Case Study: Gold Coast Suns

Before launching their inaugural season, the Australian Gold Coast SUNS football team enlisted the help of Disney Institute to develop ways to engage their fans and raise their level of customer service.

SUMMARY Faced with the prospect of launching a new football team in a new market, Australia’s Gold Coast Suns realized they needed a multi-faceted customer service and fan engagement program to help fill their seats and ensure return business. Adapting and using many Disney Institute best practices helped them boost revenues and rank first out of 17 teams in a fan engagement survey — even though they didn’t win any of their home games in their first season.

SEVERAL CHALLENGES CUSTOM ENGAGEMENT

With a sparkling new $144 million state-of-the-art stadium, After several telephone consultations with Suns a brand new, carefully selected football team and a first- management, Disney Institute facilitator Dennis Frare class management and operations staff, Australia’s Gold visited Queensland for a week to present a series of Coast Suns football team was looking forward to opening sessions to Gold Coast Suns staffers. He spent the first few day in May, 2011. Everyone worked and planned tirelessly days familiarizing himself with Australian football, learning to make the Gold Coast Suns’ inaugural season a success. about the Suns’ Metricon Stadium facilities and meeting the “As a startup team in a new market, we knew we had to team’s management. This time gave him the opportunity deliver the best customer service possible to earn—and to tailor his delivery on Quality Service, Leadership and retain — the loyalty of our new fans,” explains Andrew Selection, Training & Engagement to the Suns’ specific Travis, the Suns’ Chief Operating Officer. needs.

The Suns faced several challenges. While the Australian Explains Frare, “The Suns’ culture was already in place Football league (AFL) has a large following in Western when I arrived. It was my job to offer enhancements to it and Southern Australia, it is not as popular on the Gold and, in some cases, validate what they were doing. They Coast where the Suns were “the new team on the block.” were off to a great start; I was there to help them step up The region is also home to a large transient population, their game and adapt some of Disney’s best practices.” similar to Florida’s, and many of these fans already had allegiances to their home AFL teams. The Suns’ marketing Frare presented three separate sessions to the executive message took this into account and explained, “If you leadership team, middle managers and front line staff, such have a hometown team, we don’t expect you to make the as ticket takers and concessionaires; about 250 employees Suns your favorite team, but we will work hard to be your in all. At each delivery he explained, “I am not here to tell second favorite team.” you what to do, I’m here to show you what Disney does and help you discover how you can adapt some of our “That’s one of the reasons we knew we had to excel at principles.” customer service,” explains Travis. “Our challenge was to create unforgettable memories for fans and keep Enhancing the fan experience was a recurrent theme in them coming back. That was the driver that pushed us Frare’s presentations. After discovering that Suns’ fans to contact Disney Institute for help. When it comes to could not park at the stadium because of local regulations customer service no one is better than Disney.” but had to come via buses, Frare noted, “You may be starting off with one strike against you, so you have to work a little harder to overcome that.” He also explained that

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even though employees could not control what happens After searching through the trash and under seats, they on the field they could control the fan experience. found it. Then one of them volunteered to drop it off at the child’s home on their way home. Twenty minutes later the For example, Cast Members (Disney-speak for employees) child and the stuffed animal were reunited. “I cannot think are taught to anticipate guests’ needs. “If someone sees a of a better example of how our employees have exceeded child drop an ice cream cone or a drink they are empowered customers’ expectation,” says Travis. to offer a replacement free of charge,” said Frare. Or Cast Members regularly offer to take pictures of Guests without While there are other stories like this, and many fans’ being asked. “It’s all part of going above and beyond and letters praising other employees’ customer service efforts, exceeding guests’ expectations,” said Frare. “It’s important a recent survey proved that the Gold Coast Suns are to remember that it may not be your fault, but it is your leading the league in creating memorable fan experiences. problem.” In an AFL survey of all 17 Australian football teams, the Gold Coast Suns came out number one in fan engagement. GOING ABOVE AND BEYOND “We scored the highest in five out of six fan experience categories and were first in fan engagement,” says Travis. The Suns management was quick to adapt many Disney best practices. Travis admits that before Frare explained In a separate Suns survey 93 percent of fans rated services the Suns should be responsible for their fans’ experience as “good to excellent.” from “driveway to driveway,” (from their home to the stadium), “We didn’t think it was our problem until they These results are remarkable for a new team in a new got to our front gate.” Now the Suns have enhanced their market, but they are doubly impressive because the Suns pre-game communication with fans and are continually did not win any of their home games in their inaugural looking for more ways to enhance the fans’ pre-game season. “It’s an amazing accomplishment,” says Frare. experience. “And it’s proof that the Suns are consistently putting their fans first.” Inspired by Frare’s insight, the Suns instituted “Shine” awards and vouchers for employees who go “above and beyond” meeting customers’ expectations. Pictures of staffers engaging with fans by kneeling to talk to a child, or volunteering to take pictures for a family are blown up and hung on the walls near the employee meeting rooms.

“We make it a point to recognize our employees and tell their stories,” says Travis. “It’s also a great way to, as we say, ‘keep Disney alive’.” Travis and other Suns managers work to keep every employee engaged. “It’s a constant effort to keep this Disney-inspired momentum going forward.”

NO SIGN OF SLOWING DOWN

Happily, the momentum shows no sign of slowing down. After a recent game a mother called the customer service team and explained she had lost her child’s stuffed animal at the Suns’ stadium. “She told us her child couldn’t sleep without it and we heard her crying in the background,” remembers Travis. Two staffers volunteered to look for it.

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