The General Manager of Marketing shares her approach in leveraging data and insights to enhance the marketing strategy.
Sophie Wills, serving as the General Manager of Communications and Marketing at New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL), was already aware of a looming issue within the organization even prior to the onset of the Covid pandemic.
As early as 2019, Wills had observed a decline in fan loyalty, presenting a challenge compounded by the lack of clarity on the reasons behind it and the absence of viable solutions to reverse the trend.
Identifying the organization’s data capabilities as a key factor, Wills recognized the need for a revamped approach to leverage data for informed decision-making.
“We realized that our data ecosystem at NZRL wasn’t optimal,” Wills explains. “We lacked the necessary data to instill confidence in our marketing strategy. Our efforts were somewhat blind, targeting a broad audience without precise insights, and I knew we required a more robust data foundation.”
Recognizing the pivotal role of a refined data strategy in driving future fan engagement, NZRL opted to adopt the data platform Domo. Collaborating with her digital strategy agency LayerCake, Wills and her team embarked on the journey of crafting a new data-driven approach.
This strategy faced its first significant test in 2022 with the announcement of the sole international fixture for the year—a double-header between New Zealand and Tonga at Auckland’s Mt Smart stadium.
“Marketing faced immense pressure to ensure effective outreach and ticket sales for this test match,” Wills recalls. “Yet, without comprehensive data, it was impossible for me to gauge the efficacy of our efforts.”
Building a data-driven engagement strategy
Eager to achieve a sold-out match, Wills recognized the necessity of a more targeted strategy to drive fan engagement. Leveraging the data platform Domo, to which NZRL had already subscribed, Wills collaborated with her digital strategy agency, LayerCake, to formulate a data-driven engagement plan.
A crucial aspect of this plan was the integration of NZRL’s ticketing provider, Ticketmaster, which provided a stream of ticket sales data. This data was then correlated with marketing activities in Domo, offering valuable insights into the effectiveness of various marketing initiatives in driving sales among specific audience segments. This approach not only enabled NZRL to identify the most impactful marketing activations but also allowed them to optimize spending, reallocating resources when necessary, such as pulling back on social media spending once it became evident that the 2020 test match was on track to sell out.
“We were able to reallocate some of our resources, resulting in a positive outcome,” Wills remarks.
Subsequently, NZRL’s data-driven marketing strategy yielded significant achievements, notably a surge in website traffic from 50,000 visits to 300,000 in 2022.
“In just one year, we’ve gained nearly 50,000 social media followers – numbers of this magnitude were unprecedented for us,” Wills highlights. “This success demonstrates the effectiveness of data-driven insights in our operations. We now have greater control and confidence in our marketing endeavors.”
The success achieved in fan engagement has prompted NZRL to extend the utilization of Domo to its broader development program, aiming to aid in the formulation of strategies aimed at encouraging and retaining young players.
“The focus on grassroots level thinking has been lacking due to the absence of data analysis at that level,” Wills explains. “With the integration of Domo, we’ll be empowered to implement more targeted marketing and communications initiatives directed towards specific groups we identify as having the potential to participate in rugby league or renew their involvement.”
“Our goal was to consolidate our organizational data into one comprehensive record, as different departments were previously utilizing it in disparate ways. Now, with a unified and real-time single source of truth, the impact will be felt throughout the entire organization,” Wills concludes.
