Portland Timbers Fans Enjoy Exclusive Benefits in The Axe Society

The Portland Timbers of Major League Soccer created an exclusive fan membership club called The Axe Society to celebrate the team's founding season ticket holders during the team's first year of existence. Fans who became Portland Timbers season ticket holders by December 31, 2010 were given a lifetime membership into The Axe Society - an entitlement that includes a number of exclusive benefits:

• Your name listed on a permanent display in the stadium
• Your name listed on PortlandTimbers.com
• Your name listed in the Portland Timbers souvenir program
• A commemorative inaugural-season gift exclusive to Axe Society members
• Access to exclusive Axe Society events
• Annual Axe Society membership card good for additional discounts at the Timbers team store
• Exclusive promotions that can be accessed only by Axe Society members

Note: For fans to maintain their exclusive Axe Society membership, the team has noted that they must invest each year in at least one (1) Timbers full-season seat.

While creating a fan club to honor fans during a team's inaugural year is not a relatively novel concept in sports, what's extraordinary in this instance is the Portland Timbers' execution of The Axe Society. The team has done an exceptional job bringing the program to life, featuring prominent displays throughout Jeld-Wen Field and delivering a number of exclusive benefits for fans.

The Portland Timbers have quickly emerged as a first-class organization and their new stadium facility is pretty remarkable. Check out some photos of Jeld-Wen Field here.

 

Looking for New Ways to Reward Season Ticket Holders?

Are you looking for new ways to demonstrate value to season ticket holders? Are you looking for ways to promote small businesses in the local marketplace?

Sports organizations looking for new ways to provide value to dedicated season ticket holders should consider finding new ways to advertise and promote "their" business. In 2008, the New York Knicks created a tremendous resource - the Knicks Business Alliance - to drive sales/B2B efforts amongst the businesses of the team's season ticket holders.

Teams should consider taking the Business Alliance concept one step further by featuring pillars/LED stadium concourse level signage that touts season ticket holders' business cards or related information. Teams could consider partnering with a financial/insurance/tax services company to execute the initiative (and provide additional benefits/services for all parties involved).

The Firstbank in Colorado recently implemented a similar initiative that has drawn raves of excitement. The bank installed a series of rotating display signage that featured a collection of business cards representing their small business customers with the tagline, "We care about small business" (a team could use the tagline, "We care about our season ticket holders").

Source: CherryFlava.com