Liverpool FC Forum

by **Redrider** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 4:43 pm

Leonmc0708 wrote:P.S. Owen was nowhere near as marketable as Liverpool FC. It was different with Beckham as he was fashion icon at the same time, and advertised all the posh brands. Owen advertised Walkers Crisp and Lucozade.

You two, or one rather need to get a grip.

Leon,
While you say that the post is a load of twoddle, you are actually picking up on the point !
How valuable is the Liverpool name in promotional terms ?
How much is that value enhanced when you have a big player name to further project the image into non-football areas?
Apologies, for the Mufc example,( I am not a mufc fan ) but that is the best one for immediate comparative purposes. They also have a good current example in Rooney, who is bad Karma at the moment with visits to prostitutes and obvious low IQ level, producing a poor public image. However, he shapes up on the pitch, bangs in the goals and Fergie is prepared to pay top dollar for him. Would RM be willing to do the same ?
Coming back to Owen, as part of my work I travel to quite a lot of countries around the world, both East and West and Owen is a big and popular name, synonomous with LFC in all countries, bit like 'Fish and Chips'. In marketing terms we are definitely losing out when we break the link. Jaguar Cars are making a Big International marketing push using the Owen name and picture in an LFC Shirt. Presumably this will now be in RM colours.

Join in the thread, there are a lot of dynamics here in comparing the different strategies that motivate the big club's in football. Liverpool aspire to be one of these big club's, but have we got our strategies right in how we value players.

Maybe, LFC. General Discussion is not the right page for this, but the thought did come out of 'Owen what if' - Mod's to advise or move etc.

by **kindaconfused** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 4:46 pm

I think MO is very marketable, the guy has left LFC and we still talk about him.

When you talk about LFC to overseas peeps they assimilate LFC immediately with MO. MO had icon status but I agree not as much as David Beckham. As an example of what he maybe worth I think RM bought Beckham for £24m and they reckon his marketing will bring the club in another £120m so for me MO is worth a lot more than £8m.

MO is already shown he is marketable in national adverts so there's your answer for marketablity.

As for RR and me being the same guy I think you need to talk to JBG who has already admitted we are not the same but then you guys here might be but if you can discuss it I don't mind.

If Becks can raise £120m surely MO is worth at least half say £60m so we sold ourselves short again.

by **Roger Red Hat** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 4:55 pm

yawn - nearly hometime..........

by **115-1073096938** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 5:21 pm

owen was not bothered with us last season, although baros and cisse are finding it difficult to gel of late, they still work their socks off much more than owen ever did, he wandered round the pitch counting the daisies in some games!

But still amanged 19 goals despite playing in an average team and missing a third of the season through injury.

Total garbage.

by **Redrider** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 5:31 pm

stu_the_red wrote:
owen was not bothered with us last season, although baros and cisse are finding it difficult to gel of late, they still work their socks off much more than owen ever did, he wandered round the pitch counting the daisies in some games!

But still amanged 19 goals despite playing in an average team and missing a third of the season through injury.

Total garbage.

Stu, You are correct, when you take the emotion out of the discussion, Owen was good value both on and off the pitch.

The question is where do we go now, can we recreate a player with a similar image who can also perform on the pitch?
Can we go out and buy a player with image, to promote the Liverpool Brand ?
Could, Alonso be groomed to create a good off-field personality ?

by **115-1073096938** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 5:33 pm

No and i don't really care either.

by **Redrider** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 6:07 pm

stu_the_red wrote:No and i don't really care either.

Stu,
But you do care really, because we all wan't LFC to be the biggest name in World Football, we had a taste of it in the 80's and we still feel we can compete. But to do that we we need success and to be successful we need to fund the purchase and training of the best players.
We, the fan's cannot pay for this through the turnstile, we need to promote an image that is marketable and pull in TV audiences and sponsorship from around the world. Having players with image is part of that equation.

by **115-1073096938** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 6:35 pm

******. The players are out there. There are loads of players out there who are upto a professional standard who aren't playing professionally. The youth scouting system in this country and ability to spot potential is shocking.

You don't need all the money in the world to be the best, you need to spend the money you have in the right way on the right players.

by **Redrider** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 6:56 pm

Right on Stu, we need to pull more promising youngsters, like Owen who came from an Everton family, because he could see that Liverpool gave him the best prospect for success. If Rooney had come from more supportive and intelligent background he too proabably would have made a similar choice.
However, to compete on a World stage, we need to project our image a lot wider than Merseyside and one of the best way's to do this and earn a 'few bob' along the way is to project an all round image not only as a successful club but also with people (players) who appear as icon's alongside say Schumaker, Tiger Woods, etc.
We also need funds to ensure that when purchases do not work out and money is wasted, as with the Houllier millions, that the club remains viable and can still continue with plans to build a new stadium etc.

by **L-type** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 8:17 pm

kindaconfused wrote:This is a good point and this is similar to the recent article in the Sunday Times concerning how Beckham was undervalued going to RM for less value than his marketing image.

Your right LFC is not very good at marketing and I think this is limited to only one or two clubs in the UK at present who are. Man U being better than all the rest, as they move towards seeing football as a business and the sellability of the image bringing in more money than gate receipts.

Cant remember the name but head of marketing and Man United moved to Chelsea as they tried to utilise the Chelsea image in terms of marketing.

Liverpool FC is still well behind the leaders and there is a great potential to exploit it if we have someone who can champion the cause for us. The revenue that this creates has the potential to be in excess of gate receipts and if LFC are to close the gap with Chelsea, Arsenal and Man U then they need to money that exploiting the image would bring.

In terms of player image MO is the best asset they had so your right RR, the days of "selling a few shirts" are well gone but LFC only have their toe in the water and need to make a quantum leap to go the full monty.

LFC needs to drag itself out of the image that football is a sport for the working classes when it has been turned into a multi million pound business, its just a shame they don't have the directors with the business acumen to maximise its potential.

I'm afraid its change or be left behind and at the end of the day its the fans who will ultimately pay the price.

sorry im not gonna read all 3 pages cus i'm just a lazy american

but u have a point about manchester united being the best regarded among w/ real madrid because whenever i'm watching soccer and someone walks in they always say, " Who's playin Manchester United?" "Has beckham scored yet?" I mean they know nothing about soccer but they have the brand name seared into there heads. I say we start doing that and maybe expand the american tour. How this started with owen and got to expanding the american tour i can't tell u exactly but it makes sense somehow.

by **kindaconfused** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 8:28 pm

stu_the_red

We do need money, relying on home talent is not enuff. Lets say LFC rely on home talent and Chelsea, Manu have the whole world to choose from cos they have the money.

If we don't spend we aint gonna win anything, the gap is already opening up and once a team starts to win it gets the prizes and the money that goes with it and the rest get less.

This is the very reason the sports in USA are regulated cos they know it don't work. They cap wages etc and regulate what they call the draft. The lower clubs get the first choice of new players to help them improve.

I'm not advocating all of this but money talks!

by **Redrider** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 8:37 pm

L-Type,
I have visited the US on business many times and what you are describing is the exact reaction that comes my way. But also most Americans are hungry for an angle to participate with interest, in what is for them a new and emerging sport with some interesting dynamics.
One of the directions for promotion in the US relates to personality association and promotion of the 'brand',- Tiger Woods is synonomous with Nike, Tiger projects an image of 'any guy can make it' which fits with Nike 'just do it'
Liverpool FC could use some of this to expand their popularity in a growing market, perhaps one of the spanish guy's could present an image to the 'Hispanics' that would appeal to their interest and so promote the image of LFC in the US.

by **taff** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 8:44 pm

We could sign Robbie Williams

by **Redrider** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 9:00 pm

taff wrote:We could sign Robbie Williams

Not such a crazy idea. The new spanish guy's are into Rock and have been buying guitars in town. If they could latch onto a big name group, make some guest appearances, it would set an image that would start to go beyond football, particularly if it were with a big worldwide band.

by **Redrider** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 9:27 pm

What do the LFC fans out East from the UK think of the need to have a personality to attract support and promotional interest in LFC in the Middle East and Asia ?
Which of the current LFC players has the best image for promotional work out your way ?

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