‘Brand’, the word central to any product or services, is the first step towards creating a space in the marketplace. According to Philip Kotler, “Brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, design, or. a combination of them, intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group. of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors.”
In a commercial product or service, a brand’s focus is more skewed towards creating an image of superior differentiation in their product as well as communication, displaying its core values to keep a customer loyal and long-term. In case of a football club (or any sports club) where loyalty of customers, or fans in this context, is very high along with the emotional attachment quotient, the focus is more towards attracting more sponsors through a mixture of on-pitch performance, potential football stars and the club heritage thereby elevating its commercial valuation. This raises the topic of discussions are football clubs doing enough to establish their brand especially since football today is more globalized than ever before and many club’s fanbases are spread around the nook and corners, often in unbelievably remote corners of a country far from the home base.
In such a scenario, are we seeing steps by these clubs to establish themselves as real global brands? We believe there’s enough reasons for them to do so, which we will explore in this blog.
Placement or Availability
Simply put, brands recognized and available throughout the world can be called as global brand. In the case of football clubs, the availability and therefore ¨recognizability¨ factor can be sensed through three aspects:
- Broadcast: The fact that each of the ‘big five’ leagues are broadcast in over 180 plus countries automatically places each of the club participating in these leagues capable of becoming global brands.
- Digital Connect: A measure of global reach can also be estimated from the social media following of a club. 25 most followed top tier clubs across the big five leagues have a cumulative social media following of 2.59bn across the key social media platforms. Please note, these are the approximate followers in the primary English channels of each platform. Many football clubs have also begun the practice of starting regional language channels to connect with local fans. Of course, there are caveat here, duplicity, multiple profiles etc. but the point is, fans from across countries are getting connected with their favorite clubs, a phenomenon associated with global brands.
- Supporters Clubs: One of the most understated things is the presence of local supporters’ groups of clubs in distant countries. As an example, Chelsea FC has more than 500 supporters’ groups in over 100 countries. Manchester United, Manchester City, Juventus and other big clubs have supporters’ groups in over 50+ countries.
It can therefore be stated, most of the top tier football clubs have the opportunity as their presence or availability as a parameter for making the football club a global brand is existing.
Consumers or Fans
Some brands are just things people buy out of commodity, while others are brands that people deeply desire. According to Interbrand, the secret of creating desirability lies on creating deep connections with people on different levels—sensory, functional, emotional, personal, and even moral. The ultimate objective? Making people recognize the brand, enjoy it, and want to experience it.
Sounds familiar? Yes, that’s the case with football clubs. The club’s appeal to the consumers or fans lie on more levels than one. Fan’s getting attached to a certain club is often an extension of their identity, it could be the city or a certain player or a certain belief about the club or even its history. There are some who have been exposed to a particular club at their early stages and it has grown on to become a part of their identity. As mentioned in an article by ‘Breaking The Lines’, football fandom help individuals feel like they belong in a larger community and provide them with a sense of identity and purpose. Furthermore, research has shown that football fandom can have positive psychological effects on individuals, such as increased self-esteem and improved mental health.
As per a report, Fan of The Future by European Club Association (ECA), the football fanbase can be segregated into six distinct groups categorized by their primary routes into the sport using a range of data points (as mentioned in the infographic).
- Football fanatics – 11%
- Club Loyalists – 14%
- Icon imitators – 11%
- FOMO followers – 27%
- Main eventers – 19%
- Tag Alongs – 19%
Extrapolating the report, as much as 25% of the football fandom can be considered as the club ‘brand loyalists’ where as 65% of the same are those customers waiting for a brand to convert them into a ‘loyal’ fan.
Brand Strength – Best of the Best
Brand Finance has been evaluating and releasing the list of most valuable and strongest football club brands across the world annually, like they do for other industries. One common parameter to compare brands across different operating industry environments can be Brand Strength Index (BSI), a score out of 100. The 2024 list released by them gives some interesting insights.
- Real Madrid FC comes out as the strongest brand in the world higher than YouTube, Google, Coca-Cola etc.
- Seven football club brands lie within the BSI of the 25 strongest brands in the world
- Another seven football club brands lie in the vicinity of coming within the strong brand BSI index
- Six club brands inherently have the potential but will have to reorganize their brand strategy
Think Like A Global Brand
In all aspects, football transcends borders. Thanks to the increasing power of connectivity, a club’s fans are no longer limited to the community. It’s high time football clubs started to think and act like the global brands they already are. Multiple factors are already in their favour which most consumer brands struggle with and spend massive resources on:
- Highly loyal fans across borders
- Football clubs are individual media houses. They generate original content like no one else
- The games and the club, together are omnipresent, throughout the year
It, therefore is a matter of creating and adopting a clear-cut strategy in order to become a global brand. Some pointers to think around include:
- Create a positioning. Every club has a strong history, value system which will resonate with fans across the world. They need to find the 65% ‘waiting to convert’ fans (read above). Following the 60/40 rule, maintain the same positioning only localizing it to convey the essence
- Identify and prioritize markets strategically, expanding it y-o-y, making it into one global community
- The club name is the brand name. Put entire resources in reverberating that
- Treat every fan equally and convert them into brand ambassadors. Remember supporters’ clubs?
The best part, it’s possible for any club and not limited to the biggest clubs.
In Conclusion
As we said above, thanks to ever expanding connectivity and the power of internet, all clubs have the potential to become global brands. What is needed is the clear strategy and putting a plan in action. The search for global sponsorships will automatically align by itself once local companies & corporate brands see and feel the club brand power grow within their markets.
*SBI (Sports Business Institute) offers comprehensive educational programs designed to equip professionals with the skills and knowledge needed to excel in the football business. One of our flagship programs is the Master in Football Business & Management, which provides in-depth training on the key aspects of sports business and football management. This program, tailored for individuals looking to advance their careers in sports management, covers areas such as club operations, sponsorship, marketing, and player representation, preparing students to navigate the dynamic and growing football industry with expertise.
