Don't think the club know what the message will be yet. Is it "your club need you in the dog fight that this season will be" or "cheer us on to silverware". They can push the 150th anniversary but that won't count for much if we're losing and performances are poor. Massive positivity now would be hollow after a Huddersfield hammering and they'd be sure to be criticised for being over optimistic , unrealistic etc etc. A good win at Hudds with good performances from our halves ,dominant and aggressive forwards , signs of entertaining football and the likelihood of improvement are the things that will get the walk up crowd in.

Spot on Chris. What happens on the field affects what happens off it, not the other way round.

Start pushing sales early and then people will already have bought tickets whatever the performance is against Hudds, who btw, I think we'll beat

Doubt it BUT if they do it will be because Leeds will bring a lot more than Warrington.

Nothing to do with advertising.

And the South end will be full of school kids!

That's right, but that is only the case for the fans who have stopped going recently and probably still follow FC from a far.

The other element is those that would be new to RL, which I think the OP is getting at. kids are one of the obvious areas to target. Not all kids are brought up in RL households, so having our players/staff go into schools and also running ticket offers is a good way of getting the message to them (I think the club do both tbf, but could do more).

Then there's general marketing to the non-RL population through the use of things like billboards, papers, radio etc. If we're primarily using twitter and facebook, how are these people going to get the message to come and watch Hull as they're unlikely to e following/liking either.

Could the club do more enticing the Uni students to come and watch us?

Also, the people in the surrounding towns. Are we doing enough to get the message out to places outside of Hull that are within a short drive? Could we do more advertising in Goole/Howden, Scarborough, Brid, Shorpe, Driffield, Beverley etc? It seems like a lot of things stop at just the city.

On that last point, I emailed Clarkey about supporters branches (I've mentioned it on here in the past), citing Leeds as an example and whether the club have plans to do this in the future. I've had no reply after a few weeks now.

Leeds have been allocated 1000 tickets only (800 seats, 200 standing). Advertising, marketing and freebies to Archie (South Stand) will be the reason we have a good gate, not a large away following.

FWIW, I don't think we will eclipse your opening attendance anyway, not that it's important, apart from those interested in dick measuring.

Is it wrong to attempt to introduce new supporters to the sport?

If you track both clubs attendances over the last 10 years or so, it would be a significant achievement if Rovers first home match has a larger attendance than Hull's.

It would say alot about the state of both clubs.

Balls. You always get a good first gate, same as last year, then you went rapidly downhill.

Crossland last night said you STILL need a 10,000 break-even gate. Concentrate on that before mentioning our gates.

Diablo, i don't think anybody has negatively dismissed your gates to be fair so that was a little hotheaded.

This has been the best year I have seen our marketing by a country mile, it looks half professional n all. The billboards, city of culture stuff, plenty of advertising in the local area and local rags and a big direct marketing campaign. Can not knock it.

With regards Hull's, i am not privvy to it however the general consensus is it is not good enough from your fans. Fair enough results dictate crowds to an extent, but marketing plays a big part. You have a lot of disengaged fans, considering you averaged 14,000 + one year didn't you? This should be the target market for a big campaign, with something that engages the local community. You have a good propaganda machine with smailes in the the HDM, but this is always on the field activities really.

I like somebodies point about reaching out to different area's. KR have targeted hornsea and up that way this year - worth a try i guess. There are plenty more populated area's around West Hull which could be targeted, and all more affluent with potential income to spend on games. The challenge you have is that these said people are probably the pro - allam supporting hull tigers fans, and they would be hard to attract.