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.

The BBC is to a launch a new series aimed at 12-17 year olds called The Cut. But this is not just another Grange Hill or Byker Grove , this series is embracing the new technologies available to the youth of today, as well as their new attitudes towards entertainment.

The show will be aired on TV and online, and in the spirit of social media and the end of one way broadcast communication the audience will be able to influence the show through various online activity. What’s more the thirst for short bursts of entertainment as provided by youtube and MTV will be satisfied by 5 minute clips available online.

Contrary to what a lot of people might be saying research shows the UK youth are still watching TV, but they are also spending a lot of time online, often while they are watching TV. The BBC seem to be one of the few who has started to embrace the possibilities based around the fact people are browsing online while they watch TV, allowing people to rate football players performances while they watch the match, or play games related to the programme while it airs such as the apprentice result predictor. It will be interesting to see how the BBC communicates simultaneously via the two channels during this new series.

BBC – The Cut

During this year’s  Carling Cup Final (English Football) Carling are giving football fans the chance to use their electronic advertising boards to display messages of  support for their team.

Fans need to send in their banner suggestions via the carling website, and as long as it’s not offensive it might be displayed during the game.

Not a bad idea to drive fans to the site and get them involved with the event and the brand. However, surely it would be a much better idea to allow fans to text or email relevant messages of support during the game. You could still drive fans to the site by requiring them to register before the game. As well as being more engaging and impressive it should avoid the inevitable message of optimistic support for the team that is losing 4-0 in the last minute of the game!

image: eurosport

Remember when ITV decided to run an ad break at the most important part of a football match, consequently missing the only goal of the game?

Well one of the brands shown in the ad break has created a clever little viral for anyone who missed the goal. Tic Tac have re-created the goal with their orange and green Tic Tacs.

It’s clearly very budget, and been rushed together. But these shortcomings are usually forgivable in quick response virals, problem is this wasn’t really quick response, with the clip coming out a week after the event. Still, it’s a nice idea, just that it could have been a lot more effective if they’d sent those Tic Tacs down to the park a little earlier.

Above is a clip of last nights FA Cup reply between Everton and Liverpool. The game is at 0-0 and there are minutes remaining, the last thing you want is an ad break (especially if one team score!)…

ITV had apologised and claimed it was an accident. However, this is not the first time they have upset sports fans with their poorly timed ad breaks, a few years back they did the equivalent in Formula 1 by running an ad break (this time intentionally) during the last few laps when two drivers were side by side going for the victory.

So would you want your ad viewed during this unexpected ad? You should get the undivided attention of the audience, but it might this attention might come with a solid dose of rage. Surely this is not something you want your brand to be associated with?

Perhaps not; to Everton fans am sure the joy of beating their biggest rivals in the last minute quickly overshadowed the disappointment of actually seeing the goal live, and Liverpool fans were probably too busy cursing the manner of the goal.

But the main reason you would want your ad to be placed in this untimely ad break is demonstrated in this very post, thanks to youtube people all over the country will be watching these ads over and over today, not in a rage but having a good laugh at the failings of ITV.

Not a bad attempt from Adidas here, going for the ‘is it true is it fake’ theme to get people talking. Something Nike have played with in the past with Kobe Bryant jumping over a car, and Ronaldinho hitting a cross bar with serious precision. Obviously these are all fake (sorry to ruin the magic), but they’re almost possible just to make you wonder.

However, in the latest Nike viral they’ve moved on from the did he-didn’t he, and now we all know he didn’t but we don’t care because that’s not the point here. Maybe Nike know that we all know they’re not real now, or they knew Ronaldo’s acting was going to be so poor that it wasn’t even worth trying to make anything look real. Another good viral though.

Source: oleole.com

Really add to your lounge football watching experience with these flood light lamps.

They’re not quite as big as the real thing, or actually as these pictures might suggest these lights would fit quite nicely on any sports fan’s desk, I’m seriously considering a pair.

£70 on Firebox