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| photo courtesy of Seoul E-Land |
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| photo courtesy of Seoul E-Land |
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Seoul E-Land celebrates its 10th anniversary this season.
The cachphrase was 'ATTENT10N(Attention)'. It meant 'take note of our football'. It started off splendidly in 2014, but now that it is increasingly away from the spotlight, it was a sign of determination to turn the light back on. Of course, the biggest goal this season is promotion. E-Land has yet to make the K-League 1 stage. E-Land, which appointed head coach Kim Do-kyun as a 'promotion evangelist', is speeding up to third place by transforming it into a hot attacking football. The difference in points from the lead is not large, inflating expectations for promotion more than ever.
It was 'marketing' that he put as much effort into promotion as he put into it. E-Land, which received favorable reviews for its groundbreaking marketing such as in-house food trucks and VIP container boxes in its first year, has prepared a variety of events to "attention" fans in time for its 10th anniversary. It finally paid off. He was honored with the 2nd 'Fan Friendly Club Award' of the 2024 season. The Fan Friendly Club Award is given to the most fan-friendly marketing team in the K League. E-Land topped the list with a final score of 90.8 in the first round of judges evaluation (40%), second media vote (40%), and fan vote (20%). It is the first time in four years that E-Land has received the Fan Friendly Club Award since the third round of the 2020 season.
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| photo courtesy of Seoul E-Land |
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E-Land displayed more differentiated home game marketing by engraving the names of all the members of the inaugural season ticket buyers 'Founders' at the player's entrance gate and providing high-fives and photo opportunities with players on the ground before each home game. It was the only K-League club to host a welcoming ceremony for all new players at home games, which was even more meaningful in that fans hung mufflers directly to the players on the ground.
Goods were also fan-friendly. For the first time in the K League, goods were produced through 100% fan voting, from selecting items to deciding on the final draft of materials and designs. For the fans who have supported the club for 10 years, he started with the idea of `I will make whatever the fans want.' It was sold at the same price regardless of the total production quantity as it was an event-like good for fans. Fans responded to such efforts. As of the start of the third round Robin, MD sales have increased by 42.7% from last year's total sales.
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| photo courtesy of Seoul E-Land |
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Above all, E-Land was a video 'Delicious Restaurant'. It received great attention for its video content that caught both fun and buzz. The number of short-form content views uploaded in the second round robin is up 251% year-over-year. In particular, Kazuki's video of shooting 'Omakase' after scoring his debut goal led to an offline event with 200,000 views. Kazuki and other players transformed into chefs and served meals to fans directly. E-Land received great recognition, winning the federation-organized 'TikTok Moments of the Month'June category.
The results produced by E-Land's innovative marketing are evidenced by numbers. It has attracted 51,356 spectators in 13 home games held so far, including breaking the record for the largest number of spectators twice this season alone. The figure is up about 27% year-on-year. Above all, the remarkable increase in the number of children's fans centered on local elementary school students is expected to be the driving force for E-Land to further solidify its connection to Seoul in the future. E-Land is also planning a 10th anniversary event with fans in the second half of the year. A special video featuring a number of founding members, including Kim Young-kwang and Cho Won-hee, will also be released here.
vanbasten@sportschosun.com
