Co-marketing: a new challenge for football managers.

Football is living a difficult period at present because of its two opposing facets - the traditional side, involving patronage, versus the innovative and professional. Co-marketing (cooperative marketing) activities, in particular, which are also carried out in other industries, can be very useful in helping to overcome this problem. However this represents a new challenge for football managers. We can differentiate co-marketing from sponsorhip because the various partners play a more active role in co-marketing than in sposnosrhip where they are simply financial contributors. The concept and aplication of co-marketing, which was used initially in retail industry, derive from two marketing practices: product augmentation and strategic alliances. The co-marketing concept has often been applied in Italy , by Italian football club of different sizes. The examples detailed in this chapter have been chosen for their originality or significance.