RE: Q&A - question re. programmes by safc communications
User: safc communications
Simon, in reply…. The programme question was ALWAYS going to be answered in the Q&A. I wrote the reply on July 6th (I just checked back in my mail when I wrote the draft), but have been awaiting the other answers from Richard before publishing the whole lot in one go. I put the question up last night to appease Pirate/Michelle/Boroman. So, please don’t confuse that as me not wanting to publish the question and my answer in some form of cloak and dagger exercise, as I’m offended you think that of me to be honest.. I have no reason to dodge any question and in the Q&A, and will gladly answer any and all questions I can. So far we have answered all but one question posed to us since April - which was of a commercially sensitive nature.
Regarding your second point of factoring postponed games into the programme budget. Honestly, no, I have never thought to do so. I’m not a financial planning genius with the foresight to see how many games will be postponed. It’s a very unprecise art is measuring programme numbers, etc, and I could factor in one or two postponed games, but then if four or five get postponed the budget would still be ruined. What I did last season was attempt to recitfy the loss after the postponements with lower page numbers and lower print runs. I also attempted to ’employ’ a second programme seller to go around the ground and actively sell the programme - but no-one was willing to help out unfortunately. Anyone who would like to do so this season - please shout up!
"What we need to know is what the club is doing to address that issue for the future"
Firstly, a survey was undertaken at the end of the season in which 60 or so Boro fans from 70 questioned answered that they would be happy to pay up to £2 per copy for the programme. With this in mind, and with a slight rise in printing and delivery charges, the cover price will be £1.70.
Secondly, content has been re-managed to reduce page numbers. Articles have been reduced in size (just one page for the away team info for example, and a combined society/boardroom page). I am at pains to do this because the quantity of content reduces, but it’s a financial decision I decided to take. There will be only 28 or 32 pages in each programme, and the pagination won’t go higher than this - last season we had 36 and 40 pages mainly. Less pages = less costs.
Thirdly, there will be lower print-runs at all matches to ensure sell-outs occur. This is where the unexact science comes in. There might be 350 at the Lincoln game… there might be 550. It is impossible to know any attendance for any given match, and therefore possible to know how many programmes to print. It is all best guess. I have offered the option to all fans of paying for programmes up front to guarantee a copy will be there for them on matchdays to collect. Only two people have taken this option with me at the minute, although Keith Crowe continues to have a high order for his collectors.
As a guideline I attempt to guess the possible attendance, and print programmes to cover 40% of that attendance. For example I am guessing at 500 for the Lincoln game, therefore I will be ordering 200 programmes. With maybe 800 for the Brid game I will print 300. With around 40 for pre-orders and 20 or so for sponsors, officials, league, referees etc that leaves 140 to sell to an attendance of 500. My maths tells me that should be a sell-out.
Regarding surplus/deficit: The programme has never been a money making machine in terms of it’s profitability from cost price to expenditure. Hence the reduction in numbers and page sizes, and the increase in cover price this season to make that happen. However, income from the advertising and player sponsorships, which would be impossible without a programme in which to house them, do bring in a steady income stream. This season I have attempted to increase paid-for adverts, but unfortunately not had much luck so far with businesses dropping out due to their own budget cuts. I introduced the Classifieds section to help increase this, but as of yesterday, not one confirmation had dropped through the door. I’d love to have a week going round everyone in town, suited and booted speaking about the club and the future, and offering advertising deals to businesses. But that just isn’t possible. That’s a shame for me as with my sales background I;d hopefully have a good chance of forming some long term relationships for the club.
One point I would like to clarify now which was previously touched on by Boroman/Pirate, is that there are no printers in the local Scarborough area who can print the product we get from our current printers and beat the price. Scarborough printing firms charge a vast amount for printing and their turnaround times are far too long for our requirements. And yes, I have spoken to them all at some point over the past four summers. Our current printer does a great job, for low cost, at brilliant turnaround times (48 hours from copy to delivery.) The fact he is based in Manchester and not Scarborough is a shame, but not the be all and end all of the product.
There is no budget restraint to say the programme must make X amount. A break even situation would be good for me, as the goal is of course to not lose money on the publication this season as occured lasy year. The goal is for me, and always has been, for the programme to act as the ’fortnightly newsletter’ to all supporters in attendance at games. It is the matchday link between the fans and the club, and that will always be my goal for it’s use. It advertises everything the club does to the highest number of stakeholders who may or may not have internet access. A gentleman my girlfriend knows often remarks how without the programme he wouldn’t have a clue what is going on as he doesn’t buy a paper on have internet access.
Finally, and I thank you for the query Simon as I am happy to share, I see the programme making a nice surplus this season with all the measures put in place.
And as a postscript, the fresh design this year is lovely ;)
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