JUVENTUS: HOW TO WIN IN THE DIGITAL ERA?

GROUP 3 | QUESTION 3: HOW HAS DIGITALIZATION

CHANGED THE GAME PRE- AND POST-COVID-19?

Valeria Álvarez

Sara Castro

Paola Jimenez

Sofia Peñaranda

Juliana Roca

Natalia Santiesteban

E-Commerce

Teacher:
J Sebastian Betancourt Ch.
Over the years football has marked an important milestone in society, which has impacted the
life of each person, football is a reason for union in most if it is not in all countries of the world,
and as well as it is of great impact at a social and cultural level it is also economically, the
football industry has grown due to marketing through the years. Football, both Eastern and
Western has been one of the most traditional industries in terms of market since it always came
with the same sales standards: shirts, souvenirs, tour of the team stadium and tickets to see the
matches, however with the passage of time this was evolving leading to football associations
around the world change the way of sales, so that they remained traditional but inserted a touch
of modernity, for the new generations without leaving aside the old school generation. However,
this technological development was not implemented to a large extent since, the clubs continued
to sell and had the same fans to reach for their teams. This comfort was affected later by the
pandemic, COVID 19, where many of these teams did not know what to do and what to sell with
people locked up because, in the case of Juventus, they decided to implement marketing
techniques and creation of platforms so as not to lose the engagement with the fans, thus having
an income.

Digitalization of Juventus: Pre Covid-19

The digital era came to completely transform the world of sports, those who thought only be
enjoyed live and live suffered a major transformation, not only when talking about the purchase
and sale of tickets or merchandising, but how to drive passions and satiate needs of their
followers through digitization, that's where the director of revenue of Juventus launches its
strategy which was to create a whole digital environment where fans prioritize their tastes and
needs, in these digital channels such as the website and the app can be found, recorded games,
watch live games stories, news, merchandising among others and the user can customize your
profile the way he wants to access the content of your preference, apart from these two creations,
the introduction in the way of social networks likewise played an important role, pue after
entering different sites like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram among others, Juventus had a
massive welcome by their fans or that generated a pattern of inclusivity for fans to feel more
important in the sports environment.

The whole implementation of digital entertainment alternatives for the supporters was created
with the purpose of a rebranding. Once the president of the club, Andrea Agnelli, saw the sport
as a global business, identifying that it was not only important the winning but also the
connection with the audience generating remarkability. The business moves to monetize their
popularity, with “less technical and more evocative” language to reach younger markets. Their
target was not only fanatics of the club, but also getting closer to a wide range of people that will
recognize them. Strategic allies also took place, but the one that provided a more significant
digital turn, was the collaboration with Netflix to develop a documentary titled “First Team:
Juventus” accomplishing the objective of reaching other types of markets through digital media.
The positive effect was perceived through the revenue projected once they rebrand its image.
Digitalization main purpose is to engage with fanatics, providing more options to everyday
entertainment that would not require a lot of investment from the club and make their life easier,
to have everything in one place. For example, at the official site of Juventus there is an option
not only to have the whole digital experience they provide but to buy the official merch and
stadium tickets. It has been carefully designed to stand out from the other soccer clubs, going the
last mile and differentiate themselves.
 
Changes given Covid-19

However with the arrival of COVID-19 things took a radical turn and more than anything
sporting events were one of the most affected, as these were suspended for a certain time
generating losses that affected teams, players and clubs, however the pandemic brought the
excessive momentum of digital media and totally changed the way of seeing and feeling the
game, the followers in networks soared and every time was more and more hungry for the game,
The digital world ignited the flame and the desire again of the fans, who were more and more
attentive to every new news about the team, or had a premonition about what was going to
happen, among other things.
 
Digitalization changed the game after the Covid-19 because it acted as a springboard for the
popularization and retention and accompaniment of the fans, boosting the importance of the fans
while integrating and including them more in the team, which logically caused a boom and
generate new waves of fans and vindicated the popularity of the team in a huge way through
digital media, and not everything stays on the court, if not that can be found and live the same
through a click. For this, and in accordance with the digital and technological changes brought
about by the pandemic, one of the first measures taken was to embrace this digital transformation
through its website and its own app, in which there were news, updates, stories and the
possibility of buying merchandise, where its main objective was to focus on using artificial
intelligence to learn more about the preferences and needs of consumers through the creation of a
personal profile based on their individual preferences, all this together also in an alliance with
Amazon in which registered customers obtained unique benefits of access to special content.
 
Digitalization has been an important aspect of the post Covid-19 game. During the first few
months of the pandemic, Juventus' digital team became more important than ever, taking on the
vital role of keeping fans engaged and attentive. One successful initiative was the China Game
Show, an interactive event for fans, which had 11.2 million viewers. With Serie A suspended
since early March, Juve's digital and content teams were busy keeping soccer fans online, with
content tailored to China proving highly successful (Boylan, 2020). The most important thing
about the China Game Show was to put the local fans at the center of the contest, in this case
focusing the public's attention on their fans. And they had, for 90 minutes, all the attention on
them. The event saw an increase of 1.2 million followers on the club's social media, the biggest
monthly increase ever experienced by a professional soccer club.
Conclusions

With the arrival of the covid 19 pandemic, many activities or situations that were daily in our
lives changed, and the way football was seen was no exception, the teams had to learn to adapt to
the new situation in the that we were all locked up in our houses, in this case without being able
to go to the stadiums to watch the games and support our teams.

A great example of this need for adaptation is the Juventus club, a team that is characterized by
its digital marketing, as it has been able to adapt to requests, its fans and current trends.
Therefore, with the arrival of the pandemic they were able to act quickly and implemented
measures that allowed them to maintain the link with their fans, who now presented an
accelerated and gigantic consumption of content on social networks, as well as the need for their
to know what was happening in the life of his football idols. Juventus promotes measures such as
the China Game Show and the use of the Juventus Fan Token (JUV). That finally allowed its
fans to remain faithful and connected to the club even in a critical situation such as the pandemic,
COVID 19.

References

Boylan, J. (18 de Mayo de 2020). Pressreader. Obtenido de Juventu's Chinese fan base growing:
https://www.pressreader.com/china/china-daily-h