Rigby: Salary caps force marketers to be more creative (and we want to hear from an Aussie telco)
Jonathan Rigby speaking to the ADMA and Mumbrella lunch.
The head of marketing at Manchester United Jonathan Rigby has warned that Australia’s rules on salary caps and drafts restrict the marketing opportunities available to sporting codes, such as the AFL and NRL.
Rigby was the keynote speaker at a Mumbrella and the Association of Data-Driven Marketing lunch today where he told the audience that he was “fascinated” by the challenges the rules, which are very different to the rules of the UK Premier League, pose for Australian sports marketers.
“I took some time to jump on a plane and go down to Melbourne to see Collingwood’s set up and found it very interesting,” Rigby told the audience. “They watch Manchester United quite closely.”
“Clubs like Collingwood have less opportunity to drive the sponsorship growth that we are able to drive because of the way it is set up.”
Asked what he would do if he was an Australian sports club keen to build sponsorship revenue and also ensure they have the best players Rigby told the audience: “If it was me, I would do what clubs like Collingwood are doing and ask how can we drive fan engagement to equal commercial revenue.”
“Membership drives belonging which drives revenue,” he said.
“I see Collingwood have also set up their own TV channel and I can guess where that might go in terms of the monetisation of content.
“Ultimately it all starts with engagement with the fan and then the question is how to do you build a business model around that.”
Rigby also gave insight into the Manchester United business model revealing how the brand was working with various major partners such as AON and Chevrolet around the world.
One partnership Rigby emphasised was the importance of various local mobile partnerships Manchester United has built globally after the brand finished its global partnership with Vodafone in 2005.
He showed a map of the world covered with the various mobile brands the club ties up with. Australia was noticeably blank.
Asked about the options for an Australian partner Rigby signalled that he wanted to hear from local telcos: “Our strategy on mobile remains the same… to grow with the best mobile partners around the world. In regards to our mobile strategy it is going to be a good year for mobile in terms of what you’ll see on our road of content, gamification, apps etc.
“But yes if there are any (Australian partners) out there I’m sure I can put you in touch with the right people.”
Nic Christensen
The lack of salary cap also means that the Premiership is a race between the same 2-3 teams each year (zzzzzz)
User ID not verified.