Manchester United
What did we do?
Our founding partner Nigel and Brand Director Alan were both previously employed by Manchester United PLC to create and develop their advertising and merchandise ranges and their first online brand portal. Whether you’re an MUFC fan or a devoted MCFC supporter, we like to think that no-one can argue with the massive, global success these collections and ranges have achieved for the club for over a decade.
As we had more than a decades worth of MUFC experience it was a natural progression that we would continue to provide merchandise design work for the club. We were perfectly placed to understand and help develop future collections for Manchester United in the years to come.
What did we achieve?
We have designed a multitude of products and merchandising collections for the biggest football club in the world for over 10 years, these include, (deep breath); calendars, desk diaries, pocket diaries, packaging, email templates, footballs, clothing ranges, bedroom collections, watches, mascots ranges, invitations, logos, DVD presentations, brand guides, brochures and much, much more.
We created the first football mechandising collections that delivered brand consistency across the entire range of merchandise products. We clearly defined age categories (which had never been done before) through clever use of brand elements such as; the club crest, brand colour, font selection, the clubs history, the players, the manager and of course the club mascot Fred the Red. We brought the ‘Fred the Red’ character to life for 3 separate age ranges, which even included complete bedroom suites (an MUFC supporting child’s dream room!).
We created the first ‘Red Devil Collection' for more fashion conscious supporters, this included casual shirts, jumpers, ties, cufflinks and leather wallets, as well as creating a beautiful, tactile, corrigated packaging style that added an exra touch to the collection.
We created the legendary 1999 Treble merchandise collections that are certain to be collectors items for die-hard Manchester United fans. We were also responsible for the creation of the '100 Years Collection' range depicting the legends of the past 100 years including; Billy Meredith, Bobby Charlton, Denis Law, George Best, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona and David Beckham. We went on to provide email marketing services for the 40th anniversary of the European Cup triumph.
We also designed and developed Manchester United's first online brand guide with a full content management system which was the first MUFC had ever used. It allowed instant access to the core brand elements, including photography, signatures and the MUFC crest. Most importantly it allowed licensee's instant access to all the packaging artwork templates. The online system streamlined every element of the merchandise process and as a result saved time and money. But just as important was the efficient access that it allowed to the different brand elements and brand artwork via a simple username and password.
A lovely offshoot of all this work has been the opportunity to work with Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney and the George Best estate on their personal calendars and collateral for exhibitions.
Our office is pretty much a 50/50 split between United and City supporters, we do however have the odd Rochdale and Forest fan knocking about. But, as football lovers, we can all agree that working with Manchester United Football Club is top draw.
