Madrid. What does it stand for? If you have any suggestions, you may wish to direct them to Carlos Chaguaceda. He is the director-general for tourism in the community of Madrid, which is the region of Madrid as opposed to just the city.
Interesting chap, Chaguaceda, as he doesn't seem like the normal type you would expect to be appointed as a regional government's head of tourism. He is, dare one say, a professional. Which is not to say that there have never been other professionals in similar positions in other Spanish regions, such as the Balearics. But which is to say that they haven't necessarily been obvious.
Chaguaceda's CV includes having been the director of corporate communications for Coca-Cola España. In other words, he knows a thing or two about marketing. He also been Brussels correspondent for Antena 3 Televisión. He knows a thing or two about journalism and the media.
Last November, a manual written by him was published. Its title in English is "You Can Be News". In explaining the book he observed that in the world of the media, if you're not in the media, then you don't exist. Everything, where the market is concerned (whatever this market might be or how it is defined), is dependent upon communication. From what is communicated comes the prestige that is wished to be created. But it isn't enough to be visible in the media, there has to be an understanding of the roles played by advertising, social media, creating viral communications and so on.
All this should be obvious, but sometimes it does require someone to state the obvious. And there is more. Another book that Chaguaceda has penned translates as "The Happy Monkey". It is more scientific in that it explores brain functions in generating emotions and in considering how there is a common process for finding happiness.
This latter book might all sound rather obscure and technical and perhaps it is, but its message is not. Its application is what Chaguaceda is now considering within the broad context of media management and marketing for the community of Madrid. He wants to make an emotional connection between visitors, the city of Madrid and its surrounding areas.
Though his geographical responsibility is broader, the city is of course crucial. It bears the same name as the region and so it is what the outside world recognises. But while there is recognition and visibility as well as there already being high numbers of visitors, what is that Madrid represents? What does it stand for? What or where is the emotional connection and the impulse towards visitor happiness?
Chaguaceda says that a brand (in this case a city or region) means creating an experience, an expectation and an emotional relationship. But what emotion is Madrid associated with? Indeed, what is it associated with full stop? Other than Real Madrid, in global terms, it's a struggle to think what this might be. The same cannot be said of other major European cities, such as London, Paris or Rome, or even certain cities in the next tier, like Milan or Amsterdam.
Madrid is already a successful city, meaning that the region is successful, but success needs to not only be consolidated it has to be enhanced. What Chaguaceda is aiming to do should, therefore, be of interest to Palma and to Mallorca. If one were to ask the same questions of Palma as of Madrid, then what would the answers be? What actually does Palma stand for? What is it that creates an emotional bond? What is its iconic imagery?
With Palma, though, I would suggest that the challenge is different to the one Chaguaceda is grappling with. While Palma is known and is visible, it is the region (Mallorca) which is far more known and visible. It is also something with which one is well aware that there is an emotional bond, and one that has existed for decades. The same, I would argue, doesn't apply to Palma. Chaguaceda says that co-operation with the city has been straightforward because essentially the city and region are promoting the same thing. In Mallorca, however, it can appear as if Palma is tangential to the rest of the island and is overlooking the strength that the Mallorca "brand" gives it as a city.
Communication for Palma has been getting better, and the city is becoming more successful, but the communication is still well short of what it should be. The same can most certainly be said for Mallorca as a whole and for individual municipalities, whose communication is, in overseas terms, all but non-existent. The two - the city and island - need to dovetail. They draw strength from each other and not separately. The icon of Mallorca is the emotion of decades. The marketers (and politicians) might do well to remember this.
Showing posts with label Branding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Branding. Show all posts
Friday, February 05, 2016
Friday, January 08, 2016
Brand Mallorca: Now it's football
Time was when football meant going to a decrepit stadium, being crushed on terraces, devouring a hamburger with onions that lacked anything approaching ham or burger but did have a considerable amount of watery onion, and being on the receiving end of violent tendencies that would result in the urgent need for dental treatment.
With the possible and unlucky exception of the latter, none of this now applies. Be you fan, supporter or however you choose to perceive yourself, football has long since acquired a degree of sophistication and luxury that occupies a very different universe to the past.
Contemporary or of the past, there is one thing that draws these eras together: the very notion of being a fan and of fan loyalty. All manner of privations were once tolerated in displaying and stating this loyalty. They have largely disappeared, but the notion of fandom has remained constant. Its ferocity may be less that of physical violence, but in the style of a meek and mild footballer who turns into a raging bull when he crosses the white line, so passing through the turnstiles converts meek and mild members of the public into beasts of torment, as also does Robbie Savage on 606 when he dares to suggest your club will get relegated. Passion, irrationality, love and hate: it's still all there, just that it's now shouted by a stockbroker called Justin with a posh voice.
Which is probably how many football clubs would like it to be on account of Justin having sufficient left over from the monthly finance repayment on the Porsche to be able to afford to actually go to a match. Moreover, Justin would have just the right profile for the market segmentation efforts of the club's commercial department, and he would share this, save for nationality, with his counterparts in China, the USA or pretty much any other part of the globe.
There is, however, some familiarity with how things once were, and it is to be found in lower divisions of leagues across Europe. The top clubs in the top divisions are primarily those who have acquired the Justins and the global images. For the vast majority of clubs, the notion of the brand is as distant today as it was in the good old days before the Justins and when a brand was something they put on a horse in Westerns.
Ah yes, brand. There I was, only a few days ago, considering branding and its meaning in a Mallorcan context. There is now a further and somewhat unexpected reason to consider it. Real Mallorca is to be made into a brand. A worldwide brand.
Without wishing to rain on anyone's parade and also wishing every success for an endeavour that might bring great joy to Mallorca as a whole and not just for the football club, please excuse me if I am somewhat sceptical.
A football club's fans are loyal. It is this loyalty which forms the foundations of any club. To some extent, though, this loyalty - for the highly business-oriented clubs - has been eroded in the pursuit of a different type of loyalty. It is to the brand and is the product of successful marketing, allied to television sales, and it is very often in foreign lands, where there is not the same connection that exists in a home community or home country: not the same passionate instincts that have led and still lead fans to be not always totally rational and so utterly devoted.
There is a superficiality to branding. It was one I referred to it in that previous article. It is the marketing experience, the merchandising and so on. But behind truly successful brands there is a great deal more. In the case of a football club, it is, or should be, what it represents, what its values are and what it means to people.
The most successful football brand, as revealed by the Brand Finance Football report of 2014, is not Real Madrid or Manchester United, it is Bayern Munich. And the reasons why are not just because the team is successful. It has a tradition, one connected to Bavaria, and it embraces this, down to the occasional donning of Lederhosen and going to the beer festival. It has made a virtue of being different in various ways. It is also close to its loyal fans in treating them well through, for instance, low ticket prices. It is a club which stands for things. It has attributes which transcend mere success in competitions.
Fundamentally, only genuine success can make a global football brand, but the roots of this are much closer to home. For ambitions for Real Mallorca, the questions have to be asked. What does the club represent? What does it mean? I wonder if anyone other than a Mallorcan can provide such answers.
With the possible and unlucky exception of the latter, none of this now applies. Be you fan, supporter or however you choose to perceive yourself, football has long since acquired a degree of sophistication and luxury that occupies a very different universe to the past.
Contemporary or of the past, there is one thing that draws these eras together: the very notion of being a fan and of fan loyalty. All manner of privations were once tolerated in displaying and stating this loyalty. They have largely disappeared, but the notion of fandom has remained constant. Its ferocity may be less that of physical violence, but in the style of a meek and mild footballer who turns into a raging bull when he crosses the white line, so passing through the turnstiles converts meek and mild members of the public into beasts of torment, as also does Robbie Savage on 606 when he dares to suggest your club will get relegated. Passion, irrationality, love and hate: it's still all there, just that it's now shouted by a stockbroker called Justin with a posh voice.
Which is probably how many football clubs would like it to be on account of Justin having sufficient left over from the monthly finance repayment on the Porsche to be able to afford to actually go to a match. Moreover, Justin would have just the right profile for the market segmentation efforts of the club's commercial department, and he would share this, save for nationality, with his counterparts in China, the USA or pretty much any other part of the globe.
There is, however, some familiarity with how things once were, and it is to be found in lower divisions of leagues across Europe. The top clubs in the top divisions are primarily those who have acquired the Justins and the global images. For the vast majority of clubs, the notion of the brand is as distant today as it was in the good old days before the Justins and when a brand was something they put on a horse in Westerns.
Ah yes, brand. There I was, only a few days ago, considering branding and its meaning in a Mallorcan context. There is now a further and somewhat unexpected reason to consider it. Real Mallorca is to be made into a brand. A worldwide brand.
Without wishing to rain on anyone's parade and also wishing every success for an endeavour that might bring great joy to Mallorca as a whole and not just for the football club, please excuse me if I am somewhat sceptical.
A football club's fans are loyal. It is this loyalty which forms the foundations of any club. To some extent, though, this loyalty - for the highly business-oriented clubs - has been eroded in the pursuit of a different type of loyalty. It is to the brand and is the product of successful marketing, allied to television sales, and it is very often in foreign lands, where there is not the same connection that exists in a home community or home country: not the same passionate instincts that have led and still lead fans to be not always totally rational and so utterly devoted.
There is a superficiality to branding. It was one I referred to it in that previous article. It is the marketing experience, the merchandising and so on. But behind truly successful brands there is a great deal more. In the case of a football club, it is, or should be, what it represents, what its values are and what it means to people.
The most successful football brand, as revealed by the Brand Finance Football report of 2014, is not Real Madrid or Manchester United, it is Bayern Munich. And the reasons why are not just because the team is successful. It has a tradition, one connected to Bavaria, and it embraces this, down to the occasional donning of Lederhosen and going to the beer festival. It has made a virtue of being different in various ways. It is also close to its loyal fans in treating them well through, for instance, low ticket prices. It is a club which stands for things. It has attributes which transcend mere success in competitions.
Fundamentally, only genuine success can make a global football brand, but the roots of this are much closer to home. For ambitions for Real Mallorca, the questions have to be asked. What does the club represent? What does it mean? I wonder if anyone other than a Mallorcan can provide such answers.
Monday, November 10, 2014
Doing The Same Thing: Sports tourism
It doesn't matter who supposedly came up with "insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting it to come out different". To borrow it as a statement of tourism fact, it will do, regardless of its origin, and it is fact which can be extended to "insanity is everyone doing the same thing over and over etc.".
In the endless search for the holy grail of off-season tourism, Mallorca and the Balearics have been doing the same thing over and over for at least thirty years. They have grafted ever more niches on to the original ones of cycling, golf and culture (conceived as saviours by the first regional government from 1983), but in the process have merely managed to come up with small bits of tourism which altogether amount to something which is slightly less small. Appropriately, in the quest also for the gastronomic tourist, these niches bubble gently in the off-season promotional stew, certain ingredients periodically being added or coming to the boil of flavour of the moment which dominate the other tastes. Over and over they are tossed into the pan with the expectation that tourism chefs will produce an à la carte off-season rather than a menú del día of familiar ordinariness.
Everyone is doing the same thing. The current flavour of the moment is sports tourism. This will be the niche which finally reveals a holy grail from which everyone can drink deeply and eat richly. But unfortunately, it is everyone. If not Mallorca, then it is Croatia or any number of competitor regions of Spain: Catalonia has developed a mark "sports tourism destination"; the Basque Country has gone beyond the usual and become a "model of surfing touristic development"; Asturias has cycling and walking; Galicia has cycling; Andalusia has looked to expand its golfing appeal. Even the Canaries have their sport in something called the "Reserva de la Extremosfera", which in the case of those islands is a reinforcement for the only region of Spain which has fully functioning year-round tourism.
Go beyond the macro level of the Balearics and you find that at micro levels everyone is doing the same thing. Sports tourism will make the bay of Alcúdia off-season heaven. The new cycling route will see to that. Or it would do if Muro hadn't put a block on things, protesting that it will have to shoulder a greater financial burden than the two other municipalities because of greater engineering issues and saying that it can't pay and won't pay. Towns in the sticks which don't have tourism profiles are also in on the act. Here a cycling route, there a Nordic walking route. Ibiza is another example, going it alone at the World Travel Market with a winter tourism campaign which features, among other things, cycling.
Then there is Palma, which has discovered a new(ish) sub-niche of the sports niche: running. According to the Palma 365 foundation, this is a "running USP", a unique selling point, the implication being that there is no running anywhere else. It couldn't be unique if there was. But hang on, what were those lines of Germans in Playa de Muro doing up until only a few days ago? They weren't walking. And what about, as an example, Bilbao? It has "running tours". So, all those off-season tourists can run to what is a genuinely international attraction - the Guggenheim - which, if not actually unique in being the world's only museum, might be considered way more of a USP than Palma can boast.
Marketing speak, as in citing a supposed USP, is a shield too often raised in order to defend the absence of effective marketing which might just convince punters that there is something unique. When everyone is doing the same thing over and over, it is the marketing which must not be the same or questionable. But this marketing gets mangled. It is disjointed. Take Palma 365. It has a Facebook page, but it's called Palma and not Palma 365 or passion for something, as with the slogan. Building a brand requires a single concept not competing names for the same thing. And the great fault line with the Palma campaign is the potential confusion with destinations which sound similar or are written similarly - La Palma, Las Palmas, Parma. Mallorca 365 is what should be being marketed. There can be no confusion with the name and it would also have vastly greater recognition. The marketing is simply wrong. Palma 365 should be the bridge of a mothership brand Mallorca 365 and not the ship itself.
Everyone is doing the same thing. It isn't insane if that is all there is, but greater sanity comes from convincing the market that your same thing is a hell of a lot better than someone else's. It's all in the branding.
In the endless search for the holy grail of off-season tourism, Mallorca and the Balearics have been doing the same thing over and over for at least thirty years. They have grafted ever more niches on to the original ones of cycling, golf and culture (conceived as saviours by the first regional government from 1983), but in the process have merely managed to come up with small bits of tourism which altogether amount to something which is slightly less small. Appropriately, in the quest also for the gastronomic tourist, these niches bubble gently in the off-season promotional stew, certain ingredients periodically being added or coming to the boil of flavour of the moment which dominate the other tastes. Over and over they are tossed into the pan with the expectation that tourism chefs will produce an à la carte off-season rather than a menú del día of familiar ordinariness.
Everyone is doing the same thing. The current flavour of the moment is sports tourism. This will be the niche which finally reveals a holy grail from which everyone can drink deeply and eat richly. But unfortunately, it is everyone. If not Mallorca, then it is Croatia or any number of competitor regions of Spain: Catalonia has developed a mark "sports tourism destination"; the Basque Country has gone beyond the usual and become a "model of surfing touristic development"; Asturias has cycling and walking; Galicia has cycling; Andalusia has looked to expand its golfing appeal. Even the Canaries have their sport in something called the "Reserva de la Extremosfera", which in the case of those islands is a reinforcement for the only region of Spain which has fully functioning year-round tourism.
Go beyond the macro level of the Balearics and you find that at micro levels everyone is doing the same thing. Sports tourism will make the bay of Alcúdia off-season heaven. The new cycling route will see to that. Or it would do if Muro hadn't put a block on things, protesting that it will have to shoulder a greater financial burden than the two other municipalities because of greater engineering issues and saying that it can't pay and won't pay. Towns in the sticks which don't have tourism profiles are also in on the act. Here a cycling route, there a Nordic walking route. Ibiza is another example, going it alone at the World Travel Market with a winter tourism campaign which features, among other things, cycling.
Then there is Palma, which has discovered a new(ish) sub-niche of the sports niche: running. According to the Palma 365 foundation, this is a "running USP", a unique selling point, the implication being that there is no running anywhere else. It couldn't be unique if there was. But hang on, what were those lines of Germans in Playa de Muro doing up until only a few days ago? They weren't walking. And what about, as an example, Bilbao? It has "running tours". So, all those off-season tourists can run to what is a genuinely international attraction - the Guggenheim - which, if not actually unique in being the world's only museum, might be considered way more of a USP than Palma can boast.
Marketing speak, as in citing a supposed USP, is a shield too often raised in order to defend the absence of effective marketing which might just convince punters that there is something unique. When everyone is doing the same thing over and over, it is the marketing which must not be the same or questionable. But this marketing gets mangled. It is disjointed. Take Palma 365. It has a Facebook page, but it's called Palma and not Palma 365 or passion for something, as with the slogan. Building a brand requires a single concept not competing names for the same thing. And the great fault line with the Palma campaign is the potential confusion with destinations which sound similar or are written similarly - La Palma, Las Palmas, Parma. Mallorca 365 is what should be being marketed. There can be no confusion with the name and it would also have vastly greater recognition. The marketing is simply wrong. Palma 365 should be the bridge of a mothership brand Mallorca 365 and not the ship itself.
Everyone is doing the same thing. It isn't insane if that is all there is, but greater sanity comes from convincing the market that your same thing is a hell of a lot better than someone else's. It's all in the branding.
Monday, November 03, 2014
Re-imagining A Resort: Calvia Beach
The World Travel Market (WTM) at London's ExCeL starts today. It is an important fair, and for the Mallorcan tourism industry there has arguably never been a more important WTM than this year's. And the reason why is Magalluf.
The decisions of Kuoni Nordic and an Italian family-holidays tour operator to drop Magalluf next year and a noticeable fall in occupancy levels in September and October would appear to be evidence of the harmful impact of the negative publicity that has surrounded Magalluf. There is, therefore, a good deal of pressure on tourism industry representatives to get a positive message across at the WTM. Fortunately, they don't seem to wish to accentuate the negative, as would be the case were the ill-conceived campaign to attempt to get British youth to behave themselves to be pursued. Instead, there is the positive to be accentuated, and typical of this is the video "Calvia Beach V1", which is now up on YouTube.
It is easy to be critical of this video. The imagery, primarily promotion for Meliá's new hotels, comes across as too divorced from other realities in Magalluf. These realities are not ignored but at the same time they are not given any prominence. But then, why would they be? Any great focus on the seamy side of Magalluf would diminish and undermine the message that the video wants to get across.
Of the Meliá people who feature in the video, the one with perhaps the greatest responsibility is the hotel group's vice-president for global brand marketing, Tony Cortizas. He talks about the re-imagination of a destination, i.e. Magalluf as Calvia Beach, and he it is who has to deliver and to turn the imagination into tangibility. The physical evidence of this re-imagination is already there, but embedding the name Calvia Beach into the minds of tourists from whichever country they might come from isn't as yet.
By 2016, according to executive vice-president for real estate, Mark Hoddinott, the transformation of the resort will be complete, but which resort is he referring to? And when Tony Cortizas considers the branding, which resort is he branding? He says that Calvia Beach is not about re-naming Magalluf - and nor is that likely to occur, despite the possibility having been aired - so what happens to Magalluf, to the Punta Ballena, to the parts which haven't been given the Meliá treatment? The transformation will not be complete in 2016, not in the sense of the whole of Magalluf having been transformed.
The Calvia Beach development is creating an uneasy resort apartheid at present, and it is one founded not just on the juxtaposition of luxury with the distinctly non-luxury but also on a battle between tourist market profiles. Cursach with its BH hotel complex would seem to be siding with the Meliá vision of the future and with a Meliá focus - in part - on the so-called Millennial Generation, a somewhat nebulous marketing concept which is supposedly characterised by twenty-somethings (and sometimes also thirty-somethings) who have very high expectations of hotels and who are the new generation of luxury travellers. But there are also many in this vast peer group who, because of their age, match this profile but are lying unconscious through drink on Punta Ballena rather than being millennial in a Wave House style.
The Balearics tourism minister, Jaime Martínez, has spoken of his desire to end bar crawls in Magalluf. In the video he reiterates the view that too many businesses have sought short-term profit with no thought given to the reputation of Magalluf. He would happily see an end to the apartheid, with the bar crawls ceasing and many a bar having to undergo its own process of re-imagination. But until such a time as a bar capable of permitting sex videos is re-conceived as some post-modernist art bistro, or whatever it might be, the transformation will remain partial. The branding, the re-imagination of Calvia Beach would stay a Meliá marketing exercise in unholy co-existence side-by-side with the old brand of Magalluf and all the negative but nonetheless powerful attributes it has.
Yet, it is not impossible to believe that through some process of conceptual osmosis, Calvia Beach and its re-imagination for the new age might penetrate the thick skin of Punta Ballena and implant notions of re-conception and thus new types of business. Transformation has to start from somewhere, and Calvia Beach may come to be all-embracing. There is, and it is alluded to in the video, the example of Miami Beach, especially its South Beach. Whether comparisons with Magalluf are wholly appropriate is questionable, but South Beach, at one time seedy, decayed, rife with crime, is now a place for the hip and ultra-cool. Impossible in Magalluf? Re-imagine.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
The Mallorca Branding Of Bradley
Yesterday, I referred to the small attention that the Balearics tourism promotion action plan is to give to cycling tourism. As cycling tourism is meant to be a key component of winter tourism, this small attention seems perverse. And as Mallorca is currently in the midst of yet more Wiggo fever, it seems doubly perverse that not more attention is planned and that Bradley Wiggins isn't a part of this promotion.
On the face of it, the face of Wiggins would make a perfect fit with Mallorcan promotion of cycling tourism and tourism promotion in general, especially to a UK market. He spends much of his time on the island, he has expressed his fondness for the island, he is able to benefit from its diverse geography in his training. Wiggo, the face of Mallorca, or a facet of Mallorca makes sense.
However, it isn't quite this simple. The Wiggins face and the Wiggins name are two of the most marketable assets in sport at present. His are not assets as strong or as recognisable as, say, Beckham, Bolt or Messi, but they are strong nevertheless. And such strength means value, the value that comes from both image and name rights.
Wiggins has a smart agent. He is Jonathan Marks of MTC. It is Marks who looks after many of his affairs and it would be he who would advise on image rights. If it hasn't already been done, the Wiggins name is surely worth protecting, branding it as a trade mark and name. The Wiggins image - that hugely recognisable face - would be worth even more from its intellectual property protection.
There is some grey area about the use of a name for marketing purposes, but there is also a growing amount of case law that makes even the use of a name something to be wary of doing. The protection of a person's physical image is better understood and more clearly made under law, but whether it is just name or both name and image, then any organisation which might wish to gain from using either should watch out.
So, using Wiggins, his name or his face, would potentially be fraught with risk were they to be used without permission. It doesn't automatically follow that permission means payment, but normally of course it does, and for a highly recognisable "brand" such as Wiggins, the payment would almost certainly not be cheap.
Given Wiggins' affiliation with Mallorca and especially Alcúdia and Pollensa, he may feel personally that he wants to give something back and would so waive the need for compensation. He may feel this, but would his agent? It is his role to do as much as he can for his client and to ensure that he optimises the return on himself as a brand.
Mallorca has of course used names and images in the past. How successful any of this celebrity association has been is hard to say. Michael Douglas may be the one exception to an otherwise questionable investment in various "faces", but I say may be. The tourism ministry has pretty much turned its back on these endorsements and relationships, recognising that they don't necessarily work. This said, one reason for them not working lies with the fit between the celebrity and what is being promoted. Wiggins equals cycling tourism most certainly does fit, so there may be grounds for revisiting the whole issue of celebrity association. A caveat to this, however, would be just how well known the Wiggins image is internationally.
The relationship, though, is two way. What might be good for Mallorca, might not necessarily be good for Wiggins. Hot property that he is, requests for his image are doubtless hitting Mr. Marks desk every day. Not all will be agreed to. Strategic development of the Wiggins image demands that agreements coincide with this development. Then there is the man himself. He is, as most of us are now aware, less than comfortable with the trappings of celebrity. As a part-time resident of the island, would he really want his face being more known than it already is?
Suggestions as to celebrity associations are sometimes made without fully understanding the implications. A prime example was Pollensa's idea of using Agatha Christie, an idea about which nothing more has been heard. I suspect I know why. Firstly, the image was wrong (unless Puerto Pollensa does wish to promote itself solely as a retirement home for ageing dames, as the typical Christie image would convey). Secondly, the Christie estate guards the image jealously, which means a high tariff being placed on it.
Wiggins is altogether more sensible, but if cost were a factor, and it more than likely would be, which part of local government would be prepared to bear the cost? At present, none would probably be the answer.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
On the face of it, the face of Wiggins would make a perfect fit with Mallorcan promotion of cycling tourism and tourism promotion in general, especially to a UK market. He spends much of his time on the island, he has expressed his fondness for the island, he is able to benefit from its diverse geography in his training. Wiggo, the face of Mallorca, or a facet of Mallorca makes sense.
However, it isn't quite this simple. The Wiggins face and the Wiggins name are two of the most marketable assets in sport at present. His are not assets as strong or as recognisable as, say, Beckham, Bolt or Messi, but they are strong nevertheless. And such strength means value, the value that comes from both image and name rights.
Wiggins has a smart agent. He is Jonathan Marks of MTC. It is Marks who looks after many of his affairs and it would be he who would advise on image rights. If it hasn't already been done, the Wiggins name is surely worth protecting, branding it as a trade mark and name. The Wiggins image - that hugely recognisable face - would be worth even more from its intellectual property protection.
There is some grey area about the use of a name for marketing purposes, but there is also a growing amount of case law that makes even the use of a name something to be wary of doing. The protection of a person's physical image is better understood and more clearly made under law, but whether it is just name or both name and image, then any organisation which might wish to gain from using either should watch out.
So, using Wiggins, his name or his face, would potentially be fraught with risk were they to be used without permission. It doesn't automatically follow that permission means payment, but normally of course it does, and for a highly recognisable "brand" such as Wiggins, the payment would almost certainly not be cheap.
Given Wiggins' affiliation with Mallorca and especially Alcúdia and Pollensa, he may feel personally that he wants to give something back and would so waive the need for compensation. He may feel this, but would his agent? It is his role to do as much as he can for his client and to ensure that he optimises the return on himself as a brand.
Mallorca has of course used names and images in the past. How successful any of this celebrity association has been is hard to say. Michael Douglas may be the one exception to an otherwise questionable investment in various "faces", but I say may be. The tourism ministry has pretty much turned its back on these endorsements and relationships, recognising that they don't necessarily work. This said, one reason for them not working lies with the fit between the celebrity and what is being promoted. Wiggins equals cycling tourism most certainly does fit, so there may be grounds for revisiting the whole issue of celebrity association. A caveat to this, however, would be just how well known the Wiggins image is internationally.
The relationship, though, is two way. What might be good for Mallorca, might not necessarily be good for Wiggins. Hot property that he is, requests for his image are doubtless hitting Mr. Marks desk every day. Not all will be agreed to. Strategic development of the Wiggins image demands that agreements coincide with this development. Then there is the man himself. He is, as most of us are now aware, less than comfortable with the trappings of celebrity. As a part-time resident of the island, would he really want his face being more known than it already is?
Suggestions as to celebrity associations are sometimes made without fully understanding the implications. A prime example was Pollensa's idea of using Agatha Christie, an idea about which nothing more has been heard. I suspect I know why. Firstly, the image was wrong (unless Puerto Pollensa does wish to promote itself solely as a retirement home for ageing dames, as the typical Christie image would convey). Secondly, the Christie estate guards the image jealously, which means a high tariff being placed on it.
Wiggins is altogether more sensible, but if cost were a factor, and it more than likely would be, which part of local government would be prepared to bear the cost? At present, none would probably be the answer.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Friday, January 25, 2013
The Parador Paradox
The visitor to Mallorca is unlikely to know a great deal about the Spanish "paradores". Mallorca doesn't have a parador; nor do the other Balearic islands. The Canaries have five and there is a parador in both of the north African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. Otherwise, the more than ninety establishments are on the mainland. All regions of Spain have at least one, except the Balearics.
The paradores are state-run hotels. Not any old hotels. They are hotels in converted buildings of historical and artistic interest, such as former castles and monasteries. They are not some cheap and cheerful, backpacker hostel-type accommodation. Anything but. They are luxury, predominantly four-star, though there are some five as well as three-star hotels. The first parador came into being in the late 1920s. The network underwent its most rapid period of expansion during the 1960s when the number of establishments doubled to 83. Nowadays, they offer in total more than 10,000 places.
The rationale behind the paradores has always been clear. They are representative of Spain's heritage and so fit with a broader concept of tourism than the usual sun and beach. Not exclusively rural, they nevertheless form part of a tourism philosophy that has always gone hand in hand with sun and beach, the cultural philosophy.
The paradores website says that the network is in the midst of its greatest growth stage since the 1960s. Fourteen more establishments are due to open in taking the total number to over a hundred. This is the plan, but the plan is unlikely to be fulfilled. The paradores are in trouble. Deep trouble. Roughly a quarter of them are included in a new plan - one of restructuring - several of them are closed temporarily and at least one will be closed permanently. Negotiations with unions regarding redundancies have been going relatively smoothly.
Take a look at any of the paradores and you can't fail to be impressed. Some are much grander than others. Santo Estevo in Galicia, for instance, is a fine building with cloisters and courtyards. One of the less grand is the Puerto Lumbreras in Murcia. This three-star Mediterranean-style house (a rather large house, it must be said) is one that will definitely be closing.
It is the grandness, though, which partly explains why the paradores are in trouble. They cost a great deal to maintain, and the state, you may have noticed, is a bit short of readies just at the moment. There is also the fact that they tend not to be cheap to stay in. In the current economic climate, they face strong competition from the less grand and less expensive and they are also subject to a downturn in the home tourism market.
The financial strains that the paradores are experiencing has brought into question their viability as state-run hotels. In a way, they are something of an anomaly in being in public-sector ownership. But then, they are also part of the nation's heritage, and the 80 or so years history of the network is not something that even the national government with its austerity measures is keen to give up.
Privatisation of sorts is going to happen, though. The government says that it is not privatisation in the purest sense. Rather, it intends to put out to tender the management of hotels with a rider that as many jobs as possible can be guaranteed. So far, however, 350 job losses have been confirmed. More restructuring may be required to salvage the network that, in 2011, lost 35 million euros and experienced a decline in occupancy to under 60%. By way of comparison, in 2004, it made a profit of 20 million and had occupancy of over 70%.
The paradores are not the only example of government-controlled accommodation having to be farmed out to the private sector. In Mallorca, for example, the island's council has bowed to the inevitable and privatised two of the refuge hostels on the Tramuntana dry-stone route; the council simply can't afford their upkeep.
In the end, the privatisation of the paradores may have to be purer than the national tourism ministry wants, so long as it can maintain the network and the branding. But would it be able to? It is the parador brand that makes privatisation and the possible dismantling of the network paradoxical. At the same time as these hotels and their brand, magnificent in showing off Spanish culture, are threatened, the government is attempting to boost cultural tourism as part of the "marca" España, the Spain brand.
* For information on the paradores: http://www.parador.es/en/portal.do
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The paradores are state-run hotels. Not any old hotels. They are hotels in converted buildings of historical and artistic interest, such as former castles and monasteries. They are not some cheap and cheerful, backpacker hostel-type accommodation. Anything but. They are luxury, predominantly four-star, though there are some five as well as three-star hotels. The first parador came into being in the late 1920s. The network underwent its most rapid period of expansion during the 1960s when the number of establishments doubled to 83. Nowadays, they offer in total more than 10,000 places.
The rationale behind the paradores has always been clear. They are representative of Spain's heritage and so fit with a broader concept of tourism than the usual sun and beach. Not exclusively rural, they nevertheless form part of a tourism philosophy that has always gone hand in hand with sun and beach, the cultural philosophy.
The paradores website says that the network is in the midst of its greatest growth stage since the 1960s. Fourteen more establishments are due to open in taking the total number to over a hundred. This is the plan, but the plan is unlikely to be fulfilled. The paradores are in trouble. Deep trouble. Roughly a quarter of them are included in a new plan - one of restructuring - several of them are closed temporarily and at least one will be closed permanently. Negotiations with unions regarding redundancies have been going relatively smoothly.
Take a look at any of the paradores and you can't fail to be impressed. Some are much grander than others. Santo Estevo in Galicia, for instance, is a fine building with cloisters and courtyards. One of the less grand is the Puerto Lumbreras in Murcia. This three-star Mediterranean-style house (a rather large house, it must be said) is one that will definitely be closing.
It is the grandness, though, which partly explains why the paradores are in trouble. They cost a great deal to maintain, and the state, you may have noticed, is a bit short of readies just at the moment. There is also the fact that they tend not to be cheap to stay in. In the current economic climate, they face strong competition from the less grand and less expensive and they are also subject to a downturn in the home tourism market.
The financial strains that the paradores are experiencing has brought into question their viability as state-run hotels. In a way, they are something of an anomaly in being in public-sector ownership. But then, they are also part of the nation's heritage, and the 80 or so years history of the network is not something that even the national government with its austerity measures is keen to give up.
Privatisation of sorts is going to happen, though. The government says that it is not privatisation in the purest sense. Rather, it intends to put out to tender the management of hotels with a rider that as many jobs as possible can be guaranteed. So far, however, 350 job losses have been confirmed. More restructuring may be required to salvage the network that, in 2011, lost 35 million euros and experienced a decline in occupancy to under 60%. By way of comparison, in 2004, it made a profit of 20 million and had occupancy of over 70%.
The paradores are not the only example of government-controlled accommodation having to be farmed out to the private sector. In Mallorca, for example, the island's council has bowed to the inevitable and privatised two of the refuge hostels on the Tramuntana dry-stone route; the council simply can't afford their upkeep.
In the end, the privatisation of the paradores may have to be purer than the national tourism ministry wants, so long as it can maintain the network and the branding. But would it be able to? It is the parador brand that makes privatisation and the possible dismantling of the network paradoxical. At the same time as these hotels and their brand, magnificent in showing off Spanish culture, are threatened, the government is attempting to boost cultural tourism as part of the "marca" España, the Spain brand.
* For information on the paradores: http://www.parador.es/en/portal.do
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Friday, November 30, 2012
Join Our Club: BCM and theming
If you can't beat 'em, then join 'em. This is one way of interpreting the speculation surrounding Grupo Cursach possibly allowing the BCM brand to be adopted by a hotel (or hotels). It was generally thought that BCM was one of the principal objectors to the Fiesta Group's Mallorca Rocks hotel, one of the most obvious examples of hotel theming to date, and one very much with a more youthful market in mind. If so, then the BCM attitude has undergone some amelioration. The line now is that Mallorca Rocks (and Mallorca Wave) are complementary to BCM and that concerts finishing by midnight at Mallorca Rocks do not constitute a threat as such.
This was the line that should always have been adopted. The arrival of Mallorca Rocks - responded to last year by the staging of concerts by BCM in its square -marked a real opportunity for Magalluf. Rather than resisting, the impetus that Mallorca Rocks gave needed to be embraced. It now seems as though it has been. Momentum is gathering in establishing Magalluf even more firmly as a "party" resort, one in which the total should be greater than the sum of its individual parts. An incoming competitor, even a competitor whose competition is comparatively loose, which is the case where Mallorca Rocks is concerned, fertilises the ground from which more business can be grown - by all parties.
Cursach says that a hotel theming or branding exercise involving BCM is not a priority but that if the company were to go down that route then it would want to be involved in the management of a hotel; it wouldn't, therefore, just be a branding exercise. If Cursach does decide to diversify, it would be entirely its affair as to how this might work, but the fact that a declaration of intent has been made - in the form of a wish to manage a hotel, if only in partnership - suggests that the company may be closer to establishing such an arrangement than it is letting on. If it is, then good for it. The concept could well make a great deal of sense, not just for BCM but also for Magalluf.
There is a second reason for thinking that Cursach is "joining 'em" rather than trying to "beat 'em". This has to do with the reform of the tourism law which allows hotels to offer so-called secondary activities which would be open to non-guests. One such activity concerns the club sector, BCM's market therefore. While there have been understandable objections to the legal reform (and I have agreed that it can be construed as being unfair), a more positive way of looking at the reform is to try and get a piece of the action. And what better way than being a business from outside moving inside a hotel.
For a business with such a strong brand name and high awareness as BCM, an association with a hotel (or multiple associations) represents a means of exploiting and developing the brand. As such therefore, the reform of the law creates an opportunity. This, in the rush to condemn the reform, was probably being overlooked.
If opportunity there is then, would similar opportunities exist for other businesses and ones not just in Magalluf? They would apply pretty much exclusively to clubs, bars or even restaurants with strong names and reputations in specific resorts, but if I were to take a resort I know well - Alcúdia - I could think of a handful of businesses which might well indeed sense an opportunity; not for hotel theming or branding as such, but as an operator inside hotel grounds. Association with a strong name from outside the hotel could well be attractive to a hotel, as it would give the hotel additional marketing leverage.
But might such arrangements be harmful to the main business? Would it be a case of cannibalising the existing product or of stretching the brand to the extent that neither the original nor the new business benefits? Possibly it would, but not necessarily. Much would depend on the product of the new, hotel-based business, and this raises a question as to how adept some businesses might be in understanding new product development.
To come back to BCM and to Magalluf, if Cursach were to embark on a hotel theming venture, it would be another example of the extent to which the resort is being given a makeover. But there is in all of this makeover, a question mark, and it concerns just what sort of resort is being conceived. The ultimate party resort does not necessarily sit easily alongside ambitions for a more up-market family resort. And party resort brings with it certain downsides, as already exist in Magalluf.
Hotel theming, branding exercises need to be undertaken within the context of a wider and integrated strategy, the branding of Magalluf and how its component parts are organised and if necessary segregated. There is much to excite in Magalluf's rejuvenation, but there is much that also needs to be given careful thought.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Index for November 2012
BCM and hotel theming - 30 November 2012
British Consul non-replacement - 25 November 2012
Business opportunities: making them easier - 18 November 2012
Can Picafort front line - 9 November 2012
Car hire and tourist taxes - 7 November 2012
Carlos Delgado and the deer hunt - 21 November 2012
Catalonian election - 23 November 2012, 28 November 2012
Corruption and political party system - 1 November 2012
Dogs on beaches in Pollensa - 5 November 2012
Expatriate categorisation - 17 November 2012
Fishermen's guilds - 3 November 2012
Flags: bans on use - 27 November 2012
García surname popularity in Mallorca - 13 November 2012
Holiday lets and national law - 20 November 2012
Hotels and town hall bureaucracy - 2 November 2012
Joan Mesquida - 12 November 2012
Mass tourism - 10 November 2012
Mountains and snow - 29 November 2012
November - 6 November 2012
Palacio de Congresos - 26 November 2012
Pollensa fair - 14 November 2012
Press, Carlos Delgado and Artur Mas - 22 November 2012
Proposta per les Illes (El Pi) - 4 November 2012
Rafael Bosch and Cabrera diving trips - 11 November 2012
Ramon Llull Institute - 8 November 2012
Themed hotels - 16 November 2012
Tourism promotion obligations - 19 November 2012
Trust in politicians: lack of - 15 November 2012
This was the line that should always have been adopted. The arrival of Mallorca Rocks - responded to last year by the staging of concerts by BCM in its square -marked a real opportunity for Magalluf. Rather than resisting, the impetus that Mallorca Rocks gave needed to be embraced. It now seems as though it has been. Momentum is gathering in establishing Magalluf even more firmly as a "party" resort, one in which the total should be greater than the sum of its individual parts. An incoming competitor, even a competitor whose competition is comparatively loose, which is the case where Mallorca Rocks is concerned, fertilises the ground from which more business can be grown - by all parties.
Cursach says that a hotel theming or branding exercise involving BCM is not a priority but that if the company were to go down that route then it would want to be involved in the management of a hotel; it wouldn't, therefore, just be a branding exercise. If Cursach does decide to diversify, it would be entirely its affair as to how this might work, but the fact that a declaration of intent has been made - in the form of a wish to manage a hotel, if only in partnership - suggests that the company may be closer to establishing such an arrangement than it is letting on. If it is, then good for it. The concept could well make a great deal of sense, not just for BCM but also for Magalluf.
There is a second reason for thinking that Cursach is "joining 'em" rather than trying to "beat 'em". This has to do with the reform of the tourism law which allows hotels to offer so-called secondary activities which would be open to non-guests. One such activity concerns the club sector, BCM's market therefore. While there have been understandable objections to the legal reform (and I have agreed that it can be construed as being unfair), a more positive way of looking at the reform is to try and get a piece of the action. And what better way than being a business from outside moving inside a hotel.
For a business with such a strong brand name and high awareness as BCM, an association with a hotel (or multiple associations) represents a means of exploiting and developing the brand. As such therefore, the reform of the law creates an opportunity. This, in the rush to condemn the reform, was probably being overlooked.
If opportunity there is then, would similar opportunities exist for other businesses and ones not just in Magalluf? They would apply pretty much exclusively to clubs, bars or even restaurants with strong names and reputations in specific resorts, but if I were to take a resort I know well - Alcúdia - I could think of a handful of businesses which might well indeed sense an opportunity; not for hotel theming or branding as such, but as an operator inside hotel grounds. Association with a strong name from outside the hotel could well be attractive to a hotel, as it would give the hotel additional marketing leverage.
But might such arrangements be harmful to the main business? Would it be a case of cannibalising the existing product or of stretching the brand to the extent that neither the original nor the new business benefits? Possibly it would, but not necessarily. Much would depend on the product of the new, hotel-based business, and this raises a question as to how adept some businesses might be in understanding new product development.
To come back to BCM and to Magalluf, if Cursach were to embark on a hotel theming venture, it would be another example of the extent to which the resort is being given a makeover. But there is in all of this makeover, a question mark, and it concerns just what sort of resort is being conceived. The ultimate party resort does not necessarily sit easily alongside ambitions for a more up-market family resort. And party resort brings with it certain downsides, as already exist in Magalluf.
Hotel theming, branding exercises need to be undertaken within the context of a wider and integrated strategy, the branding of Magalluf and how its component parts are organised and if necessary segregated. There is much to excite in Magalluf's rejuvenation, but there is much that also needs to be given careful thought.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Index for November 2012
BCM and hotel theming - 30 November 2012
British Consul non-replacement - 25 November 2012
Business opportunities: making them easier - 18 November 2012
Can Picafort front line - 9 November 2012
Car hire and tourist taxes - 7 November 2012
Carlos Delgado and the deer hunt - 21 November 2012
Catalonian election - 23 November 2012, 28 November 2012
Corruption and political party system - 1 November 2012
Dogs on beaches in Pollensa - 5 November 2012
Expatriate categorisation - 17 November 2012
Fishermen's guilds - 3 November 2012
Flags: bans on use - 27 November 2012
García surname popularity in Mallorca - 13 November 2012
Holiday lets and national law - 20 November 2012
Hotels and town hall bureaucracy - 2 November 2012
Joan Mesquida - 12 November 2012
Mass tourism - 10 November 2012
Mountains and snow - 29 November 2012
November - 6 November 2012
Palacio de Congresos - 26 November 2012
Pollensa fair - 14 November 2012
Press, Carlos Delgado and Artur Mas - 22 November 2012
Proposta per les Illes (El Pi) - 4 November 2012
Rafael Bosch and Cabrera diving trips - 11 November 2012
Ramon Llull Institute - 8 November 2012
Themed hotels - 16 November 2012
Tourism promotion obligations - 19 November 2012
Trust in politicians: lack of - 15 November 2012
Monday, January 19, 2009
Things Get Better
The president of the Mallorcan hotel federation is concerned; the Spanish tourist office in London is worried. You wouldn't really expect them to be feeling any differently - or would you? No, I didn't think you would. The theme is the same, only the contents differ; 2009 is likely to be a difficult year. Er, yes, I think we've probably all gathered this. Maybe tourism minister, Miquel Nadal, was right when he tried to persuade the media to be more "responsible" in its reporting of what he maintains will not be a "disaster" (2009, that is). Or do the stories indicating a bad season at some point just become so repetitious that people switch off? I know I have. When Antoni Horrach, the hotel federation president, speaks of tour operators cutting capacity and flights, it's really the same old news. Equally when the tourist office says that market conditions are tough because of the credit crunch and the euro-pound situation, it is not only the same old news - ad bloody nauseam - you do actually begin to lose the will to live.
Listen up - WE KNOW THIS. It is not necessary to keep on repeating it.
It only becomes necessary as a means of filling space in newspapers. Though Sr. Nadal was being vaguely censorious with his desire to see the media acting in a way that kept the bad news at bay, I do now start to sympathise with him. Not because bad news should not be reported, but because of the sheer monotony of the message. The fact is that until the season is under way, we aren't really going to know. The chances are that things will be better than thought; that many holidaymakers are holding off making their purchases just yet; that the tour operators can make additional capacity if there is the demand; that Mallorca is still a place that attracts those holidaymakers, despite the market conditions and despite Turkey and other non-Euroland destinations.
Sr. Horrach featured in a lengthy interview in "The Diario" yesterday. Why there were no questions about all-inclusives I'm not sure; it would have been one of the first on my list. He didn't really have much of interest to say, but one thing stood out, and this was when he was talking about the promotion of Mallorca. He described the Mallorca "brand" as the "Coca-Cola" of Mediterranean tourism. What does that mean? Sickly sweet and doesn't do much for your teeth or your waistline? He meant, at least I assume he meant, that Mallorca is known by everyone, in the same way that Coke is. Of global brands, Coca-Cola is one that has universal recognition. And why? Because they keep promoting it and keep creating an image which, despite the obvious unhealthiness of the drink, is still valued and trusted. You might think that Coke has long not needed promotion, but that's where you would be wrong, because the constant promotion, the constant position in the consumer's front of mind is what maintains the brand's strength. It's a damn good analogy that Sr. Horrach is making, or it would be if Mallorca had maintained the same level of intensity in its promotion. It may not be comparable to Coke, but - as a brand - Mallorca certainly has its recognition. And what Sr. Horrach didn't say was that Coke has maintained its awareness and its position in markets through a consistency of message. When Coca-Cola attempted to introduce "New" Coke some years ago, the company faltered, as did its marketing message. New Coke was dropped. The same applies, or should, to Mallorca, and that is the core value, the core attributes of the Mallorca brand, which remain those that have existed since the advent of mass tourism. It is for this reason that to start modifying the brand, playing with it in terms of "alternative" tourism is such a very dangerous move. Mallorca is known, very well known. Don't go messing around with its brand image - "new Mallorca"; don't go there. And, as importantly, devote the promotional budget to the Coca-Cola-isation of the Mallorca name - one of sun, sea and fun. Things go better, things get better (see the quiz question); it doesn't all have to be gloom.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - MGMT, "Electric Feel" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtUI5MC9tVM). Today's title - not quite "things go better" (as in with Coke) but nearly. This is a line from an all-female, R&B charity song from last year.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Listen up - WE KNOW THIS. It is not necessary to keep on repeating it.
It only becomes necessary as a means of filling space in newspapers. Though Sr. Nadal was being vaguely censorious with his desire to see the media acting in a way that kept the bad news at bay, I do now start to sympathise with him. Not because bad news should not be reported, but because of the sheer monotony of the message. The fact is that until the season is under way, we aren't really going to know. The chances are that things will be better than thought; that many holidaymakers are holding off making their purchases just yet; that the tour operators can make additional capacity if there is the demand; that Mallorca is still a place that attracts those holidaymakers, despite the market conditions and despite Turkey and other non-Euroland destinations.
Sr. Horrach featured in a lengthy interview in "The Diario" yesterday. Why there were no questions about all-inclusives I'm not sure; it would have been one of the first on my list. He didn't really have much of interest to say, but one thing stood out, and this was when he was talking about the promotion of Mallorca. He described the Mallorca "brand" as the "Coca-Cola" of Mediterranean tourism. What does that mean? Sickly sweet and doesn't do much for your teeth or your waistline? He meant, at least I assume he meant, that Mallorca is known by everyone, in the same way that Coke is. Of global brands, Coca-Cola is one that has universal recognition. And why? Because they keep promoting it and keep creating an image which, despite the obvious unhealthiness of the drink, is still valued and trusted. You might think that Coke has long not needed promotion, but that's where you would be wrong, because the constant promotion, the constant position in the consumer's front of mind is what maintains the brand's strength. It's a damn good analogy that Sr. Horrach is making, or it would be if Mallorca had maintained the same level of intensity in its promotion. It may not be comparable to Coke, but - as a brand - Mallorca certainly has its recognition. And what Sr. Horrach didn't say was that Coke has maintained its awareness and its position in markets through a consistency of message. When Coca-Cola attempted to introduce "New" Coke some years ago, the company faltered, as did its marketing message. New Coke was dropped. The same applies, or should, to Mallorca, and that is the core value, the core attributes of the Mallorca brand, which remain those that have existed since the advent of mass tourism. It is for this reason that to start modifying the brand, playing with it in terms of "alternative" tourism is such a very dangerous move. Mallorca is known, very well known. Don't go messing around with its brand image - "new Mallorca"; don't go there. And, as importantly, devote the promotional budget to the Coca-Cola-isation of the Mallorca name - one of sun, sea and fun. Things go better, things get better (see the quiz question); it doesn't all have to be gloom.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - MGMT, "Electric Feel" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtUI5MC9tVM). Today's title - not quite "things go better" (as in with Coke) but nearly. This is a line from an all-female, R&B charity song from last year.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Match Of The Day
After weeks of confusion, which have seen mysterious Uzbeks as well as a high-energy drinks manufacturer and of course Freddy Shepherd hovering around the club's perimeters, Real Mallorca finally does now appear to be the new pride and joy of Paul Davidson, aka "The Plumber". Debt-ridden owner, Vicente Grande, has signed the sale agreement, and all that is now needed is the final whistle to be blown by the judge signing off on Grande's affairs. There should be no surprise penalty shoot-out. Unfortunate perhaps that Mallorca should choose this past weekend to go down at home to Sporting Gijon, a side previously worse than Tottenham, having lost all five games of the season.
Mr. Davidson has been pursuing the club since July when, or so it would seem, he read about the Shepherd bid, and went along with a much higher one. At the time, it appeared almost like a whim. Since then, he has spoken about Champions League and branding; nothing new, you might think, but what are the prospects?
Real Mallorca is a moderately successful team. It managed seventh in La Liga last season and has featured in both the Champions League and UEFA Cup since the turn of the century. It would be wrong to discount chances of further European adventure. La Liga, though dominated by the big two of Barcelona and Real Madrid, does not present the same obstacles to European breakthrough as the Premier League. A current example is Villarreal who are in this season's Champions League and riding high in La Liga. This is a small-town club. Villarreal, the town, barely scrapes a 50,000 population; the ground holds 22,000. Yet money pumped into the club has helped it to where it is. How long Villarreal can continue to play with the big boys though is open to question. Other wannabes have come and gone. Real Sociedad and Celta Vigo, for example, have fallen out of the top flight and into major financial problems. Debt is an issue for most Spanish teams.
Like England, there is a whole wedge of TV money sloshing around the Spanish league. Making sense of it is another matter, as there have been interminable legal wranglings as to who has what rights, but money there is, and Madrid and Barça have tended to ensure that they get the lion's share of it. Welcome though the broadcasters' benefaction is, the big two have come to be not only Spain's wealthiest clubs but also among the world's wealthiest on the basis of other ingredients - their repeated successes, regular Champions League places, huge stadiums, worldwide brand recognition and tradition. It is when you consider these ingredients that the difficulties for a club like Mallorca become obvious. None of the factors noted above applies. Its stadium is not much bigger than Villarreal's and it is an unknown in world and therefore branding terms.
Villarreal have required substantial additional investment to enable them to compete. This has attracted players like Riquelme and Pires, but neither is exactly in the same league, so to speak, as a Beckham, a Zidane or a Figo. The team's captain is Marcos Senna, the excellent but unexciting bedrock of Spain's Euro Championship-winning side. With a small stadium (like Mallorca's), match-day revenue is a fraction of that which Madrid and Barça can receive. The lessons for Real Mallorca are obvious. Mr. Davidson would need to be prepared to plumb deeply into his coffers and inject a fair old amount of moolah over and above that of his acquisition to get the club anywhere near where he might wish to see it.
One might think that a bit of new stadium building or development might help, but that would be a long-term project and the potential for a new site is almost zero, especially given the environmental resistance here to anything that smacks of rather frivolous use of land. A proposal for a new stadium has been resisted, not least by Palma town hall who, it should be noted, actually own the current stadium. Mr. Davidson could not, even if he were to wish to, move the club out of Palma; his purchase agreement forbids it. Yet even were there to be a larger stadium, it is questionable how easily it might be filled. The club has trouble doing that as it is. Coming back to the Villarreal situation, that club gets regular attendances a couple of thousand under capacity. But it is a club in a small town. Real Mallorca has a whole island to draw on, but cannot. Part of the reason, besides a lack of success, may well be because many Mallorcan football fans side with Barça. When Manchester United played the Catalan side in the last Champions League semi-finals, I went along to a bar in Alcúdia. The people there were watching "their" team. An identification here with things Catalonian is not as readily made as you might think, except when it comes to football and also the quasi-political nature of Barcelona football club. To support Barça is as much about not supporting Real Madrid, and therefore the Spanish mainstream establishment, as it is about a football team.
Creating a larger fan base may mean that the ONO stadium gets close to regular full attendances, but where might these fans come from? If not Mallorcans, then how about the expats? There is a small expat following for Real Mallorca, and an increase in this is something to which Mr. Davidson has alluded, but how realistic is it to think in terms of more becoming regular club supporters? One sticking-point is that many an expat football fan is devoted to one club already - the one back home - and even if that club may not be featuring on Sky, the chances are that this football fan will watch an English game that clashes with a Real Mallorca match. Just because the club will be English-owned does not mean that whole hordes of new, expat fans will flock to the ONO. There is undoubtedly a tourist interest in Real Mallorca, but this is temporary and also determined by the main tourist season. Apart from a handful of games at the start and the end of the football season, there is otherwise no meaningful tourism that might provide short-lived Real Mallorca fans.
One of the Holy Grails of the new breed of football club owners is that of branding and merchandising, with much of it being snapped up by fans in remote parts of the world. For Real Mallorca, the issue starts very much closer to home; in Palma, for example. There was, a while back, a piece in "The Bulletin" which suggested that there was scope for greater merchandising, asking where one could buy a replica shirt in Palma. I don't know the answer as to where one can buy such a thing, except from the club probably. And perhaps that's it. Anyone who wants a shirt has got one. Who else would? The club is, if you like, about the size of a Premier team such as Stoke. With the greatest of respect to Real Mallorca, I imagine that there are Stoke fans dispersed throughout the UK and across the globe who crave the latest shirt; I can't imagine there is the same demand for a Mallorca kit. But shirts are really the least of it. The branding of football clubs is an exercise in selling success, tradition, legacy and great players. The merchandise that flows along with this branding is dependent upon these elements. There are few clubs in the world that can pull this off with any degree of success; their names are obvious - Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal at a pinch, Real Madrid and Barça, Juventus, AC Milan and maybe Inter. Critically, what these clubs have in common is a legacy. It's why Chelsea, for instance, have ground to make up on them in terms of global awareness. And the players that such clubs can attract is vital. Beckham, and the Beckham image, were crucial to Real Madrid as a business.
Paul Davidson's branding aims seem to be rather different. In a piece in "El Mundo" a while back, he explained that he intends to create a new business, based in Mallorca, which will recycle and manufacture plastic products and also, one presumes, to act as a name for marketing his current businesses. The new business will take the name of the football club. In a way he seems about to create a sort of factory team in a reverse fashion to those such as PSV Eindhoven (Philips) or Bayer Leverkusen. He says that this business will make "mucho dinero" in selling to the whole world, and that this mucho will find its way to the team.
In this regard, Mr. Davidson is certainly an original in being willing to invest in the local economy over and above the sole acquisition of the club. But I doubt if I am alone in wondering about the strategy; it sounds curious, but being curious does not mean it is wrong, it could be brilliant. That said, it will still require, firstly, that the club is marketed well and is successful; he is effectively buying the goodwill of the name as a vehicle for other business. Secondly, were he to sell the football club, what would happen to the business? Without the football club, how could he still trade as Real Mallorca S.A.? Thirdly, if he sees Mallorca as a sound place to invest in for the plastics business, why not just do that? Why go to the trouble of buying a football club? The answer to that lies, once again, in the value of the club's name, and the added value it must generate through branding and on-the-pitch success.
I'm sure he knows the answers to these things as he's a shrewd businessman. He is to be wished well in his venture. I, for one, hope he succeeds, and even if he doesn't it will be fascinating to follow a left-field entrepreneurial approach to club ownership backed by a to-be-applauded commitment to the local economy. There has been a fair degree of negative comment in the Spanish press regarding his acquisition. In part, this reflects a parochial perspective in Mallorca. It shouldn't matter who the owner is if the club is successful. But that, I suppose, is the real problem. If it's successful. If not, that press will turn very quickly. Then there will be issues regarding the management of the club. Sr. Grande is to stay as chairman. This might seem wise as it maintains an obvious local element, but Sr. Grande is not universally popular with the Mallorca fans and if the team struggled, would heads roll? Sr. Grande's for example. Much has also been made in the press of the fact that Mr. Davidson should not be attacked as there were no Mallorcans or Spaniards who came forward to buy the club. It's a fair point, but the other way of looking at it is - why didn't they?
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - The Lightning Seeds - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z28cGUc0Ri0. Today's title - who recorded a song with this title?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Mr. Davidson has been pursuing the club since July when, or so it would seem, he read about the Shepherd bid, and went along with a much higher one. At the time, it appeared almost like a whim. Since then, he has spoken about Champions League and branding; nothing new, you might think, but what are the prospects?
Real Mallorca is a moderately successful team. It managed seventh in La Liga last season and has featured in both the Champions League and UEFA Cup since the turn of the century. It would be wrong to discount chances of further European adventure. La Liga, though dominated by the big two of Barcelona and Real Madrid, does not present the same obstacles to European breakthrough as the Premier League. A current example is Villarreal who are in this season's Champions League and riding high in La Liga. This is a small-town club. Villarreal, the town, barely scrapes a 50,000 population; the ground holds 22,000. Yet money pumped into the club has helped it to where it is. How long Villarreal can continue to play with the big boys though is open to question. Other wannabes have come and gone. Real Sociedad and Celta Vigo, for example, have fallen out of the top flight and into major financial problems. Debt is an issue for most Spanish teams.
Like England, there is a whole wedge of TV money sloshing around the Spanish league. Making sense of it is another matter, as there have been interminable legal wranglings as to who has what rights, but money there is, and Madrid and Barça have tended to ensure that they get the lion's share of it. Welcome though the broadcasters' benefaction is, the big two have come to be not only Spain's wealthiest clubs but also among the world's wealthiest on the basis of other ingredients - their repeated successes, regular Champions League places, huge stadiums, worldwide brand recognition and tradition. It is when you consider these ingredients that the difficulties for a club like Mallorca become obvious. None of the factors noted above applies. Its stadium is not much bigger than Villarreal's and it is an unknown in world and therefore branding terms.
Villarreal have required substantial additional investment to enable them to compete. This has attracted players like Riquelme and Pires, but neither is exactly in the same league, so to speak, as a Beckham, a Zidane or a Figo. The team's captain is Marcos Senna, the excellent but unexciting bedrock of Spain's Euro Championship-winning side. With a small stadium (like Mallorca's), match-day revenue is a fraction of that which Madrid and Barça can receive. The lessons for Real Mallorca are obvious. Mr. Davidson would need to be prepared to plumb deeply into his coffers and inject a fair old amount of moolah over and above that of his acquisition to get the club anywhere near where he might wish to see it.
One might think that a bit of new stadium building or development might help, but that would be a long-term project and the potential for a new site is almost zero, especially given the environmental resistance here to anything that smacks of rather frivolous use of land. A proposal for a new stadium has been resisted, not least by Palma town hall who, it should be noted, actually own the current stadium. Mr. Davidson could not, even if he were to wish to, move the club out of Palma; his purchase agreement forbids it. Yet even were there to be a larger stadium, it is questionable how easily it might be filled. The club has trouble doing that as it is. Coming back to the Villarreal situation, that club gets regular attendances a couple of thousand under capacity. But it is a club in a small town. Real Mallorca has a whole island to draw on, but cannot. Part of the reason, besides a lack of success, may well be because many Mallorcan football fans side with Barça. When Manchester United played the Catalan side in the last Champions League semi-finals, I went along to a bar in Alcúdia. The people there were watching "their" team. An identification here with things Catalonian is not as readily made as you might think, except when it comes to football and also the quasi-political nature of Barcelona football club. To support Barça is as much about not supporting Real Madrid, and therefore the Spanish mainstream establishment, as it is about a football team.
Creating a larger fan base may mean that the ONO stadium gets close to regular full attendances, but where might these fans come from? If not Mallorcans, then how about the expats? There is a small expat following for Real Mallorca, and an increase in this is something to which Mr. Davidson has alluded, but how realistic is it to think in terms of more becoming regular club supporters? One sticking-point is that many an expat football fan is devoted to one club already - the one back home - and even if that club may not be featuring on Sky, the chances are that this football fan will watch an English game that clashes with a Real Mallorca match. Just because the club will be English-owned does not mean that whole hordes of new, expat fans will flock to the ONO. There is undoubtedly a tourist interest in Real Mallorca, but this is temporary and also determined by the main tourist season. Apart from a handful of games at the start and the end of the football season, there is otherwise no meaningful tourism that might provide short-lived Real Mallorca fans.
One of the Holy Grails of the new breed of football club owners is that of branding and merchandising, with much of it being snapped up by fans in remote parts of the world. For Real Mallorca, the issue starts very much closer to home; in Palma, for example. There was, a while back, a piece in "The Bulletin" which suggested that there was scope for greater merchandising, asking where one could buy a replica shirt in Palma. I don't know the answer as to where one can buy such a thing, except from the club probably. And perhaps that's it. Anyone who wants a shirt has got one. Who else would? The club is, if you like, about the size of a Premier team such as Stoke. With the greatest of respect to Real Mallorca, I imagine that there are Stoke fans dispersed throughout the UK and across the globe who crave the latest shirt; I can't imagine there is the same demand for a Mallorca kit. But shirts are really the least of it. The branding of football clubs is an exercise in selling success, tradition, legacy and great players. The merchandise that flows along with this branding is dependent upon these elements. There are few clubs in the world that can pull this off with any degree of success; their names are obvious - Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal at a pinch, Real Madrid and Barça, Juventus, AC Milan and maybe Inter. Critically, what these clubs have in common is a legacy. It's why Chelsea, for instance, have ground to make up on them in terms of global awareness. And the players that such clubs can attract is vital. Beckham, and the Beckham image, were crucial to Real Madrid as a business.
Paul Davidson's branding aims seem to be rather different. In a piece in "El Mundo" a while back, he explained that he intends to create a new business, based in Mallorca, which will recycle and manufacture plastic products and also, one presumes, to act as a name for marketing his current businesses. The new business will take the name of the football club. In a way he seems about to create a sort of factory team in a reverse fashion to those such as PSV Eindhoven (Philips) or Bayer Leverkusen. He says that this business will make "mucho dinero" in selling to the whole world, and that this mucho will find its way to the team.
In this regard, Mr. Davidson is certainly an original in being willing to invest in the local economy over and above the sole acquisition of the club. But I doubt if I am alone in wondering about the strategy; it sounds curious, but being curious does not mean it is wrong, it could be brilliant. That said, it will still require, firstly, that the club is marketed well and is successful; he is effectively buying the goodwill of the name as a vehicle for other business. Secondly, were he to sell the football club, what would happen to the business? Without the football club, how could he still trade as Real Mallorca S.A.? Thirdly, if he sees Mallorca as a sound place to invest in for the plastics business, why not just do that? Why go to the trouble of buying a football club? The answer to that lies, once again, in the value of the club's name, and the added value it must generate through branding and on-the-pitch success.
I'm sure he knows the answers to these things as he's a shrewd businessman. He is to be wished well in his venture. I, for one, hope he succeeds, and even if he doesn't it will be fascinating to follow a left-field entrepreneurial approach to club ownership backed by a to-be-applauded commitment to the local economy. There has been a fair degree of negative comment in the Spanish press regarding his acquisition. In part, this reflects a parochial perspective in Mallorca. It shouldn't matter who the owner is if the club is successful. But that, I suppose, is the real problem. If it's successful. If not, that press will turn very quickly. Then there will be issues regarding the management of the club. Sr. Grande is to stay as chairman. This might seem wise as it maintains an obvious local element, but Sr. Grande is not universally popular with the Mallorca fans and if the team struggled, would heads roll? Sr. Grande's for example. Much has also been made in the press of the fact that Mr. Davidson should not be attacked as there were no Mallorcans or Spaniards who came forward to buy the club. It's a fair point, but the other way of looking at it is - why didn't they?
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - The Lightning Seeds - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z28cGUc0Ri0. Today's title - who recorded a song with this title?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
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