How You Launch A Product
Adidas has shown how to launch new kits and integrate top talent with their third kit launches in their top-tier clubs.
How?
Adidas has brought back its iconic Trefoil logo and connected it to the different generations of fans and players
Adidas brought back their legendary players from each club they are promoting (two famously wearing rival brands boots in their prime)
Arsenal - Patrick Vieira (even integrating his famous vapour rub on his shirt in the promo video)
Man Utd - Rio Ferdinand
Bayern Munich - Bastian Schweinsteiger
Juventus - Alessandro Del Piero
Real Madrid - Zizu aka Zinedine Zidane
Adidas has integrated legend ex-players across their launch and teased through social media updates across all club updates
Each athlete is connected to each other in each ad (Patrick Vieira rejecting Del Piero’s call etc)
Each launch references something cultural and historical to each club (and including famous fans)
Each player used in their official promo are adidas athletes (in Arsenal’s case using Alessia Russo (Arsenal women’s player), Jurrien Timber and record signing Declan Rice)
Each update across the social media channels has been smart, leveraging different ways of using each platform, from WhatsApp Channels, Instagram to YouTube To Twitter and TikTok.
The Instagram Promo
The Promo Video Will Land With Arsenal Fans (note the video clicks through to arsenals website , please watch on Twitter or YouTube)
Here’s a smart behind the scenes look at the adidas kit launch filming ↓
Well played adidas and well co-orientated by the clubs.
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Premier League Shirt Sponsorship Problem?
This season’s sponsors are a telling state of the sponsorship market and who can afford to invest millions into sponsorship.
I am a big football fan (arsenal fan) and a student of business - the two worlds collated when looking through the premier league fantasy football app and then spotting the shirt sponsors… it was a little troubling. (Take a look through this season’s kits here)
We have moved away from the domination of crypto brands in the last few seasons and moved towards international gambling.
It’s a powerful trend as many of these sponsors have limited presence in England and are looking to leverage the reported global viewership of ~3.2bn.
Here are some of the main takeaways taking a look through:
11 (of 20) of the main sponsors of the premier league clubs are gambling sponsors (this is agreed to stop from the 2026/2027 season)
Crystal Palance’s sponsor Net88 is not active in the UK (is regulated) and their site doesn’t work
The price of these sponsorships every season is not cheap, the lowest is believed to be north £4m per year, whereas Snapdragon's sponsorship of Man Utd is reported to be £60m per year
Notts Forest's main sponsor is the sleeve of Crystal Palace and is an official brand partner of Chelsea - it also has received warnings from the UK Gambling Commission.
Everton's main sponsor stake also owns its sleeve sponsor kick (twitch’s rival)
Shirt manufacturers is an interesting story
Adidas x7 (11 in total in English pro football)
Umbro x4 (10 in total in English pro football)
Castore x1 *but has the sub-licence to Umbro UK (6 in total in English pro football)
Nike x4 (6 in total in English pro football)
Puma x2 (17 in total in English pro football)
Macron x1 (17 in total in English pro football)
Sudu x 1 (a brand new manufacturer - a company of ex-designers from many of the largest manufacturers)
So does this mean we have an issue with sponsorship in English pro football with large gambling issues across Britain? To me, yes, but would many other industries could afford to cover these costs?
£5m per year in sponsorship is a huge investment (ask struggling car brand Cazoo and other businesses what happened with their huge investment into sponsorship) and the ROI is often questioned at the sponsor’s brand level - the next industry might have to be equally questionable or we may have to see the costs be put back on the fan… and from my experience overseeing hundreds of professional and semi-professional teams needing bailing out by fans crowdfunding, football clubs will need to be saved by their superfans again.
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How Ryan Reynolds Pitches Wrexham To Each Potential Player
Many Department & Company Leads Can Learn From This Simple Approach
Many CEOs and founders can learn a thing or two from Ryan Reynolds on how he operates with Wrexham.
The top takeaway and running theme connection is key:
Speak to every new player and potential signing
He asks about their plan and their family (and what else can he do as the club’s co-owner)
He says he will leave the football to the players but the storytelling and marketing of the club and town - he will handle and do this thing
Sees what opportunities there are with the player and what they could collaborate on
In my coaching (specifically my exec coaching) I ask executives what are their unique skills and how do they stand out vs other execs from bigger or more well-known companies and go to my advice always centres around if they have high EQ show it and double down on it and layer IQ.
Maybe this is what is going to help you stand out and stand up against different execs or companies.
Is Shirt Sponsorship Worth It?
Is Sponsoring Man Utd Going To Be The Consumer Brand Moment Snapdragon Needs?
Snapdragon (the brand) is unknown to most consumers, if not almost everyone.
It’s Qualcomm’s consumer-facing brand. Maybe you’ve heard of them? Don’t worry most haven’t and wouldn’t recall the brand.
Well if you haven’t heard, I wouldn’t worry about it you’re about to see Snapdragon many times a week. Queue the Eric Cantona teaser above.
Their quick backstory:
Snapdragon is a chip in many smartphones and laptops (think PC laptops that are surfaces, Dell’s etc) that many use for work.
Snapdragon is looking to leverage the AI movement and this is a (smart) brand play
Snapdragon is a Mercedes AMG F1 team sponsor
Why has Eric Cantona returned to Old Trafford? The Snapdragon brand has just become the shirt sponsor of Manchester United, meaning they’ll be featured on the kits (think live TV coverage, Match Of The Day, social media highlights, fans wearing their team kits (home, away and 3rd shirts) & global TV ads constantly in your social feeds through players, TV and in your daily lives).
The BIG Question: Is £60m A Year Worth The Investment?
Will $75m/£60m a year (for a 5-year deal) sponsorship of one of the top teams in the world be worth it for Qualcomm and their consumer chip Snapdragon?
Or is this more of an awareness play? Will the CMOs get the leeway and the access to make this worth the big long term investment?
But what if the brand isn’t expecting any payback from their huge investment - is this ok? In my boardrooms now it won’t be ok, it is for the Marketing & Partnerships teams to make the most out of this, to get in front of the core consumer and bring the Snapdragon brand to the forefront of the purchase cycle when buying a new laptop or smartphone with the chip in it.
Shirt Sponsorship is really the new billboard, it spreads far and wide and brand recall shoots up, but the hard question to answer is it ever going to be worth while? The Qualcomm management team have compared it to a weekly SuperBowl ad… I hope they are right and give their teams internally the creative space to make more out of it.