West Brom feature Haiti appeal on their shirts
Only a quick one as I am mulling over how best to compose a proper entry – surely against the point of blogs where everything should be spontaneous and bitesized. So for now…here is a short one.
Tonight, West Brom play Newcastle in a match up between arguably the two strongest teams in the Coca Cola Championship. West Brom; the generous club that they are have donated the sponsorship space on their match shirts to the Disasters Emergency Committe for Haiti appeal. This is without doubt a generous gesture from the club and the DEC appeal will benefit from an increased footfall thanks to the awareness in this desperate time.
Without attempting to sully the attempt of West Brom to raise awareness and funds for the appeal, we should perhaps delve a little deeper:
- West Brom currently ‘negotiate their shirt sponsorship’ match-by-match. So…they don’t have a long-term sponsorship deal as they over-valued themselves last year and this year. For the record they were the first and only team to go a full season without a shirt sponsor.
- They are not actually donating any money out of their own pocket. They are auctioning off shirts and have ‘donated sponsorship space on their shirt.
- The match is being covered live on Sky TV which will generate extra coverage. This helps their cause although it does mean they would have been able to command a greater one off figure for the shirt sponsor.
- It is very fashionable and without doubt good press to engage in such practice. Some clubs have taken to doing this so not to spoil their shirts. This is often done for two reasons: they do not require the revenue generated and so can forfeit the revenue by portraying the club to the world as noble. See Barcelona and Aston Villa. The other type is the club who cannot attract a lucrative deal so forfeit the sponsorship to engage their fanbase, hoping to attract passers-by.
I can safely say which camp I think West Brom fall into. They will not lose out from the deal in monetary terms and by doing so will generate lots of favourable coverage for the club. They will also generate revenue for the DEC Haiti appeal which can only be good. Well done to them for the opportunistic idea and I hope it benefits the fundraising in the way that it will help them.
Sponsorship 2.0 