Thinking in Brand Management of Manchester United Football Club - Case Study Example

BRANDING AND SPONSORSHIP al Affiliation) The aim of this report is to undertake an analysis on the company’s need to sponsor Man United football club. The paper looks at how companies are always looking for how best they can be able to promote themselves and at the same time be able to reach its target customers through sponsorships. The paper looks at the benefits that a company can enjoy when taking part in sponsorship programs for football sports clubs. In this case, the company expects to benefit through this initiative by increasing the brand awareness of the company. The paper will also analyze the football club and look at how this initiative will be beneficial to the company. A conclusion will also be made based on the analysis done. Introduction In the modern marketing, companies and brands have a high level of competition in order to gain new market shares and maintain their existing market shares. In order to make sure that this is a success, marketing communication has become very crucial. The increase in globalization has also made the marketing mix necessary in order for companies to succeed and remain in business. The marketing mix consists of four components which are the price, product, place, and promotion. The promotion element is usually considered crucial for marketers because it is the channel through which they communicated to a target population. Promotion traditionally consisted of public relation, advertising, and sales promotion. However, sponsorship has also become a crucial element in the promotional mix. Companies are always looking for how best they can be able to promote themselves and at the same time be able to reach its target customers. Sponsorship has now become a strategic tool that helps companies receive more attention. Football was originally thought to be a working class past time, but today it has become the most viewed sport. Corporations taking part in sponsorship programs for football sports clubs has become a fast growing marketing method because of this wide audience (Cox, 1990). This method aims at reaching a wide target audience. Companies introduced sports sponsorship as a way of reaching its target audience and as a way of building the brand of the company. Sponsorship in this case means an investment in either cash or kind by an organization or brand in another company’s activity in the hopes of gaining a corresponding advantage as the sponsor. Research shows that companies are increasingly diverting their fund that normally is spent in marketing towards sponsorship activities. When choosing a club that would be a good choice for the company to sponsor, a number of things were considered. The first item that was considered was how popular a brand team. The team chosen is Manchester United which one of the top clubs in the world. This means that it is one of the most watched clubs and therefore, this marketing strategy will be able to reach a wider audience. The second item considered was the market in terms of the number of people who can be reached. In this case, this team has a large number of loyal fans who would be willing to be associated with anything that the team is associated with. For this reason, our company can be assured that the loyal fans of this team will want to be associated with the company if they see that the company is supporting the team. Company Analysis The English football and the FA Premier League (FAPL) in particular has become a bigger business than it has never been before generating record revenues. The game has attracted TV viewers in many countries than ever before and has gained increased number of passionate fans all over the world. Football grounds are always full. Manchester United Football Club is one of the leading football clubs in the world that has won many titles in the football competition (White, 2009). This has made this club one of the most successful and most recognizable clubs around the world. This club has been able to achieve a good brand name for itself. The club’s good performance has also helped it to be able to secure a number of sponsors. The club also has the strength of securing a big fan base due to its good reputation which is evident from the number of tickets being sold per match. This is also evident from the fact that the club has been able secure the greatest average attendance in their old Trafford stadium located in Manchester that is always in full capacity when there are home games. This means that any merchandise that is related to the team name, can be straight away be recognized by their fans (McCartney, 2013). This team has a great fan loyalty which can be seen from their ticket sales, this means that the fans will also shift their loyalty to any product that is related to Manchester United. When choosing a sponsoring partner, it will be wise for the company to choose one that is prominent in the public eyes like Manchester United. How sponsorship of a football clubs works Many companies have discovered the cheaper way of getting a wide audience attention to their products. This is through football club sponsorship programs where companies are also able to build the brand of the company (Fenton, 2011). Sponsorship in this case means an investment in either cash or kind by an organization or brand in another company’s activity in the hopes of gaining a corresponding advantage for the sponsor (Furtunato, 2009). Research shows that companies are increasingly diverting their fund that normally is spent in marketing towards sponsorship activities. In normal cases, the message to be delivered to the consumers comes from a certain company. This message is then goes through the sponsor object to the audience who are on the site attending the event. The message is then delivered to the consumers through the mass media. How will the sponsorship affect brand image Brand image is a crucial aspect in any company because this determines the success or failure of a brand in the market. Sponsors, through the sponsorship programs, aim at closing any gap that may exist between their brand image and identity. Brand image in this case is the perception about a brand as reflected by past memories of consumers. This is their beliefs towards and evaluation about a certain brand. The image of a brand can be influenced by linking it to a sporting event through sponsorship initiatives. Football is one of the biggest sports in the world; therefore, companies or organizations that are linked with this sport are considered market leaders. Attitudes, attributes, and benefits are the main things that affect a brand association. These components affect the consumer overall evaluation about a brand. Customers adopt a positive attitude towards a sponsor if they believe that the contribution from the sponsor and the relationship between the sponsor and the team that they support produces an overall benefit to the team (Filipsson, 2009). The way in which the consumer perceives a brand image is a very crucial effect of sponsorship programs. This is because, how customers view the brand image of an organization has a great influence on their attitude towards that organization. The English Premier league has the most viewers than any other sport in the world, making it the most watched sports worldwide. Considering this fact, most companies have taken advantage to improve and spread the brand image of their companies. Organizations like Turkish airlines, Emirates, and Sumsung are among the many companies that sponsor the Premier League in order to increase their brand awareness. These companies are given the opportunity to present and enhance their products and also develop a competitive advantage. The company will have the advantage of increased publicity, especially because this club is one of the biggest and the most watched clubs around the world. This will increase the number of people who will be aware of the brand (Sandhusen, 2000). Team sponsorship is more than marketing communications tactic, this is because it is a networking strategy that includes resource-acquisition and relationship-building. This is because, the company and the team are able to build a partnership relationship where it will feel like it is part of a reputable team, people will always associate the company with this team. Sponsorship will also help to generate better consumer opinion towards the company in a number of industries. This is because the consumer will associate the company with the good reputation of this football team. The club has a big fan base who are loyal to the football club, this loyalty is also expected to be transferred to the company as the sponsor of the club. There is also positive attitude change and recognition because the fans due to repeated appearance. This is also because this will be considered to be a demonstration of good citizenship, this will demonstrate the company’s interest in the community, and will help the company to generate a favorable media interest and publicity. The team will also benefit from getting free equipments and clothing or getting a payment for wearing the sponsor’s clothes and using their equipments. This means that they can be able to concentrate on their training without having fears about the team’s financing needs. Out of the sponsorship program, the company will benefit from gaining the reputation of implementing corporate social responsibility (CSR). CSR has become a generally accepted and well known concept that companies are expected to incorporate. This is terms of having social or environmental concerns in the day the business is being done. CSR has advantages to the company by winning the trust and loyalty of customers. The company will also be able to get rewards from the government and regulators for showing and exemplary record of corporate responsibility. Conclusion Companies are always looking for how best they can be able to promote themselves and at the same time be able to reach its target customers. Sponsorship has now become a strategic tool that helps companies receive more attention. Sponsorship in this case means an investment in either cash or kind by an organization or brand in another company’s activity in the hopes of gaining a corresponding advantage as the sponsor. Research shows that companies are increasingly diverting their fund that normally is spent in marketing towards sponsorship activities. Looking at the discussions, if our company sponsors Manchester United which is considered to be one of the most valuable football clubs in the world, there is no doubt that the company will be portrayed to be in the same limelight in terms of success as Manchester United image. It is evident that consumer’s favorability towards a brand increases in relation to the level of awareness of a particular brand. This means that if the company sponsors the Manchester United team, there is a high chance that the favorability of fans towards the team will also be transferred to the brand. It can, therefore, also be concluded that; a. The sponsorship will be positively related to the brand image b. Consumers who regularly watch the Manchester United games will gain a more positive view of the company because they will consider the company to be contributing to the success of the team (Pohl, 2010). Bibliography Cox, R. W. (1990). Sport in Britain: A bibliography of historical publications, 1800-1988. Manchester: Manchester Univ. Press. Fenton, W., & Collett, P. (2011). The Sponsorship Handbook: Essential Tools, Tips and Techniques for Sponsors and Sponsorship Seekers. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Filipsson, H. U. (2009). The IUP Journal of Business Strategy. Furtunato, J. (2009). Using Sponsorship as a form of public relations: a case study of Chevrolet and major league baseball. Journal on Sponsorship, 11. McCartney, I. (2013). Manchester United, 1958-68: Rising from the wreckage. Pohl, M., & Tolhurst, N. (2010). Responsible business: How to manage a CSR strategy successfully. Chichester, U.K: John Wiley & Sons. Sandhusen, R. (2000). Marketing. Hauppauge, N.Y: Barrons. White, J. (2009). Manchester United: The biography: the complete story of the worlds greatest football club. London: Sphere. Read More