It's August in Brisbane and that can only mean one thing - it's Ekka time (that's the Royal Queensland Show for those not familiar with the local dialect.)
Over a period of 10 usually windy days, a vacant lot on the edge of the inner city will become home to shifty-eyed carneys, grass-chewing bumpkins and toothless dagwood dog vendors. Unsurprisingly to Queensland's many detractors in southern states, this is considered an annual cultural highlight in these parts. Go figure.
But before anybody calls me a snob, I wish to point out that I wasn't always the cynical, urban sophisticate that you see in this blog's profile picture. I was once a child filled with a piggy bank full of pocket money that every August scoured the pages of the local newspaper with only one thing on his mind - showbags, and lots of them.
So it was with a sense of nostalgia that I sat down this week with my increasingly expensive morning espresso and over-taxed cigarettes to peruse the showbag guide for this year's Ekka.
The usual suspects were there in easily identifiable and heavily branded bag-form - the chocolate consortiums, cola conglomerates, crazy cartoon characters and colour-coordinated children's crooners all represented.
But there is one showbag that no amount of hard-earned pocket money will buy the kids at this year's Ekka. I am sad to report to this city's football faithful that there is no Brisbane Roar FC showbag.
It seems that for all the talk of community engagement, which has so far been infinitely better than past seasons, Brisbane Roar's marketing team have decided that promoting the team at a massive and well-attended cultural exhibition in the days leading up to and immediately after the season start just isn't for them.
Don't worry, I don't get it either.
Now thankfully, football isn't without representation at the showbag pavilion this year. A Socceroos branded bag is available and provides the kids with everything needed to be just another national team bandwagoner - which, I suppose is better than nothing.
Although, I have it on good authority that the Socceroos showbag is overhyped and once opened, is only full of disappointment. Zing.
There is also a Manchester United showbag available. Or, as I and many others prefer to call it, a scumbag. Double zing.
Anybody who follows football in Brisbane knows that what we need is a generation of youngsters who aren't simply fans of the national team's big names or some foreign super club. We need the kids to be excited about their local A-League team.
And what better way to do that than with a showbag full of Roar branded, made-in-China knickknacks especially designed for sending impressionable children in to hyperactive fits of elation.
As a marketing exercise it is relatively inexpensive. Further, it provides opportunities for the Roar brand to extend its presence from gameday and into everyday life as the bag's assorted fillings are used at school sports days, weekend club matches and on summer holidays.
If you don't believe me here's a quick list of a few things that could find their way into a Roar showbag: a football (full-size, mini or even beach durable), sports bag, key ring, flag, wrist band, stickers, drink bottle, drink cooler, A-League and W-League team posters, fixtures lists, A-League trading cards, autograph book and pen, and an activity book (there is a small example on the club's website, here's a link: http://www.a-league.com.au/site/_content/screensaver/00000041-pcversion.pdf)
And that is just the basics. Value can be added to the showbag for parents by including vouchers for use at Brisbane Roar's many sponsors - The Coffee Club, WOW Sight and Sound, Luxury Paints, Brisbane Airport Corporation and latest addition, Linglong Tyres.
These would have to be negotiated with said sponsors but with the right deals these vouchers could not only add value to the Roar showbag itself but also greater value for Roar sponsors. It just takes a little bit of marketing acumen to convince these companies of the benefits of getting on board.
However, there is still one important inclusion in any Roar showbag that I am yet to mention - the showbag must include a free children's admission to a regular season home game when accompanied by a full paying adult. Hell, make it two children's admissions.
Because ultimately we need to have fans come to games and experience the unbridled atmosphere of an A-League match at Suncorp Stadium. And the more people that come through the turnstiles the bigger and better that atmosphere, and hopefully the club, can be.
Of course, I realise that the purse strings are tight at Brisbane Roar this year but I believe they could've done worse than spend some of their marketing budget on cultivating a relationship with the kids of Brisbane at an event like the Ekka.
After all, a legion of lifelong fans will eventually more than repay the small outlay required to fill a few thousand showbags. But the thing with lifelong fans is that their hearts and minds must be captured when they are young and easily impressed.
Otherwise, if you wait too long, you just end up with a cynical blogger whingeing about showbags over his morning coffee to the strangers and waitresses in the smoking section of a suburban café. And that is the kind of word of mouth that the club should try to avoid.
