So it looks like Alex Saul's tenure is coming to an end and a new Head of Commercial & Marketing being recruited..
Best of luck in the future to him....

Job Opportunity: Head of Commercial & Marketing
08th February 2016

Connacht Rugby is seeking to appoint a Head of Commercial and Marketing.

Reporting to the CEO, The Head of Commercial and Marketing will be responsible for maximising the commercial and marketing potential of Connacht Rugby to sustain consistent success across professional and community rugby in Connacht.

Key responsibilities:

1. To deliver on the following key objectives of our commercial and marketing strategy:
2. To maximise all commercial and marketing opportunities in a way that drives substantial revenue growth.
3. To develop the brand to be recognised as one of the most exciting, disruptive and innovative sporting brands in Ireland and in rugby worldwide.
4. To step change our customer service &brand experience programme, by putting our fans at the heart of our commercial and event operations.

Other key deliverables include:

1. The development of a powerful marketing strategy that supports the achievement of our strategic and commercial objectives.
2. Building our CRM capability to deepen our reach and connection with fan communities across the province.
3. Conducting regular market and competitor analysis to identify the right opportunities for commercial growth & improved fan experience.
4. The development of appropriate sales & pricing strategies.
5. Seeking constant improvement in the brand and financial equity of our commercial partnerships.

To be considered for this role you will have:

Essential:

1. A minimum of 7 years consumer marketing, sports marketing, sports sponsorship and/or major brand management experience.
2. Strong evidence of planning and executing marketing campaigns across a range of media platforms.
3. Demonstrable experience in meeting KPI’s in a high profile, demanding, and fast-paced commercial environment.
4. Proven success at building excellent working relationships and operating effectively as a member of a leadership team.
5. Strong management skills with experience of successfully leading and managing diverse teams.
6. Excellent communication and negotiating skills.
7. Experience of managing a P&L and sound financial management.
8. A relevant degree or professional qualification.

Desirable:

1. Experience in and understanding of the sports market – particularly in managing partnerships.
2. This role offers candidates with the above experience the opportunity to effectively influence and develop the commercial and marketing strategy of one of the most exciting brands in Rugby.

How to apply
Interested and suitably qualified candidates should forward a curriculum vitae (in confidence) with a covering letter supporting your application to Brónagh McDonald, TRB Associates, Suite 1344, 77 Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin 2

email: Connacht Rugby

This role will be offered on a fixed term contract for a period of three years.

The closing date for applications is Friday 19th February.

New Commercial & Marketing team in place

While Connacht continues to bolster their on-field squad ahead of the 2013/14 season, equal progress has been made off the field as the club pursues its ambition to stand apart from the competition in driving commercial growth.

This month, Head of Commercial Alex Saul, who has been with Connacht Rugby for over a year now, has put the finishing touches to the Commercial & Marketing team.

Eoin Banahan was brought in at the beginning of the season as Marketing & Commercial Executive for Connacht Rugby. Having previously worked in sports management across three continents, Eoin brings international sports marketing experience to Connacht. Before coming to Galway, Eoin managed the activation of the multimillion dollar sponsorship of, US brand, Nature Valley Granola Bars across the PGA TOUR. Working across 30 tournaments and 26 states in one of the most lucrative sports in the world demands high levels of performance, creativity and delivery; qualities which Eoin has already brought to bear in his new position.

With six months under her belt, Louise Creedon is tasked with creating and implementing effective media strategies and operations to support the ambitious growth plans of Connacht Rugby. Before moving to Galway, Louise spent two years working with national newspaper The Irish Times. There she gained an in-depth knowledge into the Media industry in Ireland. As part of the Marketing team, she worked on a number of major events and PR activation pieces such as The Great Limerick Run, The Irish Times Sportswoman of the Year and The Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards.

A further two new positions have been created and filled since the turn of the year.

Pauline Keating is joining Connacht on a full time basis in the newly created position of Partner Services Executive. Pauline is charged with the rights delivery for all club sponsors & partners, tournament rights holders and other club stakeholders in the region including schools, clubs and businesses.

Pauline joins Connacht from Leinster Rugby where she was a member of the Marketing team that drove the Heineken Cup Tour and was also appointed Co-Ordinator of the Leinster Rugby Summer Camps. Pauline also has experience with the Leinster Council, GAA and has previously worked on events such as the AIB Ladies Irish Open, Get BACk Challenge and Limerick European City of Sport.

Completing the team, Martin Fallon returned to Connacht Rugby last month after a brief one year stint in London with Aviva Premiership Champions Harlequins. Martin first joined Connacht in May 2010 and spent two years working with the Marketing team before he left for Quins in June of last year. At the London based club, he organised all aspects of Big Game 5 at the Twickenham Stadium. The sell-out event was a huge success, attracting a crowd of over 82,000, where Martin played a pivotal role in increasing revenue by 40% year on year.

Attracted by the newly created role of Business Development Executive, Martin has returned to his native Connacht.

Speaking about the off-field work of the Commercial & Marketing team, Alex Saul said:

“The club is experiencing a remarkable period in its history both on and off the pitch. Last season's inaugural Heineken Cup journey created a lot of attention for the club and that has further created a host of commercial opportunities. It is important that we continue to capitalise on them.

“We have been working hard over the last year with a real emphasis on creating long term sustainable growth across a number of new business activities. We have seen huge growth across both ticketing and commercial revenues and I'm delighted that we have attracted high calibre candidates to the team to ensure we continue on this upward curve”.

swift4prez wrote: by the looks of some pre season photo's we have 'aer lingus regional' as one of our sponsors.

thats good news plus might save the club €€€€ flying to games.

Aer Lingus Regional is Aer Arrann they're in the process of being subsumed. It started intially with codesharing but suspect it'll involve total rebrand..

www.aerarann.com/

Chartered flights would only be used where there was no direct flight option and the alternative was impractical from a cost and duration point of view. They would usually travel shceduled flights I believe, bear in mind they know months in advance where they are travelling to and their corporate travel agent would source group deals for them too..

Diom wrote: 5th C : I dunno which they use chartered or commercial. Not sure if they would like to be surrounded by fans or not. Might be motivational for some, might be distracting for others. It's a nice suggestion though.

EDIT: Just sent an email to possibly interested parties to see what the feeling is like on that.

as far as i know they use commercial flights usually out of dublin airport. a few people could comfirm that they used a chartered flight from knock to toulouse

5th C : I dunno which they use chartered or commercial. Not sure if they would like to be surrounded by fans or not. Might be motivational for some, might be distracting for others. It's a nice suggestion though.

EDIT: Just sent an email to possibly interested parties to see what the feeling is like on that.

Something I've always wondered; how does the team get to away games? Chartered or scheduled flights? Has Aer Arann ever been involved?
Probably a stoopid thought, but I wondered was it possible to charter flights for the team and fill up the rest of the flight with supporters who each pay a set fare, covering most or all of the flight cost?
Like I said, probably stoopid; this may already be happening for all I know.

by the looks of some pre season photo's we have 'aer lingus regional' as one of our sponsors.

thats good news plus might save the club €€€€ flying to games.

"hospitality club"? Ladies who lunch?

Sounds good. He seems to have taken on board our concerns over the merchandise that fans want to see so that's excellent.

seen this on twitter. nice interview.
he tells us about what new stuff will be happening at sportsground next season towards the end
finndelaney.com/2012/06/13/a-word-with-a...from-connacht-rugby/

click on the audio in the middle of the page

rossie wrote: i believe that rugbytech are part of elverys so that probably wont happen with their involvement in the pgb. It would be nice to see the range expanded either under the rugbytech name or their other one rival. Shirts, pullovers, ties etc, anything really.

That's true, forget that boss man Elvery's has a seat on the PGB.

But I would imagine after this season (in which we will have shifted a lot of kit for Elverys, between the new Mazda stuff and then the HEC kit as well) our bargaining position will have increased massively and at the end of the day were both in business....

Would be intresting to note how long we're tied in to Rugbytech/Elvery's for that's for sure. Still think the merchandising and lack of outlets outside IRE is hampering us, there's a market outside Ireland and it's increasing every day with the recession...

The situation definitely needs to be improved. But are we making an assumption on where blame lies for all the jersey issues? Are rugby tech getting the designs approved in time by the branch?

It's a setup with more than one stakeholder and if Connacht can identify areas where they can improve their communication with RT, a well as make sure everyone is aware that a higher level of professionalism is needed from ceveryone involved, then things will get better.

ConnachtCows wrote: I try not to be biased, but I think our jersey is nicer than any other jerseys in Ireland.

Amen to that. They seem to nicely sidestep both the sameness of the Ulster and Munster jerseys, and the trying-too-hard-ness of the Leinster ones.

(And I did get a laugh out of people suggesting that the HEC home and away shirts had the eagle front and back because putting the dagger on/in the back would seem like a snide acknowledge the input of the IRFU)

because the season is well underway when they come out. other teams have there new jerseys out before end of the season. remember the year it was 2days before our first HC game and even then there werent enough

I think the rugbytec jersey's have been things of beauty.
I try not to be biased, but I think our jersey is nicer than any other jerseys in Ireland.
Not sure why people would want to get away from them, unless, someone else comes in, and offers us silly money

connolly wrote: Hopefully he moves us away from rugbytec

I'd hope he'd just light a fire under them and get things improved.

I'm glad we are with them. We're not investing in foreign companies like Canterbury, Puma etc. Not only that but far too many shirt manufacturers throw out the same design in different teams colours. We've stood out in past years with nice shirts that no one else has.

They need to improve supply and overall professionalism but I wouldn't be in favour of turning our back on an Irish company.

ya the worse thing about rugby tech is they seem like a small company and take an age to get jerseys out on shelfs.
also they are only in elverys and not champion sports and lifestyle sports etc