Royal Antwerp FC
The number 1 in Belgian football is doing well in terms of sportsmanship. With a crowd of fans (approximately 16,000 every 2 weeks) and full stadiums as a result. But who are all these people? And how can RAFC really get to know them so that the club can communicate with them personally and relevantly? With a true 'fan 360 approach,' RAFC also aims to become the number 1 in terms of marketing in the football scene.
CHALLENGE
A rough overview of the fan base, lots of missed opportunities
Various systems, each holding a piece of the puzzle
RAFC's data are spread across several systems. The ticketing system logs who buys tickets, the club uses another system for access control. The database of the team's online store has information about who buys merchandise, with fans' RAFC One Account details shared through a mobile app. And the data of its corporate customers are stored in yet another system. A patchwork of data in other words, making it very difficult to get an accurate and complete picture of the club's fans.
Inconsistency in the data, resulting in duplicates and errors
Numerous systems, data standards and formats. When RAFC tried to collate all these data, this naturally led to inconsistencies, inaccuracies, and double counting.
Half-truths, missed opportunities
Because RAFC did not have a central overview of fan data, the club often only made decisions based on partial information and reactively for the most part. Antwerp missed opportunities to score - or rather act - at the appropriate time - based on a complete and accurate picture of its supporters.
Difficulty engaging fans
How do you create effective marketing campaigns, devise special offers, and communicate with fans in a personalised way if you don't have a 360-degree view? You can't or only with difficulty. This incomplete puzzle prevented RAFC from responding to the needs and requirements of its fans.
Higher price tag, less ROI
The fragmentation of data across various systems also had a financial downside: not only did RAFC not get a decent ROI on these individual systems, but some of their functionalities also overlapped. And, of course, they all were costly.
RAFC's biggest challenge was the lack of a centralised, integrated and consistent overview of its fan base to drive its marketing and sales.
Who is RAFC?
- Royal Antwerp FC, founded in 1880, is the oldest football club in Belgium with matricule number 1
- Often called 'The Great Old' because of its rich history
- Plays at home in the famous Bosuil stadium in Deurne. Matches are usually attended by an average of 16,000 fans
- Won the Belgian league title and the Belgian Cup during the 2022-2023 season and qualified for the Champions League for the first time ever in the club's history
- Sells more than 1,000,000 beers a year
- A club known for its fanatical following
SOLUTION
A 360-degree view of Antwerp's supporters
Sparklink created a fan 360-system for RAFC using the Salesforce platform. In addition, several existing systems were replaced with improved functionality in the new system. Less expensive, more insights.
A single customer view
Thanks to the fan 360-view, Antwerp now has in-depth insight into the behaviour and preferences of its supporters. Who comes to all the matches? Who only goes to the top-tier games? Who comes with friends? Who prefers to make this a family outing? What are all these people eating and drinking? Who buys which merchandise? And how do fans respond to the club's marketing and communication initiatives? These are just a few examples of the crucial questions RAFC now has answers to.
IMPROVED FAN EXPERIENCE
With insights from the single customer view, RAFC can now tailor its events and promotions. Fans get messages that take into account who they are and what they find important. The Great Old uses Salesforce's Marketing Cloud for this. Personalised, relevant communication ensures higher email marketing open rates, an improved fan experience, and even greater engagement.
MORE EFFICIENT MARKETING
Marketing efforts are now much more targeted. No more sending everyone everything. By having a better idea of what each fan finds interesting, RAFC can identify detailed segments of its fan base and recommend partner deals that people really like, for example. That way, the club optimises its promotional budgets, and partners also get a higher return.
INTEGRATED customer service
Thanks to the integrated Service Cloud solution, service staff now have a 360-degree view of the fans that call them. No more searching for missing information in various systems to assist people.
INSIGHTFUL DATA ANALYSIS
The fan 360-view finally allows Antwerp to uncover patterns in fan engagement and track trends over time using in-depth analytics. In modern football, these analytics are crucial when making strategic marketing decisions for the club.
SOLUTION
Insight thanks to a proper overview of all the activities at the Bosuil
If Antwerp wants to communicate in a personal and relevant way with its fans, it obviously has to collate information about its activities (fan days, competitions, VIP events...) somewhere. Sparklink, therefore, built a match 360-view: one place where all the details (data, texts, images, tickets...) about the many activities at the Bosuil are combined in a well-organised way, with additional functionality for efficient management. Now that all this information has also been incorporated into the same practical Salesforce platform, personal and relevant communication at scale is finally possible.
The calendar view of all matches, with various useful filters, is one of the custom views we added to the Salesforce platform. This helps the marketing department with its planning.
Sparklink also set up an integration with SportMonks to make RAFC's match 360-view even more comprehensive. This makes it possible to view the ball possession rates per match, each player's individual stats, goals, cards and injuries... and include this in all personal communication with fans.
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