Adidas CEO Herbert Hainer took the unusual step of criticizing ManU's style of play under Manager Louis van Gaal this week, describing the club's performance as "not exactly what we want to see," according to Shona Ghosh of MARKETING MAGAZINE. The sponsor etiquette in sport to date "has been to keep mum on a club’s performance -- if it's going really badly, quietly drop the sponsorship" and cite "a change in strategy," or do not say "anything at all, as in the case of Land Rover and England Rugby." But Hainer's comments and "last year's delayed rumblings from the FIFA sponsors suggest this could be about to change." Alliance Manchester Business School lecturer in marketing Leah Gillooly said, "While there has previously been suspicion and a perception that sponsors are involved in on-pitch matters, this is the first real instance I can recall of a sponsor openly commenting on the playing style of the team." Gillooly added that adidas "likely perceived that the scale of its investment gives the brand right to comment" on the "mismatch between the current reality and what they would like to see." This is not "just about shirt sales either, Gillooly says, but squeezing the most out of the multimillion pound investment and catching up with Nike." With top clubs commanding "huge fees for sponsorship," it is likely brands will "want to see more bang for their buck, and that means voicing their opinions." Gillooly said, "Rights-holders should be increasingly prepared for sponsors who want to become more involved in the team’s activities" (MARKETING MAGAZINE, 1/6).
SOMETHING HAS TO GIVE: In London, Jim White opined until now, "in an admirable display of loyalty," the ManU board has "stood by" its man. Exec Vice-Chair Ed Woodward "does not want to be associated with a failed appointment." He wants his recruit to succeed. And he is "prepared to let him do it his way." But Hainer’s intervention "may yet prove the most telling." ManU’s financial model is "predicated on commercial affiliation." The TV money and gate receipts "may be the bedrock, but it is the associations with Bulgarian tyre specialists and official Malaysian potato chip manufacturers that provide the profits." And none of those -- not the global wellness partner, not the Singapore noodle partner, not the Nigerian soft drinks partner -- "want to attach their brand to a product that is becoming increasingly associated with being boring." For those in charge, "this is now serious." Something will "have to give." Because this is ManU. And at Old Trafford "for some time now it has not been the fans who matter." It is the "money men" (TELEGRAPH, 1/6).
