Seriously, whoever has taken over/given someone a kick up the arse in marketing needs a medal. Great to see the club actively reaching out.
For me:
Pre-game: Start earlier. Matchday for many fans starts the minute they wake up, the club need to be there enhancing the experience (not when they wake up) and making fans (especially kids) want to come back next week regardless of the football. We can't control what happens on the pitch to some extent, so the product has to extend beyond that both in time and space. Get Sky Blue Sam and a couple of the players who aren't involved outside the ground before the match. Get them over to Arena park hassling people to come to the game, get them in town, wherever people are on a Saturday morning. No-one in Cov should be in any doubt that there's a City game on.
Start broadcasting on YouTube or Internet radio early on with all kinds of Sky Blue related bollocks, phone ins, quizzes, interviews, whatever. I know they can't do the game coverage, but surely there's nothing stopping them doing a match day "show"?
Get the club's identity out into the City. Whether that's through things for fans to put in windows, billboard advertising, a stall in town, whatever. I'd like to see the matchday buses, trains and the canal barge thing reached out to and become great big sky blue advertising boards going through the town on match day. I want people to see the SBA coming to the game and want to be part of that. Club reps/academy players/whoever on the buses leading songs and handing out crisps and pop or whatever.
Reach out to the places where City fans are likely to be drinking pre-game (harder with the opening of the station granted) and see how they can help each other. Ex-players, quiz night prizes, ticket sales behind the bar, whatever.
I understand there's an incentive to drive people into the ground to buy overpriced refreshments, but there's no reason the club couldn't be making 100% of the profit from items sold outside the ground/on buses/in pubs.
During the game/inside the ground: I think the biggest thing will be helped this season by having the crowds closer together to improve atmostphere. I'd love to see the ground draped with fan made banners and flags, but it's not going to happen, similarly I'd love to see temporary signage and branding put around and inside the ground, maybe if time is a problem a group of fans can be organised to help speed things up. I understand the club doesn't have the ground much past the end of the game. Surely though banners and the like could be placed outside, like a temporary version of what Arsenal have with player images and bios up as you walk into the ground.
Half time needs to be improved. It's a tough crowd but a fair one. Something that always works well when I've been away is having a kids game on the pitch. After all, they are football fans. Nothing wrong with half time games either. I'd like to see more local bands given a chance to perform in front of the crowd, but they can't be awful or they will get torn apart. Use the captive audience to promote things in the City, whether it's charities or sports clubs or just events, become more connected to the community around and they will in turn become more connected to you. Use the two things that bind everyone in the crowd: Coventry and football.
Post game: Hold a fans conference, maybe with some kind of filter on the questions. Doesn't have to be long, but you could get Mowbray and a player or two to pop into the casino afterwards. It'd be a brave move, but again it's about breaking down the perceived barriers between the fans and the club. Or maybe live stream the conference if that's too risky. Direct people where they can go after the match through the PA. Ideally there'd be more stuff at the Ricoh site to make it worth sticking around. Direct people to the shop when it's in Arena Park.
Basically, make the day memorable and enjoyable for all despite the result on the pitch. The sense of community and belonging is what most people of all ages are after. But you can split that down further into target users. I, for example, like to go with my Dad, neither of us drink that much so at most we get a coffee and a sandwich afterwards, we drive up so most of these ideas aren't aimed at us. Instead I'd like improved internet access (especially at half time) so i can check here and the other games, or player stats as that's how I enjoy the game. Kids will love the pagentry and the players and everything. Some will want group discounts and beer vouchers and to make an all dayer of it as it's their time with their mates.
Currently if the game is shit, the day is shit, but I don't think it has to be that way. Obviously if we're top of the league then most of this stuff is moot, but we need to achieve what some other clubs can and get people coming back week after week regardless of the result.
Edit: And free flags!!
