Premier league quality email marketing

Brief

Manchester City Football Club appointed Red C as their strategic and creative email marketing agency, with the challenge to transform an underperforming email programme into a highly engaging and profitable business asset. The club required a partner capable of delivering a comprehensive email marketing strategy and planning approach, along with expertly designed email marketing templates and compelling email marketing design and copy, to engage their global fan base and drive measurable results.

The club’s existing programme was fragmented, underutilised, and not performing to its potential. Manchester City wanted to use email as a powerful channel for both fan engagement and commercial growth, integrating content, ticketing, membership offers, and international campaigns across multiple markets. The brief required a holistic approach combining creative excellence, technical expertise, and ongoing performance optimisation.

Red C was brought in to develop a complete programme, providing email marketing strategy and planning, creating modular email marketing templates, and designing content and copy that would resonate with different fan segments while remaining consistent with the club’s brand and tone of voice.

Approach

The first stage involved a thorough review of Manchester City’s existing email programme. Red C assessed performance across key metrics, analysed engagement levels, and reviewed both creative and technical aspects of the emails. This allowed the team to identify gaps in email marketing strategy and planning and opportunities to improve the relevance, design, and messaging of each communication.

Email Marketing Templates and Design
Red C developed a suite of highly functional, visually engaging email marketing templates that could be adapted for different campaigns. The initial focus was on content-rich newsletters and ticketing emails, designed to deliver key information while encouraging fan engagement. Each template was modular, allowing flexibility to include images, promotions, call-to-action buttons, and other dynamic elements.

The email marketing design and copy focused on delivering a balance of visually compelling layouts and clear, persuasive messaging. The design considered both brand consistency and usability, ensuring that emails were responsive and accessible across devices. Copywriting was tailored to engage fans, convey key information, and drive action, whether for ticket sales, membership sign-ups, or other club communications.

Programme Evolution and Expansion
Over time, the email programme expanded to include a wide range of campaign types: pre- and post-match emails, transfer news updates, international newsletters, hospitality communications, and a comprehensive membership programme. At its peak, the programme delivered over ten emails per campaign cycle, with many emails needing translation into 13 languages to serve Manchester City’s global audience.

The modular email marketing templates were adapted to accommodate these different campaign types while maintaining a cohesive look and feel. Red C’s approach ensured that the club could consistently deliver high-quality content, whether the email focused on matchday updates, international fan engagement, or commercial promotions.

International Roll-Out
As the club expanded its presence globally, Red C was also tasked with creating responsive email marketing templates for New York City and Melbourne City. These templates adhered to the same high standards of design and copy, while incorporating localised content relevant to each audience. This ensured consistency of brand and experience across multiple international markets, while enabling fans in different regions to receive targeted and engaging communications.

Ongoing Optimisation
Throughout the partnership, Red C continuously monitored performance across all campaigns. Through a combination of testing, analytics, and ongoing creative review, the team implemented both tactical and strategic optimisations to the email marketing templates. Adjustments included improvements to subject lines, header structure, content layout, call-to-action placement, and overall design.

Red C’s ongoing work in email marketing strategy and planning involved aligning each email with specific KPIs, tracking engagement, open rates, click-through rates, and conversions. The insights gained through this continuous analysis informed both creative and strategic decisions, ensuring that each campaign maximised its potential and contributed to broader business objectives.

The collaboration also emphasised integrating dynamic content into email marketing templates. This included personalised elements for subscribers based on location, previous engagement, membership status, and fan behaviour. Personalisation was critical in ensuring relevance, increasing engagement, and driving measurable results across diverse audience segments.

Conclusion

In the first season of the partnership, Red C’s approach delivered a 90% uplift in website visits, demonstrating the immediate impact of a well-executed email marketing strategy and planning approach combined with expert email marketing design and copy. Continuous testing and iterative optimisation allowed the programme to sustain improvements over time, enhancing engagement and driving conversions across all campaigns.

Independent recognition of the programme’s success came in the form of an eConsultancy report highlighting Manchester City as having the best email programme in the Premier League. This accolade underlines the value of a structured, data-driven approach to email marketing templates, content design, and campaign strategy – full article here.

The partnership with Red C demonstrates the benefits of working with a specialist email marketing agency that integrates creative design, compelling copywriting, and strategic planning. Modular, adaptable email marketing templates allowed Manchester City to deliver personalised and targeted communications to a global audience, enhancing fan engagement and commercial performance.

Through expert email marketing strategy and planning, continuous optimisation, and high-quality email marketing design and copy, Red C has helped Manchester City transform email into a powerful business asset. The programme’s flexibility, responsiveness, and international scalability ensure that it continues to support both fan engagement and revenue generation, providing a model of excellence in email marketing for sports organisations worldwide.

The success of the programme highlights the importance of combining creative excellence, technical expertise, and strategic insight. By implementing personalised and adaptable email marketing templates, integrating dynamic content, and aligning every campaign with key business objectives, Manchester City has established a Premier League-quality email programme that delivers measurable results and continues to evolve in line with fan expectations and market opportunities.

Read the full eConsultancy article here