Arsenal marketing guru to help Crows rebuild
The Adelaide Crows have brought in key recruits from two of the world’s biggest sporting bodies – Arsenal Football Club and Cricket Australia – as they seek to “recalibrate” their brand.
The high-powered marketing appointments continue a remarkable summer of transformation for the underperforming club, and a theme fledgling CEO Andrew Fagan flagged in his first media conference at the helm: “I’m going to put the right people in the right seats.”
“You’ve got to place some bets and that’s what we’re doing,” Fagan told InDaily.
“I just think we’ve been through a tremendous period of change as a footy club: we’ve got our independence, moved to Adelaide Oval, we have a new CEO and a new head coach … and after 25 seasons, I think it’s appropriate that we recalibrate and take a look at our vision and values.”
That process will be aided by Daniel Johnston, recruited from the London-based English Premier League giant, where he has worked as marketing controller. An Adelaide-born ex-pat who, like Fagan, moved east with his family at a young age, he’s also held marketing roles in Australia and the UK including Goodman Fielder, Australia’s largest listed food manufacturer, and fast food mainstays Burger King and McDonald’s.
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“He has really strong applied marketing skills, but working in a commercial environment, and specifically a commercial sporting environment – one of the biggest in the world,” says Fagan.
“He’ll use that experience to drive our commercial program.”
He said sponsorship was a key area that needed innovation, explaining the “environment has evolved”, and the club needed to ensure it was “not sales-led but marketing-led”.
The Crows have also snared Adelaide local Anna Muecke, currently marketing manager with the Clipsal 500 (“So she has a busy weekend ahead,” notes Fagan) and formerly product brand manager with Cricket Australia, where “she was particularly focussed on the marketing and branding of a variety of their products”.
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She’s also held roles for the World Police & Fire Games and Netball SA.
“People drive outcomes,” explains Fagan.
“We’ve got a number of really talented staff at the Adelaide Football Club (but) we need to complement those skills with a number of fresh sets of eyes … We’ve been lucky to pick up two really good appointments.”
The focus on key individual appointments – “putting the right people in the right seats” – is notable only two years after the Crows withdrew from a bidding war for Liverpool fitness coach Darren Burgess, who’s since been credited with making crosstown rival Port Adelaide among the hardest-running teams in the AFL.
Fagan is cryptic when asked to reflect on the missed opportunity.
“My view is that people do drive outcomes (but) it’s also about balance,” he says.
“There’s plenty of talent that exists within Adelaide Football Club, but there’s some key positions right across the football club we can’t compromise on … Some of those will always be the case, others reflect the strategic position and objectives at any particular time.”
He said he was currently working through “where the gaps lie” and “investing accordingly”.
“We’re a big national brand, and it’s about how we present ourselves,” he says.
“(That’s) a change process we’re working through and when you go through those processes you need to ensure you’ve got the skills and experience internally to drive outcomes.”
