Some food for thought...
I was down at 6mil in Cannock this morning (getting James M16 VN fixed - broken tappet plate!) and was chatting about how they are doing etc etc.
They are very proactive on the promotion front now the hackles of AA have been relaxed (tie-ups with Phoenix and Fireball etc) so I floated the question of CiA event sponsorship. I suggested that cash sponsorship doesn't benefit anyone other than lowering admission charges and he came up with an attractive proposal to think about..
For each event they have full colour cards printed (credit card types with sig strip) that are either sent to players when they pay a deposit or given out at the event. These cards offer discounts to the players and might be tied in with deals on 1911's and P38's (for instance).
Now here's the thing - there will be a different card for each event, collect four and you get some bonus deal. This also ties in with Guy's idea of a momento handed out to players, something to keeep, something to collect.
So players get some benefit, 6mil gets some benefit. What do we get out of it? Retailer backing lending more credibility to our 'brand', advertising and web links on their web site, poster display at the store, giving something back to our paying players and a momento of the day.
Thats an interesting idea chomley... I like it.
Not a bad idea in principal , four events may be a long time coming, but if we tied it in with other WWII event organisers.....?
No, CiA branded only - the benefit is for us as an organisation. Four events will be the end of the year and anyway the 'collect four get something extra' thing is just an idea. I would rather hope they would be just collected for themselves anyway, bit like patches but at least they are worth something!
OK I'm sold on it !
All sounds like a good idea to me. 6 Mil benefits, CiA benefits, the players benefit. Winners all round!
When we were a Kingdom it was run by a King
When we were an Empire it was run by an Empress
Now we're a country we're run by a..........
Aye thats excellent
"I think we are in rats' alley - Where the dead men lost their bones."
Had a talk with 6mil today (I dropped some posters off for them to display).
We will do some reciprical banner advertising - we will have a banner ad and link from their web site, I'll drop their's into the web site and have a think about how we can do it sensibly on this forum.
We will have a CiA 'Arnhem' credit card. It has a chip on it that stores points. They will load some points on it to start with (said 120 or something) and every time you play at a site (Phoenix and Fireball at the mo but one down southish and one Leicestershireish upcoming) you get one point added per
Again i'm all up for this, sounds good to me. I'm stil expecting wwii loadouts to be the new multicam this year 
"I think we are in rats' alley - Where the dead men lost their bones."
Nice bit of work Dave !
Fantastic bit of work there!
When we were a Kingdom it was run by a King
When we were an Empire it was run by an Empress
Now we're a country we're run by a..........
Dave, have you got the poster so we can have a looksy?
Also, what do you mean by 6mil thirving without the shackles of AA? Not being contentious, just curious.
Steve, I'll link to the poster tomoz for you.
6mil? The Cannock branch were always frustrated about stock that was held, marketing and the division of geographical areas with regard to telephone and internet sales. Now with the freedom to do as they please they are busying themselves with alliances and marketing strategies that should pay dividends - the atmosphere in the shop is markedly different, energetic and eager to please.
Ah gotcha.
Sorry, I put 2 and 2 together and got 5. Didn't realise the obvious that AA Cannock is now 6Mil.
Is it still run by the same people?
Yes, apart from Dave who has set up his own enterprise - I think he has a section in the ASCUK retailers, and is setting up his own airsoft site liasons.
Poster:
The high res PDF is here:
(right-click and 'Save as' - don't try and open it in your browser!)
http://www.ww2airsoft.org.uk/pix/arnhem ... poster.pdf
Yeah I'm trying to throw as much business in Dave Manning's way as he has been a good friend to me for virtually all my time airsofting. A guy who is not at all unhappy to sit on the phone with me and talk me through fixing a moscart for several hours.
btw... his website is http://www.airsoftskirmish.co.uk
Update: Looks like we will have the 6mil loyalty cards in time. There will be points on it already. Phoenix now have their machine so players will also get points for their
Gut werke !
