CARSTEN CRAMER is the director of sales and marketing at Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund, also known as BVB. Cramer, who joined the club in '10 from sports marketing agency Sportfive (now Lagardère Sports), is also in charge of the club's internationalization efforts. The German club is currently in China, where it will face off against Premier League clubs ManU and Man City as part of the Int'l Champions Cup preseason tournament. The club has put a focus on the Asian market for its global growth. In '14, Dortmund opened its first int'l office in Singapore, following shirt sponsor Evonik and the German Football League (DFL) into the market. Cramer spoke with SBD Global about Dortmund's trip to China, local partnerships and future opportunities in the U.S.
On this year's summer tour to China ...
Carsten Cramer: Asia as a continent is a designated target market for Borussia Dortmund, and China alone is a huge market -- not only for us, of course. While we never will forget where our roots are -- in Dortmund and the Ruhr area -- to play top friendly matches against the two Manchester clubs offers a huge chance for us in terms of public perception, both here and back home in Europe and Germany, as well as global reputation. Speaking for the Bundesliga, its TV rights for China will be awarded within the next few months. As one of the top clubs from the country of the reigning world champions we feel obliged to do all we can to strengthen the image of German football in China as well.
On the importance of the U.S. market ...
Cramer: You simply can’t be everywhere in the world at the same time. For the moment, we have decided to focus on Asia and countries such as Japan and China. We want to engage here entirely and not just a bit on all five continents. Quite frankly, for such a real worldwide approach we as a club would be missing the necessary structures, too. At the same time, I of course wouldn’t rule out entirely the possibility of approaching the U.S. market next with more intensity.
On what makes Dortmund different than other European top clubs ...
Cramer: Emotion, maybe. And passion. Not to forget: True love, which is, we feel, more than just a slogan to people working for and around BVB. All in all, we might be just a bit different compared to most of the other big clubs in the world; don’t forget we are No. 8 in terms of the UEFA ranking in European football. But as much as we enjoy success every time it comes around for us, we as well enjoy being challengers more often than top dogs. We feel quite successful in finding our niche, both nationally and internationally.
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Dortmund arrives in China.
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On the importance of local partners in the markets ...
Cramer: Very important. Only by creating sustainable connections can one gain acceptance in a market such as the whole of Southeast Asia. Just to come over here, playing two matches while making a certain amount of money -- this will never be our approach. On the contrary, it is for good reason that BVB engages heavily and with full passion in youth development and football schools not only in our home town of Dortmund, but in Japan, Malaysia, Thailand and lately China, too. These cooperations not only exist on paper. We live them, for example by sending over our coaches and sharing our know-how to other parts of football planet. A partner like Evonik, who has high reputation in certain markets itself, helps even further in opening up doors for us to walk through and endeavor new possibilities.
On the markets with the biggest growth potential ...
Cramer: The ones I mentioned before. Southeast Asia at first hand, with focus not only on China and Japan, but on Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and more countries in this region as well. Then there are neighbor countries for Germany such as Poland, Austria and Switzerland. And last, but not least, the U.S.
Hangin' With runs each Friday in SBD Global.
