The Aviva Stadium is sold out for Friday night’s World Cup qualifying clash between the Republic of Ireland and Germany, and one Airtricity Premier League club is taking imaginative steps to ensure that at least some of the German fans travelling for the game will take in some local action 24 hours later.
Shamrock Rovers host Derry City at Tallaght Stadium on Saturday night and have run a social media and leaflet campaign looking to attract visiting fans.
The club ran a similar campaign the last time Germany played here in 2007 and brought in around 700 extra fans.  With tickets priced at €15 that would bring in additional revenues of more than €10,000 which is no small change and which could haveadditional longer term benefits in building up an international base of fans with some affinity to the Hoops.
The club has put together a deal with the local Maldron hotel for fans to avail of a reduced rate and have promoted the campaign across facebook, twitter and linked In.  They have also printed information leaflets in German on how to get to the stadium and saying a little about the heritage of Shamrock Rovers as a football club with a strong European pedigree.
Rovers are in the first season of a sponsorship with Seat, owned by German motor group Volkswagen.  Small campaigns with imagination appeal to sponsors even if they are not directly involved as it shows the marketing ability of the team.
It may well have been an idea to ensure that workers at some of Volkswagen’s German plants were made aware of the promotion.  That would have added exposure to the campaign and also promoted the company’s involvement in a sport that has strong appeal to workers in the company.
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