By Les Tan

Courts and Liverpool tie up

We wonder where Steven Gerard does his furniture shopping but we doubt he needs a 60-month extended repayment scheme to ease cash flow. (Photo © Les Tan/Red Sports file photo)

In a move to encourage you to part with more money at their stores, Courts (Singapore) Limited announced a marketing tie-up with Liverpool Football Club earlier this week that covers Singapore and Malaysia. This is the latest in a string of tie ups between English Premier League clubs and Singapore-based brands. In 2006, Tiger Beer started a three-year marketing tie up with FC Barcelona while two years before, in 2004, they tied up with Arsenal.

In all likelihood, Courts would have had to pay a significant sum of cash to get the exclusive rights, a sign of how the English Premier League continues to suck up a significant pie of the sponsorship dollar in Singapore to the detriment of the local sporting scene.

The benefit for Liverpool is obvious – they get to milk their brand for cash although you have to question what they were thinking in tying up with a brand that has no authentic or meaningful connection with football.

The benefit for Courts? Debatable. Courts, which seems more like a bank trying to sell you loans with its countless credit scheme to tempt you to buy stuff you may not really want or can afford, can now bask in the halo of a solid Liverpool brand with great heritage to make up for what it lacks on its own. Liverpool fans can now wait with bated breath for outstanding shopping discounts headlined “You’ll Never Shop Alone.”

The press release from Courts says: “The Courts relationship will enhance the profile of Liverpool FC in Singapore and Malaysia – two Asian markets where Liverpool FC is already extremely popular.”

On the surface of it, that is a laughable statement that a store selling mattresses, sofas and laptops will enhance the Liverpool brand. But if Liverpool continue to go another decade without winning the English Premier League, the owners will probably need that extended 60 months repayment scheme for their furniture purchase to help ease their cash flow.