Mescall defends role of digital agency in GAA fundraiser

The role of digital marketing agency Sixtwo Digital in Westmeath GAA’s Win A Home In Spain came up for discussion at last week’s meeting of the County Committee in the Mullingar Park Hotel.

Shane Donoghue of Milltownpass suggested the company who ran the digital marketing campaign for the fundraiser did not reach its targets. It was revealed that Westmeath sold approximately 3,500 tickets online.

The chairman said Sixtwo Digital is a very professional company and had excelled in previous online draws with other counties. The market changed in the past 18 months, with other companies coming online offering much cheaper tickets, he explained.

“They did everything they were supposed to do,” the chairman stated. “I pointed out what had been sold online. It didn’t reach our expectations, but I wanted to be honest and open about it. I have been listening to blame of Sixtwo Digital from many quarters.”

During a tetchy exchange, Mr Donoghue suggested the chairman, when he spoke at the draw the previous evening, was willing to protect the reputation of Sixtwo Digital and tarnish Westmeath GAA's as an institution.

"No. You're taking that a bit too far," replied Mr Mescall.

Mr Donoghue asked if Sixtwo Digital are blameless for the lower than expected number of online ticket sales. In response, the chairman said: “I think they would be blameless since we decided to go with that draw. Sixtwo Digital are a very professional company who have run many of these draws. Did it work out the way they would have said? No.”

“Why not?” asked Mr Donoghue. “Two other companies entered this race of buy a home for €5 and €10,” the chairman responded.

“So the promotion company are entirely blameless - they got everything perfectly right?” asked Mr Donoghue. “I think so, Shane,” replied the chairman.

Mr Donoghue remarked: “I would imagine if you hire an outside company and set targets, and there is a budget for it, and an expectation, and it doesn't reach that expectation, a certain amount of blame lies with them.

“We are holding this company completely blameless," said Mr Donoghue who argued that the agency "didn’t try anything different when the whole environment began to change".

He was critical of the low number of Sixtwo Digital's own Instagram page followers and suggested, on that basis, that they fell short, while there was a lack of advertising on their social media platform.

“We need to learn from our mistakes. And that is possibly one of them. If we can suggest blame in one direction and call somebody else completely blameless for the whole thing - that’s what was broadcast last night,” continued Mr Donoghue.

The chairman replied: “I’m fighting a totally losing battle. I bow to your superior knowledge and I apologise for my remarks.”

Following a query as to the target was for online sales, it was explained that 60% of the overall sales was the initial aim, but the chairman said he felt around 7,000 online sales were possible.

“The conditions changed (for online sales),” observed the chairman. Online sales accounted for €1m in Galway and almost €2m in Roscommon in previous draws, it was explained.

“When you see a county like Roscommon, almost €2m the first time, down to €300,000 for the second draw. That’s a huge shift. We didn’t foresee that,” said the chairman.

Mr Donoghue described the draw tickets as being “overpriced, for a house that is not even on this island” and claimed it was forced down clubs’ throats, and that unrealistic sales targets were set.

The chairman felt setting targets of 100 tickets for bigger clubs, and 40 tickets for smaller clubs, camogie and LGFA, was not unrealistic.

Rosemount's Colm Boland contended that Westmeath’s flagship football and hurling teams failing to make progress was a major factor in the draw failing to hit 15,000 tickets. He felt Westmeath would have reached that target if the footballers got to Croke Park. His club had a similar experience: success on the pitch brings in support, he observed.

“We have €500,000 we didn’t have at the start of the year,” noted Mr Boland.

In response, Sixtwo Digital disagreed with Mr Donoghue's analysis. In a statement, CEO Colm Hanratty said:

"Since 2018, Sixtwo Digital has helped raise over €32,000,000 for more than 50 sports clubs, charities and community groups around the country. This includes campaigns for Clare GAA, Galway GAA, Waterford GAA, Donegal GAA, the National Breast Cancer Research Institute, Croí – the Heart and Stroke Charity and more. We have a proven track record of helping fundraisers raise sums of money that they typically wouldn’t be able to raise through other, smaller fundraisers.

"I would like to thank Westmeath GAA for having Sixtwo Digital involved in their ‘Win A Home In Spain’ fundraiser which turned out to be their most successful fundraiser ever,” the statement added.