Unity in Diversity? Exploring the Unprecedented Branding Challenges and Opportunities of UEFA Euro 2020

Given the increasing importance of cocreation within sport ecosystems and the growing challenges in hosting major sport events (MSEs), UEFA Euro 2020 provides an unprecedented, novel context for the exploration of branding challenges and opportunities for brand owners. To understand how Euro 2020 host city brand identities are cocreated and developed, and the extent to which brand identity is aligned between the competition (MSE) brand and sub (host city) brands within the Euro 2020 ecosystem, senior managers with a significant influence on brand development were interviewed. Findings identified three core themes, with each divided into two subthemes: differentiation and blended brand identity signals (brand identity signals; host city differentiation); brand management ecosystem (brand management process; multiple interconnected relationships); limited planning and proposed evaluation (short-term approach; no long-term plan for evaluation). Based on these findings, a four-phased systematic framework to understand and manage alignment and identities of MSE brands is proposed.