Hublot sponsors of Man Utd – disappointing activation ?

Swiss luxury watch brand Hublot recently signed a sponsorship deal with the English football club Manchester United. According to Hublot´s website the brand has recently become the first luxury brand to enter into football sponsorships and this follows successful sponsorships of national teams, for example Spain in the EC 2008. Being a fan of Man.Utd, and a frequent visitor of www.manutd.com I came across their banner in the top left corner of the website. Interested to see what kind of interaction and brand message they would deliver I was very disappointed to find myself onto a corporate website of Hublot, where absolutely nothing reminded me of their sponsorship of football. This is a very missed opportunity by Hublot. Fans who visit the official website of Man.Utd. and further more click through to sponsor´s websites expect something in return. Something relating to the club, its fans and linkage to the brand. In Hublot´s case they could for example have the timeline of Man.Utd. Interesting statistics of goals scored in what minutes, examples of what minute Man. Utd. players most often score in etc etc. There are countless ways in which they could intwine timekeeping and Man.Utd. But they don´t.

Sadly yet another sponsor who misses the opportunity to interact with the fans and instead relies on the association only.