Rebranding league could fall flat

14 April 2012

Rochdale have been toiling in the Football League basement since 1974, but in the past 12 years they have risen from Division Four to being a League Two club.

The reason behind this elevated status is two rebranding exercises by League bosses in a bid to boost their competition's credibility.

The first change was enforced, following the formation of the Premiership in 1992, while the second is by design - though it has much to do with the arrival of Coca-Cola as the new title sponsor. For around £15million over the next three years, the drinks giant has bought the rights to the Coca-Cola League, featuring the Championship and its less-heralded offspring League One and League Two.

Fans get their first chance to attend matches tomorrow when they will even be able to drink a fizzy drink - guess which one? - out of cans in team colours. But apart from a few extra visits to the dentist, will fans notice any difference from last season? Not much, according to Football League chairman Sir Brian Mawhinney, who said: "I'll make a prediction. Three weeks into the season, nobody will care. They'll be talking about the football."

Mawhinney claims the point of the new names is fundamentally commercial - creating a vibrant, new brand that is no longer associated with the collapse of the disastrous ITV Digital deal and the gulf in income caused by the Premiership breakaway.

The idea is to emphasise the positive, he says. No other country gets as many fans watching games outside the top flight, while the intense loyalty that supporters show to their local clubs should be attractive to both sponsors and advertisers.

Mawhinney added: "It encourages the League and clubs to stop being preoccupied with their terrible past and it makes the League a more attractive commercial partner.

"We want our games to become ever more attractive, not only to our core audience of football fans, but also to a new generation of youngsters. We also want a commercial audience to be encouraged to re-evaluate its perception of the League."

The idea of the Championship replacing the First Division came from the League's marketing director Richard Masters, while the organisation recruited marketing agency TBWA to come up with a new logo and other brand-building ideas, such as a national youth football competition and a league table for each division's loudest fans. At the same time, they have retained a historical link by keeping the championship trophy first presented to Preston North End in 1888. That trophy was given to Leeds when they clinched the last top-flight Football League title in 1992 and to Norwich when they won Division One in May.

But not everyone is convinced of the new move. Alex Fynn, the former deputy chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi who wrote the commercial blueprint for the Premier League, believes the League have missed a chance for a wider restructuring. He said: "There is so much value and heritage in the Football League as a competition. This was a great opportunity to reform and promote themselves but they have not done that.

"They have just changed the name to try to give it a different profile from the Premier League. It's more style than substance.

"What they fail to realise is their immense strength. The 72 clubs are very well supported but the structure is wrong. They should be promoting a more meaningful competition. Twenty four clubs in each division means there is a huge gap between the teams at the top and the bottom; fewer clubs would make it more competitive.

"I would favour two national divisions of 20 clubs and three regional divisions of 20 clubs."

Malcolm Clarke, chairman of the Football Supporters' Federation, was similarly unimpressed.

He said: "I think many fans really don't like the constant changing of names."

MORE ABOUT

Coca-cola

Cola Drinks

SAndp500 Consumer Staples

Soft Drinks

Rebranding league could fall flat

Read More