Alcatel's sponsorship of one of the world's largest and most successful football clubs is designed to leverage Liverpool FC's large and loyal supporter base.
It follows similar partnerships with the South Sydney Rabbitohs (NRL) and the GWS Giants (AFL) in a marketing strategy more about brand ambassadors than spots and dots on television.
On Friday, legendary Liverpool FC midfielder John Barnes was in Sydney to help reveal Alcatel as official partner and smartphone of the Reds in Australia and New Zealand.
Also at the gala dinner event, hosted by former Socceroo and Fox Sports presenter Robbie Slater, were NRL players Robbie Farah and Tom Burgess (both of the Rabbitohs) and ironwoman Tara Coleman, another Alcatel brand ambassador (see full photo gallery below).
“Liverpool is an iconic club, a massive brand and has got an amazing reach globally,” says Sam Skontos, VP and managing director of Alcatel in South East Asia and Pacific. Estimates have placed Liverpool FC's global fanbase at about 115 million.
“In Australia and New Zealand, it has got a really strong, passionate fanbase. A couple of years ago 100,000 people watched Liverpool play at the MCG and seeing those spectators sing ‘You’ll never Walk Alone’ is absolutely spine-tingling.
“What it means for us is that by aligning our brand we get more exposure to a passionate and loyal supporter base. If you hadn’t heard of us but you’re an EPL fan, you will now have heard of us.”
Raising awareness in Oz
Skontos says Alcatel handsets account for around 20% of the pre-paid market, making it the number three player in the pre-paid mobile phone market by volume in Australia.
Alcatel, originally a French company but now Chinese-owned, is one of the largest handset manufacturers in the Americas and Europe but is not as well known on these shores.
Skontos says his two marketing objectives are recall and for people to align the Alcatel brand with smartphones, which he says will be helped by the exposure and prestige a Liverpool partnership offers.
The package with Liverpool involves promotions, access to merchandise, “money can’t buy experiences” (such as trips and corporate hospitality to games at Anfield), player imagery on above the line advertising and promotion, and first right of refusal to sponsor games that Liverpool play in Australia.
Beyond sport
Alcatel doesn’t just focus on sport; it also sponsors an underground DJ competition called Your Shot. It also works with brand ambassadors like Pia Muehlenbeck, who has more than 1.3 million Instagram followers.
“On top of that, all of the marketing initiatives we have is all specific to trade and channel marketing to sell out our products. We work with carriers and it’s our responsibility to make sure the product sells and is marketed properly and flies out the door,” Skontos adds.
“We have been in this market for seven years and are an exclusively pre-paid only handset company. We don’t compete with the Apples and Samsungs. We are predominantly targeting and do very well with the young, the old the credit challenged – the people who can’t afford an Apple or a Samsung.”
Skontos says the company isn’t focused on measuring the success of its partnerships with metrics just yet because he'd rather maximise spend on promotion. To date, Alcatel has steered away from TV commercials in Australia, but Skontos could consider that marketing channel for Alcatel's higher-end devices in the future.
“When you are selling $99 or $199 pre-paid handsets, I just don’t think the right medium is TV,” Skontos says.
“We’ve been heavily focused on trade and done a lot of work with our carriers. We also work on sponsorship and a lot of it is about giving back to the community and helping that team out. We think that is the best way to give back, by being involved with passionate clubs and passionate fans.”
What's in it for LFC
For Liverpool FC, regional sponsorship deals are not only an increasingly important revenue stream for the club against more cashed-up rivals, they also helps grow the club's market presence across the world.
In the club's most recent financial year, £116 million was generated from commercial partnerships, the second-largest source of income after the club's cut of broadcasting TV rights money (£120 million).
"This is important because it's a way of building our brand," Barnes tells AdNews, before adding that partnering with Alcatel may provide another omen.
"We at Liverpool have recognised that since they sponsored the Rabbitohs they've gone quite well (the Rabbitohs won the 2014 grand final), so let's hope that luck rubs off on us."
As Liverpool enjoys its third-best start in the Premier League era, optimism is aplenty on the red half of Merseyside with fans fully behind the team and the club's popular German manager Jürgen Klopp.
Alcatel will hope some of this loyalty and magic rubs off on its brand as it looks to win over new fans from some of its wealthier rivals Apple and Samsung.
Check out the gala dinner photo gallery below.
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