It was two weeks after the Grand Final. Purely an exhibition game. Nothing more. Hardly promoted through appropriate channels. Pair it with an Air China partnership and it could be lucrative. Not sure how it degrades the club if done properly. If you have the AFL Commission and external parties backing you - it's a winner. If not all the parties are on board and you're a few pieces short of completing the jigsaw puzzle, then it's a tough sell. The 3 names I left out of the stakeholder puzzle before are Gillon McLachlan (next AFL CEO), Mike Fitzpatrick and the Shanghai Media Group. But their involvement would be assured from very early on.

In June of 2010, Chinese vice-president Xi Jinping travelled to Melbourne and was entertained at the Carlton-Fremantle game (the night Matty Kreuzer did his knee) as a guest of then Victorian Premier John Brumby and AFL chairman Mike Fitzpatrick - a man with whom he was familiar due to Fitzpatrick's role as a director of mining giant Rio Tinto. Xi Jinping is expected to become President, China's head of state, in March 2013, when the National People's Congress convenes. So...within a couple of months - the man who will lead China into the top position as the world's leading economy (tipped to occur in 2015) will be known on a first name basis to a Carlton Premiership captain and, perhaps far more importantly, the AFL Commission Chairman.

Indeed, judging by this picture - we can add the next leader of China to our growing list of celebrity supporters. Somebody buy this man a membership.

Just imagine it...

1 BILLION OVERSEAS MEMBERS!!!

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WADA medical director Dr Alan Vernec describes Essendon* FC drug case as biggest scandal in team sport the world of sport has seen. #WC2WB

#GUILTY

minus voting rights...

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“I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned.” ― Richard Feynman

Things change. They always have and they always will.

Should have we gone to Sydney in the 80s or Brisbane in the 90s?
It seems like an obvious and required extension of our game now, but plenty were extremely negative as to a need to expand our game into foreign and unwelcome territories.

As far fetched it may seem now, we'll see regular games played for points abroad, in years to come.
Logistics may be an issue today, but we'll have our 2 hour flights to China or South Africa soon enough, relatively speaking.

If you're looking for ways to ways to connect our game and/or club with the growing Chinese community in Australia - then it's a no-brainer. I'm certainly not adverse to splashing a little red on the alternate jumper...

After all - Hawthorn are selling their New Zealand jumper.




Our Chinese jumper could look fantastic! Show me the money!

That's a great looking knit except for the Bird and the advertising.

Looks like a pair of Puma's I have.

I think it backs up what Keogh is saying - the Hawks aren't even the ones playing for Premiership points in New Zealand (that's St Kilda v Sydney) - but have established a presence there.



It's thinking outside the square. Doesn't cost them much and they might get something out of it one day. China on the other hand is a much bigger fish - but part of that thinking has to be around the local Chinese market...largely untapped. Couple some of the strategy with meaningful relationships with Melbourne University, corporate sponsorship and a game played in China and you're onto something in a big way. If done correctly - the pro's far and away outweigh the con's.

That's where the longer term strategies have to be put into place and ensured that they are adhered to irrespective of who may come and go in the mean-time.

What about the collective of our Chinatown traders.
They have a traders group involved although one of my favourite restaurant owners may not be willing to participate, being that he's a hard-core Collingwood supporter.

Excellent initiative. Invite them down and have JJ cook up some Yum-Cha! Have the cheersquad pictured working with local Chinese kids creating a Chinese banner. Publish the photos (and banner) in the 澳洲日报 - 广告服务 (Chinese Melbourne Daily). Better yet - advertise our membership in Chinese in the Chinese Melbourne Daily. The Chinese Melbourne Daily has a state wide circulation of 15,000-18,000 copies and is in over 300 Melbourne news agencies.

The other way is Chinese social media. As an example - here's what Arsenal did during the year. Launched a spin-off website on QQ - China's largest online network, which has 784 million active user accounts...many of those in Australia. Small steps...small steps.

http://arsenal.qq.com/

Oh my god, are things that bad now that you would seriously consider giving away a game overseas Doc? I'd rather sell a home game against Freo to Perth, we would get more members (some) in WA than in China (none). Yes KK, I'd even agree to selling a home game against the GWS to Sydney, in fact I would support this. Well not really, but would take it over a trip to a country where they don't care about AFL, never will.

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Between our dreams and actions lies this world

Never say never.

I think at times we just see things in the realms of our own lifetime and can't see a need for anything existing beyond that.

Seeds need to be sown now if indeed one sees a future for our code beyond our own piece of turf.
If we think that it doesn't matter, it will to other codes and playing catch-up is fraught with danger.

Nope, they never will.

This isn't like Japan with Baseball you know.

Seeds don't need to be sown at all, funny how Hawthorn looked at making a connection with NZ but nothing has really happened from it, to the extent that they aren't even playing in the first game over there.

We have enough trouble (as a competition), dominating the Australian market in 'non football' states without worrying about overseas markets.

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Between our dreams and actions lies this world

Well, would it be fair to say that heading up to Sydney was a risk in the 80s?
Let's just say that we didn't venture out of our comfort zone and kept things as the generation behind us would have liked: The VFL way.
Where would we be now? How would we compete with the NRL when they've got the footing through all states and have the key networks falling over one another to shell out 2 Billion dollar deals?
How do we sell the idea to our kids to pick up AFL when they may be looking at 4 times the money in another code.

International markets are a different animal for sure, but we're already spending time in South Africa, New Zealand and some Pacific Islands.
We have several Irish players in the AFL system and always on the look-out at pillaging the Irish of more.

No team wanted games in Tasmania until Hawthorn have shown up just how much a success it has proved to be.
If other teams start developing outside their own home, what should Carlton do? Just wait as North did with Tasmania and spend time crying over, "What could have been" and then play catch-up?

The time for us to spread our wings is closer than one may think and it's not all about spending time on an International surface as it is to have the Internationals interested in our code, watching us on TV and calling themselves Carlton fans. What's wrong with that?

You have to look at the big picture kk. I'm not selling a game per se - I'm trying to expand the club's horizons particularly where overseas markets are concerned. You need to be making inroads broader than just your local market. I'm the type of Carlton supporter who hears fingernails on the blackboard when someone says 'Awww - it's not fair Collingwood and Essendon* have the ANZAC Day game'....good luck to them. Their brainchild. They've marketed it well and they rake in the benefits of the most popular regular season game by a long shot. My dream is to hear 'Aww - but Carlton has the China game...it's not fair'.

Don't you like those 'suffer in your jocks' moments in life? To me- it'd be no different to sitting down and watching us play the Dockers in Perth. I'm not likely to go and see that game. I'll enjoy that one on TV. Doesn't affect my 11-game membership. You're thinking too much about it if you're thinking about the Chinese citizen uptake in our membership. It's not about that.

Think of what the club would be doing for example if Tourism Malaysia was still on the books. What if the outgoing Malaysian Tourism Minister didn't have to spend as much of her budget while she still had the support of the PM. It was a nice deal and good for the club to be associated with a sponsorship slightly outside the norm. The sponsorship helped lift inbound tourism to Malaysia from Victoria and Tasmania by 27% and provided Tourism Malaysia with over $2 million in media exposure in the Australian market.

Now think about the opportunities based on those figures if Greg Swann, Anthony Barham and Jay Allen could keep going back and increasing those numbers to a stage where you could add more sponsors to the mix. After all - total Australian investment in Malaysia in 2011/12 was valued at $5.7 billion while Malaysian investment in Australia was $14.0 billion. Malaysia is Australia’s 10th largest trading partner. Australia imported $10 billion in goods and services from Malaysia last year. Malaysia Airlines starts a daily A380 Melbourne-KL in March, 2013 and will dovetail into the existing A380 service between Kuala Lumpur and London. By the time March rolls around Malaysia Airlines will likely have officially joined the Oneworld alliance, allowing Qantas Frequent Flyers to earn points and status credits when traveling on Malaysia Airlines, redeem their Qantas points on Malaysia Airlines flights and also enjoy access to Malaysia Airlines airport lounges.

Now - if that's not enough - the Malaysia Airlines A380 boasts the world's widest first class beds. Now I want you to imagine the bloke in these pictures is Juddy. Just squint kk and you'll see my drift.





Malaysia Airlines has declared the upstairs economy section to be a kid-free zone. All children under the age of 12 – including infants – travelling in economy will be assigned to seats on the lower deck. Malaysia Airlines says they won't be seated in the upper economy section unless the downstairs economy section is completely full. The move is aimed at ensuring a more restful and enjoyable trip for business travellers who have to fly in economy. Now isn't that an easy sell?



Opportunities open up locally too. With the free trade agreement with Malaysia signed in 2012 it was announced that with regard to wine export of a guarantee for Australian exporters of the best tariff treatment Malaysia gives any country. A recent study on the wine import industry in Malaysia found that the sales value of sparkling (champagne and others varieties) and still wines (red, white and rose) rose 54% last year. Now - we already have Jacob's Creek on the books as a level 4 sponsor at $250k per annum so with some cross promotion ingenuity that sponsorship could become a level 2 sponsorship - can you see how some of the strategy comes together?

Let's tie in the Melbourne University partnership too - and here's why. The strong sales of Australian wine in Malaysia have been attributed to more parents sending their children overseas to study, usually in Australia or New Zealand. The children are exposed to the wine culture and come back with preferences for Aussie wines, or European wines. That started the market expansion in Malaysia. What if they're exposed to Education, Wine and Football as well? Do you see where I'm taking this?

All clubs make most of their money from the AFL TV rights and Sponsorship. Membership is third on the revenue list. I'm not suggesting members are ignored - far from it, but the club has only dipped its toe in the water of international sponsorship and the strategy that can surround that. I'd like them to go for a swim. With the proper backing and the right partners - it's impossible to sink.

NAB Cup at worst Doc.

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Between our dreams and actions lies this world

No one takes that shit seriously. Get over there - play the game - work hard at building lasting partnerships domestically and overseas. Make money. Do it again - build more partnerships. Make lots of money. Some of the relationships are already there. Think big picture kk....what have you got to lose? What are you scared of? Ride the wave.

我卡尔顿酒店
I AM CARLTON

Not interested, sorry, we just won't agree on this. I'm sure Keogh is pleased that you're representing him so well though. Almost like a consultant.

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Between our dreams and actions lies this world

Very interested. Sign me up.

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*(grow - fun - gah)

Yeah but whatabout your whataboutism.

yess .. yes... he can be right up there with agnetha benny bjorn and anafreid as well as Alice Cooper in the i love carlton stakes.
Shouldnt he buy his own membership???

thats all nice... but what about the supporters here in Melbourne.. country Victoria and interstate???

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