Marketing Clout Of ManU, Adidas Makes Pogba's Return A Sound Investment
The £89M ($116M) fee for Paul Pogba "may seem excessive but," accompanied by a "well executed marketing assault," adidas and ManU see #Pogback as a sound investment, according to Andy Francis of PR WEEK. Pogba is back, or as the marketing machine at ManU "exclaimed at 59 minutes before kick-off of the traditional season opener" on Sunday -- #Pogback. Skip forward 36 hours and "at an hour usually reserved for burying news," a 30-second video with Pogba announced his return; "emerging from the shadows, with a suitably cool soundtrack," sporting a ManU emblem shaved and colored into the side of his head, "the video told the world he was, indeed, back." And then what "seemed like moments later" but was actually 90 minutes earlier, you had the adidas version. Normally when you sign a player, football clubs "issue a smiling handshake and holding of the shirt photo followed by a short press conference." This "was different." While Pogba is talented and "exactly the energetic, box-to-box midfielder" ManU has "craved," this was a move "powered by marketing muscle." ManU is a "commercial gargantuan," with more sponsor categories "than any other club in the world." And now, ManU and adidas "have their man." The price tag "is irrelevant." Early figures suggest Pogba will earn the club £40M ($52M) "in the first year alone." Double that for adidas. And that is "without kicking a ball." The deal was a "well-conceived, well planned and well executed marketing assault" (PR WEEK, 8/9).
