The precious Celtic brand
Some clarity………. This morning’s report on football brands, issued by brand management company, Brand Finance, has been hugely misreported. It’s not a list of the world’s richest clubs, but an assessment of the value of their brands. Although this sounds like boring business-speak, your brand is important, it’s how you define your club, what it means to you and to others. It’s something you will never put a price on, but others do.
Celtic are listed 34th most valuable, an improvement on the previous year, despite the lack of Champions League football last season. The usual suspects from England, Spain and Germany dominate the top of the list.
Celtic have been busy redefining their brand in recent seasons. Hosting the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony positioned Celtic Park in a different way, while the on-going improvements around the stadium have lifted the environment enormously.
For a century Celtic were largely defined as part of the ‘Old Firm’, and in some places it still is, but with memories fading of that particular definition, Celtic are increasingly viewed in isolation. A decade ago sponsors were fearful of engaging with one part of the Glasgow divide in case they alienated the other. This is not the case anymore.
Every football club needs a stage, and without regular Champions League football Celtic will struggle to maintain brand value, no matter how good it performs elsewhere.
We have a distinct, positive, heritage, which football fans and other brands alike are keen to associate with, while the Celtic Park match day reputation remains high. And although we take it for granted too often, the legacy benefits Celtic continue to reap from the Lisbon Lions is astonishing. The brand benefits of the club being honoured by Uefa president Michel Platini on Friday, and the whole of Europe reporting Celtic as the first team to do the European Cup, domestic league and cup treble since Barcelona emulated them on Saturday, continue to position Celtic way ahead of where they would otherwise reach.
Try to avoid The Scotsman’s reporting of this story, they’ve horribly confused dollars with pounds, car crash of an article. This item is an interesting backdrop to an article here last week. Protect your brand above all else. Don’t allow an aggrieved third party take control of it.
I strongly predict you’ll hear this sentiment later today: ‘It’s not my money that’s going to be used, it’s the fans’ who will cough up’.
It’s early June. You have four months to prepare yourself for the Great Scottish Run. I know there are literally hundreds of you who have ran a 10k, and more who are capable of running/walking one.
Here’s what to do: Sign up for the 10k or half marathon, register with the Celtic Foundation and raise £125. You’ll love it and give yourself lots of motivation over the summer months.
Register here then email the Foundation here cfcfoundation@celticfc.co.uk to tell them you would like to run for them. Let’s get 100 people running for Celtic.