In early 2016, with my first Global Presentation on stage, in front of all Global Midea employees, I simply announced that my work + scope as the new Global Head of Brand Management & Communication will also include (one day!) to prepare a 'Global Sponsoring Strategy' for #Midea.
On my first slide I used a famous quote from the German soccer player Andy Möller who said in 1992 shortly before his move to Italy:
"Milan or Madrid,
the main thing is Italy."
...and, as you can see, I have also already added Manchester!
At this time obviously thinking more about the world's biggest + most famous Club: Manchester United!
Then, back in 2015, Manchester City was still in the shadow!
...instead I showed my favorite Club: FC Barcelona with legends like Messi, Neymar & Suarez
and pointed out, that the competition is not 'sleeping' and e.g. BEKO has already taken the 'Sleeve Partner' slot at Barça 😭
...and, hence + nevertheless, I will kick-off Midea 'Global Sponsorship Strategy Deck' work asap!
Meanwhile #DayDreaming 🤪
...in life #EverythingHappensForAReason
...and the absolute beauty in life is #FirstlyItAnywayComesDifferentAndSecondlyThanWhatYouExpect
= keep reading!
Funnily, during my very first meeting with the Manchester City Marketing team 2017 in London, they surprised me with a player joining at the end the meeting a as 'Celebrity picture taking moment'
...while I asked:
"Who is this guy,
interrupting our meeting?"
As I elaborated in my 'Midea Global Sponsoring Strategy' section, we went from 'broad to narrow' until we decided Manchester City is what we need = is what we want!
8th January 2020 ...Global Launch Date to announce with big PR Boost Midea + Manchester City joined a Global Partnership.
...however, while I have spent all January + Chinese New Year in Singapore, working on the 'Global Launch Campaign' an 'unprecedented event' hit the world = 🦠 #COVID
While we: Midea + Manchester City were planning a BIG NOISE + MASSIVE FAN ENGAGEMENT, the world was going into Lock-Downs, sport stadiums and the entire physical entertainment industry had to CLOSE their doors...
...yes, sure, cancelling it all, was on the table!
My management + my legal team did their job:
= asking me to get out of the contract!
I did my job:
= having just joined a global partnership
= let's try to be partners & rock this!
Unforeseen challenges can be turned into unexpected opportunities!
Hence, we: Midea + Manchester City + Agency sit together to brainstorm & to turn this into a win-win-win:
#MideaHomeChallenge
was born
= mobilizing Manchester City players at their homes to engage with Manchester City fans all around the world @home
LED + Canvas
= due to no fans being allowed in the stadium(s), further to our contractual LEDs running, an additional #Midea logo became a HUGE canvas = visible during the entire 90 minutes! = massive Media Value ROI 📈
KOL
(Key Opinion Leader)
= Manchester City as a club & organization took clear actions + firm statements wrt globally eminent topics like e.g #Racism + #BLM
...of course, personally, I also tried to add my little grain of sand, especially because it had became a 'polarizing' topic among my inner circle of friend, too!
