Official Club Stuff Our Heartland

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eastdog said:
I'm an Eastern Suburbs Western Bulldog and liked this video.
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Same here east dog. Park Orchards is a fair old drive from the Whitten Oval and I must admit to feeling a little left out when I first saw it, but then I drank a cupful of cement and realised that I was totally kidding myself! I love the campaign and I love the Western region that we represent and I really hope that the club can can get a leg-up in developing and fostering relationships with the massive community that live there. It is our Heartland and it's imperative that we are embraced by the people who reside in the middle of it. I don't think we've actually managed to do this just yet, but I reckon we might be heading down the right track if the 2013 launch is any indication. Well done Doggies and keep ramming home the message! :thumbsu:
 
i loved the video
really enjoyed the whole "doesn't matter who you are, this is our club"
felt good since i'm a south-eastern suburb kid
 
inyourfacedunk said:
Who'd have thought!? The marketing team doing marketing.

There's being cynical, and then there is being a grumpy mofo who must find something negative in everything.
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Grumpy mofo? Hmmm.... Grumpy... yeah, sometimes, but I would respectfully submit that my previous post wasn't anything to do with being grumpy. It does propose a more critical view of the 'Heartland' video, but it isn't a negative one, let alone grumpy - perhaps thoughtful is an appropriate term?

Then there's 'mofo'... not a nice term, however you wrap it, and isn't really one for use in polite company - which we all try to be, I would hope. Strongly expressed opinion, vigorous debate, outrageous hyperbole are all wonderful and to be encouraged, but 'mofo'... ? I guess that sort of thing just slips out in the heat of the moment. Passion is also good!

In a little more depth, here's what I was saying...

In my opinion, 'Our Heartland' is a wonderful step in the right direction, but it is just that, a step. There is such a long way to go. I'm really happy that the step has been made, finally - 'The Western Front' was almost an embarrassment, as far as I'm concerned; 'Our Heartland' is a better expression of similar sentiment, it has a stronger link to the brand, and is better executed, but it is still a long way from where it could be. That said, hats off to Nick Truelson and the club in general for being brave enough to go down the 'Heartland' track, and hats off to Mitch for being brave enough to take the lead role - geez, he would be getting some stick from the group!

As a committed member and supporter of the Bulldogs, and lover of the game wherever it's played, I think we (the Doggies) have one of the most important and exciting challenges ahead of us of any club in the competition, and it is this challenge that has driven the creation of the 'Our Heartland' campaign (and the lack-lustre, for me, Western Front campaign). I know you've heard it before, but I'll say it again... we have to win the hearts and minds of Greater Western Melbourne, if we're going to survive and prosper, and if the game is going to grow as it should in this most populous and important area.

For most of us here in the forum, we can look at Mitch Wallis (Land) cruising around the West or running around Williamstown and we can see ourselves, committed Bulldogs with tradition and history coursing through our veins, bonded together by the fire of decades of disappointment and once again hoping for a new dawn that heralds an era of September success. Wally, you bloody little ripper!!!!! Great for us already converted band-wagon riders, isn't it? Most of us here have at least 20 years of heartache already in the doggy bank (sorry Dannnnnnnnnn, you'd be the nearly there, wouldn't you?), lots would have double that and more.

I would have liked 'Our Heartland' to work a bit harder on communicating to the unconverted. I think it could have been much more inclusive of the citizens of the heartland without disenfanchising the faithful. And I think it could have been more artfully executed; I was hearing the board of directors and the marketers too much, and it took me out of the story every time. Perhaps Heartland II will go that extra step. Or Heartland III.... Because that's another thing we need - contuinuity. I hope 'Our Heartland' is with us for a while, so that it has a chance to put down roots and flourish, to build on the success of this year with a more refined and better-targeted progression next year, and the year after. To do that, it needs to be stripped back to its very basics, to the very basics of the brand, and rebuilt with less icing and more cake. if you're not following me, think about the world's most successful brand - Apple. Ever bought one of their products? You get a white box with an Apple logo on it. That's it. The ads are the same - 'Think different' says it all. Beautiful! Sometimes, you have to say less to say more - that's where the art comes in. (Although I'm not heeding my own advice , am I?)

With that in mind, I still don't get the bricks... What is it with them? Do bricks signify tradition? strength? industry? blue collar background? or are they just a nice looking background that an art director stumbled upon? Personally, I think the bricks are off-brand. We are a footy club not a .... whatever the bricks signify. Either forget the bricks or help us identify the relevance to the brand.

Grumpy? I hope not, Thoughful? I hope so. Do your darndestst in reply, but please, no mo' mofo !
 

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And now the website has been relaunched its been a big day at the kennel
 
Great post, KDF67, enjoyed reading it. And about five years away for me, was actually a 'Roos supporter (thanks...or no thanks, to my father) until they lost the grand final and realised I was being brainwashed. :D


Love the new 'Dogs website by the way, really well done.
 
Dannnnnnnnnn said:
Great post, KDF67, enjoyed reading it. And about five years away for me, was actually a 'Roos supporter (thanks...or no thanks, to my father) until they lost the grand final and realised I was being brainwashed. :D


Love the new 'Dogs website by the way, really well done.
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Gogriff Junior!
 
I love it...

Preconceptions aside about where we stand financially and historically in the AFL, what we've shown already in the last few months, has us fighting above our weight class, and well and truly amongst the heavy weights.

Whether we get there in the coming years is debatable, but a clear and concise plan is in play, and I am more confident than any time in my 25-30 years of supporting the dogs that the path we're on, will bring us the ultimate success.

Kudos to the Dogs.
 
Love it. Great that Mitch is being used as the face of the campaign. He is the leader of our next crop, a solid looking crop at this stage.
 
KDF67 makes some good points but why be hyper-critical at this stage? Everyone has a different take on if or how it could be done "better" - maybe you should put your hand up to develop the theme for 2014. Personally I love it. Mitch is perfect as the "face", regardless of his possible captaincy prospects.

As for getting the message out to the wider community, could it be shown on tv? Preferably not Fox, who preach to the converted (much like Apple). What about inhouse cctv in pubs and clubs in the area?
 
Firstly, I think the marketing department has been doing a great job for the past 2 years. It's been a difficult time on the field so we haven't seen the end result of all their hard work. I feel we've finally reached a professional level in this department now.

As for Wallis's quote - 'Be judged not on where you come from, but where you are going.'

I don't really know how this quote stands up. I think you should be judged on results in this industry, that's not to say a premiership is the only factor because to even make pre-lims and feature in finals is no easy task but I don't think you should just be judged just on your vision. Ultimately you must be judged on where that vision leads you.
 
Butane said:
As for Wallis's quote - 'Be judged not on where you come from, but where you are going.'

I don't really know how this quote stands up. I think you should be judged on results in this industry, that's not to say a premiership is the only factor because to even make pre-lims and feature in finals is no easy task but I don't think you should just be judged just on your vision. Ultimately you must be judged on where that vision leads you.
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I interpreted that as 'everyone welcome to the Western Bulldogs, regardless of background, colour, creed etc, we are one club, one region, one heartland, all headed in the same direction'. Not so much about judgement of the football team performance.

Can someone with a bit of time on their hands do the libba pastiche, wandering the streets of Footscray and making surreptitious exchanges on street corners etc etc
 
KDF67

There is a distinct difference between being thoughtful and being overly critical. Your first post was 3/4 bashing and the last part was you turning it down a notch to sit on the fence a little more. A common way to try and not come across as a club basher and more nuetral. You spent most of that time bashing the entire marketing campaign because it was too markety.

As for the mofo part. You are far too "thoughtful" when reading into that one. I wasn't specifically calling you a motherf*****. It was used the same way people use sod, son of a bitch, etc. Not as a direct insult.

Your second post. It's a good dissection of the video, I'll give you that.


In my opinion, I think it's a great improvement on last years video and is a step in the right direction. I would have liked to have seen at least a little something more than the one line saying 'Be judged not on where you come from, but where you are going' to tell people it's not only about the west. Something a little more direct and easily interpreted would have been nice.

I suppose that will come in time once they have a stranglehold on the western region. Baby steps. One message at a time.
 

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Loving the new website layout

but funny how Jarrad Grant doesn't have a photo yet :p
 
Excellent video. Perhaps made more poignant cause I just finished watching year of the dogs. And the lyrics of the song are pretty apt as well. Well done, a very classy video. Way better then the Eagles and Dockers ones we get over here.
 
I was in the USA a while back. Down south where I was you often see these same bumper stickers on the back of pickup trucks and gigantic four wheel drives. There's a couple of them that follow the same theme and are also popular as tattoos. They read 'America - love it or leave it' or 'My country - right or wrong', and they both feature ol' glory flapping in the breeze. If you go questioning anything about the way America is conducting itself with the driver of one of these stickered vehicles, you're likely to encourage him to pluck his 12 gauge from the gun rack.

Back in Oz, my bumper sticker is just the 2012 membership one and my (one and only) tattoo is a quite small one of the old bulldog straddling the footy with FFC underneath (no dots), which I got in Scotland, of all places (a long story). He is starting to fade a bit.

I don't live in the west anymore - haven't for thirty years, since I started in advertising on St Kilda Rd - but I feel like I still know it. Actually, the only things I feel I really know much about these days are footy and advertising - after 50 years of studying one and 30 of the other. I think I know a bit about footy. I know I know a lot about advertising. So, when I criticise* 'Our Heartland', my aim is not to 'bash' the club, but to get people thinking about just how good it can be, will be, when we get even better at what we are doing passably well now.

My world would be complete if in a year or three I could watch Macca's ruthless, young Bulldogs get to the big dance and win it, and at the same time see the club develop the 'Our Heartland' campaign to be the premier support generating strategy in the competition with 50 000+ members and climbing. They are real possibilities, both of them, but they won't happen if we're happy to sit back and rest every time we do something half all right, either on the ground or in the marketplace. Winning footy games is a massive part of what we have to do, the most important part, and we all spend a lot of time here criticising the club's efforts, but selling the club and its future is also vitally important, and we should be equally critical of its efforts there.


* Got this from Wikipedia (I'm lazy) "Critical thinking clarifies goals, examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, accomplishes actions, and assesses conclusions. 'Critical' in this context does not mean 'disapproval' or 'negative'."
 
KDF67 said:
I was in the USA a while back. Down south where I was you often see these same bumper stickers on the back of pickup trucks and gigantic four wheel drives. There's a couple of them that follow the same theme and are also popular as tattoos. They read 'America - love it or leave it' or 'My country - right or wrong', and they both feature ol' glory flapping in the breeze. If you go questioning anything about the way America is conducting itself with the driver of one of these stickered vehicles, you're likely to encourage him to pluck his 12 gauge from the gun rack.

Back in Oz, my bumper sticker is just the 2012 membership one and my (one and only) tattoo is a quite small one of the old bulldog straddling the footy with FFC underneath (no dots), which I got in Scotland, of all places (a long story). He is starting to fade a bit.

I don't live in the west anymore - haven't for thirty years, since I started in advertising on St Kilda Rd - but I feel like I still know it. Actually, the only things I feel I really know much about these days are footy and advertising - after 50 years of studying one and 30 of the other. I think I know a bit about footy. I know I know a lot about advertising. So, when I criticise* 'Our Heartland', my aim is not to 'bash' the club, but to get people thinking about just how good it can be, will be, when we get even better at what we are doing passably well now.

My world would be complete if in a year or three I could watch Macca's ruthless, young Bulldogs get to the big dance and win it, and at the same time see the club develop the 'Our Heartland' campaign to be the premier support generating strategy in the competition with 50 000+ members and climbing. They are real possibilities, both of them, but they won't happen if we're happy to sit back and rest every time we do something half all right, either on the ground or in the marketplace. Winning footy games is a massive part of what we have to do, the most important part, and we all spend a lot of time here criticising the club's efforts, but selling the club and its future is also vitally important, and we should be equally critical of its efforts there.


* Got this from Wikipedia (I'm lazy) "Critical thinking clarifies goals, examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, accomplishes actions, and assesses conclusions. 'Critical' in this context does not mean 'disapproval' or 'negative'."
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Fair point, have you seen other marketing campaigns this year? Just curious. Relatively speaking I think we've accounted pretty well for ourselves with this campaign. And to go back to your original post, to peg Wallis as a pin up boy is a bit unfair. Moreso his obvious ties to the club and his potential as a leader saw him get the nod over any other candidate that may have been considered as the focal point. The more discerning Doggies supporters are fully aware of Wallis's talents and potential, but to the more cursory general dogs supporter, he'd be just another player that's a father son. Before this campaign anyway.
 
Butane said:
Firstly, I think the marketing department has been doing a great job for the past 2 years. It's been a difficult time on the field so we haven't seen the end result of all their hard work. I feel we've finally reached a professional level in this department now.

As for Wallis's quote - 'Be judged not on where you come from, but where you are going.'

I don't really know how this quote stands up. I think you should be judged on results in this industry, that's not to say a premiership is the only factor because to even make pre-lims and feature in finals is no easy task but I don't think you should just be judged just on your vision. Ultimately you must be judged on where that vision leads you.
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The quote shouldn't be taken in isolation

The wider quote as follows:

And while the places and faces around us are changing fast
Our character and values endure
Here you're not judged on where you've come from, but where you're going
And your drive to succeed

To me this section is an acknowledgement of the physical (places(buildings/industry/infrastructure)) changes and immigrant(faces) changes happening in the west.
You've (you have) is an important distinction to make because if you have come here you have come from somewhere else (appeal to migrants) and this is part of your journey (and who doesn't love a journey/quest - journeys sell a lot of books films etc). "But where you're going" includes, in my view, an implied but unstated "and how you go about it" which is a nod to character mentioned in the previous line. We, the club, are also on a journey and we believe in going somewhere aspirational and are driven to succeed. I think this section is a direct appeal to migrants who presumably aspire to a better life outcome and are also on a journey to get there.
Journey I'm guessing will be a dominant theme in what I presume will be a campaign. Wallis, being clearly young, obviously talented and probably clean enough to hopefully last the journey/campaign and still be there at our triumphant arrival, is arguably the best choice to lead the campaign.
 
Royale said:
Fair point, have you seen other marketing campaigns this year? Just curious. Relatively speaking I think we've accounted pretty well for ourselves with this campaign. And to go back to your original post, to peg Wallis as a pin up boy is a bit unfair. Moreso his obvious ties to the club and his potential as a leader saw him get the nod over any other candidate that may have been considered as the focal point. The more discerning Doggies supporters are fully aware of Wallis's talents and potential, but to the more cursory general dogs supporter, he'd be just another player that's a father son. Before this campaign anyway.
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Wallis got a bit of recognition outside the Bulldogs due to coming third in the Rising star.
 
I've thrown plenty of brickbats at the marketing department but I'm throwing a bouquet this time. I like it, I like the theme of it and it should be followed up again next year in a manner that is compatible with our stage of the journey. The Western Front didn't do it at all for me last year. War and battle being connotations, then parts of 2012 were like Armageddon for us on the field. Quest/journey is far more compatible with where we're at (the beginning) with the end in mind (holy grail/flag). I give it four stars Margaret.
 
I like it. My doggies pride is as high as ever at the moment.

My one problem with the whole campaign though, and it was more evident last year than this year, is that we're NOT the only team in the western suburbs. Essendon are there too and I've found that most Western Suburb's people I've met support Essendon.
 
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