Umbro has done a great job reinventing itself recently - the launch of the new England football kit has, in my opinion, been a great success. This tie up with Kasabian, for the launch of their new single Underdog, is another great piece of marketing for the football brand. Check out the making of the...
Another unexpected outcome of the demise of Setanta: Saturday’s world cup qualifier between Ukraine and England can only be viewed live online , as no TV broadcasters were willing to pay the usual fat fee for what is, let’s face it, a dead rubber. The rights holders, sports agency Kentaro , are confident...
A college football division (the American kind) has u-turned on its policy that attempted to clamp down on bloggers and amateur sportswriters, effectively 'banning' social media from its stadiums, by prohibiting fans from recording sideline video, audio or photographs - oh yeah, and the illegal...
A strange trend in the world of sports has emerged, tweeting athletes, particularly within the NFL and NBA. Zzz, boring. American. I know. But yesterday, ESPN broke some interesting news, that Michael Vick had signed a two-year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles. Those scratching their heads at the previous...
The 2010 football World Cup in South Africa is just over a year away and it is reaching the time that brands traditionally panic. How do they reach their target audiences during one of the world’s most high-profile sporting events? Is it too late? How much will it cost? Even at troubled economic times...
On Wednesday 13 May over 900 movers and shakers from the football world will converge at Wembley Stadium to discuss a wide range of commercial challenges within the sport at Soccerex. And I will be chairing one of the biggest sessions – Football sponsorship in the Recession. The results of a new Soccerex...
In some ways Rio Ferdinand is a typical footballer - massive wage packet, big money career transfers, fancy cars and the occasional brush with controversy, including an eight month ban for missing a drugs test. But unlike many of his high-profile colleagues, who seem to content themselves with the PlayStation...
It’s hard when presenting in Stockholm not to throw in a few one-liners about suicides or Abba. “I’m so excited to be here I nearly killed myself", “You’re a great crowd, is it a Swedish convention not to clap?” “We’ve come a long way from Waterloo to get here” and so on. So it was good to see Dave...
Martin Samuel in The Times today on Tottenham Hotspur and why the club is like the Daily Express. Made me laugh, well they are both total crap. Samuel says that anyone who has ever worked at the Daily Express would know why Spurs are in the proverbial latrine. His reasons are pretty straight forward...
I've got a mini-theory about the relationship between sponsors and football teams: poor performance in the markets = poor performance on the pitch. Here we go: - Man United have one of their worst ever starts to their season. AIG teeter on the brink of collapse (propped up the US Fed). - West Ham...
