Bill Gates and Barca

What do FC Barcelona, the best football club in the world and American business magnate Bill gates have in common?

Today I like to write my blog about my favorite football club FC Barcelona. Watching last night’s match for the King’s Cup of Spain against Osasuna on Barca TV, there was a commercials that caught my attention. It was a commercial featuring Bill Gates wearing a Barca shirt and talking about FC Barcelona. Under the slogan 'More than a goal… End Polio. Meaning FC Barcelona has put itself at the service of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help improve its media message and global recognition, and thus facilitate programs and news about the eradication of the disease polio.

Last summer The Fundacio FC Barcelona and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation signed a collaboration agreement, that wishes to promote the campaign to get rid of the polio disease for good. The agreement between the two foundations wishes to speak out for awareness of the illness and encourage society and relevant organizations to join the fight against polio. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the The Fundacio FC Barcelona share the same objectives.

FC Barcelona and Bill Gates have a special sense of social responsibility. The two try to help those in need, life is not just about watching football or having fun, it is also helping people in need. FC Barcelona is known for its beautiful football, superstar Lionel Messi and many prices. But the club was also the first club in 2006 with shirt sponsor Unicef, the club donates 1,5 percent of their revenues to Unicef. What a beautiful combination of sport PR and caring.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are always looking for strong and prestigious alliances to join forces and give shape to their projects. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is like FC Barcelona  a family foundation which also defines the social message. That is why Bill Gates choose for this club, who already where doing such projects, for instance for their new shirt sponsor Qatar Foundations. I wish more big football clubs would follow the example of FC Barcelona and maybe we can than reach more people in need.

Soccer in the USA

Football commonly known as soccer in the USA, is rising since the country hosted the FIFA World Cup in 1994. The term soccer is commonly used to refer to that sport due to the term football being used for another sport,  American football. The number one sports in the States  are still basketball, American football, baseball and  ice hockey. These sports are making billions of dollars every year, while soccer just makes 300 million dollar a year, soccer is still less popular in the USA than in Europe. 
The United States Soccer Federation is trying hard to market soccer in America. Last year they appointed German football legend Jürgen Klinsmann as the men’s national team coach. Last year New York Red Bulls signed two big players from FC Barcelona, Thierry Henry (Mister Arsenal see my last week’s blog and Mexican superstar Rafael Marquez). And of course the signing of David Beckham for LA Galaxy, the contract was 250 million dollars for five years.

Although MLS is also much younger than most other countries divisions, and has 19 teams in 2012, it is already the 12th most-attended premier division in the world. In 2006 MLS broke its all-time record for attendance at a regular-season match, which saw 92,650 spectators fill the  LA Galaxy. Although that claim is somewhat misattributed to the MLS game as it was one of two games played that night, the second being a match between two very popular football clubs in the Spanish speaking world FC Barcelona from Spain and Mexico's Guadalajara. On August 1, 2009, a friendly match between the Los Angeles Galaxy and Barcelona at the Rose Bowl, drew a crowd of 93,137 fans. The last time a soccer match drew that many people in the United States was during the 1994 FIFA World Cup. barcaloco.com

The biggest impact of course has been the internet. Soccer fans in the States are quite different. But sites like bigsoccer.com and blogs, both for teams changed that. Reading these blogs I believe that the passion was there they just needed the outlet. Another big change has come on the TV side. ESPN Gol TV and Fox Soccer all show games live from Holland, England, Spain, Germany and Italy.  It is now much easy to watch the highest levels of world soccer on just about any day of the week in the States. This all was unheard of fifteen years ago. Now the market is also marketing big Europeans games via social media.

Football marketing in the U.S. will never be like here in Europe but it continues to grow. A recent review of attendance shows that soccer is enjoying higher per game attendance than basketball and ice hockey. It is at least going the right way.

Which club brands are the most powerful

Today i want to share with you wich club brands are most powerful in the Europe. This week I read a post on the ten best best known European football brands The article referenced a sport + mark 2010 study of brand recognition among football fans in the top five markets in France, Germany, Spain, UK & Italy.
I thought it might be interesting to look at this data and see which club brands were the most powerful. And see to what degree being aligned with a specific club  is a factor, in addition to sponsoring tournaments like the FIFA World Cup, UEFA Champions League or UEFA European Championships. So, let’s take a look at the Delloitte & Touche Money League of clubs along with the brands listed in the sport+markt survey associated with them.

1. Real Madrid –                     adidas (1), Coca-Cola (5), Audi (8), bwin (9)
2. Manchester United              Nike (2), AIG (6), Audi (8),
3. FC Barcelona –                   Nike (2), Audi (8), Unicef (15)
4. Bayern Munich –                adidas (1), Coca-Cola (5), Audi (8)
5. Chelsea –                             adidas (1), Samsung (10), Heineken (20)
6. Arsenal –                             Nike (2), Emirates (5)
7. Liverpool –                          adidas (1), Carlsberg (7)
8. AC Milan –                         adidas (1), bwin (9)
9. AS Roma -                         
10. Inter Milan –                     Nike (2)
11. Juventus –                         Nike (2)
12. Olympique Lyon –            Umbro (16), Orange (18)
13. Schalke 04 –                      adidas (1)
14. Tottenham Hotspur –        Puma (3), Carlsberg (7)
15. Hamburger SV –               adidas (1), Emirates (5)
16. Olympique Marseille –      adidas (1), Orange (18)
17. Newcastle United –          adidas (1)
18. VfB Stuttgart –                 Puma (3), Coca-Cola (4)
19. Fenerbahce –                     adidas (1), Audi (8)
20. Manchester City –             Umbro (16)

From the Sport+Markt list Reebok, Opel, Vodafone, Ford MasterCard and Sony were not represented by a club from the Delloitte & Touche Money League clubs? Strange looking at Opel who in 2001 where the most successful shirt sponsor.Vodafone is a massive sponsor of sport and had a run with Manchester United a few years ago from which they may still be associated with. Reebok sponsors Manchester United Ryan Giggs. Thierry Henry (Mister Arsenal) and  Iker Casillas in Spain. And formally kitted out Liverpool and Manchester City. AS Roma are the only club in the top 20 not linking with a big sponsor.

The big winner I think is Audi. They have partnerships with al big teams I the top five. With also allowed them to create the Audi cup in the summer, where all the big clubs feature. Adidas and Nike are also winners, but they were already big names in the sports industry. Adidas and Nike sponsor 15 of the 20 clubs in the top 20. AS Roma AS are the only club in the top 20 not aligned with a big sponsor. They are sponsored by Kappa (an Italian company specialized at the manufacture of sporting clothes and accessories) and Wind an Italian telecom operator.

Mister Arsenal is back

After four and a half years mister Arsenal Thierry Henry is back at his old club. The all time top goalscorer of Arsenal will sign a two-month loan deal from New York Red Bulls. The former Arsenal captain, has been training with the club during the Major League Soccer off-season. Henry will play during January and February, while fellow strikers Gervinho and Chamack will  be absent at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Thierry Henry now 34 will not play a major part in the Arsenal team, he is here for two reasons. One to help Arsenal with there shortage in strikers and two for a PR move for the club. Since Henry left the club in the summer of 2007, Arsenal did not only lose there top goalscorer but they also lost a world class player. Henry has millions of fans around the world, he was considered  one of the greatest in the English football league. I also was and still am a Henry admirer and can not wait to see him make his debut coming Monday in the FA cup against Leeds United.
Like i said Arsenal will get more attention in England now for signing Henry, shirts with his famous number 14 will sell like ice ream in the summer and more tickets will be sold at the Emirates stadium now there mister Arsenal Henry is back in London.
With the loss of there two big players last summer, Nasri who went to rivals Manchester City and Cesc Fabregas to Spanish giants FC Barcelona, Arsenal lost a lot of fans and shirt revenues. Now the are making it up with the signing of mister Arsenal, Thierry Henry. 
The effect of his return raised media interest worldwide in Arsenal and says something extraordinary about the club’s attraction. More importantly it will raise the spirits of those most closely connected with the club. The fans will look forward to seeing him play. It will send a message that Henry identifies with their loyalty. It’s always good to see him return to the Emirates as a spectator but appearing on the pitch is a stronger show of support. He is here to help. Can't wait to see him play in the new Arsenal shirt coming Monday, welcome back Henry.

David Beckham a football player or just a brand?

You can see the name of David Beckham everywhere. From the front cover of magazine to giant billboard or television big screen. Beckham has become a massive marketing icon for the past decade. Although his age is fast catching up on his footballing career, he does not seem to lose much spark in marketing world just yet. Thats why PSG wants to sign the English megastar this week, is he coming back to Europe or will he sign a new cortact with his current club LA Galaxy. You may think why does a French club wants to sign a old football player like Beckham?
I say its just the marketing of football rather than footballing reasons. Of coure Beckham can't bring the club instant succes, the only thing that matters is international fame for the club and more jersey shirts will be sold.
Paris SG are since last summer owned by Nassar Al-Khelaifa from Qatar. He wants to give PSG a new image. The club has been forgotten in internatinal football. The club hasn't won a the French tittle since the 1993/1994 season and are now hungry for succes. Nassar Al-Khelaifa already bought the Argentinian talent Javier Patore from Palermo for 43 million euro. And today PSG appointed Carlo Ancelotti as the new manager, how gets a record salary of 6 million a year. Big plans and dreams are being build right now in Paris.
So is David Beckham a football player or just a  a marketing strategy to boost the shirt sales. I say its just a marketing strategy. Because football is arguably one of the most important sports in the world, and the marketing of football has become an increasingly important issue, as clubs and product owners need to generate more revenue from the sport. In a wider context, football marketing has also become a benchmarking standard for other sports.

Early Champions League exit can cost Manchester United £20m

While London clubs Arsenal and Chelsea continue to mix it with the cream of the continent, United and City, the premier leugue's top two from Manchester have both crashed out of the UEFA Champions League. What does this mean for the English giants Manchester United and Manchester City?
For the Citizens as City is called in England, this means nothing, as it was their first apperance in the Champions League and the club is still builing to become an European top team. As for United it was a disastrous knock-out, not only where they humiliated by Swiss champions fc Basel. Manschester United are know the first team to fall at the first group stage after reaching the previous season's final and what is more important the club also will missout  millions of money prices.

The early exit could cost the club in the region of £20m, according to a leading football finance expert.  In the Champions League the further you go in the competition obviously the more TV money you get.
 Last year United reached the final, for getting to the final, they got about 53m euros [£45m] in TV income and this year they got about 18m euros [£15.3m] less. But if they win the Europa League - a big if - you get £4m.(bbc.co.uk/football) This is why every football club wants to play in the UEFA Champions League, because that's where the big money is, where the biggest companies like Master Card, Ford, Sony Playstation, UniCredit and Heineken are sponsors. The competition is shown in 220 countries and reaches over 4 billion football viewes all over the world. So a big loss fot United, who are know missing the TV money and marketing buzz that these tournaments bring. For Manschester City they are fine because they're bankrolled by Abu Dhabi, so financially they can swallow it up.

Kuala Lumpur to Birmingham

Last nights game between Aston Villa and Arsenal finished in 1-2 victory for the Gunners from London. The first half was good, Aresnal where leading by 0-1 thanks to of cousre the unstoppable Dutchman van Persie. The second half was poor, anyways what is noticed  was the shirt sponsor of the home team. There where Chinese words on it and under it, it said Genting Casinos. I looked it up and Genting Casinos is part of Genting Group an Asian conglomerate with headquartes in Kuala Lupur, Malaysia. I thouth why would an Asian Casino sponsor an English football club? I did not know that Genting UK is the largest casino operator in the United Kingdom. And more important is that the local Casino is just 1 mile from Villa Park Stadium.

So now they where doing smart marketing not only is it in English on the shirts but also in Chinese for the Asian market. Genting Group announced that the sponsorship is for an initial two years, covering the 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 seasons.In June 2011. Genting UK was awarded a casino licence for a 55,000 sq-meter mixed-use facility in Birmingham. In the West Midlands altogether, they have five casinos. theye got about 300 employees in Birmingham and 100 in the rest of the West Midlands. the
development is in partnership with the NEC Groupand is currently under review for planning permission.(www.yogonet.com)