Amongst the legions of Chinese fans who tuned in to El Clásico (Real Madrid against Barcelona) last weekend would have likely been execs from some of China’s top brands. Chinese brands such as Wanda and Huawei are making investment moves into La Liga, seduced by the growing appeal of the league in China along with the cheaper sponsorship properties compared to the English Premier League. Pitch CEO Henry Chappell said, “La Liga is making a greater effort to market itself globally. As an example, Chappell points to the league’s staging of "LFP (Spanish Football League) World Challenge" -- a series of friendly matches hosted in Asia and other markets to help promote Spanish football overseas. Already, a number of big ticket Chinese brands have invested in Spain, with more expected to follow. Chinese telecom brand Huawei was one of the first brands to be active in La Liga, inking a deal with the LFP. It followed that up with a communications deal with current La Liga champions Atletico Madrid.
FOLLOW THE LEADER: As experts point out, where a huge brand goes, others follow suit. Chinese firm Sockatyes supplies clubs in the top two divisions of Spanish football with elastic advertising straps to be worn on their socks, and earlier this year a division of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce struck a deal with La Liga to help Chinese brands market themselves in the Spanish league. Meanwhile, Chinese real estate company Wanda Group is reportedly negotiating to buy a 20% stake in Atletico Madrid. The lure of La Liga has spread further across Asia too, with East United, the South Korean and Australian investment company, signing a deal to be shirt sponsor of Levante.
GROWING STAR POWER: While the appeal of La Liga still lags behind the Premier League, experts believe it is catching up fast and is being helped by the global stardom of top players playing in Spain, such as Neymar. Shea Brady, business director, Asia, Sports Revolution, the int'l sports media and rights business, said, “Neymar has become a particularly huge star in Asia, and if fans want to watch him week in and week out, they need to watch La Liga.” La Liga is further looking to draw bigger TV audiences by shifting its kickoff times to be more accessible to Asian audiences, like the Premier League, which attracts a prime time audience with kickoff times of 7pm and 9pm.
KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE: Another important factor driving the popularity of La Liga, according to Brady, is the different way in which Asian fans consume football to European fans. “Asian audiences follow the best teams and players and change their allegiances regularly. La Liga continues to bring the top talent into the league; Ronaldo, Bale, Suarez, Messi, Rodriguez. If the best players are on show in La Liga then Asian audiences will continue to be more attracted,” he said. Underpinning these factors is the relative ease and comparative cheapness in which Chinese brands can attach their brands to La Liga clubs compared with Premier League Clubs.
MORE OPPORTUNITIES: As Chappell points out, sponsorship opportunities are likely to be more readily available in La Liga than the Premier League. Outside of Barcelona and Real Madrid, the economic crisis has hurt Spanish clubs, some of which have struggled to find shirt sponsors in recent years. Such a dire economic climate has hit the value of the clubs themselves. Simon Chadwick, professor of sports business strategy at Coventry University, said, “Properties are cheap to buy. Unlike the Premier League and its clubs, La Liga and its clubs are currently relatively inexpensive to acquire.”
John Reynolds is a writer in London.
