Better than Christmas - it's Grand Final Week! So this week, our team of CXperts have donned their jerseys and brought you a free content kick ahead of the big game.

Raising the Demons out of Perth

How the Melbourne demons are engaging and spreading their audience away from home.

Charlie Rosanove

Creative, die-hard Demons supporter

Storytelling

1 minute read

It’s AFL grand final time and for the second year in a row, an all-Victorian final won’t be decided in Victoria. Unfortunately, that means most of the team’s supporters can’t be there to witness history first-hand, a truth that hits hardest for Melbourne Demons fans. 
In short
  • The Melbourne Demon's have united AFL fans across Australia, showing us how it is possible to create a whole new long-distance fanbase.
  • Incentivising and providing freebies is a great way for brands to create traction in new markets.
  • The Demon's have secured a 65/35 crowd skew for their marketing efforts.
The Demons have finally made the big dance after the longest drought in AFL history, waiting 57 long years for the chance to win a premiership - for most that’s their entire lives. And how does the world reward them for their devotion and dedication? With lockdowns and border closures.

The club, however, has seen it as an opportunity to gain a new audience by tugging on the heartstrings of the Perth AFL fandom and turning them into their very own Demon army. They’re using all the tools in a marketer’s arsenal to engage the AFL audience and convert them to the Demons brand.

They’ve incentivised the crowd to be Demons for a day with free chips for fans who arrive wearing the club scarf. They’ve made it easy to attend with a highly visible free team bus picking up fans all over Perth. And they’re swaying neutral supporters by humanising the Melbourne fan base. Demons pins emblazoned with the names of members currently in lockdown have been specially made to be handed out on game day. It’s a symbolic gesture, but one that touchingly connects fans at the ground to those locked in at home.
Image Credit: @MitchellGlenn, AFL Grand Final fever has hit Perth... (September 2021) Twitter

And has it worked? Swimmingly. In a sell-out Preliminary final, it’s reported the crowd skewed 65/35 towards Melbourne as they marched their way into the Grand Final. But can they replicate that engagement on Saturday? Can they turn Optus stadium into a Demon’s den of passionate supporters pushing them to victory against the Bulldogs?

We can’t wait to find out.
More Mondays
Learning Organisation
No in-house silver bullet

Taking marketing in-house is a steady trend. But does it offer all the solutions it claims? Maybe there’s a better way.

Intelligent Systems Design
Adapting to walled gardens

What’s the new state of things in digital advertising? And how can we move forward?

Let's chat

© 2024 CX Lavender

Policies
CX Lavender acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.
CONTINUE