World class football brought onto the doorsteps of SA fans via Manchester United deal

Manchester United Football Club and MTN have concluded a three-and-a-half year business partnership which sees the African operator become the exclusive South African telecommunications partner of the world’s best-supported football club.

David Gill, Chief Executive of Manchester United, said: "The partnership with MTN is a very important step in the club's plan to get closer to its family of fans based all over the world. MTN’s strength, particularly in the pre-paid market, will provide the club with the perfect platform to achieve that.

"This strategic alliance answers our South African fans' questions and provides us with the best business fit that will help us further improve our customer experience", says Veli Mabena, GM: Brand & Communications at MTN South Africa.

With an estimated global fan base of 333 million people, the Manchester United agreement is designed to set MTN even further apart from its competitors.

"With one of the most diverse support bases in world football, South African football fans from all walks of life can identify with Manchester United. By partnering with the Old Trafford-based club, MTN is providing customers and fans alike with a front-row seat to world club football", continued Mabena.

The deal is seen as MTN becoming the South African extension of the club, with exclusive mobile content and online inventory such as match highlights, player profiles, ringtones available to customers for download through the MTN Play entertainment portal.

Additionally, MTN also has the rights to produce co-branded premiums and will receive signed memorabilia to use as competitions to reward its customers. It will also offer exclusive Manchester United-branded MTN products such as airtime vouchers.

"South Africa is the centre of the footballing world in 2012. Manchester United has 10.3 million fans in the country and enjoyed two recent visits there in 2006 and 2008. This deal with the region’s leading mobile company will help us to deepen our relationship with our fans and bring them close to the club on a regular basis", commented Richard Arnold, Director of Commercial at Manchester United.

It does not end there though. MTN will running competitions for its customer base where a few staunch fans of the club will get an opportunity to have an Ayoba experience by having one-on-one interactions with Manchester United players in the local and international football arena.

While the alliance provides MTN with the leverage it needs to enter the global football arena, the two organisations will work closely together on community initiatives.

Mabena explained: "The Manchester United Foundation will tie into what we are doing through the MTN SA Foundation in focusing on community upliftment. This is core to our overriding mission of giving back to the communities in which we operate. Both organisations are committed to enhancing the lives of those less privileged and this partnership will extend strongly into clearly aligned community initiatives".

From a community perspective, there will be joint investment into community or sports development in the form of coaching clinics where skills will be transferred from world renowned football players to youngsters who come from communities with a dire need for upliftment opportunities.

"Given the longevity of the contract and the powerful brand that is Manchester United, in many ways from a revenue point of view, we see this partnership to be as big as our involvement with the FIFA World Cup, as they both have international appeal and massive global audiences.

"Through this partnership, we want to - in future - build on what we have achieved through our local football sponsorships as well as the World Cup", concluded Mabena.

In addition to sponsoring Africa's biggest football website, MTNfootball.com, MTN was the title sponsor of the Confederation of African Football’s (CAF) 2006 and 2008 African Cup of Nations finals. MTN also established strong links with the greatest achievers in African football through the annual MTN CAF Awards.

Utilising the flexibility of the More people go with Visa campaign, advertising creative from the Go Fans campaign will be customised and will appear in thirty markets around the world to strengthen the campaign's relevance in those regions. In addition to Go Fans, customised advertising extensions of the campaign will utilise Go Football and Go [Country] (eg Go Brazil) taglines.

"Football fans are unlike any other sports fans in the world. We've created a campaign that captures these fans' inspirational passion for the game, taps into their nationalistic pride and reminds them how Visa can help enhance their experience", said Antonio Lucio, Chief Marketing Officer of Visa Inc.

"Building off Visa's legacy of creating integrated marketing campaigns in support of global sporting events, our platform enables us to reinforce the ways that Visa enhances the fan's World Cup experience while also advancing our own business and that of our clients".

The Go Fans campaign celebrates the common love that all fans have for football, says the company, and creative executions featuring the colours of the national flags of each of the thirty-two qualifying countries symbolise the expression of each fan's true colours and love of country. The campaign aims to reinforce the perception that Visa enables fans to express their true colours in support of their teams by offering an easier way to pay, using their Visa card.