How did Brand ESL get it so wrong?
So now the dust has settled, the plans for the proposed European Super League have been shelved (for the time being, at least) and we’re into the apologies/recriminations/hand-wringing stage.
There has already been much discussion about how the whole fiasco was allowed to happen, and why, but there’s one key factor which particularly resonates with us at Big Rudder – which we’d like to throw into the debate.
Let’s call it ‘Brand Disconnect.’
Consider the individuals driving the scheme. These are the billionaire businessmen, who – it seems – have been carefully formulating these plans for years; with access to the very best legal advice, marketing gurus, media consultants etc. that container-loads of money can buy…and yet still miscalculated what the response would be to their proposals. Massively.
How did they get this so wrong? Why were the howls of outrage from supporters, ex-players, governing bodies and governments such a surprise to them?
Simply, they were so wrapped up in their distorted perception of their own club’s brand image and sense of self-worth, that they failed to understand how differently they were viewed from the outside. They didn’t even see themselves as revolutionaries – for them, it was just the natural evolution of what they had been doing (successfully) for years. They only saw their audience as TV viewers; completely blind to the inconvenient truths of the history of clubs, fans and communities.
And then they compounded the problem by collaborating only with others who either shared their distorted view (other ‘big’ clubs) or had a vested interest in encouraging it (financial institutions and lawyers).
What they were lacking was somebody brave enough to hold up a mirror to them. Every business needs this. It’s all too easy to become so immersed in your own culture and business imperatives that you fail to see yourself as your audience does. Wood for the trees, and all that.
An honest voice would have predicted this and offered advice on how the project might be formulated and positioned differently; saving a lot of heartache, money and – let’s face it – damage to their brand perception and value.
It isn’t healthy to be only on the inside, looking out. It’s especially unhealthy when we don’t even realise that this is what we are doing.
We all benefit from qualified, unbiased, external advice: people, businesses, brands.