“Have you got your spark back?”
Day 11 of a brutal flu, and I’m starting to question reality. My CEO, showing empathy? No chance. Turns out, he was asking if I’d got the electrician back – because, naturally, a last-minute fault was holding up the installation of our new six-figure big screen. Just another delightful problem in the chaos leading up to a home opener.
We’d had a hectic off-season – new catering partners, a raft of fresh sponsors, F&B renovations, and major infrastructure projects. The marketing team had even more on their plate, with the added responsibility of organising Luke Littler’s homecoming.
Luke’s been part of the club for years – a long-time season ticket holder who first popped up on our radar in 2022 when our Head of Finance wouldn’t stop raving about a kid he’d seen at a local darts academy. We brought him in for his first media interview after he won the Junior Worlds that year. Our badge was even on his shirt for a while. Then 2024 happened, and he went nuclear-blowing up the darts world and winning the Worlds in January.
As Warrington’s club, we knew it was up to us to make his homecoming special. We circled the season opener against Catalans Dragons and got to work. Our CEO, Karl Fitzpatrick, suggested renaming the stadium for the night. A few brainstorming casualties later (RIP “Camp Nuke” and “The Nuke Dome”), we kept it simple: “The Luke Littler Stadium.”
Next, we had to get Halliwell Jones on board. They pay a hefty sum for naming rights, but the conversation was easy – they instantly saw the value. The PR hit would be worth three years of sponsorship in a single day.
Karl announced it live on Sky Sports News, and it caught fire. Every major news outlet picked it up, and suddenly, our stadium’s name was making headlines worldwide. The exposure for Halliwell Jones was immense – sometimes, taking a backseat can put you even further ahead.
Of course, Rugby League has its “flat cappers” – the brigade that hates anything new. For the first half-hour, it was all negativity. We even made it onto “Amateurish Rugby League,” a page dedicated to slating the sport’s poorer marketing efforts. Then reality hit. The scale of this thing was undeniable.
“Why are we promoting another sport?” was a common moan. Aside from the fact it was the right thing to do, this was a two-way street. Darts is the second-hottest sport in the UK behind the Premier League, and this gave us a platform far bigger than anything we could achieve alone. Some people are so far behind in the race, they think they’re leading.
As game day approached, the team at PPL Group cracked the signage conundrum – scribble out “Halliwell Jones” with a giant red pen and scrawl “Luke Littler” above it. Genius. The sign going up was featured on the Darts Premier League show.
The night itself? Flawless. Halliwell Jones picked Luke and his family up in a brand-new BMW. He was looked after in hospitality. His walkout – complete with a pre-recorded John McDonald intro, fireworks, and 5,000 Luke Littler masks – was nothing short of iconic. The South Stand was the busiest it’s been since pre-Covid. Online, our digital reach exploded into the millions.
Job done.
Next stop? Playing Wigan Warriors… in Las Vegas.
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