Ideas to promote the Tigers in 11/12 Season.

[tom]

Apr 7, 2011 18:44:20 GMT drummerboy said:

just think for a moment: what is one of the main topics in the public eye at the moment?

A: the armed forces.

and whats only 8 miles down the M54? only one of the most populated RAF stations in the UK!

so, why not give a forces discount, or run a tickets for troops scheme? It gives the club great publicity and gets bums on seats

I think I'm correct in saying that the club already operate the Value for Valour scheme, which gives armed forces personnel 2 for 1 tickets. How widely has this been publisised? I know you're often at Cosford drummerboy, is there anything on notice boards ect promoting the Tigers?

[shrek]

I spoke to OC Admin Wing and the Physical Education Flight when Dave and Rach ran the club, they are happy to put up posters for any sports events with discounts for HM Forces.

I'll do the same again this summer, about the end of July / start of August. It's not worth doing it any earlier as a lot of people going through Cosford are on fairly short term courses.

[onlyme]

Have you asked Domino's Pizza and Jimmy Wok if you can put leaflets in the deliveries?

[mattmattwelch]

As you get a discount with a flex card I think in every telford and wrekin leisure facility it would be beneficial to get them to have some leaflets to hand to give out!
I work at the ski slope and we get people coming from not only around telford but from further out such as wolverhampton, shrewsbury, dudley sometimes further. Maybe if there are some leaflets down there when the season starts to show when there are games people may travel for a ski lesson and they may be tempted to make the most of the day/evening and come and watch a game after.

[cheshiretitan]

You need people to sing/chant a la Manc Storm 10 years ago...even people who don't enjoy the game still enjoy the chanting and the experience!!

[pablo]

Apr 8, 2011 15:19:19 GMT shrek said:

I spoke to OC Admin Wing and the Physical Education Flight when Dave and Rach ran the club, they are happy to put up posters for any sports events with discounts for HM Forces.

Does this discount include emergency services too? Police, Fire and Ambo etc..........not RAC/AA (obviously )

[onlyme]

Following on from cheshiretitan's post, I agree that more needs to be done to bring back the atmosphere that was experienced in the old days. Yesterday at the legends game I didn't hear 'the eye of the tiger' played once and, I have to say, I was a little disappointed with the intro. In the old days the lights would be switched off, the spotlights would be used, the eye of the tiger would start, the smoke would be released, and the genuinely-excited announcer would announce the players. It really added to the excitement in the crowd and got people going for the game.
It seems that the majority of the people in the crowd yesterday didn't remember the 'old days' as a man tried to start a chant for Mark Budz and people didn't join in. In the old days anyone could start a chant and within minutes everyone in the rink was joining in.
The board need to think of more ways to make the whole game day experience more exciting and enjoyable for the supporters. I'm sure in the old days people went to the games as much for the enjoyable social aspect as they did to watch a game of hockey.

[cheshiretitan]

...no question.

I will also admit that I was disappointed with the lack of build-up (no Roary?) and general anticipation. It was the one thing that Manchester did REALLY well, consistently. I'm a bit of a lunatic in the crowd but feel somewhat embarrassed to even raise my voice at Telford.

You really do need to get people properly engaged - I was horrified at everyone around me texting away instead of paying attention!!

[topbeats]

To contra that, Eye of the Tiger was used - all the players came out to it. The problem we have in Telford is the PA system. Its an old system and when the mic is engaged it cuts out the music rather than allowing voice-over over the top of it.

Having done the mic myself this year I can say from experience that after you finish talking it takes approximately 2-3s for any soundtrack to build from mute to full volume, however as the players were being announced constantly this was unable to happen.

Until the PA system is upgraded in full then Telford fans will never enjoy a mix of music and voice-over at the same time. Shuttsie has tried his best and even brings his own PA equipment to help as much as he can, but we can only work with what we have.

As to Roary, he's away in Florida taking a very well deserved break so he was not available to us. As to the build up, we were somewhat compromised by the ladies game running later than anticipated and the new zamboni (new machine takes 4 minutes longer to perform a re-surface), so these in turn set the evening back by around a good +20 minutes, and we had to be off the ice at 8:00pm (which we were, bang on).

[topbeats]

PS - there are no spotlights in Telford anymore. At the same time the H&S guys condemned the bleachers (the withdrawable seating) they also condemned the spotlight gantries (so I have been told).

The bleachers were removed, however the spotlight gantries were simply closed down.

Over the last few months the rink have done a lot of work upgrading and repairing the coloured disco lighting and installing some new disco lighting units, again everything available to us was used on the night to try and create as much of an intro as possible.

We had to seek specific advance permission to use dry ice and a smoke machine, as the new fire alarm system in the rink is that sensitive that even this would set the alarms off. All the sensors in the area of the changing room and surrounds had to be disabled in advance otherwise we would have had the fire brigade turn up and evacuate the building.

[sox]

i too remember the days of the bleachers full and the dramatic build up to the games, in fact, i remember being incredibly annoyed the season they started playing music in the break in play - we never used to, the crowds chanting used to start up every time the whistle was blown, and when we went to other rinks, it was noticeable that the chanting was drowned out by silly music designed to make us all clap like robots....

however, we have to face facts that we dont have the crowd base as back in the 80s and 90s, and if playing repetitive queen tracks does nothing more than get the kids bouncing around and cheering, then ok, i admit, its worth doing!

there was talk some time ago of changing the theme tune - no - dont - eye of the tiger should remain as long as the tigers are icing. it is a shame about the rink falling into a bit of disrepair, however, it doesnt make it a bad place. we just work with what we have, and sometimes even if we have only 300 in the crowd, its a far nicer atmosphere than a half empty, clinically perfect arena.

would much rather watch hockey at altrincham, medway, edinburgh and the likes, than manchester, sheffield and even guildford. im not dimissing the arenas, i guess for new supporters its a nice smart environment to be in, but for folks who hope and dream of going back to the standing on the bleachers and being a bit of a loony, then an occasional mess up with the clock, pa system or lighting is really no big deal.

anyway - we all need to remain positive about the summer signings and the future of the club as it has been a totally amazing season and many thanks and much appreciation goes to all involved. bring on the autumn :-)

[topbeats]

I think the thing to remember is that the current Tigers have an awful lot of new fans in the building, fans that maybe don't remember the heady days and all the chants, but are happy to just sit and watch the game for what it is.

The one thing the trust has been trying to do all year in encourage the old brigade back through the doors; fans that realise the importance of singing and chanting at key moments during the game can help lift the team, or that know specific songs/chants targetting certain players can and frequently do get under that players' skin.

I personally believe that if we had more of the older fans through the door they could lead the way vocally, these fans would increase the atmosphere within the rink and it would almost become infectious i.e. it's almost impossible not to join in when everybody around you is doing the same.

Whilst there are limitations on what the team / trust can do to improve the overall match night experience (the people I have spoken with are looking at ways to make it more of an evenings' entertainment rather than just a hockey match) the fans can also play an important part, helping to improve the match night experience of fellow fans around them, increasing banter between opposing fans and generally lifting the mood in the stands.

[mrslegend]

Topbeats, can I just mention that there is no difference between how long either Zamboni takes to re-surface the ice

[tom]

sox - I agree with you to a certain extent on old rinks, they can have an immense atmosphere...I'm told that Fife, despite being a tin shed built in the 1930s, used to be full to the brim and the place was rocking before they ended up in the Scottish beer leagues. Then again, Murrayfield and Whitley Bay are old rinks with a lot of character, but the atmosphere there this year was non existant as it was only one man and his dog watching. Similarly, the National Ice Centre in Nottingham is great when it's full, but that contrasts massively with a quarter-full (if that!) Sheffield Arena on a Tuesday night.

You can still act like a loony in the seats ;D I've always thought that it's not really the building that makes the atmosphere, it's the amount of people in there and how vocal they are.

I've always felt that there's no point harking back to the days of queues round the corner to get it and the "Sold Out" sign going up, because those days are gone, not just in Telford but up and down the country. What we can do, however, is try and fill the rink as best we can with new fans, and maybe even get a few old faces to return.

[topbeats]

Apr 21, 2011 17:01:40 GMT mrslegend said:

Topbeats, can I just mention that there is no difference between how long either Zamboni takes to re-surface the ice

James told me Saturday the old Zamboni took 8 minutes, the new one 12 - that's the only reason we extended the period breaks 3 minutes...