The Liga de Fútbol Profesional and Mediapro create ‘Spanish Soccer International Marketing,’ an advertising agency to reach out to sponsors and create brand value
The Liga de Fútbol Profesional (LFP) does not cease in its efforts to continue activating an internationalization strategy for competition, to make a global Liga and increase notoriety with brand value. Their latest action consists in founding the advertising agency ‘Spanish Soccer International Marketing’ (IAE) through which the LFP and the production company Mediapro joined forces to export the ‘Liga’ brand overseas and increase its recognition in countries like China, where European football is gaining fans by leaps and bounds.
The Chinese market is no stranger to Spanish football and the cash flow coming from Asia has grown significantly in recent years. The Liga de Fútbol Profesional itself has the sponsorship of two Chinese companies: Huawei, mobile manufacturer & leader in information technology and communication, answered La Liga’s call in June 2013 and maintains its alliance till this day; and Sockatyes, the advertising billboard sock brand that, under the slogan “A billboard on some of the most expensive legs in the world,” has made itself known in 2015 by sponsoring 14 clubs of the Liga BBVA (la Liga’s current champion, Atlético de Madrid, and RCD Espanyol are among them) and 12 from Liga Adelante.
In that boast of expansion, the Liga came to commercial agreements with two other companies: Charm (leaders in integral communications in China, an advertising agency that focuses mainly on television and internet) and CCTV (China Central Television with 20 national and international channels via cable, satellite and free to air whose programming includes channels with diverse subjects and their international versions, including one in Spanish).
BRAND VALUE
“We want a global Liga that’s the best in the world,” Javier Tebas, president of the LFP has said on more than one occasion. So what does it have to offer? The opportunities the LFP has for foreign investors are evident and easy to quantify:
- The Liga BBVA has an audience of well over 800 million people all over the world
- More than 150 countries have TV rights from la Liga to watch live matches
- 60 million fans on Facebook
- 9 million fans on Twitter
- The Awards Annual Gala can be seen in 110 countries
Jaume Roures is sure that “the LFP has a lot to offer; currently it’s the best Liga in the world in terms of positioning in tournaments such as the Champions League or in UEFA scores. Here we have amazing players who are the main attraction”.
The association and Jaume Roures’ production company have as an objective to create value around the LFP brand, give more visibility to foreign firms that sponsor la Liga and serves as a claim for other companies to come to this competition. “The initiative to create this agency comes from the clear possibility of looking for direct sponsors for la Liga outside Spain, and linked to a series of actions that promote the competition’s presence outside our borders. La Liga has done a good job in attracting national sponsors and this is another step in this line of expansion”, Roures said.
The president of the Mediapro group highlights out of all the actions taken, “the physical presence in different markets such as China, the Middle East (Dubai) and the United States in promoting the ‘LFP World Challenge’, a project that fuses sport and business, since it consists of Spanish teams playing friendly matches with local teams from the United States, Mexico, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Peru, Colombia and Chile, and around it a series of acts are organized which favor the presence of Spanish companies in those countries which are an opportunity to promote their business”.
In its marketing offer, the LFP wants to include the sale of advertising spaces on panels and billboards in Spanish football fields through U-Televisiva, a company owned by Mediapro and a leader in the advertising sector and specializing in the rights and advertising space trading around sport, especially in the world of football. Through this platform, sponsors have an ideal showcase for all broadcasts worldwide.
