FC Real Mallorca tout “Champions” strategy at Soccerex
Madrid, Jun 9 (EFE) – Real Mallorca’s sponsorship strategy during the pandemic combined offering new opportunities via digital platforms and cultivating the image of a Champions League side, the club’s CEO of Business said Wednesday at the Soccerex forum.
“When we looked at the strategy during confinement we thought we had to be different. We are what we are as a club on the pitch, but off the pitch we are a Champions League team for sure,” Alfonso Diaz said during a videoconference.
He mentioned steps such as renaming the club ground as Visit Mallorca Stadium to help boost tourism, collaborating with food banks and finding new ways to connect with fans unable to attend matches.
Mallorca is one of a handful of few Spanish teams with its own channel on video-streaming platform Twitch, alongside Real Madrid, Barcelona and Real Sociedad, Diaz said.
“It’s a great platform for young people and we created new spaces for our sponsors. We did a five-hour program at the close of the winter market in which new players signing with the team were interviewed by fans. It’s a different concept that we saw was necessary because of the pandemic,” he said.
While the decision to emphasize Mallorca’s attractiveness as a venue for other sports such as basketball, cycling, triathlon and windsurfing, allowed the club to close new sponsorship deals, notably with Specialized Bicycles.
“It is a brand that has seen our difference in this situation,” Diaz said.
Mallorca was relegated from LaLiga at the end of the 2019-2020 season, but won promotion back to the top-flight for the 2021-2022 campaign.
Because the difference in sponsorship revenue between a first- and second-division is measured in millions of euros, Diaz said that Mallorca is in pursuit of tie-ups that are “not so sensitive to results” and to where the club stands in the hierarchy of Spanish soccer, Diaz said.
“We are working on making a long-term brand so we don’t suffer as in the past,” he said.
Rebecca Edward-Symmons, head of Commercial at Welsh club Swansea City AFC, who last month lost a playoff for a spot in the Premier League, also pointed to the impact relegation and promotion has on club finances.
The chief revenue officer at Italian club Udinese, Federico Zurleni, emphasized the importance of boosting income in the absence of fans.
The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) responded to the pandemic by launching “strategic initiatives” on its website and social media and by looking at “the fan experience beyond the stadium,” Concacaf Chief Commercial Officer Heidi Pellerano said. EFE
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