ESSEC Sports Chair - How football clubs manage their brands: From conception to internationalisa

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses how football clubs manage their brands, from the initial conception to the process of internationalization. It examines the key steps involved in building, managing, and promoting a football club's brand, as well as the influence of external stakeholders in this process.

📄 Section Summary

How football clubs manage their brands: From conception to internationalisation

• The total brand value of the top 10 football clubs has grown exponentially from $3 billion in 2011 to over $13 billion in 2021, reflecting the increasing focus on brand management in the sports industry.
• A brand is defined as a name, term, sign, symbol, or design that identifies and distinguishes a seller's goods or services.
• Brands create value for companies through higher profits and reduced marketing costs.

Developing a brand, a three-step process

• Definition of brand identity: Developing a brand's unique identity by considering the person(s), product(s), organization, and symbol(s).
• Market positioning: Analyzing different consumer segments and developing differentiated marketing actions.
• Development of marketing actions: Activating the brand's unique identity and positioning through various marketing approaches.

The specificity of sport brands

• The sports industry adopted a more strategic approach to branding in the mid-1990s to ensure long-term sustainability.
• The sports product consists of the "core" (the show, stadium, players, and spectators) and the "auxiliary characteristics" (peripheral entertainment).

The influence of external stakeholders

• The development of a football club's brand involves four main stakeholders: media, sponsors, fans, and local communities.
• These stakeholders influence various stages of brand management, from identity construction to internationalization.

Internationalizing a football club brand, a must in the sporting global era

• Disseminating the brand through adjusting broadcasting schedules, recruiting foreign players, pre-season tours, and opening training academies or club shops.
• The brand management process has three levels: strategic construction, operational deployment, and the resulting brand strength and value.

💡 Key insights

• Football clubs have increasingly focused on building and managing their brands as a lever for creating financial and symbolic value.
• The brand management process for football clubs involves three key steps: defining brand identity, positioning the brand in the market, and developing marketing actions.
• External stakeholders, such as media, sponsors, fans, and local communities, play a crucial role in the development and internationalization of a football club's brand.
• Evaluating the strength and value of a football club's brand is essential, and it involves analyzing factors like marketing investment, stakeholder equity, and business performance.