Judder Man wrote:
As Wire and Saints are way ahead of others does it really need promoting though its most likely to be a full house anyway because Wire are treating this as a really big important game, Saints will just see it as another game that will tick the box towards the play offs, the Saints always go to the HJ in big numbers. Whoever wins the game won't have a reflection on how the form will be when it does come to the play offs the result will just be a reward towards bragging rights for a week or two.
I'm not sure this game would sell out from a Warrington perspective without the additional push - I'm not confident it will sell out with it. How much would the promotion have cost? I couldn't honestly say, so it's difficult to determine cost effectiveness. The club don't seem to be doing the open press conference this time around which is a shame (they did vs Wigan) - possibly they are looking at how well these things work in isolation before introducing them to all big games.
It's too simplistic to think of it as the impact just in terms of the attendance, there were probably 100k+ people watching that Saints game on Sky, more bums on armchairs is important too - this sort of thing can attract fans of other clubs to tune in, important given how close the TV contract renewal is. Warrington are all about building the event this season for each game, and increasing awareness around the town. I've had mates send me Twitter posts with videos on, some of them aren't even RL fans, so it shows it is working to a degree. Maybe with enough repeated exposure, some will be influenced to take in a game - it's all about building the perception of the event and how important it is, make people not want to miss out.
Getting more people talking about the sport in the town, and in St Helens (especially those who aren't as bought in to the sport / club as we are), has to be a good thing? It's intangible to a degree, but we need to raise awareness.
At least they are doing something.