Success Story: SIA, #GenZChallenge

TISA SUCCESS STORIES is a series of detailed case studies, diving deep into our clients’ digital transformation journeys.

In each issue, we’ll cover it all. Understanding the unique challenges each of our clients face; finding the best strategic and tech solutions; analysing the implementation process and achieved results; and most importantly – guiding them towards the top level of their digital maturity.

In today’s case study, dedicated to our latest #GenZChallenge created with SIA – Sports Innovation Alliance, an open collaboration hub uniting more than 20 football clubs – let’s look into:

• the value of research in sports clubs;
• what research methodology we prepared for our partners to better understand Gen Z;
• what next steps will be taken to increase Gen Z engagement in sports clubs.

Join us in the following success story and see how connecting business strategy, tech and sports helps our clients bring their digital game to the next level!

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PARTNER

SIA [Sports Innovation Alliance] is an open collaboration hub uniting more than 20 football clubs from all around the world. Their goal is to share ideas and find cooperation opportunities in order to execute and maintain a sustainable innovation process in the sports industry. Altogether SIA members are followed by more than 20 million users on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.

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PROBLEM

TISA & SIA have noticed the problem of sports clubs struggling with engaging generation Z. For that reason, they decided to cooperate in order to find an adequate solution to the emerging needs of the sports industry.

People born after 1996 are the first generation that has never known a world without the worldwide web. According to the research conducted by Morning Consult, 53% of Gen Zers identify as sports fans, compared to 63% of all adults and 69% of millennials. Unfortunately, the numbers are deteriorating, and it gets even worse once we look at the percentage of “hardcore supporters”.

Moreover, Gen Zers are believed to be half as likely as millennials to watch live sports regularly and twice as likely to never watch. Sports clubs, leagues and federations need to start acting now to change this dangerous tendency. 

The implementation of #GenZChallenge is an essential step that sports brands should take to understand how to adapt to the new reality.

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SOLUTION – #GenZChallenge

TISA & hero/dot have prepared an original research methodology in order to survey the communities around sports clubs and gain priceless knowledge about Gen Z.

The research methodology designed for #GenZChallenge consists of two parts: quantitative questionnaire and qualitative interviews.

Questionnaires aim to create a “research background”. They help us understand who the subject group is, collect basic data on sports engagement and identify Gen Z preferences. 

Interviews conducted on the focus groups validate and deepen the conclusions from the questionnaires by collecting implicit insights leading to a profound understanding of the problem.

The final goal of the #GenZChallenge is to adjust TISA products so that they help sports clubs digitally engage Gen Z in their brands. 

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PROCESS & STRATEGY

Before we implemented #GenZChallenge in three SIA sports clubs – Real Sociedad S.A.D., Wolverhampton Wanderers FC and Legia Warszawa – we have conducted business-oriented workshops to find out the best strategy.

After a profound analysis of other available investigations, we defined eighteen research goals. Among them:

• how to attract Gen Z with personal branding?
• how to connect Esports to sports clubs?
• how do GenZers experience football matches?
• what technology attracts Gen Z?
• what values should sports clubs share to attract Gen Z?
• what content attracts Gen Z?
• what content are GenZers willing to share with others on Social Media?
• Eleven others :)) 

Our strategy was focused on understanding how to engage “clubs’ sympathizers” – defined as those who are aware of the club’s existence – so that they become “hardcore supporters” one day.

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DESIGN

The “look & feel” of #GenZChallenge was prepared by the experts from hero/dot. Before its creation, UI & UX workshops have been conducted to find the best style of the project.

As each club has its own visual identification and communication strategy, we let them fit TISA & hero/dot proposals to their needs and expectations. The flexibility of the design was one of its biggest advantages. The colours used are supposed to attract GenZers by bringing them associations of innovativeness, modernity and novelty.

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RESULTS & FURTHER DEVELOPMENT

#GenZChallenge is a success! We gathered hundreds of responses from GenZers in three countries. The data collected allowed us to find new needs & expectations of the young that haven’t been fulfilled by the sports clubs yet.

You can read about it in TISA report on Gen Z engagement in sports clubs!

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We hope you enjoyed this issue of TISA SUCCESS STORIES. If you’d like to learn more about our approach to innovative engagement and digital transformation of the sports industry, check out TISA blog and stay tuned for more fresh content!