Student Questions     
 
This question has been closed, and points have been awarded.
Branding Strategies For A European Football Team
Posted By: Hoffnungstraeger* on 3/14/2004 7:51 AM (CST) 250 Points
I want to write a master dissertation about this topic but it is really hard to come in contact with the responsible persons in the different football teams. I would like to make contacts with someone who can help me to start with the dissertation and gives me some helpful advices.



Posted by: Jett* Accepted Answer
3/14/2004 9:06 AM (CST)
Your question title was cut off. Are you referring to football as in "soccer" or as in the "SuperBowl"?

Plus, since your question was cut off, what level of footbal teams are you trying to reach? Regardless, I am willing to help you.

Just send me an email with the specifics and we can gofrom there.

Talk to you soon!
 

Posted by: Hoffnungstraeger* Author Response
3/14/2004 9:31 AM (CST)
I would like to know how to establish the name of a european soccer team as a brand into the european soccer market in order to boost merchandising sales and profits of the club. the really hard point is to get into contact with the officials of the big and famous european soccer teams. u ma
y help me with this. any information or contact person u may provide would be beneficial for the success of my dissertation.thanks al lot
 

Posted by: Pepper Blue Member Response
3/14/2004 9:31 AM (CST)
Why is it difficult to come in contact with the responsible persons in the different football teams?

If this is what you need help with i.e. formulating what to ask them on the phone or in person, give more specifics and I will be happy to help you put together your "pitch".

I look forward to your comments back.
 

Posted by: Hoffnungstraeger* Author Response
3/14/2004 9:38 AM (CST)
one problem is to formulate the right and important questions, the next point is that it is really hard for a student to come in contact with the responsible persons of the big and famous teams in order to ask them how they already apply an european branding strategy for their team or if they want to develop such a strategy. i really would like to develop such a strategy for one of the big english, german, french or spanish teams because i think it is very important to use branding in professional football in order to increase profits, support a future IPO or just to increase the awareness of the potential customer (football supporters in Europe). Thank u very much for your help and advice.
 

Posted by: gerardodada* Accepted Answer
3/14/2004 12:24 PM (CST)
The easiest way to make a team a big brand is to win games and championships, but this is not always in your control obviously.

I recommend a book from Spoelstra on sports marketing - approach the whole event as entertainment not a sports event. Promote the best players as idols and personalities. Create a database of fans and build a commiunity around them, give them low-cost prmotional items (e.g. shits) and make them your evangelists. Again, another book recommendation - any book from Guy Kawasaki on evangelism. Your fans can do much more in terms of extending the barnd that you can on your own.

To contacte the executives of the team you can use a number of tactics: Do a goodle search on 'mancxhester uniter+marketing' for example to find out the names of the persons you want to contact. Then do another another search on their names to see if they are participating in any local events where it may be easier to approach them. With the name you can try to guess their email address, send them a letter or call the main number and convince their secretary to give you 10 minutes with him (or her). You may also want to look for organizations where these people may participate personally or professionally and network inside those.

Good luck,

GD


 

Posted by: Pepper Blue Member Response
3/14/2004 2:52 PM (CST)
Have you really tried to contact the clubs or are you assuming they won't talk to you?

Professional sports teams at all levels, in all (O.K., most) countries have departments dedicated to promoting "goodwill" be it either through charities, speaking engagements, whatever, and helping to educate the future business leaders of tomorrow is one of these.

Here is a link to current top 50 European football teams.

http://www.eurotopfoot.com/clubgb.php3


Each one has a link to their home page, and then within the home page are links to contact pages, for example, here it is for Manchester United:

http://www.manutd.com/corporateinformation/corporate.sps?itype=487&icustomp...

Email and call the approrpriate numbers, you will find somebody who can help you. I would strongly suggest you have your questions well-defined so you don't waste their time when you do contact them. If you show genuine interest and preparation they should be delighted to help you out, perhaps even see if you can arrange to have somebody from the organization(s) speak to your group.

Don't expect them to solve your problem and write your thesis, the more background knowledge and the better put together you questions are, the easier they can give you exactly the answers you want.

Be Specific!

I think you will find this approach will work if you show this professionalism.

Good Luck.

 

Posted by: mbarber Accepted Answer
3/14/2004 5:47 PM (CST)
I'd be really surprised that if you just picked up the phone and rang the clubs you want to speak to, that, explaining your aims to do some research and write a disertation on the subject, that they wouldn't talk to you.

You just need to be concise with how much time you require, what you would need and your willingness to share your findings as a possible area of insight for those who helped you.

And you do have to pick up the phone first.
 

Posted by: Hoffnungstraeger* Author Response
3/16/2004 5:21 AM (CST)
first of all, thank u very much for the many answers and suggestions.
at the moment i am still in the first stage of my master dissertation, that is, i have to carify my ideas and get contact with the teams.
i already called 3
german clubs and wrote an e-mail to 5 more german and english teams. all in al i had only a negative feedback respectively no feedback.
Are there any further books you can recommend to me (especially in the area of sportmarketing and branding in general)
has anyone an idea how i can convince the responsible people at the clubs to support my research? by the way, does anyone know someone who already worked on my topic? because at the moment i am not really sure how to go on.... and i have to hand in a proposal in may.
every recommodation is important, thank u very much for your help!!!

hope to hear from you all
 

Posted by: Hoffnungstraeger* Author Response
3/25/2004 8:53 AM (CST)
Thank you very much to everyone who gave me some hints. At the moment I am still a little bit unsure what to do, but I hope I will find more details after studying some books and contacting the teams. If anyone has any further hints or whatever just send me an email!

 

Posted by: mariejulie* Accepted Answer
4/1/2004 11:41 AM (CST)
Hi Hoffnungstrager,
as i assume you're from germany, here a book recommendation in german: "Who is Who - Profifußball-Marketing" by Brockes and Polenk. It gives you all the contacts and insights on your topic to get started with your Diplomarbeit and find an outline to begin with the interviews. You should also try and find comparison in other sport fields e.g. icehockey...since the organizational structure in those clubs is less complex,it might be easier to find out more about sports-marketing in general.
 

Posted by: Hoffnungstraeger* Author Response
4/1/2004 2:58 PM (CST)
Hi,
first of all thank u very much for the recommodation of the book. from where do u know this book, did u already write a diplomarbeit in this area? thanks again hope to hear from u!
 

Posted by: mariejulie* Member Response
4/2/2004 10:29 AM (CST)
i know this book as a reference in german sportsmarketing, but i'm sorry to disappoint you that i haven't written anything on this particular topic. hope i could still help you...keep me updated about your progress...
 

Posted by: Val (Moderator)* Moderator Response
4/8/2004 3:25 PM (CST)
Hello all. I am closing this question. This is standard procedure when the question author gets busy and falls out of the conversation for a while – or doesn’t understand the procedure for closing. I divided the points evenly among respondents. Thanks, so much, for participating!

Val (Moderator)
 



Get more answers ... ReTweet this!

Would you like to post a response?
Welcome to Know-How Exchange!
This is a collaborative community. We welcome everyone's participation.
All you need to do is login. Enter your account info in the box above (top right).
Not a member? Not a problem. Register here (it's FREE and EASY).




Know-How Exchange powered by MarketingProfs



User Name:
Password:
Remember Me
Forgot your password?

Top 25 KHE Experts
(Student Questions)
W.M.M.A. (29398)
Carl Crawford (22363)
wnelson (20754)
Puru Gupta (19381)
Peter (henna gaijin) (18830)
mgoodman (16139)
Jay Hamilton-Roth (15314)
Gary Bloomer (12512)
thinkmor (10987)
ASVP/ChrisB (10031)
mbarber (9185)
Pepper Blue (8859)
SRyan ;] (8165)
Sanjeev Kumar Vyas (7310)
stevea (6425)
jose04 (5994)
NoStressXpress (5284)
bennydunreallycare (5043)
michael (5010)
bobhogg (4824)
MANSING (4819)
Michele (4712)
SteveByrneBranding (4652)
sham (4488)
telemoxie (4315)
Recently Posted Marketing Jobs
Senior Marketing Associate
Demand Generation Sr. Manager
Web Consultant
Director of Marketing & Community
Content Acquisition Manager
Marketing Manager
Senior Marketing Executive - ICIS Americas
Vice President, Marketing
[more jobs]


Join over 357,000 members ... SIGN UP!

My email address is and I'd like my password to be .

Already a member? Sign In!

My email address is , and my password is .


HACKER SAFE certified sites prevent over 99.9% of hacker crime.