Bookmakers Better Bet have signed former Arsenal player Paul Merson as their new Brand Ambassador. An interesting choice given that Merse claimed some time ago to have lost £7 million on gambling, which led to him being declared bankrupt in 2007.
So why appoint a self-confessed [former] gambling addict as the face of a bookies? Surely appointing Merson is like appointing La Winehouse as the brand ambassador for the Colombian Tourist Board.
Since those dark days of his, Merson has been a regular on Sky Sports News as a pundit on the Gillette Soccer Saturday show. So I guess that must have been the clincher for Better Bet; sign-up a pundit that regulars down the pub can recognise and your in the money. Because I am sure that many people would want to place a bet after seeing Merse, after all, what could go wrong with one little wager, eh?
Brand Ambassadors after all are by nature people that can help promote and advertise a product, company or brand. They have an element of celebrity that can help the company promote itself and its products in a controlled manner. They become the human face of the organisation, a person that clients and importantly potential clients can associate themselves with and can help drive sales. Ambassadors have to be asprational characters that can help get the clients messages through.
Just look at how David Beckham helped Gillette increase sales even with all the gossip that was surrounding him at the time. Sales of Gillette products in the Far East, where there’s still an obsession with all things Beckham, broke records. The deal was put together by Hill & Knowlton’s London office and while it was claimed to be one the biggest sponsorship deals the client was pleased with the results of their association with a person that even today is making headlines wherever his career takes him.
Meanwhile, in a statement Better Bet said: “The customers love Paul and can relate to him.” Before adding: “I don’t know about his gambling problem in the past. He doesn’t hold an account with us or bet with us.” It’s a kind of bearing your head in the sand after the horse has bolted (at the 3.15 at Lingfield no doubt. Ed.) comment.
When researching candidates for the position of Brand Ambassador the first thing an in-house PR team or agency must do is analyse how candidates will affect the brand and reputation of their client or employer. It appears that this hasn’t been done.
Sports sponsorship is an import tool in the PR armoury, especially in the US. Get it wrong and you damage your brand. Get it right and everybody wants a piece of the stardust that your ambassador brings to the company.
This is one to watch!
And if you want an alternative view on the deal then read ‘Celebrity Sell Out’s Altenative View of the Merson Campaign.’
***UPDATE***
Today, 26 March 2009, Betting firm Better have annouced that they have dropped their brand ambassador Paul Merson from the advertising campaign due to the large number of complaints they’ve received. I wonder what they’ll be saying to their PRs? A serious and harsh word if I were them.
More here: “Betting firm drops Merson from ad campaign.“
England’s Fifa’s World Cup 2018 bid, good media management?
Tuesday, November 30th, 2010Regardless of what the sports and football world might think of Mr Warner, we have to question the thinking and rational for not just the BBC’s Panorama programme, which was screened last night, but the Sunday Times expose a few weeks back. These two media outlets claimed that their investigations were in the ‘public interest’, but the timing of their broadcast couldn’t have been anything other than fatal. Unpatriotic, as Mr Warner said might not be that wide of the mark.
Since news broke of what these two outlets were doing the Football Association has been scrambling to still be in with a chance to host the 2018 World Cup. It’s pushed forward its power players to rally the nation into showing strength in unity. England’s World Cup 2018 bid international president David Dein called for the nation and by default the media, to get behind the bid. Prime Minister David Cameron and Prince William will both be in Zurich on Thursday supporting the bid. But this might just be the public face for a bid that is actually intended to change Fifa rather than secure the World Cup.
There are three sides to every story – two sides and the truth.
The big question is about the communications expertise that exists within England’s bid. Did England’s bid team have the necessary power to work with the media? Was it able to influence the timing of such and much needed investigation? Could the media’s work help in England’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup? Or did England just know that it didn’t stand a chance, which is why it embarked on a campaign to reform Fifa.
We will be anticipating with anguish the results of Fifa’s Executive Committee’s vote on Thursday. The bid’s Facebook page has support from people from over 170 countries!
Tags: bbc, campaign, corruption, fifa, football, lobbying, media, pr, public affairs, soccer, sunday times
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