Gunners chief wants better brand development

Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis is poised to launch the club into new commercial territory.

Gazidis, who joined the English Premier League side at the beginning of this year and has already been praised by coach Arsene Wenger for his impact, has criticised previous executive regimes for not effectively capitalising on the club's brand value.

Arsenal's two major sponsorship deals, with Nike and Emirates airline, were both signed some time ago and only bring in about US$33 million a year. As a point of comparison, title winners Manchester United generated some US$60.8 million last year from their two key deals with Nike and AIG. In an interview with Arsenal fan site arseblog.com, however, Gazidis refused to criticise his club's existing deals.

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"I think there's no question that the partnerships with Nike and Emirates were fundamental for the construction of the stadium and those are strong, long-term relationships," Gazidis said. "It's always easy to second guess deals but they give us, as a club, stability, and effectively a guaranteed return."

"But what I do believe is that if we're looking to develop our value we have to embark on a medium to long-term project of better articulating the values that the club represents. I don't think we have developed our brand as much as we could do, either domestically or internationally, and ultimately if you do that effectively the revenues come off the back of that."

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"I do believe that Arsenal represents some things that are quite special, particularly in the modern world of football," Gazidis added. "We need to preserve those values whilst articulating them to a wider public."

Arsenal and Gazidis will have an opportunity to boost their revenues after the 2013/14 season when their shirt sponsorship agreement with Emirates expires. Not only will the club be able to find a more lucrative agreement, but they will be able to do it while continuing to receive payments from Emirates for the stadium naming rights.

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