Hull City signs local digital marketing firm to drive growth following takeover

The off-field team at Hull City are bidding to build on the club’s success following this year’s takeover by bringing a specialist local company to drive digital sales and profile.

The club says the partnership with digital performance marketing business 43 Clicks North will aim to increase revenue from memberships, merchandise and match-day ticket sales.

Mike Ellis, managing director of 43 Clicks North, said that the deal “strengthens the company’s expanding activities in the world of sport” and will also support his efforts to “develop Hull’s pool of digital talent”.

Jamie Thomas, Hull City’s marketing manager, proclaimed that the club has started the new season “brightly on and off the pitch” under Acun Ilicali, the Turkish media and entertainment entrepreneur who bought the club in January.

Sales of memberships have climbed to 12,500 from 8,500 last season and average attendance for the first three home games is more than 17,000 compared with 12,000 last season.

Jamie commented: “We have seen a huge surge in interest for memberships and match-day tickets since the end of last season and we want to push that a bit further if we can. The atmosphere at the first two games of this season has been so impressive with the increased attendance and new stadium layout.

“The membership campaign will run for most of the remainder of this calendar year and if we need extra support to sell tickets for certain matches we can do that.

“With retail the chairman has made a big investment into the amount of stock we have ordered to avoid some of the slight issues we had last season with unexpectedly high demand for certain items.”

43 Clicks North agreed a deal earlier this year to promote match ticket sales for Leeds Rhinos. Mike said: “The purpose is to provide digital performance marketing for businesses and it’s not just about the bottom line.

“It’s about trying to unblock the challenges to a business and drive real, measurable performance by creating new customers and increasing customer retention across the board.

“Our mission statement is to put Hull on the map in a digital world by building an ecosystem of digital knowledge that benefits the city itself, with more talented people to support local businesses to enter the digital foray in the right way.”

By Matthew Neville – Correspondent, Bdaily

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