Marketing and Brand Recognition Research Project

Following the success of the National School, Club Links Research Project, The Football Association felt confident in appointing KKExcel to undertake a further piece of research.  This project focused on the marketing and brand recognition amongst players and young leaders aged between five to nineteen years old, focusing on the following elements:

• Brand recognition and preferences
• A review of leadership brochures/logbooks produced by The FA
• A review of various poster campaigns produced by The FA
• Preferred marketing and communication formats.

National FA marketing brands/publications combined with local CFA badges were incorporated into the research process, to gain an overview and compare preferences.

The main aims of the research project were to:

• Identify levels of brand awareness
• Identify what the respondents liked and did not like with regards to the design of specific brands
• Highlight the brands that make young players and leaders want to ‘get involved in leadership/volunteering and play football’
• Review Leadership brochures/Logbooks to gain an overview of preferences in the context of colour/images used and define levels of engagement/understanding
• Review Club, Link Festival poster campaigns to identify levels of engagement and colour/images preferences
• Preferred methods of communication were reviewed in the context of finding out information initially and then once engaged on-going methods
• A review of the publications/publicity materials took place to define the importance of the types of images used to engage young leaders and players effectively.

Methods used for this research project varied to meet the needs of the differing age groups being consulted.  For the younger age groups (5-11 years old) fun interactive sessions were held, whilst the older age group (11-19 years old) were asked to complete an online survey.  To ensure a high response rate a free prize draw was included within the online survey.  The format of the survey enabled respondents to view booklets/posters in a fun and interactive way. 

To view the online survey please click here:

Once the feedback had been collated and analysed a number of reports were produced to provide an overview of the two age groups consulted and provide a concise Executive Summary.  The findings and recommendations from this piece of research have since informed CFA marketing campaigns, methods used by The FA when developing national campaigns, whilst also informing training provided for Football Development staff.