Image of Corporate Identity: The of Manchester United - Case Study Example

Image of Corporate Identity: the Case of Manchester United Introduction: Manchester United or the “Red Devils” were founded in 1878 as Newton Heath, formed by Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway workers. Following the fear of insolvency in 1902 the club changed hands and became Manchester United Football Club. Many famous players have played for Manchester United FC. These include the enigmatic George Best who was one of the games most skilful players yet did not fulfil his true potential. Bobby Charlton survived the Munich disaster and went on to become an ambassador for the club and Denis Law was one of the few players to play for both Manchester clubs. In its long checkered history the club has seen many ups and downs, crises and even fear of extinction but it has triumphed after every time it hit the bottom. Manchester United has truly evolved out of its position as one of two provincial soccer teams in the city of Manchester to its current status among the best known brands in sport. Manchester United has a large and increasing fan-following which has huge emotional investment in it. It is priceless for the local fan-clubs and investors (Youngblood, www.iht.com) 2. Corporate Positioning Strategy: English football is now a big industry. The reasons behind success of Manchester United do not characterise football generally, but it is more a phenomenon of business success in particular. The fabled Manchester United has risen to superstardom in world football both through its field performances and its corporate positioning strategy. The elite club has made extraordinary efforts to reap the fruits of its global reputation through media and technology which have come to play a critical role in the era of globalization. The literature review highlights the club’s endeavour to position its brand through appropriate “interaction between global, industry and resource factors in Manchester Uniteds evolution from provincial to national to global brand status” (Hill and Vincent, accessmylibrary.com). The club has thrived on its on-field success combined with astute off-the-field management strategies and leveraging of its name through branded products and services that raises its market profile nationally and internationally. The use of global media and positioning of its sports has resulted in emergence of brand heritage and a global icon in the sports arena. The trend of globalization has led to an increasingly free flow of not only goods and services but also of ideas and people’s fantasies of emotional attachments with sports icons. The revolution in global media has enabled sports like football establish footholds in markets beyond a country’s domestic boundaries. Manchester United, for instance, has been at the forefront of innovative branding and marketing strategies making leading it to superstardom status. Manchester United has also capitalised on merchandise sales. Growth in marketing activity has coincided with the teams progression on the pitch and with increased television coverage at home and overseas (Howard and Sayce, www.le.ac.uk). Reaching out to its fans around the world is a big challenge but also an advantage which Manchester United has put to its advantage by forging partnerships with foreign football clubs and United membership scheme. At the launch of partnership between Australia’s Essendon and Manchester United, Ben Hatton, Director of Commercial Enterprises of Manchester United emphasized that “knowing more about our fans around the world is a cornerstone of our Group strategy. Only by knowing more about them can we start to think about ensuring we can deliver against what they expect from us,” (Hatton, www.essendonfc.com.au). Manchester United football club has a number of high stakeholders, and therefore it is crucial that the club lives up to stakeholders’ high expectations. The main stakeholders are the employees, the shareholders, customers, suppliers, financers, the local community and the fans. The shareholders main interests are, that Manchester United play good games and win as much as possible therefore the share prices go up, and the shareholders get more dividends. The main interests of the financers, e.g. the sponsors are to make sure there brand name gets advertised and their company logo is seen on the players shirts, they also want a team that wins the matches so that their company can be associated with a winning champion team. Entitiies like Manchester United are not just a global brand but also as a community asset, as there is a sense ownership. 3. Corporate communications: Strategic communication is the hallmark of expanding a corporate entity’s outreach to a wider audience. Cross-marketing ventures and sponsorships are Manchester United’s most commercially interesting aspects. Lycos, for instance, is developing foreign-language versions of Uniteds web site to help manage the club’s customer-relations its growing commercial and media businesses (Maidment, Forbes). Cross-marketing communication channels are centre-pillars of the club’s communication strategy in the USA and Asia where it has huge fan-following. It is developing a co-branded products line in association with Vodafone in American and Asian marketplaces. In 2003 the club undertook a four-city exhibition soccer tour of the USA and South American clubs. These tours were sponsored by top brands like Nike, PepsiCo and Anheuser-Busch etc. By one estimate Manchester United has 5 million fans in the USA and a huge 30 million in Asia. The club has its web sites in Japan and China where it enjoys huge popularity. The club has taken a very strategic view of keeping communication channels closely linked its fans expectations. 4. Logo: To get the logo I googled in the “logo Manchester United” to find a couple of logo graphics from which I selected one, downloaded it and then copied and posted it below (api.ning.com). 5. Corporate image: The club has a strong commitment to its image building as any erosion can severely hurt its reputation along with its finances. The logo and its inherent spirit of working united is evident in its both on the field and off the field. No other English club has as many victories as Manchester United has. The club takes a strategic view of projecting its identity through good public relations through its media partners and sponsors worldwide. Conclusion: The lessons derived from analysis of Manchester United have direct relevance to sport management: how to raise and maintain club profiles in national and global contexts; how to leverage brand names commercially to complement on-field success with off-field activities; and how to harness technology to broaden appeal. The most critical factors however are resource-based. On the field, management has maintained its focus on producing an attractive product--attacking football. This has endured through continuous renewal of player resources and their moulding within the team concept. Off the field, an alert, marketing-oriented management has taken full advantage of that success. The common denominator has been total commitment to and single-minded pursuit of excellence. Works Cited Hatton, B. “Press Release”. Essendon Football Club. 19 Nov 2003 Hill, John S., Vincent, John. “Globalisation and Sports Branding: The Case of Manchester United.” International Journal of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship, 01 May 2006. 19 March 2009. Howard, S. Sayce, R. “Fact Sheet 11: Branding, Sponsorship and Commerce in Football”. University of Leicester. .April 1998. Maidment, P. “Manchester United Expands its Global Reach”. Forbes. . 19 March 2009. Manchester United Logo, . 19 March 2009. Youngblood, R. International Herald Tribune. “Investors Circle Manchester United”. . 19 March 2009 Read More