Nick with Gordon Taylor at Soccerex

It was very interesting for us at Makemedia to attend the digital seminars at the recent Soccerex conference. There was certainly a feeling across the panels that football clubs are not taking advantage of the digital tools available to them, the reasons being that this is a new field and with some clubs there may be a fear of the unknown and not really knowing where to start. So why should clubs be investing in digital media?

In The Changing Face of Fan Interaction seminar Rick Kelley pointed out that online users have changed from users searching for content to content finding users.  As Kelly points out it is the “wisdom of friends not the wisdom of crowds” nowadays as our friends pass around content in a viral manner. In order to drive value from these fans clubs need to take advantage of this word of mouth marketing and although they might have been slow on the uptake they are seeing success when they take action – Kelley points out that Man United didn’t have a Facebook page until last summer and now have 2 million fans.

Mario Turza explained how Nike’s goal was to become the No.1 online destination for football fans. Turza stresses that this is about pushing relationships; not pushing products and that communities should be created organically. Nike then went on to build those relationships to bring consumers closer to the pros, the clubs and the brand. Nike used online Q&As with players, rewarded loyalty with previews of campaigns and gave fans the chance to talk to the brand. Nike could then take advantage of these conversations to base campaigns on what fans were talking about. Fans dreamt of becoming pros so Nike launched a competition for an academy place which inspired 75,000 players from across 41 countries to enter trials. This campaign targeted young players, catching the attention of the 7-11 age group who are deciding on which club to follow for life. The trouble with Facebook is that it misses this audience as users have to be 13 to set up a profile and 85%  of users are over 18.

Florian Stronk talked about the partnerships between clubs and online gaming environments. What is important to note here is that users are not only interacting online but also spending online, even buying virtual products. Clubs both big and small are vying for international fan bases and Stronk touched on the importance of communicating with fans in their own language – luckily all users understand the language of gaming, of exploring a visual, virtual environment.

So how can clubs start taking advantage of this market? Stronk recommends taking advice from a digital media person regarding the new field and the conflict between licensing and marketing. As with all aspects of football it is a competitive market and Kelley urges, “get started, your competitors already are!”

Here at Makemedia we believe that clubs both big and small can take advantage of the benefits of a digital media campaign. Our next blog in this series will be looking at how clubs can take advantage of:

• Viral effect of marketing
• Extended life of advertising
• Virtual commerce
• Insight and product analysis

Panel:

Rick Kelley, Head of Mid Market Sales EMEA, Facebook

Florian Stronk, Head of Online Business Development, Konami

Mario Turza, Global Digital Lead, Nike Football

Host: Michael McBride, VP Business Operations, Lionside