Asian Brands Score Big With The Premier League

Kenny Ager, Head of Strategy, Sports Revolution Asia, analyses the opportunities on offer in the Far East.

When Shinji Kagawa scored for Manchester United against Tottenham last month, the Japanese midfielder took one big step towards returning the investment on his £12m transfer fee. Think about it. It’s said that over the past five years, Manchester United has doubled its global fan base to a staggering 660 million, half of which is in Asia. 

Of course, this massive appeal isn’t limited to Manchester United. Before this season kicked off, six out of the 20 Premier League teams toured Asia, eager to maximise their fan base.

And so they should. An estimated 864 million people across Asia will tune in to this season’s English Premier League matches, dwarfing the UK’s expected audience of 31 million. 

With these kind of numbers, the Premier League’s commercial action in Asia looks set to be just as exciting as on the pitch itself.  

As a UK-based sports marketing agency with offices across Asia, we can see how the game is developing on both sides – as clubs and brands seek to access vast audiences of consumers in Asia and also as Asian brands seek to use the EPL’s appeal to build their profile at home and abroad. 

The region is buzzing with activity. Some of the big Asian names eyeing opportunities include Malaysia Tourism, Thai Airways, Vietnam Airways, SP Setia, 3K Battery, Four Points by Sheraton Hotels and EPI Phone. 

For example, we recently helped Chelsea FC sign a merchandising partnership with Grand Royal Whisky in Myanmar. Not only does this say something fascinating about how a formerly closed market in Asia is opening up, but also the incredible reach the EPL has across the region.

One major benefit for brands advertising with the EPL is this pan-regional reach. It is a cost effective way to reach a vast TV audience without planning and co-ordinating an international TV budget on many separate networks and in different markets and countries.  

The huge TV audiences for the EPL in Asia also allows local advertisers to ‘reverse’ their marketing back into their domestic markets. We have worked with the Thai beer brand Chang, for example, which uses its EPL presence not so much to build its brand in the UK, but also to reach consumers in its home turf of Thailand.

We are seeing the same trend with brands in Japan. As a direct result of Kagawa joining Manchester United, we saw a marked increase in the number of Japanese brands looking for EPL advertising opportunities. Yanmar is the first Japanese brand to announce an official partnership with Manchester United and recently signed a three-year global deal with the club to drive their Japanese and international business growth.

Countries such as Indonesia and Korea are also increasing the size of their advertising spend with the EPL. Super Soccer (the largest dedicated Indonesian soccer portal) has purchased deals with Manchester City and Newcastle for content rights on the website. We work with them to provide a so-called ‘follow the camera’ option – providing ad opportunities in the best games being shown live on Indonesian TV, and at the best time.

In Korea, the signings of Park Ji-Sung at QPR and Ki-Sung Yeung at Swansea have also sparked widespread demand for commercial association with both clubs. Sports Revolution exclusively represents both clubs for LED options and we are working closely with a number of brands in the region who want to use LED board advertising on a game by game basis.

As the season progresses, it will be fascinating to see how this marketing activity around the EPL in Asia progresses. What’s for sure is that next time Kagawa scores, the roar in Asia may well carry all the way to Old Trafford.

Kenny Ager is Head of Strategy for Sports Revolution Asia