FC Dallas got back to the playoffs on the field in 2022, but it also showed a notable improvement off the field. The team announced seven sellouts, the most sellouts in recent memory, and felt far more present in Dallas, Frisco and surrounding cities, utilizing billboards, digital signage and player appearances to better connect with the community.
Jerome Elenez was hired as FC Dallas' Vice President of Marketing before the season, with experience both in sports with the Dallas Mavericks and in the business world with McDonald's, and has been pleased with the results.
Elenez said he was happy with how the first season went. After the World Cup, the club's focus will shift toward getting fans into the stadium in 2023.
Much of marketing is trial and error. When FC Dallas executives saw fans head for the exits after an August match despite a fireworks show being planned, it reinforced that the drone show is something that will capture an audience unlike other options.
"We've learned our lesson from that. Drones are kind of the future for us," Elenez told The Striker prior to the end of the season. "I think we're going to continue to leverage that. We'll still have fireworks and the pyro, and some of that with the shield on the stage, that taking up space and adding pyro to that, we're going to do more of that next year. We're already talking with our pyro team on that.
"Those are all learnings I look back on and say those are some big hits with one or two misses. By and large, it's been a really great season, and I feel lucky and happy to be here."
In addition to being more visible in Dallas, Elenez, who speaks English and Spanish, was eager to craft a more bilingual marketing strategy in a city where 2020 U.S. Census data indicate more than a third of the population speaks Spanish.
The club was more active in Latino-majority neighborhoods and also started posting more digital advertisements with Spanish text. Elenez said it's something that will continue to be tweaked as they seek to find the right balance.
Initially, Elenez set the English-to-Spanish ratio at 50-50 but found little return. He then looked to target Latino fans who are bilingual and started seeing a better return but then saw growth once again with more Spanish-language ads and saw more success.
No matter the trends, Elenez says outreach is still a critical piece to what FCD does, despite the team being one of the founding members of Major League Soccer.
"It's a continual evolution and making sure that we're finding the right mix. It's imperative that we reach out to the Hispanic community, both in English and Spanish," he said. "Awareness is key. Even before I took the job, a lot of people that I talked to, they weren't aware, even though the team has been around since '96."
Once fans get the message and make it to Toyota Stadium, the team also is working on the game day experience.
Pre- and post-match may look a little different next year. In addition to those extra elements of fireworks and reworking the look of the stage. But theme nights, like the club's Star Wars Night in late July, went over well with most fans and will also feature again in 2023.
"We can do a lot of fun things that get people to come to the game that maybe wouldn't [have otherwise], and then they see what a fun atmosphere and they walk away with something that's kind of cool," Elenez said. "It's just trying to appeal to the masses as much as possible, and not just trying to say like, 'You got to be XYZ soccer fan or this demographic, or whether you're Hispanic or not' .... people want to go out and have a good time."
That is what Elenez and his team will hope to deliver in 2023 with FCD also hoping to put together an even better campaign as a team.
Will there be more wins? That's tough to say. But there definitely will be drones.