Interview with Shaun Lockwood

[RobTheRover]

Forum user OggyCompton kindly offered to kick off a series of "Who's who at the club" interviews this week, so met up with Shaun Lockwood.

You can read the full interview HERE

[godlike1]

Cheers rob, excellent interview by all concerned and you can definitely get Shaun's personality and passion for his job at rovers come across. When you read that it makes you realise what a strong solid club we have and how it really is becoming embedded within the doncaster community. I just hope the work helps create the foundations of a much larger and stronger fan base in the years to come

[oggycompton]

Cheers godlike and thanks Rob. Yeah I got the impression that Shaun was extremely professional, driven and more importantly commited to improving Doncaster rovers for us the fans. The whole feel around the club from top to bottom is of extreme professionalism and all focussed on driving the club into the future and improving already on what is the best fan engagement programme throughout the football league.

The club are very open as to who I can interview next, so I am going to start a thread and if anyone has any preferences or ideas then please put it down. If you want to know what someone does at the club this is the chance to find out.

[Belle-Vue-Ghost]

Excellent interview Oggy - well done 

[River Don]

"we want to make it a Disney experience"

I know what he means when he says that, being customer focussed and all that but it does suggest it's  family and child orientated.

That's fine but we have to remember there is an adult side to watching football too and if we want to get the atmosphere to be right, then that is a bit different.

The Disney thing is half right, the otherside of it, I suppose might be akin to running a very good sports bar.

[silent majority]

That's not quite what he meant RD.

What he means is that the clubs identity is immediately identified and unique compared to other clubs. We have talked about creating a legacy at DRFC, one that will live on long after we have gone, the pub team having a laugh mentality is OK to a point but to be really effective that and more needs to be done. We want the respect of the rest of the football community, just as Disney is respected throughout the entertainment industry and not just for the customer base it serves.

[River Don]

That's not quite what he meant RD.

What he means is that the clubs identity is immediately identified and unique compared to other clubs. We have talked about creating a legacy at DRFC, one that will live on long after we have gone, the pub team having a laugh mentality is OK to a point but to be really effective that and more needs to be done. We want the respect of the rest of the football community, just as Disney is respected throughout the entertainment industry and not just for the customer base it serves.

Ah, I see, so it's referring to the Disney brand values then.

[NickDRFC]

You can understand the confusion though, I think the Disney experience is very different to the Disney brand. Thanks for clearing up as I thought the same!

[RobTheRover]

I think the experience fits as an analogy too. Anyone who has been to Disneyland knows that the attention to detail by all the staff there is incredibly high. Nothing is too much trouble. That's a great ethos to take into a football club if you want occasional supporters to become regulars (as well as a team wining matches,  of course) and everyone going home having had a good time.

[oggycompton]

I think the experience fits as an analogy too. Anyone who has been to Disneyland knows that the attention to detail by all the staff there is incredibly high. Nothing is too much trouble. That's a great ethos to take into a football club if you want occasional supporters to become regulars (as well as a team wining matches,  of course) and everyone going home having had a good time.

Exactly, thats how I saw it too. Its the 'wow' factor of going to somewhere and having lots of fun and enjoyment and seeing the professionalism and dedication of the employees. A great ethos and set of ideas to aspire too.

[River Don]

This thread has got me thinking a little about the Rovers brand.

Great customer service is one thing, you would think every football club would want to offer and it's amazing how these days, very few really manage to deliver it. Rovers are definitely well ahead of the game in this respect.

So we also a very community based club and aspire to grow these roots much deeper.

Uniqueness is a key part of a brand. I can't think of too many football clubs where branding has made a huge difference but it can be done. The best example I can think of is the Berlin club St Pauli. They realised they had this urban, following. It was outside the mainstream, underground and they promoted this alternative lifestyle aspect. That manifested itself in things like the camoflage pattern kits. St Pauli managed to reach a global audience with this stratergy of being the alternative club.

What is the unique thing about the Rovers? We have these ideas that Donny Rovers doesn't take itself too seriously. Not exactly the Pub Team Having a Laugh anymore but what? A club that has a sense of humor? What is the Donny sense of humor? Irony is a big thing, right? Is that it?

I've always liked the fact that Doncaster is a town with a nickname. There aren't too many. We're already referred to as Donny or Donny Rovers in the media quite a lot. That might be something. I like 'The Likes of Doncaster' tag too, that could be part of it. I almost think we should have a sign above the tunnel entrance to the pitch.

THIS IS THE LIKES OF DONCASTER

[RedJ]

This thread has got me thinking a little about the Rovers brand.

Great customer service is one thing, you would think every football club would want to offer and it's amazing how these days, very few really manage to deliver it. Rovers are definitely well ahead of the game in this respect.

So we also a very community based club and aspire to grow these roots much deeper.

Uniqueness is a key part of a brand. I can't think of too many football clubs where branding has made a huge difference but it can be done. The best example I can think of is the Berlin club St Pauli. They realised they had this urban, following. It was outside the mainstream, underground and they promoted this alternative lifestyle aspect. That manifested itself in things like the camoflage pattern kits. St Pauli managed to reach a global audience with this stratergy of being the alternative club.

What is the unique thing about the Rovers? We have these ideas that Donny Rovers doesn't take itself too seriously. Not exactly the Pub Team Having a Laugh anymore but what? A club that has a sense of humor? What is the Donny sense of humor? Irony is a big thing, right? Is that it?

I've always liked the fact that Doncaster is a town with a nickname. There aren't too many. We're already referred to as Donny or Donny Rovers in the media quite a lot. That might be something. I like 'The Likes of Doncaster' tag too, that could be part of it. I almost think we should have a sign above the tunnel entrance to the pitch.

THIS IS THE LIKES OF DONCASTER

"Welcome to the likes of Doncaster" Christ, di Canio would bloody love that.

[silent majority]

We've talked about St Pauli, it's a very good example. Recently I had dinner with the VP of the Green Bay Packers and their story is incredible. Now that's a legacy project!

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

I think the experience fits as an analogy too. Anyone who has been to Disneyland knows that the attention to detail by all the staff there is incredibly high. Nothing is too much trouble. That's a great ethos to take into a football club if you want occasional supporters to become regulars (as well as a team wining matches,  of course) and everyone going home having had a good time.

I agree the Disney staff are the best people in the world (pats self on back).

It's an analogy I use often though the core Disney principles that we used a lot when I worked there translate into any industry in some ways even atmosphere as I mentioned in the meeting last night.  Disney creates an atmosphere when you're there through a lot of clever techniques, it's not complicated but it creates it.  That can be easily replicated in a sporting environment and whilst some say the little things the IRWT scheme does has no effect, well, they're wrong because it's those said little things that are all building blocks to creating that atmosphere.

Perhaps we won't take it to the Disney extremes as to what the staff can and can't do though.

[oggycompton]

I love my NFL. The genius of that franchise to step out of the shadow of their larger neighbours (Chicago Bears (my team)) and build their ranchise to a point where arguably they compete both off the field and on the field. Wouldn't it be great for this to happen to little old Donny. Shaun and the rest of the team are working towards this and with help from us with surveys and the like will greatly help us and the club.

[River Don]

We've talked about St Pauli, it's a very good example. Recently I had dinner with the VP of the Green Bay Packers and their story is incredible. Now that's a legacy project!

The beauty of the St Pauli brand is, its authentic not a gimmick and it reached out beyond the clubs traditional support, giving a new audience something to identify with. Pretty unique circumstances I guess.

I'm not aware of Green Bay, what is the story there?

[silent majority]

We've talked about St Pauli, it's a very good example. Recently I had dinner with the VP of the Green Bay Packers and their story is incredible. Now that's a legacy project!

The beauty of the St Pauli brand is, its authentic not a gimmick and it reached out beyond the clubs traditional support, giving a new audience something to identify with. Pretty unique circumstances I guess.

I'm not aware of Green Bay, what is the story there?

If you don't mind a cut and paste job RD;

The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Green Bay is the third-oldest franchise in the NFL, having been organized and playing in 1919. The Packers are the only non-profit, community-owned major league professional sports team in the United States.

The Packers are the last vestige of "small town teams" that were once common in the NFL during the 1920s and 1930s

The Green Bay Packers have won 13 league championships (more than any other team in the NFL), including nine NFL championships prior to the Super Bowl era and four Super Bowl victories.

Green Bay Packers Foundation

The team created the Green Bay Packers Foundation in December 1986. The foundation assists in a wide variety of activities and programs that benefit education, civic affairs, health services, human services and youth-related programs.

At the team's 1999 annual stockholders meeting, it was voted to make the foundation the recipient of any remaining assets if the team were to be sold or dissolved. In 1923, the Packers were incorporated in Wisconsin as a nonprofit corporation, with stipulations that if the Packers were sold, all assets would be transferred to the Sullivan-Wallen Post of the American Legion in order to build a "proper soldiers memorial." No shareholder can own more than 200 shares in the company. This has put the Packers in a unique situation, as it would be impossible to move the team from Wisconsin. In turn, the franchise has remained in the tiny market of Green Bay.

Fan base
Main article: Cheesehead
Annual postcard sent out by the organization to those currently on the waiting list for season tickets

The Packers' fan base is famously dedicated: regardless of the team's performance, every Packers game at Lambeau Field has been sold out since 1960. Despite the Packers having by far the smallest local TV market, the Packers have developed one of the largest fan bases in the NFL. Each year they consistently rank as one of the top teams in terms of popularity.[28] The Packers have one of the longest waiting lists for season tickets in professional sports with about 86,000 people, meaning there are now more names on the waiting list than there are seats at Lambeau Field.[29][30] The average wait time for season tickets is said to be over 30 years;[31] yet since the team estimates only 90 tickets are turned over every year, if a name were to be added to the list today the estimated wait would extend well over 955 years.[29] For this reason, it is not unusual for fans to designate a recipient of their season tickets in their wills or place newborn infants on the waiting list after receiving birth certificates.[32]

During training camp in the summer months, held outside the Don Hutson Center, on the Ray Nitschke Field, young Packers fans can take their bikes and have their favorite player ride their bike to the practice field from the locker room. This is an old Packers tradition dating back to approximately 1957 (the first years of Lambeau Field's existence). Gary Knafelc, a Packers end at the time, said, "I think it was just that kids wanted us to ride their bikes. I can remember kids saying, 'Hey, ride my bike.'" The practice continues today.[34]

Each year the team holds an intra-squad scrimmage, called Family Night, at Lambeau Field. During 2004 and 2005 over 60,000 fans attended, selling out the stadium bowl. The Packers hosted the Buffalo Bills for the 2005 edition of Family Night setting an attendance record with 62,492 fans attending.[35]

[Highland Rover]

With reference to St Pauli but isn't that the red light district of Hamburg ??

[RedRover45]

With reference to St Pauli but isn't that the red light district of Hamburg ??

Yes, I always thought St Pauli was Hamburg and not Berlin.