Glenn Harris: Warriors COO of Commercial and Marketing on the growing demand for Warriors merch ahead of Dolphins clash

People can't get enough of the Warriors this week, as finals fever grips fans all over the nation.

Saturday's big finals clash against the Dolphins at Mount Smart Stadium has seen historic demand, and jerseys and other merchandise are flying off the shelves.

Warriors COO of Commercial and Marketing Glenn Harris says everyone wants to be a part of the 'togetherness' and that's reflected in what they wear to the games.

"Everywhere we go, people are wearing merch - and even if they have merch, they want to get more merch." 

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now, apparently, Warriors merchandise is just flying out the door
at the moment. Our producer's wife went to the official store.
It was jam-packed with people picking up jerseys for what
I think is a reasonable $ 60 a pop. Marketing and
commercial chief at the Warriors, Glenn Harris.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Is with us.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
Hey, Glenn.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
G'day, Heather. Happy game week.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
And to you, mate.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Fizzing already.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Is this the best year for the merch yet?

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Look, it is. I mean, it's probably the best year
across a lot of different commercial drivers of the club.
But I guess merchandise is probably the one that's most
visible because everyone feels a sense of connection and togetherness.
And the best way to express that is obviously what
they wear and bring along to the game.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
Now, are you selling amazingly just in Auckland or is
it everywhere?

Speaker 2 (00:45):
No, look, it's everywhere. I mean, we took a punt
on our brand this year and set up pop-up stores
in Australia and Wellington and Christchurch, and it's been the
same response everywhere. You know, such huge support, which is
actually quite overwhelming to see people in huge numbers wanting
to wear our colours and represent our brand. So everywhere
we go, people are in merch, and even if they

(01:07):
have merch, they want to get more merch.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
Now, I heard that the minute that you guys put
out a new jersey, it basically sells out. Is that
what's going on?

Speaker 2 (01:14):
Yeah, pretty much. It's not a number of minutes it
hangs around for now. It's gone quite quickly, but I
just think we've got such a passionate fan base, always have,
but now they're coming in huge numbers, which means that
we have to work pretty hard to stay ahead of
the demand. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
Now, it's National Wear Your Wars Day tomorrow. Which one
are you wearing?

Speaker 2 (01:36):
I'll probably cycle through them each hour. I'll try a
different one. Look, I've got so many. I mean, you
can't beat some of the 95s, but this week we've
got a special edition finals tee for the game this Saturday.
So we're all going to be rocking that tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
Is that the $ 60 one? That is reasonably priced, isn't.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
It, Glenn? Well, I think so. And, you know, you
have to be sensible these days with your value proposition.
And we try from whether it's ticket pricing to food
and beverage in the venue, we try and keep everything
as accessible as we can because we just want as
many people in the stadium wearing our gear and having
as much fun as possible. So the key to that

(02:14):
is just making everything really affordable.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Yeah, brilliant. Hey, good on you, Glenn, and have a
lovely week. That's Glenn Harris, who is the Warriors marketing man.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
For more from Heather Duplessy-Allen Drive, listen live to News
Talk ZB from 4 p.m. weekdays or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.