Building brand and market communications in Swedish Football Clubs : A case study on BK Forward & KIF Örebro

Background European football has during the past decades seen a fast development towards a more professionalized and commercialized climate. This had led to the fact that a lot of clubs are run like any other company, and the focus on marketing and market shares has increased. To be able to create a strong brand clubs have to put a lot of work into marketing, not only of their own brand, but of their sponsors and partners as well. Purpose The purpose of this study is to (in step 1) analyze how two smaller Swedish football clubs build their brand and work with their marketing communication. In step 2, the purpose is to create a model of how these clubs may work to develop their brand and marketing communication. Method With a qualitative approach, the authors of this paper have analyzed text and documents as well as performed two in-depth interviews. Findings Both clubs lack a well-developed strategy regarding their work with their brand and marketing communication. However, there are in both cases factors that, if developed correctly, could help build a stronger brand and better the marketing communication. One of these factors is the clubs’ work with social responsibility. Conclusion There is an importance of creating a strong internal identity in order to be able to position the club and define the offer towards different segments. Through this comes the possibility to create a strong strategy for marketing communication