: Tue Apr 21, 2009 2:02 pm  

A few Ideas. Here goes.

Warrington Wolves in conjunction with Warrington Borough Council to commission a mural to get rid of the hideous Pink Eye. This would depict (cue other fans suggesting Kerry Katona, George Sampson) famous landmarks / characters, industries from Warrington’s history. So I would imagine the golden gates would be on there, something to do with CS Lewis, Maybe the ship canal / swing bridges, Brian Bevan, Mike Gregory, maybe workers pulling wire you know the sort of thing. If memory serves there is something similar on the side of an old mill / warehouse near old Trafford. This would be a constant reminder of our towns heritage and of Warrington’s Rugby League club. If the club were serious about this they could invest in an electronic billboard on top giving details of the next game and ticket details etc. I know these would not be cheap but it is a busy stretch of road and would attract the attention of not far off a quarter of the towns population at least once a week.

I know the club has invested heavily in attracting school children over the last 10 years or so in the hope that the kids will become supporters and nag their parents to take them. One area that I feel they have not tapped into is the working adult population in Warrington. If you look at the businesses parks around the town it is unbelievable the number of people that are employed here in places like Gemini, Birchwood, Lingley Mere, Winwick quay, Woolston etc. You only have to walk around Birchwood shopping centre on a weekday lunchtime to see how many people work in these areas.
Has anybody been in a council run leisure centre recently and if you have is there anything to suggest that this town has a professional sport being played here? There are a lot of people who have relocated to warrington and a lot of these people hardly know anything about the town or the Wire.

I am not saying the club has done a bad job in marketing but they need some fresh ideas. Its a while since I was in Central station but I drive past it every morning and see a hundred or so commuters stood waiting for a train looking at an advert for Pepsi or some other global brand that is in their head anyway. How much to stick a Warrington Wolves poster in one of those cabinets? I suppose it is the advertising agency that would coin it in though.

: Tue Apr 21, 2009 7:22 pm  

I was thinking about this, not sure how realistic these ideas are, but they came into my head.

1. Some sort of 'half season' Wolfpack ticket. Make it like £10-20 for Under 11's or whatever. I know it's only £20, but then you'd hope that you'd increase income by the amount of adults that would need to get a ticket to take their kid now he had a ticket & wanted to go, two more folk in the stadium, eating & drinking etc etc. They might like it, get a full one next year.

2. Not sure what to call this, say, Wolfie week. I know my young 'un, his affiliation to the club is through Wolfie, not what goes on the pitch, so if it was I dunno, buy a mini Wolfie, at say £6 and with that, you show it at the tunstyle or whatever and you get in free. You could promote it as a sort of 'Get your own little Wolfie, then come & meet the real one', get him to stay behind afterwards, shake kids hands, pictures and all that stuff. Parents might take kids to the shop to get the wolfie, when without a shadow of a doubt, they'll mither for something else.

I have to be honest, I thought of these whilst the wife was talking earlier, and they have got me a mini bollocking as I was then asked "What did I just say?", I took a stab at Home & Away, it was wrong, so these may well be ill thought out suggestions, but suggestions none the less.

: Tue Apr 21, 2009 7:37 pm  

JWP wrote:

I was thinking about this, not sure how realistic these ideas are, but they came into my head.

1. Some sort of 'half season' Wolfpack ticket. Make it like £10-20 for Under 11's or whatever. I know it's only £20, but then you'd hope that you'd increase income by the amount of adults that would need to get a ticket to take their kid now he had a ticket & wanted to go, two more folk in the stadium, eating & drinking etc etc. They might like it, get a full one next year.

2. Not sure what to call this, say, Wolfie week. I know my young 'un, his affiliation to the club is through Wolfie, not what goes on the pitch, so if it was I dunno, buy a mini Wolfie, at say £6 and with that, you show it at the tunstyle or whatever and you get in free. You could promote it as a sort of 'Get your own little Wolfie, then come & meet the real one', get him to stay behind afterwards, shake kids hands, pictures and all that stuff. Parents might take kids to the shop to get the wolfie, when without a shadow of a doubt, they'll mither for something else.

I have to be honest, I thought of these whilst the wife was talking earlier, and they have got me a mini bollocking as I was then asked "What did I just say?", I took a stab at Home & Away, it was wrong, so these may well be ill thought out suggestions, but suggestions none the less.

you could even get wolfie around the local primary schools. the nippers would love that.

: Tue Apr 21, 2009 9:22 pm  

highwire wrote:

Has anybody been in a council run leisure centre recently and if you have is there anything to suggest that this town has a professional sport being played here?

I go to Fordton Leisure every thursday for mum and baby swimming and there isn't anything Warrington Wolves related, much less RL in general.

JWP wrote:

2. Not sure what to call this, say, Wolfie week. I know my young 'un, his affiliation to the club is through Wolfie, not what goes on the pitch, so if it was I dunno, buy a mini Wolfie, at say £6 and with that, you show it at the tunstyle or whatever and you get in free. You could promote it as a sort of 'Get your own little Wolfie, then come & meet the real one', get him to stay behind afterwards, shake kids hands, pictures and all that stuff. Parents might take kids to the shop to get the wolfie, when without a shadow of a doubt, they'll mither for something else.

That's a really good idea. What's to stop those children who got a Wolfie the previous time getting in free this time. Would you only do it once a season and therefore it'd only be the Wolfie in the most recent kit?

: Tue Apr 21, 2009 9:45 pm  

What about a sevens tournament with all the amateur clubs of Warrington and surrounding areas.
Every week we could have 4 teams compete in a pool. 3 matches before a game, winner of match 1 play winner of match 2, that in itself must be worth 300 fans a game.
each week With the tournament final near the end of the season.
All run by the club and amateur clubs involved.
Hardly any spending by the Wire and a community project.

Warrington Sevens Tournament. U16s

Plus scouting opportunities too

It would be good for the young lads to play in front of a crowd

: Wed Apr 22, 2009 12:27 am  

I think the Wolfie idea would be better if it was a free plush toy of Wolfie with a season pass. Might work out better logistically/financially but if it was a low price, people may buy (like cereal) the pass just to get the toy, but as they have the pass they think 'well we might as well use it' and that would get other people (parents, uncles) in with them.

Then again, i suppose the mini wolfies would be more for the under 5's who...well at what age do they start paying?

: Wed Apr 22, 2009 10:20 am  

highwire wrote:

something to do with CS Lewis,

??

: Wed Apr 22, 2009 10:28 am  

The All New Chester Wire wrote:

??

Lewis Carroll?

: Wed Apr 22, 2009 11:31 am  

Oh my god. When I was typing that I thought should I google to check ( I woould never choose literature as my chosen specialised subject, for that matter I dont think I have one) Stupid and lazy. Apologies.

Could have been worse, I couldnt remember the name of that canal, For a minute we could have had scenes depicting the Suez canal