Club Mgmt. 2024 Membership Thread - Are you signing up? [POLL]

[ant555]

Don’t entirely agree. Yes, winning makes it easier but Collingwood is an example of how you engage.

Their whole club is connected. Their players are connected to their fans, the players, coaches, everyone at Collingwood keeps talking about how important their fans are, they’re channeling their ‘19th man’ to travel with them right around the country. Their social media content is creative, more frequent and much higher quality. Their socials content leaves our for dead tbh. They’ve secured preferential ‘way’ access seating for their MCG away games, ‘just’ appeasing even Richmond who have to succumbed to Collingwood’s fan focus at the G.

Also, the Kangaroos social content is first class. What they produce is Mike’s in front of us. Ditto the Giants.

Yes I agree winning makes a clubs effort to engage fans easier but that doesn’t excuse the apparent lack of focus, creativity and quantity of content Essendon delivers its fans. Essendon merely ‘rolls the arm over’ on this stuff. We get one senior coach live presser a week (excl match day) and maybe some ad hoc stuff across the media landscape. And that’s perplexing given its external and internal reviews highlighted to them they need to do a much better job engaging fabs. They have improved, or shown signs of improvement and we’re 12 months on now.

Pies have had plenty of angry members ringing up SEN and complaining and not just the bottom end ones. It is easy to engage the fans when you are winning 15 plus games . They where not so engaged when Treloar and Grundy got off loaded three years ago.

 

[dave10]

Pies have had plenty of angry members ringing up SEN and complaining and not just the bottom end ones. It is easy to engage the fans when you are winning 15 plus games . They where not so engaged when Treloar and Grundy got off loaded three years ago.

That’s true. That said, they’re doing more than us and it’s a higher quality. One club is out there in the market place, on the front foot and driving itself forward off field. The other club (Essendon) is completely introverted, in essence shut up shop, closed ranks and become solely focussed on footy.

Now, nobody would argue with the clubs great shift in focus and improvement in the footy debt. My point is, we’ve lurched from being strong commercially and crap footy wise to crap commercially and much more focussed on footy. If you’re crap commercially, you end up in a situation where your major sponsor leaves and there’s no announcement on a replacement, membership is declining (AFLW -20% & bottom 4 in AFLW), you have no money with necessary big projects like Windy Hill drifting in the wind and no non core business revenue or financial future fund and that means no plan to exit pokies. And as for those S..t seating areas installed at The Hangar… that’s exactly what I mean, just doing a bit. Most clubs are well advanced of Essendon in these commercial metrics.

My point is, they should be focussed on both.. And the great clubs do both well.

 

[ant555]

That’s true. That said, they’re doing more than us and it’s a higher quality. One club is out there in the market place, on the front foot and driving itself forward off field. The other club (Essendon) is completely introverted, in essence shut up shop, closed ranks and become solely focussed on footy.

Now, nobody would argue with the clubs great shift in focus and improvement in the footy debt. My point is, we’ve lurched from being strong commercially and crap footy wise to crap commercially and much more focussed on footy. If you’re crap commercially, you end up in a situation where your major sponsor leaves and there’s no announcement on a replacement, membership is declining (AFLW -20% & bottom 4 in AFLW), you have no money with necessary big projects like Windy Hill drifting in the wind and no non core business revenue or financial future fund and that means no plan to exit pokies. And as for those S..t seating areas installed at The Hangar… that’s exactly what I mean, just doing a bit. Most clubs are well advanced of Essendon in these commercial metrics.

My point is, they should be focussed on both.. And the great clubs do both well.

The new CEO has only been in the chair for 5 minutes. We have not lurched anywhere yet. Personally I do give give a toss if we are not kissing the ass of supporters . I want to footy program sorted . The rest comes when you can give he supporters what they want. A side that wins. The great clubs fixed the football first. Richmond. Geelong. Collingwood. Take a look at the Hawks. Great club while they where winning but plenty of board and supporter issues now they are at the bottom end .

 

[ant555]

Winning games certainly soothes the anger but you don't need to do individual things to engage fans. They do quite well with fan activation stuff at the AFLW home games – a raffle for a signed guernsey, face painting for the kids, etc.

Put some proper seats on the side of training at the Hangar, chuck us a bone in the form of member exclusive content on the website.

And some sort of token for our membership each year – like as a VFLW/AFLW member over the last few years I've had a pair of merino gloves, a picnic blanket, an actual blanket, a tote bag, a travel mug, a member pin and a few other bits and pieces like stickers and s**t... all members only with branding and stuff on it you can't get elsewhere.

That's for a $60 VFLW membership, or I think it's $85 now for AFLW with access. Whereas I pay hundreds for a reserved seat and get exactly the same member videos for AFL as AFLW (behind the scenes etc), but almost zero of anything else beyond a free coffee at Maccas and a $30 bombershop voucher for crap that's not even unique to members, any fan can buy it.

Personally I do not really care about the small stuff .

 

[jannissary]

Don’t entirely agree. Yes, winning makes it easier but Collingwood is an example of how you engage.

Their whole club is connected. Their players are connected to their fans, the players, coaches, everyone at Collingwood keeps talking about how important their fans are, they’re channeling their ‘19th man’ to travel with them right around the country. Their social media content is creative, more frequent and much higher quality. Their socials content leaves our for dead tbh. They’ve secured preferential ‘way’ access seating for their MCG away games, ‘just’ appeasing even Richmond who have to succumbed to Collingwood’s fan focus at the G.

Also, the Kangaroos social content is first class. What they produce is Mike’s in front of us. Ditto the Giants.

Yes I agree winning makes a clubs effort to engage fans easier but that doesn’t excuse the apparent lack of focus, creativity and quantity of content Essendon delivers its fans. Essendon merely ‘rolls the arm over’ on this stuff. We get one senior coach live presser a week (excl match day) and maybe some ad hoc stuff across the media landscape. And that’s perplexing given its external and internal reviews highlighted to them they need to do a much better job engaging fabs. They have improved, or shown signs of improvement and we’re 12 months on now.

Giant's stuff generally beats most teams social media content.

I kind of feel like we're a club stuck in the past- at least for that aspect

 

[ant555]

Giant's stuff generally beats most teams social media content.

I kind of feel like we're a club stuck in the past- at least for that aspect

Giants have to . Western Sydney is a tough market.

 

[Lore]

Personally I do not really care about the small stuff .

Oh hush

 

[jannissary]

Giants have to . Western Sydney is a tough market.

even compared with melb based teams we're so far behind.

we don't do the "social" aspect of social media at all- sans a few interview videos (such as the one with red dog a few weeks back), which is how you drive up engagement with football fans and non-football fans alike.

i'll just assume it's not a younger person who's running it, and instead a geezer

 

[Blind Turn]

even compared with melb based teams we're so far behind.

we don't do the "social" aspect of social media at all- sans a few interview videos (such as the one with red dog a few weeks back), which is how you drive up engagement with football fans and non-football fans alike.

i'll just assume it's not a younger person who's running it, and instead a geezer

When I went over to the UK in 99-2001 we were at the forefront of social media and website innovation. We had a fantastic website that was streets ahead of other clubs. I was able to stay engaged by checking in to see all the updates the next day after a game. It was a (summer) ritual for me to find an internet cafe and spend my pounds sitting in there for a couple of hours.

Then the AFL said we couldn’t do that. Having your own website wasn’t in the best interest of the AFL’s profitability.

Then our website became homogenised to fall in line with other club websites.

Hand-in-hand with taking our home games to Docklands we then lost our identity. Long gone is the culture of innovation. We sold our soul to the devil.

 

[dave10]

When I went over to the UK in 99-2001 we were at the forefront of social media and website innovation. We had a fantastic website that was streets ahead of other clubs. I was able to stay engaged by checking in to see all the updates the next day after a game. It was a (summer) ritual for me to find an internet cafe and spend my pounds sitting in there for a couple of hours.

Then the AFL said we couldn’t do that. Having your own website wasn’t in the best interest of the AFL’s profitability.

Then our website became homogenised to fall in line with other club websites.

Hand-in-hand with taking our home games to Docklands we then lost our identity. Long gone is the culture of innovation. We sold our soul to the devil.

Other AFL Clubs poached all our great execs who were responsible for our innovation. We were leaders and innovators, absolutely. We led the AFL into the digital age. We also created Bomber TV in the early days. All our socials team have been poached the last 3-4 years and we’re left with what’s left, without the focus and interest in the senior commercial team who aren’t as passionate or focused on this area as it once was.

As proof, can you remember an Essendon footy club the last 30 years without a major partner secured as a replacement for the departing one? Never would’ve happened. Essendon until now has had, with Collingwood the highest value major partner suite in the AFL. It’s a sign of our capability and focus not being at the highest level imo. There’s no way of shining that turd.

Same for membership, the team is run if the mill with no superstars in the managerial lists. We’re mediocre at best and have certainly lost our once famed innovative, dynamic and ground breaking fan engagement culture as you say very accurately.

 

[jannissary]

since we're tangentially on the topic of social media n stuff, does anyone know what happened to this youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@dw29392)

they're one of the few people who'd consistently post football games to watch (especially since i'm not interested in forking out dosh for kayo/paytv)

 

[Lore]

even compared with melb based teams we're so far behind.

we don't do the "social" aspect of social media at all- sans a few interview videos (such as the one with red dog a few weeks back), which is how you drive up engagement with football fans and non-football fans alike.

i'll just assume it's not a younger person who's running it, and instead a geezer

It’d be an intern that’s underpaid and overworked

 

[DERO]

Hi all, sorry to intrude (though I am a paid-up Essendon member- long story). Does anyone have a different number to contact Essendon Membership services? 03 8340 2000 is the only number I can find and it keeps bouncing
Thank you

You bought once hoping you'd one day bump into boncyboo at a game didn't you?

 

[jannissary]

It’d be an intern that’s underpaid and overworked

would be shocked if they were even paid

 

[Mr Bultitude]

for our membership each year – like as a VFLW/AFLW member over the last few years I've had a pair of merino gloves, a picnic blanket, an actual blanket, a tote bag, a travel mug, a member pin and a few other bits and pieces like stickers and s**t... all members only with branding and stuff on it you can't get elsewhere.

Man, that stuff sounds more useful and fun, not like the garbage fodder that arrived with my milestone membership package today.

I have the one hat and scarf that I always wear, it's like a ritual. Give me things I can adorn them with, not more stuff that I won't use

 

[yodellinhank]

Winning games certainly soothes the anger but you don't need to do individual things to engage fans. They do quite well with fan activation stuff at the AFLW home games – a raffle for a signed guernsey, face painting for the kids, etc.

Put some proper seats on the side of training at the Hangar, chuck us a bone in the form of member exclusive content on the website.

And some sort of token for our membership each year – like as a VFLW/AFLW member over the last few years I've had a pair of merino gloves, a picnic blanket, an actual blanket, a tote bag, a travel mug, a member pin and a few other bits and pieces like stickers and s**t... all members only with branding and stuff on it you can't get elsewhere.

That's for a $60 VFLW membership, or I think it's $85 now for AFLW with access. Whereas I pay hundreds for a reserved seat and get exactly the same member videos for AFL as AFLW (behind the scenes etc), but almost zero of anything else beyond a free coffee at Maccas and a $30 bombershop voucher for crap that's not even unique to members, any fan can buy it.

The kids AFLW backpacks last season were pretty good for the price.

 

[Molian]

My partner and I upgraded our membership this year (for next year)
They have seated us together at the MCG but have seperated us by 3 rows and 8 seats at Docklands. Is this a thing they do to people? Surely not.
We were told our seats would be together and they would contact us with any issues. We were not contacted.
Just got home now to find this out and I am just a tad annoyed about it.
Tried to call them to sort it out but they're only there mon-fri 10am to 4pm. Now i'll have to call on works time on Monday. So convenient.

This club is bringing me a lot more annoyance over joy in recent times.
I was so excited when i saw the envelope in the mail. Now I just want to bin the whole membership. Who decided we would be ok with this?
I already regret upgrading and the season hasn't even started.

 

[dave10]

My partner and I upgraded our membership this year (for next year)
They have seated us together at the MCG but have seperated us by 3 rows and 8 seats at Docklands. Is this a thing they do to people? Surely not.
We were told our seats would be together and they would contact us with any issues. We were not contacted.
Just got home now to find this out and I am just a tad annoyed about it.
Tried to call them to sort it out but they're only there mon-fri 10am to 4pm. Now i'll have to call on works time on Monday. So convenient.

This club is bringing me a lot more annoyance over joy in recent times.
I was so excited when i saw the envelope in the mail. Now I just want to bin the whole membership. Who decided we would be ok with this?
I already regret upgrading and the season hasn't even started.

Frustrating but they will sort it out. Call them Monday.

 

[Molian]

Frustrating but they will sort it out. Call them Monday.

Yeah my hope is it was just an oversight and will be easily resolved.

 

[yodellinhank]

Hi Molian,

As you can imagine - after such a magnificent win - the membership department has been inundated with requests, unprecedented in volume. We apologise for any inconvenience which may be caused by our total lack of communication around your improved seating arrangements.

As a gesture of goodwill and to thank you for your ongoing support, the club would like to offer you a signed team poster. Simply forward postage costs if you would like to accept this token of our appreciation.

Rest assured the team will be working just as hard over the preseason as you will be trying to arrange other members to shuffle their seats around at home games this season.

Kind regards, and Go Pies!

 

[NoWuckingFurries]

Think I've finally convinced my brother not to buy a membership as well. We've been a part of this gravy training for far too long.
Results or no money.
Understand if others feel the opposite

 

[Squeaky]

Think I've finally convinced my brother not to buy a membership as well. We've been a part of this gravy training for far too long.
Results or no money.
Understand if others feel the opposite

Spot on. Same here.

 

[jannissary]

is it realistically worth it to be both a MCC member & an essendon member?

was wondering this today as i’m both (though i’ve been a MCC member for less time shockingly enough) & the only time we’ve had to resort to going through the MCC for tickets was the carlton essendon game this season

 

[windyhill]

is it realistically worth it to be both a MCC member & an essendon member?

was wondering this today as i’m both (though i’ve been a MCC member for less time shockingly enough) & the only time we’ve had to resort to going through the MCC for tickets was the carlton essendon game this season

I’m both, my Essendon membership would not get me near a GF ticket ( ballot !?! , as if) so the MCC is like my insurance policy. It’s expensive as **** for both. But then again, we just don’t do finals let alone GF’s , what am I actually thinking !?!

 

[jannissary]

I’m both, my Essendon membership would not get me near a GF ticket ( ballot !?! , as if) so the MCC is like my insurance policy. It’s expensive as * for both. But then again, we just don’t do finals let alone GF’s , what am I actually thinking !?!

yeah i think i'll stay on both just because when i go to games i usually buy 2-3 tickets instead of just the single so spending $30 is better than like $120 in the long run but i suppose the perks of MCC stuff do come in handy on occasion