Whitchurch Alport FC of the Hallmark Security League First Division remain unbeaten so far this season. 4 wins and 1 draw sees the Red Army sitting in 2nd place just behind current leaders Silsden. In common with all of the teams in the league, Alport produce a matchday program for all home games, packed with club sponsors and team updates. Cipher Graphics approached Alport towards the end of last season with a unique proposition that would allow the programme to be produced with last minute alterations if required, and, most importantly with no on going artwork charges as Martin Wild, Alport media guru, would be able to produce the programme himself – online with no special software.
So what kind of witchcraft allows this? The answer lies in our online template based service that allows Martin to change images, text, update results, update the league table, write editorial and much more besides – all done on his laptop from the comfort of his armchair.
The system was showed off to visitors Abbey Hulton United on Bank Holiday Monday (28th August 2017). Alport had played away on Saturday 26th enjoying a 4-1 away win at AFC Blackpool. When the committee from Abbey Hulton read the Monday programme they were amazed to find that the result from Saturday, the match report, photographs from the game and the latest league table were all in the programme. Impossible surely. Not for Martin and the Cipher team. Martin was able to make all the changes on Sunday morning and place an order for Monday’s programme whilst sat at home with a cuppa. The order hit the Cipher server instantly, was downloaded, printed and delivered to Martin that evening. This is not witchcraft. This is the future of football programme printing. A template set up in a password protected portal. The template being editable by the user allowing all the important items to be changed online. The user can download a proof to check prior to placing the order. No ongoing artwork fees as the user is doing the work not Cipher’s studio.
And the result… we leave that to Martin.
‘When Cipher’s MD, Jon Sherwood, first approached us, I have to admit I was a little dubious that what he was claiming was actually possible. I was used to sending word documents to the printer with our changes. We’d change a few things every week. Change the date and the opposition. We’d get a proof back to check and make any alterations. Then take delivery a few days later. Now we change the front cover almost entirely. We have a big image from the previous game, change the match sponsor and the opposition. We also have drop down menus to change the crest of the opposition on the back cover, we change the main colour on their team page to reflect their kit, new editorial from me and the manager and a match report from the last game. I do it all in about an hour.
Cipher’s system has quite frankly revolutionised the match day programme. We sell more on the day which means not only more revenue on sales but also we have been able to keep current sponsors happy and attract new ones on the basis that the program is a fabulous publication and is now read by more fans.’
Spot the differences! The Alport programme has a new cover image, new matchday sponsor and new matchday information every home game. And all edited by Alport Media Manager, Martin Wild.
If you’d like a demo of how our system could help your club, call us on 01782 525500.
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