Business Advantages of Supporter Community ... - Supporters Direct

people’s perceptions of what a football club can be about. However, takinga long term approach to this can mean that there is a wider understandingof what makes the club different – such as the co-operative potential andwider community benefits – and that this can lead to significant businessadvantages.FC United refer to their 3,500 members as ‘co-owners’ in their literature andcommunications with members. Indeed, in their membership renewal noticesfor the 2011-12 season, they have made special emphasis of the differencebetween a member of a club and membership with ownership rights.This approach reflects marketing approaches elsewhere in the UKeconomy being adopted by the Co-operative (‘Join the Revolution’) as wellas mutually owned businesses such as England national team sponsors,Nationwide (‘proud to be different’). It also reflects approaches in the US,such as Global Co-operative Consulting’s ‘marketing our co-operativeadvantage’, that says it builds on:‘The knowledge that co-operatives are of increasing value in a global worldeconomy in which people are concerned about enhancing their influenceover their economies, protecting the ecology that sustains life on our planet,enhancing democratic values, and fairly distributing wealth in our world.’ 10Exeter City – Marketing Community OwnershipFrances Farley at Exeter City said that they took a holistic viewof their club and community ownership because they saw it as astrategic advantage.‘When we market anything, we have key phrases to encapsulate what we’reabout. “We own our football club” is used in all our literature to show thatwe’re different. We also use “Doing things the right way”, which relates toeverything, how we treat our creditors, our customers, the players, each otheretc – we do things properly, the right way. The message is that Exeter is acommunity club.’‘One of the best things you hear at the club these days is on the terrace, whenthe Exeter fans break out into “We own our football club”. It’s something theyare proud of’, says Neil Le Milliere of the Supporters’ Trust.Farley says that it still takes time for potential clients and businesspartners to understand that the club is different and to change theperception that they are ‘just another football club like any other’.Work is needed to create an understanding of why being a supporter10 http://www.global-co-operation.coop/MarketingOurCo-operativeAdvantage.htm28 Supporters Direct Briefing Paper No.4