Manchester City launches new loyalty programme

While football fans across England wait in anticipation for the rightful return of football to its motherland, the results of the FIFA World Cup are not the only football news concerning English football fans. Manchester City, a nationally renowned football club, has joined forces with London-based brand studio SomeOne to launch its new Cityzens loyalty programme for City fans.

When supporting a team is no longer about solely being a fan but is also about being a part of a larger community, it is only to be expected that a global family of Manchester City’s magnitude needs a programme that covers all of the rewards and benefits that come with supporting Manchester City.

Collaborating with creative advertising agency VCCP, SomeOne crafted the strategy behind the Cityzens programme as well as brand and communications collateral. Thanks to the creative work done for Cityzens, which includes covering digital, social, print and environment branding, the core logo and assets now resemble the iconic Manchester City badge and identity.

SomeOne’s founder and executive strategic director Gary Holts says, "As a Manchester born, lifelong Manchester United fan, it took an amazing brief and an amazing engagement opportunity (as well as grudgingly an amazing team) – to help such a great footballing brand deliver such a compelling loyalty programme. In fact it goes some way towards the intent and depth of the programme and the club, that the title 'loyalty programme' in no ways defines the benefit and experience offered by Cityzens."

Overcoming obstacles while remaining adaptable is a key part to successfully branding in an ever-changing digital age. According to SomeOne’s senior designer Cosmo Jameson, the versatile framework behind the Cityzens programme ensures that its identity can simultaneously work at membership and promotional levels as well as within sporting and streetwear popular culture.

SomeOne’s creative director Rich Rhodes adds, "The beauty of the identity lies in its simplicity. A typographic system grounded in the crest, that flexes to reflect our ambition of bringing the fans closer to the players."