3) What’s the best way to sell soccer to the States?
There’s no getting away from the fact that North America – the land of milk and honey for anyone involved in global football right now – is a crowded patch of turf. The promise of willing buyers at sky high ticket prices and the most dynamic media market on the planet has understandably attracted every Tom, Dick and Gianni with a set of rights and a passport. The domestic leagues – led by MLS – and the various governing federations – notably CONCACAF and US Soccer – have spent decades building foundations, sustainability and a set of authentic fan cultures. I’m sure it’s sometimes galling for them to see ‘global football brands’ flooding in every summer to reap the fruits of what the domestic powers feel they’ve sewn. In the market right now: the Premier League, with a beefed up US office and a summer series to play, the Bundesliga, Serie A and LaLiga, alongside their long-term partner and new Champions League global sales agency Relevent. Gianni Infantino has reportedly repeated his old Qatari trick and moved to Miami to work some on-the-ground magic as Fifa looks to stepping stone straight from the Club World Cup to next year’s gigantified World Cup. But (despite some great numbers from DAZN’s coverage, however they might have come by the rights) the Club World Cup has shown that there’s no such thing as a guaranteed slam dunk. There’s just so much in the market now, it’s hard for consumers/fans to discern what’s premium. Perhaps the best route forward is simply to resort to hypnotism. That must be in On Location’s thinking. They’ve just announced Rob Lowe – the man with the most piercing eyes in Hollywood – as a brand ambassador as they ramp up their efforts to sell hospitality experiences for the World Cup.
4) What do you call the NHL’s new international strategy?
The ice hockey league is looking to partner with the most popular sports league in selected target markets in a strategy that you could reasonably call a number of things: Piggy-back tactics; the Parasite Plan; bait-and-switch-on-ice. Whatever; it’s smart.
5) Who’s doing the bidding at BYD?
Chinese electric car manufacturer BYD now has annual seven-figure sponsorship deals in place with the Roosters in Australia’s NRL, Uefa, and – as of this week – Inter Milan. There’s no doubt that BYD has established itself as one of the leading players in the globally surging e-car movement, but the deals do seem a little risky on the rights holders’ part. The company’s legal contretemps with former partner Arsenal back in 2018 was one of the stranger – and most imaginative – instances of a sponsor not paying its instalments. On the bright side for Inter, the BYD representative they welcomed to launch the deal is one Stella Li, this year’s ‘World Car Person of the Year’.
6) Is Manchester the cradle of sports agency entrepreneurship?
Last week’s newsletter had an item on the recent spate of agency launches undertaken by recently departed Manchester United executives – Altius8 and Red Tiger Marketing chief among them. But a quick survey of the sports agency landscape reveals that this isn’t necessarily a recent trend – and not something that’s limited to the red half of Manchester. Leo Thompson (Utd, 2011-2014) went on to launch one of the UK’s most successful sponsorship agencies of recent times in TRM Partners. In 2020, TRM was acquired by Two Circles, whose co-founder, Gareth Balch, was himself at Manchester City at the same time Thompson was at United. Elsewhere Richard Ayers, a colleague of Balch’s at City, went on to found Seven League, which, after acquisition and brand evolution, remains the core of the engine powering IMG Digital. Meanwhile Russell Stopford, also at City alongside Ayers and Balch, is now the CEO of the Stadion agency. There must be something in the water(/rain?) in Manchester.
7) If you had a blank sheet of paper, how would you reimagine women’s sport?
We touched on it on this week’s podcast episode with Rexona Global Brand Director Emily Heath. She’s just back from the Euro semi-finals in Switzerland and, while she chose her words carefully, it’s fair to say she was underwhelmed. Coming from one of the biggest backers of women’s football – Rexona and its Unilever parent has huge deals with Uefa, Fifa, Manchester City and Chelsea, as well as a multitude of individual athletes – it will come as a wake-up call for many. There are lessons – positive and not so positive - to be learned from this tournament. Meanwhile, the Havas Play crew have jumped into a wellness room, popped their blue sky thinking caps on and come up with this. It’s worth a read.
8) Please sir, could I have some more?
- LinkedIn book reviews;
- LinkedIn industry-on-industry event reviews;
- LinkedIn week-by-week C-suite onboarding updates;
- LinkedIn squabbles for credit on decades-old ad campaigns.
