My Time at Fulham FC

Harry HancockMotspur Park

Commercial InternOctober 2015 to May 2016

Introduction – Fulham FC Placement

Whilst at Coventry University I decided to conduct a work placement in between my 2nd and final year. The main reason being, I wanted to have a great

understanding of what it is like to work in multiple areas of a business, mostly including Sponsorship, Marketing and Sales. I came about this placement by contacting the Sponsorship manager at the time through linkedin, I was then able to gain a couple of interviews and I was luckily chosen to be part of the

commercial department.In this presentation you will see my main weekly activities and the duties and

responsibilities that I was tasked with.

19/10/15 – 23/10/15

October 2015

Week 1 - Learning the RopesIn my first week starting at Fulham FC I was shown around and just spent the

week trying to get used to how everything works and get used to the environment.

I was given a sponsorship spreadsheet where I have to update all the deals that are happening around the world which could be of interest to Fulham FC. I have

been updating this and will continue to do so when I receive the relevant information

I will also flag up any important deals which could be important to the club and offer great value. I have picked up on trends by sponsors and managed to

identify if they could be a potential partner.

19/10/15 – 23/10/15

Week 2 - Sponsorship Research26/10/15 – 30/10/15

This week I was asked to research potential betting/online gaming partners. I researched two companies, FanDuel

and DraftKings, these are two massive companies in USA and after legal terms restricting their rights in the USA they are looking to promote more into the UK market. I

analysed their current methods and if they could implement these methods at Fulham. I created two

documents to show what they both do and what methods they are already using.

I researched hotels in the local area which could be a new potential partners to help make a deal more attractive to

new/current customersI was also given match day competition cards to transfer

the data on to a system called ‘dynamics’. This is now being used to by the sales team to try and reach out to people who may want to return to craven cottage for

another match.

November 2015

Week 3 – World Travel Market02/11/15 – 06/11/15

This week I was invited along to the World Travel Market at the ExCel Arena in London. One of the biggest corporate events in the

travel and tourism industry, we were invited by Visit Florida, our Holiday destination partners. We also had to promote our

partnership with Visit Florida as per the contract agreement. Whilst here we

explored potential partners and gained valuable connections, by looking through the travel and tourism countries from all over the world. I also met some very big names in the industry, William Seccombe

the CEO of Visit Florida and some of the Visit Florida Board of Directors.

Week 4 – Signing Sessions09/11/15 – 13/11/15

This week I started monitoring the social media trends online and produced a report showing what is trending at the moment, I have

started looking at Snapchat and YouTube and have monitored Liverpool FC’s Snapchat and seen how we can implement this style

into Fulham FC. I also looked at the YouTube Channels which are popular in this market and who also share the same target audience,

I looked at people that we could perhaps use to boost our online following.

I looked at ways in which Fulham FC can make their current fans move onto and become more engaging on social media, to allow us

to grow a valuable fan base online.A signing session was arranged so we could have merchandise

signed by the first team squad, this then means we can send these out to sponsors and partners as per the contract. I kept a log of all the orders internally and externally of the company for people who wanted to receive signed shirts. After I gathered all the requests, I made sure we had enough shirts from retail to be signed and made

sure they were set up in the players lounge ready to be signed, once finished I distributed them back out to those who sent them in.

Week 5 – Stand Development16/11/15 – 20/11/15

With the new stand set to take place in 2016, I have been set the task of researching the potential sub

contractors to help build the stand. I researched their previous work and the size of the organisation whilst evaluating if they are a realistic candidate for Fulham

FC to approach. I had to provide a lot of financial details about the company to make sure that they would be able to carry out the work if we selected

them to be the official partner, I contacted the financial accountant to help provide financial

information about these companies. I have also been gathering information on the F1

teams sponsors, and have done research on the deal that was made and the contract agreement. With this

in mind, we are now able to use this information to identify

Week 6 – Sunshine Matters23/11/15 – 27/11/15

This week I signed up to Visit Florida’s newsletter service, Sunshine Matters, this is so I can gather information on the

latest events happening with our partners and we are able to keep up with all the latest in the holiday/travel and tourism

industry. It helps gives us an insight in our partners so we can see how they are also performing and what events they are

attending and where our brand can fit in around this.I have started a new business directory spreadsheet, which

are broken down into category of what the company is associated with, alcohol, automobiles, travel, time keeping

etc. By doing this we are able to identify the best and biggest companies in different markets and try to target all of these

companies as a potential sponsor. We are able to have a much more structured way of targeting big companies and

organisations.

December 2015

Week 7 –Fulham FC Foundation

30/11/15 – 04/12/15

This week I went and explored what Fulham FC Foundation is all about. Fulham Football Club Foundation is a leading community sport charity that aims to build better lives

through sport. We use the power of sport to deliver a variety of inspiring education, health, disability, social inclusion and football programmes in our community. I met Steve Day, the

CEO of the organisation and he talked me through the foundation and how it operates.

I was also given the task to find out the average price of an office per square metre in London. This was because we

wanted to make more use of the boxes on non-match days, so by selling the box as office space can bring in a much higher

revenue throughout the season. I then passed this information on and we worked out the best price to sell out our boxes for

and we are starting to develop a plan as to how to market and sell this service.

Week 8 – Match Day07/12/15 – 11/12/15

This week I was preparing for the match for Fulham vs Brentford. During the week I attended a pre match meeting to make sure that everything is going to plan, we

discussed events happening on the match day.During the week I also had a meeting about a new project called ‘prospects by

brand’. The idea is to make a list of all the biggest companies in different markets, this is to help us identify who we can target in each category, for example we can see a list of all the biggest companies in the food industry, or the car manufacture

industry etc. The idea is to save a lot time when searching for new potential partners.

On the Saturday it was match day, I attended the game and helped throughout the day. I started by looking round the stadium so I knew where everything was and

where to go. I then I helped show round a large party of guests from USA and took them round the pitch and told them some history about the Football Club. Later on

before the match started I was introduced to corporate clients and people attending the hospitality boxes to network. There was then a half time activation, where I had

to help collect the people taking part in the dizzy penalties on the pitch, I then helped set everything up and made sure it ran smoothly. After the game we waited for the players including and I then showed them around the boxes to the corporate

clients.

Week 9 – Potential Sponsors14/12/15 – 18/12/15

This week I was given the task to prepare a presentation for a University to potentially offer them a deal for them to sponsor us. This would bring in extra

revenue into the commercial department.

I had to discuss what benefits they would have advertising with Fulham FC. I went on to mention about our demographics and the success of promoting through a football club like Fulham FC. It has been sent off and is currently with Kingston

University now, where they will negotiate a deal if they want to continue.

January 2016

Week 12 – Research & Sponsors

04/01/16 – 08/01/16

This week I had gather the Players suits and line them up in the dressing room so they are ready for the game against Sheffield Wednesday.

I was also given the task of researching a company that could be a potential sponsor, so I gathered the

research and put into a document for the sponsorship executive to use and analyse whether

they should be approached.I also prepared a presentation for current sponsors, to try and get them to sponsor a charity match for Fulham All-stars and show the benefits of doing so and how far their brand will reach through multiple

advertising promoting the match.

Week 13 – Signing session prep

11/01/16 – 15/01/16

This week I was given the task of creating a sponsorship spreadsheet that has all the football deals in. However I had to categories the deals based on the companies that are sponsoring

them, I made different pages for different industries, like Healthcare, Automobiles,

Technology etc. The reason for this is to see what the most common companies that are

sponsoring in football and we can then target them and appeal to them saying, this is what

your competitors are doing and this is why you should be too.

I have also been given the task of looking after the signing sessions again, This is important as

we have x amount of shirts that need to be signed and personal items by certain players so

that we can give them to our sponsors and agree to the contractual agreements that took place at

the start of the deal.

Week 14 – Forex Research18/01/16 – 22/01/16

This week I helped arrange the suits that were provided by our suit sponsors Apsley, we had to arrange them in the changing

room for the players to wear as part of the sponsor agreement.I also had to do some research on the forex market and what companies have been involved in sport, and most importantly

football, the idea behind all this research is so that when we meet Global Reach, one of the companies in the forex market we are able to take this research to them and explain to them why they

need to be investing into football and why they should sponsor us. The reasons being that there are many companies that have taken this approach and have been successful, they are missing out on a

huge market and their competitors are currently exploiting this market. Another reason I found is that Fulham FC have a fan base

with much higher disposable income which means they are a great audience to advertise to as they have a lot of money to perhaps spend in their market and more specifically Global

Reach’s company.

Week 15 – Rights Matrix25/01/16 – 29/01/16

This week I had to conduct some research on snapchat to see how football clubs are currently using snapchat and how

Fulham FC can implement this into their social media routines. I looked at other football clubs and I reviewed what Fulham are doing and I made suggestions as to how this can

be beneficial for Fulham and use this as an opportunity to offer new ideas for existing/potential partners as an

activation day or perhaps a takeover day for the sponsor, or even advertisement.

I also had the task to make sure that the rights matrix between current partners is updated, so we are able to

quickly see the rights that our sponsors hold, this is useful for being able to compare our current deals that we have

going on.Another task I was set was to have a look at the current

website sponsorship page and make sure that the current sponsors rights are being withheld, so they need to be on

certain pages and the information of there needs to be updated and they need to be edited, so I completed this by

searching about each sponsor and their relationship with Fulham FC and what they do etc.

February 2016

Week 16 – Contacts01/02/16 – 05/02/16

This week I had to conduct some research on the contacts in the championship. These contacts were all Facilities

Manager/Operations Manager. The reason being is so that we can contact some clubs so we can recommend some products to them by our sponsors as per the sponsorship agreement.

This meant we had to contact x amount of clubs in the Championship/Premier League teams, this deal was with the IT department to ensure that they can use a high quality security

system.I also had to do some research on all the Championship teams

and what sponsors they are working with, using this information we are able to see if we could approach certain companies and identify whether we would be a much more

feasible partner than where they are already at.

Week 17 – Signing Session08/02/16 – 12/02/16

This is the week the signing session took place, I had planned the day before hand and made sure everything was in place, by the time the day arrived I had a list of all the merchandise that the sponsors needed signing.

Once the players lounge was set up me and two others made sure they signed as much as possible. Once they left we collected the merchandise and packaged them so they were ready to send out.

I also noticed that Fulham FC’s loyalty scheme wasn’t very interactive and lacked a bit of creativity. So with this in mind I conducted some research about the Championship clubs and their loyalty schemes. I found that

Birmingham FC hold the best loyalty scheme in the Championship. I got in contact with someone in the marketing department and asked for information. I found a range of methods they use and what we could implement into Fulham FC. I then put this in a presentation and sent this to our Marketing Executive and

Sponsorship Manager.

Week 18 – Sponsor Agreement

15/02/16 – 19/02/16

This week I had to make sure all the signed merchandise that we got was all packaged

correctly for a safe delivery to the sponsors. So I put the signed shirts in the Fulham FC packaging then after allocating the certificates to each one I

boxed up separate amounts. I then found the address to where they need to go and rang up Worlds End Couriers and arranged for them to

picked up and sent out by a certain date. Despite a few hiccups with the method of delivery I managed

to get them out successfully. The next step was to make sure we had enough

merchandise for the remainder of the season, with this in mind I also added up the amount that were

needed for mascots and made sure we had a couple spare. In the next signing session I will be

focusing on the footballs and making sure we plenty signed to last us for the remainder of the

season.

Week 19 – Digital Media Ideas22/02/16 – 26/02/16

This week I had a lot of admin work that I caught up on and made sure all the new contacts were updated and

added in important information onto the system.

I also researched some sponsorship ideas on digital media, as this is something that FFC are falling behind

on, so have presented a few options to help boost them back up with their competitors. This included player takeovers on snapchat and how they can promote

sponsors by ‘shout outs’ and product placement, Twitter competitions held by competitors asking Fulham players

questions, also an opportunity for fans to meet the players courtesy of (Sponsor)

March 2016

Week 20 – Technology in Football

29/02/16 – 04/03/16

This consisted of finding talking point about the advancement in technology and what impact it has on

these areas: Medical, Sponsors, Analytics, Wifi, and Betting. E.G In the Analytics category I put one of the

discussion points as, The use of technology allows people to look at a player’s performance, however are

the stats relied on too much and overshadow the players performance and could misrepresent the actual outcome? There were many questions that

were brought up in each topic. This was used for the Sponsorship Manager to use as research and talking

points in a meeting that he was to attend.

Week 21 – Sponsorship Ideas 07/03/16 – 11/03/16

This week I produced a document about opportunities and innovative ways we could use space around the cottage to use for advertisement. I came up with the possibility of using Wi-

Fi to promote a sponsor, by placing their logo, image, deals on the login page. As people always want Wi-Fi it will bring the sponsors logo a lot of views.

Another idea was to use player comparisons, or just player stats around the stadium with a sponsors logo also on the screen. This is something that fans will be interested in and will

draw attention to it. A great way to show off a sponsor.The final idea was floor advertising, the people in corporate hospitality have to always walk around the pitch to get to the hospitality lounges and boxes. Placing advertisement on the

narrow walkway would mean they would look at a sponsors logo every match day.

Week 22 – The New Stand14/03/16 – 18/03/16

This week we are preparing for someone who is leaving the club, so we had to make sure that we

understand the roles that we have to adapt to and delegate who would be using them.

I also had to send out a signed shirts to a sponsor to ensure that they get all of the items that was

agreed in the contract before the season.I also helped with the layout of a presentation

and gave creative ways to show how to present the new stand to potential sponsors.

Week 23 – Fulham: The Area21/03/16 – 25/03/16

This week I had a visit from a lecturer at Coventry University as part of the placement year course, this is to ensure that everything is going well and

that it is the same as what I had stated in the reports at the start. I evaluated my progress here, and also had feedback from my line manager, in

which I was praised highly.I was also asked to find a way to help people see what is available in the area for a presentation.

So I decided to create a map radius with restaurants and points of interest that are suited with FFC, for example the restaurants are much

higher classed and are sophisticated to match our consumers choice. This information is created for an internal presentation as to which businesses

would be able to hold a chain inside the new stand.

April 2016

Week 24 – Hospitality & Mascot

28/03/16 – 01/04/16

This week I helped organise the hospitality tickets for the people attending the upcoming matches. Due to one of our members of staff leaving, we have had to take on some of the roles, one of

them being hospitality tickets. I made sure that the tickets were printed and then packaged up

and ready to be sent out. I also had to make sure that the two mascots

attending the game had their packages ready and find the information that is needed to make sure

the signed merchandise and other items were correct as well as packaged.

This week also being very important for Fulham who need to secure 3 points from MK Dons to

ensure a clearer gap from relegation zone.

Week 25 – Signing Session 04/04/16 – 08/04/16

This week I was focused on the preparation of the signing session for the following week. I first started by emailing the HR Advisor to put a message on the intranet to allow staff members to send me any

merchandise they would like signed. When the message was put up I made a deadline that they can send in, this to allow myself time to set

up and make sure I can record what is coming in.I then arranged for the players lounge to have tables set out and ready

for the signing session on Tuesday morning. Whilst collecting the shirts that people wanted signed, I had been given a request of five shirts for the Commercial department as a contingency

for the remainder of the season, I filled in a request form and got it signed by someone of authority and took it to the retail department to

pick up the requested merchandise. I kept an inventory on excel of all the people that had sent in items to be

signed, so I can easily send back out the items.

Week 26 – Activations 11/04/16 – 15/04/16

This week was the week of the signing session, as I had prepared everything the week before, not a

lot had to be done other than round up the players before training and get them to sign the merchandise. Throughout the day we checked on the shirts and would bring them back if they had

enough signatures on.Coral had an activation they were to undertake, this was a challenge for the players, where they have to kick the ball from the corner flag into the middle of the pitch, where there was a target with numbers on, Coral would increase the prize fund

depending on the score that they all got combined. It was mine and a few others

responsibility to set up the activation and make sure the players understand what is going on and what they have to do. As a whole the event ran smoothly and we didn’t encounter any problems

due to the amount of preparation we had undertook.

Week 27 – Signed Merchandise

18/04/16 – 22/04/16

As last week was the final signing session of the season, I made sure that everything we needed to send out was signed and ready for the sponsors. I also made a contingency

plan, and added around 10 extra shirts and 10 extra footballs just in case we need anymore before the final game of the season.

I then sent back all of the merchandise that the staff sent in. With all the signed merchandise sent out, all the contractual agreements with each sponsor has been

reached for the season.

Week 28 – End of Season25/04/16 – 29/04/16

With the end of season fast approaching the final presentations begin to take place. This is an

opportunity for both Fulham and the sponsors to see if either parties have met their objectives and

whether contract agreements were all met. I assisted with presentations and the layout of

them.I was also asked to extend my placement as a casual worker until I go back to University in

September, my roles will see me work closer to the sponsorship manager and the rest of the

commercial team. I have thoroughly enjoyed my internship at

Fulham FC and I look forward to continuing my work here as Commercial Assistant

May 2016