TOUCHDOWN: CFL FANS KICK OFF THE SEASON

We’ve seen a common theme in recent editions of TD&F (and even in today’s Huddle item – scroll down the page) where organizations are scoring by paying attention to their customers and/or honouring promises. The Canadian Football League had asked its fans to weigh in on how the Canadian game is played, by offering some rule change suggestions. More than 2000 submissions were received and considered by the CFL’s rules committee. Sure enough, four new rule changes will come into play for the 2009 season and all of them were at least partly—if not wholly—influenced by fan suggestions. The CFL’s rules committee acknowledged that it is important to take into account how the fan sees the game and how it is played. This is a reminder that, as always, it’s never a bad thing to engage customers and focus on their needs or thoughts. By doing so you are allowing them to have a stake in the product. By letting the fans know that they are important to the development of the game, the League was true to its brand and mandate, and it gave some ownership of the game to the fans themselves. As CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon said, “It’s exciting to know that some of our fans will see their ideas in action when our season kicks off on Canada Day, July 1.” Sometimes, with some solid marketing communications, the customer really does come first.