The Reds Vs The Blues – A PR Match

If you watch TV or have bought anything through Amazon recently, you’ll almost certainly have seen trailers for a new documentary series concerning Manchester City FC. ‘All or Nothing’ is the story of the club’s record-breaking 2017/2018 season, which saw them winning the Premier League at a canter.

Produced by Amazon Prime, the series offers an unprecedented level of access to the club, its staff and its players and has already received rave reviews from all quarters. And it is not just City fans that are tuning in, with plans to export the series to 200 other countries worldwide already in place.

In the UK, the series has got a huge number of football fans – and even fans of City’s rivals – discussing the club in glowing terms – and therefore increasing its chances of becoming people’s ‘second favourite team’. From a PR perspective the decision to allow TV crews behind the scenes and to follow its star players around, was a master stroke. Even non-football fans have been drawn in and you only need to hear the conversations about the series in The Right Agency office – which ordinarily is a Man City-free zone – to know what a hit the show is.

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for their neighbours. Whereas Manchester City have invited the world and his wife to have a closer look at their club, Manchester United – or at least their manager – appear to want everyone to leave them alone. The curtains are drawn, the lights are off and Jose Mourinho’s alternating between pretending he’s not in and chasing visitors off his lawn. Mourinho has even cast shade at the ‘noisy neighbours’ by suggesting the documentary season ‘lacks class’ and is only popular because he stars in it so much.

Football rivalries will never die, but in the age where football is such big business off the field as well as on it, a success story like ‘All or Nothing’ could have an impact on the all-important bottom line. Perhaps there’s just a bit of jealousy from the Red side of Manchester that they didn’t think of it first.

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