Richard Kenyon, Director of Marketing and Communications at Everton FC opened the CIM's Northern conference yesterday with his presentation "beyond the 90 minutes". The Everton marketing strategy had more goals than the average football match ( easy to buy from, memorable match day, ownership and participation, customer knowledge) and was probably far more engrossing providing the crowd with a fantastic case study of the power of truly understanding customers.From a business ethics objective it demonstrated how you can still do good business, treat stakeholders fairly and do something worthwhile for the community.
Richard claimed that the Everton community scheme was the best community scheme in the world and essentially their USP. He gave just a snapshot of some of the activities outside the 90 minutes from elderly persons' tea party, picnics after games for the needy, junior fans' forum, supporters' club day etc etc).
Behind all this was a business strategy designed to insulate the team's performance by building residual good will, driving loyalty and encouraging the sense of club. This was successfully implemented by a key marketing driver, understanding your customer. Richard mentioned their key principles
- maximise participation
- encourage feedback
- talk in a language fans understand and want to engage with
- be approachable and display humour.
While most businesses and brands do not benefit from the emotional attachment/responses that football can engender or this level of loyalty, there is possibly something to learn and apply from this case study:the power of genuinely understanding customers rather than assuming you do and the achievable balance of business and doing good.
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