Stepping into Gerry Byrne’s bull paddy
By Roger Bill
The triumphant signals sent by the Newfoundland and Labrador government over its peculiar sponsorship of a minor league English soccer team come with a scent familiar to many journalists.
In September, Sarah Stoodley told Canadian Press reporter Sarah Smellie the government’s homeawaits.ca website “gets about 50,000 visits everyday.” The Minister of Immigration, Population Growth and Skills was describing a website whose logo debuted in July on the jerseys of the Barrow AFC English soccer team.
The homeawaits.ca website was launched to coincide with the first match of the soccer team’s season in the fourth, and lowest, level of professional soccer in England. Too bad the claim of 50,000 visits everyday is bull excrement.
Stoodley told a New York Times reporter homeawaits.ca, which beckons immigrants to a Newfoundland and Labrador where “you can live your dreams,” saw a jump in visits after a September Barrow match against the bench-players for the top tier Premier League team Chelsea.
Stoodley told the New York Times the website’s traffic was, “58,000 a day, up from between 50,000 and 55,000.” More bull feces.
It is tempting to cut Stoodley some slack for having to answer questions about the wisdom of a sponsorship she inherited. The $171,000, two-year shirt-sponsorship was the work of her predecessor, Gerry Byrne, now the Minister of Fisheries, Forestry, and Agriculture.
It is less tempting to cut Stoodley some slack when she shows up for the New York Times interview wearing a Barrow team jersey.
It is almost impossible to cut Stoodley any slack for the “50,000 visits everyday” bull guano claim.
According to a freedom of information request by The Shoreline, between July 6 and September 28, the homeawaits.ca site had total website traffic of 58,687 visitors.
In a follow-up email, a department official confirmed that the 58,687 number is, “not a daily average.” The daily average of website traffic at homeawaits.ca is about 700 visitors.
Still, Sarah Stoodley did interviews with the Canadian Press and the New York Times and said the homeawaits.ca site is getting 50,000 visits a day. In a prepared statement on Nov. 11 the Department said, “During those interviews, Minister Stoodley referred to daily site visitors using information provided by an external vendor… This information has since been clarified.” Yes, clarified by The Shoreline. You’re welcome.
Barrow vs. Chelsea
In the meantime, Minister Stoodley and the Premier might want to dial back their enthusiasm over the fact Barrow played against the Premier League powerhouse Chelsea.
The TV audience for Chelsea’s Premier League games is in the millions of viewers, but New York Times Global Sports Reporter Tariq Panja reminded readers that Barrow was not elite competition, and the game against the Chelsea reserve players was probably viewed by an audience, “in the tens of thousands.”
How many people saw the match is one question. How many took note of the homeawaits.ca sponsorship and went to the site is another. The question people in the digital analytics business want answered is, does the site work as an immigration recruitment tool?
The target immigrant? As Marie Wolf wrote about the deal in the Globe and Mail, “Newfoundland is trying to attract new immigrants from England with ads on a pro-soccer club’s jerseys.” Are potential immigrants from England visiting homeawaits.ca?
According to information acquired via the freedom of information request, only 2,254, or about four per cent, of the total visits to the website originated in the U.K.
Over 12 weeks, that is a daily average of 27 visits originating in the U.K. Plus, of those 27 visits, on average only five are repeat visitors.
The External Vendor
The company that provided the numbers for the Minister is m5 Marketing Communications. According to the Department, m5 designed, built, hosts, and maintains the homeawaits.ca website. The job is part of an $8 million contract awarded to m5 in 2023 to help the Province in its efforts to appeal to newcomers.
Sherry Reynolds, m5’s VP in the Newfoundland and Labrador, says the problem with the numbers Minister Stoodley gave the Canadian Press and the New York Times was a result of “misinterpretation” and “miscommunication” between m5 and the Minister’s office with an emphasis on the latter. Why someone at m5 or Minister Stoodley’s department or the Premier’s office didn’t realize the numbers she gave CP or the NYT were bull dung is another question for another time.
As The Shoreline’s deadline approached, Sarah Smellie of the Canadian Press said nobody from the Minister’s office has contacted her to clarify the numbers the Minister gave CP in September. If the Minister’s office reached out to the New York Times, then expect a correction in the NYT’s Canada Newsletter scheduled for publication on Nov. 16. Not a good look if it happens.
When the sponsorship deal was announced, Gerry Byrne said we would “soon be cheering along with pride” as Barrow takes the field.
Ms. Stoodley’s problem is somebody prepped her for interviews, sent her out with bull caca numbers which she trusted, and she picked up the pom poms and did some cheering.