This is the reason I said NPFL partnership with Laliga can be beneficial in several ways. Especially in the area of marketing.
Here, I am going to share with you the three major strategies I think laliga marketing management people employs in promoting El Clasico in such a resounding way each year... Perhaps, LMC should borrow a leave or two from them.
1. Branding a Rival Battle (El Clasico)
It was smart of the sport marketers to take advantage of the rivalry between Catalonians and spanish burgeons in Madrid to create this Classic football brand - El Classico. It is all about the battle for supremacy in field of play...between their darling teams Barcelona Vs Real Madrid.
And creating a big media campaign around such rivalry and setting up a big battle in the mind of fans...by letting them take side in the divide.
NPFL have such a long time rivalry between 3SC Vs Enugu Rangers (Battle of the Tribes) or Eyinmba Vs Enugu Rangers (The Oriental Battle)... The job of LMC/ NPFL is to begin to create great big media hypes around some of these rivalry matches.
2. Creating A Star War
When the media tries to give the impression that Cristano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are such a big rivals or even enemies... they are only playing to capture the emotions of several millions of fans across the world. It is a sports promotional strategy called "The Star War."
This is the era where individual superstars really drives the league. And of course, El Clasico has a lot: Messi, Suarez, Nyemar, Iniesta on the Barca side... Then, Rolnado, Bale, Benzema, Modrick on the Madrid side...When you were cheering for your team, you were actually cheering for those individual stars. You were so much interested on Rolnado and Messi, who will out perform the other.
Every game has a star. Certainly, the missions of LMC this coming season, is to start creating stars with well orchestrated media spotlight on some certain individual talents. The good news is, NPFL has a dugout, a big heap of untapped potential in the league. LMC should know that "Stars drives fans!"
3. Setting up the Big Stage:
There's no holding back when it comes to El Clasico. That's going all out to fuel media fire power weeks before match day... and get everyone talking about it...
Players of both teams talking about their preparations and expectations; ex- players like Luiz Gonzalez, Raul, David Villa... who had participated in previous clasico, tells how it feels to play in the world's biggest match.
Analyst Tom Bratt making predictions from far away London and Basketball Super Star, Lebron James also got on Skype to comment about the upcoming match. Everyone is aware of the game not only in Spain but all around the world.
LMC should learn how to build up some NPFL renowned rival matches through the mass media, tv, radio, social media, to put expectations in the mind of target football consumers. Though, it's usually very expensive campaign, but it will eventually pay off after a short run... as maximum attendence and viewership begin to attract advertisers, just like El clasico, Super bowl, Uefa champions league finals...
