This post has been brought to you by Keith, Ian and Andy.
It isn’t surprising that brands want to align themselves with football. It’s exciting, it’s trendy and it is a topic of conversation online and in workplaces up and down the country. In short: people like football. So, align your brand with it and your brand will also look exciting and trendy. People will talk about your brand online and in workplaces up and down the country.
They will like your brand because they like football. Pretty simple really.
Except, it isn’t that simple. And here is why I think so many brands get it so spectacularly wrong.
The type of football fan you talk about in your brainstorming meetings doesn’t exist
The type of football fan that people who aren’t football fans think of as football fans are not actually football fans. Understand? No?
Let me explain. Years ago, Nick Hornby released Fever Pitch – it was a story about “real” football fans – obsessive, compulsive and passionate followers of their team. People who ensured their entire week revolved around “the big match”. They had pre-match routines, superstitions and “lucky pants”.
It made being a football fan trendy. It was carried on by things like Soccer AM. By the rise of the celebrity fan spotted in the crowd on Match of the Day.
All very nice. But complete bollocks.
Now – don’t get me wrong. There are some fans like this. They might be called Keith, Ian or Andy. They probably have lucky pants.
But these days they are a tiny, miniscule percentage of the whole “football fan” demographic. If you are targeting these guys, or hoping that by portraying them you will resonate with this hugely engaged group of consumers you are missing a trick. For two reasons:
1) Match-going fans are too cynical for this approach. They know what you are trying to do, so stop it. Football fans will take the piss first and ask questions later. It’s not as cute a place to be as you think it is. It’s acerbic and at times volatile. And that’s what people love about it. Not James Corden talking about which players look like garden vegetables.
2) Match-going fans are an irrevelvance. See below.
Fans at the match are window dressing
This might annoy some people. Or depress them. It depresses me to be honest. But the reality is that the people who sit in the seats at Premier League stadia are an irrelevance in the bigger scheme of things. They are there to add colour and flavour to a television programme. Just like the audience in the X Factor or the people (idiots) that boo at departing Big Brother contestants.
The vast majority of football fans consume football like any other TV show. There are heroes and villians. There is a storyline and a dramatic arc throughout. The off pitch stuff is as important as the on pitch stuff to most people. A massive majority of people who would consider themselves fans of Premier League teams will never go to game – it probably never crosses their mind.
Football is part of a larger cultural mix for most people. They file their team alongside their favourite bands, and players alongside movie stars.
They have grown up supporting teams from afar, and having their football supporting agenda dictated to them by TV companies and are perfectly happy with that. If they do go to a game it will be an event – a visit on a par with catching an arena tour from The Foo Fighters.
This isn’t to say this type of fan isn’t passionate, or doesn’t care. It’s just different from how people like me grew up. They are worth targeting, and football is still something that aspirational non-sport brands should be looking at. Just make sure you know your audience.
If not – you could just end up with something like this:
