Essay
Subject: Marketing
Topic: Chelsea FC & 750 Online Advertising Man City
Introduction
Online
advertising has become an important tool in modern marketing
strategies. In fact, it has been considered an efficient method of
reaching out to the masses, regardless of the distance between the
marketer and the customers
(Soderman 2011).
In the United Kingdom, soccer companies have increasingly taken the
advantage of the internet technology and e-commerce to reach out for
customers and fans through online advertising and ticket sales.
According to Plunkett
(2010),
over the last 15 years, most English football clubs have developed
sophisticated online advertisement and ticket sale systems that allow
them to compete for number of ticket sales and club membership. In
fact, the internet has allowed these organizations to go beyond
boarders in search of membership, with a large number of club members
registering from outside the United Kingdom
(Chadwick & Ham 2012).
The purpose of this paper is to provide an in-depth analysis of the
Chelsea FC & 750 Online Advertising Man City for the two leading
clubs in the United Kingdom as an example of how clubs are
increasingly investing in online advertising.
Chelsea Online
Advertisement
In
2011, it was reported that Chelsea FC was intensively hunting for a
digital agency, several years after it first launched its online
portal. The purpose of the digital agency was to devise a football
competition not only on the field, but also in terms of global
membership and ticket sales across the United Kingdom. During this
period, the club was intensively approaching a number of agencies
directly to discuss the deal, which it expected to last for several
decades. With this initiative, the Club expected to create fantasy in
the game, an interactive and virtual competition in which the club
would be able to manage its professional players against its rivals
in the United Kingdom and across Europe
(Gratton et al 2011).
At the time of the search, most clubs, including Chelsea, lacked a
dedicated digital agency. In fact, they were forced to handle their
digital activities in-house, which was quite cumbersome and costly.
Looking at the case of Chelsea FC, the club had been working with
Space, the digital agency that supports Samsung international. It is
worth noting that Samsung international is the official sponsor of
the club. The deal between Space and Chelsea FC was primarily based
on a campaign dubbed “experience football”.
Chelsea
has also launched an online TV portal, which contains new and
exclusive context on the Chelsea FC, the club’s official channels
on Sky News. The maintenance and production tasks for the TV portal
have been accomplished by Perform, the renowned sports media
specialist. The Club’s online TV channel contains a number of
features that aim at reaching out to the masses through the internet.
For instance, it is rich in news related to the club, its current
issues, future expectations and fans online discussion and
contribution. Interviews, behind-the-scenes features and live press
conferences on the club are provided daily on the online TV portal,
which has become popular among clubs in Europe.
This
online initiative has benefited the club in reaching out to and
communicating with the stakeholders, including the remote fans across
the world. This was quite impossible in the previous setting, where
the content from Chelsea TV was only available to subscribers of the
Sky Company, a pay-TV Company. With this model, there were
inefficiencies in communication and socialization between the club
and its remote members as well as between the remote members.
From
the Club’s online portal, a large volume of information regarding
the club and its activities is present and duly updated with time.
This includes the Club’s performance in the current season,
including the number of times it has won, drew and lost to other
clubs in the premier league, FA Cup, League Cup, Full Mem Cup as well
as the UEFA championship. In addition, the portal has a list of
matches the club is set to play within the current season in all the
aforementioned leagues. The portal further portrays the club’s
history, current signings and current activities related to the club,
its players, officials as well as fan clubs. It is also worth noting
that the portal provides the public and members with a ticket price
list, from which a person can choose to pay online or physically. In
this context, it is clear that the club has established different
ticket price lists for the 2012-2013 season based on the league. For
instance, the FA Premier League has the highest prices for tickets,
with the club charging some £64 for an adult member and £25 for
junior. This is comparable to FA Cup and Europa League, where an
adult has to part with £30 and £25 respectively.
Online Advertising
Man City
On
its part, Manchester City Football Club, one of the largest and
successful clubs in the United Kingdom, has a complex but well
developed online advertising system. First, the club has an
attractive and informative website that provides the members, fans
and the public in general with a wide range of information regarding
the club. For instance, the website, known as the Manchester City
(mcfc.co.uk) has a number of pages that provide information to the
searchers. The first priority is given to the news section in which
all news updates are provided within the shortest time possible. In
this section, match report, features and match highlights seek to
update the fans and the public on the on-field related issues for the
club
(Humphreys & Howard 2012).
This includes such news as the club’s performance on the field,
player performances on the field and the highlights on previous and
immediate appearances on all the four leagues. In addition, it
contains updates on the future appearances for every week and a
timetable of the events the club is set to play within the current
season.
In
addition, the club’s portal emphasizes on ticket sale in its
“Ticket and travel” section. In this page, the prices of tickets
for every match the club plays are shown arranged and grouped
according to three categories. The first category is the Blue
Membership Tickets that allows members to join the club as fans and
pay reduced prices once a registration process has been validated.
Members of the Blue Membership category are given the first priority
when purchasing tickets for every match a well as any travel event
with the club. In addition, they are set to benefit from reduced
prices, but the registration process for blue membership requires a
higher price
(Wagg 2012).
Secondly, the club offers ordinary membership tickets for every match
and travel, with the fans having to part with some amount of money
determined by the nature of event and the popularity of the league in
which every match played is managed. For instance, according to the
advertisement on the portal, FA Premier League tickets fetch higher
prices than those sold during other events such as the EUEFA.
In
addition to the website, Man City Club owns and operates a TV
channel- the City TV. Like the Chelsea TV, the City TV is designed to
meet the public and members’ demands with regards to timely
updating on the issues and events related to the club. In particular,
the online TV is available on the internet through the club’s
official website. In addition, it is available on the Sky pay TV.
In
both the online TV and the website, Man City club has an intensive
advertisement system, especially in terms of tickets and travels.
Both channels aim at reaching out for the masses, with the intent
technology encouraging and allowing the public to join the club
membership as fans and friends of the club from wherever they are in
the world
(Rosner & Shropshire 2012).
In fact, since the launching of the online advertising, it has been
reported that the majority of the members, friends, shareholders and
the public access the tickets and membership through the online
system. The initiative has greatly reduced clogging at the outlets
that previously served as the main sellers for the club’s tickets.
Prior to any event, the club develops intensive advertisement on its
online programs both on the City TV and the website to increase the
amount of sales and membership subscriptions.
References
Chadwick,
S & Ham, S, 2012, Managing
Football: An International Perspective,
Routledge, London.
Gratton,
C et al, 2011, The
Global Economics of Sport,
Routledge, London
Humphreys,
BR & Howard, DR 2012, Business
of Sports, The: Volume 1, Perspectives on the Sports Industry,
ABC CLIO, Cambridge, UK,
Plunkett,
JW, 2010, Plunkett's
Sports Industry Almanac 2009,
Plunkett Research, London,
Rosner,
S & Shropshire, K, 2012, The
Business of Sports,
Jones and Bartlett, London.
Soderman,
S, 2011, Football
and Management: Comparisons Between Sport and Enterprise,
Palgrave MacMillan, London.
Wagg,
S, 2012, British
Football & Social Exclusion,
Routledge, London