Creating connection: Did Barcelona and Spotify miss a chance to tune into their fans? 🎽📲
FC Barcelona successfully launched a special edition kit ahead to mark the recent El Classico with sponsor Spotify. Could they have achieved even more through connecting the kit digitally?
Not yet a subscriber? Join 1000+ sports business leaders, from the PFL to the Premier League, that read Sports Pundit every week to get impactful industry insights.
For the second time this season, FC Barcelona marked the El Classico by wearing a special-edition kit.
The Catalan club, which adorned a shirt featuring Drake’s ‘OVO Sound’ logo in October, linked up with another musician –Rosalia– for its March 19 showdown with Real Madrid.
The move to replace the team's usual sponsor logo with Rosalia's ‘Motomami’ logo comes as part of the $296 million sponsorship agreement Barcelona signed with Spotify in 2022. That pact allows the streaming giant to highlight a chosen artist on the kit, in lieu of its own logo, for certain matches.
1899 shirts were made available to fans via the club’s official store for $422.
Fans could buy an even more limited-edition version of both the men's and women's teams' kits (numbered to 11) that were signed by the players for $2116. Those have sold out.
For all the praise that the activation received, Matt Hymers (founder, Connected Fanatics) believes it reflects a missed opportunity to digitally connect the kits.
“Through each piece of kit, [clubs] can drive a direct connection to a verified fan. [Clubs] can enable them to add memories to the kit, [clubs] can provide them digital versions of the kit, and [clubs] can offer all sorts of different experiences and access to things.”
Hymers suggests the this tech integration can also benefit a club’s corporate partners.
"Imagine the value for a club sponsor in having a direct interface to the fans,” he said.
Remember, Spotify was reportedly disappointed to discover Barcelona only had 1% of its 350 million global fans registered (i.e. consent to share their name, phone number, email, and other personal data). That information is thought to have reduced the total amount the streaming platform was willing to spend to secure the front of shirt partnership.
Creating a digital connection through jerseys, a possibility that goes beyond these special edition launches, would help clubs and sponsors to know who is buying their products. They could then talk to the individual fan in a different way, build deeper relationships and gather valuable first-hand data.
It's not difficult to imagine Spotify offering fans access to playlists curated by the players, exclusive content and podcasts, or early access to music launched by the likes of Rosalia and Drake.
(Note: While Spotify recently rolled out token-gated playlists, Hymers was adamant that connected kits do not by definition require NFTs)
The collection of fan data and ability to consistently engage fans also aligns with Spotify's focus on personalization.
The company's annual release of Spotify Wrapped, an in-depth look at the the user's year in audio, is widely embraced by marketers and fans alike.
Like sport, music is a discipline where people classify consumption as an extension of their personality.
Being in the top 0.5% of Taylor Swift listeners is a bragging right. The same is true for watchers of exclusive FC Barcelona content.
Being in the top 0.5% of Twinkies buyers at the local supermarket, not so much.
There is an opportunity for rights owners to riff on the Wrapped campaign and provide wearers of connected jerseys with the data which underpins their fandom, thereby increasing loyalty and attachment in the process.
While that functionality could take place via other platforms (see: Southampton FC, who launched a personalized ‘Season in Numbers’ campaign using season ticket data), Hymers suggests the connection that can be generated through a piece of merchandise is different.
Team merchandise is a direct expression and symbol of belonging. It’s a direct line to the heart of the fan. And a line that is currently untapped.
Not yet a subscriber? Join 1000+ sports business leaders, from the PFL to Premier League, that read Sports Pundit every week to get impactful industry insights.
A meditation on football and whether current trends might kill or harm the sport.
https://billricejr.substack.com/p/i-hope-our-leaders-dont-screw-up