The MatchDay programme is dead, and anyone who insists on using the outdated phrase to describe programmes produced for sporting or other events has clearly got the wrong info and missed the boat on a new way of working.
Don’t worry, I’m not for one moment trying to say that programmes themselves are redundant - far from it.
Indeed it has been interesting to see digital rise to the challenge presented by lack of spectators and behind closed doors events to show its true potential.
But MatchDay is a lazy and old fashioned word. It conjures up print programmes being purchased half an hour before kick-off, stuffed in the back pocket during the match, and not being seen again for a full 30 years when you go online to find its value has gone from £3.50 to 25p on ebay.
As clients of Hashtag Digital Media have found, the true value of a digital programme, supplied crisply to supporters via links on social channels rather than cumbersome apps, is that they can be razor-sharp marketing tools issued at least 24 hours before any event.
They are vehicles to sell merchandise and of course even tickets for the games themselves. It’s clearly a million miles away from the old MatchDay programme experience, but its one which our colleagues in a variety of sports from football to boxing have clearly grasped.
Farewell to picking up printed MatchDay Info and hello to a digital future.
