Joe Brolly

Greasy till fumbling latest!

Writing in today’s Irish Independent, GAA analyst Joe Brolly writes:

…Brand experts refer to what is happening with the GAA as ‘cultural expansionism’. The idea is not for the corporation to simply sponsor some event or other, but for the corporation to become so entwined with the culture that it eventually becomes the culture.

In Ireland, we see the same process happening. Sky, with the support of the hierarchy, have already taken a third of the live games away from the vast majority of what Croke Park calls ‘consumers’.

Sky knows it cannot and will not win over the current adult GAA generations. Last year, in Ireland, when 1.35 million viewers watched the football final on RTE, just over 2,000 watched it on Sky.

Sky’s strategy is smart. Forget the adults, go after the youth. As part of this carefully planned invasion of young hearts and minds, they have systematically bought a stable of elite ‘mentors’, which kills three birds with one stone.

It buys off the elite end of the game, as a result it gets the full support of the entirely capitalist GPA, and finally it plays very well with the younger generation, who see their handsome, smiling heroes branded from head to foot in Sky bolloxology – ‘Sky Believe in better’, ‘Sky SPORTS living for Sport’ and all the rest of it …[More at link below]

Puck!

AIB, Sky and other brands will complete cultural hijacking of the GAA if new Director General doesn’t act (Joe Brolly, Irish Independent)

Pic via Irish Mirror

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14 thoughts on “Believe In Better

  1. Bertie Blenkinsop

    I love Joe.
    I think this was the more pertinent part of the article….

    The key for any brand is to create an emotional connection with the consumer. In Ireland, this means infiltrating the GAA. With no resistance from the hierarchy, the corporations are invading us at a startling pace. The banks are rehabilitating themselves. Never mind the homelessness, the misery and the daily evictions.

    AIB brought two well-known Sky presenters to last year’s All-Ireland football final as part of their ‘Toughest’ advertising campaign. They make cute videos for YouTube and they both generally come across as wholesome all-round good guys.

    The trick is to buy elite players’ loyalty, make them brand ambassadors, give them sugary, hand-shaking jobs like the partners of England’s princes, and create images of them holding hurls or size 5s in the midst of crowds of smiling children.

    This is a good way to deflect from reality. Go stand outside the High Court some Monday morning. Watch AIB’s legal team at work. Watch the distraught families leaving court having been told they’ve lost their homes. The street? A hostel? A cheap hotel? Is that tough? Tougher? The toughest?

  2. Optimus Grime

    Have to agree with Joe on this one. How long are Sky on the scene and now we have this Super 8 malarkey which is happening in a shortened season, which will have no adverse effect on players at all. We’ve moved the finals from September to August all in the name of what? Money and TV.

  3. Frilly Qeane

    Jesus t’night
    Has everyone forgotten the real strength of the GAA

    Club first

    G’luck breaking that down lads

    Brolly must’a run out’ve stuff to complain about

    1. GiggidyGoo

      Weill I meyn, dem Sky laads never asked mee to become a pindit. Dats what’s reylee gaulyinnng mee.

  4. Taunton

    My understanding was that Sky were showing matches were not being shown live on RTE TV regardless of Sky’s presence in GAA broadcasting. Has this changed?

  5. street tooth

    well with all the extra money, maybe the GAA are doing it so they can pay the playe… hahahahaha i can’t, i can’t finish the sentence, too ridiculous. The GAA are a great example of Irish with power. Greedy, selfish and corrupt. However, I don’t think this sponsorship ruins the game, or .. lol.. the ‘culture’ of GAA.

  6. dav

    Hang on, I heard Paul Kimmage and P Harrington talking about this Last Sunday on the wireless.
    Can the blurb reflect the original article was in the Sindo?

  7. Andrew

    Does anyone get the feeling that the GAA thing is kind of being shoved down our throats a bit? I don’t remember this much about it when I was a lad.
    Feck all people turn up for matches during the year.
    Then again I think sport in general is given way to much prominence in our media. Sports news every 5 minutes. it’s all just filler and it doesn’t really matter.
    Do people really care all that much?

    1. Ram Trilogy

      I know I don’t. No interest in most sport but I know all about it as it’s shoved in my face 24/7.

    2. Bertie Blenkinsop

      Can’t speak for anyone else but I care.
      I don’t think GAA is any more popular than when I was a kid, I think there’s just more media outlets now, therefore more coverage.

    3. Clampers Outside!

      ‘shoved down our throats’

      Em, no.

      Watch if ya want, both me counties were in the final, home and present county…. coulda passed me by and I’d have hardly noticed. But I did. But it wasn’t shoved anywhere ;)

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