Franklin’s Gardens, the home of Northampton Saints, broke new ground in professional rugby in October with the launch of the ‘Tunnel Club’: available from the start of the 2019/20 season, it allows supporters to enter the team’s inner sanctum while also experiencing first-class hospitality.
The suite, devised by the Saints in-house team in partnership with WISH London (an interior architecture and design company), the Tunnel Club sets out to provide an innovative, immersive and elegant space for the matchday experience.
For between £350-700 per person, members of the club will benefit from:
> A pitch level suite beside the changing rooms with tunnel views
> All-inclusive bar, pre-game three-course meal and half- and full-time grazing menu
> View the team in the tunnel prior to kick-off
> Pre-Match Talk From Saints’ Director Of Rugby Chris Boyd
> Matchday Seats In The Church’s Stand
> View of the pre and post-match media interviews
The objective behind the initiative is to extend Northampton Saints hospitality offering to provide a unique, premium-luxury option for rugby supporters which will generate increased matchday hospitality revenue
The Tunnel Club emerged after the Saints conducted its own research from existing hospitality-goers and regular match day attendees.
The club was promoted through an integrated campaign that was based around the idea of ‘entering the inner sanctum of Franklin’s Gardens’ and bringing the spectators as close to the action as possible with an intimate, behind-the-scenes experience
The initiative, which spanned digital and social channels, email and PR was led by an online video.
“We keep a close eye on new developments and trends in this area, analyse whether they’ll work for our audience and whether it stacks up financially, and if it does, and it’s right for Saints, then we look to deliver them in the best possible way,” said Northampton Saints Marketing & Communciations Director Tim Percival
The club was built during the summer of 2019 to be ready for the start of the 2019/20 season. The four-month build set out to celebrate the identity of the Northampton Saints and the club’s colours were used subtly throughout the interiors palette with a look and feel spanning sporting references, smart finishes and casual dining.
Comment:
It’s early to judge the success of the initiative, but the most important indicator of success so far is that the Tunnel Club has already sold for the first six games of the 19/20 season up until Christmas.
This may be a first for UK professional rugby, but it builds on similar initiatives from other sporting trailblazers such as the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys and the Premier League’s Manchester City.
As The Saints is a smaller sports organisation than these two teams, its Tunnel Club has a slightly more intimate feeling due to it more modest size – immersing fans in the thick of the match experience.
Links:
Northampton Saints
https://www.northamptonsaints.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/OfficialNorthamptonSaints
https://twitter.com/SaintsRugby
https://www.youtube.com/user/TheSaintsTV
https://www.instagram.com/officialnorthamptonsaints/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/OfficialNorthamptonSaints/about/
Wish Interior Architecture
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