By Paul Nicholson
August 9 – Premier League Liverpool have announced Western Union as the club’s first sleeve sponsor in a five-year multi-million pound deal. No exact figure was officially announced for the sponsorship but it is being reported in local media of being worth £25 million.
Western Union’s logo will appear on Liverpool’s left sleeve starting with the new season kick off this weekend and marks a re-entry by the money transfer service into football sponsorship.
As part of the deal Western Union will provide Liverpool with cash management and cross-border payment and foreign exchange services. There is also discussion about a ‘Western Union Cup’ which will see Liverpool play in the off-season in the US and Asia.
For Western Union.
Talking of the brand’s affinity with Liverpool’s philosophy, Western Union’s president of Global Payments Jean-Claude Farah said the title of the club’s anthem, You’ll Never Walk Alone, “summarises it in one sentence. We don’t let them walk alone in that we provide services wherever they are in the world.”
“This partnership goes far beyond a badge on a shirt, as we will be bringing our digital money transfer expertise to better connect Liverpool FC and fans around the world,” he said.
Western Union have agreed three new sports sponsorship in the past 10 days having announced a patch sponsorship on the jersey of NBA team Denver Nuggets, as well as sponsorship of MLS team Colorado Rapids. The company is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.
However, Libby Chambers, chief strategy, product and marketing officer at Western Union, speaking about the Liverpool deal, said: “Western Union is in 200 countries, has 150 million customers and almost a 200 year heritage. We needed something that would touch every corner of the globe.”
Chambers explained that Western Union was moving from being a physical business to a more digitally-based one, and hence there is a marketing emphasis on getting people to download their app and transact on-line.
In this regard she said: “The relationship will extend to different parts of the club as we strengthen and cement our partnership…We will make sure the investment makes sense.”
Western Union become the sixth sponsor to have their logo on Liverpool’s shirts since Hitachi in 1979. This is the first season Premier League sponsorship rules have been relaxed to allow a second sponsor logo.
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