Spurs brand refresh pushes club’s “flair, style and adventure”

The North London side hopes the changes – which will see the colours, fonts and the tone of voice used in all its marketing materials updated – will differentiate the club from rivals and boost income from sponsors and fans.

The aim of the refresh, according to the club’s commercial director Charlie Wijeratna, is to get people to recognise the club’s communications without seeing its logo.

Speaking after the Sports Marketing 360 conference in London, Wijeratna, who has driven the changes since joining from Locog last year, says that his team have spent nine months defining the club’s brand values, which have been based on the club’s reputation for playing good football and the adventurous attitude of Harry Hotpur, from whom Tottenham is said to have taken its name.
The global reach of the Premier League, he argues, means clubs have been too quick to sell their “tangible” assets – such as pitch side advertising and hospitality – to exploit commercial partnerships but not “intangible” assets such as imagery and values.

He adds: “The key was getting everyone in the organisation to know that they own the brand then you can establish who you are and how we behave. Only then can you turn that into enhanced value that people want to be associated with.”

Spurs has ambitions to finish in the top four, and therefore qualify for the lucrative Champions League on a consistent basis after reaching the quarter final stage last year. The global media exposure the Premier and Champions League enjoys boosted Spurs’ revenue to £146.3m in season 2009/10, according to Deloitte, making it the twelfth highest earner in the world and sixth in England.

Wijeratna, who is credited with securing the bulk of sponsorship income for the London 2012 Olympics, believes that there is considerable scope to grow revenue further with several initiatives planned to tap into the Premier League’s popularity in Asia and the rest of the world.

A website relaunch later this year will see more content and interactivity for people not at games to enjoy a match day experience. The club is also looking to produce more bespoke online video content for brand partners. Training sessions could be filmed, with players discussing the technical benefits of, for example, kit partner Puma.

A membership drive is also planned, while Twitter and Facebook could also be used to engage with fans outside the UK.

Read what Mark Ritson had to say about football clubs’ brand heritage here