A New Positioning — Rugby League Branding
Rugby League in the UK is in a decent place. There’s loads of potential, and a shit-tonne of cool stuff it could do. I’m excited about how it’s full potential could be unlocked.
I wrote in my first piece about revamping brand strategy in Rugby League ahead of what will be a big year in 2022.
It was approached with the view of giving non-marketing people, or the general fan, a bit of an idea about how I think it should be approached to help grow the game. If you’ve got 10 minutes, give that a read here.
Basically, the game’s in a decent place, but it could be better.
I’m going to try and keep the next few pieces brief so you can quickly get through them. I wrote in my first piece that this is quite cathartic for me, but I also hope it triggers a few interesting thoughts in your mind.
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I’m going to skip over all the diagnosis bit, mainly because I don’t have the time and I’m not being paid — I’m doing this as a fan. I’ll take a broad stroke view that, basically, the sport is in a position where it needs to get the existing rugby league fans more engaged and as often as possible. It also needs to bring new people into the game in anywhere and anyway possible.
The rest of the stuff we want (broadcast, commercial and essentially more money and fame etc) will flow from there. Ultimately, we need as many fans as possible spending as much time in the game as possible (and spending as much money on the game, as possible).
So, in this piece we’re taking a very quick look at a potential strategy built on the audience, the positioning and the objectives. My next piece will look at one of the billion tactics we could do largely based on the 4 Ps of product, price, place and promotion.
Audience
I’m going to suggest that there are two broad areas for the sport on a weekly basis to go after
· Existing rugby league fans — the core
· Sports main eventers in the areas where clubs are / rugby league is known
To make it clear — I’m all for expansion, but it’ll take a least a decade to establish itself. Run that as a long-term project, not a short-term win. Don’t parachute it in. We don’t really have the time or the money.
Basically, there’s so much untapped potential in the North, and where other elite teams are established. Fish where the fish are and get as many Northerners (primarily) as you can to spend time and money on rugby league. That’s nothing to be ashamed of.
I understand that’s more of an audience segment than a target. But I’m not doing the in depth diagnosis. From that you can break that down even more. And you can work out who we’re not going to target too. From a club perspective, you can localise this. Eg Leeds shouldn’t be bothered about getting a fan from Warrington.
Positioning
Massive piece of work this one; what does rugby league stand for. Specifically, what does the Betfred Super League stand for? What about the Championship etc? What about your club?
For the purpose of these pieces, we know who we want to go after, and we know that we want them to know that we exist, but what things do we want them to think about us?
Now, you need to have done the diagnosis to really figure this out as it needs to be things that the consumer wants and something that the sport can deliver on, better than, or more interestingly than, anyone else they could get that from.
What do you think that would be?
For me, it needs to be about the experience of consuming the sport. It needs to be simple. Honest. Realistic. No fluff or nonsense and can stand the test of time. Funny, that sounds like a stereotypical Northerner to me.
Here’s one idea that I’ve spent a grand total of 25 minutes thinking of: Raw. Real. Rapid.
I don’t think rugby league stacks up as a glamour sport; it’s Raw, both on and off the pitch. It’s played by people like you and people you know; it’s Real. And it’s fast and exciting; it’s Rapid.
What other sport in your area can offer you raw talent that knows where it’s from and hasn’t lost touch? What other sport in your area has talent that’s like the people from where you’re from and gives you access to them? And what other sport in your area offers you action that’s as fast as it comes, with athletes with real pace and power?
It’s just one idea, but quite ownable to me. And I think it’s what rugby league fans want and what sports fans in the north (and beyond) would resonate with. I’ve not stress tested it, obviously. It may not be perfect, but let’s go with it.
Has it sparked any ideas from you?
Objectives
Well, we’d want to set SMART objectives that would help us reach our goals, vision, mission. But I won’t go into that. We just want to get a load more people involved in the game of rugby league don’t we?
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So, what do you think?
Which audiences do you think the sport, or your club, should be going after?
What positioning do you think the sport, or your club has, or should have?
Let me know.
Until next time.
