We've had over a week now to draw our collective breath and digest the arrival of Harry Kewell and Brett Emerton into the A-League. And while some sections of the media continue to debate the merits of their signings, namely whether Kewell can deliver relative to expectations, what needs to be remembered is that the A-League is being discussed like never before.

Remember, this is happening within the protracted off-season, in which many feared the A-League would be completely forgotten; all the momentum from last season's epic grand final lost in the seven-month lay-off.

Yet the Kewell saga enlivened the off-season and, crucially, kept the A-League in the newspapers. With his and Emerton's arrival, along with numerous fringe Socceroos', momentum and buzz is at an all-time high.

Now it's time for the FFA to drive home the positive messages to solidify that buzz, with its marketing push set to kick-off as the season start looms in five weeks time.

While the main crux of their advertising push hasn't been revealed as yet, hopefully the FFA hasn't gone for a campaign too ambiguous and over-ambitious, instead keeping it simple.

Too many codes fall into this trap; the over-the-top campaign that could be mistaken for a music video on MTV, with the actual product being promoted forgotten in favour of the latest vogue fashion/music/whatever marketers are currently labeling as 'cool'.

The FFA has been guilty of this over the years. But, importantly, the A-League has now evolved to the point where it doesn't need to hide behind such masquerades; it has a product good enough to take to the critical masses.

Surely, for example, there was enough material from last season's grand final - edge-of-your-seat drama, packed stadium, atmosphere, great goals, followed by even more drama - to create an advertising campaign featuring all the positive virtues of the game.

The key to marketing the league (all codes, in fact) is to simply showcase the qualities that stand your game out from the rest. In the A-League's case that should be: the quality of football on display, the matchday experience at the likes of Suncorp, AAMI Park, Hindmarsh and elsewhere, and, in this campaign, the presence of Emerton and Kewell.

Encouragingly, there are positive stories to tell (sell) across the major markets: Melbourne has Kewell; Sydney has Emerton; Perth has Shane Smeltz and co; Adelaide has Dario Vidosic and co; Newcastle has Culina(s); and Central Coast and Brisbane have the momentum from last season. The less said about the Gold Coast the better, sadly.

The selling points are there; now to sell them.

The league, clubs and media partners were this week engaged in an FFA media workshop, looking at social media, online content and the like.  

The A-League is woefully behind other Australian codes in not only marketing spend but also in newer frontiers such as social media - an area it should be aggressively pushing in order to compensate for the lack of mainstream media attention.

There are no excuses for not making serious inroads in these departments this season.

Remember, when North Queensland Fury was booted out of the league, FFA CEO Ben Buckley said the money saved by not propping up the cellar dwellers would be injected into the league as a whole.

"We need to concentrate our resources on the growth, promotion and stability of the entire Hyundai A-League competition," he said.

Over to you then, FFA.