MODULE 1: DIGITAL MEDIA AUDIT

Client:

Date:

Criteria

Examples or observations

Broad vision of how

digital media can
transform the
company

The Queensland Reds primary business goals

are as follows;
Increase Rugby Union participation in
Queensland (Australian Sports
Commission, 2012)
Increase membership sales
(Queensland Rugby, 2011) (Queensland
Rugby, 2013)
Increase hospitality sales (Queensland
Rugby, 2011) (Queensland Rugby,
2013)
Increase sponsorship (Queensland
Rugby, 2011) (Queensland Rugby,
2013)
Digital media is currently being used to build
the number of locked-in paying members,
strengthening brand affinity with fans and
gaining reach in new demographics. Digital is
utilised for its powerful imagery that can
easily activate the brand message of
strength through adversity and convey the
brand sentiment. These techniques
successfully strengthen affinity with current
fans.
Digitals proximity to the point-of-purchase is
utilised heavily across all of its channels; callto-actions (CTAs) are the first line-of-sight on
all channels except Twitter. CTAs typically
provoke engagement, though the current
model has barriers-to-purchase, requiring
payment and reaching 16yrs+. Engagement
with all demographics could be achieved
through more easily activated CTAs.
The Reds currently operate real-life rugby
union games for juniors (5-15yrs) with

Rating
1 to 10

Integration of
marketing, IMC and
digital strategy

dedicated web presence to support the

program and grow junior engagement. This
program is aimed at increasing youth
participation in Rugby Union (a primary
business goal) while building formative bonds
between the young sportsmen and the
Queensland Reds (growing consumer value).
Digital presence for the program features
tailored branding to better engage the
demographic. Despite tailored tools there is
little presence on primary digital channels
regarding the junior program while the
auxiliary website itself contains little engaging
content solely for juniors (e.g. Games).
Consistent branding is demonstrated across
digital and traditional media. Graphic designs,
brand sentiment, slogans and promotions are
activated in unison across all channels.
The Reds utilise concise copy that is easily
transferred between online/offline channels to
build stronger affinity through an immersive
brand environment. Though most assets
contain links between the Reds digital
channels, more could be done to improve the
seamless brand environment while fans are
engaged with the brand assets.
Real-life junior programs feature some digital
presence with branding that is tailored to
alternate demographics yet is cohesive with
the overall strategy. Consistent branding
across platforms and a high level of digital
marketing competence indicates a strong
focus on, and integration of, digital marketing
with the overall company operations.

Digital strategy (please

articulate)

The Reds digital strategy is primarily aimed

at strengthening the support of existing fans
to grow lifetime customer value. This is
evident with the content that calls for fans to
sign up to season tickets, utilise promotions at
live games or simply to build affinity by
following their favourite players. In addition,
digital media increases brand equity through
cohesive marketing in an online/offline
environment that reinforces the brand image.

Digital Media is primarily used to promote

business goals (increasing membership sales)
and to increase brand affinity. CTA Advertising
is the primary vehicle in promoting
membership sales, though endorsements and
special offers for single ticket sales exist also.
Growing the overall fan base is not a priority
though dedicated junior advertising engages
with an impressionable audience. Awareness
objectives appear absent as there is little
direct attempt to spread through digital social
circles. Key performance indicators are likely
new memberships (financial indicator) and
social media engagement (engagement/brand
affinity indicator).
The media portfolio consists of websites and
social media presence. Social media is the
dominant channel and it used to connect with
fans (utilising the trust of earned media) to
promote brand-consumer relationships; this
strategy achieves engagement objectives to
strengthen brand affinity. Business interests
are congruently promoted in these channels,
as consumers are more likely to accept
advertising in this trusted space (Malyarov,
2015).
Despite E-commerce being the overarching
objective of the digital strategy, it focuses
solely on membership and ticket sales;
merchandise promotions, though typically
encouraged by sports teams, are absent from
the Queensland Reds online advertising
(Wakefield, 2007).
Strategically
consistent, companycreated brand
messages

Graphic designs and slogans, brand sentiment

and branded promotions are updated in
unison across all channels to create high
frequency and reinforce a consistent image.

Degree of company
involvement in digital
and social media

The digital media department have close

access to the sports team for content creation
and promotional purposes. It is evident that
they too have first access to team news as
well as the authority to create digital centric

content and campaigns. This indicates a

portion of the budget is appropriated towards
digital marketing; increasing the digital
advertising budget would see increased
returns.
Digital tools and social
used by the company

Social Media is the dominant platform for

communication, promotions and news.
Facebook primarily focuses on promotions and
communication with some news. Twitter is
used to report news and promote live events.
Earned media has clear trust benefits in
conjunction with its paid advertising
applications.
The primary website features promotions and
news along side formalities such as fixtures,
results, squad information etc. The primary
website is a hub where fans are consumed by
branded and informative content.
The Queensland Reds media portfolio
includes an auxiliary website that is targeted
at junior demographics; tailored graphics
more effectively engage this audience.

The Reds strong social media and overall

digital presence is unified finally by digital
video, which appears dominantly across all
platforms including a dedicated YouTube
channel.
Appropriations should be made to paid search
engine advertising, which is not currently
employed by the Queensland Reds.

Frequency of use of
digital and social
media tools

The Reds Facebook page is typically updated

4 times daily with match days seeing a spike
in activity Facebook is primarily used for
promotions and fan communication. Twitter is
the dominant channel for news updates and
game coverage, seeing 5-10 updates daily
with over 20 updates on match days.

Examples of content

Membership call-to-actions

ee

shared

This is focused on increasing regular ticket

sales and lifetime value of consumers. The
benefit to consumers is the communal pride
of belonging to an elite portion of fans; this
extends both brand affinity and business sales
goals.
News
News is a dominant form on content across all
digital channels; Informing fans about their
team at high frequencies develops stronger
relationships with mid-highly involved fans.
Videos
Videos are used as a form of branded
entertainment to strengthen engagement and
to unify channels. Videos are easily
consumable with a high level of engagement
across low-highly involved fans.
Event Promotions
Social media features regular promotions for
ticket sales that combine additional benefitsto-purchase including free beer and
merchandise. Upgraded facilities are similarly
advertised to increase likelihood to purchase
hospitality, a key business goal. Event
promotions that included a prize winner were
successful on social media.
PR
Charitable contributions and social activism
shown by the team are often posted on social
media pages. PR also encompasses personal
posts made from players social media
accounts on the Queensland Reds social
media pages. This form of advertising clearly
elicits the most consumer engagement with
an average of 5x more user engagement on
these posts.
UGC
Some user-generated-content is seen; UGC
elicits a high level of engagement from fans
as well as gaining huge reach with each
submitters extended social circle. UGC
campaigns activated by the Queensland Reds

have been successful in the past (Lentile,

2014).

Strategic user
engagement

Content is primarily targeted at 18-30 year old

males in Brisbane. The audience have a
strong sense of pride and deep family/friend
values (Bolton et al, 2013). Branding presents
a strong image of Pride with supporting
themes of hardiness (Strong and capable) and
nostalgia (Club history, mateship). Branding
emanates a young mans idol with the strength
and dominance of a battler and sharp graphic
design insinuating professionalism and
alertness.
The Reds digital strategy largely targets this
demographic through the brand message of
strength through adversity, a strong sense
of team pride and a chummy/comradely
sentiment. Promotion of the alcohol sponsor,
Hahn Super Dry, subsequently targets the
same age group who are also the beers
primary target market (Australian Promotional
Products Association, 2013). Additional
sponsors have partnered with the Reds in an
attempt to gain attraction with this particular
group of 18-30 year old men ((Queensland
Reds & Queensland Rugby, 2011).
A wide mix of content (Photos, News, Videos,
Promotions) seeks to keep the young, fleeting
user engaged (Luck & Matthews, 2010).
Beer/bar promotions provide benefits to the
socially focused demographic while
membership CTAs instil a sense of pride in
new members. More should be done to
increase engagement through removing
barriers-to-purchase while maintaining the
social/personal benefits of belonging to a
team.
The Reds offline junior program features web
presence that is tailored to the younger
demographic. While branding is junior centric
it offers no real sense of engagement online.
In addition, junior promotions are typically

lacking in primary channels where reach with

parents would occur.
Measurement of digital
performance

The likely performance indicators for digital

channels are membership sales and
engagement.
It is likely that the digital strategy includes
geographically targeted advertising - the use
of data collection would optimise this
advertising. This tactic could be used to guide
out-of-home advertising and other traditional
media purchasing.

*Where 0 indicates a lack of achievement and 10 represents optimum

achievement.

Australian Promotional Products Association (2013). APPA Awards Magazine.

Retrieved March 6, 2015, from http://www.appa.com.au/awards/item/88346bronze-award
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y_2012%20Strategic%20Document_FINAL4.pdf
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Queensland Rugby (2011). 2011 Queensland Rugby Annual Report. Retrieved

March 6, 2015, from
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