Everton FC targets broader market

The club’s commercial team six months ago added new staff with a broader focus on the international market.
 Traditionally, the team was focused more on the UK and European market.
 “The English Premier League is growing and growing all over the world, especially in Asia and America,” Kenyon said.
 With strong growth in the number of people watching the English Premier League, there are lots of opportunities for the football club to attract commercial partners and also develop its fan base in potential markets around the world, he said.
 “The English Premier League is a fantastic platform and creates lots of visibility. It gives prominence to the brand,” he added
 Sam Lucas, head of partnerships at Everton FC, said Europe now represented approximately 40 per cent of the English Premier League’s global viewers. English football matches are broadcast to 255 countries around the world.
 “We have seen big growth in China and the US this season. In China alone, the number of viewers who watch Everton has surged dramatically, from only 200,000 viewers last season to over 2 million this season,” he said. In China, the English Premier League is broadcast via free-to-air channel CCTV5, allowing viewers more access to the matches while in the US the EPL is broadcast via NBC.
Chang Beer has been the principal shirt sponsor for Everton FC since July 2004, and Kenyon said both parties were in discussions about renewing the sponsorship contract, which expires next year.
 “Chang Beer is the brand with the longest partnership not only for Everton FC, but also in the English Premier League. The 12-year partnership started in 2004. It is longer than the average sponsorship in the English Premier League, which I would say is usually between two and five years,” he explained.
Lucas said the club currently had eight major sponsors divided into different categories, as well as five supply partners.
In addition to Chang, the club’s other sponsors include Umbro for sportswear, Kitbag for exclusive retailer, Dafabet for global betting, and Avon for tyres.
Edmond Neo Kim Soon, chief executive officer of Chang International, said the brewer would launch its new Chang Classic beer in green bottles in the UK next month to mark the twelve anniversary of ties with the EPL club.
Chang Classic was first launched in Bangkok in August last year.
Lucas added that photo shoots with several star Everton players – Seamus Coleman, James McCarthy, Romelu Lukaku and Joel Robles – would go out on social media in line with Chang Classic’s launch in the UK and Europe.
 “The English Premier League is a global property. It creates opportunity for the Chang brand to grow beyond Thailand to other international markets, and enhance awareness of the brand in many potential markets, such as Vietnam, Singapore, Cambodia and Myanmar, where football is a popular sport,” Soon said.
“In order to grow your brand, awareness is quite important. The partnership with Everton FC will support our growth engine to achieve our 2020 vision to be a beverage leader in Asean,” he added.
 The CEO said the company currently exported Chang Beer to more than 30 countries around the world, including all Asean markets.
Fraser and Neave distributes Chang Beer only in Singapore, while sales in other countries in the region are the responsibility of local distributors. “The partnership between Chang Beer and Everton FC is more than commercial, but a long-term relationship,” he said.
Chang Beer was the first Thai or Asian brand to enter a sponsorship deal in the English Premier League.
Kenyon affirmed that the sponsorship deal with Chang was not just a commercial thing, but a long-term partnership. Both partners have been involved in many initiatives and social activities together in order to give something back to society, such as football coaching to enhance skills for Thais.
Everton-Chang Village is a good example of a deeper partnership created about 10 years ago by building homes for people on the Khao Lak coast in Phang Nga.
Consisting of 50 houses and a football field, it was built following the devastating 2004 tsunami that struck the area and destroyed the village of Ban Naan Khem.