Overseas Marketing

[Tell The King]

I see a lot of places in Manchester City Centre advertising selling City tickets now too, there's a Post Office next to the Tourist Information Centre in Piccadilly, as well as the National Football Museum which sells them or packages over the counter, which makes it easy for people without Cityzen membership to get them. What the prices are etc. I've no idea.

 

[mekonmcfc]

@mekonmcfc in fairness there has been a gradual increase in tourist fans i'd say within the last half-decade, just so now with the online inhouse ticket exchange/added seats it's making it easier to obtain tickets, rather than people having to do it on vianogo.

I've often used public transport to games, that's why I started going to Maine Road as it was easier as a young kid (no dad taking me) to jump the tram and get into town.
Over the years the trams on matchdays has increased in numbers, the change in the City Centre is even more noticeable as Manchester has become a more ethnically/culturally diverse society.
Everywhere I walk I'm hearing different languages being spoken, all groups of people living/working in Manchester.

Within the past 4/5 seasons I've noticed a big increase in the amount of people asking me for directions to the stadium (as I'm probably wearing a City shirt) confused as to which tram to get on and so on.

I've spoken to people who've literally come off a plane within hours of arrival into Manchester,and heading straight for the Etihad all via the Metrolink.

Credit to Metrolink as well this season, it ran smoothly for me and they were announcing the matchday lineups over the tannoy at platforms, also displaying the lineups underneath the tram arrival LED screens.

We're the real club in Manchester, the rags don't get that shit when they play at Trafford.
We should ban them lot from using the coat of arms on their suits with the amount of money we've contributed to East Manchester.

Yes we have in the past mocked United for being the tourist/gloryseeker club.

I have been one of them doing it.

But change is good, with success comes the bandwaggon jumpers and as long as the prices are fair and the stadium is big enough, locals like myself who have always come to games will be still in the stadium.
It's upto us to educate the newer fans about the club and it's history - if they don't know the words to the songs - educate them.

I remember teaching the words of Blue Moon to locals on a small island in Thailand years ago at a full moon party.
Had hundreds of em all singing it and reading about City :D

good post and very true, i dont mind the bandwagon fans it comes with success, and it all helps us to get to that consistent level on and off the pitch

 

[aguero93:20]

Someone is far from bored yet I noticed... On an official pic today from his office there is a small memento on the wall :D

It's just a pity you can't see the huge signed Silva poster on the other wall from that angle.

 

[mekonmcfc]

It's just a pity you can't see the huge signed naked Silva poster on the other wall from that angle.

 

[doctor whites]

Yes I myself have been spreading the gospel abroad for a good few years now as I know a lot of blues do when on hols turkey mainly and the guys really do know who we are now but there are some who have known about us for quite a while one such guy sells tours half way down the strip in olu deniz he had city crest on his leg 8 years ago always rembers me when I go

 

[nijinsky]

Proper double take when this ad for Cola Cao drink popped up on Spanish tv the other day. Pity Pozo's left but still great to see the academy and shirt getting overseas exposure.

 

[S04]

Don´t see a problem with overseas visitors snapping up tickets for games I won´t attend anyway.. Just makes the ST cheaper really

 

[Ascetic]

Was a bit surprised to see City's shirt featured at Nike in a fancy shopping centre in Las Vegas (The Forum Shops).

 

[Tricky_Trev]

City are growing at a rate that I don't think most people on here realise. Ok, we know we're growing fast, but what I'm saying is it's faster than you can imagine!

I was in Malaysian Borneo, in the middle of nowhere, a small village in the jungle, about 2km from the Indonesian border. Saw a kid wearing a 'City' shirt that had me in stitches, since it's nothing like a city shirt in reality. He spoke no English but through translation from a local, I asked him if he knew any City players. He said "Aguero, Yaya and Joe Hart". Now this really was in the middle of nowhere in one of the poorest places I've visited... yet there are kids that know City.

It's unreal.

 

[RichardDunneOwnGoal]

Thanks for the well reasoned comments - Why Always Ste. Agree 100% with your thinking. I am sure there will be fans who would not agree with you but clubs have a choice, stay with the traditional fan base and stagnate or even regress as other clubs expand theirs. Or encourage a global interest in City and welcome those lucky enough to be able to take in a game at the Etihad. Don't know how many will remember it but many years ago (late 80s & 90s)Peter Swales tried a King Canute impression by suggesting that City were going to make a stand against excessive spending on players and that at the Leagues Chairman's meeting he was going to encourage others to do the same. Of course the truth was we were skint and he wanted some way of preventing other clubs going past us. History shows us how successful he was with his attempt. The modern Premier League is even less forgiving of those who stand still. The best example of the financial rewards of global exposure is the rags shirt deal. Chevrolet must have low single digit market share in the UK and will probably never be a major car supplier here but overseas they are huge in the developing football countries and want their brand all over the local TVs. City has always been a friendly club lets keep it that way.

That's some bullshit thinking that mate.

Price out the core support so we can have lots of football tourists with little to no affinity to City here instead?

Never read such nonsense in my life. Sounds like Stockholm Syndrome.

If we didn't have match day ticket prices of £40-£66, then we'd have much more actual City supporters in the ground, our fanbase would expand organically and we'd have a better atmosphere.

Instead we annually dilute the core support via ticket price increases, season ticket price increases, and we have a revolving door of long standing core support priced out to be replaced by football tourists from all over the globe here to visit the Disney Land of football for the day.

If ticket prices were reasonable, or even cheap, we'd be inclusive and could afford to accommodate everyone. The tourists included. And none of the core support would be excluded. In fact we'd probably have been able to extend to North Stand this season.

Instead we have the revolving door type scenario, and people like you celebrate it.

Bizarre.

Even more so given this is precisely what we used to deride the scum for, for decades.

Take yourself back 10 years and imagine if you could ever celebrate City prioritising football tourists and plastics ahead of the core support, motivated by the £.

Never in a million years.

Utterly bizarre.

Stockholm Syndrome is my guess.