Have you seen Lionel Messi highlight? If you haven’t. Watch this youtube clip.
Carles Puyol, Xavi Hernandez, David Villa, Andres Iniesta. If you followed soccer a little bit, you have heard of those names. They are all Spanish national team members and Andres Iniesta was MVP of 2010 FIFA world cup final against Netherland. And, they are all FC Barcelona.
Spanish National Team squad from FC Barcelona. Picture obtained from FC Barcelona website
Not impressive yet? Barcelona just won it all in 2009. They just won every possible competition in club soccer. They won Spanish league (La Liga), Copa Del Ray, Super Copa de Espana, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, and 2009 Fifa Club World Cup. Well, I really cannot compare this with any other sports in the U.S. This team may be the combination of New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox or Indianapolis Colts and Dallas Cowboys, or even Boston Celtics plus Miami Heats.
And, as usual, those big soccer teams are getting some money with world tour before the regular season begins. Manchester United came to the U.S. this year and had game with Major League Soccer All Star. FC Barcelona also visited South Korea and they are now in China.
And, of course, because it is right after the World Cup, none of the players in the picture above is with FC Barcelona’s world tour. Of course, in Major League Soccer All Star game, we could not see Evra, Rooney, Ferdinand, and Ji Sung Park, the star players of Manchester United. Their games are event and a part of fan service or publicity. These are the missions of big club soccer teams to let more people in the world know the game of soccer. And, it is understandable why they do not bring their best players. And, they could accomplish their mission without those star players. Manchester United squad without their best players beat MLS all-star team easily with the score of 5-2.
South Korean people seemed like they did not understand this marketing principle when FC Barcelona visited Korea to do some PR for the team. However, it is understandable, if we look at this incident little bit more closer. Of course, FC Barcelona might want to be the most popular soccer club in Korea with this tour, because the most popular soccer club in Korea is now Manchester United, because they have a Korean national team captain Ji Sung Park. So, FC Barcelona brought their back up players plus Lionel Messi, who played 15 minutes in the game against the K(orean)-League all-star team. Of course, they easily beat the K-League team, which made a team few days before the game, so barely knew whom they had to pass, if I exaggerate a little bit.
John Duerden, my beloved soccer columnist, who also writes in Korea, explained about this match and all the mess in this ESPN article.
OK. I know I am a Korean, but, I don’t want to be too patriotic. If any of you can read in Korean, check this blog entry in Korean. I, actually, blamed K-league officials and the sports marketing company, who managed this whole event. I truly think they had to be more careful, when they prepared this event. It was a poor PR decision for them. I even called FC Barcelona as a victim.
But, I truly think FC Barcelona could handle this issue much better and nicer.
I, once, studied about NFL’s effort to spread American football to the world. And, this study is published for the next year’s special issue of Journal of Communication Studies. NFL began World League of American Football (WLAF) in 1991, changed league to NFL Europe and managed it until 2007. They got some attentions from Europeans, introduced American football there, so, now, after ceasing the league in 2007, they have one NFL game in London every year, and it always easily fill the stadium . But, NFL still had to spend $400 million for 16 years.
My major finding for this study was that NFL was too proud of themselves to think about European culture. They just thought Europeans would love the league, even though they sent their minor league players. NLF officials proudly said WLAF was a “developmental league” and they wanted to make some money out of the league. It was a total mess, since Europeans did not care about the league after few games and players did not like the idea after all. Players even sued the NFL with anti-trust law suit, because NFL sent them to Europe promising bringing them back to NFL and did not keep the promise. First WLAF championship game was not played in the stadium of “best-record” team, London Monarch, because of regular British Premier League game in the same stadium. In 2007, NFL officials finally realized they had to stop the league, because not any single NFL Europe game was broadcasted live, even the NFL Europe Championship game. This was a misunderstanding of different culture and, finally, NFL’s international relations director, Mike Waller, who was born in Kenya, said, “they want to see the best product, not a minor league.” OK. Again, NFL spent $400 million and 16 years.
This kind of things happen a lot today, in International business world. Google was criticized a lot after they left China and tried to correct human right issue in China by themselves. Microsoft had a lot of troubles in Europe with a monopoly issue and now they are cooperating European Union.
This is an International PR issue and I always emphasize that understanding (not tolerating) differences make international PR successful. I really think FC Barcelona could handle this much better with their understanding of Korean culture. Korea is under the Confucius culture, which emphasizes the role of hierarchy. Korea is not a hierarchical culture any more, but, it still remains. If you want to do a business with Korean people, you must understand their hierarchical mentality. Koreans say you need to treat parents and teachers like a King. In the business world, if you want to make a deal successfully with Korean company, you should send your senior executives to the negotiation. And, they usually send their senior executives to the negotiation, too. This is International public relations. When U.S. soldiers accidentally killed two Korean middle school girls, if president Bush directly apologized Korean people and expressed consolation, there might not be a huge protest against the U.S. embassy in Korea. This CBS news article talks about Bush’s apology. Well, actually, president did not apologize, forma Ambassador Thomas Hubbard did. If the U.S. government tried to understand Korean culture and just president Bush simply expressed consolation to Korean people directly, this issues should have been resolved faster and better.
FC Barcelona had a same mentality when they came to Korea. This is one little example of those from John Duerden’s ESPN article:
There was no talking at the airport and while Lionel Messi and Dani Alves were obviously tired at the first press conference the day after, they seemed to neither know nor care where they were. Dani Alves said that “Brazil played against Korea in the World Cup. They were a very good team”. Messi, who actually did play against South Korea in South Africa, replied when asked for his first impressions of the country: “I didn’t see much. I don’t know where I am and what time it is. I’m too tired.”
Well, yes, they are players, and may not know how to handle media, or, they are just too much of Super Star. Then, how about the head coach?
If you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression there are always ample opportunities to make things worse. In the official pre-match press conference held the following day, coach Pep Guardiola told reporters that Messi would not feature in the match. The reaction around the room was audible. Lee Jun-ha, the general secretary of the K-League, shook his head, laughed and quickly left the room.
Ok. Then, who are the victims in this case? FC Barcelona lost their potential fans in Korea. I followed Korean media and many fans said, they would cheer for Real Madrid, the archrival of FC Barcelona. Well, FC Barcelona deserves it. But, how about the head coach and how about the players? Because of poor PR, they were embarrassed and they were blamed by Korean media. FC Barcelona players were playing in Norway before coming to South Korea, then, after the game, they left to China for the next match against Guoan team in four days. FC Barcelona made $3 million for the game against K-League all-star. And, players were just goods and products to earn the money. According to one Korean news media, Lionel Messi expressed the regret that he could not have more time in Korea after he had to fly quite distance. And, many players looked tired and sleepy because of jet lag. Well, it is understandable that players are professional and need to overcome those things, but, they really cannot know what to expect from Korean fans, if no one let them know.
FC Barcelona also lost $300,000, because Messi did not play more than 30 minutes, which was indicated in the original contract between FC Barcelona and K-League. FC Barcelona also had to apologize Korean fans and say that they would return some money they earned for the match. Good PR saves money for the organization. And, this is the exact example of bad PR.
If they understood Korean culture and people, if they made players look good in the press conference, if they apologized first before just saying that “Lionel Messi will not play, ” could they solve the problem? Well, they might not solve a problem completely, because they, anyway, could not let their best players play. FC Barcelona announced to (not communicated with) Korean people, they would not bring players who played for the Spanish World Cup team. The first thing they had to do was explaining the situation, why they could not bring their best players. If they did, at least, their players,who played in the match and, actually, were good enough to beat the K-League All Star team 5 to 2, might not be criticized. Their players might not have to play in front of 30,000 people, which was less than half capacity of the stadium. Their poor head coach Guardiola, also,night not have to apologize and said they respected Korean fans, so let Lionel Messi play for 15 minutes, which made the head coach as well as FC Barcelona look more arrogant. And, it, ultimately, made a story on ESPN by John Duerden, who is British, but, writes for Korean media. And, I am now writing this blog and tweet it to my 300 followers and facebook to my 100 friends.
So, if FC Barcelona took care of their PR little bit more, everything should turn to the opposite direction. And, simply their PR did not do their role, FC Barcelona lost potential fans as well as their good reputation and players reputation in Korea and potentially in the World.
I do not think, though, this would influence FC Barcelona right away. However, it is true that FC Barcelona did not know public relations in the international setting, and, if they do not change this mentality, they will never earn the world reputation Manchester United has now. Well, at least, I won’t cheer for FC Barcelona for a while, because FC Barcelona is,in my mind, an arrogant company, which does not know PR. Go Real Madrid!!
Public Relations, Social Media, and Sports 