Northern Knights Fans Get New Website (And Prizes and Free Stuff)

Northern Districts Cricket is pushing the boundaries again - this time with the launch of an innovative new website.

Northern Districts has already gained a reputation for being at the forefront of sports marketing in New Zealand with its flagship team, the Northern Knights, playing January’s HRV Cup Twenty20 series in pink uniforms - the colour of their official charity, the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation.

Now www.howcricketchangedmylife.com, the team’s brand new, official home website, marks another first for the game in New Zealand - and takes the concept of giving back to the community even further.

“We had some feedback from a couple of our ardent fans that it would be great to have a site that was really all about them, putting the information that they wanted out front, rather than being a typical corporate-style website all about Northern Districts,” explains Northern Districts Cricket CEO David Cooper.

The result is a fun site that completely overhaul’s cricket’s staid online reputation as a ball of statistics, numbers and complexity. Up front are competitions and prizes to win, opportunities to meet the team, free tickets, special offers for signed-up members on everything from wine to new tyres, plus free team posters for everyone ordering a pair of funky pink jandals, women’s ‘damsel in pink’ summer tops (raising money for the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation) or team replica gear online.

The site is “hosted” by Northern Districts’ best-known fan, a larger-than-life supporter who tells the eponymous story of how cricket well and truly changed his life: catching a six in front of TV cameras at a Knights match led to him meeting the woman who’s now his wife. They even got engaged at the cricket, with the proposal delivered courtesy of Hamilton’s Seddon Park scoreboard.

Because Northern Districts doesn’t do anything by halves, the new site - a collaboration between Northern Districts Marketing Manager Julie Taylor and ad agency PAN Media - is bedecked in its charity colours with lovely pink graphics. But it’s also still a true cricket platform where people can find out everything they need to about the game (whether they’re interested in playing or watching) and encompasses traditional features like schedules, live scoring and player info.

Reconfiguring the web presence to work for the fanbase was especially valuable to Northern Districts given its far-flung geographic area, says David Cooper.

“One of the perennial challenges for us is that we represent one of the largest cricket catchments in New Zealand, from Cape Reinga to Taumaranui,” says Cooper. “We recognise that fans in Northland aren’t necessarily going to be able to make it to a Knights games in Mount Maunganui six hours’ drive away.”

Yet historically small towns have been integral to Northern Districts’ strength. Take Knights captain James Marshall, for instance - he learned his cricket in Warkworth, population 3000.

“We know we have quite a number of supporters living in quite rural areas,’ Cooper adds. “So even though our HQ is based in Hamilton, the site is a good vehicle to make sure everyone is included in all the opportunities and special offers open to Knights supporters, regardless of where they live.”

www.howcricketchangedmylife.com