As the most anticipated match in club football approaches, Berliners can be proud their city is featured in the official logo for the 2015 Champions League final. European football is a huge business and there is no bigger enterprise in the game than the UEFA Champions League. This competition adopted its present format in 1993…
With a deal in place to replace Budweiser as the official beer of the Major League Soccer (MLS), Heineken hopes to win the hearts of American consumers and improve its market share. Soccer fans love beer and smart companies are capable of milking this connection all the way to the bank. Dutch premium brand Heineken knows…
To cope with big data and enhance its direct marketing strategies, Wolverhampton Wanderers have appointed data management firm CCR as its data-cleansing supplier. ‘Big data’ is everywhere and it is a crucial piece for the success of an overall marketing strategy. Yet, this vast amount of customer data can also represent a challenge. The collected…
The case of Manchester City provides a unique window into the magical world of modern branding, where everything is possible for the right price. Football brands are among the oldest in business and many of them enjoy loyalty that even Coca-Cola or Apple would be envious of. European powerhouses have been building their fan bases…
The position of football as a global sport provides a platform for individuals to operate as a brand. Through advertising endorsements, players lend their name and image to a product. In accordance with McCracken’s (1989) meaning transfer model, characteristics associated with the football player are in turn attributed to the product. Yaya Touré is an…
A new ‘Sponsorship Today’ report shows that Manchester United now earns 11% of all sponsorship income across Europe’s six major leagues. The data, which tracks 1,179 club deals from the Premiership, the Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A, Ligue 1 and the Eredivisie, shows that the Manchester club earns an estimated €146m from its 2014/15 sponsorships and that…
The American national team is gaining respect on the international scene, but the level of domestic earnings from soccer is still modest compared to the other major sports. No country is the world is immune to the football fever and the disease seems to finally be spreading to the United States. A successful appearance of…
With the preliminary rounds underway, and the start of the FA Cup Proper (the point at which the professional teams enter the English Football Association’s annual knockout competition) not far away, what is the backstory to sponsoring this famous old competition? The previous deal, with beer company Budweiser, was worth £8 million-a-year and came to…
Chris B. Murray, a fine artist and illustrator from the US, has recently taken the design of football boots to an entirely new level. He was approached by the World Soccer Shop to create a custom, hand-painted version of the Nike CTR-360 Maestri, honoring Landon Donovan’s last march for the US soccer team (Donovan is…
Within the field of kit sponsoring, Manchester United has reached new heights. From the 2015-2016 season onwards, the club will receive a minimum of $100 million per season from the German sports giant Adidas. Nike pulled out of negotiations as it felt the club was demanding too much money. The new Manchester United/Adidas deal will be the most…