The Case Studies: Stoke City FC

Stoke City Football Club Uses Relay Station's Voice Broadcast Technology to Maximize Festive Attendance and Offer Fans Half-Season Tickets

Background

Stoke City's marketing is premier class. Using Relay Station's voice broadcast technology to 'Wish the supporters well for the festive period,' commercial manager John Booth also wanted to give something back to the fans to thank them for their tremendous support during the first half of the season.

In late 2006, City's marketing team therefore formed a strategic partnership with leading communications provider Relay Station to broadcast personalised messages from club manager Tony Pulis directly to all the fans simultaneously.

Two messages were prepared ... the first to season ticket holders thanking them for their support over the first part of the season, and the second to regular supporters without season tickets offering them the opportunity of buying a half-season ticket at seasonal costs. City marketing recognised the need to drive attendances at the all important Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds United games over the festive period,

Execution

Using Relay Station's voice broadcast technology proved simple. City marketing first downloaded data from its Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, specifically the telephone and reference numbers of season ticket holders, and the telephone and reference numbers of fans without season tickets.

Two messages were then recorded to MP3 for each data group and emailed to Relay Station for broadcast at the time and date specified by City. The message to the fan's mobile or home telephone was delivered as a 'live' call urging fans to play the message from the manager by clicking the attachment.

Results

The results far exceeded City's goals. Overall, 12,912 messages were successfully delivered and 143 supporters requested half-season ticket information. Attendance at the Sheffield Wednesday game was the highest attendance of the season ... 23,003 ... and 87% of recipients chose not to opt-out of Stoke City's forward voice messaging marketing activities. "Relay Station's technology was instrumental in delivering this simple, inexpensive, and very effective marketing campaign and helped us to better engage with our supporters," summarises John Booth. "It's a campaign tool that Stoke City will repeat time and again going forward."