27 Aug 10

The fortunes of England's sponsorship deal

Gail Anderson, ponders the fortunes of the England team's sponsorship deal...

Marketing Magazine reported last week that the England football team was unable to secure new sponsorship after Nationwide elected not to renew its four-year, £20 million contract. While this news has prompted more than a few smiles north of the border, it also raises serious questions about the lightning-quick speed at which a brand’s fortunes can be reversed. 

Is the ‘Team England’ brand really so frail as to be deemed worthless after losing four matches? It seems the real reason goes deeper than the match losses. This is a classic case of a brand failing to connect with its consumers, i.e. the fans. Even the most diehard England fans have become somewhat disillusioned with the brand in the wake of the World Cup, with many of them questioning why these players could perform so well for their clubs but not their country. More than one pundit suggested that it might be something to do with the fact that they weren’t being paid as much as they were at club level.

The players are effectively the England brand’s ambassadors and their seeming lack of national pride did not sit well with a consumer base largely made up of loyal, working class ‘grafters’, with St George’s crosses proudly emblazoned on their homes, cars and faces.

The team’s failure to secure a new sponsor should remind those in the marketing community that the relationship between brand and consumer is a symbiotic one. Do potential sponsors have as much to gain from association with the England team when it no longer resonates with ‘Joe Bloggs’ in the way it used to? As has been seen in the world of celebrity endorsements, if a celebrity becomes tainted brands no longer want to be tarred with the same brush: Tiger Woods’ and Tag Heuer, Kerry Katona and Iceland and Kate Moss and Burberry, to name but a few. Therefore some in the industry are hardly surprised by a bank (an industry already loathed by many, especially in the ‘Joe Bloggs’ camp) not wanting to spend £20 million to be associated with a ‘tainted’ brand.

Performance aside, the lack of companies jumping to sponsor the team may also be related to the lack of big games that are coming up. Why spend £20 million when the biggest sporting event has just finished coupled with the team doing poorly? Had the sponsorship been up for renewal prior to the world cup I doubt whether Nationwide (or any other brand) would have passed up the opportunity to be seen by millions.

While the England team’s standing with the fans has taken a battering since the World Cup, the consumers are still loyal, just with bruised egos. And to be fair, the England team has not yet had a plethora of opportunities to do their fans proud post-South Africa. The football season is only just upon us, and I predict when May comes around Rooney and his fellow team mates will be forgiven and the hope of ‘66 will once again be burning.