THE IMPACT OF BRAND & MEDIA IN FOOTBALL
Executive Summary
After reading this article, you’ll have learnt how 2 football clubs, Wrexham AFC & Venezia FC, have utilised the power of Brand & Media to increase their profile off the pitch. We explore topics like revenue growth, improving social media followings, increasing merchandise sales & more.
If your club isn’t working hard on it’s branding and media, then this article will open your eyes to why you need to get working on them now.
Introduction:
Brand, in this article, refers to the way a football club is perceived by those who interact with the club, in any way. Think fans, match day attendees, merchandise, social media interactions, canteens, and more. Basically, if your club has a product, service, or experience, that is part of your brand.
Media, in this article, refers to any means of communication. Social media, broadcast, websites, video, etc.
Neither brand nor media speak to the on-field performance. Good performances are critical to success, that goes without saying, but regardless of performance, ignoring your brand and media immensely restricts the chances your club has to grow.
With a decent brand & media strategy in place, there is almost no reason that your club cannot become a global brand.
The Impact of Media - Told through Wrexham AFC
Wrexham AFC is a Welsh club that plays in the National League - the 5th tier of the English game. This division sits under the EFL League 2; statistically, it’s the hardest to get out of. Wrexham has been in this league for the last 15 years...
Established in 1864, the club has battled with success & failure ever since. From titles to relegation, bad owners, near bankruptcy and more, they’re been through more than most clubs.
In 2020, Wrexham was purchased by Ryan Reynolds & Rob McElhenney. The RR McReynolds Company has been very hard at work, lifting the profile of the club by utilising modern-day media to its best.
Since the takeover, Wrexham has flirted with promotion consistently. Off the pitch, the club has succeeded tremendously and is arguably, a global brand. Despite playing in the English 5th division.
Wrexham AFC launched the ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ docu-series on Disney+ in August 2022. This series documents Wrexham AFC’s season through the eyes of the new owners, fans, players, staff & more. This series is a prime example of football storytelling done right. ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ takes you on a season-long journey with the goal of promotion, except the 90 minutes are hardly the focus.
This series instead focuses on a few other themes like fan emotions & connections, the behind-the-scenes of being a player & manager, how a club both interacts and affects a community, and the American owners learning the game & buying into the rich emotions it can make us feel.
It’s alleged that the clubs brought in US$3.2m from the first season of the docu-series.
Since the takeover & restructure of the media strategy, Wrexham have experienced unprecedented growth online, across a range of platforms, and as a business. This can be attributed to their consistent, quality output across a range of media channels, and their 'Welcome to Wrexham' Disney docu-series.
Media Channels used:
Instagram | Tik Tok | TV | Twitter | YouTube
The Impact
3x
in revenue
900,000+
new social media followers
500%
increase in merch sales
Social Growth
Since the takeover in 2020, and the ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ Disney series, the club has bought in nearly 1m+ new followers across a range of platforms.
Not a bad result for some consistent, quality posts across all channels.
Revenue
Wrexham is a club with a tricky history. Plagued by bad owners, relegation, and forced transfers, revenue has never been a given.
While revenue doesn't show profit and loss, the club had reported making a profit in 2018, before consistent losses due to pandemic related match-day closures.
While we don't yet have figures for 22/23, we can be certain the trend is up.
Welcome to ‘The Rondo’.
The Rondo is our unique club building system.
Our system is circular as the process never stops. While players can rest after the game, your brand needs to be working all the time.
The Rondo focuses on the crucial foundations of brand building. Once we've built your brand strategy, your journey around 'The Rondo' begins.
Wrexham - through ‘The Rondo’
If you look at Wrexham’s journey since the takeover, it’s clear that a new brand strategy was implemented with the aim of growing the club’s presence in media. As you follow our system around, you start to see how the club has gone from strength to strength.
Taken with a pinch of salt, we’re aware that a club of Wrexham’s level may have a budget set aside to really drive media initiatives. With that said, we can still use Wrexham as a brilliant case study of how media, used right, can impact a football club.
With an ever-increasing amount of eyes on the club and a growing bond between fans and Wrexham through media, they have enjoyed the fruits of their labour though increased revenue and audience growth.
The Impact of Brand - Told through Venezia FC
The Venice-based club have been around since 1907 and play in Italy's second-oldest football stadium.
In 2015 Venezia applied for bankruptcy. This was their third time in 10 years... Today, Venezia is recognised as a global brand, and despite playing in Serie B in 22/23, they're arguably one of Italy's biggest teams.
So, how does a club go from 3 bankruptcies to being a global brand…?
Let’s break it down through ‘The Rondo’.
Ted Philipakos, Venezia’s Chief Brand Officer & team, spotted a disconnect between the club and the city and quickly implemented a new brand strategy that saw Venezia FC become part of the Venetian fabric.
The club re-connected to the city by celebrating the local Venetian sub-cultures, through a simplified modern approach to the club’s branding, design, merch & content.
By modernising the old brand, while keeping the city in mind, Venezia FC found a way to put the club on the world football map. This move simultaneously strengthened the club’s image within football culture, but also Venice’s.
OLD
NEW
A club’s content is crucial to its brand. The better the content, the stronger the brand, and the stronger the connection with fans & culture.
By showcasing more of Venice throughout its kit launch content, the club further aligned itself with the city, while at the same time, elevated content took social media by storm.
This put the Serie B club in front of new football fans, but also in front of football shirt fans, fashion fans and other sub-cultures. There’s no doubt the elevated content contributed to brand growth & increased revenue. The club continually sell out of its merchandise.
2016
2022
A strong brand strategy gave Venezia the power to align its sponsors with its values.
The club chose to move away from a global chemical company and instead strengthen their connection to Venetian culture & heritage.
OLD
NEW
Venezia cuts ties with Nike and moved to Kappa, giving them full freedom over their apparel.
Venezia now enjoys incredible interest in merchandise, with over 95% of their orders now coming from outside Italy.
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NEW
In Conclusion:
Wrexham AFC & Venezia FC have utilised both brand & media to positively influence their brand, club, following & bottom line.
By looking at these clubs through ‘The Rondo’, we begin to understand how each club went about some of the different areas and what the cause was for each.
Nowadays, brand and media are more important than ever for football clubs. A good strategy works at every level, and if executed correctly, you can put your club in a position to experience the same avenues of growth that these two have built.
The beauty of a good brand strategy is that it’s never about making money, that’s a side effect, the real purpose is ensuring that your club builds a genuine connection with the fans and city.
Want to use Brand & Media to lift your club?
Dane Hinchy | Co-founder
dane@finalthirdstudios.com
0435 556 475