Updated 'my time at fulham fc'

My Time at
Fulham FC
Harry Hancock
Motspur Park
Commercial Intern
October 2015 to May 2016

Introduction – Fulham FC
Placement
Whilst at Coventry University I decided to conduct a work placement in between my 2nd and
final year. The main reason being, I wanted to have a great understanding of what it is like
to work in multiple areas of a business, mostly including Sponsorship, Marketing and Sales.
I came about this placement by contacting the Sponsorship manager at the time through
linkedin, I was then able to gain a couple of interviews and I was luckily chosen to be part of
the commercial department.
In this presentation you will see my main weekly activities and the duties and
responsibilities that I was tasked with.
19/10/15 – 23/10/15

Week 1 - Learning the Ropes
In my first week starting at Fulham FC I was shown around and just spent the week trying
to get used to how everything works and get used to the environment.
I was given a sponsorship spreadsheet where I have to update all the deals that are
happening around the world which could be of interest to Fulham FC. I have been updating
this and will continue to do so when I receive the relevant information
I will also flag up any important deals which could be important to the club and offer great
value. I have picked up on trends by sponsors and managed to identify if they could be a
potential partner.
19/10/15 – 23/10/15

Week 2 - Sponsorship Research
26/10/15 – 30/10/15
This week I was asked to research potential betting/online gaming
partners. I researched two companies, FanDuel and DraftKings,
these are two massive companies in USA and after legal terms
restricting their rights in the USA they are looking to promote more
into the UK market. I analysed their current methods and if they
could implement these methods at Fulham. I created two
documents to show what they both do and what methods they are
already using.
I researched hotels in the local area which could be a new
potential partners to help make a deal more attractive to
new/current customers
I was also given match day competition cards to transfer the data
on to a system called ‘dynamics’. This is now being used to by the
sales team to try and reach out to people who may want to return
to craven cottage for another match.

Week 3 – World Travel Market
02/11/15 – 06/11/15
This week I was invited along to the World Travel
Market at the ExCel Arena in London. One of the
biggest corporate events in the travel and tourism
industry, we were invited by Visit Florida, our
Holiday destination partners. We also had to
promote our partnership with Visit Florida as per
the contract agreement. Whilst here we explored
potential partners and gained valuable
connections, by looking through the travel and
tourism countries from all over the world. I also met
some very big names in the industry, William
Seccombe the CEO of Visit Florida and some of
the Visit Florida Board of Directors.

Week 4 – Signing Sessions
09/11/15 – 13/11/15
This week I started monitoring the social media trends online and produced a
report showing what is trending at the moment, I have started looking at
Snapchat and YouTube and have monitored Liverpool FC’s Snapchat and
seen how we can implement this style into Fulham FC. I also looked at the
YouTube Channels which are popular in this market and who also share the
same target audience, I looked at people that we could perhaps use to boost
our online following.
I looked at ways in which Fulham FC can make their current fans move onto
and become more engaging on social media, to allow us to grow a valuable
fan base online.
A signing session was arranged so we could have merchandise signed by the
first team squad, this then means we can send these out to sponsors and
partners as per the contract. I kept a log of all the orders internally and
externally of the company for people who wanted to receive signed shirts.
After I gathered all the requests, I made sure we had enough shirts from retail
to be signed and made sure they were set up in the players lounge ready to
be signed, once finished I distributed them back out to those who sent them
in.

Week 5 – Stand Development
16/11/15 – 20/11/15
With the new stand set to take place in 2016, I have been set
the task of researching the potential sub contractors to help
build the stand. I researched their previous work and the size
of the organisation whilst evaluating if they are a realistic
candidate for Fulham FC to approach. I had to provide a lot
of financial details about the company to make sure that they
would be able to carry out the work if we selected them to be
the official partner, I contacted the financial accountant to
help provide financial information about these companies.
I have also been gathering information on the F1 teams
sponsors, and have done research on the deal that was
made and the contract agreement. With this in mind, we are
now able to use this information to identify

Week 6 – Sunshine Matters
23/11/15 – 27/11/15
This week I signed up to Visit Florida’s newsletter service, Sunshine
Matters, this is so I can gather information on the latest events
happening with our partners and we are able to keep up with all the
latest in the holiday/travel and tourism industry. It helps gives us an
insight in our partners so we can see how they are also performing
and what events they are attending and where our brand can fit in
around this.
I have started a new business directory spreadsheet, which are broken
down into category of what the company is associated with, alcohol,
automobiles, travel, time keeping etc. By doing this we are able to
identify the best and biggest companies in different markets and try to
target all of these companies as a potential sponsor. We are able to
have a much more structured way of targeting big companies and
organisations.

Week 7 –Fulham FC Foundation
30/11/15 – 04/12/15
This week I went and explored what Fulham FC Foundation is all about.
Fulham Football Club Foundation is a leading community sport charity
that aims to build better lives through sport. We use the power of sport
to deliver a variety of inspiring education, health, disability, social
inclusion and football programmes in our community. I met Steve Day,
the CEO of the organisation and he talked me through the foundation
and how it operates.
I was also given the task to find out the average price of an office per
square metre in London. This was because we wanted to make more
use of the boxes on non-match days, so by selling the box as office
space can bring in a much higher revenue throughout the season. I
then passed this information on and we worked out the best price to sell
out our boxes for and we are starting to develop a plan as to how to
market and sell this service.

Week 8 – Match Day
07/12/15 – 11/12/15
This week I was preparing for the match for Fulham vs Brentford. During the week I attended a
pre match meeting to make sure that everything is going to plan, we discussed events
happening on the match day.
During the week I also had a meeting about a new project called ‘prospects by brand’. The idea
is to make a list of all the biggest companies in different markets, this is to help us identify who
we can target in each category, for example we can see a list of all the biggest companies in
the food industry, or the car manufacture industry etc. The idea is to save a lot time when
searching for new potential partners.
On the Saturday it was match day, I attended the game and helped throughout the day. I
started by looking round the stadium so I knew where everything was and where to go. I then I
helped show round a large party of guests from USA and took them round the pitch and told
them some history about the Football Club. Later on before the match started I was introduced
to corporate clients and people attending the hospitality boxes to network. There was then a
half time activation, where I had to help collect the people taking part in the dizzy penalties on
the pitch, I then helped set everything up and made sure it ran smoothly. After the game we
waited for the players including and I then showed them around the boxes to the corporate
clients.

Week 9 – Potential Sponsors
14/12/15 – 18/12/15
This week I was given the task to prepare a presentation for a University to potentially offer
them a deal for them to sponsor us. This would bring in extra revenue into the commercial
department.
I had to discuss what benefits they would have advertising with Fulham FC. I went on to
mention about our demographics and the success of promoting through a football club like
Fulham FC. It has been sent off and is currently with Kingston University now, where they will
negotiate a deal if they want to continue.

Week 12 – Research & Sponsors
04/01/16 – 08/01/16
This week I had gather the Players suits and line
them up in the dressing room so they are ready for the
game against Sheffield Wednesday.
I was also given the task of researching a company that
could be a potential sponsor, so I gathered the research
and put into a document for the sponsorship executive to
use and analyse whether they should be approached.
I also prepared a presentation for current sponsors, to try
and get them to sponsor a charity match for Fulham All-
stars and show the benefits of doing so and how far their
brand will reach through multiple advertising promoting
the match.

Week 13 – Signing session prep
11/01/16 – 15/01/16
This week I was given the task of creating a
sponsorship spreadsheet that has all the football deals
in. However I had to categories the deals based on the
companies that are sponsoring them, I made different
pages for different industries, like Healthcare,
Automobiles, Technology etc. The reason for this is to
see what the most common companies that are
sponsoring in football and we can then target them and
appeal to them saying, this is what your competitors are
doing and this is why you should be too.
I have also been given the task of looking after the
signing sessions again, This is important as we have x
amount of shirts that need to be signed and personal
items by certain players so that we can give them to our
sponsors and agree to the contractual agreements that
took place at the start of the deal.

Week 14 – Forex Research
18/01/16 – 22/01/16
This week I helped arrange the suits that were provided by our suit sponsors
Apsley, we had to arrange them in the changing room for the players to wear
as part of the sponsor agreement.
I also had to do some research on the forex market and what companies
have been involved in sport, and most importantly football, the idea behind
all this research is so that when we meet Global Reach, one of the
companies in the forex market we are able to take this research to them and
explain to them why they need to be investing into football and why they
should sponsor us. The reasons being that there are many companies that
have taken this approach and have been successful, they are missing out
on a huge market and their competitors are currently exploiting this market.
Another reason I found is that Fulham FC have a fan base with much higher
disposable income which means they are a great audience to advertise to
as they have a lot of money to perhaps spend in their market and more
specifically Global Reach’s company.

Week 15 – Rights Matrix
25/01/16 – 29/01/16
This week I had to conduct some research on snapchat to see how
football clubs are currently using snapchat and how Fulham FC can
implement this into their social media routines. I looked at other
football clubs and I reviewed what Fulham are doing and I made
suggestions as to how this can be beneficial for Fulham and use this
as an opportunity to offer new ideas for existing/potential partners as
an activation day or perhaps a takeover day for the sponsor, or even
advertisement.
I also had the task to make sure that the rights matrix between
current partners is updated, so we are able to quickly see the rights
that our sponsors hold, this is useful for being able to compare our
current deals that we have going on.
Another task I was set was to have a look at the current website
sponsorship page and make sure that the current sponsors rights
are being withheld, so they need to be on certain pages and the
information of there needs to be updated and they need to be edited,
so I completed this by searching about each sponsor and their
relationship with Fulham FC and what they do etc.

Week 16 – Contacts
01/02/16 – 05/02/16
This week I had to conduct some research on the contacts in the
championship. These contacts were all Facilities Manager/Operations
Manager. The reason being is so that we can contact some clubs so we
can recommend some products to them by our sponsors as per the
sponsorship agreement. This meant we had to contact x amount of clubs
in the Championship/Premier League teams, this deal was with the IT
department to ensure that they can use a high quality security system.
I also had to do some research on all the Championship teams and what
sponsors they are working with, using this information we are able to
see if we could approach certain companies and identify whether we
would be a much more feasible partner than where they are already at.

Week 17 – Signing Session
08/02/16 – 12/02/16
This is the week the signing session took place, I had planned the day before hand and made sure everything was in place,
by the time the day arrived I had a list of all the merchandise that the sponsors needed signing. Once the players lounge was
set up me and two others made sure they signed as much as possible. Once they left we collected the merchandise and
packaged them so they were ready to send out.
I also noticed that Fulham FC’s loyalty scheme wasn’t very interactive and lacked a bit of creativity. So with this in mind I
conducted some research about the Championship clubs and their loyalty schemes. I found that Birmingham FC hold the best
loyalty scheme in the Championship. I got in contact with someone in the marketing department and asked for information. I
found a range of methods they use and what we could implement into Fulham FC. I then put this in a presentation and sent
this to our Marketing Executive and Sponsorship Manager.

Week 18 – Sponsor Agreement
15/02/16 – 19/02/16
This week I had to make sure all the signed merchandise
that we got was all packaged correctly for a safe delivery
to the sponsors. So I put the signed shirts in the Fulham
FC packaging then after allocating the certificates to each
one I boxed up separate amounts. I then found the
address to where they need to go and rang up Worlds End
Couriers and arranged for them to picked up and sent out
by a certain date. Despite a few hiccups with the method of
delivery I managed to get them out successfully.
The next step was to make sure we had enough
merchandise for the remainder of the season, with this in
mind I also added up the amount that were needed for
mascots and made sure we had a couple spare. In the
next signing session I will be focusing on the footballs and
making sure we plenty signed to last us for the remainder
of the season.

Week 19 – Digital Media Ideas
22/02/16 – 26/02/16
This week I had a lot of admin work that I caught up on and
made sure all the new contacts were updated and added in
important information onto the system.
I also researched some sponsorship ideas on digital media, as
this is something that FFC are falling behind on, so have
presented a few options to help boost them back up with their
competitors. This included player takeovers on snapchat and
how they can promote sponsors by ‘shout outs’ and product
placement, Twitter competitions held by competitors asking
Fulham players questions, also an opportunity for fans to meet
the players courtesy of (Sponsor)

Week 20 – Technology in Football
29/02/16 – 04/03/16
This consisted of finding talking point about the advancement
in technology and what impact it has on these areas: Medical,
Sponsors, Analytics, Wifi, and Betting. E.G In the Analytics
category I put one of the discussion points as, The use of
technology allows people to look at a player’s performance,
however are the stats relied on too much and overshadow the
players performance and could misrepresent the actual
outcome? There were many questions that were brought up in
each topic. This was used for the Sponsorship Manager to
use as research and talking points in a meeting that he was to
attend.

Week 21 – Sponsorship Ideas
07/03/16 – 11/03/16
This week I produced a document about opportunities and innovative ways we could use space around the
cottage to use for advertisement. I came up with the possibility of using Wi-Fi to promote a sponsor, by
placing their logo, image, deals on the login page. As people always want Wi-Fi it will bring the sponsors
logo a lot of views.
Another idea was to use player comparisons, or just player stats around the stadium with a sponsors logo
also on the screen. This is something that fans will be interested in and will draw attention to it. A great way
to show off a sponsor.
The final idea was floor advertising, the people in corporate hospitality have to always walk around the pitch
to get to the hospitality lounges and boxes. Placing advertisement on the narrow walkway would mean they
would look at a sponsors logo every match day.

Week 22 – The New Stand
14/03/16 – 18/03/16
This week we are preparing for someone who is leaving
the club, so we had to make sure that we understand the
roles that we have to adapt to and delegate who would
be using them.
I also had to send out a signed shirts to a sponsor to
ensure that they get all of the items that was agreed in
the contract before the season.
I also helped with the layout of a presentation and gave
creative ways to show how to present the new stand to
potential sponsors.

Week 23 – Fulham: The Area
21/03/16 – 25/03/16
This week I had a visit from a lecturer at Coventry
University as part of the placement year course, this is to
ensure that everything is going well and that it is the
same as what I had stated in the reports at the start. I
evaluated my progress here, and also had feedback from
my line manager, in which I was praised highly.
I was also asked to find a way to help people see what is
available in the area for a presentation. So I decided to
create a map radius with restaurants and points of
interest that are suited with FFC, for example the
restaurants are much higher classed and are
sophisticated to match our consumers choice. This
information is created for an internal presentation as to
which businesses would be able to hold a chain inside
the new stand.

Week 24 – Hospitality & Mascot
28/03/16 – 01/04/16
This week I helped organise the hospitality tickets for the
people attending the upcoming matches. Due to one of
our members of staff leaving, we have had to take on
some of the roles, one of them being hospitality tickets. I
made sure that the tickets were printed and then
packaged up and ready to be sent out.
I also had to make sure that the two mascots attending
the game had their packages ready and find the
information that is needed to make sure the signed
merchandise and other items were correct as well as
packaged.
This week also being very important for Fulham who
need to secure 3 points from MK Dons to ensure a
clearer gap from relegation zone.

Week 25 – Signing Session
04/04/16 – 08/04/16
This week I was focused on the preparation of the signing session for the following
week. I first started by emailing the HR Advisor to put a message on the intranet to
allow staff members to send me any merchandise they would like signed. When the
message was put up I made a deadline that they can send in, this to allow myself
time to set up and make sure I can record what is coming in.
I then arranged for the players lounge to have tables set out and ready for the
signing session on Tuesday morning.
Whilst collecting the shirts that people wanted signed, I had been given a request
of five shirts for the Commercial department as a contingency for the remainder of
the season, I filled in a request form and got it signed by someone of authority and
took it to the retail department to pick up the requested merchandise.
I kept an inventory on excel of all the people that had sent in items to be signed, so
I can easily send back out the items.

Week 26 – Activations
11/04/16 – 15/04/16
This week was the week of the signing session, as I had
prepared everything the week before, not a lot had to be
done other than round up the players before training and
get them to sign the merchandise. Throughout the day
we checked on the shirts and would bring them back if
they had enough signatures on.
Coral had an activation they were to undertake, this was
a challenge for the players, where they have to kick the
ball from the corner flag into the middle of the pitch,
where there was a target with numbers on, Coral would
increase the prize fund depending on the score that they
all got combined. It was mine and a few others
responsibility to set up the activation and make sure the
players understand what is going on and what they have
to do. As a whole the event ran smoothly and we didn’t
encounter any problems due to the amount of
preparation we had undertook.

Week 27 – Signed Merchandise
18/04/16 – 22/04/16
As last week was the final signing session of the season, I made sure that everything we needed to
send out was signed and ready for the sponsors. I also made a contingency plan, and added around
10 extra shirts and 10 extra footballs just in case we need anymore before the final game of the
season.
I then sent back all of the merchandise that the staff sent in. With all the signed merchandise sent out,
all the contractual agreements with each sponsor has been reached for the season.

Week 28 – End of Season
25/04/16 – 29/04/16
With the end of season fast approaching the final
presentations begin to take place. This is an opportunity
for both Fulham and the sponsors to see if either parties
have met their objectives and whether contract
agreements were all met. I assisted with presentations
and the layout of them.
I was also asked to extend my placement as a casual
worker until I go back to University in September, my
roles will see me work closer to the sponsorship
manager and the rest of the commercial team.
I have thoroughly enjoyed my internship at Fulham FC
and I look forward to continuing my work here as
Commercial Assistant

Updated 'my time at fulham fc'

Updated 'my time at fulham fc'

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