Personal Branding of Elite Football Players through Social Media
Pyhtilä, Kaisa (2015)
Pyhtilä, Kaisa
Tampereen ammattikorkeakoulu
2015
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2015120219091
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2015120219091
Tiivistelmä
This bachelor’s thesis focuses on personal branding of professional football players in social media. Giovanni Quartana, Co-Founder of a start-up football agency TalentBox Group has commissioned this thesis.
The reason for writing this thesis on personal branding for football players is because TalentBox is aiming to revamp their Marketing and Sponsorship department. This department will focus on improving football players’ personal branding by developing a unique and customized plan for their social media accounts and webpages. To be able to offer comprehensive and functional services, the company needed a detailed study of how to apply personal branding in an effective and profitable way through social media and its benefits to football players.
The main objective of this thesis was to find out ways to strategically plan, create and develop personal branding in social media, so that the players can increase their visibility, create potential sponsorship deals and as a consequence increase their market value and personal income.
The secondary data used for the theoretical framework consists of books, online publications and other studies related to the topic – these were analyzed from a sports marketing and personal branding viewpoint. The research was of a qualitative nature and it utilized benchmarking as the method, which was implemented by following and analyzing successful football players’ social media and webpage content.
According to both the benchmarking research and the theoretical framework, an elite footballer must build a strong personal brand in order to be recognized and considered by brands within the football industry. The ultimate outcome of a carefully run personal branding strategy is an increase in the player’s overall value. A powerful personal brand identifies the key characteristics, processes them into important qualities and most importantly chooses the dominant attribute that operates as an anchor of the brand. Different components of a brand such as the name, logo, slogan, nickname and design have to be created when branding a football player. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram are the key social media channels and in addition to them a webpage is also essential. Content generation plays an integral role when branding a footballer in social media. It has to be versatile, truthful and appealing to individuals as well as to sponsors and other positive influencers. The content has to be related to both the professional and private life of the player, with the aim of building a complete image of their life.
The reason for writing this thesis on personal branding for football players is because TalentBox is aiming to revamp their Marketing and Sponsorship department. This department will focus on improving football players’ personal branding by developing a unique and customized plan for their social media accounts and webpages. To be able to offer comprehensive and functional services, the company needed a detailed study of how to apply personal branding in an effective and profitable way through social media and its benefits to football players.
The main objective of this thesis was to find out ways to strategically plan, create and develop personal branding in social media, so that the players can increase their visibility, create potential sponsorship deals and as a consequence increase their market value and personal income.
The secondary data used for the theoretical framework consists of books, online publications and other studies related to the topic – these were analyzed from a sports marketing and personal branding viewpoint. The research was of a qualitative nature and it utilized benchmarking as the method, which was implemented by following and analyzing successful football players’ social media and webpage content.
According to both the benchmarking research and the theoretical framework, an elite footballer must build a strong personal brand in order to be recognized and considered by brands within the football industry. The ultimate outcome of a carefully run personal branding strategy is an increase in the player’s overall value. A powerful personal brand identifies the key characteristics, processes them into important qualities and most importantly chooses the dominant attribute that operates as an anchor of the brand. Different components of a brand such as the name, logo, slogan, nickname and design have to be created when branding a football player. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram are the key social media channels and in addition to them a webpage is also essential. Content generation plays an integral role when branding a footballer in social media. It has to be versatile, truthful and appealing to individuals as well as to sponsors and other positive influencers. The content has to be related to both the professional and private life of the player, with the aim of building a complete image of their life.