EURO 2016 Report

© Brandtix Sports Limited 1

Euro 2016 Review

"The True Face of Football in the Digital Era."

Published 14 July 2016 / © Brandtix Sports Limited


Brandtix Sports Index (BSI)

The Definitive Athlete Index Platform.

BSI or Brandtix Sports Indexing is a unique way of determining a team or athlete’s 'live' brand value by measuring their sporting and off-pitch activities in real time. Brandtix takes the best-in-market

data across different disciplines, then marries it with its own algorithms to create a robust indexing

score.

Taking the example of football, the BSI score is determined in the following way:

1. On-pitch football club and player statistics are generated, in real time, by Opta.

2. Social media reach monitors Twitter, Facebook and Instagram; player and team official

accounts are included as are any official, associated brands.

3. Fan sentiment is drawn from Lexalytics, a social sentiment analysis tool. Branditx monitors

the official social media accounts for both clubs and players, fan channels and any

interaction with fans on player’s accounts, and analyses quality and quantity of discussion.

4. The default on-pitch and off-pitch weighting is 50:50 but can be altered for specific purposes

on request.

5. The unique sports data integrated within BSI drives brand-value indexing of teams and

players whilst also contextualizing performance, fan engagement and media / brand

coverage.


Euro 2016 Review

The Top 20 Players at Euro 2016 There were varying degrees of success for the game’s high profile stars at the tournament. Some

grew their Brandtix Sports Index scores to cement their place amongst the top echelons of the

game, whilst others failed to live up to expectations.

The tournament was fueled by moments of magic and lots of surprises, each one having multiple

social media ramifications. When Dimitri Payet blasted the winning goal in the dying embers of the

match against Romania, increasing his Brandtix Sports Index by 28% with 110, 700 social mentions

(2460% increase on daily average) he set the tone for tournament.


Euro 2016 Winners XI Antoine Griezmann won both the Euro 2016 Golden Boot and Player of the Tournament, as well as

the player who enjoyed the biggest increase on his Brandtix Sports Index. Over the course of the

tournament, Griezmann’s Index Score rose by 26%, accumulating 3.5M fans along the way. With an

appetite for a mischievous social post, entertaining the many that follow him; he delivered a huge

commercial return for his sponsors. Griezmann is second only to Ronaldo in the European standings

and has marketed himself as a truly global star.

The heroics of Gareth Bale (Brandtix Sports Index Score: 639) helped his cause to one-day overtake

Ronaldo (Brandtix Sports Index: 706) and Messi (Brandtix Sports Index: 794) as the world’s most marketable player (17% Increase), but he wasn’t the only Welsh player to enjoy an uplift in commercial brand value during the tournament. Ashley Williams and Neil Taylor both increased

their scores by 10% and 12.5% respectively, with Williams’ sponsor Beats by Dre vindicating their

decision to invest in the Wales captain despite his lack of social presence. Aaron Ramsey was on

track to be the player of the tournament and his Index Score was also on course to make him one of

the big commercial movers. However, with his unfortunate suspension from the Semi-Final, he was

unable to sustain the momentum but still recorded a Brandtix Sports Index peak score of 469, the

equivalent of Manuel Neur, which would have put him in Europe’s top 20.

Eyebrows were raised when 18-year-old Renato Sanches secured a big money move from Benfica

to Bayern Munich before the young midfielder had even won 3 Portugal caps. Fast forward six weeks

and Sanches was named Young Player of the Tournament, finished the competition as the most

widely praised midfielder on social media (70 per cent of comments positive) and has significantly

grown his Brandtix Sports Index (405), with a crowning score of 512 after his equalizer against

Poland.


Top Goal scorers

Euro 2016 Losers XI Many of Europe’s elite endured tournaments to forget, leaving sponsors ruing the decision to

make them the face of their brand. Head and Shoulders ambassador Joe Hart came in for lots of

criticism on social media with 62% of conversation being negative. Beats by Dre led with the

campaign line ‘Match Ready’ but Harry Kane seemed anything but that, during the championships

as he suffered a 12% decrease on his Brandtix Sports Index and 60% of 2.9k daily mentions were negative.


Home Nations and Republic of Ireland It was a tournament of disappointment for England and their fans, bowing out at the first knock-

out stage at the hands of tournament minnows, Iceland. As a result, the squads Brandtix Sports

Index scores represent this; only Eric Dier, Kyle Walker, Ryan Bertrand, Nathaniel Clyne and

Marcus Rashford managed to register positive scores, with no player growing their score by more than 2%.

Wayne Rooney, the player with England’s highest Brand Sports Index score (540) increased his

social fan base by 700k. Semi-finalist Mesut Ozil, who shared a similar Index Score and social

media following to Rooney before the tournament, was able to grow his channels by 2.2M;

showing the impact a good tournament can deliver on a player’s brand value.

England


Wales Where England failed, their west coast neighbours certainly delivered. It was a tournament that

the whole of Wales will cherish and as a result, many of its players saw their brand value increase

significantly. Aaron Ramsey (Brandtix Sports Index: 469 following goal against Russia), Ashley

Williams (Brandtix Sports Index: 429 following goal against Belgium) and Neil Taylor (Brandtix Sports Index: 339 following goal against Russia) all had their moments but the star of the show

was Real Madrid ‘Galactico’ Gareth Bale. Bale amassed more than 3.2M new fans and profited

from a 17% increase in his Brandtix Index Score, overtaking Ibrahimovic to become Europe’s third most marketable player behind only Ronaldo and Griezmann.

Gareth Bale

Brand Index Score After Euro’s 639 (17% Increase)

News Fans - 3.2M (6% Increase)

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland midfielder Steven Davis came out of the tournament with an enhanced

reputation. Not always the most popular player at Southampton, the Northern Ireland captain saw

a 25% rise in his Brandtix Index Score. Gareth McAuley may have been accredited with the own

goal that saw Northern Ireland succumb to Wales but his goal against Ukraine helped his score go

up by 10%, peaking at a Brandtix Sports Index of 367.

Steven Davis

Brand Index Score After Euro’s - 314 (25% Increase)

Fan Sentiment 82% - 18%

New Fans - 10K (45% Increase)

Ireland Robbie Brady struck with just five minutes remaining against Italy to help the Republic of Ireland

reach the knockout stages of the Euros for the first time in its history. His early penalty against the

hosts France saw his Brand Index Score rise by a huge 58%, taking his score from 154 to 230.

Robbie Brady

Index Score Euro’s - 157 (8% Increase)

Italy Goal 154 to 230 (58% Increase)

France Goal 155 to 226 (45% Increase)


Transfer News The European Championship is Europe’s showpiece event and for many players at the tournament it provides an opportunity to engineer a move to either a bigger club or simply put themselves in

the shop window.

Graziano Pelle

Two goals for Italy against Belgium and Spain made Pelle an instant hero. 53% of his social fan base came during the tournament which did the forward no harm when negotiating his big money

move to Shandong Luneng.

Brand Index Score Euros: 386 (4.30% Increase on score before the tournament)

Brand Index Score China Move: 421 (9% Increase)

Fan Sentiment: 53% - 47% (During the tournament)

Fan Sentiment: 66% - 34% (Following China move)

New Fans During Euro’s: 425K (53% of his fan base)

Moussa Sissoko

He was the surprise package of the tournament. Few would have predicted that a player who was

relegated with Newcastle last season would dislodge one of the Premier League’s shining stars and league winners, N’Golo Kante, from the France midfield. With the rumours rife around a move

away from Tyneside, his performances helped his Brand Index Score rise by 14%, with 37% of his fan base aquired during the tournament.

Brand Index Score after Euros: 405 (14% increase on score before the tournament)

Fan Sentiment: 51% - 49% (During the tournament)

New Fans During Euro’s: 185K (37% of his fan base)

Zlatan Ibrahimovic

His move to Manchester United may have been the worst kept secret in football but it kept Zlatan

in the news despite the failings of his nation at the tournament. Zlatan is a global superstar with

45.9million followers across social media. Whether the transfer is a success on the field,

Manchester United are already seeing success off the field, as their Brand Index Score increased by 8.5% when Zlatan joined the club. Zlatan is the highest-ranked Brandtix Sports Index player at

Manchester United ahead of Wayne Rooney.

Brand Index Score after Euro’s: 635 (7% decrease on score before the tournament)

Total Social Fans: 45.9M

New Fans During Euros - 2.8M (6% Increase)

Manchester United’s Brand Index Score: 735 (8.5% increase on score after Zlatan joined)


Brands So often after a big international tournament, marketers’ asses who came out on top in the battle

of the brands - Nike or Adidas. The duopoly turned into a triopoly with Puma owning a large share

of voice with the successes of Griezmann, Buffon and Giroud. The strategy for the three brands

were all very different.

Adidas’ global campaign, ‘First Never Follows’ was activated by a team of their lead players within

their key territories; Bale (UK), Pogba (France), Özil (Germany), Muller (Germany) and Spanish

team. The campaign mentions on social media show an even spread across these global assets.

Nike’s ‘Spark Brilliance’’ puts Ronaldo front and centre of their campaign, with the brand’s other

assets only making cameo appearances. The campaign cut through measures similar to that of

adidas, however 97% of social link Ronaldo to the campaign.

Puma, like adidas, released a series of videos using all of their global assets. Their ‘Play Loud’ campaign features individual videos for Griezmann, Fabregas, Giroud, Reuss and Verratti. This

campaign was released way in advance of the tournament, a clear indication that the brand’s

strategy was to steal a march on their two rivals, rather than going head to head. Social users who

referenced the campaign did so predominantly alongside the star of the tournament, Antoine

Griezmann, with Giroud and Buffon also sharing a share of the conversation.

adidas

First Never Follows

Gareth Bale – 21%

Paul Pogba - 14%

Mesut Özil - 8%

Thomas Müller - 8%

Others (Alli, Spain, Belgium) – 49%


Nike

Spark Brilliance

Cristiano Ronaldo - 97%

Dimitri Payet - 0.6%

Blaise Matuidi - 0.5%

Jerome Boateng - 0.3%

Robert Lewandowski - 0.2%

Puma

Play LOUD

Griezmann — 80%

Giroud - 15%

Buffon – 5%


Tournament Conclusions

Where the tournament may have lacked the quality on the pitch, there was plenty to quench the

thirst off field. Social media became a hive of activity with gifs, memes and videos all contributing

into flooding the channels with an avalanche of content. Whereas at previous tournaments the

players and nations have been cautious to embrace real time reporting, players seemed to be

given a pass to tweet and post to their heart’s content – and this presented players the opportunity

to further grow their own brand value.

The obvious sweet spot was to keep fans entertained both on and off the pitch, an art which some

of the stars of the tournament achieved to reap the benefits for their own brand and those they

are associated to. Antoine Griezmann won both Player of the Tournament and the Golden Boot,

gaining 1.6M followers in the week leading up to the final and a total of 3.5M new fans overall. His

enigmatic personality came across both on and off the pitch, with his goal celebrations sparking

reams of debates on social media looking for clues on his inspiration. France’s highest ranked Brand Sports Index player didn’t disappoint his many fans, providing the answers through humorous posts.

Griezmann has made a meteoric rise to the top of the game but stealing the limelight from

Cristiano Ronaldo is an almost inconceivable feat. Despite being forced off with an injury in the

early stages of the game, Cristiano received over 325k mentions, more than three times that of

what he received following his winning penalty in the Champions League Final; many have

subsequently labelled it the ‘Ronaldo Final’.

In the year of the ultimate sporting shocks, Leicester City winning the Premier League, Novak

Djokovic crashing out in the third round of Wimbledon and Iceland stunning the world with their

victory over England, the theme continued with Portugal going against the odds to upset the host

nation. A sub-plot to the final was Southampton stalwart Jose Fonte becoming the first player to

win both the Johnston’s Paint Trophy and the European Championship, further proof of the

underdog narrative for the year. Fonte grew his fan base by 40% during the tournament with 85% of the comments being positive.

The names on the Brandtix Sports Index Top Twenty may not have changed a great deal but what

the tournament has provided is a platform for players who are on the periphery of world

recognition. Ronaldo, Bale and Griezmann may dominated most of the headlines and

subsequently increased their brand values. The Brandtix platform proves that the commercial

benefits were spread across more than just the big names.

For more information, visit www.brandtix.com or email [email protected].

Find us @BrandtixSports on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

*Sports Analytics: Market Shares, Strategies, and Forecasts, Worldwide, 2015 to 2021

http://www.brandtix.com/

mailto:[email protected]


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EURO 2016 Report