ISSUE 2 / 09.2011
Welcome to the second edition of Soccer Wise.
CONTENTS
A look around the world at interesting marketing, branding, sponsorship, communication, and social trends and ideas; and how these relate to the world of soccer. This is the second issue of the mini magazine; the first issue reached approximately 500 people and the feedback I received was great; please keep it coming and pass it along to friends.
How Not to Alienate and Drive Away Your Fans 3
Just a quick reminder of where the inspiration for SoccerWise comes from: 1. Directly from the business of soccer 2. Related and interesting insight from the business of sport 3. Outside the category, but which represent a possible application in soccer As the main European seasons starts to get underway and the Copa America and Women’s World Cup wrap-up, we should begin to see some really interesting applications around soccer with which we can start and borrow some learning’s. Some of these will be captured here, but keep an eye out for issue three for more of the ‘getting the season started’ type observations.
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Man City Losing Focus for a Moment, Don’t Talk to Our Players
Special Games; More Engaged & Active Fan Buy-In 4
South Africa, Fans Pick the team, Some Other Thoughts
Alternative Ways to Reach & Attract Potential Sponsors 5 Bayer 04 Leverkuson and the Search for the Perfect Partner
Feature: MLS and its All-Star Sales Academy 6 Bryant Pffifer Gave us the Lowdown
After Event Participation: Wembley Stadium 7 Wembley, 360 Photographs and Social Tagging
An Unlikely Partnership and a Challenge to Fans 8 FC Barcelona & the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: End Polio, Hartlepool United and a Season Ticket Challenge to Fans
How Not to Alienate and Drive Away Your Fans
Manchester City Lose Focus for a Moment I say the above because Manchester City have been more successful than most in signing new and improved commercial deals of late (see EA sports and Etihad naming rights). Yet even they went slightly ‘off brand’ when creating a guide on how to follow City. Based around what you need to know to become a true fan of the club. The club created an official guide aimed at recruiting ‘new fans’, answering questions on all of the clubs famous touch-points; the stadium, blue moon anthem, poznan fan celebrations and famous players (even informing fans of what not to call players). Although done in a tongue in cheek way it created outrage amongst City fans who took to the internet forums in fury. So What? Clubs need to create a delicate balance in the relationship between loyalists and the opportunity to entice new fans. Loyal fans want to feel like they are part of a special club as their support is often due to deep lying roots; support has often gone across generations of family members for example. They don’t like seeing fans jumping on the bandwagon just because the club is now successful; although, clearly the club embraces this new found interest. In order to strike a balance teams should create better ways for fans to discover information about the club, its history and its traditions. It should not ‘spoon feed’ this information by creating dummy guides and glossaries which undermine other fans. These moments and club touch points take years for fans to fully appreciate and understand their meaning, and clubs should not give them away for free. Instead clubs could create ways for fans to discover in a more compelling and absorbing way, either in the stadiums or through creative digital channels, international tours and meet and greet events.
Don’t Talk to Our Players This image was spotted at a Florida Marlins MLB game in the US; rather overly aggressive and unnecessary I think you’d agree. Clearly this is not a great way of building a strong bond between player and fan. Soccer (in fact all sports) needs to facilitate a common narrative between players and fans, and while it is not always appropriate for fans to reach out and request player contact, it should not be discouraged quite so harshly. So What? Don’t put up signs like this! Create times and channels where fans can meet players. After training dedicate time for players to meet and sign autographs and mingle with fans. Soccer should be an interactive sport and dialogue between fan and player is missing, create fan Q&A sessions at times during the season and work on humanizing the players, making them understand the duty they have towards the fans. Source: Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/12157732@N06/5723578277/
Source: Man City took the impending article down very quickly; instead the screen grab is above
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Special Games: More Engaged and Active Fan Buy-In SoccerWise thoughts: The Carling competition in SA is a very interesting nontraditional idea which got me thinking. What other ways can you revolutionize the product on the field in order to ‘feel different’, yet still be very much about football? Thinking about initiatives that create a new closer connection and intrigue amongst fans, whilst at the same time opening up new inventory for partners to associate themselves with. PLAY VIDEO
South Africa, Fans Select the Teams Carling Black Label launched an innovative competition in South Africa offering fans the opportunity to select players for an upcoming match between The Orlando Pirates, and The Kaizer Chiefs. The match billed as ‘Be the Coach’ enables customers of Carling Black Label the chance to vote for who plays in this special one-off preseason friendly match. Fans get a unique code from every bottle of Carling Black Label that enables them to access the URL (included below) and take part in the unique competition via SMS text messaging or the internet. Carling brought in Rudd Gullit to help promote the event, and they even allowed fans to vote during the first half on who they want substituting at half time. Running from June 1st to July 27th, the game is scheduled to take place at Soccer City on July 30th, 3 days after voting ended. So What? Pre-season and the off-season offers teams and leagues a unique chance to be creative like this and think outside of the box. Offering fans, brands and teams the opportunity to connect deeper with each other in ways which are not possible during normal competition time. Games like this open up soccer to a new audience and makes fans feel like they have a vested interest in the team and how their team operates. Another example of this is the myfootballclub.co.uk concept in the UK (worlds first web community club) which is not just based on one-offs but enables fans the opportunity to own and make decisions in the club by voting online every week. Check the video of the ‘Be the Coach’ concept.
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Some quick thoughts: 1.
Play an exhibition game with no managers.Let the players pick the teams, call formations and choose the plays
2. Play the game with no referee. This is how we grew up playing the game as kids and we managed just fine. Imagine what might happen with players calling their own fouls and major decisions! 3. The ultimate pick-up game. Pick two captains and let them select the teams. Source: Carling Black Label: Be the Coach http://www.bethecoach.co.za/home.php
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An Alternative Way to Reach and Attract Potential Sponsors Bayer 04 Leverkuson I really wanted to write about this since I saw the article in the FT. It always fascinates me to think how teams and leagues capture sponsorships and partnerships, whether through an internal front office outreach department, external agency or by other means. In fact, if anyone has any detailed research on how partnerships are brought into the organization, or would like to fund my personal investigation please let me know as I believe it would make fascinating reading. So, why do sponsors feel compelled to spend big on securing a top sporting asset like Bayer Leverkuson? In the ad below, Bayer attempt to explain what a new partner would get through a range of impressive metrics that a potential sponsor would gain;
50 billion contacts: through TV, print and digital (due to qualification for this seasons Champions League)
207 hours of TV airtime
23 million Germans like Bayer
12 billion contacts in international markets
Last years sponsor garnered 50 hours net visibility and 10 billion contacts via TV, print and digital (in non Champions League year)
They all sound very impressive but the actual science behind the numbers is unknown.
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‘Come and play the Champions League with us’ is the lead message of the advertisement. The club is looking for a partner over 3 seasons, starting 2011/12; offering shirt exclusivity and what they term, ‘various ancillary rights’. Would be sponsors are then directed to a specific site which invites them to register their interest online and then wait for outreach from the club itself. At the date of publication it was still unknown whether Bayer had secured a deal. One thing for certain is that this is certainly an interesting way of promoting yourself to your potential audience; a publication like the FT is still an incredibly powerful vehicle and read by decision makers at many organizations across a range of sectors. How the club then filters through the interest and determines who they speak with is anyone’s guess, I suspect money talks, it is less about brand fit at this point and more about who can deliver the most money. What other interesting ways exist to try and attract new commercial partners to your organization? Source: Brand Republic http://www.brandrepublic.com/media/article/1075269/ top-german-football-club-advertises-ft-shirt-sponsor/
GO TO LINK Register Interest http://www.bayer04.de/b04-partner/ENG/en/_site_index.aspx
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Feature: MLS and its All-Star Sales Academy I recently spoke with Bryant Pfiffer (VP Club Services) of the MLS as I was fascinated by what they have managed to achieve at their recently opened national sales academy in Blaine, Minnesota. The sales centre is a first of a kind sports sales academy that seeks to train and equip the best young people to gain the skills necessary to enter an MLS franchise and start performing at a high-level from day one. The overarching goal being to accelerate the sales performance of the young people that enter the ticket sales teams of the various MLS franchises. With 11 spaces on offer, the chosen few have an intensively rewarding 45 days of sessions and teachings that will equip them to become ‘best of breed’ MLS sales agents. Billed as a course in the fundamentals of the art of ticket sales, it actually appears to be so much more. Here are my key learning observations from my chat with Bryant: Create an environment that is mirrored on what you are selling The main thing that hit me was the environment that they have created. Based within the Blaine National Sports Complex the centre is at the heart of a vibrant sporting community. If you are selling tickets in sport, why not align the location to the product you are trying to sell. The centre also sets various targets for candidates to achieve. As a soccer player gains financially or through an award for most assets, saves or goals; candidates at the sales academy also have targets to meet like any top athlete would, e.g top sales shark. The actual selling is based upon a fundamental knowledge base of what soccer is all about. Candidates are surrounded by MLS veterans, team owners and those involved at all levels within the sport. They are exposed to soccer from a multitude of angles and this can only help sales people gain confidence in understanding the intricacies of the product they are attempting to sell. Look outside of the industry for inspiration. It is always refreshing to see businesses looking outside of their industry to figure out new ways of making their offer or service more compelling. MLS has done this by lending techniques and pointers from an Improvisational comedy group from Minnesota. One of the oldest improv groups in the country Bryant explains, “we always felt this overlaps with sales, thinking on your feet and being able to maneuver confidently around various issues - while ultimately building confidence in the student of the centre”. Candidates are also exposed to video vignettes every day that reach them each morning and sync in with the wider program and create a common learning thread for candidates to follow. 6 SOCCERWISE ISSUE 2 / 09.2011
In addition, the recruitment process is also really interesting. Wannabe candidates are invited to create a two minute video of themselves talking about two things, why sales and why soccer. This acts to help the recruitment process as it shows how passionate they are for soccer, how creative they might be, if they are doing something different, and how are they presenting themselves. A large piece of the MLS sales centre is hinged around being innovative and creative and that certainly sticks out as one of the reasons why they have been so successful. To back that up the statistics also don’t lie, graduates of the sales centre outperform traditional rookie hires on almost every level. The 45 day course puts the candidates in real situations as they field and make calls on behalf of different clubs on a random basis; one week they could be pitching for the Red Bulls and the week after making follow-up calls for the LA Galaxy. It is no surprise to me to hear of other leagues and sports looking enviously at the MLS model as they try and create excellence on the ticketing side of their organizations. Thanks to Bryant at MLS for his time.
After Event Participation: Wembley Stadium Something I witness most Monday mornings when I log onto Facebook or other social networking sites are my friends and contacts ‘tagging’ themselves in photos from the weekend. Whether in bars, nightclubs, or weddings - inspired by an array of 3rd party photography services making money snapping and tagging - or in other photos taken by friends, it seems that the tagging epidemic is as relevant as ever. But what of tagging yourself at a sporting event, captured by a professional photographer? Wembley stadium have created a very compelling way for attendees at their events to do such a thing. Creating a smart tie in with Facebook, and offering up a mini microsite which tells the story of how the picture was created; Wembley stadium in London captured the worlds largest 360 panoramic sports photo from this seasons FA Cup final (between Man City and Stoke) at a whopping 10 gigapixels. Once the event had finished fans had the opportunity to reconnect with the Wembley and FA brand, and find and tag themselves amongst the fans in the crowd. At the time of publication around 1 in 4 spectators had found and tagged themselves; a pretty impressive stat in itself. In addition, Wembley have since extended this to other big events such as music concerts. So What? Sports fans are active taggers in everyday social media activities, but up until now have not been given professional grade high-definition photographs to tag themselves at sporting events. As the Wembley example shows; stories, mini websites and sponsors can take advantage once the event is over. Think how your organization might create ways to extend the spectators enjoyment of a particular experience even after it is over, into various social settings and participative environments. Source: How it was done: http://wembley360.wembleystadium.com/HowWeDidIt.htm
GO TO LINK Wembley 360 site http://wembley360.wembleystadium.com/facupfinal2011.html
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An Unlikely Partnership and a Challenge to Fans Hartlepool United and a Season Ticket Challenge to Fans A team very near to where I grew up had the bold and brave idea of offering all fans the opportunity of purchasing a £100 season ticket. With 23 games at home, that represented amazing value for money (£4.35 a game). Hartlepool United from the 3rd tier of English football and with an average attendance of 2,993 in 2010 / 11 have managed to sell over 5,000 season tickets to date; selling more within the first 10 days of this initiative going live than all of last season.
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FC Barcelona and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: End Polio Really strange co-partnership between arguably the worlds biggest football brand, FC Barcelona, and one of the worlds richest men and founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates. Based on Barca’s social responsibility message of ‘More than a Goal’, which is derived from their outward brand idea of ‘More than a club’ - FC Barca have created a campaign based around the idea that football in the wider context is merely just a game, and as an iconic property, the action they take in society is as important as the achievements on the field. The idea of ending Polio is a powerful one. Bill Gates clearly sees the power of harnessing the passion of FC Barca’s army of fans into areas that benefit away from the pitch,talking about FC Barcas fans, “We hope that once they learn more about the fight against polio, they’ll be just as fanatical about finishing it as they are about Leo Messi”. Compelling words indeed and a campaign worthy of anyone’s attention. The campaign video shows the build up play but not the goals from iconic Braca moments, indicating that 99% of Polio can be eradicated. Yet why should we stop, FC Barca certainly doesn’t, instead lets go the extra mile to create the perfect moment, before closing on the amazing finishes to those goals. Check it out above. 8 SOCCERWISE ISSUE 2 / 09.2011
So What? In what might seem like an unlikely partnership could lie the perfect match. In the Barca example it is the synergies and values that the two organizations share, around wanting to do good in the world which makes this an mutually beneficial match. Think about where that match might occur, it could be with businesses and organizations that you might never have dreamt of and are currently limiting yourself from. Source: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Press Release: http://www.thegatesnotes.com/Topics/Health/More-than-a-Goal GO TO LINK
Barcelona website, shared values http://www.fcbarcelona.com/web/english/noticies/destacades/ GO TO LINK n110728118573.html
What makes this interesting is the challenge that Hartlepool laid down to fans. It was not as simple as acting on a reduced price ticket. The club created tiered pricing, if 4,000 tickets where sold fans would pay £100, if 3,500 £150, and if 3,000 sold they’d pay £200. Fans inspired one another to get tickets, as it was in their best interests to get the cheapest price possible. Businesses bought up tickets to use as incentives for employees and overseas fans bought, even if they could not guarantee making even one game. The club also benefits, driven on by a capacity crowd every week, increased sales of food, beverages and merchandise, and hopefully a feel good factor that will continue well into next season. So What? How can you challenge fans to create competition amongst themselves that will benefit the team and the stadium environment? What creative pricing strategies can you come up with to help swell crowds? Source: When Saturday Comes Article: http://www.wsc.co.uk/content/view/7330/38/
GO TO LINK Hartlepool United http://www.hartlepoolunited.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/ 0,,10326~2356886,00.html
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Who is ‘Soccer Wise’? Soccer Wise is an ex Brand & Marketing Consultant of 5 years and current MBA student at the Warsaw Sports Business Center at the University of Oregon. Lived and worked in Dubai, London and New York, love understanding new cultures and people; past clients within sports have included the London Olympics and adidas. Passionate about soccer, passionate about making the business side of the game a success. Please reach out if you have any questions, comments or otherwise. Where I get Inspired (a new selection every edition) Websites / Blogs: www.trendhunter.com GO TO LINK www.sportspromedia.com GO TO LINK www.swissramble.blogspot.com GO TO LINK www.soccerbythenumbers.com GO TO LINK www.twofootedtackle.com GO TO LINK www.thebusinessofsports.com GO TO LINK How to get in touch Twitter: @dbruce80 FOLLOW ME Email : dbruce80@gmail.com Phone: +718 200 7189
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