Parra put Asia on menu for Year of the Fan
Glenn Jackson | March 29, 2007
When Super League erupted in 1995 one of its major visions was to take rugby league to Asia. It's taken 12 years but the game is finally there … sort of.
Showing some vision - possibly a little short-sighted but vision nonetheless - Parramatta are targeting Chinese and Italian communities in a bid to boost crowds at home games this season.
In a novel approach to promotion, the Eels have advertised in Sydney-based Cantonese newspaper Sing Tao and Italian daily La Fiamma this week as they seek to diversify their supporter base. As well, a 40-second radio advertisement in Cantonese has been played daily this week on radio station 2CR.
The idea was broached at the club's end-of-season think-tank last year and an advertising firm specialising in ethnic media was approached before Christmas - and this week's campaign was the result.
But it's not the end, as such. In the same season the NRL launched a membership drive, the Eels will conduct similar campaigns to those run this week for every home game this year.
"Just looking at the demographics of Parramatta and western Sydney, there's an opportunity to broaden the available audience," Eels media and communications manager Damien Kelly said.
The Parramatta Leagues Club has conducted an investigation of its membership that shows 32 per cent of members are from non-English-speaking backgrounds.
Eels officials have also noticed the diversity of people playing the clubs' poker machines and have dreamt of dragging them out of the leagues club and through the turnstiles of the stadium next door.
"It's something that's going to take a bit of time," Kelly said. "But we do surveys at home games, so we'll be able to work out where people are coming from. Hopefully we pick up a few [from the advertisements].
"There's obviously a massive spread of people at the leagues club. We'd like to attract some of them to Eels games."
Depending on its success this week and ultimately this year, the multicultural move may continue next season and beyond.
"That's just two of the major demographic populations," Kelly said. "Who knows? Next year, we might extend that to Arabic or something else. But at this stage, they're the two we've targeted."
After all, it is the Year of the Pig.
http://www.leaguehq.com.au/news/new...year-of-the-fan/2007/03/28/1174761567553.html
