Message from our Chief Executive Officer, Dave Perry
Firstly I would like to thank all the players that donned the mighty red and black in season 2019. As a club we achieved many improved outcomes and on behalf of the North Sydney Bears I would like to thank all players who contributed to this. The improved results on field was the outcome of all the hard work and planning that went into the off season from the playing groups and coaching staff.
Congratulations also to all the award winners from our presentation night. We look forward to another improved season in 2020 for the whole club.
I would also like to thank all the volunteers, members, fans and corporate partners of the North Sydney Bears for your ongoing contribution, as without you we wouldn’t exist.
In August of last year I was privileged to be appointed the CEO of the North Sydney District Football Club. This responsibility has come with some new opportunity which has been challenging at times, however also very rewarding. As an organisation we held many strategy sessions and meetings including meeting with stakeholders to understand where we wanted to be as a club and what was required to improve and be better on and off the field. From there we implemented a business plan that is set for the next three seasons, and is constantly being reviewed.
6 Key areas that we needed addressing over the short term were:
• Recruitment and retention – we appointed Ben Gardiner in a part-time role in recruitment and football staffing in addition to supporting head coach Jason Taylor as assistant for Canterbury Cup.
• New and improved feeder club relationships and partnerships which we now have through the Asquith Magpies, Junior League and now the current NRL Premiers the Sydney Roosters.
• Appointed a home grown and experienced head coach, Jason Taylor who also has a good understanding of the Roosters football program which benefits our own program throughout.
• Enhance our junior representative program and pathways which we delivered results by just missing out on the finals series in both Harold Matthews and SG Ball.
• Focus on our community and brand and the presence we have in our catchment – Greg Florimo is in charge of this area in his new role driving our wellbeing and education of players whilst increasing our community engagement.
• Commercial area – this is an area that always needs investment and evolvement to underpin the financial sustainability of the club. Some of the commercial results achieved this year are set out below.
• Launching and setting up our club foundation to allow us to have specific projects funded that are important to the clubs future success that we believe are strategically important.
2019 Membership and Merchandise
Membership has maintained its revenue with further engagement and we now have over 600 financial members with a total over 1020 members with our junior league complimentary off . The club’s vision for membership is to increase our fan base and more importantly increase loyalty and a sense of belonging through connecting with the club and the community. This will be achieved through a “Members First” mentality.
In 2020 we will be focusing on maintaining our membership through renewals, encouraging long term renewals and attracting new members.
The club’s vision for merchandise is to increase sales by providing a variety of quality merchandise and accessories. Our focus will be on game day by providing a more professional look and approach to increase sales, engage fans and to use this area to drive membership.
2020 will see more themed and entertaining events on game day, and a wider presence in the community to drive not only our avid fans who are the traditional Bears fans but also the wider community. Our season launch will involve our members along with our fans as we plan to have a bigger and better event to kick off 2020. This will provide us with the opportunity to expand our audience and allow our existing members to feel they are more engaged with the Bears.
2019 Corporate Partnerships
We again acknowledge all our business partners and highlight again our major partner Thousand Hands for another supportive year. We thank founder Harry Cheung for his ongoing support of the North Sydney Bears over the past three seasons.
In 2020 we welcome a new major principal partner, Stonemasons & Landscaping and Joe Moussa who have in recent years been part of the Bears and are now stepping up to Principal Partner for the next two seasons.
This year a broad range of corporate partners supported the club however every year we need to give a special mention to the Norths Group and the support of their board led by Chairman Mark Holman and Group CEO Luke Simmons. 2019 was also our second year of the Harvey Norman Women’s team who performed incredibly well and we look forward to another successful season next year.
Other major partners we would to thank for their fantastic support in season 2019 are NSWRL, LION, J.J Lawson, Magpies Waitara, Quantum Healthcare, Sinalli, Zoom, Command 51, Mammoth Projects, Bidfood, Legacy Investment, Aon, Genuine Air, Buyrite Steel QLD, Butler Freight Services, Allied Sea Freight, DSBA, Essential Coff and Storage King Artarmon. We look forward to partnering with you in season 2020.
2019 Marketing and Communications
In 2019 we continued our growth across our social media channels thanks to a strong presence in the digital space. We are looking to further our digital presence in 2020 which will be possible thanks to our new website that was launched in late October.
Maintaining and improving our presence in all social channels and utilising our new website will keep our stakeholders up to date and engaged throughout the year.
We will have a new “Members First” outlook on communications in 2020, ensuring that all Members are kept up to date on Club information and receive important Club announcements before the general public.
In 2018 we had 1,190 subscribers to our newsletter. In 2019 we have over 2000 subscribers. Our objectives for 2020 is to continue to build on this number by proactively engaging with the Bears community and implementing brand-awareness raising activities with the focus for 2020 being more content driven with increased engagement.
2020 Marketing and Communications Objectives:
• Over 3,000 on the newsletter database by the end of the 2020 season
• A combined social media following of over 40,000
• Building more engaging content for our social channels
• Regular and creative segments with members receiving priority viewing
• Increase game day engagement and have crowds with averages of approximately 1500
2020 Business Objectives
• Leverage the newly formed partnership with Macquarie University and the use of their fields and facilities so the club has a home training base.
• Ensure to use the profiles of Jason Taylor, Greg Florimo and other key Bears profiles to build our brand further.
• Communicate our new foundation and the opportunities around our programs that require corporate and private support.
• Create more content digitally and a more friendly online platform for communication of packages and promotional offers both in merchandise and membership.
• Engage in more community activity to increase brand presence, drive membership and merchandise sales and to encourage more fans to attend our games.
• Create an emotional connection to the Bears for Members, as a way of building the sustainability of the club.
• Increase our average crowds from 2019 to 2020 by 20%.
• Increase membership revenues to over $30,000 and a target of a minimum of 1000 members by the end of season 2020
• Increase our merchandise sales to $90,000 by the end of season 2020
• Maintain a strong corporate support with the opportunity to grow steadily whilst servicing professionally.
Finally, I thank all our fans for their support and feedback in season 2019. We do look forward to seeing all our fans and members for another successful and improved season in 2020. We have worked hard to improve in all areas of the business respecting the fact there is still plenty of learnings for us to improve even further.
Look forward to your support and seeing you at Bear Park in 2020!
David Perry
Chief Executive Officer
All corporate and event enquiries please email admin@northsydneybears.com.au.
