On the football market, customers are most of the time fans, people loving the club, living the club, dreaming the club, waking up with the club. However, some customers are occasional ones who only buy a jersey or a scarf for a special event (a Real Madrid fan who loves Beckham who bought his jersey when he reached PSG, a new fan of a team because of a player…)
Customers of brands all have the same perceived needs: they want their team to win. They translate it in brand benefits by buying season pass and support their own team at the stadium by their songs and their acting. They also help their brand to earn money by buying jerseys and derivatives. In some clubs as Barcelona, Madrid, Osasuna or Bilbao, they translate in brand benefit by being a socio. A socio is someone getting a part of the club (as a shareholder) who is going to vote to elect a president for the club every 4 years; they are part of the brand. It’s working as a presidential election where all citizens are trying to earn benefit for a State.
The consumer engages with its club an emotional and psychological link. As many customers are absolute fans of their own teams, an emotional and psychological link is made between the 2 parts. When the brand is going well, customer’s life running well. If the brand is having bad results, customers will feel psychologically and emotionally affected
NB
References:
http://www.sofoot.com/qui-sont-les-socios-140687.htmlhttp://www.latribune.fr/actualites/economie/france/20140911trib1da483564/et-si-les-clubs-de-foot-francais-etaient-finances-par-leurs-supporters.html
PSG - Real Madrid 