Hyping, in simple terms means promoting or publicizing a product or idea intensively, often exaggerating its benefits.
For a product to sell, people need to know it’s content, benefits, and value. Very few people can take a risk to buy a product that is not that much talked about or known on the market.
This explains the reasons why most companies advertise their products. They want to woo people to buy their products. They want their product to make a mark on the market. People first listen before they act. You can’t get attracted to a product you’ve never heard of.
Moving to Zambian football, Have the Clubs and everyone involved done enough of hyping? Obviously, the answer is a big NO!. Have the ZSL teams taken advantage of the league being ranked 7th in Africa? the answer again is NO!. Can ZSL teams woo fans to buy their product (s), absolutely yes, So now let’s narrow this down to what is involved.
ZSL TEAMS HYPING
Zambia Super League teams have not done enough in this area. They have not properly unveiled their signings, they have not released proper statements as to why they have signed a certain player, the value he will add to the team, what the players’ ambitions for the team are, and so on, and so forth.
People want to know the reasons why a club has signed a particular player, is it because they want to challenge for the title, top four or it’s a replacement for a certain player that left the club. They have not given players they’ve signed the platform to say the reasons they why they chose their club of all clubs and what the players ambitions for the club are and yes most of them will say its dream to play for this club every time they move to a new club but the fans still want to hear that.
Remember that people want to know the content of the product, they will only know when clubs release full comprehensive statements about their signings as in what they possess and what they can offer. Earlier we spoke about value addition, people want to hear from the player what he thinks he will add to the team, The fans need the hype to get excited and flock to the Stadium to pay and watch the games.
All we hear Instead is that a club has signed a player on their Facebook page nothing more some don’t even announce anything you will only get to see a player on the pitch. Also, some clubs take along to confirm and unveil players.
People hear signings first from bloggers, Yes rumors are part of football and help create hype but suffice to say that certain clubs take days, some even weeks to announce their signings and letting the buzz dry out. People get tired waiting for confirmation on what they have heard.
By the time the club choose to announce the signing, people would have gotten tired already and moved on. Another area they need to work on is replica sales. They don’t release their kits mostly for the upcoming season in advance, they don’t tell people about selling points and expect fans to magically know about it.
HOW TO IMPROVE IN THIS AREA
The clubs need to do a proper unveiling ceremony, Case in point what Napsa Stars, Kabwe Warriors, Zesco Unite,d and Power Dynamos have done so far, they need to make the unveiling public, allow people to come to stadiums and see the signing where possible.
Teams also need to release comprehensive statements about the player they have signed and need to hold a press briefing where necessary and the coach can say something about the signing and the player also to express himself and most important unveil the player when the news is still ripe and hot.
Another Important thing clubs need to be doing is launching their kits before the start of the season make the price of replicas public knowledge and reveal selling points where applicable.
7th RANKED VALUE
Do our clubs know the value of the league been ranked this high on the African Continent? Probably not. Supersport used to televise the Nigerian Premier League, Kenyan Premier League, Zimbabwe Premier Soccer League, Angola Premier League but now they’ve stopped. They Only televise the PSL and the Zambia Super League in Africa. What is the reason? The reason is simple, the rankings, all these leagues except South Africa premier league, they are ranked below ZSL simply put it ZSL has got talent.
Another reason is because of the high viewership the Zambia Super League gets on Supersport which means the people out there want to watch the league and are very much interested. This should give teams the idea that they can increase their fan base with proper and vigorous publicity.
So what can ZSL do with this 7th ranked thing?. Do you know that people across the borders where multichoice operate from want to know why the company chose ZSL to remain on their sports channels?. Now you know.
They are staying glued to their TVs and want to see the good which multichoice/supersport saw. What should clubs do then, let them conduct interviews on their websites and pages alluding to their players, coaches, history of the club, achievements of the club, and ambitions and if possible submit them to supersport so that they are aired on bola yapa zed show.
They need also to open up replica selling shops outside Zambia, the good starter can be Kenya. We have a lot of Kenyans in Zambia who are doing very well and Kenyans would love to have their replicas. Our clubs should take advantage of this.
CAN ZSL WOO FANS TO THEIR PRODUCTS
Proposing to a girl is very challenging, only a few accept on the first approach, the majority of them seek reproach and patience. There is also that saying that Rome was not built in one day.
ZSL clubs should not tire but rather continue pushing for their products to be accepted by the public. Fans are ready in fact very ready to buy ZSL products but the problem is that they don’t know the content of the products and where to buy them from. Remember the 2018/2019 CAF confederation cup games, the feel chilata, and the Levy stadium campaign how it worked well. That was a lesson enough and an eye opener for our clubs, they needed to pick up from there and maintain the momentum.
People went to cheer Nkana and Zesco during their Continental games in large numbers all because of the hype. These assumptions are true and are also based on recent cries from fans were two(Simba and yanga) teams from our neighboring country did a lot of hype, attracted a lot of people to their unveiling ceremony, spoke well of their signings, released football kits way before the onset of the new season and they have a day named after their club since 2008(Simba) where the club plays new signings mostly before the onset of the season so that they showcase what they have kept for the new season.
What do we call this? Wooing simple, they are proposing to fans to get attracted to their products cause seeing is believing. Another neighboring club (TP mazembe) opened a clothing shop for its products in a foreign country, South Africa. Our clubs need also to take these steps. The fans want such from our clubs, Let them come up with clothing shops in other countries, have a day every year where they will play their new signings before the onset of a new season in front of the masses, and on the same day, they release their new kits.
ARE ZSL TEAMS UP FOR THE TASK
A number of Zambia Super League teams have started taking such measures already. Currently, four ZSL teams have done proper player unveiling before the start Of,2020/2021 season. Let all meaningful football fans support them and also other clubs should follow suit.
Let us all join in supporting them by appreciating the little they have started doing, it takes a step before it becomes a walk
VALUE OF HYPING
It will increase the attendance in the stadium because people would want to watch the players’ clubs have been hyping which means more money for the clubs. It will also increase shirt sales, again this means more money entering the coffers of the clubs.
When clubs generate more money using these channels, they won’t solely depend on their sponsors. Some big clubs are struggling currently because their sponsors have halved the grant hence failing to keep big names in their teams. So by doing this, it means increasing stadium attendance and shirt sells which can definitely help the club in terms of cushioning the effects that may come with hard times hitting their sponsors.
The Zambia Super League has the potential to grow massively, hence clubs need to use every exploring opportunity wisely. The fans also should support teams to generate enough money from their products, buy ZSL products simply put you would be buying the 7th ranked product of the 54 Countries in Africa. Only when the fans get wooed to it, it will be number one
Zambia Super League to the world, the future lies in our hands.
