In this article, we break down the second panel of the day, moderated by Leander Monbaliu, Chief Business Officer of LaSource, a consulting agency focused on sports, digital, and technology.
The panel, centered around clubs, featured executives from three Dutch teams: Ramses Braakman, Owner of ZZ Leiden, Stijn Van Hemelrijck Media Director at RSC Anderlecht, and Frans Janssen, Commercial Director at PSV Eindhoven. Each spoke about recent challenges they’ve encountered, and the solutions they’ve implemented (or are currently working on) to overcome them. Key themes that emerged from the conversation include expanding your content arsenal to include more than just matchday coverage, building a community for your fanbase, and collaborating with broadcast partners and leagues to maximize brand reach.
More Than Just a Game: Creating New Types of Content
Now more than ever, sports transcend into fashion, music, TV, and other aspects of culture. For the panelists, this presents a number of marketing opportunities that might not have been possible in years past. Stijn Van Hemelrjick spoke about opening up Anderlecht’s fan funnel to focus on more casual fans. One of their more recent projects, Mauve TV, a full-fledged streaming platform that offers fans behind-the-scenes footage, press conferences, documentaries, and more, has been a huge success in re-connecting with fans, a third of whom have never attended a game. ZZ Leiden has also stepped up its content offering. They religiously post game highlights and recaps for fans to catch up on the action, but they’re also looking beyond just gameday content to bring fans closer to the players and team. They feature write-ups about players, interviews, and more across their social media accounts and on their team website. They’ve even done a feature story on their dedicated cameraman, a life-long basketball fan with deep ties to the game and to Leiden.
There was no other reason to be a fan of Anderlecht unless we were winning. All the efforts we’ve been focused on revolve around getting people to fall in love with the team again, and building an audience that’s connected not only because of the results, but creating a culture based on fashion, music, poetry, and more.”
Building a Community of Fans
When it comes to their respective communities, both Frans Janssen and Ramses Braakman find themselves in unique situations. For Janssen, the city of Eindhoven is expected to receive hundreds of thousands of new immigrants in the next five years thanks to a booming chip manufacturing plant. The challenge at hand: how can the team develop deeper cultural and emotional connections with a fast-changing community, and integrate new residents into the club’s identity? That’s something that they’ll be working on in the months and years ahead. For ZZ Leiden owner Ramses Braakman, he finds himself at the helm of a basketball team in a country where the sport is still gaining in popularity. To speed up the process, he’s taken a hands-on approach towards acquiring new fans. Six times a year the club runs basketball clinics for thousands of kids from the local primary and high schools, and as a result the club has seen hundreds of the participants showing up at games, along with their family and friends.
Collaborating to Expand Brand Reach
Historically teams, leagues, and broadcasters were very protective of their brands, and less willing to collaborate with other organizations. But in today’s world of social media, collabs can serve a mutual benefit by exposing fans to teams and leagues that they might not otherwise have been attracted to. When PSV Eindhoven discovered that F1 superstar Max Verstappen was a fan, they immediately thought of doing a promo for an upcoming race in the Netherlands alongside F1, Verstappen, and ESPN (the broadcaster for the race)—something that resulted in millions of new followers for everyone involved. Also when it comes to the live broadcasts themselves there’s a shared interest in offering a beautiful product. So for pre-match shows Anderlecht provides content and graphics to its broadcast partners in an effort to make the viewing experience as attractive as possible for the viewers. For Ramses Braakman and ZZ Leiden, they have their own platforms where they post games and other content, but they’re also providing content to the league’s OTT platform BNXT.TV, and have partnerships with broadcasters across Belgium and the Netherlands.
The panel showcased how clubs are expanding their content, building communities, and embracing collaboration. From immersive platforms like dedicated streaming platforms to grassroots initiatives and partnerships, the panelists highlighted creative ways to deepen engagement and adapt to the evolving sports landscape.