The House that Toronto FC Fans Built
If you live in the Toronto area you may have heard the roar coming from BMO field. That would be the roar from 15,000+ brand advocates and influencers. Recently I attended the ‘Live Case Study: How Marketing Made the Toronto Football Club the Talk of the Town’ hosted by the CMA’s Integrated Marketing & Customer Experience Council. Full disclosure-- I am the vice-chair of the council and I was NOT a big soccer fan, sorry I mean football… until now!! The event was held at BMO field (hence the concept of a ‘Live Case Study’) and the presenter was Paul Beirne, Director of Business Operations for the Toronto FC. His presentation focused on how the club engages their fans to sell out season tickets. After this event, I am looking for seasons tickets … anyone have a pair?
Paul, in his relaxed ‘story telling’ approach, outlined their brand attributes, positioning, strategy, objectives, communication planning and yes … their marketing tactics. This was very informative. However, one of the most interesting points Paul made during his presentation was around the importance of timing and the role it played in their success so far. Paul even stated that he does not think they would have had the same level of success 10 or 15 years ago. Why? Paul touched briefly on the research they conducted before the launch and pointed out that market demand was high. People yearned for a professional soccer team in Toronto and Canada. Toss in Toronto’s cultural diversity, an increase in youth participating in local soccer programs and finally my personal favourite, online and digital communications coming of age. From my perspective it was like the perfect storm for any marketer.
Paul pointed out in his presentation that aside from timing, there were a number of other ‘keys to successes’ at work here:
- Transparency (our club and our fans are one and the same)
- Happy mistakes (things you could not plan for)
- Connect with die-hard fans (grassroots tactics like pub crawls)
- Listen (engage the fans in the process)
Mixed into these ‘keys to successes’ was a growing movement of fans online. Even before BMO field was finished construction fans were becoming self organized via online communities like Flickr, Facebook and personal blogs. Meeting with each other online and spreading the brand long before the team ever hit the field. The club embraced and supported these brand advocates by making them part of the process and by linking to their community sites. Which by doing this, connected these communities together. Paul said the club also made a strategic decision early on to only communicate to ticket holders via electronic communications (e.g.: email, website, etc…). Not just for the cost savings … but, for the speed in which the club could ask for feedback and quickly adapt or turn around changes to their program.
And the results from the 2007 season? 15 sold out games, 95% season seat renewal, 16,000 season seat holders, and a waiting list of 7,000+. Not to mention other Major League Soccer clubs are meeting with the Toronto FC to possibly adapt some of their strategies. Also, 2008 appears to be off to a great start. Their season opening game in Columbus saw 2,400+ Toronto FC fans make their way to Columbus via bus. And most recently they defeated the Los Angeles Galaxy 3-2 and Real Salt Lake 1-0.
Although Toronto FC had timing and market demand on their side, the club is a shining example of embracing their customers (fans) from day one in a dialogue. They followed up by building brand loyalty through listening, quickly reacting and supporting them. Yankee stadium’s nick name is ‘The House that Ruth Built’ … would argue that BMO field is ‘The House that FC Fans Built’.
