In recent years, sponsorship has boomed once again: almost every high-scale broker now liaises with a football club or racing team. It may look surprising, but the choice itself is not: both racing and football have a massive audience of people aspiring to be successful. Since Eintracht Braunschweig became the first club to have partner logos on their kit, brand exposure in football has come a long way. It is now one of the most rewarding ways to showcase a brand on a global scale. Investment of this sort marks a company as successful and trustworthy, and it is therefore obvious why companies choose to enter partnerships like these, which show their dedication to activities outside of the investment sector, as soon as they are mature enough.
A host of companies signed partnership deals with football clubs last year. However, while partnering up with a big name is beneficial in general, it is of more importance how this relationship develops during the whole term and what products appear thanks to it. We have tried to see past the great moment of signing and discover what a partnership truly means.
What can you actually get from signing with a football team? I was asking myself the same question while working to lock down the Premier League club Southampton FC, known as the Saints. It turned out that our collaboration with the Saints didn’t end on July 1, 2015, when we signed the contract and shook hands with club CEO Gareth Rogers. The changes since that day are clear to see.
Pride and persuasion
I would say a great partnership starts long before the big reveal. While looking at potential teams to sign with, I was talking with a lot of Premier League club representatives, but Will Winfield (Southampton FC’s former sponsorship manager) was actually the first to suggest the parallels we could draw between the club and the financial sphere. Will just said to me straight away: “We don’t want another logo on our website; we will work with you and create content based on Southampton FC growing academy talents just as you help traders develop into professionals.” With attention to future partners, the Saints actually won us over. One telephone call instead of thousands of emails with soulless packages redefined my work for at least 18 months.
Let’s be honest, you can’t complain when your company name bears the proud title ‘Official Partner of Southampton Football Club’. I think a lot of companies make the mistake of addressing side agencies, when it should be you that has the experience of securing a big deal.
Getting the Saints shirt with my name on it was the first thing to happen to me at St Mary’s (Southampton FC’s home stadium), and I am still sparkling about it. Plus, emails with congratulations flooded our company inboxes for weeks. Our clients felt proud too, and invested in OctaFX with more enthusiasm.
Full exposure
Call me old-fashioned, but I consider the physical presence of a logo to be something worthwhile. The offline existence of a company logo always feels right, whether it is a Porsche Panamera presented to a contest winner or an LED at St Mary’s itself. Seeing our LED for the first time at the Europa League game against Vitesse Arnhem was almost as good as celebrating Saints winning that game. I remember those first two seconds as if they were in slow motion. Receiving compliments for your LEDs and big stadium screen adverts while watching the game in a branded corporate box might seem like a branding overdose, but not for me.
Following on from this, we were always very keen on filming a great advert that addressed the topic of success as we see it: working hard, delivering the best possible service, and chasing our dreams and seeing them through. The whole production took us around three months from the idea to the filming itself. The lovely English weather even let us film sunny days in October, which was a surprise to the whole crew and the club’s management. When the whole training ground and stadium is at your disposal, it gives you space to create exactly what you want. The club’s fame for raising incredible players also gave us the perfect material to film a story of turning potential into excellence with the right mentoring.
I am not saying it was all plain sailing. However, when the job’s done, you forget the cold, the difficulties in moving equipment, the possibility of a drone colliding with a player, and the embarrassment you feel when confetti used for a final shot is blown all over the stadium. You only seem to recollect how triumphant that first screening at the stadium felt.
Charitable spirit
Our box and ticket giveaways are considered the most successful collaborative initiatives the club has had so far. These may sound like hollow words, but last week I came up with a situation that illustrates this point. The Facebook war that resulted from our promotional giveaway ended up generating streams of positive feedback from people who took part in it previously. Moreover, the box giveaway helped raise £3,500 for Saints Foundation, which I see as an enormous success.
What’s more, we’ve been giving away our box and hospitality tickets to a number of charitable institutions across Hampshire, with the help of the Saints Foundation. The experience creates good family moments for disabled or terminally ill children, and we are proud to be able to do this. We’ve also created a charitable challenge, focused on raising funds for the Foundation, that everyone can take part in – just search #octafxchallenge on social media.
Added benefits
Whether you watch the games in a corporate box or a pub, you always know that, during the season, at least one day of the week is going to be busy. There’s always an answer to how you’re going to spend Saturday or Sunday afternoon. My favourite Saints game has to be against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge – I took friends to see Southampton win 3-1.
What’s more, football is great help in a conversation. Every meeting with partners now starts with questions about Southampton and, thankfully, I love to discuss the topic. Have you ever felt awkward and needed an icebreaker? Partner up with a football team and you’ll never have the same problem again.
Southampton FC did brilliantly last season, but defeats do happen. That said, the team comes back stronger after every draw or loss. They don’t moan – they just work harder. You learn and follow suit, whether your defeat is work-related or personal. On the flip side, every victory changes your week for the better.
To me this partnership has just one drawback – I am now an official fan of Southampton FC, which was nowhere near my bucket list before we started working together. On the other hand, I consider this partnership the best in the industry, and a good example for everyone who might be considering working with a football club.