Football teams going international — The strategic ...moodle.univ-lille2.fr/pluginfile.php/90578/mod_resource/content/0... · presentation of the main results. A discussion and

André Richelieu specialises in brandmanagement and sports marketing. His researchmostly relates to how professional sports teamscan leverage their brand equity by capitalising onthe emotional connection they share with theirfans, how professional sports teams caninternationalise their brand, and how sportsteams can improve fans’ experience at thesporting venue and outside the stadium, andincrease fans’ attachment to the team. MrRichelieu’s work has been published extensivelyin North America and Europe.

Michel Desbordes is a specialist in sportsmarketing and his research focuses on themanagement of sporting events, sportsponsorship and marketing applied to football.He has written 16 books and 22 academicarticles (including in the International Journal ofSports Marketing & Sponsorship, EuropeanSport Management Quarterly and theInternational Journal of Sport Management andMarketing). In January 2009, Mr Desbordesbecame the new editor of the InternationalJournal of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship.

ABSTRACT

Sports, which not so long ago were merely a verylocal affair, have become a major global activity.Through media, exhibition games and toursabroad, star players, fan communities on the weband licensed merchandising, among other things,

sports teams have increased their global appealand thus their international reach. Beyond theReal Madrid, Manchester United, New YorkYankees and the likes that usually come tomind, sports clubs have realised the power thatbranding encapsulates in marketing their teambeyond their local market. This paper looks atsports teams as brands in their own right andhow they can achieve their internationalisationas such. In this regard, a graph of theinternationalisation of a sports team brand isintroduced. The authors then present fourstrategies sports team brands could use in orderto grow internationally and, when theirpotential allows, to become global brands. In thisregard, cases of European football teams areused. The discussion is concluded with areflection on the internationalisation of a sportsteam brand that takes into account the nature ofthe sport involved, the club’s country of originand the way the league is managed.

Keywords: internationalisation, sportsteams, brand, football, sponsorship,Europe

BACKGROUNDCompanies in the consumer goodsindustry have long understood theopportunities that foreign countriesrepresent. Hence, it should be no surpriseto find Adidas in Indonesia, Dunkin

Journal of Sponsorship Volume 3 Number 1

HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 1754-1360 JOURNAL OF SPONSORSHIP VOL. 3. NO. 1. 10–22 DECEMBER 200910

Football teams going international — Thestrategic leverage of branding

André Richelieu* and Michel DesbordesReceived (in revised form): 12th July, 2009*Marketing Department, Faculty of Business Administration, Université Laval, Québec, QCG1V 0A6, CanadaTel: +1 (418) 656 2131 ext. 7710; E-mail: [email protected]

Richelieu:JSC page.qxd 07/12/2009 14:39 Page 10

Donuts in Germany, McDonald’s in India,Nestlé in Belarus, P&G in Romania and soon. It is only recently that sports teamshave started capitalising on markets outsidetheir immediate reach, however. This ispartly due to the nature of professionalsports, which, for a long period of time,represented a local affair, limited, at best, toa national or continental event. Owing tothe progress of technology and theincreasing exchange across countries andcultures, professional sports haven taken ona global dimension — all the more so sincesome teams (FC Barcelona, DallasCowboys, Manchester United etc) andplayers (David Beckham, Roger Federer,Tiger Woods etc) have achieved the statusof global brands and are managed as such.Some sports team managers interviewedby the present authors underlined that‘there might be room for only a few globalsport team brands’. As such, the increasingfinancial disparities between establishedclubs in major leagues (English, Spanish,Italian, German and French footballleagues) and the rest of the pack mightcause a fracture between the haves and thehave-nots and, consequently, affect theability of teams to expand beyond theiroriginal market.

But how does one go from a localproduct to a national and global brand insports? What are the determinants ofsuccess required to start building a globalsports team brand? What process should asports team follow? What strategies areavailable to a sports team to establish itselfas a global brand? Some answers to thesequestions will be found by focusing on thecase of European football teams. First, thepaper will have a look at the concept ofsports teams as brands. Secondly, the issuesand research objectives will be highlighted.The methods will follow, beforepresentation of the main results. Adiscussion and conclusion will end thepaper.

INTERNATIONALISATION OF SPORTSTEAMS AS BRANDS

The value of a brand

As in many industries today, the brandrepresents the most important asset of asports club.1 This brand is composed ofintangible benefits, such as the emotionsfans experience at the stadium and thesense of belonging to the team, andtangible benefits, such as the result of thegame and team’s merchandising.2

Accordingly, in professional sports, alongwith entertainment, religion and politics,the emotional response from fans isstronger than in any other industry.3 Aprofessional sports team has the potential tobuild its brand equity by capitalising on theemotional relationship it shares with itsfans. This is all the more importantconsidering that teams often sacrificecustomer loyalty and long-term associationfor short-term revenue growth.4

By defining a strong team identity,which constitutes the first of three steps ofthe general model for developing brandequity in sports (Figure 1), a team could beable to overcome a losing record.5 This isfollowed by positioning the sports team inthe market and then performingmarketing actions that are not onlycoherent with the identity and positioningof the team but also reinforce them. Theteam’s brand identity or personality isimportant because it provides the clubwith direction and meaning.6 Thispersonality should increase consumerpreference and usage, arouse emotions andincrease the level of trust and loyalty.7

As far as a global brand is concerned, itneeds to find a way to provide relevantmeaning and experience to people invarious markets.8 A global brand createsperceptions of brand superiority, qualityand preference among consumers.9 Assymbols of cultural ideals, global brands aregenerally sought after by consumers.10 In

HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 1754-1360 JOURNAL OF SPONSORSHIP VOL. 3 NO. 1. 10–22 DECEMBER 2009 11

Richelieu and Desbordes


brief, a strong brand is built on a clearidentity and positioning, and nurturedwith coherent marketing actions.

The internationalisation of a brandgenerally and in sport specifically Inspired by the literature on theinternationalisation of the firm,11–15 someauthors have reflected on theinternationalisation of brands, both as aprocess16,17 and as a set of strategies.18,19

Their contribution helps to betterunderstand how a brand could move alongthe ‘brand equity pipeline’ (see Figure 2)and identifies the catalyst factors in theinternationalisation process of a brand.From a process perspective, Anderson etal.20 identified five stages ofinternationalisation for a brand:

• Aspirational: The desire tointernationalise the brand is born andcommunicated within the organisation.

• Procedural: The decision tointernationalise the brand isimplemented.

• Behavioural: The company adjusts itsbrand according to cross-culturalrequirements.

• Interactional: The company creates, buildsand maintains effective and meaningfulrelationships with new and existingstakeholders.

• Conceptual: The company constantlyre-evaluates its way of thinking andoperating with its brand in foreignmarkets.

Cheng et al.21 have also contributed to thereflection on the internationalisationprocess of a brand. According to them,companies can follow four progressivestages to build an international brand:

• Pre-international: The company focuseson ensuring its survival, beforedeveloping itself as a top-tier brand inits home country.

• Global lead market carrying capacity: Thecompany develops a presence and abrand awareness in foreign markets,especially in lead markets (NorthAmerica, Western Europe and Japan),mainly as a supplier to major brands.

• International branding and marketsuccession: The company works ondeveloping an international brand of itsown in lead countries.

Figure 1The strategic construction of thebrand

The strategic leverage of branding


Source: Richelieu, A. (2008) ‘Creating and branding sport products’, in Chadwick, S. (ed.) ‘SportMarketing’, Henry Stewart Talks, Spring, available at: http://www.hstalks.com/sport/index.htm(accessed 25 May 2009).


• Local climax: The company focuses ondeveloping its brand in other markets,among other lead emerging markets.

In terms of the strategies that a brandcould follow when going international,Kapferer22 underlined three main avenues:

• Think local, act global. This strategy isespecially relevant for standardisedproducts and consists of a gradualimplementation abroad based on thesuccess in the local market. This enablesthe brand to increase its chances ofacceptance abroad and to reduce thefinancial risk.

• Think global, act global as much as possible.This provides the brand with betterchances of acceptance abroad and alower financial risk. Firms that followthis option generally have a globalmindset.

• Unifying local brands. This occurs whenone firm buys another one and the twodifferent organisational and countrycultures need to be integrated.23

Moreover, Van Gelder24 elaborated fourstrategies:

• The brand domain specialist. This strategyinfluences the development in a specificdomain, such as in technology, andconsumers’ preferences (eg Apple withthe iPod).

• The brand reputation specialist. Thisstrategy emphasises authenticity,credibility and reliability (eg Volvo withsafety).

• The brand affinity specialist. This strategyaims at outperforming the competitionby building relationships withconsumers and by offering a memorableexperience (eg Walt Disney).

• The brand recognition specialist. Thisstrategy increases the brand’sspontaneous notoriety, which can makeit top-of-mind (eg Nescafé).

Based on this set of literature, this paperintroduces Figure 2, which is a synthesis ofthe authors’ reflection on theinternationalisation process of a sportsteam brand. Even though it appears highlyinfluenced by the sequential approach ininternational business,25 teams have thepossibility to bypass some steps andaccelerate their internationalisation.Whether local, regional, national or

Figure 2 Thenationalisationprocess of a sportsteam brand



Source: Richelieu, A., Lopez, S. and Desbordes, M. (2008) ‘The internationalization of a sports teambrand: The case of European soccer teams’, International Journal of Sports Marketing &Sponsorship, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 29–44.


international, a sports team brand shouldlook to leverage its brand, which couldhappen in several ways, depending on itsactual status (Table 1).

In order to internationalise its brand, asports team could choose from amongfour strategies, which appear to be themost relevant in the sports arena. Thereader should note that these strategies arenot mutually exclusive and, as such, teamsare able to combine them (Table 2). Thesestrategies will take a very concrete formwhen analysing the teams studied for thisresearch.

ISSUES AND RESEARCH OBJECTIVESAs for any other brand, fan loyalty isessential to the survival and growth of asports team. Moreover, the strongemotional bond that exists between asports club and its fans, as well as the myths

and symbols associated with a team,26

emphasise the importance of considering asports team as a brand in its own right.27

Thus, how can a sports team become aninternational global brand? Morespecifically:

• What are the determinants of successrequired to start building a global sportsteam brand?

• What process should a sports teamfollow?

• What strategies are available to a sportsteam in order to establish itself as aglobal brand?

METHODSAs football is the most popular sportaround the world, it is fitting to apply thiswork to football. The authors applied theirconceptual framework (Figure 2) to threeEuropean football teams: Football Club



Table 1: How to leverage a brand along the brand equity pipeline

Stage of internationalisation Objective and means

From a local to a regional brand Build and perpetuate the brandWork on the brand image, build fan loyalty and increaseregional presenceMeans: Strategic construction of the brand, customerrelationship management, advertising campaigns, distributionpartnerships in order to increase the regional presence, leveragethe social identity of the brand

From a regional to a national brand Reinforce the national positioningIncrease brand recognition and presenceMeans: National strategic partnerships (equipment makers,distributors, media, foreign clubs etc), new design for teamjersey or launching of a vintage collection, website, hiring ofstar players etc

From a national to an international brand Export and globalise the brandIncrease brand recognition and presence worldwideMeans: actions undertaken under the brand reputation, brandaffinity, brand challenger and brand conquistador strategies (seeTable 2)

Source: Couvelaere, V. and Richelieu, A. (2005) ‘Brand strategy in professional sports: The case of French soccerteams’, European Sport Management Quarterly, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 23–46.


Barcelona (FCB) in Spain, and ParisSaint-Germain (PSG) and Olympique deMarseille (OM) in France. Inspired by therecommendations of establishedresearchers who suggest some diversity inthe sample,28 the selected sports teamswere not all at the same level ofdevelopment in their brand equity.

This research is exploratory and themethodology is qualitative. The authorsproceeded with in-depth case analyses ofthe teams. The primary data came fromin-depth interviews with vice presidents,marketing directors and general managersof the three clubs, based onsemi-structured questionnaires withopen-ended questions. One-to-oneinterviews were conducted at the offices ofeach team and lasted from 45 to 90minutes. Between one and three managerswere interviewed for each team,

depending on the level of expertise andavailability of the managers.

The authors consulted sportspublications, team documents, teamwebsites and media articles (print andelectronic) in order to increase the validityof the data. These sources also providedspecific information regarding the teamsand their brand strategies.29 Contentanalysis was used for the data analysis.30

The essence of the data was extracted byanalysing the brand strategy and marketingactions.31 Validity was ensured through theuse of several sources of information andthe comparisons made between the cases.32

MAIN RESULTSBased on the preliminary analysis, theauthors elaborated the graph on theinternationalisation process of a sports



Table 2: The four main relevant strategies to establish a sports team as a globalbrand

Strategy Description

Brand reputation (think local, act global — The team capitalises on its reputation to go abroad. It the brand reputation specialist) gradually enters foreign countries thanks to the results and

the history of the team. It often transcends the sport itrepresents (eg New Zealand All Blacks, NY Yankees andReal Madrid).

Brand affinity (think local, act global — The team builds a strong fan base through a unique the brand affinity specialist) emotional experience it offers to its fans. Fans identify

strongly with the team and the players, and often unitewithin brand communities online (Manchester United).

Brand challenger (think local, act global — The team favours promotion and high investments in the brand recognition specialist) players as the first step towards (re-)establishing the sports

team brand. But results, history and fans are needed (egChelsea and Manchester City).

Brand conquistador (unifying local brands — The team pairs with another team across continents. Thus, the brand recognition specialist) the local team benefits from an image transfer, and the

foreign team benefits from a springboard to enter one ormany promising markets (eg Ajax Amsterdam/Ajax CapeTown, Bayern Munich/Urawa Reds, Real Madrid/BeijingGuoang and San Jose Sharks/Shanghai Sharks).

Source: Richelieu, A., Lopez, S. and Desbordes, M. (2008) ‘The internationalization of a sports team brand: Thecase of European soccer teams’, International Journal of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 29–44.


team brand (Figure 2) using the fourstrategies from Table 2. The next step wasto identify the determinants of successrequired to start building a global sportsteam brand (Table 3). These determinantsor catalyst factors are linked with the fourstrategies presented in Table 2, accordingto their degree of relevance for a successfulinternationalisation. Indeed, when lookingclosely at the situation of PSG, OM andFCB, the authors were able to highlight aset of ‘winning conditions’, both internallyand externally, that could also serve as aguideline for other sports team brands.

Internally, the following could bementioned:

• An impressive record on the field. For PSG,seven French Cups, two FrenchChampionships, three League Cups andone Cup Winners’ Cup. For OM, ten

French Championships, ten FrenchCups and one European Champions’Cup. For FCB, 19 Spanish Leagues, 25Spanish Cups, seven Spanish SuperCups, three European Champions’ Cup,two European Super Cups and fourEuropean Cup Winners’ Cups.

• A well-developed system of communications.A website in various languages (English,Chinese and Japanese for FCB), a teammagazine (launch of the FCB magazinefor the Chinese market), a televisionchannel (broadcasting of FCB games inChina), but also online communities,launched and managed by fansthemselves, which help nurture thepassion of fans and build the team’sbrand. FCB can also count on ‘sociosclubs’ around the world, called penyes(over 1,300), which act as ambassadorsfor FCB worldwide and contribute to



Table 3: The key determinants in internationalising a sports team brand successfullyand their relevance to the four brand strategies

Brand Brand Brand Brand reputation affinity challenger conquistador

Internal determinants• An impressive record on the field **** *** **** ****• A well-developed system of communications **** **** **** ****

(team website, team TV, team publications etc)• A strong community involvement **** **** **** ****• A series of tours in promising markets ** *** *** ****

(ie Asia and North America for football)• A good range of team merchandise *** **** *** ****• The hiring of some star and/or local players **** **** **** ***

External determinants• The support of a major equipment maker ** ** *** ****

(Adidas, Nike, Reebok etc)• A strong rivalry between teams **** **** ** **

(eg Real Madrid vs FC Barcelona)• The association with a renowned country in **** *** *** ****

the sport the team represents (eg Italy or Spain for football and Canada for hockey)

* low relevance; ** some relevance; *** strong relevance; **** very strong relevance of the determinant or catalyst factor with the respective strategy.


expanding and crystallising the brand inforeign markets.

• A strong community involvement. In 2007,PSG won the ‘Licra d’Or’, a distinctiongiven by the League Against Racismand Anti-Semitism (LICRA), whileOM launched the ‘OM attitude’programme. But the best example isprobably provided by FCB, as the clubdecided to forgo a lucrative shirtsponsorship deal (worth an estimatedc15m a year) and instead pay c1.5m ayear to support Unicef.

• A series of tours in promising markets. Thisis especially true for FCB, which visitsmarkets where the club wants toshowcase and expand the brand (egChina and the USA).

• A good range of team merchandise. Fromtraditional team kits to baby products,notwithstanding women’s merchandisewhich is gaining in popularity in allsports and leagues (in Europeanfootball, but also in the NationalHockey League, for example).

• The hiring of some star and/or local players.These players act as emotional anchorsfor teams that can then strengthen fans’allegiance to the club through theseplayers. In this area, even though PSGand OM have a tradition of recruitinglocal and international stars (eg Giully,Pauleta, Rocheteau and Susic for PSG;and Boli, Deschamps, Papin and Völlerfor OM), it is definitely an advantage forFCB, which, throughout its rich history,has seen some of the world’s greatestplayers wear the blaugrana jersey(Bergkamp, Cruyff, Eto’o, Laudrup,Maradona, Messi, Ronaldinho etc).

Externally, the key determinants of successare:

• The support of a major equipment maker.PSG, OM and FCB can each capitaliseon the distribution channel of their

equipment maker (Nike for PSG andFCB, and Adidas for OM) to developtheir brand internationally. Nike andAdidas stores worldwide showcase thesebrands, in addition to team stores, whenthose exist abroad (eg FCB in China).

• A strong rivalry between teams. What arereferred to as ‘classicos’ are the gamesbetween local rivals, such as FCB andReal Madrid or OM and PSG,generating increased media coveragecompared with a regular league game.They also contribute to theconstruction of iconic brands in thehome country but also in foreignmarkets, because these rivalriescrystallise team allegiance via ‘us againstthem’ confrontations.

• The association with a renowned country inthe sport the team represents. In this case,PSG, OM and FCB can all benefit fromtheir national status because bothFrance and Spain are known as ‘footballcountries’. Furthermore, like manyother sports teams, the denominationsof the three clubs include the name oftheir city. According to Kapferer ,33 thisis a way of reinforcing the identity ofthe club throughout the world andmaking the internationalisation of thebrand easier.

Looking at the position of each team on the‘brand equity pipeline’ (Figure 2), PSG andOM are national brands and, as such, seek tobecome international brands; however, thereputation of OM is stronger than that ofPSG. OM was established in 1899 and hasa richer record and a longer history thanPSG, which looks relatively young(established in 1970). A good record and astrong heritage represent two of the successfactors in the internationalisation process ofa team. It should be emphasised that thelonger a club has been present in itscommunity, the stronger the sense ofbelonging for its fans should be.34




FCB positions itself as an internationalcontinental brand that tends towards theglobal status on the ‘brand equity pipeline’(Figure 2). As such, this kind of sports teambrand is looking to remain competitiveglobally and to develop its presence withinseveral international markets, especiallythose it considers strategic. For FCB, thesewould be Asia (China) and the USA. Thus,FCB has key advantages over PSG or OMin building a good image and a strongidentity for the club, which are essentialelements for the success of theinternationalisation of the team brand.35

DISCUSSIONIn reference to the brand equity pipelineintroduced in Figure 2, this paper can nowlook at the three football teams andsuggest some strategies for theirinternationalisation. First, PSG is anational brand. In order to evolve throughits internationalisation, the club couldfollow the brand challenger strategy(think local, act global — the brandrecognition specialist). This strategyfocuses on brand recognition throughstrong advertising investments (Table 2).PSG does not have as impressive awinning record as OM or FCB; it had tofight for its survival in the last two seasonsand, even in 2009 when the club finallyseemed to have reached some stability onthe field, the newly appointed president,Charles Villeneuve, had to resign inJanuary after a public confrontation withthe board. It should be added that PSGdoes not trigger as strong a reactionamong non-PSG fans as OM and FCB,which makes an international strategybased on affinity more vulnerable. Thatbeing said, PSG could capitalise on itsreputation through the hiring of foreignplayers or on the international status ofParis, as the image of Paris and its symbolsare admired worldwide. Thus, PSG could

use co-branding through an associationwith the city of Paris and foreign starplayers, and expand its brandinternationally accordingly. By doing so,PSG could capitalise on its newly gainedinternational recognition in order tostrengthen its national position. Thequestion some might ask, though, iswhether PSG has the legitimacy toassociate itself with the image of Pariswithout being seen as an imposter, tryingto buy its way to become an internationalbrand. But the authors believe that PSGdoes have this legitimacy.

Secondly, as a national brand, the nextstep for OM is to reach the internationallevel on the ‘brand equity pipeline’ (Figure2). With this goal in mind, OM couldfollow the brand affinity strategy (thinklocal, act global — the brand affinityspecialist), which is focused on emotionsand the development of a unique bondwith consumers (Table 2). As the team cancount on its strong identity and animportant fan base, well known for itspassion, OM could capitalise on legitimateproduct and brand extensions(merchandising) to help crystallise theemotions of its fans. At this point in time,the performance of the club does not yetallow the OM brand to play on itsreputation. Its record is mostly based onthe past, with its last major win being aChampions Cup in 1993. Furthermore, abig issue with OM is the fact that theemotions and drama surrounding the clubcould jeopardise a brand strategy thatcould only take roots in the stability of along-term commitment to this strategy.

Thirdly, FCB sits between the‘international continental’ and the‘international global’ status (Figure 2).FCB could adopt the brand conquistadorstrategy (unifying local brands — thebrand recognition specialist), which isbased on partnerships with foreign clubs(Table 2). This should help FCB truly




become global. Thanks to its strongidentity and its communication system (ieover 1,300 penyes worldwide), FCB isalready following some strategies based onreputation and affinity with its fans. Oneavenue the club could consider is to unifyits brand with foreign clubs. This couldallow FCB to enter new markets on along-term basis, by capitalising on thecredibility it gained in Asia and in theUSA, with its recent partnerships andtours. The main challenge FCB might facein its internationalisation is how it willmanage to build an international image,while remaining true to its strong Catalanidentity. The balance might not be easy tofind and communicate in the positioningof the club without creating some kind ofconfusion in the minds of its fans.

CONCLUSIONAs previously stated, the main objective ofthis study was to explain how a sports teamcould become an international globalbrand. More specifically:

• What are the determinants of successrequired to start building a global sportsteam brand? (Table 3)

• What process should a sports teambrand follow? (Figure 2)

• What strategies are available to a sportsteam in order to establish itself as aglobal brand? (Table 2)

With this objective and these questions inmind, the authors looked at threeEuropean football teams in order toillustrate the conceptualisation of theinternationalisation of a sports team brand.This process includes the following stages:local, regional, national, internationalcontinental and international global, aspresented in Figure 2. As it tries to expandits brand across markets, a sports team cancarry out four strategies, which are not

mutually exclusive: brand reputation,brand affinity, brand challenger and brandconquistador.

In a period of huge economictransformation, professional sports teamshave realised the power that brandingencapsulates in marketing their clubbeyond their local market. What theauthors term ‘globalisation’ offers bothopportunities and threats to sports teams.They can no longer hide behind whatused to be a very local activity. In thisregard, its brand is recognised as the mostimportant asset of a sports club.36

Furthermore, the commercial success ofthe brand can nurture the sporting successof the team by attracting great players andmore fans, for instance.

As an example, looking at what happensin Asia, the popularity of footballcontinues unabated after the success of the2002 World Cup. Trying to capitalise onthis popularity in order to expandinternationally, teams such as ManchesterUnited and Real Madrid regularly tourAsia; while other clubs, like SheffieldUnited, have actually purchased an equitystake in a Chinese club. At the same time,Chinese fans appear to have a strongaffinity with European football.Manchester United’s CommercialDirector, Andy Anson, mentioned:‘According to United statistics, United hassome 94,000,000 fans worldwide, with20,000,000 fans in China’.37 Meanwhile,Manchester United stars CristianoRonaldo and Wayne Rooney have heldonline discussions with Chinese footballfans through the official Chinese website.Anson has described said football fans asthe biggest assets of Manchester United.‘The number of fans has reached40,000,000 in Asia. Asia, especially theChinese market, is looked upon as themost important market in the world byUnited.’38 According to data from theChinese Football Association, the number




of Chinese football fans has reached 110million and United will target this groupfirst39 (see Figure 3).

Even though this research isexploratory, the authors believe it leads tosome new horizons on the value that abrand and branding represent for sportsteams. As such, the mode of governance ofa team is essential to the success of a brandstrategy. The management team needs tobe able to work on a long-termperspective with control over the teambrand. Teams could be tempted toexternalise this activity as they do withother marketing tasks, but this would be aterrible mistake, as the brand is the heartand soul of an organisation and one sourceof competitive advantage.41

Furthermore, the reputation of theleague could have an impact on thepotential of a team to expand its brand

internationally. Indeed, if some leagues,such as the English Premier

League, are perceived as being better orstronger than others, like the Frenchfootball league, the respective leagueswould probably have a better chance ofselling television rights to more countriesand, consequently, expose the product to awider international audience.

The authors also believe that thestrategies presented herein could be asource of reflection for other industries,especially for brands that have a natural fitwith sports. These brands could benefit,for instance, from sponsorship andco-branding initiatives in order tostrengthen the emotional connection theyshare with their consumers beyondborders. In fact, some brands already do sovery successfully (Coca-Cola, McDonald’s,New Era caps, Nike, Reebok, etc). That

Figure 3The partnershipbetween Air Asiaand ManchesterUnited



‘As the official low fare airline for Manchester United, AirAsia became the first Asian low cost airlineto associate itself with one of the biggest football clubs in the English Premier League’.40


being said, the authors recognise the needto expand their reflection beyond the caseof European football teams in order toarticulate a model on theinternationalisation of a sports team brandthat will take into account the nature ofthe sport involved, the club’s country oforigin and the way the league is managed.The desire is to propose such an integratedmodel on the internationalisation of asports team brand. It is hoped that thismodel would fit most sports team brandsand would take into account theimportance of the cultural context. Thispaper has paved the way for futureresearch.

� André Richelieu and MichaelDesbordes, 2009.

REFERENCES

(1) Bauer, H. H., Sauer, N. E. and Schmitt,P. (2005) ‘Customer-based brand equityin the team sport industry’, EuropeanJournal of Marketing, Vol. 39, No. 5/6, pp. 496–513.

(2) Richelieu, A. and Boulaire, C. (2005) ‘Apost-modern conception of the productand its application to professional sport’,International Journal of Sports Marketing &Sponsorship, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 23–34.

(3) Couvelaere, V. and Richelieu, A. (2005)‘Brand strategy in professional sports:The case of French soccer teams’,European Sport Management Quarterly, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 23–46.

(4) McGraw, D. (1998) ‘Big league troubles’,US News and World Report’, Vol. 125, No.2, pp. 40–46.

(5) Ross, S. D. (2006) ‘A conceptualframework for understandingspectator-based brand equity’, Journal ofSport Management, Vol. 20, No. 1, pp.22–38.

(6) Hill, J. S. and Vincent, J. (2006)‘Globalisation and sports branding: Thecase of Manchester United’, InternationalJournal of Sports Marketing andSponsorship, Vol. 7, No. 3, pp. 213–230.

(7) Aaker, J. L. (1997) ‘Dimensions of brandpersonality’, Journal of Marketing Research,Vol. 34, No. 3, pp. 347–356.

(8) Van Gelder, S. (2002) ‘General strategiesfor global brands, global brand strategy’,Brand Meta, available at:http://www.brand-meta.com (accessedSeptember 2006).

(9) Steenkamp, J. B., Batra, R. and Alden, D.L. (2003) ‘How perceived brandglobalness creates brand value?’, Journal ofInternational Business Studies, Vol. 34, No. 1, pp. 53–65.

(10) Holt, D., Quelch, J. A. and Taylor, E. L.(2004) ‘How global brands compete’,Harvard Business Review, September, pp. 68–75.

(11) Johanson, J. and Wiedersheim-Paul, F.(1975) ‘The internationalisation of thefirm — Four Swedish cases’, The Journalof Management Studies, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 305–322.

(12) Johanson, J. and Vahlne, J.-E. (1977) ‘Theinternationalisation process of the firm— A model of knowledge developmentand increasing foreign marketcommitments’, The Journal of InternationalBusiness Studies, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 23–32.

(13) Johanson, J. and Vahlne, J.-E. (1990) ‘Themechanism of internationalisation’,International Marketing Review, Vol. 7, No. 4, pp. 11–24.

(14) Luostarinen, R. and Gabrielsson, M.(2006) ‘Globalization and marketingstrategies of born globals in SMOPECs’,Thunderbird International Business Review,Vol. 48, No. 6, pp. 773–801.

(15) Miller, R. and Lessard, D. (2000) ‘TheStrategic Management of LargeEngineering Projects: ShapingInstitutions, Risks and Governance’,MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

(16) Anderson, V., Graham, S. and Lawrence,P. (1998) ‘Learning to internationalise’,The Journal of Management Development,Vol. 17, No. 7, pp. 492–502.

(17) Cheng, J. M. S., Blankson, C., Wu, P. C.S. and Chen, S. S. M. (2005) ‘A stagemodel of international branddevelopment: The perspectives ofmanufacturers from two newly




industrialised economies — South Koreaand Taiwan’, Industrial MarketingManagement, Vol. 34, No. 5, pp. 504–514.

(18) Kapferer, J.-N. (1998) ‘Les Marques,Capital de l’Entreprise: Créer etDévelopper des Marques Fortes’, 3rdedn, Éditions d’Organisation, Paris.

(19) Van Gelder, ref. 8 above.(20) Anderson et al., ref. 16 above.(21) Cheng et al., ref. 17 above.(22) Kapferer, ref. 18 above.(23) Schuiling, I. and Lambin, J. J. (2003) ‘Do

global brands benefit from a worldwideunique image?’, reprinted withpermission from: Global Markets andMarketing Research ‘Symphonya:Emerging Issues in Management’,available at: http://www.unimib.it/Symphonia-Emerging-Issues-in-Management (accessed September 2006).

(24) Van Gelder, S. (2004) ‘Global brandstrategy’, Journal of Brand Management,Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 39–48.

(25) Johanson and Vahlne, ref. 13 above. (26) Pimentel, R. W. and Reynolds, K. E.

(2004) ‘A model for consumer devotion:Affective commitment with proactivesustaining behaviours’, Academy ofMarketing Science Review, No. 5, pp. 1–45.

(27) Richelieu, A. (2008) ‘Creating andbranding sport products’, in Chadwick,S. (ed.) ‘Sport Marketing’, HenryStewart Talks, Spring, available at:http://www.hstalks.com/sport/index.htm. (accessed 25th May 2009).

(28) Eisenhardt, K. M. (1989) ‘Building

theories from case study research’,Academy of Management Review, Vol. 14,No. 4, pp. 532–550.

(29) Yin, R. K. (2003) ‘Case Study Research,Design and Methods’, Sage Publications,Thousand Oaks, CA.

(30) Miles, M. B. and Huberman, M. A.(2003) ‘Analyse des DonnéesQualitatives’, 2nd edn, De Boeck, Paris.

(31) Pellemans, P. (1999) ‘RechercheQualitative en Marketing: PerspectivePsychoscopique’, De Boeck Université,Brussels.

(32) Lee, N. and Lings, I. (2008) ‘DoingBusiness Research, A Guide to Theoryand Practice’, Sage, London.

(33) Kapferer, ref. 18 above.(34) Hill and Vincent, ref. 6 above.(35) Kapferer, ref. 18 above.(36) See Bauer et al., ref. 1 above.(37) PR Newswire (2005) ‘Manchester

United’s Asian Commercial Plan’,available at: http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=151352(accessed 26th January, 2009)..

(38) Ibid.(39) Ibid.(40) see http://www.manutd.com/

default.sps?pagegid=%7B235041b8-c516-4517-8d04 aeebb5882b8a%7D&sponsors=air%20asia (accessed 26thJanuary, 2009).

(41) Vallaster, C. and de Chernatony, L.(2006) ‘Internal brand building andstructuration: The role of leadership’,European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 40,No. 7/8, pp. 761–784.




Copyright of Journal of Sponsorship is the property of Henry Stewart Publications LLP and its content may not

be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written

permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.

Documents

Football teams going international — The strategic ...moodle.univ-lille2.fr/pluginfile.php/90578/mod_resource/content/0... · presentation of the main results. A discussion and