Dr. Arto Kuuluvainen, Key note speech: Sports Brands. Sports management -seminar, UEF, January 2014

1. SPORTS BRANDS
PhD Arto Kuuluvainen

2. ARTO KUULUVAINEN
-
PhD (International Business), Turku School of Economics, 2011
-
Currently: Research Manager in Danish marketing research
company (M3 Research A/S)
-
Previously: Over 8 years in TSE (f.ex. Teaching of Sports
management & -entrepeneurship course)
-
Business experience from sports-related companies
-
Sports background: Floorball, Tennis, Icehockey, Football

3. SPORTS CLUBS & BRANDS
- Sports clubs create stronger emotional
reactions than majority of other industries
- Sports clubs have started to systematically
build their brands only rather recently (mainly
from 1990’s)
- Why sports is so special industry? Because of
this.

4. BRAND BUILDING IN SPORTS
Same principles than in ”normal” business.
Aims to:
More spectators
more gate receipts
More involved consumers
More merchandise sales
= More income
better possibilities for success!

5. THE MOST VALUABLE SPORTS
BRANDS BASED ON FINANCIAL
DATA (FORBES, 2013)
Clubs:
1. Real Madrid $450 million
2. New York Yankees $443 million
3. Manchester United $433 million
4. FC Barcelona $361 million

6. 1. RM
1. Barça
€46M
5. Sevilla
€31M
6. Betis
€29M
€28M
8. Getafe
€18M
9. Espanyol
€17M
10. Athletic
€17M
€15M
12. Zaragoza
€15M
13. Osasuna
€14M
14. Málaga
€14M
15. Mallorca
€14M
16.Levante
May change also in La
Liga soon
4. Atléti
11. R.Sociedad
Different system in
Premier League, Serie A
and so on
€48M
7. Villarreal
Own TV-deals (Table
from 2011) & own
merchandise deals
€140M
3. Valencia
WHY TWO LA LIGA
CLUBS IN TOP 5?
€140M
€14M
17. Sporting
€14M
18. Granada
€14M
19.Rayo
€14M
20. Racing
€13M

7. BUILDING BRAND EQUITY IN A
SPORTS CLUB
(GLADDEN ET AL. 1998)

8. BRAND IDENTITIES; ESPOO BLUES
VS. HIFK (HELSINKI) (JOKINEN
2013)

9. ESPOO BLUES: BRANDING
PROBLEMS
- Pre-season ad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bKNQpBh
pjQ&feature=player_embedded
- What happened soon? (Koskinen, Ikonen )
- Follow your brand statement & be committed!
Otherwise it is useless.

10. 10

11. SOCIAL MEDIA

12. ATHLETES AS BRANDS

13. - Sports stars are not anymore only on-field performers
but also off-field commercial properties (i.e. brands)
- Players have been advertising products already for
decades BUT now they’ve become brands by
themselves.

14. THE MOST VALUABLE SPORTS
BRANDS BASED ON FINANCIAL
DATA (FORBES, 2013)
Athletes:
1.Tiger Woods & Roger Federer $46 million
2.LeBron James $27 million
3.Phil Mickelson $25 million
4. Mahendra Singh Dhoni $21 million

15. FOOTBALL PLAYER AS A BRAND
‘ A unique, distinctive combination of unplanned and
planned factors that mark out a player as being
different to other players thus enabling the immediate
identification of the player and the activities in which
they are involved’. (Burton & Chadwick 2008)
- However, unlike other brands and/or products, people
are unique. It is difficult to imitate and impossible to
replicate brands such as Ronaldo or Beckham
- Athlete brands are relatively short-living brands and
ageing of the athlete will change these remarkably.
.

16. GLOBAL SUPERSTARS
CR7
Becks

17. WHAT’S COMMON?
-
Sportiness
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Appearance + status symbols (fancy cars, outgoing lifestyle etc.)
-
Football skills
-
Representation of globally leading football clubs (ManU, Real
Madrid etc.)
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Symbols? (Beckham: Tattoos & hair, Ronaldo: Hair & jewels)
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Something else?

18. TOPSTAR
(BURTON & CHADWICK 2008)
- Helps to understand athlete brands
Team – the team(s) that a player plays for or has played for; the
associations a player has with a particular team; the profile,
reputation and success of the team; the player’s role within
the team
Off-field – where the player lives; who the player socialises with
and where; who the player is married to or is dating; the type
of house the player lives in, the car they drive, the clothes
they wear
Physical characteristics, mentality and values – the facial
appearance and physique of the player; other distinguishing
features such as hairstyle, tattoos etc.; the way a players
thinks and the views they hold;

19. Success – the player’s on-field record; the number of trophies,
medals and prizes the player has won; the winning teams and
games in which the player has been involved
Transferability – the extent to which the player appeals to males
and females, young and old, followers and non-followers of
football; the extent to which the player and their image are
culturally and geographically transferable; language(s)
spoken;
Age – the stage at which a player is in their career; viewed in
product lifecycle terms, this will have an impact on the
profile, characteristics and longevity of the brand as well as
influencing how the brand is managed;
Reputation - the player’s reputation as footballer; style of play;
disciplinary record; the player’s reputation outside of
football; way the player deals with public and media attention.

20. GUERILLA MARKETING & STORY TELLING IN
SPORTS
Sporting Lisbon
Duracell & NFL
TUTO HOCKEY VS HC TPS
Be Creative!