Melbourne FC

WePlay were appointed by Australian Football League team, Melbourne FC to develop a direct-to-consumer strategy that would drive attendances and merchandise sales. With Melbourne FC already running their own digital and social activity to convert their current audience, this brief to WePlay was to focus entirely on targeting new audiences.

By focusing on selling the experience at the MCG, rather than the game itself, we were able to attract attention from new audiences, in particular, international tourists, expatriates and students. We developed a detailed direct-to-consumer strategy, powered by acquisition marketing campaigns around key defining moments in the calendar. Utilising a blend of social creative and efficient targeting through custom audiences and lookalikes, we were able to reach and engage new audiences and drive sales of both tickets and merchandise.

As our first venture into the Australian market, we’re delighted with the results. We assumed that working in different time-zones may hinder performance, however, our efficient scheduling and management saw the complete opposite. The project saw not only a fantastic 500% return on investment with a 16% increase on average attendances, but also included the first-ever general admission sell out.