Matabele
Journey Man
THE Wests Tigers stand to earn more money than most NRL clubs obtain from their major sponsor through a ''new media'' deal that will provide league fans with an unprecedented behind-the-scenes insight into every aspect of a first-grade team.
The system, which will operate under the name YuuTiger, has the potential to turn each of the club's estimated 500,000-strong supporter base into a mobile phone community whose individual $6.60 monthly fee to access the service will generate a lucrative revenue stream.
''Wests Tigers have the biggest supporter base of any sporting team in Sydney but only a fraction of them - 6500, I believe - are financial members,'' said Ron Creevey, the founder of YuuZoo. ''I support the Tigers and many of my friends say they'd prefer to give the club a donation than buy tickets they physically won't use. This is their opportunity to do that. We've done the numbers, and if we meet 50 per cent of our assumptions it'll be among the top five [in] money a club makes. The aim is for the platform to become the club's major cash generator.''
While many NRL teams have investigated creating iPhone applications - which is a restricted market because it can be accessed only by iPhone users - YuuTiger (YuuTiger.com) content will be available on each of Australia's five carriers and can be accessed by 1500 different handset models. It will provide the Tigers with a potential client base that, in theory, could be counted in millions.
''If you have a mobile phone, you'll be able to access this,'' said Wests Tigers general manager of marketing Brett Clarke ahead of tomorrow's launch of the system. He believes it will revolutionise the way sporting organisations market themselves.
''Today's youth is content-hungry and what we have will satisfy their hunger,'' he says. ''We aim to have at least 100 pieces of fresh content for users each week, ranging from player interviews to action shots. We're taking the club to the world. I think rugby league has been guilty in the past of putting things up on the website and waiting for people to find it. It won't matter if you are on the bus or at the stadium, if you want certain information on a player you'll get it - and more - immediately.
''And it won't be just Wests Tigers fans or NRL supporters who'll embrace YuuTiger. Young rugby union players in England will be able to access this and learn how Benji Marshall does his flick pass, while junior coaches will have access to Tim Sheens's thoughts on tactics. This crosses all boundaries.''
As clubs look for new income streams, the Tigers have identified fans being able to download information on the players, the team's training methods, cheerleaders, video diaries, ringtones and answering machine messages featuring the voices of their players, coaching clinics, comedy skits, players interviewing each another, interactive games, screensavers, player profiles and statistics as a veritable gold mine.
Clarke said the players' enthusiasm for the concept was incredible and that with a battalion of marketable players such as Marshall, Lote Tuqiri, Beau Ryan, Chris Lawrence and Robbie Farah, it was expected the club would eventually produce - for YuuTiger clients - a Footy Show-style program, if not its own TV channel.
Manchester United, which recently sold its branding rights for mobile phones in India for $25 million, and Spanish football giants Real Madrid have the same system as the Tigers. Indeed, the global head of mobile marketing for Real Madrid will visit the Tigers this week to exchange ideas. YuuZoo are in negotiations with 15 domestic clubs from multiple codes and the Tigers are encouraging rival NRL clubs to embrace the technology.
''We're ahead of AFL, rugby, soccer here … we are ahead of the game,'' Clarke said.
The system, which will operate under the name YuuTiger, has the potential to turn each of the club's estimated 500,000-strong supporter base into a mobile phone community whose individual $6.60 monthly fee to access the service will generate a lucrative revenue stream.
''Wests Tigers have the biggest supporter base of any sporting team in Sydney but only a fraction of them - 6500, I believe - are financial members,'' said Ron Creevey, the founder of YuuZoo. ''I support the Tigers and many of my friends say they'd prefer to give the club a donation than buy tickets they physically won't use. This is their opportunity to do that. We've done the numbers, and if we meet 50 per cent of our assumptions it'll be among the top five [in] money a club makes. The aim is for the platform to become the club's major cash generator.''
While many NRL teams have investigated creating iPhone applications - which is a restricted market because it can be accessed only by iPhone users - YuuTiger (YuuTiger.com) content will be available on each of Australia's five carriers and can be accessed by 1500 different handset models. It will provide the Tigers with a potential client base that, in theory, could be counted in millions.
''If you have a mobile phone, you'll be able to access this,'' said Wests Tigers general manager of marketing Brett Clarke ahead of tomorrow's launch of the system. He believes it will revolutionise the way sporting organisations market themselves.
''Today's youth is content-hungry and what we have will satisfy their hunger,'' he says. ''We aim to have at least 100 pieces of fresh content for users each week, ranging from player interviews to action shots. We're taking the club to the world. I think rugby league has been guilty in the past of putting things up on the website and waiting for people to find it. It won't matter if you are on the bus or at the stadium, if you want certain information on a player you'll get it - and more - immediately.
''And it won't be just Wests Tigers fans or NRL supporters who'll embrace YuuTiger. Young rugby union players in England will be able to access this and learn how Benji Marshall does his flick pass, while junior coaches will have access to Tim Sheens's thoughts on tactics. This crosses all boundaries.''
As clubs look for new income streams, the Tigers have identified fans being able to download information on the players, the team's training methods, cheerleaders, video diaries, ringtones and answering machine messages featuring the voices of their players, coaching clinics, comedy skits, players interviewing each another, interactive games, screensavers, player profiles and statistics as a veritable gold mine.
Clarke said the players' enthusiasm for the concept was incredible and that with a battalion of marketable players such as Marshall, Lote Tuqiri, Beau Ryan, Chris Lawrence and Robbie Farah, it was expected the club would eventually produce - for YuuTiger clients - a Footy Show-style program, if not its own TV channel.
Manchester United, which recently sold its branding rights for mobile phones in India for $25 million, and Spanish football giants Real Madrid have the same system as the Tigers. Indeed, the global head of mobile marketing for Real Madrid will visit the Tigers this week to exchange ideas. YuuZoo are in negotiations with 15 domestic clubs from multiple codes and the Tigers are encouraging rival NRL clubs to embrace the technology.
''We're ahead of AFL, rugby, soccer here … we are ahead of the game,'' Clarke said.
