By Emily Goddard
June 13 – More than 100,000 Manchester United supporters in Malaysia have signed up to the English Premier League outfit’s official debit card in less than two months, underlining the Red Devils’ unparalleled popularity around the globe.
Despite a sales forecast of 50,000 cards over a 12-month period, the overwhelming increase demonstrates the strength of United’s brand in Malaysia, which comes as no surprise after a recent survey revealed a following of some 659 million supporters worldwide, with over eight million of these coming from the Southeast Asian nation.
Created by Maybank Malaysia, the debit card was unveiled by the country’s Prime Minister, Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak (pictured below, right), and United’s former stars Gary Pallister and Ronny Johnsen hosted an official launch during the Ultimate LIVE Viewing Party for the Manchester United v Everton game in Sunway Lagoon on April 22.
“The Maybank Manchester United debit card is the only debit card in Malaysia to offer exclusive access to the club and we are delighted with the response it has received so far,” said Richard Arnold, Manchester United’s commercial director.
“The card allows us to further engage with our 8,353,877 million Malaysian followers and I hope that those who haven’t subscribed soon take advantage of the great product Maybank has to offer.”
With applications expected to take a further hike ahead of the club’s 2012-2013 season, subscribers will be entered into a competition to win a trip to Old Trafford to see the team play, with other prizes including exclusive merchandise signed by players such as Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs or Paul Scholes.
Maybank’s executive vice-president and head of cards, wealth and payments, B Ravintharan, said: “The new Maybank Manchester United debit card enables Maybank to further increase the penetration in the local debit market, where it is already the leader with a 35 per cent market share in card base and 55 per cent market share in debit billings.
“The overwhelming response in this new debit card has been hailed as huge success in partnership with Manchester United.”
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