Arguably one of the most professional sporting outfits, Chelsea Football Club has chosen the equally professional Sail as the club strives to increase their brand footprint and following throughout Africa.

Working on behalf of Chelsea, Sail will market the club throughout Africa with a particular focus on the club’s first team players, including Michael Essien, Didier Drogba and new signings Fernando Torres and David Luiz. With the club owning the image rights of 19 squad members, Sail will assist in aligning and partnering the players with local brands thus creating individualised ambassadorial programmes.

Established in 1905, Chelsea is a truly global brand, with squad members from three continents, consisting of 16 national team players representing 11 different countries. Ivorians Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou, Nigerian John Obi Mikel and Ghanaian Michael Essien reiterate the African dominance that is Chelsea.

With the 2012 African Cup of Nations to be co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, brands throughout Africa will rely on Sail to strategically align their unique offering to that of a Chelsea player. Brand personification is a highly successful marketing tool used to create brand loyalty by way of aligning and utilising a player who best portrays the brand’s values. Having consulted to the football unions in South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Zambia and Mozambique, CEO of Sail Justin Sampson is perfectly placed to maximise the ‘player assets’ of Chelsea with potential brands looking to align themselves with football at the highest level.

Chelsea Chief Executive Ron Gourlay commented: “Chelsea is delighted to be partnering with Sail. We want to work with market leaders like Sail and they certainly have the local knowledge and experience needed. We expect to work very closely together to build on the club and our players’ global image and business reputation.”

Justin Sampson expressed his delight at the opportunity to market a brand of Chelsea’s magnitude on the African continent. “Chelsea’s on field success coupled with a strong African playing complement, has seen the support base on the continent steadily increasing. Sail’s aim is to consolidate that growth and develop a strong commercial portfolio for Chelsea in Africa over the coming years.”

Having worked throughout Africa securing sponsorships and commercial partnerships, Justin concluded the most successful soccer sponsorship in Ghana between the national team The Black Stars and Gold Fields. Following on from this sponsorship, Justin formulated a strategy to assist with the team qualifying for the 2006 Soccer World Cup in Germany, called “Dare to Dream’.

Justin is encouraged by Chelsea’s fan footprint in Africa. “Every year we see the club gain in popularity on our shores, and as football has now become a way of life, we eagerly await campaign kickoff as we have no doubt that whilst the boys in blue perform on the field, we’ll perform off it.”

Having conquered 12 trophies over the last decade, the club will be the first to acknowledge that winning is about partnerships – making sure that those whom you sign, are of world class. Sail look forward to working alongside Chelsea and providing them with further strategic insight, unmatched experience, sheer determination and a love like no other for the beautiful game.

Source: bizcommunity.com

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