Albin Mouton
At 8.45 yesterday morning, Arsenal launched their home kit for the incoming 2017/18 season. Outside King’s Cross Station, the stage had been set to welcome fans, tourists and Arsenal legends all day long.
Invincibles Martin Keown and Robert Pirès were promoting the release of the kit in the morning, Highbury’s finest Charlie George and Ladies’ team striker Danielle Carter took over before Ray Parlour joined them. Throughout the day, visitors could take pictures, get autographs signed and have a little chat with the legends after waiting a very long time behind the stage. The queue was not that long but the organization made it as slow as possible. One by one, each fan was allowed to go on stage, sit down for a collective picture with the people that posed for the marketing campaign and one of Keown or Pires. Then, you could have a chance to grab a signature and a selfie with one of the celebrity players. After that, you could collect your picture and share the GIF that comes with it. Not quite sure about the relevance of this but some fans might post it on social media. The idea behind this is to make as many people possible talk about Arsenal and the kit on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
The design of the kit doesn’t come as a surprise to many as it had been leaked a few weeks ago on social media. For once, PUMA didn’t deliver something as awful as the past few years. With a double striped red and white collar and a few buttons, the kit actually looks like a polo shirt. Nothing to be extra-excited about but it has improved since the first kit they delivered.
Of course, the whole logic of this presentation is about marketing. By pre-ordering your jersey online, you get a £10 discount. Still, you have to spend £100 to buy the authentic home kit and £55 for a replica. The event was promoted on Instragram, Snapchat and Facebook but the whole thing felt superficial.
Even the football freestylers there to entertain the public while waiting weren’t linked to Arsenal. They were contracted by PUMA and were not even Arsenal fans. This simple thing reflects how the club has been managed in the last decade. Money before fans. And the whole presentation thing is actually quite nice but it doesn’t feel right. It looks more like a bait for fans to buy the kit and spend their money on Arsenal items than actual care for fans from the club. Even for the legends that may actually want to meet fans, well they don’t have the time to discuss anything properly. They only have less than a minute to take photos and sign some things, but that’s it. These meetings should be a way for people to feel like they are part of a real community. Especially right now when the club is so divided inside. The club puts more effort into looking good than be good to its fans. It’s sad but true.
Another thing that needs to be pointed out is the security. In these sad times, the security was on point with a private company alongside the police. Some of the policemen even played a little with the freestylers. Everything was under control and from that perspective, the event went well all day.
