Kent County Cricket Club had a successful night at the ECB’s Business of Cricket Awards in London on Thursday, scooping three awards.
The Business of Cricket Awards, which are designed to celebrate Marketing and PR excellence across domestic and international cricket, were attended by representatives of all 18 First Class Counties and MCC, together with guests from the wider sports industry. Kent Cricket won awards for Best Friends Life t20 Match Day Experience and Best Clydesdale Bank 40 Promotion, along with the ECB’s Innovation Award.
The judging panel, led by Karen Earl, Chairman of Synergy, acknowledged Kent’s efforts to improve member and supporter assessment of the match day package, with initiatives such as live music, the Spitfire Sweethearts cheerleading troupe, a mascot challenge, autograph sessions and the distribution of giveaways and prizes.
Kent were also praised for their Clydesdale Bank 40 promotion, and their ‘Your County, Your Team’ campaign. This campaign has contributed to the Club’s 2012 CB40 matches picking up three of the Club’s four highest attendances in the last three years.
Awarding the Innovation Award, the judging panel commented; “This year Kent aimed to improve customer experience through relevant and personalised communications from the Club. Using data management technologies, the Club has set up a new operational approach to customer engagement. Through this new approach the Club are able to see purchasing behaviours and measure the success of campaigns.”
Kent County Cricket Club was also shortlisted for three other awards; Best Friends Life t20 Campaign, Best Improvement in Customer Engagement and Best Membership Campaign or Promotion.
Commenting on the success, Kent Cricket CEO, Jamie Clifford said; “I am absolutely delighted. Our sales and marketing team have worked hard to be at the cutting edge of the promotion of our sport.
“It has been a difficult year because of the weather, so we have had to work smarter to maintain crowds. This work has included a significant shift towards better data management and a detailed customer engagement programme. We also