The Partner
The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed the Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The Cats have been the VFL/AFL premiers ten times, with four in the AFL era (since 1990). They have also won ten McClelland Trophies, the most of any AFL/VFL club.
The Geelong Cats leveraged their Retro Round in 2023 to launch a cohesive marketing initiative intended to boost engagement at all levels of fandom.
The Strategy
The Geelong team aimed to strengthen their relationships with current fans and create new ones, ensuring that everyone—newbies and old-timer fans alike—feel a part of the Geelong family.
To achieve this, the team used the Tradable Bits platform to craft multiple campaigns for their overarching Retro Round marketing initiative. They focused on a clean and cohesive design across all marketing materials to grab attention while also using storytelling to highlight the club’s rich history.
This approach was a 2-fer:
- Educating new fans about the club’s history
- Triggering nostalgia among existing fans - deepening emotional connection to the club
The Retro Campaign
The team crafted 3 distinctive campaigns by integrating the nostalgia of a bygone era with modern engagement tactics. Together, these 3 campaigns created a multifaceted fan experience:
Retro Memory Match:
Used retro-themed player cards and a prize incentive for fans. For this campaign, they paired the digital player cards with physical copies that fans were incentivized to pick up by visiting brick-and-mortar stores (special pricing).
Retro Photo Frame:
Let fans upload images to create their own retro player cards to share digitally. This campaign encouraged fans to engage with the brand.
Retro Personalized Playlist:
Recommended nostalgic songs to fans and let fans customize their own playlists. With this campaign, Geelong took a campaign typically reserved for the music world to let fans showcase their personality (and listening behavior).
The Results
Photo frame - Average activity duration 3min 32sec
Memory match - 79% opt-in rate
The Retro Campaigns resonated with fans on a deeper level. The long watch times and tons of sign-ups showcase the campaign's success in engaging and educating fans about the club’s historic legacy, leaving them eager for more!
Geelong was awarded the 2024 Best in Engagement Campaign Design by Tradable Bits for a fully integrated marketing initiative that used design to immerse fans in the team's legacy.
Happy Fan Marketing!