In English Football there are 4 dominant teams, Man United, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Arsenal, collectively they’re known as ‘The Big 4′. Their dominance on the pitch is reflected in their level of support both in the UK and across the globe. The Premier League is a global phenomenon, millions of people across the world are football obsessed and loyal fans of their chosen Premier League team. But this support is nearly always given to a member of the big four, these fans might be able to tell you every player in the Man United squad, but will struggle to name more than a handful of players that reside outside ‘The Big Four’.
For years now clubs have being trying to break into the top 4, some have come close, but none have pushed anyone out of even made the big four into a big five. One of the most recent clubs to fancy their chances is Manchester City, and thanks to some rather well off new owners from Abu Dhabi they might just stand a chance. Man City are determined to become a major force in English and World football, and are doing everything they can to cement their place at the top. As well as splashing the cash on world class players, they’re using other methods off the pitch to ensure the club is perceived and supported like one of ‘The Big Four’.
While the players get on with their end of the bargain (with limited success so far), advertising and marketing agencies are working at convincing the world they are the real deal, and in turn gaining respect and support. Of course it is nothing new to see the influence of marketing on football, this is a sport where players can be almost primarily signed simply for their marketing potential. For better or for worse football became a business long ago, however, it is interesting to see how Man City are using new techniques in order to achieve their goals.
One of the most memorable campaigns was run at the start of the season after Man Utd player Carlos Tevez did the unthinkable and made the move across the city to fierce rivals Man City. Playing on the fact that United are based in Greater Manchester and not the City of Manchester, a poster was put up in the City of Tevez with the words ‘Welcome to Manchester’. In a similar vein City ran ads featuring their new signing Emmanuel Adebayor formerly of Arsenal in the days before the two clubs met. Both campaigns are clear and direct attacks on the competitors, in both a sporting and marketing sense. Although the attack might have had a limited effect in a sporting context (Utd did beat city in their next encounter), it gave football fans around the world a clear message of City’s intent and suggested they were directly taking power off the so called ‘Big 4′.
Man City are also making use of the digital channel to boost their support and reputation across the world. Thanks to top digital agency Poke they have one of the best club websites online. The professional and functional site helps represent the level of quality that City strive for, while various features and social media content allow the club to interact with fans new and old. Man City have seen the importance of their website while other have yet to understand the role it can play. Man City understand that the site is a window into the club for many fans, and they have ensure they provide their fans with an experience that is useful, enjoyable, and appears to be built around the fans needs opposed to the clubs. Although other clubs do have great sites, far too many of them offer very little content of real use, or appear to be built around the needs of anyone but the fans with an abundance of advertising and a limited supply of content that fans actually want.
Furthermore, Man City are creating some great video content to build support before major games. We are now used to the likes of Nike and Adidas creating content using players but it’s not often we see clubs creating such content. Thanks to the Internet this content can easy circulate the globe, and can build support by rousing the people of Manchester to get to the game, and also making people thousands of miles away to consider tuning into the Man City game opposed to the usual choice involving one of the big four. One of the latest pieces involves Craig Bellamy, and as with Tevez and Adebayor it will be pushed in the run up to the Man City game involving Bellamy’s former Big four club, who in this case is Liverpool. Incidentally the remaining big four club in need of build up material is Chelsea, Shaun Wright-Phillips is a possibility for the star, but I think people would love to see something from Wayne Bridge (if this means nothing to you read here).
We are still yet to see Man City perform like a top four team consistently on the pitch, but it appears that if they manage to break into those top four places they’ll have the backing to ensure that they can convert success on the pitch to success off it. What’s more it will be interesting to see how the big four react in the marketing area if Man City start stealing fans as well as points.
