2016 All Things Lions Marketing & Promotions

[B.C.FAN]

Why would the lions play there home opener on the weekend of the NHL draft when you know that is what 1040 is going to be talking about . They should have been on the road and Skulsky should have known this.

1040 always goes heavy with hockey talk at this time of year with the NHL draft this weekend and free agency next weekend. I hate it but it's not going to change. You wouldn't gain anything by waiting a week, and you'd be trying to lure people into the stadium on a long weekend when many people like to get out of town.

[footballtom]

then why not go on the road for 2 weekends good points from you

[David]

And the scary thing is, there's a really strong movement afoot, particularly in the Prairies, to move the season back a month! That would be disastrous out here.

Thought of the day: I haven't been this jealous of the Argos' franchise since I was a boy.


DH

[DanoT]

then why not go on the road for 2 weekends good points from you

Since there are 8 other teams needs that a schedule needs to address, let's be thankful that the Lions are not playing at home over the long weekend.

[Hambone]

Why would the lions play there home opener on the weekend of the NHL draft when you know that is what 1040 is going to be talking about . They should have been on the road and Skulsky should have known this.

In terms of hockey this weekend is all about the draft. Next weekend will be all about free agency. The Riders are the only team that doesn't have an NHL club in their general market place meaning 8 out of 9 teams face the same issue. What's the CFL supposed to do? Have 8 teams play on the road in Week 1 & Week 2?

[Hambone]

You wouldn't gain anything by waiting a week, and you'd be trying to lure people into the stadium on a long weekend when many people like to get out of town.

Especially this year. With July 1 landing on the Friday it is a true long weekend for the vast majority.

[jcalhoun]

Why would the lions play there home opener on the weekend of the NHL draft when you know that is what 1040 is going to be talking about . They should have been on the road and Skulsky should have known this.

1040 always goes heavy with hockey talk at this time of year with the NHL draft this weekend and free agency next weekend. I hate it but it's not going to change. You wouldn't gain anything by waiting a week, and you'd be trying to lure people into the stadium on a long weekend when many people like to get out of town.

I don't really think the NHL draft is an issue. How many people actually tune in to TSN 1040 on a regular basis? I know I only listen to the radio in traffic, and if they're talking hockey, I turn it to another channel, usually CBC Radio 1, the most popular radio station in Vancouver, or CBC2 --far less popular, but it still draws a larger audience than TSN 1040.

In fact, I just looked up the most recent listener data I could find, and TSN 1040 barely cracks the top ten of Males aged 25-54. They are the #17 station for women. And they have, between Feb and May of this year, 2.9% of the market. TSN 1040 is irrelevant.

Just like the Province sports page is irrelevant. 2015 newspaper data shows the Province has an average paid daily circulation of 68,500 and non-paid of 55,800 for a daily average of about 124,000 readers. The Vancouver Courier, though a weekly, almost has that many. But nobody would flip out if the Lions weren't getting coverage in the free community newspapers.

Much of what we think of as critical exposure for the Lions is, in fact, irrelevant. If neither of the major Vancouver daily newspapers nor the two sports talk radio stations mentioned the Lions at all, it wouldn't move the needle one bit in terms of attendance.

As fans we seek out Lions' coverage and are disappointed when they get the short end of the stick vis a vis the Canucks, Whitecaps, etc. But social media is way, way more important than traditional media. For example, the Lions have more followers on Twitter (102k) than the Province has paid daily circulation. They have 158k followers on Facebook. This provides them with a greater reach than both radio and print combined. And more critically, on social media they're narrowcasting to known fans as opposed to broadcasting to the public at large.

This is why kids are so important to the Lions. Part of it is what we've talked about here for years --creating lifelong fans, etc. But if you want to crack social media, you need thousands of people posting pics of their kids getting their faces painted at the game, having fun, and then people gushing about it on Facebook.

Anyway, we'll see what they do. But the last thing they should do is work around TSN 1040.

Cheers,

James

[footballtom]

Excellent post very good points

[footballtom]

If anyone is watching the pre game for the Argos this is how to get the people out it is a huge party . Here this skulsky it has to be a party. Win or lose

[CardiacKid]

In fact, I just looked up the most recent listener data I could find, and TSN 1040 barely cracks the top ten of Males aged 25-54. They are the #17 station for women. And they have, between Feb and May of this year, 2.9% of the market. TSN 1040 is irrelevant.

Just like the Province sports page is irrelevant. 2015 newspaper data shows the Province has an average paid daily circulation of 68,500 and non-paid of 55,800 for a daily average of about 124,000 readers. The Vancouver Courier, though a weekly, almost has that many. But nobody would flip out if the Lions weren't getting coverage in the free community newspapers.

Much of what we think of as critical exposure for the Lions is, in fact, irrelevant. If neither of the major Vancouver daily newspapers nor the two sports talk radio stations mentioned the Lions at all, it wouldn't move the needle one bit in terms of attendance.

As fans we seek out Lions' coverage and are disappointed when they get the short end of the stick vis a vis the Canucks, Whitecaps, etc. But social media is way, way more important than traditional media. For example, the Lions have more followers on Twitter (102k) than the Province has paid daily circulation. They have 158k followers on Facebook. This provides them with a greater reach than both radio and print combined. And more critically, on social media they're narrowcasting to known fans as opposed to broadcasting to the public at large.
Cheers,

James

Excellent points in your post, JCalhoun. I would count myself as someone from the generation who were accustomed to getting their sports news and info from the traditional sources such as newsprint, tv and to a lesser degree, radio.

But starting last year, I began to find myself relying on social media more and more often to get news about the Leos and various bits of info. That habit has pretty much intensified since the free agency frenzy of this year. I have pretty much abandoned the likes of the Sun and Province and gone straight to social media feeds and CFL specific sites likes 3DownNation and our Lionbackers.

The same applies to TV; I stopped watching local outlets as I found the coverage runs hot and cold and just way too inconsistent both in terms of quality and commitment to the product.

You also mention how much (or little) women follow TSN 1040; I think for any team to be successful in the marketplace, they need to tailor a significant portion of their marketing to a female audience. IMO this will have spill-over benefit for entire families to attend games. At the risk of sounding sexist, I still believe that the female head of a household plays the biggest role in determining how a family budgets its entertainment, how the kids spend their free time, etc. The Vancouver Canadians have outstanding success in filling their modest stadium (on a very minimal marketing budget in comparison to the Leos) by focusing a great deal of their marketing strategy at female fans (maybe they need to be referred to as customers).

The Leos need to expand their attention to their female fans and how they can help fill BC Place.

Edit: Just to add to my point about female heads of households, it goes without saying that single parent families tend to be female. I have no idea what the statistics are in that regard..I expect many single parent families regardless of whether it is just mom or dad are pretty hard-pressed to afford any professional sporting event when all the other expenses of living in Vancouver are calculated. All the more reason to offer a special deal for kids to come to the game...

[footballtom]

Until there is new ownership and a new president it is going to stay the same here

[footballtom]

Until there is new ownership and a new president it is going to stay the same here

Just looking at Ticketmaster there are quit a few tickets sold does anyone agree ?

looks like all the $5.00 tickets are gone.

if that is the case the lions better not blow it like the Argos did last night.

[David]

Just looking at Ticketmaster there are quit a few tickets sold does anyone agree ?

looks like all the $5.00 tickets are gone.

I think you're looking at sections without dots and making the assumption that the entire inventory is sold. I believe it just means they're not making them available (perhaps 'til other seats around them are sold first?).

They're not expecting much more than 20,000 tonight, per LU. If that's the case, it's quite sad.


DH

[almo89]

Just looking at Ticketmaster there are quit a few tickets sold does anyone agree ?

looks like all the $5.00 tickets are gone.

I think you're looking at sections without dots and making the assumption that the entire inventory is sold. I believe it just means they're not making them available (perhaps 'til other seats around them are sold first?).

They're not expecting much more than 20,000 tonight, per LU. If that's the case, it's quite sad.


DH

That's pretty sad. They gotta find a way to sell those endzone seats though. Everytime the camera is ready for the PAT, it looks so brutal to have like half the section empty. I see that they do have a lower price range for the upper endzones which appears to be new, but I'm not sure if that's even enough. Endzone seats are the worst and the team needs to find a way to move those tickets a lot better.

[SammyGreene]

Just looking at Ticketmaster there are quit a few tickets sold does anyone agree ?

looks like all the $5.00 tickets are gone.

I think you're looking at sections without dots and making the assumption that the entire inventory is sold. I believe it just means they're not making them available (perhaps 'til other seats around them are sold first?).

They're not expecting much more than 20,000 tonight, per LU. If that's the case, it's quite sad.


DH

Exactly David. I would be shocked if those corner sections are completely sold out as they have shown all week.