By Mark Baber
June 11- The latest study by market research company Repucom has again ranked Cristiano Ronaldo top of the list of European as well as the world’s most marketable football players.
According to Repucom, Ronaldo’s marketability is largely driven by his worldwide fame, with 83% of people knowing who he is including 85% of all men and 80% of all women.
However, Repucom are keen to stress that overall marketability figures my hide big disparities in player appeal in different national markets.
Andreas Iniesta is a case in point – in his native Spain, 99% of the population know of him with 90% aspiring to be like him and 87% of people saying they trust him. Globally, just 48% of people know of Iniesta, but among those who do know of him he does command the highest scores of any of the top 10 players in both public aspiration (80%) and trust (71%).
For all players, the percentage of people that know of them in their native markets far exceeds the percentage that know of them globally but the scores for Wayne Rooney in the UK (95%) and Andrea Pirlo in Italy (97%) are among the highest.
It is notable that five of the top 10 players have a higher percentage of the people who know of them aspiring to be like them outside their native countries than at home. These players include Germany’s Mesut Özil and Mario Götze, Netherlands team mates, Robin Van Persie and Arjen Robben and England’s Wayne Rooney.
Andrew Walsh, football expert and Global Director Enterprise Services, Repucom, said: “Taking the disparity we see in aspiration of half of these players, it is clear to see that there are real, tangible insights one can extract from figures like this. It’s interesting to see how certain player’s global profiles play in stark contrast to the way they are seen in their domestic markets. It is insights like this that make certain players competing in the forthcoming European Championships more suitable for domestic marketing efforts than others.
“Sponsors shouldn’t just look at the most famous players to market their brands but actually at how perceptions shift between countries and population demographics to ensure the biggest return on their investment. Take appeal as another defining criteria of public perception. Globally, of the percentage of people that know of Götze (39%), Van Persie (46%) and Ronaldo (83%), more women than men say that they actually like these players.
“This makes them especially effective brand endorsers for products aimed at this target group. This weekend’s matches will give us a good indication of how the national players will be used in such campaigns.”
According to Repucom, if Lionel Messi was counted in the European rankings, he would only come in second behind Ronaldo in terms of overall marketability, being known by 74% of people globally and 99% of people in his native Argentina.
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