I think it's a clever idea for the clubs and a stupid one for the sponsors. There's been a lot written about this in the tech magazines, because of all the dotcoms that went ape doing this in the last few years. The story usually runs something like this:
o Company pays club enormous fee and agrees to contract for a defined period, to rename park/field/pitch.
o Club has to use the name in all company literature, and pressure the bum off the media to use it in reports.
o Fans steadfastly refuse to use the new name, as do the media.
o Company runs out of money, sees it was a stupid idea, but still has to fork over the wedge every month/year, etc.
In the US it backfired a lot though, because of the dot.bombs. I hope it does here too, it's a stupid idea all round, but I reckon the company's get what they deserve. A first year marketing student could tell you what would happen. It's the graduate marketing students you can't trust.
adam
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