City Football Group CMO Nuria Tarre is "taking inspiration" from other sports, entertainment and digital channels as she "looks to bolster" Man City’s fan base and extend the club’s reach beyond matchdays, according to Ellen Hammett of MARKETING WEEK. With a background in telecommunications, aviation and tourism, Tarre is the first to admit she is "definitely not a sports expert." But her appointment as CMO of City Football Group, which also owns MLS side NYCFC and A-League side Melbourne City, among others, "came at a time the sports group was looking to increase its fame off the pitch and appeal to a wider fan base." Tarre said, "What's interesting about our model is we're trying to get inspiration from other industries and build a leadership team that is very diverse with very different backgrounds. If we want to grow faster, we can't do the same thing the others do; we need to innovate and think differently." While she admitted the group does not "have all the answers," she said that the right answers will come from "bringing ideas to the table, looking at what works in other industries and reshaping the model." This means going beyond the 90-minute game to connect with fans "as much off the pitch" as it does during matchdays. The club recently launched an eight-part documentary series on Amazon Prime. Tarre: "What we've done as a club is open the doors and let [Amazon] get in, which from an organizational point of view has been quite challenging because it had access to the dressing room, the game, the game at halftime, which is something that never happens." She is "especially interested" in exploring opportunities in digital, as well as working with influencers to "find the best way to serve the purpose of the brands that want to partner with us, and to serve our own purpose, which is to grow our audience and connect with them and our fans more globally and keep growing, generating revenue if we can." Tarre also sees it as "her duty to raise the profile of women’s football." Man City has made "a number of moves to help accelerate this," from being the first to livestream the women’s games on Facebook Live in '16 and having the first sleeve partner, to tripling engagement with female fans with its "Same City, Same Passion" campaign. Yet women's sponsorship "remains a challenge" and brands "seem reluctant to dip their hands into their wallets." Tarre: "We know there's not much revenue yet and there's a lot more to do, but we believe this is a long-term shot" (MARKETING WEEK, 9/25).
