Ross Cunningham is St Johnstone’s former Media and Communications Manager and Fife Flyers’ former Media and Community Officer. He speaks to Sports Marketing Scotland about his time at both clubs and gives his thoughts on how both clubs, and both sports they operate in, could better themselves.
The recent “Price of Football” BBC study raised several questions around the future of our national sport. Many opinions have been raised since, but one thing is abundantly clear – attitudes and offerings need to adapt to a new generation.
Scotland’s close relationship with glorious failure in sport, particularly football, is well documented. If our sports clubs across Scotland learnt from their failures and embraced them, as is the case with startups and other companies that adopt a startup-like approach, it can be used as a catalyst to drive growth going forward.
Startups traditionally begin with small teams of people working towards the same aim of getting their product or service off the ground. In the early days, there isn’t much money available either. It’s because of these two points that I believe it’d be an ideal way for our clubs across all sports in Scotland to operate. Scottish clubs across sport don’t have huge operations working behind the scenes in the marketing, comms, PR or commercial teams. And I think we all know there isn’t much money kicking around.
Partick Thistle, the club that arguably brought us the best mascot in the world, Kingsley, are improving year on year. The club achieved their highest league finish since the 1980s in the 2016/17 season and unveiled plans for a new multi-million-pound training ground. A good achievement nonetheless. However, for a team almost on the verge of bankruptcy only 10 years ago and lamenting in the third division, this achievement is somewhat incredible. During this rise through the divisions, the ways in which the club have engaged with fans has been admirable, and could be seen as a key driver as to why Thistle’s average attendance increases with every passing season. How do they bring fans through the turnstiles in a city dominated by Celtic and Rangers though? Quite simply, by offering a unique fan experience.
It’s been a while, but delighted to get another Sports Marketing Scotland interview published, and it’s a good one. I’ve followed Grant Russell on Twitter for quite some time now and, of course, his work for STV. What’s always clear is his passion for Scottish football and trying to inspire us all to think how we could improve the game in Scotland. We talk along those lines, plus his thoughts on what’s happening now and what’s next for sports journalism.
The clocks recently went forward by an hour, signifying the beginning of daylight saving time and the promise of longer days and (hopefully) warmer temperatures. It does also, sadly, bring with it the final stretch of most sports seasons. But sport never sleeps and even with games still left to be played this season and trophies waiting for a new home, the preparations for the new season have already started. A major aspect of this preparation is the season ticket videos that sports clubs make to encourage fans to either renew or buy a season ticket for the coming season.
Influencer marketing is not a new phenomenon. It hasn’t just sprung out of nowhere to become the new ‘in’ marketing buzzword. It’s mass adoption across businesses and brands hasn’t been as widespread as social or content marketing were, though. As a general rule of thumb, the business of sport tends to lag behind the corporate world when it comes to adopting new innovations. With a little bit of attention and a smattering of savvy though, it’s got plenty of opportunity to jump ahead of wider businesses and truly embrace the world of influencers.
We spoke to Partick Thistle’s Media and Communications Manager, George Francis, on his career journey to Thistle, how the club has evolved over the last couple of years, and of course, everyone’s favourite mascot, Kingsley.
Almost a year since the first interview appeared on the site, with Greig from Hibs, we’re delighted to bring you this one with George today. All 5,000 odd words of it! Hope you enjoy reading.
In the week that the SPFL Trust’s Legacy 2014 Report was released, Sports Marketing Scotland spoke to the charity’s General Manager, Nicky Reid to get more of an insight into the findings and results.
SPFL clubs, or their community trusts, were invited to apply for an £11,000 grant, funded by the Scottish Government through their sponsorship of the Scottish League Cup. If you want to read the full report, head here, or click on the image below.
As the 2016/17 football season gets underway, it won’t quite be the same for Andrew Barrowman. He’s taken the decision to retire from the game, and is looking to make a name for himself off the pitch now. However, while most ex-professionals carve out coaching and managerial careers for themselves, Andrew is looking to be the one driving the overall strategy and growth of the football clubs his fellow ex-professionals are working for.
He reveals to Sports Marketing Scotland what made him choose to chase a career in the business side of sport, what his dream role would be in the future, and his thoughts on how we’re currently promoting football in Scotland.