ESSMA insights as part of the KNVB webinar on partnerships

KNVB Expertise organised a webinar focused on sponsorship and sales with 30 representatives from Dutch professional football clubs. The webinar focused on ways to provide visibility and added value for sponsors and partners during COVID-19 crisis with insights from Steffen Plein, Sponsoring & Sales Coordinator at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. In addition, ESSMA shared its insights on the ongoing COVID-19 research and best practices on new initiatives and ideas for clubs to expand its reach.

Best practices during COVID-19 at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

With TSG Hilft, the club created a platform on which club partners, players and fans could deposit money to support smaller clubs in the Hoffenheim region for example club partners had the opportunity to donate the tickets of the missed matches to the fund.

Furthermore, one of the online campaigns the club launched focused on fan greetings. Fans could upload their cheerings/applause online, which then was translated into a banner in the stadium stands. 

In addition to the fan greetings campaign, the club also created the Support your hero campaign. On a pitch-side banner, pictures of fan heroes were shown.

Another interesting initiative was the Corona-Warm-App developed by the club’s main sponsor SAP together with other club partners. The app is designed to protect against a further spread of Covid-19 by documenting the "digital handshake" of two smartphones.

Opportunities & challenges for sports venues

Takeaways from ESSMA's presentation

• Alternative and creative uses of your venue can include organising matchday drive-ins, business dinners for your partners or creating a pop-up restaurant or bar next to the pitch

• 53% of fans would like to buy club-branded sanitary products including face masks and disinfecting gels

• Currently the five main challenges include: how to engage(online) with your fans? How to create sufficient sponsorship visibility? How to maximize the safety aspect at your venue? Are fans requesting refund for their season ticket pass? And how to enhance the matchday experience both for players and broadcasters?

• Find more inspiration on our Knowledge Platform regarding

 The impact of COVID-19 on sponsorships     orThe impact of COVID-19 on fan experience

Are you a club/stadium/league or federation looking to set-up a similar online event? Don’t hesitate to get in touch with the ESSMA team so we can support you with finding European colleagues interested to share their insights and best practices.