AFL PLAY needed a game plan to get the ball rolling on sign-ups and introduce more kids to the sport. The Content Division created a tailored email journey that engaged parents from the first whistle, boosting CTR more than twofold for the crucial early years age group.
The challenge
AFL PLAY is the participation arm of the AFL, designed to get more kids into the game through programs like Auskick, Superkick, Nines and Juniors. They came to us in 2025 with a clear challenge: boost sign-ups by creating automated email journeys that engaged parents, answered their questions and guided them towards enrolment. The solution had to be strategic, scalable and inclusive.
Our approach
We began by mapping the journey. A broader awareness campaign drove parents to a dedicated landing page, where they shared details about their child – age, gender, language and disability. From there, we built three core acquisition flows in Salesforce, segmented by age group (4-7, 8-12 and 13+), since eligibility and parental decision-making differed by stage.
Inside each flow we layered personalisation to build trust. Branches tailored pronouns and imagery by gender, so parents saw content that felt directly relevant to their child. For Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) and disability audiences, inclusivity was embedded in every touchpoint: live-text emails for easy translation, ‘view in browser’ functionality, and messaging that highlighted accessibility. The framework balanced scale and nuance, so that it was personal without being overcomplicated, and consistent without feeling generic.
Each automation followed a weekly drip-feed, moving parents from curiosity to commitment.
The journey was carefully designed to reduce friction by educating first, then providing clear CTAs at the right moments.
The results
While the campaign launched as a pilot with modest numbers, results consistently outperformed benchmarks.
The 4-7 age group – the critical entry point for lifelong participation – showed the strongest engagement, proving the strategy resonated where it mattered most.
Beyond the immediate results, AFL PLAY gained a scalable nurture system that validated the appetite for age- and gender-specific messaging, demonstrated that inclusivity can be built in without complexity, and established email as a reliable conversion channel for grassroots sport.
