Having a diverse range of people on board is crucial for success in football marketing, but it is easy for silos to develop within the passion-led world of the Premier League, according to Chelsea CMO Claire Cronin.
Speaking at Adweek Europe, Cronin said the best decision she has made during her time in the job is recruiting two different headhunting firms who don’t specialise in the world of sport recruitment, because “sports are terrible for recruiting the same people”.
Asked by The Marketing Society CEO Sophie Devonshire about her journey since taking on the role at Chelsea, Cronin continued: “What I inherited was a team of very passionate people, but who fundamentally haven’t worked in that many industries or geographies.
“If we’re trying to be the world’s favourite football team then we need a leadership team and a team culture that is as diverse as our fanbase.”
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Cronin went on to highlight that the challenge for football clubs like Chelsea, whose brand success can be so driven by whether they’re winning or losing is asking “who are we when we’re not winning?”.
“Everyone’s there to win, so if you’re not winning what do you stand for? What are you contributing to society? What are you doing from Monday to matchday?”, she said.
Cronin revealed she faced a similar problem in her previous role at McLaren, another sports team which has had to face the challenge of diminishing results on race day.
She explained that many of the techniques she has tapped into at Chelsea have been taken from her time at Virgin Atlantic.
The airline brand is faced with the challenge of managing the fact that people only get one long haul flight per year, but cleverly implemented tricks like pepper grinders reading ‘pinched from Virgin Atlantic’ which reappeared on people’s dinner tables throughout the year.
“I love being in marketing because it’s really at the epicentre of any business,” she said.
“It’s amazing to work in a business where we are truly valued but we still have to prove our return on investment. It’s not a case of Claire gets whatever she wants, but it’s great to start from a basis of knowing that marketing adds value.”
