Тус байгууллага ирээдүйд Их Британийн зах зээлд дахин эргэн ирэхдээ өмнөх туршлагаа ашиглан маркетингийн болон зохион байгуулалтын шинэ стратеги баримтлахаар төлөвлөж байна.
OKTAGON холбоо 2023 болон 2024 онд Их Британид гурван удаагийн арга хэмжээ зохион байгуулж, өөрсдийн үйл ажиллагааг өргөжүүлэхийг зорьсон юм. Манчестер, Ньюкасл, Бирмингем хотуудад болсон эдгээр тулааны үдшүүдээс холбооны үүсгэн байгуулагч Павол Неруда үнэтэй сургамж авснаа онцолжээ. Тэрээр тус зах зээлийг илүү сайн ойлгохын тулд дараагийн удаа өөр өөр хотуудад талцуулахын оронд нэг хотод тогтвортой цуврал арга хэмжээ зохион байгуулах нь оновчтой гэж үзэж байна.
Холбооны зүгээс брэндийн нэр хүндийг өсгөх зорилгоор 2023 оны 11 дүгээр сард Манчестер хотод болсон анхны тулааны үдэш реалити шоуны од Жейк Куикенден болон хошин урлагийн жүжигчин Пол Смит нарын тулааныг зохион байгуулсан билээ. Гэсэн хэдий ч мэргэжлийн бус тулаанчид бэлтгэл сургуулилт болон маркетингийн үйл ажиллагаанд идэвхтэй оролцохоос зайлсхийсэн нь төлөвлөсөн үр дүнд хүрэхэд хүндрэл учруулсан байна.
Одоогоор OKTAGON холбоо Герман улсын Франкфурт хотод 60,000 хүний суудалтай цэнгэлдэх хүрээлэнд томоохон тулааны үдшээ есдүгээр сарын 26-нд зохион байгуулахаар бэлтгэл ажлаа хангаж байна. Энэ нь тус байгууллага шилдэг тамирчдаа UFC зэрэг томоохон холбоодод алдсан ч үйл ажиллагааны тогтвортой байдлаа хадгалж чадаж байгааг харуулж буй юм.
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OKTAGON have achieved incredible success in certain regions but didn’t have the same impact in the UK.
OKTAGON is gearing up for another show at the 60,000 capacity Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt, Germany on September 26.
This shows that even when top talents like Lucia Szabova leave for the UFC, the European promotion has no problem when it comes to maintaining a successful schedule.
Bringing that same standard to the UK proved to be an experience that OKTAGON’s bosses have been able to take valuable lessons from.
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OKTAGON co-founder Pavol Neruda explains what the promotion learned from their initial UK events
In 2023 and 2024, OKTAGON held three events in the UK as they looked to continue expanding into new regions with their already successful formula.
Pavol Neruda, who co-founded the promotion with Ondrej Novotny, recently told Bloody Elbow that he expects them to return at some stage after learning some valuable lessons from this attempt.
“It was a big lesson for us,” he said. “Very expensive as well. We also know the market now much better.”
The three events all took place in big venues, with the shows at the AO Arena in Manchester, the Utilita Arena in Newcastle, and the Resorts World Arena in Birmingham being remembered fondly by Neruda thanks to the fans in attendance.
When identifying what went wrong for them that they’d correct when coming back to the UK, Neruda spoke about the decision to host events in three different locations.
“If we were to do it again, we will definitely do multiple shows in the same city first,” Neruda reflected. “London or Manchester, I don’t know yet, but one of those two and we will repeat it so the crowd can come back and get used to it. This was definitely one of the big lessons and also there’s some things we would do differently like do better in marketing.”
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Signing UK talent is one thing but another way that OKTAGON looked to announce themselves in a big way was by putting on a fight with mainstream crossover appeal.
Their UK debut in Manchester (November, 2023) featured a clash between reality star Jake Quickenden and comedian Paul Smith.
Neruda had high hopes for this matchup in terms of the attention that it would generate, but says they weren’t able to execute their plans to dial up the hype for the bout when explaining what they learned regarding marketing.
“For example, the celebrity fight with Jake Quickenden and Paul Smith, which I think had huge potential. In the last let’s say month or two of the whole thing, we didn’t get as big a promo as we wanted because they were busy and avoiding confronting each other… They were avoiding confronting each other because obviously they are not professional fighters,” he added. “It was totally out of their comfort zones.
“Such things I believed at the beginning could have been a great push for us to be known, to attract people to the brand.”
