Crystal Palace appoints the Premier League’s first Creative Lead to develop apparel ranges

South London Premier League football club Crystal Palace has today revealed it has appointed Kenny Annan-Jonathan in a newly created role of Creative Lead – a first for a Premier League club – to initially focus on launching a AW23 apparel range for supporters.

Annan-Jonathan is the Founder and Director of sports marketing and management agency The MailRoom, and production company and media outlet TRNSMISSION.

According to a statement on the Crystal Palace website, he has collaborated with globally renowned brands and managed successful partnerships for world-class athletes including footballers Wilfried Zaha and Michail Antonio, Olympic Bronze medalist boxer, Joshua Buatsi, and Great Britain’s prominent female sprinter Daryll Neita. He has also worked with brands such as JD Sports, Meta, Adidas, Puma, Nike, Sky Sports and BT Sports.

On the statement on the Palace website, Annan-Jonathan said: “Joining the team at Crystal Palace is an incredible opportunity to merge my love for football, my passion for South London, and my vision for reimagining ways to connect and engage with existing supporters and communities, as well as those who may be new to the club, through innovative and creative products and partnerships.

“Through fresh and exciting new retail ranges, I want to help show the world why Crystal Palace and its fanbase are unique to any other in the league.”

Meanwhile, on his own LinkedIn account he recently added:

"Man, these moments are things we can only dream of.

To be able to live out a dream of mine and expand conversations between consumers and sporting organisations will never stop being a dream.

Humbled to be recognised by those who see value in what I do/offer through the work myself and my team slave away at day by day.

For years I’ve been saying that sports organisations need to find new and innovative ways to communicate with their fans.

The States have been working on raising commercial value by partnering with cultural communicators for a while, (such as) Ronnie Fieg (of streetwear retailer) Kith (as) Creative Director of New York Knicks, Daniel Arsham as Creative Director of Cleveland Cavaliers…

Today sparks a new era for sports as a whole and shows how innovative Crystal Palace Football Club are with exploring alternative methods to support their fans.

Excited to get this ball rolling especially as a South London boy…"