Membership Packs & Slogan

[2005]

This has always been a bitch of mine

We have the most pitiful campaign slogan going around in the AFL.

Love the Swans , what is that ?? So pedestrian

Cant believe in todays enviroment thats the best we can come up with.
Cant believe we cant get our packs until mid February.
The content of what we get is 2nd grade stuff, a cheap ass keyring ,a magnet, a sticker that looks like someone in kindy has come up with and goes pink after a week it goes on the car and another hat to go along with every other year.
A quality magazine is the only decent thing we get.

Anyones else thoughts ??

[royboy42]

You need to get onto the office..I get a reserved seat to all the home games as well as all the above mentioned!

[Nich]

I honestly don't even care too much about the other stuff. I pay for the reserved seats. I agree with you on the slogan though.

With regards to the keyring, hat, etc, I would love to get one of the Polo's included but I can't see that ever happening considering they sell for $80! In saying that, I'm sure many people love getting a new hat each year.

[liz]

Cant believe we cant get our packs until mid February.
The content of what we get is 2nd grade stuff, a cheap ass keyring ,a magnet, a sticker that looks like someone in kindy has come up with and goes pink after a week it goes on the car and another hat to go along with every other year.
A quality magazine is the only decent thing we get.

Anyones else thoughts ??

Specifically what other kind of stuff do you want thrown in, and how much more are you willing to pay for your membership to acquire such?

Personally I pay my membership for the right to attend home games and I would strongly prefer than not a single cent more of what I give the club is spent on trinkets. I'd rather it was spent on improving facilities, coaching resources, players, strengthening the balance sheet of the club etc. I do receive further "gifts" from the club because I buy a Redback membership each year (which costs about 2.5 times as much as a regular reserved seat package but does include other benefits, none of which I use). Although some of these gifts have been quite nifty (sports bags, vacuum flasks, blankets, wine accessory kits, binoculars are just some of them), I would much prefer the club stopped sending them to me and spent the money on the club instead.

Have never understood why people would object to receiving their membership packs in February. I know there have been years past when some haven't been mailed until far too close to the start of the season (and in one year, some were sent after the season had started) but so long as we have them by mid-March, I don't see there is a problem.

[Kirkari]

The slogan is "Love Your Swans" - not "Love the Swans", which I actually think is simple, direct and gives a nice sense of ownership. It also allows lots of scope for ways to apply it to various promotions during the year. "Love your Swans? Come to Family Day." "Nothing planned this Sunday? Love your Swans." or just plastering it across almost any image of fans at the games.

As to the trinkets, etc., I know more than one poster on this board attended the member feedback sessions the club held last year, and apparently most members want this stuff, especially the cap. I don't get it, but there it is. I heard they either left it out one year, or didn't embroider the membership year on it, and there was an uproar! And since people want it, the club has to find things that are affordable, promotional, and don't cannibalise the revenue they can earn through merchandising. Maybe there should be a checkbox to not receive any of it, and thereby donate the saving to the club, but it could probably cost as much to administer the logistics as the various bits and bobs cost to buy in bulk.

On timing of membership packs, I agree with Liz. As long as the membership packs arrive before the season starts, it's all good. I admit I get a bit nervous in the time between renewing and getting the pack, and you need to check when they're due as there's not much margin for error, but in the end, it has always worked out. If you're trying to do something a bit tricky in terms of seating or changing membership types, it's not always the smoothest operation ever, but if you call the club, they are always very keen to help. In the end, as long as I get my reserved seat, I'm happy to buy the membership. Especially because I need somewhere to rest when I'm carting around all those key rings...

My suggestion - Lighten up, and Love Your Swans!

[Big Al]

Nothing wrong with the slogan and I quite like the hat and key ring. As for the timing I always thought they cut it a bit fine in previous years so February is no dramas at all.

[laughingnome]

Agree with the sentiments expressed above that the trinkets are not important, and that the price pays for the seat and the glory of being one of the club.

I prefer to get the pack in mid-February for two reasons:
1 - Give it to me in December and I might lose it before I need it
2 - It gets the nerves jangling. The off-season is like a long, drawn out tease before the act begins all over again. Getting that pack in the mail says, "Hold on! We're almost there and it's going to be AWESOME!"

Especially considering the presence of NAB Matches in Sydney, I would very much like it if my pack arrived on or before Feb 18. But anytime in January is simply too early.

[mariachi]

One thing that would be a good inclusion (maybe every three years?) would be a good quality lightweight ankle length poncho in club colours. Something with a hood, that you could sit on and which still covered the knees, was big enough to tuck a pie under and which offered full protection. The club could include a voucher so you collected your correct size at season's start along with the hat. Imagine a sea of shiny red plastic in the concourse and lower stands. Wicked! (Larissa?)

[mariachi]

BTW - a rain poncho, not a fashion item, in case that wasn't clear...

[Big Al]

BTW - a rain poncho, not a fashion item, in case that wasn't clear...

Not a lot of need for poncho's in the Brewongle so it would be of no use to me.

[mariachi]

You wouldn't need to collect yours then... unless you go to training or walk on the beach or would otherwise want to show your allegiance in the wet...

[Big Al]

You wouldn't need to collect yours then... unless you go to training or walk on the beach or would otherwise want to show your allegiance in the wet...

I live 50km from a beach and if I need to show my "allegiance" in the wet then I'll use a big arse umbrella.

[Triple B]

A quality magazine is the only decent thing we get.

Anyones else thoughts ??

Even then, every year in the magazine they change the font.

Why can't they just choose a standard font and stick to it like everybody else....

[Triple B]

One thing that would be a good inclusion (maybe every three years?) would be a good quality lightweight ankle length poncho in club colours. Something with a hood, that you could sit on and which still covered the knees, was big enough to tuck a pie under and which offered full protection. The club could include a voucher so you collected your correct size at season's start along with the hat. Imagine a sea of shiny red plastic in the concourse and lower stands. Wicked! (Larissa?)

I like that idea a lot. Cheap, but useful.

Even for those in the more salubrious undercover areas may find it useful if they find themselves on the fence at the MCG late in September...

[Primmy]

I could do with a poncho! Red. It would pickle the minds of the "other" mob in the crowd if there was a wall of red, not just a nodding display of white and red. All red. Get in before the Suns do. Useful on rainy days to keep the drifting mist off even if you are under cover, and to make the mob look intimidating. Hard to look bold and brassy on wet days, everyone disappears up under cover! A wall of red hovering under the grandstand......fantastic!

I have each keyring from the very first one they produced. I love them. I also have all the caps. Most of which would look good on a head from say Fort Worth Texas, not my delicate little noggin. But the caps are necessary on a sunny day to cut the glare. Just a pity they are a bit too white for my liking. Tried colouring in those bits with texta, but I digress....

Personally if they want to give me crap then bring it on - I can always give away what I don't want, or not actually collect the cap in the first place, but I always do. I pay for the joy of attending each and every game and I like my magazine.