Huddersfield Town on brink of partnership with global firm as it flies flag for Yorkshire on world stage

Sean Jarvis, Huddersfield Town’s commercial director, said the region’s business community must “seize the day” and work with the club to promote themselves to a global audience. He said Town’s Premier League status offered Yorkshire companies an opportunity to reach out to a vast audience in Asia, North America, China, Indonesia and Thailand.

The Premier League is broadcast to 226 countries every weekend, with a total audience of around 1.61 billion viewers across all programming.

The Asia-Pacific region accounts for the largest share (29 per cent ) of the Premier League’s live global audience, which is due to free-to-air broadcasts in China, Indonesia and Thailand.

Mr Jarvis said a number of global brands were keen to work with the club to enhance their profile.

He said: “We’re talking to a foreign exchange company who are interested in Huddersfield Town. We are continuing to build the brand so we attract bigger organisations into Huddersfield.”

He said the potential agreement with the foreign exchange company was at the contract stage.

He added: “It’s a global organisation that is involved in foreign exchange and also bitcoin and crypto currencies, so it’s completely new. It again demonstrates the desire of organisations outside of our region to become interested in Huddersfield and the platform of the Premier League. We welcome them with open arms.”

Last month, the club’s German head coach David Wagner signed a new three-year contract after securing Town’s top flight status.

Mr Jarvis said Town’s German connections were also commercially helpful. He said that Town were probably only second to Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool side in the Premier League popularity stakes in Germany.

The German heating manufacturer Viessmann has become a global partner of Huddersfield Town since the club’s promotion to the Premier League.

Mr Jarvis said: “They (Viessmann) are now into their second year of being involved with the football club. The way they have invested in the club, but also engaged by bringing over people from Germany into Huddersfield, has been nothing short of amazing.

“Clearly they are getting more involved, and the longer we stay in the Premier League the better.

He added: “There is every possibility that some of these organisations, once they really start to become part of the fabric of Huddersfield Town, may look to invest in the area.”

He said a team from Viessmann had visited the town to make a film about Huddersfield Town supporters and their families. The film attracted a large audience after being promoted on social media.

Mr Jarvis added: “It was very well received. The relationship between Viessmann and our area just seems to be getting stronger and stronger. Their market share is quite small in the UK. It’s huge in Europe but, if they wanted to grow they may use Yorkshire as a base.”

It was recently confirmed that OPE SPORTS will continue to sponsor Town’s first team kits during the upcoming 2018/19 season, The relationship has developed beyond branding on the first team and replica shirts and across online and social media channels internationally.

The online gambling company subsidised coach travel for Town fans to the pivotal league fixture at Chelsea in early May, which allowed more than 2,500 fans to travel on 16 coaches for just £1 to see the Terriers secure a second top-flight campaign thanks to a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge.

Mr Jarvis added: “They (OPE) are keen to explore further avenues where we can do other things, in and around our area, to help to with corporate social responsibility and other activities that help build the profile of Huddersfield Town.”

Mr Jarvis also praised the work of the Huddersfield Hundred; who are the club’s long-standing commercial partners.

He added: “The Huddersfield Hundred are the fabric of the club. They are the businesses who supported the club on a cold Tuesday night, when we were in league one. They stand shoulder to shoulder with Huddersfield Town and they are the organisations I would like to see benefit from this global platform.”

He called on more Yorkshire-based organisations to work with the club to boost their profile.

He added: “We’re proud to be Yorkshire’s only premier league team. My plea to those big Yorkshire brands is, ‘Be adventurous and talk to us. The European and global brands are really seizing the day and taking this opportunity and being creative.”

Huddersfield Town believe the club’s Premier League status can bring long term economic benefits to the town.

In North America, the Premier League’s live audience (70m) is 63 per cent more than the combined total of the other four main European domestic leagues (43m).

The Premier League has 17.9m followers on Twitter, 41m likes on Facebook and 16.8m followers on Instagram.

The Premier League receives more coverage globally than any other league, with 25,248 hours of coverage globally each week.