Marketers need to lift their game

Kiatisuk Senamuang’s parting of ways with the national team came after months of rumours, so few would have been surprised when the end came. But as the sports world moves head?long into the digital era, marketing practices should not be left behind.
Sports promotion has long been just a traditional marketing exercise, with little more thought given to it than glossy magazine spreads and catchy television commercials. However, with the departure of Kiatisuk, what we’ve seen is that the media – on nearly every platform – has rushed in and only deepened the wounds surrounding this issue. Their focus has been the dramatic story and the chance for a new set of interactions with the fans. 
For marketers, that’s just the plain business of digital engagement. They aren’t concerned with who ran the team but, rather, who will run it. In the Kiatisuk case, the growing consensus was that the relationship between the coach and fans and, presumably, management had long deteriorated. But was that all there was to it?
After a brief spell of success with the team, the ousted-by-pressure coach had been telling the public that he and the team were on the right track, but that not everything was up to him.
But would anyone have thought that judgement on the success of the team would come down to the last game of the season? Or could anyone in Thai football circles have predicted how emotional a ride each match was going to be? And does it really matter if anyone would remember, let alone answer these questions at all?
Tolerance is a very important aspect of Thai culture, but of course when it comes to success - particularly in Thai football, the nation’s top sport - there are no differences between the Thai views of tolerance and how that is pereived elsewhere.
The attitudes of Thais towards football success and failure vary from sympathy and pity to contempt. Some people tend to forgive but most people tend to forget. This happens not only from the bottom upwards but from the top down. But again, who cares?
In terms of the marketing, these people are concerned with putting out new messages and particularly those heard by the sponsors and the influencers in society.
Digital marketing is a two-way conversation in which the customer’s comments carry even more credibility than the brand itself. So the story begins. The challenge is how to convert casual fans into fanatics. The marketing buzzword is “royalty”.
Football is one big platform for money to go around. It involves people and the uncertainty of winning and losing. Communication both in and out of the stadium is huge. This framework treats a fan as a whole person — not a series of entities interacting with a brand in isolated channels. 
With all these variables, it’s important to be able to engage with people in all the ways and places that they would like to interact with whatever happens in and out of the game. This maximises the value of the relationship both for the business and the customer. 
“The coach vows to come back”, “the coach wishes the team all the best”. The coach then released a poem on this personal social network account that was claimed to be written by one of his supporters, the content of which clearly questions his exit (and of course attacks the “hidden hand”). 
The defeat of the team for World Cup qualification was a blow. We all have to move on. But who may have already moved in? Only the coach can tell us.

KULDEJ SINTHAWANARONG is the principal of Jarken Group of companies.