Marknadsföring i fotbollsvärlden. En studie som fördjupar sig i samspelet mellan klubbar och fotbollsspelares varumärken

Abstract

In the world of football, the divide between Swedish clubs and the international competition has only increased in recent years. The financing of a club is a big part of its competitive force, with the transfer market being an important aspect in having a successful club and assembling a strong squad. Although the gap in skills is increasing, these clubs still maintain a loyal fanbase. This study aims to reveal how the top clubs in Gothenburg can create and utilize their brands together with the brands of their players in order to increase fan loyalty, increase sales of football jerseys and matchtickets while also looking into the possibilities of improvements in sponsor deals. Lastly the paper also aims to analyze how clubs balance their interest regarding their brand together with their players own brands and interests. The findings explained that football clubs seek to strengthen their brand image to attract fans, gain better brand deals and increase sales in both matchtickets and football jerseys. Furthermore they seek to create brands of individual players and help to improve them, through this they achieve synergy effects from it, furthermore the paper emphasizes this by how clubs brand equity is improved by associations. Lastly the paper focuses on the balance between the players interests and their brands with the clubs interests and its brand.