Sports Digital Marketing Agency: from brand to websites, to merchandise and community
Our team worked on the launch of Chelsea TV through the early days of email marketing and have also produce marketing campaigns for Sky Sports.
However over the past 5 seasons we have worked with London Irish through a change in personnel and structure plus a massive seachange in the world of rugby union.
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The Island digital marketing agency were approached by a new team at London Irish to create an identity, marketing and experiential presence that resonated with local people, international sponsors, as well as staunch supporters of the club here and in Ireland.
The Island played a key role in helping us re-position our brand. They integrated extremely well with our people and really got under the skin of the brand.
One of our first creations was The Crackle and Motto.
The Crackle has become a fundamental part of Irish design and language within the team and immediately identifiable by the fans. Our motto was to show the heritage of the club (Irish) but also show that we have a local audience (English) and are forward thinking and ready to create a new chapter in history.
As we are tenants of Reading Football Club at the Madesjki Stadium, any elements we created to enhance the match day experience had to be removable from the flags and banners of pitch to the tunnel display itself which helped to excite the home team and intimidate the away.
A fundamental part of any sports brand is in its merchandise. Yes it can generate revenue but it is also the perfect advertising vehicle as your fans wear it in their every day lives.
The Island were instrumental in creating POS and campaigns to drive sales of merchandise as well as develop visual design of stores.
My workings with The Island have been highly productive; they seem to understand the constant challenges that retail can drop on you. The speed in which they act is outstanding but normally they have foreseen the issues, making them highly proactive rather than reactive. I was also very impressed with their overall organisation on individual projects, they mapped out all clearly based on the brief provided and executed with high marks
Digger is a major part of the London Irish brand but seriously needed an update to appeal to a more sophisticated youth.
The Island designed and created a new Digger and his brand assets, as well as introducing new match day activities including The Pound – a place where kids can come and truly get an Irish experience before the match.
Social media has become incredibly important in the promotion of any sports team. Fans can be ruthless but you also need to fully harness their passion.
Fansparks is The Island’s very own social sharing platform which we have used to great effect as part of the total social media output for London Irish.
When people think of London Irish, they think the St Patrick’s Day Party.
We worked with the commercial team to give it a major overhaul. A great success always for fans, corporate business targets were set and provided sales teams with access to senior decision makers; resulting in individual deals worth over £1m and significant upselling.
Engaging with kids in the community is fundamental to the success of any sports organisation.
It is not only good for sales but ingrains your brand philosophy in to the surrounding towns. We worked with London Irish to develop brands, campaigns and strategies that put the brand in front of tens of thousands of potential new fans every year.
Helped increase turnover by 18% and gross profit by 17%, (2009 – 2012) despite 70% reduction in marketing spend and reduced headcount.
The Island take a holistic approach to brand management. We have used them for a number of years for individual marketing campaigns, graphics, web design, CRM strategy and overall brand management/creation and more. They take time to understand every element of our business and used their knowledge to help us create a wide reaching marketing strategy supporting every aspect of our business. I would highly recommend The Island to any business looking to achieve tangible sales results through their marketing strategy.
