The advantages of sponsorship
Vodafone UK is part of Vodafone Group,
Introduction
This case study examines how two businesses that have
global appeal are co-operating to achieve their shared visions
for their companies and brands.
Company Vision
Vodafone To become a global mobile leader in terms of profit, customers
and value, making mobile networks the “nervous system” of the networked economy
spanning three major developed markets (Europe, US and Japan).
Manchester United To remain the most pioneering, best supported and most
successful football club in the world.
Brand Vision
Vodafone A ‘can do’ approach that makes life easier for customers.
Manchester United Relentless pursuit of excellence.
THE TIMES 100 Edition 7
This is proving a very successful strategy, Vodafone’s
the world’s largest telecommunications
company. In the UK, Vodafone provides
mobile telecommunications products
and services to three major groups of
customers:
Private individuals
Small businesses
Large organisations.
Manchester United has been League
Champions fifteen times and European
Champions twice, in 1968 and 1999.
The club has won the FA Cup a record
ten times. It has six million fans in the
UK and 50 million global fans. Its
matches are regularly televised in 139
countries.
Vodafone’s
corporate strategy
Vodafone Group’s current target is to
become one of the world’s top five
brands. To achieve this, it is expanding
its global presence through dual
branding exercises with the 30 other
companies around the world in which
Vodafone Group holds interests.
This involves using the locally recog-
nised brand and the Vodafone name,
i.e. Libertel Vodafone (Libertel is the
network in the Netherlands). Once the
Vodafone name becomes widely recog-
nised in these markets, the Vodafone
brand will become the sole brand. This
initiative forms part of an ongoing
programme to build the Vodafone
brand globally.
Vodafone’s current business strategy is
to grow through geographic expansion,
acquisition of new customers, reten-
tion of existing customers and increas-
ing usage through innovations in tech-
nology.
Vodafone is achieving these objectives
as is evident from Vodafone’s UK suc-
cess. Vodafone opened the UK’s first
cellular network on 1 January 1985. It has
been the market leader since 1986; its
UK networks carry over 100 million calls
each week. Vodafone currently has the
largest share of the UK cellular market.
It is anticipated that by 2005 there
will be over one billion mobile phone
users throughout the world, using a
wide range of phones including ‘third
generation’ and Wireless Application
Protocol (WAP) enabled phones.
Nearly two-thirds of these mobile
phones will be WAP enabled and with
rapid increases in processing power,
third generation mobile phone users
will be able to:
find out cinema programme
schedules and seat availability
book the tickets
study the best route and where
to park
access the Internet
hold video conferences while
on the move.
The mobile phone market is constantly
moving forward; the pace of change
and development is accelerating.
Consumers’ desire for better products
is intensifying.
To move the market forward, Vodafone
is continually developing new services
which, until they are there, are often
beyond the average customer’s imagi-
nation.
Vodafone is well placed to benefit
from these developments. As a global
telecommunications company, Vodafone
benefits from the advantages of oper-
ating across a range of markets which
enables them to benefit from huge cost
savings resulting from dealing with
single suppliers worldwide for example.
marketing strategy
Vodafone’s marketing aim in the UK is
to retain market leadership.
Vodafone’s strategy is product-led; the
company is continually developing new
products and services which utilise the
latest technological advances.
However, as consumers become increas-
ingly sophisticated users of modern
mobile technology, they make new
demands and seek added value through
product improvements. Consumers are
becoming more demanding and suppliers
have to listen. Vodafone must feed this
back into its product strategy.
In the UK, the mobile phone market has
approached maturity in a very short
space of time, particularly with young
people. To keep its leading edge,
Vodafone is continually looking to add
value to the services it provides and to
the packages it offers to customers.
Soon, within the UK, there will be few
new customers available. So the chal-
lenge is to provide added value services
and competitive charges to existing cus-
tomers who are becoming more sophis-
ticated and demanding.
For example, young people think hard
about which mobile phone to buy. In
their search for the widest range of
appropriate services and the best value
for money, young people in particular
examine catalogues, surf the Internet
and study what their friends have
bought. Trying to sell to them is tough.
In order to retain market leadership,
Vodafone has established a set of
marketing objectives. These are to:
obtain new customers
keep the customers it already has
introduce new technologies and
services (eg text messaging, WAP)
continue to develop the
Vodafone brand.
by continually updating the range of
phones and services offered to keep
ahead of its competitors. Vodafone also
communicates regularly with its cus-
tomers to keep them well informed of
the benefits of all Vodafone products.
Sponsorship deal with
Manchester United
In February 2000 Manchester United
and Vodafone UK announced a com-
mercial alliance. Through this, Vodafone
became the principal sponsor as well as
the telecommunications and equipment
service partner of the club. The four-year
agreement started on 1st June 2000.
It was a logical step for Vodafone to
seek ties with Manchester United. Due
to Manchester United’s global appeal,
the dual branding process that Vodafone
is currently progressing means that
sponsoring such a renowned sporting
team, exposes the Vodafone name in
countries where it may not have been
previously known.
Top companies look to be identified
with excellence and are happy to be
associated with it. Both Vodafone and
Manchester United are seeking to be
the best in what they do and in pioneering
new ideas.
Both brands have a global appeal.
Manchester United has a massive sup-
porter base, including areas such as the
Far East. These supporters represent
potential customers for Vodafone.
Clearly, the deal fits with Vodafone’s
marketing objectives of obtaining new
customers, keeping its present ones and
continuing to develop the brand. In
addition, Vodafone is able to develop
new value added services specifically
for Manchester United fans.
www.thetimes100.co.uk

Marketing benefits
The marketing benefits for Vodafone
from the alliance cover three main areas.
Enhancing brand
awareness and image
The agreement includes the incorpora-
tion of Vodafone’s brand logo on the
playing kit, the rights to use the
Manchester United logo in promotions,
advertising and perimeter signage at all
Manchester United home games (ex-
cluding European Champions League).
Vodafone also features strongly in
Manchester United marketing materials
including match programmes, the
Manchester United magazine and inter-
net site www.manutd.com.
The association with a football team,
especially Manchester United, also
adds excitement, passion, fun and
emotion to the Vodafone brand.
These benefits clearly support marketing
objectives by promoting and enhancing
the Vodafone brand, which will help to
win and retain customers.
Extending the range of
products and services
Through the link with Manchester
United, Vodafone has the opportunity
to increase sales of phones and acces-
sories. With a variety of ‘Reds’ phones
and accessories, Vodafone is offering a
range of Manchester United phone
covers and cases with different designs.
Offering Manchester United branded
phones and accessories enables
Vodafone to win more customers and
increase brand awareness across the
globe wherever there is a Manchester
United fan.
1 Why did Vodafone decide to
sponsor Manchester United?
Questions
THE TIMES 100 Edition 7
Adding value to services
The Official Mobile Communications
Service for Manchester United fans is
manUmobile. It is typical of the added
value services that Vodafone is creating.
Thanks to manUmobile, fans have direct
access, through their mobile phone, to
the latest news from the club 24 hours
a day. Once users have registered at
http://www.manumobile.com from their
PC, they can receive a host of informa-
tion direct to their digital mobile phone
via text messaging. These services
include text alerts giving fixture lists,
match information, match incidents and
news flashes. manUmobile ensures that
fans know what is happening on the
pitch, even if they are not at the game
and are miles away from a TV set.
Fans can also register and access the
service with a WAP handset via
http://www.manumobile.com/wap.
2 Why do you think Manchester
United wanted to link up with
Vodafone?
Using this service, fans will have
access to club news, details of ticket
availability, route guidance to Old
Trafford and detailed statistical infor-
mation about each team or squad
member. Under match information they
can find fixture details, Premiership
league tables, reviews of matches,
match reports and so on.
Added value services such as manUmobile
enable Vodafone to meet its marketing
objectives of gaining and retaining its
customer base, enhancing the brand
and introducing new technologies to an
informed and enthusiastic target audience.
The marketing benefits described
above enable Vodafone to promote its
global branding strategy by using the
UK as a launchpad for stretching its
own brand across the globe through one
of the UK’s most prestigious global
brands: Manchester United.
3 Describe two of Vodafone’s
marketing objectives.
Measuring the
success of the strategy
Vodafone’s sponsorship deal with
Manchester United costs Vodafone £30
million over a four year period.
Vodafone clearly has to evaluate the
effectiveness of this partnership in
terms of its own marketing objectives.
It does so in four ways:
General awareness is measured
through consumer research.
For example, consumers may
be asked questions such as
“Did you know that Vodafone
sponsors Manchester United?”
The impact of phones and acces-
sories is measured by charting
ongoing improvements in sales.
The success of value added services
such as manUmobile is monitored
in terms of the number of people
registered and usage of the services.
4 How has linking up with
Manchester United enabled
Vodafone to meet one of the
marketing objectives you
have just described?
Media Evaluation – Vodafone
monitors TV and press coverage
to measure the exposure of the
Vodafone brand resulting from
the sponsorship.
Keeping check in this way enables
Vodafone to assess whether or not it has
made a wise strategic move in teaming
up with Manchester United. Evidence
strongly suggests that it has.
Conclusion
Manchester United and Vodafone each
stand to benefit enormously from their
sponsorship and commercial alliance.
From Vodafone’s point of view, having
its name on the shirts of the world’s
best known and most highly visible
football club is a clear benefit.
The partnership has done much more
than that, however. Equally important,
Vodafone has become Manchester
United’s communication and technology
partner, enabling the fans of the club to
get news and information on the Reds
wherever they are, through Vodafone’s
value-added services.
Also, because Manchester United has a
global fan base, Vodafone’s alliance
with the club is enabling Vodafone to
develop its own global presence.
For Manchester United, the deal not only
generates extra income, but also provides
valuable new services to its fans. This
makes being a Manchester United fan
even more attractive and for the club new
fans mean new customers to sell to.
Like all the best deals, there really is
something in it for everyone.
5 Why might Vodafone want
to continue sponsoring
Manchester United after the
four-year initial contract ends?
Glossary of Keywords
Acquisition: Takeover of another company
through purchase.
Brand vision: An inspiring view of what should
drive the success of a brand such as ‘Manchester
The Times Newspaper Limited and ©MBA Publishing Ltd 2001. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure accuracy of information, neither the publisher nor the clients can be held responsible for errors of omission or commission.
United’ or ‘Vodafone’.
Business strategy: The overall plan a company
has for itself.
Dual branding: Creating a double brand which is
recognised worldwide.
Global branding: Creating a single brand which
is recognised worldwide.
Innovations in technology: Breakthroughs in
design, use of materials, manufacturing
processes that open the way for new products
and new ways of using them.
Market leader: The firm with the largest share of
a market.
Marketing objectives: The targets that the
organisation seeks to meet through its marketing
activities.
Maturity: The stage in the product life cycle
when there is little room for expansion because
most or all of the target market is saturated.
Retention: To continue to hold present
customers.
Third generation: The next generation of mobile
technology which will bring a completely new
range of services and capabilities, turning mobile
devices into a multi-media tool.
WAP: Wireless Application Protocol. An
agreement reached by the wireless industry itself
on the guaranteed minimum standards
of product and service that it will offer its
customers. WAP offers customers access to
a range of information via a mobile device.
• Answers to the questions
Browse the Web
•
•
To download this case study
A profile of the organisation
• Revision help
www.thetimes100.co.uk
• Information on the organisation • Information from The Times
www.vodafone.co.uk
www.thetimes.co.uk
www.manutd.com