CEO’s Report – June 2021

Dear Members,

One of the outcomes of the global Covid-19 pandemic has been the need for organisations to cast a critical eye over their business to identify opportunities for cost savings as well as responsible and better ways of doing business. At Canterbury this has meant reviewing all aspects of our operation to ensure that we continue to survive and thrive into the future.

One of the areas that has been changing rapidly over recent years and even more so in the past twelve months has been the way in which we communicate with Members. Traditionally this was done exclusively by paper with regular postal newsletters that evolved over the years to full high quality glossy magazines. This form of communication has become increasingly expensive, at the same time, we have seen the rapid rise of digital and social media platforms.

Canterbury has been an industry leader in this digital change, and we have been investing in the best technology available to make it easier to communicate with our growing membership base. In addition, our social media pages are the most followed of any registered club in Australia. We are making it easier for Members to join and renew their membership electronically and are implementing exciting new technology in areas such as online ordering for our restaurants and cafes and digital membership technology.

We are always reviewing our social responsibility to save resources, in this case paper. Did you know that a standard print run of 30,000 copies of the club magazine uses approximately 7.2 tons of paper – or about 70 trees.

Late last year we made the decision that the Club could no longer justify the social and monetary cost of producing the printed version of the Canterbury magazine and moved to a full digital edition. While the digital edition has been well received, our marketing team has been analysing the readership closely and are finding that Members prefer to receive more concise and direct communications. Accordingly, we have decided that this will be the last bimonthly magazine. Instead, we will be moving our communications to regular email newsletters and more targeted social media, which will also be accessible through the Canterbury App.

We believe that acting responsibly, we must move to a digital platform to deliver the most effective communication in today’s world. I encourage everyone to make sure that the Club has your most up-to-date email address and mobile phone details and you can easily update this information on our website. I would also ask that you check with your friends and family to make sure that they have updated their information. To update your details click here.

I look forward to seeing you at the Club.

Greg Pickering
Chief Executive Officer.