By LLOYD QUANSAH
Raptors Lair, a children's hideout game at the ACC, is on full display before a Maple Leafs/New Jersey Devils game on November 18
When Toronto sports fans turn on the Fan 590 throughout the year, they might have heard head coach Jim Barker promoting the Toronto Argonauts. He said about beating the Montreal Alouettes: “We may have started the season as a young team, but we have learned things game to game. In losing to Montreal, we learned from it and came back to beat them two weeks later. And then you know what we learned from that game? We learned that winning beats the hell out of losing.”
Toronto is a huge market when it comes to sports. There are teams available for almost every sport imaginable. One of those teams, Toronto Argonauts, has to use a lot tricks to gauge fan interest. Using radio ads and setting up theme nights are several ways to help bring fans in.
As important it is for the on-field product to be good, promotion play a factor as well.
Argonauts director of marketing Carlos Ferreira understands it is hard to promote a team in such a crowded market so any unique campaign will help.
“With a big city, you have to be very tactical,” Ferreira said. “You’ve got to stick to what’s happening now. So people are aware of it and use it game to game.”
Ferreira said that his marketing team did its best to identify its strengths for marketing. They began the year with radio ads by Barker, at the time the most well-known name on the team, and then started using recognizable players -running back Cory Boyd, returner/receiver Chad Owens and others.
In a tough economy and market, the Argos — Toronto’s storied CFL team for a century — are just one of dozens of pro sports teams using gimmicks and promotions to lure fans back into the stadium.
Jeff Smith, is also on the Argos marketing team but he focuses on the corporate promos, such as Wendy’s, Nissan and President’s Choice. He said that both the team and the sponsors work together to develop both brands.
“Others where we run promos that are on a game-by game basis, they want to engage as many people as they can, but the primary goal is excitement,” Smith said.
Bob Stellick, president of Stellick Marketing Communications, says successful franchises use their fan base to promote themselves. He thinks that a few Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment teams, Toronto FC and Maple Leafs, have done a great job doing this.
“Look at Toronto FC for example. There’s no halftime or pre-game anything. It’s nothing. They have a loyal fan base and they were inadvertently marketed by the Red Patch club that started itself. Their fans made their team, which is really the way you want to build a franchise,” Stellick asid.
Stellick also points out that using a star player or uniqueness of a team are also great ways to promote a team. He advises against teams gearing towards fans that go to games just for a big promotion, since they may not sustain it. He knows die-hard fans are the best way for a team to succeed in bring fans in.
Ian Ellis, director of marketing and special events of the Ontario Hockey League, believes his league’s success in the GTA is attributed to whom they gear their market.
“I think that we’re a very high-quality product. We’re family entertainment. We probably have a different pricing point than some professional sports franchises. A lot of times we really try to create that family environment, that family atmosphere. And, let’s not kid ourselves, its kind of ‘sports-tainment’ these days. You’ve got to entertain fans while they are in the building,” Ellis said.
He says that the family atmosphere, the future NHL stars and the size of the markets in the GTA are beneficial in their success. He says each team uses its community feel and lower ticket prices to bring fans into the arenas.
FAN Magazine 