And, like Kit, the Club seem equally content now that a happy family relationship with fans has been restored. And revenue is coming in. At that’s how it seems according this article about letting a contract to Two Circles - "Fulham FC have agreed a long-term partnership with Two Circles, a data-driven agency that works with sports rights-holders to help drive their commercial revenue. The Championship club will utilise the agency’s CRM solution, which draws on social media and other external sources to provide fan data and insights. It is hoped the move will enable Fulham to run more effective marketing campaigns, improve customer experiences and enhance commercial performance across ticketing, membership, retail and hospitality. Two Circles has performed a similar duty for its other clients including Liverpool Football Club, the Lawn Tennis Association, and Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). “We have been working with Two Circles since last summer and the work that has been carried out has increased our understanding of the fan-base and is generating tangible returns,” said Sarah Brookes, the communications and marketing director at Fulham. “For example, only five weeks into the season-ticket campaign we had exceeded our target, and had achieved more than at the equivalent point in the previous season. Given the obvious differences between then and now in terms of our league status, we could not be happier with the results of this project to date.” Source: http://www.soccerex.com/industry-news/fulham-agree-long-term-crm-contract-with-two-circles/ Interesting that the sale of season tickets has not only exceeded expectation but also last year’s equivalent. Obviously it’s good that we’re generating money and there’s nothing at all wrong with getting professional help. However, I have the feeling that this appointment is rather more commercially oriented than for the fan’s delectation, as the article suggests. One small example - on visiting the Club shop this week I discovered that season ticket holders no longer get a 10% discount.
As far as I am concerned this club has gone backwards in it's treatment of it's fans. I think they sound smug in their complacency of STH (of which I am), they had a chance to get prices correct for the Championship so that the stadium was almost full every game, and the chance to get larger gates was sacrificed by keeping prices near Premier levels. We have Bars in the stadium that you have to pay to get invited into!!!! Yet they used to be our supporters bars. They stopped the free FULTIME mag and now the 10% discount, so that pulls money back in for them. The food concessions have hiked their prices up during the season, and the food and beer is just poor and not fit for eating for the prices being charged. I've stopped buying the programme as not value any more, The fanzine is a better read. Don't talk to me about Fulham being a Friendly fan orientated club ...that's long gone
