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Week 1 - AFL Vote

What the Social Media activity is that they are analysing: 

This week I am looking at the ‘AFL vote’ campaign presented by Google Australia. Google partnered with the AFL in June this year. 

The new partnership will see the introduction of three new AFL voting categories through Google Search, where fans can vote every Friday Night for who they think is best on ground and at the end of the week can choose their player of the round. And then at seasons end, fans can vote for of season Fan Awards. Votes can be cast simply by heading to Google and searching "AFL vote".

Who is leading the campaign and who is involved (e.g. a sporting organisation, an athlete or a corporate organisation as part of a sponsorship).

What are the major tools being used (e.g. video, image, text, competition etc.)

Where they saw it and if/how they engaged with it (e.g. enter a competition, hear an interview on a podcast, watch a video on the website or Youtube channel, watch a sports broadcast on a digital platform etc.)

Critical reflection (how does this relate to what we’ve discussed in class? Where possible, link it to the subject topics that we’ve focussed on in our lectures and tutorials.                                                                                        Also state what do you think about the Social Media activity: i.e.was it an effective competition?  Was it a good image?  Did it provide you with a positive experience? Was thevideo engaging? Did you engage with it? Was the content interesting? 

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Week 12 - Catch cricket on Kayo

The Cricket World Cup is upon us and so are a number of different campaigns by competing teams to try and get their fans to watch. Today I will be focusing on Cricket Australia and their partnership with the Kayo Sports streaming service. 

Cricket Australia is still looking to gain respect following the ball tampering saga. Smith and Warner are receiving abuse from the crowds but they hope the narrative changes with some great play during the world cup. 

Cricket Australia has partnered for Kayo for the world cup and it has been splashed over its social media accounts. 

Nice picture opportunity for media including Marcus Harris and Tim Paine wearing Kayo Sports polo’s on the backdrop of the Yarra. 

All games of the ICC Cricket World Cup will be shown on Kayo Sports. 

This is great for Kayo and for Cricket Australia. By spreading the word on social media that all games will be shown on Kayo, this may encourage cricket fans to jump on Kayo as it provides a lot of content and versatility regarding when and how to watch the cricket. This is also a great marketing strategy for Cricket Australia as it has drawn on the ‘mini-legends’ idea from NAB AFL. 

This draws people in to watch the whole ad as they may think the kids are cute or funny, and after watching a few times will understand the great content that Kayo offers. 

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Week 11: Storm support Starlight

This week I will be looking at the Melbourne Storm and their ongoing support for the Starlight children’s foundation. During this week, all over the Melbourne Storm’s social media accounts has been hospital visits and charity initiatives involving Melbourne Storm players.

Starlight Australia aims to brighten the lives of seriously ill & hospitalised children & young people. There is a Starlight  Express Room at the Monash Children’s Hospital which is a colourful and fun room for kids to enjoy. 

This gave the opportunity for a number of Melbourne Storm players to meet and form relationships with the kids doing tough. This includes giving gifts, autographs and taking the time to chat and play games.

This visit will also promote the #bigpurplesplash for the round 14 home match against the Knights. 

This provided a good opportunity for a pic op of an ambassador atop the dunking machine. 

For the second year running, a group of celebrities will be dunked in a big tub of purple water in front of members and fans for the  ‘Big Purple Splash’ in a bid to raise funds for the Starlight Children’s Foundation.

The dunk machine will be rolled out onto the sideline pre-game, with a number of prominent figures volunteering to brave the cold to raise awareness for the cause. 

This is an important initiative by the Melbourne Storm. Not only are they doing good out in the community, but they are getting their fans involved and encouraging them to help out to those in need too. This will no doubt get news coverage and will help raise awareness for the cause.

Hopefully this encourages all clubs to come up with similar ideas for a range of charities. 

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Week 10 - Shanghai Showdown

In round 11 of the AFL season, St. Kilda play against the Port Adelaide Power for four premiership points. The aim of the event is to showcase the game to the locals in China and promote the game globally.

The AFL also looks to invest in a mutually beneficial commercial relationship with China. As the Saints and Power are penciled in to play an AFL match up to 2021 and the AFL is set to open an office in China featuring two full-time staff members.

Travelling to China came with lots of pic ops that featured backdrops of Shanghai and cultural monuments.

The Saints also named a number of new match-day partners, Woodside Energy Monash University, Swisse, Jinhang Lighting and Electrical and Zhaopin. Which I perceive as the main reason they decided to play in Shanghai, not so much the idea of ‘growing the game’. Which is smart from a business standpoint.

Saints CEO Matt Finnis said growing the club’s commercial partnership base was an important factor to why the club decided to play in China. “Playing in China has already provided a platform to work with a number of prominent Australian organisations who do business in China,” Finnis said.

If the game is able to reach a large number of people overseas, this could work wonders for these brands and the St. Kilda Football club.

If this type of branding is successful and gains traction, I suspect a lot of clubs will get on board with trying to obtain a game overseas, whether that be in China or some place else.

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Week 9 - AFL Country Game

The AFL country game took place between Geelong and Essendon in round 7. The marquee game was introduced in 2016 to support the Australian farmers.  The goal of the game is to “celebrate the significant contribution country and regional towns make to the AFL and the Australian way of life” (Edwards, N, 2015). It was especially important this year as the farmers struggles have been well documented in the news, the game helped “raise awareness into the issues facing rural and regional Australia” (Edwards, N, 2015). 

Picture opportunity for media to promote the AFL country game. Featuring some of the best players from the Cats and ‘Dons who grew up in regional Australia. 

This year the country game has been turned into a country festival, sponsored by Powercor. The festival included a Farmers’ Market in the Yarra Park Precinct and will include country music performances by Kasey Chambers and John Williams, and also featured the best regional talent from across Victoria. 

The clubs’ VFL sides played before the main event at the ‘G at 11:50am. 

These type of events in the city will attract attention from the media and from tourists. This media attention, along with the branding of the ‘country festival’ will raise awareness about the struggles of our farmers. This may result in donations towards the farmers and help them in this time of need. 

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Week 7 - New York Mets

The MLB season began recently, so this week I have chosen a sport I am not so familiar with, baseball. 

The New York Mets have had two sub-par seasons in 2017 and 2018, losing more games than they’ve won. This would have driven away the ‘casual fan’ (as mentioned in week 6) and may have even lost some of these casual fans to the Yankees. 

It’s up to the PR team to come up with new and interesting ways to engage fans and increase their interest. One thing they tried through social media was incorporating the new season campaign with the new season launch of Game of Thrones. 

Game of Thrones is one of the most popular TV series of all time. It drew in 17.4 million viewers for the season 8 premiere. So it makes sense for the Mets to align themselves with the show. 

https://twitter.com/Mets/status/1117436163781025792

The first 25,000 fans in attendance received a Noah Syndergaard, Game of thrones ‘bobblehead’. 

This promotion is encouraging both baseball and Game of Thrones fans to attend. The game will occurs against the Milwaukee Brewers on April 27.

The average home attendance for the three games vs Milwaukee last season was 33,970. 

During the Game of Thrones promotion against Milwaukee, the average home attendance for these three games this season was 31,500. 

(2019)

It doesn’t seem this promotion increased attendances at all. Although there could have been some mitigating factors that could have affected these numbers like weather or recent team performance etc. 

However, those factors seem unlikely as the team has a similar win/loss record as compared to last season and fans don’t really seem to care about the free bobblehead, they just want to win more games.

(in response to the Game of Thrones promotion)

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Week 6 - Philadelphia 76ers

This week I will be taking a look at the Philadelphia 76ers social media and discussing the promotion of their 2019 NBA playoffs campaign. 

The 76ers posted a playoff hype video was posted to Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and even Youtube. It aims to encourage all Philadelphians to unite and get behind the team. 

The clip uses very location specific terms and phrases. It mentions specific places, train lines, bridges so that all people who live in Philadelphia, would be able to relate to the city and hopefully, (for the 76ers), relate to the team. This way, the video is not only connecting to the fans of the team, but a deeper connection, those who are fans of their city. 

Murals have been painted around Philadelphia's inner towns that are supposed to persuade both primary and secondary audiences to unite and support the team throughout the 2019 playoffs. The primary audience would be those who are already 76ers fans and stakeholders who are invested in the team. The secondary audience this campaign is targeting are the casual fan, perhaps someone who is interested in sports, but doesn’t necessarily devote much of their attention to basketball. Casual fans may see this hype video and these murals in their hometown, this type of campaign may encourage them to watch some playoff games because there is so much excitement surrounding it. 

I think this is a brilliant PR tactic. I think this because a similar thing happened to me. I was not really a fan of college basketball, but the people around me were excited for it and there was so much hype on the internet about it. I eventually found myself watching college games towards the end of the season. The build-up to the playoffs and ‘united’ approach by the Philadelphia 76ers will attract more viewers. 

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Week 5: Magpies Netball

This week I will look at the Collingwood Magpies Netball team who look to kick off the Suncorp Super Netball season for 2019. 

Magpies Netball released this clip to promote the team before the preseason begins. 

https://twitter.com/magpies_netball/status/1106063625926565888

The Magpies are entering their 3rd season in the competition and are still looking to build up a solid fan base after becoming the 2nd team in Melbourne. The Magpies have 17k less twitter followers and 30k less Facebook followers than the Melbourne Vixens.

It is obvious that they must partake in some creative activities and generate some popular social media campaigns if they want to convince more netball fans to support them. 

One activity they held was a football and netball clinic with both Collingwood’s AFLW players and Magpies Netball players.  

This example of PR is aimed at families and kids in Melbourne. The Imagery is aimed to draw in parents who have kids who are interested in football and netball. 

Attention being payed towards grassroots athletes is perceived as important for parents and may be a driver for them and their kids to invest more in with the Magpies Netball club. Whether that be watching the games on TV or eventually buying merchandise. This interactive experience offered by the Magpies is good PR. 

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Week 4: West Coast Eagles

This week I will be looking at racism in football, and more particularly, the campaign to end racism led by the West Coast Eagles.

A Richmond member posted racist abuse on social media towards West Coast Eagles player Liam Ryan during the opening round of the AFL season. 

This is not the only racist slur to be posted on social media. Indigenous AFL star Eddie Betts and North Melbourne’s Majak Daw were both subject to online racism earlier this year. 

The Richmond member had their membership suspended and all their members rights removed for two years. 

The West Coast Eagles made a post on social media during the week condemning racism following the Liam Ryan incident. Adopting the hashtag #whenwillitend

This would be an example of good PR despite the unfortunate circumstances it has come from. This type of stance on such a serious issue should bode well for the West Coast Eagles football club. 

West Coast acted quickly and posted this video on every one of their social media platforms to get the widest reach possible. This is a smart move because  they understand that social media will be the most effective way to reach a majority of their audience.  Because of its powerful message, the video (or audio) was shown in traditional media such as TV and radio so it could reach a wider range of people. 

People from all diverse backgrounds should be able to relate to the message and associate the West Coast Eagles with being accepting, inclusive, mutli-cultural and united football club. 

Perhaps this message becomes recognised by fans league wide and becomes good PR for the AFL. Hopefully this type of message can teach those who are somewhat less educated to become more accepting and inclusive of others and football can become something that unites us rather than divides us. 

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Week 3 - Win Los Angeles Lakers tickets

This week I will be looking at The Los Angeles Lakers PR tactic in setting up a competition to win tickets to a Lakers game. 

With the Lakers under performing this season and being out of playoff contention it seems as though they are encouraging more of their fans to show their support for the team as the season wraps up. 

Los Angeles are struggling on the court and their fans are frustrated with their performance this season. This competition seems like an attempt to develop more of a positive rapport between the Lakers and their fans. 

However, it seems like this PR tactic is perceived as more of a transparent ploy according to some of the fans responses to the post.

This competition seems to have been an ineffective PR tool as it does not seem to have generated a positive relationship between the organisation and their fans. Fans tend to enjoy these types of competitions or interactions when their team is successful.

On a positive note for the Lakers, their partnership with New Amsterdam vodka should be a mutually beneficial business relationship. For New Amsterdam, becoming partners with the most followed basketball franchise in the world (according social media followers) will expose their product tremendously. For the Lakers, having yet another sponsor will be a great source of revenue for the franchise. 

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Week 2 - Neil’s Wheel Campaign

This week I will be looking at a PR campaign that involves North Melbourne’s AFLW team and the radio station 3AW. 

During the week North Melbourne’s AFLW stars, Emma King, Jasmine Grierson and Jess Trend got together with 3AW’s Neil Mitchell to raise money for the Good Friday appeal with the ‘Neil’s Wheel’ campaign. 

The Neil’s Wheel campaign involves various Australian sportspeople and media personalities hopping on Melbourne’s observation wheel in Dockland’s until the $10k donation goal is reached.

This would be an example of effective PR for the North Melbourne Women’s team as they are still trying to expand their fan base as it is their first season at AFLW level. 

Participating in an event alongside more recognisable faces such as Jimmy Bartel and Jane Bunn will boost their popularity and will help gain an even more positive public perception of the club.

This type of participation will be encouraging for sponsors, Mazda, Cotton On, Comwire IT, NAB and Spirit of Tasmania who all featured on the North Melbourne apparel during the fundraiser. If North Melbourne players continue to take part in publicised events, it will only ensure sponsors stay on board. 

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Week 1 - Melbourne United

My PR activity for week one is to look at Melbourne United’s Grand Final campaign on social media and in the news.

The popularity of the NBL has been on the decline since the availability to access NBA content through various streaming services. But the success of Melbourne United has shifted some of the focus back onto the NBL in recent times. Melbourne play the Perth Wildcats in a best of 5 Grand Final series and are looking to secure their second NBL championship in as many seasons.

Melbourne have been relentless in their promotion of the team during the lead up to the Grand Final opener, trying to get Melbournians as excited and as invested as possible.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Melbourne United (@melbunited) on Mar 5, 2019 at 2:32am PST

The Minister for Sport Martin Pakula & Deputy Premier of Victoria James Merlino got involved this week to get behind Melbourne United’s Grand Final campaign. The video featured Chris Goulding, who is one of Australia’s most recognised basketballers, which helps keep the audience interested. The clip was made through Melbourne United media and included the sponsor, TAC, at the beginning and end of the video.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Melbourne United (@melbunited) on Mar 5, 2019 at 11:14pm PST

Pakula was interviewed donning the Melbourne United jersey which was covered with various sponsors including, Hungry Jacks, TAC Towards Zero, Soda Stream, First Ever, Trojan and TyrePower. This type of PR would be hugely effective and a good source of revenue for Melbourne United as most posts on their social media would include their athletes wearing these jerseys or other apparel with these brands.

With more and more people tuning in to see how Melbourne United performs during the Grand Final series, this would be mutually beneficial for Melbourne United and their sponsors.