More than just a shirt sponsor - brand loyalty

A friend of mine bought a television this week, nothing unusual. I suppose what is different from most of these prospective purchases is that he pretty much narrowed the market down to just one choice before comparing megahertz and pixels. You see, this friend is an Arsenal fan, and he takes it seriously. Immediately ruled out were Samsung (Chelsea sponsors), Sharp (Man Utd) and LG (Fulham). Naturally, he ended up buying a JVC set, in homage of the Gunners' first shirt sponsors.

In high definition

It sounds quirky, but it is just one example of football fans staying loyal, and refusing to line the pockets of rival clubs. Of course that last argument only works for current sponsors, but try finding an Everton fan who drinks Carlsberg, owns a Candy washing machine or uses Crown Paints to decorate...

But this is no urban myth, or pure tribalism. The companies know this all too well. An acquaintace who works at Vodafone's HQ confirmed that one of the main reasons they terminated their sponsorship of Manchester United was because they felt that they were losing out on customers from Liverpool, London and the North East. They now sponsor more generic sporting events, but will always be associated with United.

Sir Alex's phone number was easy to remember

One example of sponsors showing some shrewd tactics was demonstrated in Scotland. Mindful that sponsoring one of the Old Firm would instantly alienate the other half of Glasgow, glaziers CR Smith decided to just sponsor both. It's a move that has caught on ever since, with NTL and Carling being more recent examples.

Purely getting the Glasgow clubs to agree on anything is an achievement in itself, and perhaps future prospective sponsors of Celtic will need to be even more innovative should Rangers succumb to their current money woes. In order to keep the peace, one can only hope that Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs does not try and throw it's hat in the ring to sponsor both...

The man in the middle just couldn't get off the fence

Of course the firms involved in shirt sponsorship need to tread a fine line. The exposure of a title win for their club could cost them thousands of customers. The absolute ideal of no shirt sponsors is a long gone thing, with even Barcelona succumbing to the Qatari dollar, but I'm sure Real Madrid won't be turning down any lucrative tours to the Middle East any time soon.