For football fans of the UK’s ‘big six’, it’s been an interesting few days. For me as a lifelong Tottenham Hotspur supporter, I’ve been shocked, horrified, saddened and embarrassed by the actions of my* team; a team that I’ve supported for over 40 years. They are truly testing my fandom.
Whether we choose to accept it or not, fandom is the ultimate in loyalty and love. Whether it’s for a football club, a pop star, a fashion house or even a service provider, where fandom exists, the brand is at its ultimate power. Fandom is unwavering, unquestioning, immovable and lasts forever.
When a brand speaks, it offers any of a number of rewards all of which will offer some kind of economical, psychological and functional benefit. That’s to say that a brand might save you time, money, process pain, boost your ego, or help you live an environmentally friendly life. However, a firmly established brand will offer a further benefit … an emotional one. When we are emotionally attached to a brand, such as we are with our favourite sporting team, the heart rules the head, we cannot be swayed, we do not waiver. We support and are loyal no matter what happens. Think about it. Why do you support your football team? Because they play in the town where you live? Or were born? The chances are that it’s irrational.
Just imagine the power of that loyalty for your own firm’s brand. Apple may release products that are not 100% perfect – it doesn’t matter, fans come to expect this and Apple is forgiven because fans love the product, the packaging, the experience, the brand. Where the heart rules, fandom affords brands a level of loyalty, and faux pas, that simply will not be tolerated otherwise.
Achieving this level of loyalty should be the goal of every brand, regardless of whether you’re a sports team or a professional services organisation. Win the heart, and your clients (or fans) are clients for life.
Today, as Tottenham issue a run of the mill statement and are one of the last teams to back out of the European Super League, I wonder if my support for the team will ever falter. As someone who at the age of 9 decided to support them because she simply liked the name, and who now sits here typing this in her Tottenham Hotspur hoodie, I think it is unlikely.
*note the absolute sense of ownership.
