Now we are well aware that the advertising for the A league is handled centrally but that is no excuse, for the poor promotion, if anything it should be better.
This weekend the Perth Glory place host to North Queensland Fury, a team that includes ex Liverpool and England star Robbie Fowler. So the FFA’s advertising agency have produced the following headline “Glory Tackles God in Heavenly Match.” Surely this would be a more appropriate message outside a church than promoting a game of football?
There are several key flaws with this advertisement, as there have been with many other produced this year in the Hyundai A League.
First of all only avid football fans would know that Robbie Fowler was known as “God” during his time at Liverpool, and those that did know that would probably be attending the game anyway. So if you will excuse me here, you are preaching to the converted.
The second problem is the religious connotations. One of the first lessons that you learn when you start out in advertising is never use religion or politics as they tend to alienate your product rather than assist in its promotion.
The third issue I have with this advertisement, is once again the Perth Glory, the home team, are promoting an opposition player. Why? Perth Glory have three Socceroos, Jacob Burns, Mile Sterjovski and Chris Coyne, a Dutch international in Victor Sikora, a Brazilian international and Olympic medal winner in Amaral, and an Ivory Coast international in Eugene Dadi. Surely the club would get far more mileage promoting their own players, their home-town heroes rather than the oppositions?
Is it therefore any wonder that the crowds around the A League are dropping? The marketing may be deemed clever, but it is too clever for the average punter and does not produce a call to action, which is come and support Perth Glory or whoever, and be part of the action and the experience.
Unless we see a change in approach and more money invested in promoting the games with a more local feel, crowds will continue to disappoint around Australia. This campaign has obviously been pitched well to the key decision makers at the FFA, but is failing miserably with the consumer.
