WREXHAM A.F.C: HOW TO STORY-TELL YOUR WAY TO GLOBAL STARDOM

Morning!

I'm writing this in a Premier Inn for the second week in a row. I've just driven 4 hours down to London, devoured a meal deal from Asda and I'm absolutely knackered rearing to go.

But this week is going to be a banger about a football club that in the last 12 months has marketed their way to global fame.

No one had ever heard of them and now they're all I hear about.

Was this email forwarded to you?

Breaking Down The Strategy

Just in case you were living under a rock, the club I'm referring to is Wrexham A.F.C.

Pre-2022 they were a true nothing club. Granted, they had a decent following and a good set-up, but they were a National League team (5th division of English football) and going nowhere quick.

Fine, maybe I'm being a little harsh here, but my point is they were far from a Man United or a Chelsea.

Then on February the 9th 2021, everything changed when Ryan Reynolds (and his pal Rob McElhenney) went and purchased the club for a mere £2M.

But it wasn't the influx of cash that made the difference. It was what happened next that changed things.

Reynolds and McElhenney took a completely different approach to any football club owners I've ever seen.

They didn't run it like a traditional football club.

Instead, they ran it like a media company.

They didn't focus on which players they would have to buy. They focused on getting eyes on the club through marketing, with their main focus being on one thing:Storytelling.I won't waste 5 minutes of your life explaining why storytelling is one of the most effective marketing tactics to ever exist - you should already know that.

Just look at Will Shakespeare, he was an amazing storyteller - that's why we all know him.

Anyway, back to Wrexham and their marketing.

So Reynolds and McElhenney (does anyone actually know who McElhenney is? Me neither) acquire the club and boom the press give them this huge gimme with the PR off the back of it.

The story get's covered everywhere!

So truth be told, they kind of cheated by getting so much interest from the off.

But now they had the world interested in this tiny little club, it was time to keep them interested and this is where the storytelling came in.They began by cranking out social content: - Instagram- Twitter- TikTok - YoutubeThe demand for the clubs' story was there so Wrexham went ahead and delivered it on everyone's favourite channels.

But that was merely the start.

Because the truth is, only so much connection can be had from a couple of Tweets and Instagram reels. If Wrexham was REALLY going to take off and become a global sensation they had to SHOW their story as it was being told. They had to bring these new fans along the ride with them and really get them invested.

Introducing: Welcome To Wrexham

February 2021: Club is boughtAugust 2022: Welcome to Wrexham was released on Disney+

The docu-series gave a behind-the-scenes look at everything that had happened over the last 18 months.It followed:- The purchase- Investment in the club- The team's activities- And their journey back to prominenceEverything you could think of, was now there for everyone to see. The story everyone was interested in? Well, now they get a chance to be involved in it and see how it plays out each week.

This was the catalyst that took everything to the next level.

It was no longer just a club some actors bought, it was a club that people around the world supported.

And I well and truly mean that, just look at the stats.

Firstly, the docu-series show received a 97% audience score and was immediately greenlit for season two. And it wasn't too shabby of a financial deal either:$400k per hour of content + 8-part series = ~$3.2m in revenue (Source) But that's just part of their success...

Wrexham is now in 2nd place in the National League, and their social accounts have exploded: - Twitter: 45k to 294k - Instagram: 27k to 326k - TikTok: 0 to 548k

But more importantly, these new followers have actually turned into a big revenue stream for the club with them signing new sponsorship deals like:

• TikTok • Expedia • Vistaprint • Aviation American Gin because of them.

All in all, they've marketed themselves to be a huge global success. Probably one of the most globally famous clubs in England - crazy to say when they're not even in the football league (for now).

But they aren't the first people to story-tell their way to success, there are so many others: - Kardashians: They're all so famous because they let the world in on their day-to-day lives.- Logan & Jake Paul: Blew up because of daily vlogs giving people a look behind the scenes. - Love Island: People love getting to see EVERYTHING the couples get up to. And even on a smaller scale, I'm seeing Klowt do a really good job of this recently with their company vlog.

Which leads me perfectly to my (short & sweet) round-off with how can you do the same:

1. Tell your story - Obvious but too many forget. You're not a piece of toast. You're a company that I guarantee has a great story behind it.

2. Involve everyone in it - Find a way to involve anyone and everyone in your story, examples: BTS vlog, BTS videos on social, Live streams, TikTok's.

Whatever you do. Tell your story, then let people be a part of it.

Right, that's it from me.

Have an awesome Sunday.— Niall

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This has been a breakdown of Wrexham's marketing strategy. I hope you have learned something and can implement a similar strategy in your business!

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