Real Madrid added a new sponsor. It is one of the biggest multinational companies, Microsoft. If this was an “ordinary” sponsor deal there wouldn’t be such interest among media and fans. But, this Real – Microsoft deal could be an indicator of what the future brings for football and fans.
Quick official overview.
“In every country, on every continent, there will always be millions of Madridistas connected by a feeling that knows no borders, and we will be there with you. This club always seeks excellence and there are areas in which this club has proved a pioneer. Today, we again inspire one of those areas. We must keep pace with the new times and strengthen the pride of belonging to the best club in the world.” – Florentino Perez, president of Real Madrid.
“We’re taking a step forward alongside one of the leaders of world sport. Together we will make Real Madrid a model to be followed by the sports industry.” – Orlando Ayala, VP of Microsoft (Chairman Emerging Markets).
What does this partnership mean?
1. Real Madrid will get $30 millions in this four-year deal
2. Cristiano Ronaldo has to forget word “iPad” and learn word “Surface Pro 3”. Check how that didn’t work in NFL 🙂
3. Microsoft will use Power BI for Office 365 to make “digital transformation” for Real Madrid fans. What does that mean? At promo event, Microsoft guy showed Cristiano Ronaldo’s goals since 2003, how that can be visualised and option for fans to click on the city where particular goal was scored and see satellite image of the stadium.
4. Rumours were flying high in 2013 regarding Microsoft and Real Madrid negotiating about stadium name. Back then, Spanish media wrote: We won’t see Santiago Bernabeu being Estadio Bill Gates. Maybe that will change in next couple of years? 🙂
Bottom line – try to analyse different people in promo video (above). Why didn’t they use only Spanish people? Real Madrid is a global brand with approximately 400-450 million fans. How can Microsoft explain to middle-class Chinese engineer that Surface Pro 3 is better than iPad? Use Cristiano Ronaldo and Bale.
Extra info – Real Madrid have reached a total of 5 million Instagram followers (in April 2014 they had 2 million followers) with 8 million interactions during the weekend of the last El Classico.
