Jon Lansdown: How to rebrand a football club Sports Content Strategy with MrRichardClarke: Exploring sports content, journalism, digital and social media
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- Marketing
Successfully rebranding their image is among the hardest tasks a sports organization will ever seek to accomplish
Fans, especially in football, are tribal, resistant change and lack a clear vision of what they want. But they will tell you, often straight in your face, what they DON’T want.
And anyway, the very concept of clubs as brands will jar against groups who have a deep emotional attachment based on the essence of their identity. When did you last see the logo of Starbucks, Coca-Cola or any other major brand tattooed on the arm a vociferous devotee who is happy to spend a hefty chunk of their time and money travelling around in support?
Many, many clubs have rebranded themselves in recent year but some have had to immediately backtrack in the face of supporters protest. However, Bristol City seemed to have made a success of theirs.
So I travelled down to Ashton Gate to speak to chairman Jon Lansdown about the reinvention of the Robins. Jon holds a similar role at Bristol Sport, the marketing group that supports their ownership of City, Bristol Bears Ruby and Bristol Flyers basketball team.
It was a very impressive setup, evolved organically and laying deep roots of local support. They are clearly doing things the right way and the rebrand was another indication of that.
Successfully rebranding their image is among the hardest tasks a sports organization will ever seek to accomplish
Fans, especially in football, are tribal, resistant change and lack a clear vision of what they want. But they will tell you, often straight in your face, what they DON’T want.
And anyway, the very concept of clubs as brands will jar against groups who have a deep emotional attachment based on the essence of their identity. When did you last see the logo of Starbucks, Coca-Cola or any other major brand tattooed on the arm a vociferous devotee who is happy to spend a hefty chunk of their time and money travelling around in support?
Many, many clubs have rebranded themselves in recent year but some have had to immediately backtrack in the face of supporters protest. However, Bristol City seemed to have made a success of theirs.
So I travelled down to Ashton Gate to speak to chairman Jon Lansdown about the reinvention of the Robins. Jon holds a similar role at Bristol Sport, the marketing group that supports their ownership of City, Bristol Bears Ruby and Bristol Flyers basketball team.
It was a very impressive setup, evolved organically and laying deep roots of local support. They are clearly doing things the right way and the rebrand was another indication of that.