SCORING AN OWN GOAL - TIN MAN ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE ELLA WARREN LOOKS AT WHAT THE EUROPEAN SUPER LEAGUE FAIL CAN TEACH US FROM A PR PERSPECTIVE
Photo by Sven Kucinic on Unsplash
While the past week has seen football fans everywhere glued to their phones as plans for a European Super League unravelled, and quickly condemned, there’s a lot to learn from a PR perspective.
On Sunday evening, news leaked that the wealthiest European football teams, including England’s “Big Six”, intended to break off to form their own ‘Super League’ without relegation or promotion, flying in the face of years of football tradition and history. Fans gathered, pundits bellowed and just 48 hours after the official announcement, the breakaway Super League was dead before a ball had been kicked. After the chaos had subsided, we were left wondering, how did the dreams of some of the world’s most powerful football clubs, their owners (and their banks) crumble so quickly? Having thought about it, I think it’s largely down to the power of social media.
With the Premier League’s ‘Big Six’ all announcing they would be founding members of this new competition, football fans from all over the UK put their team rivalries aside and came together to send a powerful message. Even the government and royalty were horrified by the thought of a new league, not driven by performance or passion, but by wealth and power.
But what can we learn from this as communications professionals?
1. Your audience will always hold you accountable – whether you are launching a new product or campaign, or even just expressing an opinion, people will always have opinions and thanks to social media they have an effective outlet to express them. British football fans of the ‘Big Six’ took to Twitter immediately sharing their disgust and calling for their teams to drop out of the league using social media. They were not afraid to call out their own teams, demand the resignation of their leaders and confront them on Twitter. Fan power is what ultimately led to shutting down the European Super League. Know that if you mess up, your audience will not shy away from calling you out.
2. Authenticity is key – don’t forget to be authentic and lead with emotional connection in everything you do. Whilst so many football clubs pay lip service to the Jock Stein quote that “football without fans is nothing”, they didn’t consult, care or consider the views of supporters when £3 billion pounds was on the table. There was no regard to the unique emotional connections fans have with their football clubs. The epic fail also gives us a timely lesson in terms of brand communications. Whether it is choosing the right talent to work with as a campaign spokesperson or selecting influencers on a social campaign, being genuine is fundamental. At Tin Man we ensure everything we do is not only authentic to the brands we work with, but authentic to who we are as an agency.
3. Social media doesn’t just divide - it can also conquer. While the failures and dangers of social media are rightly well-documented, this week’s events have seen supporters who would usually be trading taunts and insults, unite behind a common cause. Over the last week football fans from all over the world came together on Twitter using the hashtag #StopTheSuperLeague. Fans organised online and gathered outside stadiums and training grounds, and like so many times during the pandemic and a time where people could not come together in person, they did so on social media.