The rugby team kit with 18 sponsors, and other strange cases of sport branding
- Published
Did you know Manchester United had an official mattress partner? Or that one team swapped squad numbers for supermarket prices?
Welsh regional rugby union team Scarlets have somehow managed to squeeze 18 - EIGHTEEN - logos across the front and back of the shirts, and on the shorts of their new 2018-19 kit.
Yes, there are even sponsors printed across the bum region.
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Many of the sponsors on the kit - which the Scarlets will wear in the Pro14 and Champions Cup competitions - are local companies, with the club’s head of commercial, Nathan Brew, saying, external: "The continued support from local and national companies is the lifeblood of the region's success.”
Sponsors' logos may seem like an expendable feature on some kits, but brands know if they can attach their name to an iconic player or moment, they can buy a prime spot on a piece of history.
Juventus and Manchester United in the 90s
Sponsorships are a big part of a team's income, and businesses are always looking for new ways to team up with brands to bolster their commercial and advertorial power.
Take Manchester United, for example. Beyond the US car manufacturer's logo on their current shirts, the Red Devils have official partnerships, external for industrial lubricants and fuel, mattresses and pillows, wine, coffee and headwear.
There really is an "official soft drinks partner of Manchester United for Nigeria", external, and an "official pharmaceutical partner of Manchester United, external for South Korea and Vietnam".
And the players know the score when it comes to being used as promotional tools. Here’s United’s 2015-16 team after the club secured a motor oil deal - you have to love Antonio Valencia’s face here.
Some of the Manchester United squad promote motor oil
When United secured a deal in 2016 with a mattress maker, Luke Shaw knew how to build the hype. “It’s very important for us to maintain high-quality sleep,” Shaw said. Wow, thanks Luke.
While United are making it rain with brands on and off the kit, Spanish football team Getafe’s 2009-10 home kit took shirt sponsorship to a whole new level.
Ravanelli-style goal celebrations, where the shirt is pulled up over the head, were now actively encouraged to reveal the face of the king of the burgers (other fast food chains, and monarchs, are available).
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A few years earlier, during the 2003-04 season in Madrid, Atletico had been causing a stir with their own weird and wonderful shirt deal with Columbia Pictures, who used the prime real estate on players' chests to promote a different film each week.
Hellboy, Swat, and Hitch got ads printed onto the Atletico shirts, but when Spiderman 2 came around, the team’s away shirt got a full revamp.
Brazilian lower league side Fluminense de Feira (not to be confused with the Fluminense that Thiago Silva and Marcelo played for) came up with a way to utilise the numbers on the back of their shirts.
Despite their kit already being drenched in sponsors, the team displayed the cost of products from a local supermarket by adding the bargain prices to player’s shirts.
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The Premier League probably won’t go down that extreme route any time soon, but it did introduce sleeve sponsors in 2017-18, which is potentially a step towards seeing more ads on shirts.
Wayne Rooney at Everton
Teams around the league sold their sleeve space to banks, bookies, and tyre companies last year, while Everton had an Angry Birds tie-in.
Then, there are the sponsorships that come with an unfortunate subtext. AC Milan may be based in one of the fashion capitals of the world but that didn’t come into consideration when the team decided to strike a deal with Pooh Jeans in 1981.
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Or who could ignore Scottish side St Johnstone's deal with Bonar Textiles back in the early 1990s?
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Should have added 'Textiles', guys. Should definitely have added 'Textiles'...
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