FA revamps digital strategy to improve value to sponsors
The Football Association (FA) is pulling insights from the conversations fans are having online in an attempt to provide additional value to commercial partners such as Nike and McDonald’s.
The governing body has partnered with RadiumOne to create sponsored content based on what people are saying about its partners and the FA in real-time.
The FA’s online fanbase, which includes more than 760,000 Twitter followers and 2.8 million Facebook fans, is being carved up into audience segments to determine what content people are most receptive to on different platforms. The data is then used to determine purchase intent with the organisation’s commercial team hoping to assign a more accurate value to fans when negotiating with existing and potential clients.
Rob Ray, group director of digital at The FA, says: “Conversations are occurring across multiple channels and to ensure our content stays relevant to fans we must evolve how we communicate online.
“This partnership ensures we’ve created a platform that lets us understand and target our digital audience, meaning we enhance the relevance of our content that maximises fan engagement and as a result increases the FA partners’ exposure.”
The move signals the growing urgency to improve the FA brand at a time of upheaval for its commercial team and its search for a headline sponsor for the FA Cup. The organisation’s chairman Greg Dyke previously told Marketing Week it needed to improve the marketing around the brand to lift perceptions among fans.
