Manchester City launch new global media empire

01 July 2009 | Posted in Agencies, Soccer, Top Story | By Adam Fraser

English Premier League club Manchester City has signed a long-term partnership with Endemol Sport, a division of the TV production company Endemol - famous for producing the globe-spanning Big Brother programme.

Endemol Sport will be tasked with developing schemes to use television to build City's brand throughout the world, as well as relaunching the club website, which will be available in English and Arabic. City are owned by the ruling family of Abu Dhabi. However, Endemol insists the Middle East is not its only target: "The Middle East is very important for obvious reasons and we'll also target Asia and Latin America," said Gregg Oldfield, joint managing director at Endemol Sport.

Oldfield and his co-managing director Lawrence Duffy are two former IMG vice-presidents headhunted by Endemol to launch Endemol Sport last year. The Manchester City project will particularly target under-25s and, according to The Guardian newspaper, will 'be built around social media elements'.

"At the top of the list is providing a positive experience to existing fans," said David Pullan, brand and marketing director at Manchester City. "The second priority is to create a point of entry into Manchester City and what it stands for. We want to target certain markets, first in Arabic and English and by the end of the year in three or four other languages."