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Issue 95 - February 1997
Grosvenor, Leicester, Peterborough City and Warwick rose to the top of the entries in Regatta's competition for the best marketing and publicity effort of the past season, writes Christopher Dodd.
The competition, backed by Boat Race sponsors Beefeater Gin, followed the ARA's first club seminar in marketing and publicity held at Holme Pierrepont a year ago, where delegates were given a day of do's and dont's by representatives of the ARA Publicity and Marketing Committee, Scope Sponsorship and Regatta Magazine.
Positioning your club in your community encompasses making the right contacts, some routine slog and recognising a good idea when it slaps you in the face. The above-mentioned clubs show evidence of all these elements. Warwick BC grabbed the most obvious handle thrown up by the year, the Atlanta gold of Steve and Matt. Media interest in the latter
'gave WBC the ideal opportunity to reposition themselves from being a fairly obscure organisation to one of the area's best known sports clubs,'reports Alison Taylor. In nine months the club generated
'substantial media coverage in press and radio, developed its regatta into a community event by adding jousting and jazz and designed a sponsorship pack which helped to raise £7,000.'Warwick took advantage of one of the seminar's important messages concerning press coverage: they contacted the local media and asked them what kind of stories they were looking for.
Leicester Rowing Club started their campaign with a move to the new Leicester Rowing Centre. The Leicester Mercury published regional and national successes, and wide use was made of the World Wide Web. Sue Shaw, the club's sponsorship secretary, says that they participated in Leicester City Challenge to upgrade the quality of life in the inner city area where the Centre is situated. Ergos were taken to primary school fetes to both raise money and recruit juniors, and open evenings were held to introduce people working in the area.
Steve Tuck reports that Peterborough City achieved regular consistent press coverage by a combination of placing priority on marketing and producing newsworthy results on the water and in the city's schools and shopping centre (see How Peterborough get the Popular Vote).
Christine Fawcett, press secretary and captain of Grosvenor RC , reports
'Grosvenor have received great coverage in the local press, been on national tv on three occasions, raised their profile, attracted sponsorship and increased club funds, all through Step 7 of the ARA Guide to Publicity. Who says seminars don't pay?'On balance, Peterborough wins the case of a dozen bottles of Beefeater Gin for relentless consistent newspaper coverage plus their solid outreach schemes, but only by a canvas from Grosvenor, who were a couple of seats ahead of Leicester and Warwick.
But when it comes to flare, Grosvenor take the biscuit. A phone call to the producers of Channel 4's teenage soap Hollyoaks, which is made around Chester, resulted in 19 club members being employed (and being paid!) as extras in three episodes, plus a location fee for the club. The programme also sponsored presentation crystal blades for the fastest men's and women's crews at the Dee Autumn Head. Grosvenor's Chris Fawcett told the Chester Chronicle that
'It is up to people like me to present my club, our events and the sport in general in an effective way. This I try to do with creativity, enthusiasm and, not least, persistence.'Grosvenor's creativity, enthusiasm and persistence wins them a special prize of half a dozen bottles of Beefeater Gin.
ARA Guide to Publicity : (+44) 181 748 3632
Press officers:
| Grosvenor RC | Christine Fawcett | (+44) 151 263 2142 |
| Leicester RC | Sue Shaw | (+44) 116 275 0750 |
| Peterborough City RC | Steve Tuck | (+44) 1733 341109 |
| Warwick RC | Alison Taylor | (+44) 1925 277777 |
© Copyright Christopher Dodd, 1997.
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