Juventus Hopes To Raise $40-Million In Asia
TOKYO, Japan (March 19, 2001 12:58 p.m. EST http://www.sportserver.com) - Juventus launched an Asian
marketing and merchandising drive on Monday which the Italian soccer club hopes will earn up to $40 million over three years.
The Turin-based club announced a three-year deal with the London licensing agency Giraffe to expand its distinctive black and white brand in Japan and the Asia-Pacific region.
With an extensive sales list ranging from school lunch boxes to computer games coming on to the market in December, Juventus is predicting turnover of around $12 million a year.
The club's honorary president, Umberto Agnelli, said that 20 percent of the five million hits on the official website had come from the Far East.
"The Far East is a big market, and I think there is space to increase our popularity," said Agnelli.
"The interest in football in Japan is increasing, and we hope more people will follow the Italian championship and in particular Juventus."
Agnelli recalled how Japan's leading player, AS Roma midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata, had started his "Italian venture" with Juventus when he attended a three-week training camp in Turin as a teenager in January 1996.
"Bettega did not understand he was a great player and let him go," said Agnelli, referring to the club's vice-president sitting alongside, Roberto Bettega.
"If we could identify good players in the Japanese market we would be happy to have them with us at Juventus," added Agnelli.
Bettega, the former national team center forward, said soccer was becoming more like show-business and clubs had to respond to changes in society.
Juventus sales manager Romy Gai estimated a turnover of between $35-40 million over three years as the first step into global branding.
Giraffe's chairman is the former Leeds United, Liverpool, Tottenham, Wimbledon and England defender, John Scales, now with Ipswich Town.
