Shaking Up Marketing at Chelsea FC

The past couple of seasons have been difficult for Chelsea FC on the pitch, but behind the scenes a new CMO has been shaking up the marketing side of things.

Claire Cronin was appointed as chief marketing officer of the football club in August last year, a few weeks after Mauricio Pochettino became manager. And, like him, she’s been on a mission to change things. “My default setting is impatient,” she told an audience at Advertising Week Europe. “I will not wait for anything.”

Here’s what she’s been doing:

Increasing diversity

• “We need people from other industries, other countries, people who’ve worked internationally,” she said. “What I’ve inherited at Chelsea is a team of very passionate people, but who fundamentally haven’t worked in that many industries or that many geographies.”
• “If we’re trying to be the world’s favourite football team, then we need a leadership team and a team culture that is as diverse as our fan base” – that means across everything from age range and career backgrounds through to neurodiversity.

Flattening management structures 

• One of Cronin’s main innovations has been to move away from hierarchical management structures. “What I’ve been saying to them is that if we want to be a learning organisation, and if we want to accelerate people’s career path, you need to skip level reporting.”
• “We want to empower people with the information to step forward and help shake things up and innovate the way we do things, to make things happen.”

Making values clear 

• “The number one thing we’re focused on is, ‘What does Chelsea stand for?’” Cronin said. “What are we doing from Monday to match day? How do we stay relevant and in consumers’ and fans’ lives? How do we build a connection to fans all around the world who might never set foot in Stamford Bridge where we play?”
• Having clear values has also entailed rejecting some sponsorship opportunities. “We would rather partner with brands and categories where we are mutually building each other’s brands together,” she said.
• Having started the season without a shirt sponsor, Chelsea has found a partner in Infinite Athlete (and has managed to sell replica shirts twice over, adults buying the timeless one without a sponsor, children buying the new kit with sponsor added).

Credit: WARC