Saints are No 1 for family fun in the SPL!

Earlier this month St Johnstone picked up the 2012-13 Clydesdale Bank Family Champions Award – a tribute to their efforts in engaging with one particular part of the fan base.

And what they’ve demonstrated has positive implications for the wider supporter community and for growth of the Scottish game overall.

Mark Bradley, founder of the Fan Experience Company, has coordinated the Family Champions programme on behalf of the SPL over the course of the last four seasons. The following article is an extract from Mark’s latest blog and highlights the effort that SPL clubs are putting in off the pitch in order to better engage their fan base.

The Family Champions award was introduced in 2009 to support clubs’ efforts to attract and retain the next generation of supporters. It aimed to reward progress, identify and share good practice in fan engagement, but in a different way - by getting real families, whose kids were keen to attend their first football match, to tell the story of their match day experiences, to give a ‘snapshot’ of the ‘new family’ experience and to give an indication as to whether or not they’d willingly come back and / or recommend the experiences to friends and family.

The point of this was clear - the family perspective on match day experience, would not only help clubs identify some easy ‘quick wins’ but they would also be encouraged to think differently about their wider challenges.

The first four years of Family Champions have seen SPL clubs moving on to further phases of family engagement. Firstly, there was recognition that the status quo was unsustainable (in effect, believing that because a stadium is safe, families will come back and become advocates of the club). We started to see efforts to make the experience meet the self-evident needs of families - firstly, pricing that made it possible for family groups to attend.

We have started to see more active mascots, family food deals, pre-match and half-time entertainment with more innovation and kids’ sections in match day programmes.

But this was only phase one - perhaps with the outcome of ensuring existing families come back, but with no guarantee of growth. Enter phase two: true engagement.

This is an output of a deeper understanding of what matters to people - not just to families, but, by implication, to the wider supporter base. One family told me that when they’re thinking of taking their kids to their first game, one of their principal concerns is to be able to manage their kids’ expectations of food. After all, you might get a 0-0 bore draw, but at least the youngsters know they’re going to get something nice to eat. But by not promoting what’s available on the website, clubs miss an opportunity to declare themselves family-focused.

St Johnstone, St Mirren and Inverness Caley Thistle are among the first clubs not just in Scotland, but also in the whole of the UK, to pick up on this point and make a subtle but effective step forward. Like for St Mirren (twice winners of the Clydesdale Bank Family Champions award), the development of more family and new-fan friendly websites was a key first step along the road to engagement.

‘Identity’ is a key factor when it comes to true engagement. Activities or experiences that reinforce the identity of the club are always likely to create affection. In the areas of retail and refreshments, SPL clubs are starting to demonstrate some talent in this area, from Ross County’s Haggis, Neeps & Tatties pie to Dundee United’s unforgettable ‘Santa is an Arab’ Christmas hat – these are all things that don’t just encourage a liking for football, but for YOUR specific club.

Inside the stadium, St Johnstone carefully regulate entry to their family zone (as others are increasingly doing) creating a safe, friendly and yet loud and affecting atmosphere. Their hard-working mascot Super Saint gets involved with the Captain / Young Mascot photo at every game; devotes time to individual families and works the young audience fantastically well. He even has his own section on the Perth club’s official website.

St Mirren was the first SPL club to consider each of the key family touch points and apply some different thinking (again recognised by their commendation this year). Their Panda Club extends the match day in a way that doesn’t just entertain, but trains, encourages and engages the kids that take part. The Match Day becomes more than the 90 minutes – the draw on families stronger.

Elsewhere, Hibernian and Dundee United have both picked up commendations for the pace of family engagement over the past 12 months - from the fantastic refreshments experience and great ‘off the pitch’ entertainment at Tannadice, to the friendly, engaging impression considered at every important touch point on your way to and at Easter Road.

For next season, we’re keen to see what families make of the Partick Thistle experience – a club with a good history of engaging younger supporters and Celtic’s new Family Zone is already creating a lot of positive discussion, with their recent Family Open Day drawing massive interest.

Clubs are finding that by getting into the heads of new families, their hearts come a lot quicker.

Click HERE to read the full blog entry

Follow Mark and the Fan Experience Company on Twitter HERE

Tell us about the matchday experience at your club by using #fanengagement in your tweets!

Find out more about Mark’s matchday travels HERE