It’s season ticket renewal time in the Premier League and Everton FC is rolling out a clever and emotionally powerful fan-focused campaign called ‘We Are Chosen’.
The campaign draws its inspiration from the bond between fan and club through the club’s mantra:
‘Evertonians are born not manufactured. We do not choose, we are chosen. Those who understand need no explanation. Those who don’t understand, don’t matter.’
Indeed, the work aims to bring this idea to life through a series of fan events, fan-created initiatives, image-led work and films.
The club first teased this 2015/16 ticket initiative in late February and its various strands rolled out through the following month.
A web-film acts as the centrepiece of the campaign.
Depicting a cross-demographic of Evertonians – from a ‘pregnant bump’ to ‘toddlers’, ‘kids’ and ‘seasoned supporters’ – the spot aims to show the full rnage of the Everton fan base and offer a juxtapostition of real life experiences.
It also includes behind-the-scenes club footage.
The video was premièred at a fan event that saw supporters pack into ‘Camp & Furnace’ for an evening of fun, entertainment, music, food and the video premiere (and every fan attending received a gift from the club).
In addition the campaign encouraged more fan engagement with a ‘Chosen To Ink’ experience strand ensuring that those supporters who feel strongly committed enough to ink the club on their body are included in a real-world and cyber picture gallery.
‘I believe #WeAreChosen to be our strongest Season Ticket campaign of recent years. The feedback so far shows that we have made a real impact with our fans, through using messages and imagery that they can all identify with,’ commented Everton marketing and communications ddirector Richard Kenyon.
‘The campaign is designed to make Evertonians proud to be Blue and to show that being a supporter of this Club isn’t just about coming to matches, it’s an important part of everyday life. The feedback we are getting suggests we are achieving that.’
Comment
Perhaps most importantly, this campaign gives fans reasons to buy a season ticket and provides the information and channels to do so.
Everton positions itself as a genuine family club with traditional local values.
It is certainly an organisation that a strong sense of self and a genuine place within the Liverpool community.
The position aims to make it stand out from its traditional bigger local neighbour Liverpool FC and this campaign certainly effectively reflects that approach.
It takes a very different approach indeed to the more malleable and changeable family-based supporter campaign from the NFL early last year.
The Everton approach is about tradition, history and a long-term, birth-based commitment, rather than the NFL’s more evolutionary, ever-changing approach.
‘We Are Chosen’ certainly tells a story, generates emotions and involves the fans directly.
The approach also saw the club show its appreciation for fans who supported it through what has been a challenging season.
The marketing team is somewhat under pressure to match last year’s push – which resulted in a record-breaking new 4000 season ticket sales (bringing the total number of fans with season tickets to almost 30,000).
The early signs are positive and this new campaign has already reached almost two and half million people.
Links
Everton #WeAreChosen Campaign Website:
http://www.evertonfc.com/chosen
Everton YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialEverton
Everton Website:
Everton Google+:
https://plus.google.com/+Everton/videos
Everton Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Everton
Everton Twitter:
Everton Instagram:
https://instagram.com/officialeverton
