Who’s the best marketer in town? Who is the best at marketing their football club? Where is the great work coming from? Generally not known for their marketing flair and imagination, football clubs from time to time actually do get it right. Recently I spoke about Nottingham Forest’s well-produced direct mail piece and Manchester City’s online sponsorship activation. But there are others who do a pretty good job.
In the past in my blog I have mentioned that I liked the work of Manchester City, using a ‘Banksy’ street style creative coupled with ‘aggressive’ imagery. The Manchester City creative partners have developed all this creativity while throwing small taunts at their local rivals along the way. Good work.
Of course we can’t leave out Manchester United and their global dominance, starting football schools in North America and Asia, Manchester United will tour any country possible in order to spread their brand message and sell a few extra strips, thus allowing Alex Ferguson the right to whinge because he feels the ladies and gents who feverously assemble the annual fixture list are out to get the hallowed club. Yes, they are marketing well; they are truly a global brand (yes I said brand).
But what if you are running a smaller football club? What if you don’t have seemingly infinite budgets and global superstars to hinge your football club’s ethos on? I imagine you get extremely creative… right?
Well so far, I think not. Yes, I’m calling out football club marketing managers and directors across the country for a lack of creativity on what are always limited budgets, who are always strangled by the tight fisted owners and can never sell in their amazing concept to their old school hierarchy. Look in the proverbial mirror; is it you that I’m talking about? Well if it is, let’s talk about a small club that has a strong ethos, was on the brink of sinking into the nadir, that has now reached the upper echelons through a strong and ‘real’ strategy.
St. Pauli is that club. They caught my eye about ten years ago, when they were in the Hades of German football, barely struggling to survive. They caught my eye with their message, a strangely unique mantra in modern football: they were “anti-racism, anti…..” and I thought that was cool. It may be because I’m a fairly liberal chap, it may be because the same ol’ ‘unity’ message that sports clubs across the globe dump on our laps ad nauseam – you’ve heard them before: “All for One”, “The Passion that Unites Us All” and “The Theatre of Dreams”. In the end, it’s utter tripe. Anyone that buys these messages can hand me their wallet now; they will not be using it responsibly.
Now back to St. Pauli, a club that did get it right. I loved their merchandise for women. It wasn’t pink shirts with diamante jewels across the chest or hoodies with the team crest on every corner. It was a whole new identity for merchandise – an identity that felt original – one that I could wear without feeling like a chav. And they did this with a very limited budget and creativity. And better yet, they created a true community, allowing fans to become designers without much in the way of limitations. Imagine that! Imagine asking the fans what they want (not using some cheap online/chat room method)! Aghast!
And the great part, as St. Pauli has now reached the dizzying heights of the Bundesliga, they have not lost their way. They are still working with their fans to create a unique and fun experience in their ground, the Millerntor-Stadion.
The most recent interesting concept was this:
What you are seeing is correct. In the ‘posh’ seats a train brings you your hotdog. Now truly… how cool is that? I really want to sit there, heck I may even have two or three dogs just to enjoy the experience. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the crux of my point. You need to bring an experience to fans to retain them in today’s era of consumerism. As you look around your stadium on gameday, and 30% of your seats are empty, just ask yourself, ‘am I providing my fans with a unique experience?’ If you answer yourself honestly, most likely it will be no. Be prepared for the impending administration talks… Get ready for the next board meeting asking ‘how can we sell more shirts’ or ‘how can we sell them one more pint?’. The answers are there, but you’ll need to think about that Hot Dog train.
There are partners here to help. They are not as expensive as you are made to think, and eventually you’ll look like a hero if you use them.
Mr Experiential, Banana Kick
