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International Marketing Study Program 2003
Manchester United visit
10 January 2003
We were scheduled for checkout in the morning, and everyone was hyped and ready for the day ahead as we boarded the coach at about 9a.m. We were delighted to know that Manchester United Football Club was situated not far from where we were staying.
Upon arrival, we were greeted by Peter Draper, who has been the Marketing Director of Man Utd for the last three years. We were led to the Treble Suite, where light refreshments were provided, and he gave us a run-down of his role in the company, as well as what Man Utd was all about. In general, the business is all about "developing a football team", and "adding shareholder value".
The tour of the facilities commenced approximately at 10a.m., the first stop being the Press Room. We were also shown the area where the Man Utd players usually have their meals before each game. The highlight of the day's tour was definitely the Man Utd football field, which was an exhilarating sight, with splashes of bright red amongst the field of green grass. We had the honour to sit at the directors' box, as Mr Draper further educated us about the company, the utilisation of the stadium, as well as the topic of content rights. They have a number of sponsors, each from a variety of industries, including Nike, Vodafone, Pepsi, Budweiser, Fuiji film and Lycros. He also gave us an insight on Man Utd's media strategy.
After a formal thank you to Mr Draper for sharing his morning with us, we headed for the Man Utd Museum around noon, which held a huge collection of impressive trophies from past matches, as well as a large archive of news stories and pictorials since their early history. By then, our stomachs were ready for lunch, and so we headed to their very own theme restaurant - Red Café, which provided a large selection of burgers, steaks, chips, and the like.
Our final stop was its Mega Store, which retailed a wide selection of Man Utd merchandise, from jersey T-shirts to posters, and even candy! Many of the Man Utd fans purchased jersey tees, where we could have our names and number printed on the back of the shirt, definitely a much desired token of memory from our trip.
Our day at Man Utd Football Club ended at 3pm. It was a fruitful day well spent, but now we were all geared up, ready to leave Manchester for our next much awaited destination - London!
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