eircom logo on Ireland fans jersey
Of eircom’s FAI sponsorship my assumption of the breakdown of importance would be (in order of importance) access to players for tv ads and promotions, use of the FAI logo, sponsorship on training gear(which appears on tv as many news broadcasts feature the players in training), sponsorship on fans shirt. I use this to illustrate my belief that the eircom logo disappearing off the fans shirt would not jeopardise the entire eircom sponsorship of the Ireland national team.
Surely there is limited goodwill gained for eircom from this exposure as it rarely appears on television. Occasional glimpses of the logo are seen on fans jerseys during televised games. Other then that, it is only seen by the fans who wear the shirts who are often disgruntled over the fact that they must wear this corporate logo on their national shirt or the general public who see people wearing these jerseys. If there were serious benefits for corporate logos being seen on members of the general public then wouldn’t we all get offered money to wear t-shirts with corporate logos on them?
Nationwide manage to have a very visible presence as the main sponsors of England despite not appearing on the fans shirt.
Some of the revenue lost from the removal of the eircom logo could be recovered from the increase in shirt sales if players were given semi-permanent numbers and player names were put on the backs of shirts. The fact that Damien Duff featured in the adidas advertising campaign during the World Cup despite Ireland not qualifying shows the commercial impact of some of the players in the current squad.
Throughout Europe, national jerseys are bought by football fans without much allegiance to the team who play in the shirt. Any prospective buyer of an Ireland shirt without an allegiance to the team would be put off from buying the shirt by the large corporate sponsor that apperas on it as opposed to other national shirts. Ireland, having no negative history with most European nations have the potential to sell a significant amount of shirts on the continent.
Sales in Ireland would improve not only by the jersey being closer to what the players wear but names & numbers on jerseys could boost sales in specific target areas (McShane in Wicklow, O’Shea in Waterford or any eL player who would make the team)
Increased shirt sales should lead to a more lucrative kit supplier contract being achieved by the FAI. This would also help to offset any funds lost by the removal of the logo.
I believe that this would be seen by most fans as a gesture of good faith and would provide the FAI with some much needed good publicity.
I have heard that soccer AM were either involved in or started a campaign to have a gold star put above the 3 lions crest on the England shirt to commemorate their 1966 World Cup win. Does anyone know if this is true? What did it involve and how did they approach it? Any other thoughts?
