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Leaders: La Liga To Follow English Premier League In Targeting Asian Markets

La Liga needs to follow the English Premier League in heavily promoting its brand in Asia amid the introduction of new rules which will see the pooling of collective broadcast rights in Spain, according to a senior exec of Barcelona. Barcelona and Real Madrid will be stopped from negotiating individual lucrative TV rights deals next year under a new Spanish law, which will bring La Liga more in line with the Premier League in selling its TV rights collectively. Barcelona CMO Laurent Colette, commenting on the new broadcast deal, said, “Once we are outside the borders, we are fighting against the Premier League, Bayern Munich, Italian clubs. Football has still to grow in some countries. The education is not done. I always say the Premier League has done a fantastic job in Asia for the last 30 years because they have educated the market and they have created a solid background for fans.”

FAN BASE: Astute marketing from clubs and the Premier League has helped make it a massive success in Asia, where support is fanatical. As an example of the growth and monetization opportunities for clubs in the top flight of the Spanish league, Colette pointed out that 97% of Barcelona’s fans live outside of Spain. Colette said La Liga has to match the Premier League in its efforts to market itself in Asia, otherwise it will lose fans to rival leagues and entertainment brands. Colette was speaking on a panel at the Leaders Business Summitt in London along with Emilio Collins, exec VP, global marketing partnerships at the NBA, and Adolfo Bara, managing director, sales & marketing at La Liga. The panel discussed a number of issues around sponsorships, including where they take inspiration from when judging who will be suitable sponsorship partners. Collins said, “We look across the entire landscape. We get it from our peer leagues in the U.S., we get it from La Liga, your league [Premier League], and big properties around the world. We also look beyond our own sports, too. We follow closely the activation around the Oscars and the Grammys.” Collins said the key to successful partnerships was to start off on the right footing. He said, “I think it helps when you start the conversation with a real intent to collaborate.” Bara said it took learnings from a wide-range of sources, from F1 to La Liga. Asked a question by the audience whether Premier League clubs such as ManU were in danger of diluting their brands by signing too many sponsors, Colete said Barcelona -- which has substantially fewer sponsors than ManU -- was a club and not “only a commercial machine.”
John Reynolds is a writer in London.

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