Insights from the Spobis Conference 2024

Claudia Illguth and Niki Slawinski from Dragon Rouge Hamburg recently spoke at a Masterclass at Spobis Conference Hamburg 2024 on ”Fan-Growth through Brand Transformation”.
 
The further discussions confirmed: Fan-Growth is not a given. Not even for sports brands that are practiced in building fan communities through identification and enthusiasm.
 
Sports brands are undergoing a transformation in order to keep up with the current mega trends and stay relevant for people and partners. We collate insights to allow them to understand where they currently stand.

We can see: Sustainability is a must-have topic and is present in all discussions. For some sports brands, it is more about regional responsibility, for others it’s about ecological aspects and for all of them, economic sustainability is an ongoing topic – moving away from dependence on sporting success. Some brands are already very advanced here. People and partners expect sports brands to be aligned with environmental values and engage in partnerships that not only enhance the brand image, but also contribute positively to the planet.
 
We recommend: a strong back four to keep your own goal clean regarding the three aspects of sustainability (environmental, social, economic) and anchoring all of this in the brand identity.

We can see: Digitisation is the crucial area on many levels of transformation. Digital sports broadcasts are being democratised, making more up-and-coming challenger sports available worldwide. Digital natives are used to interactive formats and sports brands have to think about how to adopt them. And digital tools also offer more opportunities for efficiency and consistency in brand management. Established brands are not always the quickest when it comes to making decisions.
 
We recommend: Appoint strong, influential internal playmakers with strong leadership qualities to push digitisation internally.

We can see: Sports clubs make guest appearances in other countries, and sports in populous countries have much more market potential than sports established elsewhere, which is an important issue for global sponsors. Even sports brands with only a regional focus are competing with others worldwide.
 
We recommend: Learning from other sports brands and scoring more goals with a global perspective.
 

Interested in staying relevant with your brand?
If you would like to find out more about Dragon Rouge’s sport insights from SPOBIS, please contact: hamburg@dragonrouge.com