Sponsorship deal central to the bigger picture

With the news emerging that Barcelona Football Club is to break with a century old tradition by embracing shirt sponsorship, and that they are to be very handsomely rewarded for the move, the value of sponsorship as a communication and public relations tool has been further underlined.

Why else would a charitable foundation pay £125 million over five years than to improve its perception in the eyes of the global public? The name is not on the shirt (as UNICEF’s was as a pro-bono gesture) to encourage more donations, rather it is there to highlight that the Qatar Foundation, its good works and, by extension, the charitable and affable nature of the Qatari government.

Gabrielle Marcotti this week claimed in a national newspaper that the deal may prove to be a mistake: ‘In PR terms, it is quite the banana skin.’ Marcotti was, however, referring to the PR of the Catalan giants, rather than the Qatari politicians. What is undeniable is that in terms of getting brand recognition and obtaining positive media coverage through association with the most aesthetic side in the game, the deal makes complete PR sense for the Gulf state.

This news comes a week after FIFA’s announcement that Qatar would host the 2022 World Cup and these two occurrences are certainly linked. This is not to say that the Barcelona deal in any way aided the Qatari World Cup submission, rather that these coinciding moves demonstrate a state determined to enter world football from several standpoints.

The size of the sponsorship and the fact that it is with a property that was previously unachievable is by no means an accident. Qatar is a state that has huge aspirations and one that prides itself on breaking new ground.

When placed alongside the World Cup bid it is evident that Qatar is making a conscious effort to attain recognition with sport and in particular ‘the beautiful game’.
It is arguable that the timing of the sponsorship deal (or at least its announcement) was strategically planned to enhance Qatar’s reputation on the back of the World Cup bid result. Revealed a mere eight days after the Fifa committee cast its votes, the sponsorship deal, had Qatar lost, would have gone some way to ‘stealing the limelight’ from the actual winner and positioned Qatar nicely as a preliminary candidate for the 2026 bidding process. In reality, the timing has perhaps communicated to sceptics that Qatar is very much a part of the global football sphere and that the award may well be justified.

Regardless of the way the World Cup vote went, it goes without saying that the announcement of the partnership at this time is a shrewd PR move by the Qatari government. Their association with Barcelona can only improve their image in the eyes of football fans. If they now reinforce their investment with a rounded communications campaign then by the time 2022 comes around perceptions of the nation could be markedly enhanced.

Ronan Joyce