In case you’re not aware, Centre 13 of the VSOC were invited to be on parade at the Saracens Rugby Club on the 26th March. Looks like everyone had a great time too…. despite the inclement weather. Well done to Kevin Blythe who organised this.
Ladies & Gentlemen,
I’ve tried to capture the exposure for VSOC – I’m reliably informed by my ‘independent social media adviser’ that the publicity levels are good. Remains to be seen if they translate into membership enquiries.
- 35 qualifying bikes attended from 5 Centres (C10, C12, C13, C16, C19). 3 VSOC marquees were deployed to support a static display of all bikes. 10 selected bikes representing 4 Centres formed a Guard of Honour at the players tunnel at start of game.
- Negotiation on the day meant Saracens gave us 20 free tickets and we paid for 15 which brought us in on budget at £300. I have all tickets and receipts if Malc needs them.
- Screened live on BT Sport 26.03.16. Highlights repeated on ITV 27.03.16.
- Match attendance was 9,749 and we featured several times on the stadium big screens. I saw the pictures and text used but do not have copies.
- Article in match day programme was reduced in size from our original submission and what had been agreed. However it did contain overview of VSOC and joining instructions with Malc’s contact details. Kevin Hoyte has copies.
- We offered ourselves to BT Sport but no direct interview took place. There was an explanation of the VSOC provided to BT Sport presenter Craig Doyle by Sally T and Jane Everett at the Guard of Honour however it was not televised at that point. They were the backdrop to the piece he then did to camera.
- There were lots of personal video and pictures taken and at a couple of times during the afternoon there were significant crowds at the stand (mass start up/Saracens camel mascot/Guard of Honour departure). Whilst some material is going out on VSOC UK FB there is still enough for Clatter if needed.
- Saracens tweeted our VSOC Twitter account @ViragoStarClub to their 61,000 followers. It was re-tweeted twice and received 17 likes.
- Jacques Burger, Saracens player, posted video on Twitter @nabasboer where he has 18,000 followers. It was re-tweeted 3 times and liked 27 times.
- Jacques Burger also posted video on Instagram which was sent to 8,100 followers and had been viewed 1,314 times at time of writing.
- Feedback on the day suggested Saracens were extremely pleased with the event and apparently discussing VSOC invites next season.
- Over the weekend Kevin Hoyte and I met Saracens Chairman Nigel Wray a couple of times – he was very pleased and has my details for any future contact.
- I have captured the many lessons learnt for reference if we receive another invite!
Although weather certainly impacted final attendance I think it is worth noting that, at its height, I had 49 qualifying bikes registered to attend from 7 Centres which indicates a level of interest the VSOC could exploit in terms of looking beyond the regular annual events we routinely support.
Cheers, Kevin Blythe. C13 Events Coordinator.
You can see a video of the day here:
