THE WEST HAM SYNDROME

This paper compares the intense loyalty achieved by football clubs wit h brand loyalty. To marketers, football can be regarded as a product s ector and football clubs as brands. However, in this context the clubs are unique. They engender phenomenal brand loyalty despite their stre ngths and weaknesses. This is totally different from almost all other product sectors where brand switching occurs which reflect them. The p aper examines whether brands in other sectors can benefit from this tr aditional loyalty to football brands, debating the reasons for footbal l brand choice, looking at causes for brand loyalty and differences in other sectors. It is shown that certain brands seem to have encompass ed attributes which are associated with football and other sectors cou ld benefit from understanding the contributory factors which engender similar responses.