In case anyone had missed it, Norwich City have terminated their partnership with BK8.
Two days after the deal was announced and outrage ensued over inappropriate imagery on the Asian firm’s social media, the club have cut the partnership short while admitting that “we got it wrong.”
Chief Operating Officer Ben Kensell also said, via a club statement, that “on this occasion, we made an error of judgement.
“Our standards were not at the levels we demand of our football club.
“We can now only apologise to our supporters and former players, Grant Holt and Darren Eadie, who were across the BK8 promotional launch campaign, for any offence caused.
“We remain highly committed to diversity and equality across our football club and its community. We want to continue to embed a highly inclusive culture across the club, together with an accessible and welcoming environment free of demeaning and discriminatory behaviours.”
BK8 also commented on the end of the partnership, promising to learn from their mistakes. “We intend to take action to show football fans that we learn from our mistakes and improve as a brand,” they said in an official statement.
“BK8 commits to the fans that we will inject a portion of these sponsorship funds back into relevant charities and associations.”
It’s MyFootballWriter’s understanding that there was no cost for the club, other than loss of potential earnings, in terminating the deal, but that any replacement is very unlikely to pay as much as BK8 had agreed to.
On the face of it, this may feel like a loss for Norwich City. They haven’t earned as much as they could’ve done from next season’s sponsorship deal. They’ve dropped a huge PR clanger and replaced a record sponsorship deal with one they cancelled in less than 48 hours. But City fans are the winners in this situation.
Just as they felt their club slipping away, the loss of their community, their power and importance starting to wain, the cancellation of this deal was evidence of their influence.
Anyone who tuned in to our podcast on Tuesday night and witnessed Stuart Hodge (or Hodgeythehack) passionately defending “the soul of the club” will understand quite how devastating this had the potential to be. Hodgey echoed the sentiments of many fans, and credit must go to the club for recognising that they were not only in the midst of a PR problem but an identity crisis, and at the end of it they managed to remember who they really were.
They remembered the priority of a club whose local support is disproportionate to its size, whose owners represent the fan base rather than investment and whose history is of prioritising fan enjoyment over winning at all costs.
Although something that previously felt business-like and barely related to football, City can use the cancellation of a sponsorship as a turning point for their summer. The first few weeks of a huge few months for the club were littered with fruitless rumour, PR disaster and the loss of their best player. The next few days look like they’ll include a symbol of the club’s commitment to fans and the signing of an old favourite on a permanent deal.
Sprinkle in genuine interest in the likes of Adam Armstrong, Tosin Adarabioyo and Oliver Skipp and it feels like goodness may well be on the horizon. If England don’t manage to dampen the cautious optimism creeping into Norfolk then things look like they’re on the up, on the basis of a decision made for the club by its excellent support.
They say “we got it wrong”, I read “we got caught”.
They knew this BK8 material was out there and they were willing to turn a blind eye for the money.
That’s sorted then Samuel, and I’m sure the club will find a more appropriate sponsor pretty soon!
It probably looked like a good deal on paper, but perhaps these things need a bit more due diligence along the way. Most important thing is that the club reacted positively when asked to do so, and perhaps it is a lesson to learn for future events of that kind.
Doesn’t diminish the Canaries very much really, we still play great footie, and the club has been so supportive of it’s fanbase over the last year it is good to see that NCFC has speedily avoided being diverted by some creepy betting firm, into becoming a hotbed of sleaze.
As you say, lots to look forward to for the club and it’s fans!
OTBC !!
I trust that Dave Bowers has evidence to back that statement up, or at least knows a good libel lawyer.
No lawyer needed.
Firstly, if they didn’t know they are incredibly incompetent. Unless you’ve only ever worked in a corner store, you’ll know 5M deals receive huge scrutiny.
The biggest lie of this whole affair is that they’ve palmed this off as ‘marketing material they didn’t know existed.’. That’s garbage. Go to their website. There a women dressed like playboy bunnies all over it. It’s their product. Not marketing.
Anyway, I don’t know why you’re defending them… again.
But they did know…
“On this occasion, we made an error of judgement. Our standards were not at the levels we demand of our football club.”
They’re not saying they were unaware. They’re not saying they were surprised. They’re not saying it was hidden from them. They’re saying they thought it was okay. Now we’ve told them it’s not, now they realize the error.
Also, just to stress the point.
If they came here to find my post and then sue me for saying “they did know”, they’ll have put more effort into that, than googling “BK8”. According to you, anyway.
That’s a dignified statement and it manages the fall out I think. Still a mystery how they got in this mess. Lots of people must have looked at the deal. Let’s move on and see some incoming moves to get the fans talking about something positive.
Hi Samuel
I take the same view as David above it was a one year deal for better money than the other betting company was paying so got an early release.
If and that’s a big IF they truly didn’t know then someone wasn’t doing their job so a head needs to roll or at least be named.
Maybe as a 1-year deal, it was to test the water to see what flack hit the airwaves we will never know.
A new sponsor is needed ASAP or could City bite the bullet and go a season without one.
Onwards and upwards
OTBC
Stay Safe and Keep Healthy 🙏
To suggest a head needs to roll is ridiculous. We all make mistakes and it has been rectified with appropriate apologies. If we are a family club then we need to show support rather than looking for scapegoats whenever things go wrong. We are a good club run by decent people. Get over it.
Good thought Alex … be nice to see a celebration of the NHS after everything they do for us!
OTBC !!
An emotive subject, but please can we keep it calm and civilised, guys. That’s all.
I go with the view that NCFC cocked up when they should not have done but… a sincere apology and a change 0f heart shows that they listen to us and not every club would do that.
Newcastle, Ashley and the despicable Wonga comes to mind. No better imo and they persisted.
Water under Carrow Bridge.
Surely we should now let it go?
Bring back Fosters lager 🤣🤣
It’s a shame that some contributors enjoy playing the blame game so much. Thankfully, they are relatively few and far between, but will soon latch onto something else, a slip up somewhere, a mistake that’s been made, and demanding another pound of flesh, from whoever they may blame.
Sadly, this knee-jerk reaction accomplishes nothing. The dignified protestations of the majority of fans did accomplish something – and the club now has to find a new sponsor. Mission accomplished.
If the same energy was dedicated to positive support,at well not just be more productive, but more satisfying.
At least the club didn’t try to ride out the storm and did the right thing. Credit is due for that.
There is a bigger discussion here about the general suitability of any sponsor. Dafabet and Lotus both used (past tense, but they maybe still do) images in their marketing which are, shall we say, potentially questionable for a family environment, but no one seems to care about that.
Given that Aviva was heavily criticised for employing people in Indian call centres for peanuts, the last sponsor we had which caused no offence to anyone was probably Colmans. A part of Unilever who are a British company. It’s so fitting – a product named after the city and no longer produced there so it can’t offend any locals by spending money on something they don’t approve of.
Or are Poll & Withey still about?