Managing brand identity strategy: how professional football wins the game

While research on brand identity is abundant, an area that is less explored is whether an organisation’s communication about itself directly translates to key stakeholders’ perception of that organisation. The purpose of this study is to explore whether certain Web-based communication strategies are more effective in aligning organisations’ communicated identity (CI) with their perceived identity (PI).

This study uses a mixed-methods design in the context of professional football league clubs. The CI was determined through an analysis of the clubs websites (n = 20), and PI was investigated through interviews with spectators (n = 244). Both CI and PI were operationalised using image categories.

Three main strategies of identity communication are observed. The results show that the strategy focusing on product-related categories leads to discrepancy. WBC with non-product related categories and benefits shows better CI-PI alignment. The study also found that clubs emphasising their CI as local, engaged in community and family-friendly are more likely to achieve greater alignment.

The quality of the brand identity depends on the discrepancy or congruence of brand image categories. Best practices are observed for brands having largely updated WBC of all categories, attitudes and engagement in the community.

The interrelated nature of brand identity communication and perception makes it necessary to empirically test how the two may be bridged with one. The developed concepts provide insight into which strategies better contribute to a consistent, coherent brand identity.