Then let's make a haunt.

I'll bring the tarpulin.

Seriously though, why not pick a biggish bar nearby the G and/or the Dome that is run by a Carlton supporter and call it our own - or we could all head to Percy's.

As for during the game, there's always a spot you can nominate. Just because it doesn't have a sign, a fixed bar or carpet, doesn't mean it can't be our little home.

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29 different attributes,
And only 7 that you like;
20 ways to see the world,
Or 20 ways to start a fight.

You make a good point mjonc, and I dont have access to any figures, but I'dreckon that the relative size of those potential market segments might be:

Social Club - 1-2000 people
Silver - 10-20000 people
Blue - 15 - 30000 people

Yes the social club members are more profitable but you'd think it would be harder to find somebody willing to shell out $500 than it is to find somebody able to shell out $60. McDonalds dont make as much money on a Big Mac as Ferrari do on a car, but they make up for it by selling hundreds of millions of the things. Finding 1000 social club members would be harder than finding 1000 blue members so essentially the comparison that you make is not really representative.

I'd reckon Blue members could potentially be the most profitable members for the club. Blue members dont get entry to games, they cant vote at the elections, they dont even get the membership discounts booklet. Basically they get a sticker and a couple of Inside Carlton magazines. For an outlay of some stickers, an envelope and some postage the club gets $60. There is no ongoing hassles with grounds access, no maintenance of social clubs, no powerful vocal group of club diehards to please. Basically with blue members, once the cheque clears and the package hits the postbox it's obligation over for the club. What we need is 30000 of these guys tipping in their $60 every February and we'd be flying.

I dont want to devalue the contribution of die hard long term fans and I accept that the social club members individually tip in the most $$$. I just reckon though that if you did an analysis percentage wise of what it costs to administer, what it costs to market and sell, what it costs to provide the benefits and how hard it is to sell the things that the Blue members could be highly profitable.

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"Who discovered we could get milk from cows, and what did he think he was doing at the time?" Billy Connolly

A membership breakdown was the one question I had to ask last night, but completely forgot about it until JohnM raised it afterwards as well.

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Mjonc signing off at 8888

Could it just be that the old social club era has passed (social club within a clubs surbuban home ground). Who still has one? Is it and different to ours? Any better? I doubt it. The bombers social club members get pretty much the same deal as our members. The Pies may have the edge however.

The Membership Dept should look at the different mix of supporters and focus on their individual needs..... it's all about the mix! Malouf also alluded to this last night.

"Step into my office."
"What?! Why?"
"Cause you're @#$%&! fired!"

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29 different attributes,
And only 7 that you like;
20 ways to see the world,
Or 20 ways to start a fight.

Money has become tight in my life this year and therefore the first thing on my list to go was CFC Social Club membership. I could be an interstate member and still gain access to the Sticks Room when i can make Carlton home games (which is once a year if I'm lucky). So i went for the interstate member option.

Over the past couple of years I have donated quite a lot of money to the club, money that I'd actually like now, but I gave it when the going got tough.

What people at Carlton don't seem to understand is that you have to spend money to make money. They have to see advertising and marketing as not a sunk cost but an expense to gain more revenue. If they want to increase the cash flow going in, then they have to risk spending more to get it. It's critical that we start the season well in order to generate income from people who might just sign up because we're going alright. But if the membership package is going to remain this skimpy, then we can forget it. There's no benefit in SC membership unless we make the finals.

I actually think we've lost some of the SC and SC Gold members and have gained silver members as we've gone down. This doesn't help. The response is not to hope the loyal stay on (which the most loyal will) but to entice people to stay SC by making the package more attractive. Foregoing short-term revenue in the Carlton shop by giving people vouchers or credit for spending at the shop is a good start because then people will buy clothes they will need anyway and the more exposure CFC and its logo can get the better off we can be. I think that this management issue needs to be addressed.

The cap this year, i think is terrible. There is a measly reference to the carltonfc.com.au on the back, but it's so non-descript and the front logo is Something Blue - what the??? At least make it Carlton Football Club or the old logo - the new one is ridiculous. It's so American.

Is there an email address for the club that will get me heard on this issue? It's frustrating me like hell and if I wasn't so loyal, I wouldn't have paid money to membership because it's not providing members with anything to feel either a sense of belonging or value for money.

_________________
"A good composer does not initiate. He steals."

- Igor Stravinsky

What frustrates me is that the club doesn't even seem to be trying with small initiatives that don't cost money. For example:

- Membership bundles - get discounts on Carlton gear as part as a membership bundle.
- They could data mine the current membership and off once off discounts to long term members upgrade to a new level off membership. At worst this provides some extra revenue in year 1, at best some people stick at the enhanced level and provide additional long term revenue. This also might make long term members feel rewarded for their loyalty.
- Providing more incentive for top echeleons of membership. Eg the exclusive opportunity to buy merchandise signed by the whole team. The exclusive opportunity is the reward and the merchandise might derive additional revenue.
- Provide members with an option of buying merchandise recognising their status. Eg '5 year member', '10 year member', etc. This is an incentive to buy another shirt (ie upgrade earlier in some cases) and recognises the contributions of members.


I'm not suggesting any of this is rocket science, that the ideas would result in millions of revenue, etc. But I can think of them off the top of my head. I'd like to see the club trying new things to try and raise revenue. They don't have to cost a fortune, and might not make millions, but at least it would show that the club is trying and has some original ideas and is not just following the previous years membership program.

And while I accept that people like Malouf might be busy on other strategic objectives (cost cutting, ground redevelopment, negotiating with AFL over management of PP, etc) these things can be driven by department heads, such as the Marketing Manager.

Well now let us see what the General can deliver now he has been voted in. He provided the members/donators with the Heroes Stand, what else can he mastermind?

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Mjonc signing off at 8888

Look at the top left hand corner on the link

Largest selling daily newspaper in Australia - Dont know how many visit the site but assume it would be quite a few

Marketing

http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/0,20295,,00.html

_________________
If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

In agreeance with a great deal of the posts above.

In my old days as a magazine publisher, when the ad revenue was starting to slip I always got in a hungry new ad rep - generally on very good dough and commissions - and challenged them to double, triple, quadruple their net employment cost in ad booking confirmations.

Rarely did this not work and deliver long term results / relationships.

Same can be done to hungry marketing types - you end up with more revenue for @#$%&! all.

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This might sound extreme in the context of alleged sexual assault, drunken violence and a drug trafficking charge...

The "value adds" are important, but I still think that Carlton supporters need to realise that membership is the key to returning to a position of strength.

We shouldn't be looking at matching Essendon* & Collingwood, we should be looking to go past them. Why not? We have the support. Carlton used to be able to survive with low membership numbers - we can't anymore. That's more important than a cap or badge (although the 2003 member pin was pretty good).

One of the key things Eddie did at Collingwood was really nail the point that membership was essential to their off field success. It wasn't good enough to be a supporter.

Bear,

The point of this post was to emphasise that there is VERY LITTLE that attracts supporters to become members.

The aim of my thread starter was to show my despair at the lack of initiative and thought that Carlton puts into its membership packages that might actually entice the supporters to become MEMBERS.

_________________
"A good composer does not initiate. He steals."

- Igor Stravinsky

Isn't the Herald Sun?

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Time to go: Smorgon, Pagan

You realise, Prez, that "Supporter base" actually means Australia-wide?

I understand your emphasis towards SC members, but from where I sit, there is little to no incentive to keep putting my money towards the club each year. I get GA access to matches. Big @#$%&! deal. What does it count when it's not that easy to get down to Melbourne every year, and the Club, in its wisdom ( )only asks for one Sydney match every 3-4 years?

There is very little pitched towards what politicians and psephologists would describe as "Swinging voters" and "Marginal seats". The rusted on SC member will always stump up for membership. Maybe downgrade to non-SC, but will remain a member in 99% of cases. It's the "Why should I" person in Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra where the members are won and lost, and with little initiative, those will be the difference between a possible new membership record, and a sub 30K member mark.

I'm with Clem. If I didn't bleed Navy Blue, I may not bother.

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And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

We should have been looking after members twenty years ago instead of the silvertails...Essendon* in particular looked after their rank and file very well and thats why they still have them as members.
The club needs a makeover and the silvertail blueblood image dispensed with and made more appealing to your average joe....part of the problem is people still see us as a club for the well to do only....

_________________
"When you have the attitude of a champion, you see adversity as your
training partner."
- Conor Gillen

No doubt about it guys, we're under-resourced and permanent followers. When was the last time the Club really did something ground-breaking, or set the scene for others to follow?

It's been a long time since we trail blazed anything, other than being penalised big time for cap penalties.

We are a struggling club in so many ways.

And now, we finally get some new blood on the Board who seems to be saying the right things. Perhaps he can take up some of these causes, and gets them fixed? Perhaps the AFL's support will extend to a secondment of marketing types? Perhaps a new sponsor or benefactor can come along and assist with this?

I feel as though if the CLub could do something, it would, but its starved of cash and support. Until then, our gripes over being a follower, which hurt me no end, unfortunatley need to be separated from the decision to be a member. Our gripes over the Coaching, or the retention of player X, need to be put aside. the Club needs the members now as much as any time over the past few years, despite all the failings.

ps please dont compare us to the Swans. The size of their AFL funded bailouts over the 1990's make us look we're well managed.

That's a good point. Sometimes we get mislead about what the public want in these forums because we think we are representative, but really we are the Carlton tragics.

Before i found TBV, i was a lifelong supporter of the Blues, but had never been a member. Why? Because there was little value in it for me for the money I had to spend. Since joining the forums I've adopted the 'What i can do for the club' mentality and become a member, but i guarantee there is a significant untapped resource out there in terms of supporting the club but having no membership.

To grow intially we need to identify and convert these supporters. To do this we need to find out what they value and give it to them.

you either missed it or didnt read all my posts in this topic becuase i reckon interstate members get shafted the most.

and personally i reckon its were the most improvement can be made.

as i said in one of my other posts on this thread.

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Got to love the stare Down by Setanta on Llyod

Sorry Prez.

I must have been scanning a bit, and scanned over that.

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And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

no probs mate

like i said, i reckon that is where the most impresive growths can be made

especially now with more and more games being played interstate i.e. a game against bulldogs in nt, a couple in perth, a couple in adelaide etc..

i think it would be wise if the club tried to workout some form of membership that really inticed interstate members to get on-board and like the example i used with the signed jumper to keep renewing.

the possibilities are endless really if the club gets of its ass and does something about it.

still not convinced on selling home games though, but if we are setting up games against the likes of other teams prepared to sell their home games then i have no issue with it.

_________________
Got to love the stare Down by Setanta on Llyod