Brand football by Nathan Crosbie

BRAND FOOTBALL MARKETING | IDENTITY | PARTICIPATION

BRAND FOOTBALL A contemporary look into the world of football, explored through the themes of marketing, identity and participation.

Words: Nathan Crosbie Images: See List of Illustrations 2014/15

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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

MARKETING

IDENTITY

PARTICIPATION

Content Marketing, The Official & Unofficial and Player Value.

Culture In Design and Emotion

Portrayal & Strategy, Point Of View, Brand Engagement and Social Media

104

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Impact On Brands, Impact On Consumers and Impact On Designers

List of quote sources and List of Illustrations

CHANGING LANDSCAPE In the last 20 years football has been influenced by a number of social, political and economic factors with the most significant change coming in 1992 with the introduction of Sky Sports. Its introduction has popularised the game and everything associated with it and has affected the role of other media forms whilst allowing brands to access a truly global audience for the first time.

Because of the positivity and global appeal that now surrounds it, football brands have sought to integrate themselves into its culture to build and improve the football product for both players and fans. These brands have come to exist in a complex eco-system of independent but linkable themes from which their strategy and positioning can be based and their success or failures measured. The purpose of this dissertation is to analyse the increased role of media, brands and marketing in opening the sport out to the global audience it now has. Additionally, it seeks to investigate the key branding challenges and the relationship between brands and consumers and how this is influenced by the central themes of marketing, identity and participation to increase engagement and build brand loyalty. By taking specific examples of a brandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s visual communication it is possible to deconstruct them to see how they reflect and relate to the dissertations key investigative themes. This visual investigation also places an emphasis on how these trends and themes have become important for designers to comprehend, as their work becomes part of the communication network between brands and consumers. These examples investigated focus on the period between 2006 and 2014, as 2006 gives the first indication of football brands realising the potential of the new media platforms available to them. This means it is possible to trace examples from that year up until the 2014 World Cup, providing a contemporary look into the strategy of the sports biggest brands. The shifts, trends and themes will be explored through the arena of football but what is discovered can be applied outwards to branding and marketing in general. Therefore the result of the research and analysis is a transferable knowledge that becomes applicable to a wider context.

The 3 key themes will be explored with relevant examples set into subheaders to evaluate and demonstrate their wider influence. Section 1 establishes the key marketing trends that have been utilised by brands and includes content marketing, the position of brands as the official or unofficial and also the value of player endorsements. Section 2 explores the role that identity plays for both the consumer and the brand looking specifically at culture, emotion and brand values and how they influence the building of the brand-consumer relationship.

Section 3 then looks at how brands encourage participation from their audience, evaluating how audiences are choosing to engage with brands and across what platforms and also looking at the impact of social media on brand strategy. Finally, the conclusion will evaluate the themes and examples used and consider their impact on brands, consumers and designers whilst also revealing how each theme can be treated separately but exist within an eco-system in which brands must place themselves to understand their role in the football landscape.

MARKETING Innovative marketing has always played a crucial role for brands in expanding global reach, increasing revenue and allowing them to become market leaders. However, there are two challenges that now face the markets dominant brands and football clubs.

The first is staying relevant in a constantly evolving landscape and the second is building stronger relationships with their audience to give them a reason to engage and reinvest in the brand. Therefore the use of new marketing techniques has become apparent and the period from 2006 to 2014 marked the first noticeable change in approach to positioning the brand and connecting with the target audience in this new landscape. During the period outlined the methods in which we communicate and consume with different media outlets has dramatically shifted due to the rise of social media and continuous development of new technology. Because of this, the behaviour of consumers has also changed as they become more selective with what they choose to engage with, developing a subconscious system of filtering information as they browse, choosing to either accept or reject it. From a brands perspective these changes have affected the way in which they position themselves and their products to their audience. The more traditional marketing techniques have become less effective and the need to innovate and capture the attention of their audience has become more important.

CONTENT MARKETING The most notable technique that has been adopted by brands such as Nike, Adidas and Puma is a strategy known as Content Marketing. The technique provides consumers with content driven campaigns across multiple platforms with ‘the perfect blend of product placement, provocative storytelling and realtime marketing’ (Newman, 2014) to inform, entertain and influence consumer behaviour. Additionally, it also allows brands creative freedom with Mark Graham, creative director at ILoveDust revealing that they were asked by Nike. …to work on concepts and an attitude to help push an idea and an aesthetic that moved away from just product and athlete shots. (2014, p113)

The clearest examples of this technique in practice came during the 2014 World Cup with Nike who expanded on 2010s successful ‘Write The Future’ campaign with ‘Risk Everything’ and Adidas, who learned from the mixed reception to ‘The Quest’ with ‘All In Or Nothing’. Both use content as a primary method of communication and were able to promote their products and position with an emphasis on story telling and brand narrative whilst enhancing the consumer experience using various touch points and social media. These campaigns allow the consumer to clearly see the tone and identity of each company. Nike use fast pacing, big names and humour to create a celebration of football whilst Adidas retains star quality but combines it with more edgy and serious qualities. The concept of using brand identity is nothing new as Phil Knight, co-founder of Nike explained in 1992 that ‘understanding the consumer is just part of good marketing. [But] you also have to understand the brand.’ (1992, p94) However when used within marketing it allows brands to freely portray their identity and for consumers to more easily interpret it through intelligent advertising.

The results form truly unique brand campaigns, which put the brand and its values at the forefront of communication instead of forcefully selling the brand on promotional messages and products. If a brand can deliver a campaign to immerse the consumer in their values then the consumer will gain a clearer understanding of the brand and develop loyalty towards them, thus increasing the likelihood of engagement across all platforms.

NIKE WINNER STAYS Nike kicked off their 2014 World Cup campaign with a short film titled Risk Everything but its crowning moment came from its Winner Stays advertisement. The film features all of Nikeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest stars to create an action packed 4 minutes to remind us that football is a simple game to be enjoyed by all. It also achieved online success with its audience too as it went on to become one of 2014s most the shared adverts across social media. The imaginative blend of action, star names and humour make this one of Nikeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s strongest ever advertising outings in a catalogue full of noteworthy and memorable efforts.

ADIDAS ALL IN OR NOTHING Adidas produced an edgy World Cup campaign to launch their Battle Pack boot collection. With taglines such as ‘Hunt or Be Hunted and ‘Rule or Be Ruled’ the delivery put the product smartly behind a series of battle inspired advertisments. These go on to show players preparation which question the committment and pressure faced by them in the hunt for World Cup glory. These go on to show players preparation which question the committment and pressure faced by them in the hunt for preparation which by them in the hunt for World Cup glory.

These advertisements demonstrate that brands are now anticipating consumer behaviour and trends and are adapting strategy to suit it. This gives them a stronger market position and understanding but importantly gives consumers the best overall experience in terms of product, service and communication. With Adidas and Nike controlling approximately 70% of the football market it is interesting to compare the approach by brands such as Puma who are battling to control the remaining 30%.

Puma made the decision to delay their campaign until after the World Cup, with a smaller reveal coming during it. This decision was made on the basis that Nike and Adidas would dominate during the tournament by drowning out smaller brands presence but also in the hope of attracting a different audience post-tournament. Nevertheless, Puma still recognised the importance of story telling and content and created a campaign appealing to the consumerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sense of identity, a theme that will be explored in section 3.

However, content marketing has revealed an emphasis on strategy with brands focussing on short and longterm performance with the main aim of reaching consumers that more traditional techniques cannot. They have realised that not only is it important for campaigns to appeal to existing consumers but they must also attract consumers who may have not engaged with the brand previously. The use of content marketing clearly demonstrates that a brand with a unique proposition combined with innovative products and a strong campaign can counter the effect of reduced exposure due to poor performance by sponsored teams or players at an event. Content marketing also demonstrates that a brand with a unique proposition, innovative products and a strong campaign can counter the effect of reduced exposure due to poor performance by sponsored teams or players at an event. For example Nikeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s position going into the World Cup Final is that it sells to wholesale customers on a â&#x20AC;&#x153;futuresâ&#x20AC;? basis, thus the outcome of the tournament has no bearing on its revenues around the world. (Heitner, 2014) This indicates that brands are integrating the use of content marketing into brand strategy to build relationships and loyalty with consumers to a level that regardless of what brand sponsored the eventual winners shirt (in this case Adidas with Germany) or received more in-tournament exposure, the marketing campaigns would be as memorable as the event itself. This encourages both loyal and brand neutral consumers to invest in the brand, its products and its services in the long term.

Interestingly, whereas Adidas has produced several new campaigns such as There Will Be Haters following the World Cup and more broadly with Sport 15, Nike has extended their campaign concept and aesthetic from Risk Everything into a longer-term strategy. Key product releases and the introduction of a dedicated Nike Football app in November 2014 have been timed to maintain and build new and existing connections between the brand and its audiences with an emphasis placed on social media interaction.

THERE WILL BE HATERS 2015 saw Adidas update their boot collection with a series of new colour ways in addition to a new campaign. Featuring phrases such as ‘they hate the way you score’ and ‘they hate the way you celebrate’ Adidas focussed on the themes of jealousy and success to tell players the only way to truly succeed is by wearing Adidas products. Using some of the sports stand out players from 2014 (for both the right and wrong reasons) they provided an edgier, more direct message to position their products and their brand ahead of the competition.

SHINE THROUGH Continuing on from their successful 2014 World Cup campaign, Nike maintained the aesthetic and attitude from Risk Everything and introduced a new line up of colourways in late 2014. With slight adjustments to its style, the campaign focussed heavily of the concept of identity and challenged players to stand out on the pitch through colour and boot choice. Additionally it also encouraged players to question their traits on the field and pick a boot to match. The use of simple taglines such as Unstoppable Playmaking and Deadly Agility gave the boots their own personality whilst giving the campaign a revised attitude from what weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d seen from Risk Everything during the previous summer.

This demonstrates the versatility of content marketing, which allows brands to extend their campaign delivery across multiple media platforms and timescales. This technique alongside product innovation has become one of the most important factors in brand strategy, which now recognises the need to engage with an audience beyond the traditional product placement seen previously. With the emphasis placed on content rather than product it allows brands greater freedom to express their identity and tone all of which creates the more informed, brand loyal consumers they need to further their position within the market.

THE OFFICIAL & UNOFFICIAL The idea of brands acting in either an official or unofficial capacity with the benefits and restrictions that it offers shows why building a truly remarkable brand identity through marketing matters. The competition at World Cups is unlike any other period of time in the football calendar and brands understand the importance of the tournaments short market window. Ricardo Danziger, head of Pumas footwear design team explains â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;the World Cup is the perfect 30 day window to showcase the best of Pumaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; (2014, p54) and it allows brands to make significant advances on their rivals by demonstrating breakthroughs in product design supported by creative campaign delivery. With brands able to operate on a global scale that revolves exclusively around the sport, the tournament has a greater role in long-term strategy because what brands achieve in this time can determine their market success.

During this period their aim is two-fold; firstly, they aim to sell their brand and product to their established brand loyal audience to maintain the primary relationship. Secondly, they look to tempt consumers that are either loyal to competitors or who are brand neutral to engage with their brand and buy into it. Therefore building secondary consumer relationships and advancing business, which is the result of successful marketing. These aims are influenced by a brandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s position as either an official sponsor with direct ties to a tournament or governing body or an unofficial sponsor, where connections to tournaments and associations are formed but not official. This is a result of a brand

exploiting its position through marketing as each strand has a distinct set of traits and languages associated with it. The official presents consumers with the idea of power, authority and conformity as brands are bound to tighter guidelines, whereas the unofficial presents the ideas of individualism, creativity and risk. In the current visual landscape brands can be difficult to differentiate as they use their position as either an official or unofficial sponsor and the strands associated traits to destabilise where they traditionally place in the market. Using marketing they adopt a strategy to undermine their competitors position and direct consumer engagement towards their

brand. Adidas and Nikeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s position as the official and unofficial and their approach to the 2014 World Cup can be used to illustrate this point. Adidas as a more established football brand has values of authenticity, honesty and passion, they are the original, so marketing efforts support their position and encourage consumers to engage with them based on their understanding of the brand. They are using the brands reputation, as a key tool for engagement and therefore marketing is more conservative as they use player endorsement to support product innovations and the campaigns message rather than lead it. During World Cups the partnership with FIFA is utilised to further

the brand in key areas with exclusive rights to advertising space and technical benefits such as supplying kit and equipment to the tournament. This aligns it to the official in both aesthetic and business yet it arguably restricts experimentation with guidelines to adhere to therefore reducing the chance to position itself as the alternative. Attempts are made to play on the unofficial but by having the brand linked to FIFA it allows consumers to recognise its position and even if no reference was made in marketing it makes it harder for Adidas to appear as anything other than the official.

Nike, on the other hand, as a newer brand that only entered the football market in 1994 has values surrounding innovation and emotion, a theme that will be explored in section 3. It takes bolder creative leaps in marketing by using player endorsement as a crowdpuller in unison with product innovation, story telling and identity as seen in The Last Game to create a powerful marketing solution and aligning it with the unofficial.

Their strategy was to be more visible than its rivals in off the pitch performance and it succeeded in two key areas as Nike was not only perceived by many consumers as an official World Cup sponsor but the company also showed the future of marketing in which brands, media, and content meet with the intent to increase customer/fan engagement. (Mortensen, 2014) This allows brands aligned to the unofficial to use similar tactics to disrupt a consumers understanding of established positions and drive engagement towards their brand. As evidenced by the statistics below, those in an unofficial capacity can outperform the official by using their strands traits in marketing to reflect their values and generate participation online.

Nike uses two strategies known, as ambush marketing, which allows unofficial brands to create links to large-scale events and disrupt recognised positions so as to appear as the official and also engagement marketing, which encourages consumer participation. As Marcello Queiroz from Jornal Propmar says Nike is not an official sponsor, but it employs a type of ambush marketing that is very successful through social media and the sponsorship of individual athletes. (Cited in Pearson, 2014) The statistics also demonstrate that Nike has anticipated consumer behaviour and aimed for engagement in social media as they used their partnership with Zlatan Imbrahimovic to their advantage. They created a social media campaign titled ‘Ask Zlatan’ which gave fans the chance to have their questions answered by an animated version of the player in YouTube videos and also in a live Google+ hangout. As Sweden did not qualify for the 2014 World Cup the campaign demonstrates Nike’s willingness to associate itself with football in general rather than a specific event. This allows them engage with fans across all platforms and markets to encourage participation. It also illustrates that Nike is exploring new marketing techniques to capitalise on both traditional elements such as endorsements and also on digital platforms through social media sites. Their understanding of behaviour and platforms combined with their position as the unofficial allows the brand to outmanoeuvre its competitor’s exposure and generate engagement.

ASK ZLATAN On the back of The Last Game Nike ventured further into the world of animation with a social media based campaign featuring Zlatan Imbrahimovic. Incorporating Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+, the campaign invited fans to submit questions to be answered by an animated version of the player. In true Zlatan style the responses were witty and direct reminding us all that Zlatan thinks Zlatan is the best. Even Italyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Fabio Cannavaro had a go, teasing Zlatan about not winning a Golden Ball but he soon found himself put back in his place in true Zlatan style, with a backheel into the fireplace.

PLAYER VALUE In campaigns brands often utilise player partnerships to not only add star quality but also to aid global reach with the players becoming as synonymous with the brand as their products or logo. Brands want to see consumers associate themselves with players who they may idolise wearing their products in the hope of investment. So if a consumer can see their favourite player from their supported club or nation linked to the brand, it is more likely for them to invest. Brands often play on the idea of identity because it has a key role in influencing consumer behaviour and potential engagement and the relationships between consumer and player can help build and emphasise positive associations with the brand, which helps in connecting with both new and existing consumers. Therefore by using popular players across a range of leagues and nationalities brands are able to access markets that may previously have been inaccessible which allows for global growth.

Player value also has a key role in the positioning and global appeal of football clubs who have become brands themselves. Jorg Wacker, an executive board member at Bayern Munich states that ‘it’s about more strongly positioning the brand, the product, [and] the philosophy of Bayern Munich on an international stage.’ (2014, p60) Football clubs like brands now realise that global reach is as much to do with the product off the pitch, as it is to do with the product on it and similarly they use their identity, values and position as key themes. With this comes the use of the clubs players as marketing tools and this is where player value holds importance in a different context. Real Madrid is a prime example of a club utilising player value. Following the election of Florentino Perez as club president in 2000 the aim was to purchase the world’s most marketable players to generate success on the pitch and revenues off it. A steady stream of players such as David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale have arrived since 2000 and whilst on pitch domination has not materialised, revenues have.

According to Deloitte’s Football Money League between the 2000/01 and 2013/14 seasons Real Madrid’s revenues soared from €138.2M to €549.5M and when compared to a competing club such as Manchester United whose revenues rose from €217.2M to €518M it highlights the impact the policy has made. It is unlikely to be the sole reason behind the financial growth as television rights, match day income and merchandising have a substantial impact on revenue streams but it is likely to be one of the more significant factors. With star names attracting global sponsors and creating a worldwide fan base it’s the value of these players’ images that will bring continued investment to the club. Additionally Perez has created a change in fan mentality giving them a different reason to invest into football clubs as Bobby McMahon of Forbes writes, ...perhaps Perez’s greatest achievement is not the marketing of Real Madrid but rather it is convincing fans

that signing stars is the ultimate barometer of success rather than trophies. (2013) These players can be used as tools to distract from on-field problems and with the idea of what represents success changing; it can determine whether or not consumers have a reason to engage. Brands and clubs have realised that more personal connections need to be made to influence their audience and this occurs by exploiting player image as a marketing tool. In 2013 former Real sporting director Arrigo Saachi labelled Gareth Bale’s transfer as ‘a commercial operation’ and the club would have realised the enormous potential to promote itself using the player and open new markets. Taking the idea of identity and emotion the Adidas sponsored image of Bale overleaf relates directly to those themes and clearly demonstrates the benefits that player image can have to a club or a brand.

The image is constructed in a way that allows for Baleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s image to become synonymous with the identity and values of both his club and its sponsors. This is achieved from how the player is posed, to the sponsors that adorn the shirt with each element creating a personal link to the club, the player or the sponsors. Additionally, the decision to place his hands in the shape of a heart not only highlights the clubs crest within it but also reflects the players trademark celebration linking to the idea of success for player, club and fan. It is also a gesture that many people can replicate and more directly it hints at the idea of love and passion, values supporters can relate to.

This helps to create the personal links that have become important for brand engagement. Therefore when a fan sees Bale, purchases a shirt or uses the heart gesture they will link his image or celebration to Real Madrid, Adidas or Fly Emirates. With personal connections made the consumer is more likely to engage with the club or one of its sponsors resulting in increased revenue for each. This means a synergy between player, club and brand has been created allowing for a cross over in marketing. Therefore utilising a playerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s image by both brands and clubs to encourage consumers and fans to engage with them is just as important as on-field performance by clubs and product innovation by brands. 45

IDENTITY

As a concept identity characterises an individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lifestyle choices and holds significant influence over decisions made by that person on how they want to represent themselves. When placed into the context of football it can determine how and why fans choose to participate with the game and similarly impact their decisions as consumers.

Identity has always been a theme that brands have sought to sell on but with the rise of content marketing, which provides a stronger platform for story telling, they able to more effectively portray identity to reflect brand image and exploit it to connect with consumers on a more personal level.

the business of selling products but they’re in the business of forging close emotional ties with their customers. (Lee Yohn, 2014) These emotional ties can be built using different methods such as content driven advertising campaigns built on brand values or design choices such as the typography used on team shirts. These choices allow brands to align their values with consumer perception and encourage engagement and participation, two concepts that will be explored in section 4.

In response to viewing a piece of brand media, consumers will subconsciously ask themselves a series of questions against a brand’s efforts to engage with them. For example, Do they feel it represents their lifestyle? Does it connect with them on the grounds of their nationality or club allegiance? Do they associate themselves with any of the players used? Or Do they feel that it just sells a product?

For fans, football becomes an expression of their own identity, which tends to be split into either national or club allegiance. These connections are influenced by various factors such as location, inheritance, or popularity and whilst the level of commitment may vary, passion rarely does. Because of this, brands are able to exploit an individual’s sense of identity and loyalty towards a particular nation or team through highly considered design choices demonstrated in Nike’s 2013 England Matters campaign.

It is the answers to these questions that will determine whether or not a consumer will firstly, engage with a brand and secondly, become brand loyal. Because of this, it is the brands responsibility to understand that each market and consumer will respond differently to the media presented to them and recognise this by adapting their strategy to encourage audiences to see the brand as an extension of their own identity.

Mike Tiedy, former creative director of Nike EMEA said that ‘communications across Europe are more diverse, and culture and history have an effect on branding trends.’ (2005, p211) These cultural links to cities, regions or teams are a vital visual stimulus for brands to create strong, emotive links between the audience and a certain team.

By using identity as a primary theme it reveals current branding strategies as it helps people decide which brands to buy and which ones to stick with based on how they make them feel. That’s why brands aren’t in

CULTURE IN DESIGN An example of this is from 2012 when Nike commissioned Studio Vasava to design FC Barcelona’s shirt typography. Barcelona, founded in 1899, is a team steeped in tradition and the identity of the club was originally based on the city’s coat of arms. The red and yellow stripes form the flag of Catalonia whilst the St. Georges Cross represents the region’s patron saint and with other elements forming the sporting identity such as club colours, it is evident that this is a team proud of its traditions and cultural links. The studio based in the city itself was able to recognise the club’s and the fans’ passion towards Catalonian culture and implemented this into their design. They took influence from the delicate cuts and angles of Antoni Gaudi’s ‘La Pedrera’ chimneys to create a typeface …to add not only a subtle reference to the city’s cultural history, but also an energy and depth which don’t detract from the characters’ style and legibility. (Steers, 2012) It is an example of combining design, culture and sport into a package that honours both the rich traditions of a club and the culture of a city to create emotive ties for the fan. With the sport ever evolving but aware of its history, it is a fitting design that appreciates the past with a contemporary twist to explore the direction of the club’s identity moving forward.

In mid-2014 the same concept returned in another Nike football campaign. Working with ILoveDust, Nike commissioned a series of kit illustrations to promote the release of their premier European team’s shirt collection for the upcoming season. Each illustration is fashioned on the culture of the club and its associated city and embedded into the shape of the club’s crest. Visual elements, such as the team’s stadium and recognisable architectural points are used to provoke the audience to consider their understanding of the club or city and whether this represents their identity. Additionally, the use of a slogan helps to create a mentality that the audience can relate to. For example, ‘Crafted To Win’ is symbolic of Barcelona’s recent success, whilst for Paris Saint-Germain, ‘Ici C’est Paris’ (This is Paris) helps to create strong links between the shirt, the endorsed players and the city, which all feeds into the fans personal connection with the club. It provokes a sense of occasion, pride and importantly inclusion through identity. These elements combined suggest to the audience that this is what represents the club, this is what represents the city and this is what represents you the fan. The use of the crest is a way to unite this thinking and as long as the content within it reflects the club’s identity in question then the crest becomes a symbolic representation of an individual, a team and a city. The representation of identity has to be carefully constructed as brands have an influence over how a team can be outwardly presented, so it is their responsibility to handle the cultures, history and traditions that fans associate themselves with. Additionally, they need to create a positive experience as people judge a brand by their experience with it, and so every contact with the brand must reflect its essence and core values, and deliver on expectation. (Davis, p162) This series of illustrations assure the audience that Nike understands the team’s culture and the importance to the fans to be represented by a shirt, a player and a location. If these fans have a positive reaction towards this it will help build the crucial brand-consumer relationship and encourage future engagement.

EMOTION The theme of emotion plays heavily on a consumerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sense of identity and in 2014 Nike and Puma used this concept within their campaigns to try and encourage engagement by suggesting what can be achieved if you not only buy into the brandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s products but its values as well.

Nike began their 2014 ‘Winner Stays’ film in a smart way with everyday people on a recreational pitch who transform themselves into the sports and the brands most recognised players. This suggests that anyone can dream of reaching the level of football that the film portrays and this dream can be helped by the brand, its values and products. Additionally, if a consumer sees their favourite player wearing a product, then they will form links to the brand, further devvmonstrating the benefits of player value within marketing. It produces a sense of ambition, imagination and desirability for their products and combined with Nike’s famous ‘Just Do It’ mentality, it creates a film that promotes the idea of self-realisation It also helps create a sense of nostalgia, as many consumers would recognise themselves as the teenagers in the film from personal experience. Therefore the connections being made by the viewer when watching the film are based on the emotion that football creates to that individual. Nike, realising this, utilises these themes to build positive associations and personal connections between the brand and the consumer. Thus when consumers think about their values and ambitions or if they wear the brand’s products or see an endorsed player, they will think of ‘Nike’ and about everything that the brand represents. This successful blend of content and tone delivered within the campaign helps to give the consumer a greater understanding of the brand. Therefore, it will create a lasting impression, which is likely to become an extension of their own identity giving them reason to engage and invest in the brand in the future.

Similarly, in 2014 Puma created a comparable sense of occasion and emotion in their ‘Start Believing’ advertisement. The tone, message and language used helps to again form a sense of the emotion that football creates to all involved and Puma are pushing their brand values to connect with their audience on a personal and emotive level by creating a mentality of ‘belief’. The language used promotes this film to be an expression of the viewer’s own opinion and identity. Phrases such as ‘we’ve been waiting’, ‘our message to the world’ and ‘we believe in you’ promote the idea that anyone can make the difference and follow their own ambitions. Puma appreciates that each consumer will take a different reading from their advertising and have different engagement levels towards football. So by creating an emotive mentality they succeed in two ways. Firstly, they link the concept to their Tricks boot collection, to promote creativity, self-expression and difference amongst their football driven consumers and secondly, by suggesting that you don’t have to wear Puma products to achieve your ambitions. Instead they create a mentality for individuals to follow and represent in their own identity, meaning that as a consumer you can participate with Puma or football however suits you best, emphasising Puma’s values of believing in being different. Puma uses their endorsed players to filter through connotations of national identity, culture, participation and their brand values amongst their audience. In this carefully considered shot, which places the emphasis of these themes onto one iconic figure, Balotelli comes to represent the film’s values of being different, of celebrating self-expression and of having belief in their own ability. This gives the audience someone to relate and look to as a source of inspiration. As a figure, he becomes an extension of the brand’s identity and also the consumers’, further demonstrating the power of player value.

Brands realise that people either share the values of the brand, which is why they buy into it, or they aspire to the values of the brand (K.Davis cited in M.Davis, 2005, p106) which means that brands have to consider what role identity plays in consumer behaviour as much as their own. This highlights an important shift in brand strategy and as campaigns become driven by the need to engage consumers, build relationships and encourage participation; culture, emotion and identity become critical themes towards determining overall campaign success and brand longevity.

Puma promotes a positive mentality aiming for it to become a part of their consumerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s identity and this association will link certain scenarios in and out of football back to the Puma brand. As consumers will have based their relationship on the theme of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;beliefâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; with connotations surrounding either the product or the brands values, the brand will build loyalty through personal connections based on the mentality their advertising promotes. These examples demonstrate that brands have started to explore the benefits of content marketing and use of identity as a theme.

PARTICIPATION Football brands can utilise the idea of participation as a theme within advertising, as a strategy to create content or as a method of communication to encourage engagement from their consumers. Brands can now gain an insight into who, where and how audiences are choosing to participate with their marketing and across what platforms.

PORTRAYAL & STRATEGY It is worth considering how participation can be portrayed within advertising and what platforms are used to demonstrate a brands understanding of the football landscape to create global appeal and increase engagement from their audiences. As evidenced by Nike’s ‘Winner Stays’ film the brand not only visualised the game at its highest point of competition but also demonstrated to the audience that it is fundamentally about enjoyment and creativity, something which their brand and products epitomise and can help in achieving. It represents participation at its most basic level and proposes to the audience that this is how you can engage with the sport and the brand. Essentially, Nike is building positive association with a scenario, so every time a player participates in a game whether it is organised or social, they will link the situation back to Nike and its advert. Once these positive associations are built, then loyalty and investment will follow. Realising the potential of digital platforms to engage with football and fans in a social context Nike has targeted the sport to inspire groups of people to go and enjoy the game with friends in a social environment. Mark Parker, CEO of Nike identified that their ‘consumers expect us to be as digitally connected as they are’ adding that …we are building an integrated system of digital services that will provide seamless access to our products [and] a full array of services. (2014, p3)

This is something Nike have demonstrated with the Nike Football App, which encourages users to create social teams, known as ‘crews’ to interact digitally but meet and play a game in real life at a chosen location whilst receiving exclusive Nike updates as a benefit. The app is promoted as a chance ‘to show your love for the game, rally your friends, build your crew, and get out and play.’ This demonstrates the understanding that brands need to be smarter to create sustained brand-consumer relationships by following their consumers to platforms they are interacting with.

POINT OF VIEW Similarly Puma took the approach to place the audience into an experiential role within their ‘Start Believing’ campaign. Similar to the delivery of Nike’s ‘Winner Stays’ it gives the audience something to relate to and links back to the idea of the emotion that football creates. This is the clearest example of a brand utilising participation to make consumers feel that the brand is an extension of their own identity, which is achieved through a point of view perspective. Puma state that players can have the confidence that any play, strike, or goal can turn into a legacy. And if they doubt themselves for a split second, that’s where you – the fan – come into play. (Puma, 2014) This emphasises the film’s key concept of belief and also ties the brand’s values to the consumer’s role to make them feel included.

The film transitions from a crowd into a changing room and onto the pitch and this evolution all from the audience’s perspective allows them to feel as if they are experiencing it. Again, like Nike, it helps to suggest that by wearing Puma and ‘believing’ that you can fulfil your dream or inspire players to realise theirs.Puma’s advertisement is another that promotes self-realisation and not only puts the brands endorsed players at the centre of attention but also realises the importance of the audience and the role they play in brand evolution, player development and self-growth. Additionally, this film links to Puma FC, a virtual football club that encourages users to climb the ranks by completing challenges whilst integrating social media to compete and compare against the progress of friends. This demonstrates the importance of a brand’s ability to create multi-platform campaigns that encourage its users to continually participate and invest into the brand whilst seamlessly introducing new products to the market.

PUMA START BELIEVING Puma’s Start Believing campaign was launched across multiple platforms to promote their World Cup ‘Tricks’ boot collection. The theme of pink and blue has a significant presence and is shown through the boots themselves, background colours and even in a powder like form in their main World Cup advert featuring Mario Balotelli, Cesc Fabregas and Marco Reus. Puma creates a sense of what their products can do for a player and through the idea of belief, they manage to tie in a mentality to the image of both their equipment and their World Cup shirts. Catchy taglines, voiceovers and the use of colour gave Puma a significant visible presence across the 4 week tournament. 78

BRAND ENGAGEMENT When looking at the communications of brands it is important to consider whom, where and how consumers are engaging with brands and on what platforms. For example, brands have to consider whether their consumers are connecting with campaigns in new digital arenas such as social media sites or whether they are receiving it more traditionally within television breaks or in print media. For football brands the market is complex and their communications can be received anywhere at anytime by a number of different audiences. Because of this, brands need to create a coherent brand experience. Coherence is the quality that ensures that all the pieces hold together in a way that feels seamless to the customerâ&#x20AC;Śit is a baseline designed to build trust, foster loyalty, and delight the customer (Wheeler, 2013, p36) It is an important factor as brands need to ensure a balanced experience is obtained by the consumer across all the their communications. Similar to the role of identity, coherence is a vital concept for a brand to promote its values and products across multiplatform touch points.

A consumer is more likely to respond to a brand that understands its position within the market, knowing that regardless of how they make contact, their experience will remain the same. Each individual touch point becomes a brand experience and it is now a task for brands to design campaigns that build on the their architecture to allow immediate recognition and interaction with consumers. This can be achieved through consistent quality, tone, design and use of the themes outlined previously. The aim is to encourage their audience to participate and invest into the brand over a prolonged period and build brand loyalty in the process.

Firstly, there are ‘Hyper-Engagers’ (62.8%) who engage with brands online more than once a week. Secondly, there are ‘Engagers’ (28.0%) with a more moderate engagement level at once or less and finally traditionalists (9.3%) who tend to avoid online engagement altogether. With three varying levels of engagement, brands must appreciate their audience’s behaviour and create cross platform campaigns to target and encourage participation from each. These findings explain why brands have directed their attention at new digital platforms but why none have abandoned the lower reaching traditional platforms, which are still seen as an effective touch point for traditionalists.

In this age of participation consumers are labelled ‘generation c’ as they are ‘the first generation that has never known any reality other than that defined and enabled by the Internet, mobile devices, and social networking.’ (Friedrich et al, 2011, p3) This supports the idea that consumers have become actively engaged with brands and are integrating digital media in their everyday lives. It’s likely that these consumers will engage with brands on new media platforms such as social networking sites and will be the audience most likely to participate and generate content in the overall brandbuilding process.

The survey goes on to suggest that hyperengagers will be inspired by to engage across video, online and social channels with 58.6% likely to engage via television advertisements and 42.6% by online video. This also suggests that the boundaries between traditional and new platforms are becoming less distinct and the power of story telling in video to engage audiences is just as effective across digital platforms such as YouTube as it is on television. The ability for brands to be able to combine platforms such as video and social media give them greater flexibility in combining multiple platforms to encourage participation. They allow users to generate content, form communities and build relationships between themselves and the brand and whilst social media is still relatively young, it has become a major factor in determining the success of brands globally.

A recent survey investigating consumer behaviour conducted by both Google and Advertising Age revealed that 90.8% of respondents regularly engage with brands online. The survey also establishes that consumers fall into three distinct categories of engagement.

SOCIAL MEDIA Social media opens up a direct point of contact that can connect brands with a wider audience and also acts as a mechanism for people or organisations to market themselves [and] a means to establish them as an authority. The greater the following, the more people are effectively endorsing the feed as a trusted source. (Price et al, 2013, p448) If a brand can connect with their audience on a social level and encourage them to participate as seen in Nike’s Risk Everything campaign, they will see increased investment, high sharing figures on social platforms and campaign success built on trust, authenticity and loyalty. Brands have been anticipating the shift towards social platforms since 2006 when Nike created ‘Joga’, football’s first social network. Due to social media’s relative infancy in 2006, the shift was a learning curve with brands choosing to integrate themselves with digital growth to gain an understanding of its platforms and user behaviours for future campaigns. The result of this saw the 2014 World Cup become the most socially integrated sporting event with brands seeing high participation levels across all platforms. The benefit of using social media is that it allows brands instant response from consumers which can be measured as quantitative data through followers, shares, likes, mentions, comments and site traffic. This can quickly determine the reach and success of brand communications as evidenced in fig.7. The high engagement levels across the World Cup shows that the anticipation of social media in 2006 has paid off with it becoming a key platform of participation in campaigns. Brands have realised that there is an opportunity to combine the benefits of marketing and digital media to encourage participation through their campaigns by allowing consumers to generate content. Nike’s ‘England Matters’ campaign by AKQA in 2013 to re-launch the England brand and remind players of the support they receive is an example of this.

Fans were invited to submit their messages of support via Twitter, using the hashtag ‘#THESHIRT’. This was an effective platform to use as it allows the message to link to a user’s twitter handle, giving them a unique sense of inclusion and it also allows the promotion of their online identity and for the brand and country to be seen as an extension of it. It also gives users the chance to re-tweet and share the message, which increases the campaign’s overall visibility online. These messages were then printed in areas, on items and in highly visible locations such as the advertising boards at Wembley during international fixtures. This brings a grander sense of occasion of what the shirt and team means to that user and a further chance for individuals to participate.

The launch was supported by a fully immersive retail experience at Nikeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s flagship store in London and other stores across the country. Fans were invited to try on the new shirt and have their photo taken in it to share online. These photos were linked to a personalised website that streamed to online points of purchase on separate microsites and allowed the content to be shared with their friends online across social platforms. Therefore it created the possibility for viral marketing to extend the campaign out further to new audiences to experience the campaign themselves with the aim of creating further engagement through sharing.

This combination of social media and in-store experience helps demonstrate the importance of creating coherent, multiplatform campaigns that integrate social media and technology to open a product, brand and team to a wider audience. It is a clear example of consumer generated content and mass participation that results in the audience gaining a sense of inclusion. Campaigns such as this depend on consumer participation and demonstrate a brands appreciation and desire to involve their customer base in their operations. Social media is now a powerful platform for users and brands to engage with each other; therefore connecting with consumers in a social context has become a vital part of brand strategy. For continued participation to occur the audience needs to feel a sense of reward for investment and digital media allows brands to open out their communications to feel inclusive with regular updates extending campaign reach. This platform helps to relay the brands values, identity and products in addition to its other marketing efforts and assists in building and sustaining relationships with their audience whilst encouraging further participation from them.

CONCLUSION To conclude the themes and examples will be analysed for their impact on brands, consumers and designers.

IMPACT ON BRANDS A brandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s primary aim is to sell its products to as large a consumer base as possible. Brands have noted that consumer behaviour has changed such that new marketing techniques have had to be used to address the altered selling process. Brands need to be more intelligent when connecting with their audience to encourage participation with their media and investment in their products. However, consumer behaviour and understanding of brands has changed so significantly that it is not possible for brands to rely on product innovation. Therefore, the brand strategy consists, if possible, of identifying the main characteristics their different consumer targets will seek, and matching them and offering them. (Bouchet et al, 2013, p75) This demonstrates the change in strategy to connect with their audience more personally, which is being achieved through targeting identity, culture and emotion and also with the use of new social platforms.

Content marketing assists this process as it allows brands to focus on their identity within advertising rather than the products. The products are still featured but become a secondary factor, as the brand-consumer relationship can now be seen as the key one to build and this is primarily achieved through the brandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s identity. With the market becoming more competitive, brands recognise the importance of maintaining this relationship to increase brand loyalty from their consumers. This loyalty is built through a combination of marketing and new product releases and thus increases revenue for the brand as their consumers invest. For example, with a 23% rise in marketing spend, Nikeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s focus on content marketing during the 2014 World Cup saw their total sales rise by 15% to $7.98bn for the quarter ending August 31. Similarly, Adidasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; financial reports show a 31% increase for football product sales in the first 9 months of 2014. Much of this was due to Adidas sponsored teams and players on show at the 2014 World Cup along with new product releases such as the Predator Instinct boot and the introduction of a digital newsroom hub. The figures demonstrate the World Cup is seen as a very important event for brand activation and illustrate the benefits that new marketing techniques offer in terms of brand building, encouraging participation and maintaining the relationship between the consumer and brand. 97

IMPACT ON CONSUMERS As a result of the need for brands to create better relationships based on more personal connections with their audience, it is perhaps the consumers that have benefited most from the new marketing techniques and strategies employed by brands over the last few years. The two key changes have come in terms of targeting their sense of identity and encouraging participation through social platforms.

Secondly, the rise of social media has led to brands utilising digital platforms to increase participation from their consumers. Many consumers now have a significant digital presence and with brands targeting their online usage, consumers are able to feel as if they are making a difference towards campaigns, allowing them to share, engage and interact with a brand outside of traditional touch points. Additionally, digital media allows for instant interaction between brands and consumers, giving the latter a richer and more rewarding experience and thus building loyalty in the process.

Firstly, brands have recognised the importance of a consumerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sense of identity and have targeted it through their recent campaigns. This means that the content being delivered is of higher quality with an appreciation of culture, allegiances and emotion, which demonstrates that brands are responsibly handling consumer values rather than exploiting them. With a greater deal of understanding between what a consumer expects and how a brand delivers it, the relationship between the two is being built positively with brands realising that consumers no longer respond to hard selling and require a more sophisticated approach. Therefore, consumers are receiving higher quality content across all platforms.

With brands realising the brand experience now extends beyond product, the use of content driven marketing allows consumers to gain a greater understanding of the brandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s values and identity, whilst also being able to enjoy its communications for their creative potential. This increased quality in delivery means the overall experience with the brand is improved in terms of product, service and communication and also gives the consumer an increased role in brand strategy.

IMPACT ON DESIGNERS The change in consumer behaviour has given designers a more complex task in connecting brands with their audience. However, with the rise of content marketing and new media platforms, designers now have the platform required to express both the brandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s identity and products effectively. This balance of identity and product is achieved in the creation of adaptable, multiplatform campaigns, which encourage and increase engagement from the brands target audience.

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The task for designers is to move away from product shots and work on an aesthetic to sell the brands identity first and products second. With the need to understand consumer behaviour, designers must tailor campaigns to both a brand loyal and brand neutral audience. This demonstrates that not only do designers need core technical skills but also a strong knowledge of the market that their brand operates in, which becomes crucial in building brand loyalty. The designer now acts as an intermediary between brands and consumers and aids in building and sustaining the relationship between them. This can be achieved through reflecting brand narrative, its products and its values through campaigns to encourage consumers to see the brand as an extension of their own identity.

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It is evident now that â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;brand builders need to think far beyond the point of sale, and use their strategic imagination and business acumen to deliver one-of-a-kind engaging experience that no other competitor can replicateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. (Wheeler, 2013, p18) The examples used throughout this dissertation highlight the increasing influence of designers towards campaign success and brand strategy. Although the themes have been investigated as separate factors, it is clear in cases to see relationships between primary and secondary factors forming to demonstrate they exist within an eco-system of influence. For brands, consumers have become their biggest product and building the loyalty that determines engagement from them is a vital stage for any brand to survive allowing the innovation to follow. For consumers, brands are utilising the new marketing techniques and digital platforms available to them and creating both a stronger brand internally and also externally, giving their consumers the best experience in terms of product, service and communication and thus building the essential loyalty between them.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY This page details the sources of each quote used within the text including the publication, page number and year. The page number is also provided for referencing its location in this book. The quotes are shown in order of appearance. Newman, Daniel (2014) Risk Everything: Nike Goes For The World Cup and Wins! Available At Forbes Online

p16

Graham, Mark (2014) I Love Dust [Interview by SoccerBible] Available In SoccerBible Issue No.1, p108-115

p16

Knight, Phil (1992) High Performance Marketing: An Interview with Nike’s Phil Knight, Interviewed by Geraldine E. Willigan for Harvard Business Review, 70(4), p90-101

p16

Heitner, Darren (2014) Nike’s Risk Everything Soccer Strategy Showing Signs of Success, Available At Forbes Online

p27

Danzinger, Ricardo (2014) Trick or Treat [Interview by SoccerBible] Available In SoccerBible Issue No.1, p52-57

p33

Mortensen, Malene Hejlskov (2014) Branding and Social Media Taken To A New Level - What Can We Expect In The Years To Come? Available Online At KennethCortsen.com

p37

Pearson, Samantha (2014) Nike Scores From The Sidelines With Ambush Marketing, Available At Financial Times Online

p38

Wacker, Jorg (2014) We Are Who We Are, Bayern Munich, Interviewed By Uli Hesse For Four-Four-Two Magazine, Issue 236, February 2014

p42

McMahon, Bobby (2013) Why Real Madrid Has To Buy Gareth Bale And Why Arsene Wenger Is Wrong, Available At Forbes Online

p43

Lee Yohn, Denise (2014) Great Brands Aim For Customers’ Hearts Not Their Wallets, Available At Forbes Online

p48

Tiedy, Mike (2005) Ways Of Working Interview 1, Interview by M.Davis in Davis, Melissa (2005) More Than A Name: An Introduction To Branding, Lausanne: AVA

p48

Steers, Ben (2012) New Nike FC Barcelona Shirt Typeface, Available At CreativeBloq

p51

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Davis, Melissa (2005) More Than A Name: An Introduction To Branding, Lausanne: AVA

p54

Davis, K Cited By Davis, M (2005) More Than A Name: An Introduction To Branding, Lausanne: AVA

p69

Parker, Mark (2014) Nike’s (NKE) CEO Mark Parker On F4Q 2014 Results - Earnings Call Transcript, p1-9, Available At Seeking Alpha Online

p73

Puma (2014) Puma evoPOWER and evoSPEED Tricks Football Boots Limited World Cup Edition 2014 [Advertisement] Available At Puma YouTube

p76

Wheeler, Alison (2013) Building Brand Identity: An Essential Guide For The Whole Branding Team, 4th edn, Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons

p80

Friedrich, Roman. Peterson, Michael. Koster, Alex (2011) The Rise of Generation C, How To Prepare For The Connected Generation’s Transformation Of The Consumer and Business Landscape, Strategy and Business, Spring 2011, Issue 62, p1-9

p83

Price, John. Farrington, Neil. Hall, Lee (2013) Changing The Game? The Impact of Twitter on Relationships Between Football Clubs, Supporters And The Sports Media, Soccer & Society 14(4) p448

p85

Bouchet, Patrick. Hillairet, Dieter. Bodet, Guillaume (2013) Sports Brands, New York: Routledge Sports Marketing

p95

Wheeler, Alison (2013) Building Brand Identity: An Essential Guide For The Whole Branding Team, 4th edn, Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS This page details the title, source and date of publication of the images used in this book. The page number is also provided for referencing its location in this book.

INTRODUCTION Lionel Messi, Fotopublicas, 2014

p06

Germany World Cup Semi-Final, DNN-Online, 2014

p08

England Kit Launch: Wayne Rooney, ILoveDust Behance, 2014

p10

Risk Everything: Wayne Rooney, ILoveDust, Behance 2014

p11

MARKETING Winner Stays: Cristiano Ronaldo, YouTube, 2014

p12

England Kit Launch: Jack Wilshere, ILoveDust, Behance, 2014

p14

Risk Everything Manifesto, Stuart Brown Creative, 2014

p17

Nike Winner Stays Advert Shots, Nike YouTube, 2014

p18

Risk Everything Promotional Shot, Nike, 2014

p20

Adidas All In Or Nothing Advert Shots, Adidas YouTube, 2014

p22

Adidas Battle Pack Boots, Designboom, 2014

p22

Puma Believe Advert Shot, Youtube, 2014

p24

Puma Tricks: Balotelli, 365 World Soccer Shop, 2014

p25

Mario Götze Celebrating, ESPN, 2014

p26

Mario Götze Lifting World Cup, Wallpaper Series, 2014

p27

There Will Be Haters, Adidas, 2015

p28

There Will Be Haters: James Rodríguez, Adidas, 2015

p29

There Will Be Haters: Gareth Bale, Adidas, 2015

p29

Shine Through Advert, Prodirect Soccer, 2014

p30

Shine Through Boots, UniSport, 2014

p31

Adidas World Cup Ball, Digitalspy, 2014

p32

Our Past Is Pretty Big, Google+, 2014

p34

The Last Game, Pinterest, 2014 p36 The Last Game Advert Shots, YouTube, 2014

p37

Nike Football Campaign Infographic, Forbes, 2014

p37

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Ask Zlatan, Google+, 2014 p38 Lionel Messi, Adidas, 2014 p40 Cristiano Ronaldo Madrid Unveiling, Daily Mail, 2009 Galacticos, Real Madrid, 2004

p42

p43

Gareth Bale Celebrating, Real Football, 2013

p44

Gareth Bale, Adidas, 2013

p45

IDENTITY Neymar Jr, Nike, 2014 p46 England Matters Manifesto, Nike, 2013

p49

FCB-Nike Custom Typeface, Studio Vasava, 2013

p50

Barcelona Celebration, Messi News, 2015

p52

Crafted To Win, ILoveDust, 2014

p55

Ici Câ&#x20AC;&#x2122;est Paris, ILoveDust, 2014

p56

City Rising, ILoveDust, 2014

p57

El Coraje Forja Leyendas, ILoveDust, 2014

p58

Hungry For Glory, ILoveDust, 2014

p59

Welcome To The Republik, ILoveDust, 2014

p60

Ready For Battle, ILoveDust, 2014

p61

England Matters Shirt, Nike, 2013

p62

Nike Winner Stays Advertisment Shots, Nike YouTube, 2014

p64

Mario Balotelli, Puma YouTube, 2014

p66

Santi Cazorla, Bleacher Report, 2014

p68

Puma Tricks, SoccerBible, 2014

p69

PARTICIPATION Nike Winner Stays, Nike YouTube, 2014

p70

Nike Football App, Nike, 2014 p72 Nike Football App Phone, SoccerBible, 2014

p74

Nike Football App Advertisement, Nike, 2014

p75

Nike Football App CR7, Nike, 2015

p75

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Cesc Fábregas, Puma YouTube, 2014

p76

Mario Balotelli, Puma YouTube, 2014

p77

Puma Logo, Puma, 2014 p78 Fábregas Believes In…, Prodirect Soccer, 2014

p78

Gianluigi Buffon, Sports Marketing, 2014

p79

Puma Start Believing, Verge, 2014

p79

Neymar Jr: The Last Game, Nike YouTube, 2014

p80

Lionel Messi: The Call, Adidas, 2014

p82

Show Us Your Game, Nike, 2014

p84

Wayne Rooney: England Matters, Nike YouTube, 2013

p86

England Matters Messages, Nike/AKQA, 2013

p88

England Matters In-Store Experience, Nike/AKQA, 2013

p90

CONCLUSION Stoppage Time, MentalFloss, 2014

p92

Nike Magista Lab Testing, SoccerBible, 2014

p94

Nike Magista, UniSport, 2014

p95

Adidas Battle Pack Boots, Designboom, 2014

p96

Mesut Özil Shooting, Yahoo, 2014

p97

Mesut Özil, Sport Locker, 2014

p97

Clint Dempsey: Risk Everything, ILoveDust, 2014

p99

Stand Up And Represent, Adidas Twitter, 2014

p100

Risk Everything Logo, Nike, 2014

p101

Fulham FC Players, Fulham FC, 2014 p103

OTHER Gareth Bale, Adidas, 2013

Front Cover

The images shown throughout this book have only been used for personal use and have been fully credited to their respective owner and/or creator. I do not own any image and there is no copyright infringement intended.

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