Snapdragon, the company that sponsors Manchester United ’s front of shirt, is interested in securing naming rights for Old Trafford should the club use that route to help fund a new stadium . Don McGuire, chief marketing officer of Qualcomm, which owns Snapdragon, said the firm is “always looking out for opportunities” to raise brand awareness. Advertisement United are focusing on a new Old Trafford on the same site as the current ground , but with the cost estimated to be at least £2billion ($2.
6bn), several options for raising finance are on the table. One of those is naming rights and Snapdragon, which sealed a three-year shirt sponsorship worth $225million in July, would like to expand its association with United. “Old Trafford is Old Trafford, it should always be Old Trafford,” said McGuire, standing in a suite at Snapdragon Stadium, home to San Diego State University’s American football team, where United faced Real Betis.
“But if there is a brand attached to that in some way shape or form, powered by someone, an ‘at’ or whatever — this is Snapdragon Stadium at Bashor Field — we are working very closely with the team on the reimagining of Old Trafford from a technology and innovation standpoint, and Carrington (the club’s training ground). So if that leads to something bigger, where it would make sense for us to go even bigger — this (shirt sponsor) is pretty big by the way, not inexpensive — but if it makes sense, we are always looking out for opportunities.” Snapdragon makes the chips or processors found in an estimated three billion devices globally, across smartphones, PCs, virtual reality, gaming and cars, even including high-tech sunglasses.
McGuire said the American company’s expertise is being tapped into by United for the £50m refurbishment of Carrington, which began this summer, and the future work at Old Trafford. McGuire gave examples: “Fan experiences, connectivity, stadium operations like retail, point of sale, ticket in and out. Then there is how fans can be engaged while in the stadium, whether through augmented reality or through their smartphones or devices.
And then making United a more state-of-the-art club.” United executives, including Sir Dave Brailsford, Omar Berrada, Collette Roche, Dan Ashworth and Jason Wilcox, met Snapdragon officials at the company’s headquarters in San Diego during the club’s United States summer tour to discuss ideas. McGuire also explained Snapdragon’s stance on where United might go on their pre-season tour next year.
United have been Stateside in successive summers, with San Diego twice hosting friendlies, but McGuire wants the club to go all over the globe. “We’d love for them to come back here every year,” he said. “What we will do is work with the club on their summer tours.
We will be a presenting sponsor on the tours, wherever it is. But we’d like them to take it around the world and share the love. Advertisement “And so we’re looking at markets that are big Snapdragon markets as well, to bring the team.
“We know they have played in China before and they’d love to go back to China, and we’d love that, too. Playing in China is a little bit different because there are a lot more layers of regulation you have to get through. But we’d love for them to play in China, India.
“We are a global company. We may be headquartered in San Diego, California, but one of our biggest markets is China, another big market is India, so we sell our products, in volume, through partners all over the world. I have to be able to scale the brand.
I’m looking at normal advertising or PR, or events, I’m doing that everywhere. I look at my brand partnerships the same way. What can give me global reach? “Manchester United’s biggest fanbase is in China, 253million fans, a huge market for my company and the Snapdragon brand.
“I have 87 per cent awareness for the brand in China. Walk down the street in Shanghai, you ask someone if they know what Snapdragon is, they absolutely will tell you. ‘Of course, it’s my phone’.
So attaching myself to Manchester United for that global reach and scale makes sense for a company like ours because it’s gotta kick ass in Europe, it’s gotta kick ass in China, it’s gotta kick ass in India, and Brazil and the U.S. McGuire says the club’s front-of-shirt sponsor deal with United has “passed a billion impressions in three weeks for the brand”.
“It’s a bigger launch than the next big clubs that have launched their front of shirts in recent weeks combined. So that’s the scale of Manchester United,” he says. The shirt sponsorship deal also includes the women’s team and McGuire reiterated that as well as wanting the men’s team to return, he would like the women’s team to come and play San Diego Wave, the NWSL team.
Advertisement “Snapdragon Stadium is a beautiful place to play, it was built more as a football stadium than an American football stadium, believe it or not, it’s much wider between the fan seats and the pitch, so we’d love them to come back and play,” he says. “We’d also love to have the women come and play here in San Diego against the Wave.” (Top photo: Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images).
