general3

1- A full size magazine financed by advertisements, reaching every house and sponsor.

2- A flyer-insert via local newspaper to every house designed in a special way and worded

from a point of strength.

3- A flyer to every kid through every school in the city, also worded carefully with the right

graphics and tone.

4- Public promotion via the town parade with a special entry. The unique entry consisted of

"2" AVT's "see photos". One of the 4 wheelers has a small "hockey size" goal attached to

its back; and the other ATV has a goal attached to its front. The ATV with the goal at

the back is leading and leaving about 40 yards of street space behind it where the

second ATV with the goal attached to its fron follows. This provided actual mobile

on-the streets match through the town.

5- Registration fee structure with early bird deduction, late registration date additional fee and cut-off date with emphasises on limitation of available fields and the principle of first come first served.

With a plan in mind, from day one I announced that I am determined to turn the club around. The aggressive, educated, committed plan consisted of the following approaches:

6- Approaching sponsors again from a point of strength with emphasis on:

1) The sponsor gets his name in large letter no less than 5" across the chest of each jersy.

Uniforms are never re-used. They are kept by the player and worn across town

with the sponsor's name permanently imprinted across the chest in large letters.

2) The team advertisement and schedule of competition promotion with mere use of sponor's

name as the team's.

3) Advertisement committee for newspaper coverage with mere use of the sponsor as the

team's name.

4) Sponsorship committee with duties that included team/sponsor communication.

Of course I had the critics and skeptics who argued that this never happened before, there is no way..it's a volunteer organization .. that hockey and baseball dominates people's energy and devotion .. etc.

Well, when I got involved with the club, at the AGM, 7 people were at the 1984/85 Annual General Meeting. With 324 players registered that year, about 600 parents and another 100 of coaches, assistants, club referees, administrators .. you would expect at least 10% of the some 700 adult members attend. Not the case. In fact, that was and still is with many clubs "the norm"!.

The pictures below and the one on the top show you our AGM attendance after only 3 years:

This page will reflect on a special experience that presents a story of unique promotional success.

The story of a small club in a small town with average 10 people at its AGM, achieving in a few years the largest club registration per capita in Canada.

One 0f "30" promotional approaches

we utilized ..

The on-the-street

St. Clause parade

match was quite a hit.

I remeber the first

goal was scored

on the corner of yonge St with

Wellington St.

As you see, winter in Ontario

meant special

wear for kids!

The pictures show one of the goals being

scored .. as

indicated, two small goals were

attached to two tractors "ATV" -

one goal to the back of an ATV and a goal to the

front of the other.

The street space in between was the playing field.

For 5 consecutive years as the club president, I enjoyed addressing an average audience of 700 adults attending our general meetings.

Unheard of, I was repeatedly told!

For 5 consecutive years, the small soccer club that was always second to the baseball and hockey clubs; became the number one voice in town.

The soccer club became larger than both hockey and baseball combined!

With 1500 players, nearly 3400 adult membership of parents, coaches, managers, administrators.. etc .. we were the heavy weight when we dealt with authorities and media. Politicians who obviously care for votes were competing to please us. We got a 2000 SF office at the town museum building for a club office.

Later, with senior soccer, we obtained 3 acres from the town for $1 a year lease for 99 years. A full clubhouse with a lit pitch and an office, social room, change rooms, meeting room .. was built on the premises.

As well, 3 fields were lit and soccer was scheduled throughout the week from 8 pm to past midnight.

Town sports and recreation were never the same since!

In 1991, with this consistent success which made the club in a league of its own, I was twice reconized for my game promotion success efforts with the Regional annual award, then with the appointment to the provincial public relations & soccer promotion committee.