Sport, and football in particular in Italy, has always been experienced by fans as something sacred .
Italian clubs, on the other hand, have had to adapt to the evolution of the sports market over time, in many ways.
In order to implement their strategies and achieve their objectives, football clubs have had to take into account strategic assets to gain a competitive advantage over their “ competitors ”.
To do this, through methods for identifying the strengths and weaknesses of their strategies, some clubs have begun to define a path to achieve sporting successes and economic-financial results.
First, however, we need to take a step back. Although sports marketing appeared in the football environment in the 80s, going through a primitive phase of sponsorships only recently, market research has become the prerogative of football clubs and sports clubs in general.
Research today is aimed at studying the characteristics and consumer behaviour of supporters and allows clubs to promote ad hoc products and services for their fans.
All this is happening in an economic context where the attention to the marketing of club-related products – merchandising – has increased enormously, where the sale of television rights has become increasingly central and, finally, where the management of sports facilities and their adjacent areas is becoming strategic.
In July 2016, our market research institute had the pleasure of collaborating on the qualitative research project on the new AS Roma stadium, organizing focus groups with the research team of Conventions, Sports & Leisure International, a Dallas-based firm specializing in sports and major events consulting.
Although the football sector in Italy is apparently very developed, the use of market research for clubs is not yet so common.
For this reason, we seized the unmissable opportunity to work on a qualitative study with the aim of obtaining insights regarding the new stadium and its services that Roma will make available to fans to guarantee an even more engaging experience.
We spent a couple of weeks between Rome and Milan meeting AS Roma fans and business clients interested in taking advantage of the new opportunities that will be made available by the new facility.
The project allowed us to understand and see the world of fans up close. Their passions and loyalty to the team are an example of unconditional love towards a love brand .
In other words, the affection of the fans towards the club is built through a daily familiar relationship with the brand, through shared friendships and stories about the club and the team, which make the affection independent from the league table and the performances of the season.
This is not the only research project for a football club that we have carried out.
This past winter we had the opportunity to collaborate on a qualitative-quantitative project for another very important club: Venezia FC .
In this case, we carried out market research aimed at understanding the interest in the possible construction of a new owned stadium.
The project for a company-owned stadium represents an opportunity to offer fans an unprecedented experience (at least in the Italian context) of participation, viewing and consumption of the sporting competition and the football brand , as well as an extraordinary opportunity for the corporate world to use the sporting event as a driving force for their business, exploiting the new potential of corporate hospitality and brand visibility.
Thanks to the strategic vision of Venezia FC . and the collaboration with International Stadia Group, we were able to offer our.
It goes without saying that the project of a Club closely linked to a historic and wonderful city like Venice represents a precious resource for the development of a high-level football project and for the development of the city itself, therefore it cannot ignore the opinions of its citizens and its businesses.
For this reason, the research methods naturally turned to fans, managers and entrepreneurs of the companies present in the territory.
The opportunity to work in sports marketing is always a source of great excitement and interest for us, as it involves exploring the unique relationship that develops between a football brand, its city and its fans, making it a one-of-a-kind research experience.
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