Quote: bramleyrhino "It should be down to the clubs though. They should know their businesses better than anyone else and they should know their audiences better than anyone else.
This year, Salford have marketed themselves as something of a "disrupter" in the game (the "Devilution", "Welcome to Hell" etc). Koukash's persona suits this branding very well and whatever praise or criticism you want to throw at him and Salford, there is no denying that they have got people talking. However, if the RFL is running the show, I suspect much of the effectiveness of that would be diluted. Salford, like every other club, would have to toe the party line - and that can do more harm than good. Fourteen seperate brands, all saying the same things, all looking the same and all (in effect) selling the same is a bloody terrible marketing proposition.
The other issue I have is that it limits clubs in targeting their marketing at the audiences they want to attract. Let's assume that the RFL set out to attract a family audience, yet a club like Leeds or Wigan decides that they have a good proportion of families already attending and instead, would like to focus on attracting high-value corporate customers - would those clubs still have to pay into a pot to attract customers that they already have enough of?'"
I couldn't agree with this more. But the RFL should be putting together a strategy for the league to increase attendances at all levels which would include focussing on the target markets you have mentioned.
Some clubs have very limited resources and the RFL could assist them with communications, marketing materials etc. along with a 'league wide' strategy like they have in the NRL.
The RFL can certainly help put things in place to increase memberships at all levels, it is working in the NRL and in other sports.
