“Brand Controlling in Football: The Lineup of a Brand Through the Example of Lionel Messi” – A Student Thesis in 2022

synopsis or introduction

This thesis analyzes why football clubs and companies are willing to pay millions or even go into debt for an (advertising) contract with well-known football players like Lionel Messi. The “Messi” brand is examined more closely and the process of brand controlling in football is explained.

At the beginning, the author defines the terms brand and controlling. In the further theoretical part, various instruments of controlling, the “SWOT analysis”, “functional analysis” and the “BSC matrix” are explained in more detail. Then the author goes into more detail about Lionel Messi – his career, his sporting successes and also his external image and the perception of his person in public.

Then, in the main part of the work, the emergence of the “Messi” brand is analyzed and various products are listed that were created in the course of this process and illustrate it. The side effects of “Messi” are also discussed here, for example the after-effects of the cooperation on the respective companies. Finally, the author applies one of the controlling instruments already explained to this specific case study, the SWOT analysis.