Sheffield Cricket Lovers' Society Year Book 2015

9 www.sheffieldcricketlovers.org.uk 2014 YCCC SEASON Sheffield Cricket Lovers’ Society DANNY REUBEN For those of us who were at Trent Bridge on that fateful day back in September it wasn’t just the players that were rejoicing as the holy-grail was returning to its rightful home after 13 years in the wilderness. The hard-working and incredible off-field team at Headingley were also in dreamland as they shared a special moment with their playing colleagues in the away dressing room at one of the country’s premier cricket grounds. Danny Reuben, Head of Media and Marketing at Yorkshire County Cricket Club, explains why the Championship success has benefited the White Rose County off the field with the introduction of a new retail platform and with the imminent installation of floodlights at Headingley in 2015. As a commercial entity, the Club’s marketing department had spent a few weeks planning on how they could capitalise on the success of winning the County Championship and ensuring that Yorkshire supporters around the world could share in the Club’s reflected glory. Talking of Yorkshire’s strength and worldwide appeal, I remember sending out a tweet, the modern way of communicating with our support base, on the morning of us winning the Championship asking where they were in the world and how they were following Yorkshire’s fortunes in Nottingham. It was humbling and heart-warming to discover the sheer size of our support from every corner of the globe. We had messages from some random places including base camp at Mount Everest from an ex-pat who used to live in Dewsbury, to the Amazon River in Brazil. Support in North America is particularly strong as messages flew into my inbox from about 10 major cities in USA and Canada. Moreover, our presence continues to be strong in the more traditional places where cricket is played including Australia and New Zealand in the southern hemisphere and to the sub- continent where the White Rose resonates in the urban sprawls of Delhi, Mumbai and Karachi. The appeal and the love for Yorkshire Cricket around the world is immense and it makes you realise how strong the Club is globally. The old adage, ‘we are nothing without history’ unquestionably, as the world gets smaller, reverberates more today than at any other time in our illustrious past. One of the Club’s biggest achievements since Richard Pyrah took the simplest of catches to confirm that the golden chalice was on its way back to Headingley, has been the launch of the Club’s online retail platform. Within a matter of minutes of securing our 33rd title, we had planned to have a range of Championship merchandise on sale so that supporters could wear with passion a Champions’ T-Shirt or drink their morning coffee from a Champions’ mug. We were all taken by surprise how phenominal sales have been. From a zero base in September we have generated well over six-figures in revenue as the merchandise continues to sell at a pace in the build-up to Christmas. With some creative thinking and an excellent range of products, it is amazing how some refined changes to our online presence can transform the business. It is also encouraging to see that 30 percent of sales are developed outside of the UK and nearly 50 percent outside of the county. As cricket evolves, it becomes more apparent that clubs have to find ways of creating new income streams. Tickets, in particular international ticket sales, and memberships continue to be our lifeblood. We are ever mindful that generating income in new areas allows us to flourish and move away from the reliance on ticket revenue. We are confident that the