You missed out on Kitmas, oh well there’s always next year. You might have blinked, missed it or even just straight up deleted emails about it. But you probably won’t next year.
Kitmas run by Paul Watson (ex footballer) and Mark Watson (TV Comedian) has seen the 2nd year of Kitmas go from £8,000 raised to £30,000 raised, but it was not about money raising where clubs have missed out this festive season, it was a simple way to push your brand into places that are hard to reach. The offer this time round was hugely appealing, simple and in reality no real cost to any clubs involved.
The offer, set up a fundraiser for Kitmas on Crowdfunder and what ever you made you would receive to buy your club's shirts for local low income families.
Depending on your clubs size and scale this could have been a unique chance to get your clubs shirts out into the public arena. We pitched it to all our clients and only Frome Town came along for the ride and the benefits have been fantastic.
So for those of your unaware of the size and scale of Step 4’s Frome Town. Like any other UK town away from the big cities. Community spirit rings true around the town of just over 30,000, with the club currently averaging just over 400 for a typical league game. Frome Town have probably sold around 30 Matchday shirts to fans this season and many of those to the younger generations that attend. So the opportunity to be involved in Kitmas would allow them to try and get more shirts out into the local community and build their brand presence. Wary of donation fatigue from other campaigns, we set a modest target of £500 to get 25 children a shirt in time for Christmas.
What came next over the 14 days, saw Frome Town fans donate in good numbers to raise £1.9k to fund 97 shirts to be distributed through their food bank charity partner. But also this ignited the players to provide an equal amount of chocolate selection boxes and the youth teams to donate 97 reading books. The club’s response to the generosity of the fans was to offer the children and an adult a free ticket to their local derby on 27th December. Something that has seen the community circle around the outcome even if they missed the chance to donate.
These are 97 children that may have only ever dreamed that they might have a football shirt for Christmas (maybe a Man Utd one or Liverpool). They will wake up Christmas morning to their local teams shirt, with the opportunity to go and see them live in the following days. We know as clubs that these are the moments that impact the life of a future fan.
The coverage has seen Kitmas and Frome Town across the BBC, Sky News and all the leading national newspapers. But maybe more importantly across the social media feeds and local groups in and around Frome as the hunt to attract new fans, grow future attendances and truly become part of the local community become a little bit closer.
Next year, it will be another big year for Kitmas. One you might want to be part of.
If your club needs help with joining in with these initiatives or if you have your own challenge to overcome, drop us a line and we can help you put a plan in place.
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