Brand Liverpool key to the future

Jul 18 2007 Red Watch by Andy Proudfoot, Liverpool Daily Post

New Liverpool owners George Gillett (left) and Tom Hicks at Anfield (158)

WITH new players of all ages and origins arriving by the bucketload, and new coaching staff in at Melwood and the Academy every time they open the doors, it may seem somewhat perverse to suggest that the most significant arrival at Anfield this summer may well be a backroom boy.

It’s highly unlikely that you’ll hear the name of Ian Ayre sung from the Kop next season, but the club’s new commercial director will have as big a role in improving our fortunes as any number of promising Spanish youngsters.

His main objectives, we were told by Rick Parry this week, will be to grow sponsorship and merchandising revenues, and spearhead our efforts to build the LFC brand in international markets.

Now I understand that to many of you this will seem to be the language of the mega-corporate, and will conjure up images of close-season trips to Korea, and rolling up to matches at our new Pampers Stadium in red-and-white novelty nappies; but, handled sensitively and with a sense of proportion, this ramping up of the commercial expertise within the club can only be a force for good.

The obvious benefit is increased revenue from ventures negotiated by Mr Ayre; okay there may be a price to pay in terms of more visible commercial intrusion into the match-day experience, and yes there may be even more big-match tickets finding their way into corporate hands.

But have you really enjoyed watching Manchester United disappear over the horizon in the last 15 years, their Premiership successes built in no small part on their commercial exploitation of their ‘brand’?

Liverpool’s reluctance to build on their inestimable reputation over the last 20 years, although admittedly occurring in less commercially-oriented times, has been borne less out of disdain for the more tawdry aspects of the marketing revolution than an innate conservatism and a lack of vision.

The truth is we’ve fallen behind the game, and it’s going to take a long time to haul us back up where we belong, a process which the Americans have wasted no time in initiating.

But it’s not just about securing the biggest shirt sponsorship, and ensuring that kids in Vietnam, China and Hong Kong are running round in Liverpool shirts rather than Chelsea’s; one thing the Americans will understand, and presumably Mr Ayre too, is that you don’t grow your business by short-changing your customers, and here we should all benefit from improved levels of customer service, even if it is designed to make us buy more.

So at the new stadium you can bet you won’t be waiting six-deep at the counter to get your half-time pie (or indeed your smoked-salmon bagel) and you might actually be able to reach the toilet before the second half starts.

It might also be possible to visit the club store before the game without having to arrive two hours beforehand and queue half-way down Utting Avenue. And when you get in there, you might be able to buy quality own-brand merchandise that doesn’t dissolve into the washing machine the first time you take it down to the launderette.

If you’re still worried that all these developments will somehow weaken the bond that the club has with the supporters, and that the drive for the dollar will distract the club from its prime purpose, then all I’ll say is that so far Messrs Hicks and Gillette have shown every sign that they ‘get’ how special this club is, and that they are well tuned-in to the frustrations and fantasies of the fans. They deserve our patience.