of this is a hackathon - word du jour but regularly a process that drives an innovation culture

Absolutely!!

Maybe I'm being a bit harsh, but I'd imagine the concept of a hackathon would be an anathema at Collingwood. Collingwood comes across as being quite old school.

And it's not as if the AFL would be the most enlightened of stakeholders to be working with.

 

[ColinWood]

Absolutely!!

Maybe I'm being a bit harsh, but I'd imagine the concept of a hackathon would be an anathema at Collingwood. Collingwood comes across as being quite old school.

And it's not as if the AFL would be the most enlightened of stakeholders to be working with.

I know what you mean. It's not just Collingwood, most AFL teams (possibly excepting Port under Koch) share the AFL culture which is a behind-closed-doors decision making culture.

It will have to change, I just hope they drive the change rather than have it forced upon them way too late for it to be effective.

 

[76woodenspooners]

I know what you mean. It's not just Collingwood, most AFL teams (possibly excepting Port under Koch) ...

That's funny, I deleted a few things before posting my reply ...

... one thing was about how Port Adelaide under Koch is probably the only place in the AFL you're likely to see a Hackathon!

... share the AFL culture which is a behind-closed-doors decision making culture.

I guess fan engagement is an issue that all clubs of all sports around the world have to deal with.

The team with the highest average attendance in the world is Borussia Dortmund, and here's an interesting article from 2014 about how they do things ...

http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/29624410

... Inspirational stuff! That's the kind of direction we really should be heading.

It will have to change, ...

I totally agree, the world is fast changing ...

I just hope they drive the change rather than have it forced upon them way too late for it to be effective.

I'm optimistic. Right throughout Collingwood's history we've had change forced upon us before it's been too late. It's even happened a few times within my own lifetime.

 

[Quicky]

I also meant to say another way of thinking of this is a hackathon - word du jour but regularly a process that drives an innovation culture

Hackathon?

 

[sirlothie]

I know what you mean. It's not just Collingwood, most AFL teams (possibly excepting Port under Koch) share the AFL culture which is a behind-closed-doors decision making culture.

It will have to change, I just hope they drive the change rather than have it forced upon them way too late for it to be effective.

In some ways we are progressive such as appointing female and non-football background directors, in others very traditional. It's easier for newer clubs to operate differently but clubs like Collingwood have factions and powerbrokers and legions of supporters of all ages so you can't rock the boat too much.

 

[76woodenspooners]

Another idea ...

Hand the "Collingwood Forever" website over to the fans to maintain

Try this ...

... Go to forever.collingwoodfc.com.au and search for a bloke by the name of Darcy Moore. Or Mason Cox. Or Jordan DeGoey.

You won't find 'em

forever.Collingwoodfc.com.au is not being maintained.

Day after day, week after week, season after season the club's media department is generating wonderful content - but they're not bothering to archive any of it on the club's museum site?!?

All that money and effort that went into creating the Collingwood Forever site and they didn't set it up to be sustainable?

Consider this clip ...



... One day in around 40 years from now it's going to look a bit like this clip ...



Doesn't that warm the cockles of your heart?

For a generation of Collingwood fans, the sight of a Yakka Guernsey takes them back to an era of Football, Meat pies, Kangaroos and ..., and Big M girls, Chiko Rolls, Ray Shaw, Skyhooks, Split Enz and Bon Scott. Mud puddles at the footy and those long hot endless summers!

It's so easy to upload a video and tag it. It might not seem to mean much today, but sometime in the future the current generation of supporters will be eternally grateful.

That stuff is the fabric that binds footy clubs together, particularly for the older folks.

If the club can't justify paying somebody to do it (Seriously, how much does it cost for a data entry person?) then maybe they should hand it over to a bunch of passionate members to run?

 

[sirlothie]

Another idea ...

Hand the "Collingwood Forever" website over to the fans to maintain

Try this ...

... Go to forever.collingwoodfc.com.au and search for a bloke by the name of Darcy Moore. Or Mason Cox. Or Jordan DeGoey.

You won't find 'em

forever.Collingwoodfc.com.au is not being maintained.

Day after day, week after week, season after season the club's media department is generating wonderful content - but they're not bothering to archive any of it on the club's museum site?!?

All that money and effort that went into creating the Collingwood Forever site and they didn't set it up to be sustainable?

Consider this clip ...



... One day in around 40 years from now it's going to look a bit like this clip ...



Doesn't that warm the cockles of your heart?

For a generation of Collingwood fans, the sight of a Yakka Guernsey takes them back to an era of Football, Meat pies, Kangaroos and ..., and Big M girls, Chiko Rolls, Ray Shaw, Skyhooks, Split Enz and Bon Scott. Mud puddles at the footy and those long hot endless summers!

It's so easy to upload a video and tag it. It might not seem to mean much today, but sometime in the future the current generation of supporters will be eternally grateful.

That stuff is the fabric that binds footy clubs together, particularly for the older folks.

If the club can't justify paying somebody to do it (Seriously, how much does it cost for a data entry person?) then maybe the passion of some members might do the trick?

An archive of player footage and interviews from bygone days would be amazing!

 

[76woodenspooners]

An archive of player footage and interviews from bygone days would be amazing!

We do have such a thing!

The club set it up a few years ago, they launched it to great fanfare ...

... They commissioned a special Guernsey to be made for it, they held a big player reunion party for it.

You can find it here: http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au

... And it hasn't been touched since!

ps. They don't seem to have put much (any?) video content on it.

 

[76woodenspooners]

Hackathon?

A hackathon (also known as a hack day, hackfest or codefest) is an event in which computer programmers and others involved in software development and hardware development, including graphic designers, interface designers and project managers, collaborate intensively on software projects.

It's traditionally a software thing (or that's how I know it) but it could just as easily apply to other applications. Basically it's bringing a bunch of people with diverse skills together to build something in a short space of time. It has connotations of innovation around it.

Perhaps it's kinda like the modern day equivalent of a bunch of folks participating in a Working Bee to build a kids' funky playground - or something of that ilk?

 

[76woodenspooners]

Another idea:

Footy at the drive-in's

For an interstate game: Show the game at a drive-in theatre. Just for, ya know, something a bit different.

It'd probably just be a once-off thing, a bit of a novelty. Not sure that it'd catch on?

 

[sirlothie]

Another idea:

For an interstate game: Show the game at a drive-in theatre. Just for, ya know, something a bit different.

It'd probably just be a once-off thing, a bit of a novelty. Not sure that it'd catch on?

I'd go. Drop the idea on a drive in, you never know. Although the hard part is footy games coincide with the most popular movie timeslots...

 

[76woodenspooners]

Another idea ...

Community Mentoring program

The Collingwood Football Club are a beacon of inspiration for their community. Setup a mentoring program where Collingwood staff mentor a couple people from the community. They could mentor kids or young adults or even older adults.

Typically the mentor would meet up with each person they're mentoring around four times a year. Say two people per mentor - that's eight meetings a year - hardly much of a burden. But with around 100 staff at Collingwood, that would make a huge difference to two hundred people out in the community.

Great experience for the mentors as well - it would foster a culture of leadership within the club.

It could be expanded to to include mentors outside the club.

It might need somebody to help coordinate it - could easily keep somebody busy full-time doing the administration. But the rewards would be significant. It would go a long way to strengthening our community club credentials.

 

[76woodenspooners]

Another idea ...

Artist in residence

The idea is to appoint an 'artist in residence' to work at the club for a season. A new artist would be appointed each year - they would be selected from a bunch of applicants by a suitable panel who have an opinion about this stuff.

We kind of had something like this back in 2009 with Peter Ryan embedded in the club to write the book 'Side By Side' (prose is a form of art).

We've also done something like this with commissioning Jamie Cooper to do paintings for the club, such as the 'Forever Collingwood' painting ...

How would this be different?

Jamie Cooper does a awesome job, but he paints for other clubs too (his style is not uniquely Collingwood) and I think it'd be good to mix it up and have a different artist every year to bring in a bit of variety. And potentially using different media each year.

It'd be a fantastic gig for an artist - getting a stable income and being able to roam around a footy club and capture the times.

They wouldn't necessarily be the sole contributer either - they could be a curator for other artists to contribute, or even to manage community involvement.

Imagine Collingwood's artist in residence taking a bunch of folks down to a VFL game to run a workshop on how to take footy photos with your DSLR?

Or setting up a bunch of easels on the boundary of the VFL and having a crack at painting in watercolour?

Or running an Instagram photo competition for the fans?

Or running a colouring-in competition for the kids?

How to fund this? It is the kind of thing that can attract sponsorship. And memorabilia sales.

Consider this cheap piece of cardboard with a picture on it that once came free in a packet of chewing gum ...

... That simple pic warms the cockles of the heart of any Collingwood supporter over age 40. Those pangs of sentimentality are priceless. The artist in residence would help contribute to the time capsule of sentimental moments.

 

[Vicky Park]

Picking up on the above 76, I'd like to see the club run with some alternative merchandise in their retail store. It's mostly a boring load of mass produced rubbish. While their licenses with existing suppliers probably prevent this, could they not open some of their shelves up to different items by local designers? It would benefit small scale Australian made manufacturing. And expand the range while they are at it.

The 'Carn the Pies' scarf in my avatar was purchased in a shop in Fitzroy in about August 2010, hand made in Melbourne by an increasingly excited knitwear producer!

I'd also like to see some different graphics used in the merchandise. Invite a different industrial designer to come up with alternative logos/graphics/magpies each year. Produce a one/off annual run of guernseys and polos, and they could become collectors items. A bit like the indigenous jumpers, which is a terrific AFL wide initiative. But again, I know the logos and graphics are tightly controlled by licensing. We are the poorer for that.

 

[76woodenspooners]

Picking up on the above 76, I'd like to see the club run with some alternative merchandise in their retail store.

Awesome idea!!

It's mostly a boring load of mass produced rubbish.

Indeed it is, and by accounts the quality control looks to be poorly handled (a topic I've written about before and will write about again)

While their licenses with existing suppliers probably prevent this, ...

Maybe, but contracts expire, or can be re-negotiated.

... could they not open some of their shelves up to different items by local designers? It would benefit small scale Australian made manufacturing. And expand the range while they are at it.

This is truly an awesome idea! We live in an age of startup companies and cottage industries. It could tie into ColinWood 's suggestion of hackathons - tapping the community to come up with innovative ideas for merchandising and using the Collingwood brand.

The 'Carn the Pies' scarf in my avatar was purchased in a shop in Fitzroy in about August 2010, hand made in Melbourne by an increasingly excited knitwear producer!

Looks great!

I'd also like to see some different graphics used in the merchandise. Invite a different industrial designer to come up with alternative logos/graphics/magpies each year.

I'd go for a hybrid solution - where the club has a formal brand and an informal brand.

Eg: Our formal brand is "Collingwood" which is static and doesn't change very much. But our informal brand could be "Magpies" which, as you suggest, changes its logo / typeface / graphic each season.

Produce a one/off annual run of guernseys and polos, and they could become collectors items.

Great idea!

Another merchandising idea would be to create a business suit. It would be unbranded on the outside - just classic black / charcoal / pinstripe / whatever, but the inside lining would be emblazoned with the club emblem. Maybe have the team list for that year.

There are probably many adults out there who are happy to support and be associated with the club, but they simply don't have much occasion to wear any of the clothing the club currently produces. People like Ed for example.

And Ed has got pretty good taste in suits (Hugo Boss from memory?). Put Ed on Quality Control to ensure they're decent.

It doesn't need to be a crazy expensive suit, but it shouldn't be schoolboy formal standard either.

IIRC the club is sponsored by Flair suits? Yeah, they're a fair way from Hugo Boss - but they should still be able to manage something appropriate. After all, they're going to be branded "Collingwood" rather the name of the suit company.

Could even be a bespoke suit. Organise an annual fitting day at the Holden Centre each pre-season. Turn it into a networking event. Give a suit to the players for them to wear at formal occasions - and for them to keep for posterity (the players would get their jumper number emblazoned in the lining).

A bit like the indigenous jumpers, which is a terrific AFL wide initiative. But again, I know the logos and graphics are tightly controlled by licensing. We are the poorer for that.

I do strongly believe that the branding does need to be tightly controlled. We can't just have every sweatshop on planet earth wildly churning out rubbish with the Collingwood brand. Or producing inappropriate stuff (Collingwood sex toys?)

But there are workable options.

Consider this example: https://www.threadless.com/sesamestreet/

The T-Shirt company Threadless had a T-Shirt design competition using the Sesame Street theme. The folks who control the Sesame Street brand (Children's Television Workshop (CTW) IIRC) got some agreement they were happy with that allowed anybody to design a T-Shirt using the Sesame Street theme through the Threadless portal. And not only that, but the designer would actually make money it! (A commission from Threadless selling T-Shirts with their design). CTW are happy - it creates positive and creative exposure of their brand in a 'safe' way (Threadless being a moderated platform) and they likely made money out of it. Threadless are happy because they sell more T-Shirts and leverage off a solid brand and they made money out of it. Freelance designers were happy because they got legal access to a pop culture brand and they made money out of it. Everybody is a winner!

 

[Vicky Park]

On the licensing issue: after the 2010 win I started collating a personal archive to celebrate the win, to hand to my (generally disinterested) descendants. People also started giving me 'stuff'.

I now have quite a collection celebrating the flag, including posters, photos, newspaper articles, the AFL record, my ticket, my car park ticket (I had a spot under the stadium for the GF replay), crazy things like celebration coasters, etc. The club also produced a lot of merch. But one of the more...er...intriguing items is a doll of Joffa wearing his gold jacket (don't ask). It was apparently produced by some sort of pirate manufacturer trying to cash in on the win, and - shock horror! - not licensed by the AFL.

 

[76woodenspooners]

Another idea ...

Temporary Museum

Yeah, I've heard rumours of us building a permanent museum some time in the future in the area where the old cafeteria / bar area was the Holden Centre. But that costs $$$. And takes time. And the problem with permanent museums is that - whilst they might open to great fanfare and interest - the collections of memorabilia can very quickly turn into collectors of dust (eg: forever.collingwoodfc.com.au )

The Collingwood Football Club does have an enormous collection of memorabilia in storage (we know this because of the valuations that are declared in Collingwood's Annual Reports). Such a shame to have our history locked up somewhere in dark storage. What to do? How to share this with the fans?

Set up a temporary museum. Run it for a couple weeks. Maybe host it at the Collingwood town hall, a venue with strong associations with Collingwood's history?

Create something that people make an effort to visit. Make it a living museum with talks and interviews with past players.

Get in a decent curator to run it. Make it an annual thing and change it around each year.

 

[76woodenspooners]

Another idea ...

Host a production of the play 'The Club' by David Williamson at the Holden Centre

This play is a timeless classic and is as relevant today as it has ever been. What better setting than the sprung floor of the Holden Centre?

We're probably going to have to do remedial work to the audience seating areas of the Holden Centre anyway so we can host Netball games

Putting on a production of 'The Club' could increase the utility of the space, it generates a clear revenue stream. And it would have much wider appeal than just Collingwood members / fans.

 

[ColinWood]

This is truly an awesome idea! We live in an age of startup companies and cottage industries. It could tie into ColinWood 's suggestion of hackathons - tapping the community to come up with innovative ideas for merchandising and using the Collingwood brand.

I'd go for a hybrid solution - where the club has a formal brand and an informal brand.

Eg: Our formal brand is "Collingwood" which is static and doesn't change very much. But our informal brand could be "Magpies" which, as you suggest, changes its logo / typeface / graphic each season[/QUOTE]

Some fantastic ideas here 76ers. I love the local designer angle and celebrating that. It could include art (paintings, cards, etc) as well as merchandise. I'd love a "We are Collingwood" theme to kick it off. I imagine it would organically include some historical elements as well as current and future trends. What a wonderful way for us to celebrate and engage with this great Club.