Sports Crazy?!

We had a Marketing class yesterday where we discussed a Harvard Business Case on Real Madrid. I guess I thought that I had a sports-filled upbringing living in a house with a father and three brothers who watched EVERY sport on TV (except the girl sports like gymnastics or generally anything with a judge). After reading this case, I realize that I didn't really have it so bad. There are many people who are a lot more sports crazy than my family was...that is, soccer fans.

What was particularly interesting about the Real Madrid case is that the fans of that club (and the same is true for many sports teams' fans), draw no dividing lines between their lives and this brand/team that they love so much. The sports club becomes a part of their cultural DNA. The fans identify so strongly with the given team that they don't know who they'd be with that team. It's a marketers' dream come true. "What would I BE without my Coke or my Apple Computer?"

The excellent film Silver Linings Playbook has a sub-plot about a family's complete commitment to the Philadelphia Eagles. My father was born in Philadelphia and my Grandad would typically include a Phildelphia sports update in the weekly family letter he would mail around; so, I have some familiarity with this kind of team allegiance. But, I don't think I had ever thought that a sports team could have that much influence over a person's life.

The ultimate achievement for a brand is to become so enmeshed with people that they can't imagine themselves without it. There are very few brands that have achieved this kind of sociological status. Certainly the Real Madrid brand can count itself as one.