Role Design Strategy Director
Client Manchester City Football Club
Design Strategy.
How might we create more valuable always on relationships with fans, no matter what the time of year?
Creating greater relationships with 100m+ global fans.
Manchester City Football Club, with its vast global fanbase of over 100 million supporters, faced the challenge of maintaining high levels of fan loyalty and engagement throughout the year, including the off-season. Traditional seasonal campaigns, while effective, fell short in sustaining continuous fan interaction.
Our core assumption was that to achieve this sustained engagement for Manchester City Football Club, it would be essential to provide continuous, year-round interaction that went beyond the scope of traditional campaigns. This demanded we explore creating new content and experiences that might keep fans connected and engaged with the club at all times, fostering a deeper and more lasting relationship.
⚡️Outputs
• Content strategy
• Product roadmap
• Technical architecture
⚡️Methods
• Agile anthropology
• Content design
• User-centered design
• Process mapping
• Prioritization frameworks
💡Answering the challenge
To answer this challenge, I reimagined Manchester City’s engagement strategy from seasonal campaigns to a continuous, always-on approach. And designed a new comprehensive community platform that would serve personalised and inspiring content, experiences, and commerce opportunities in multiple languages. The key elements of our strategy included:
Always-on relationships By shifting the focus from periodic campaigns to consistent, individualized interactions with fans. This approach aimed to build ongoing relationships, ensuring fans felt valued and connected to the club at all times - not just during the season.
Personalised content and experiences Leveraging analytics the content was curated and tailored to individual fan preferences, locations and languages. This included exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, interviews, interactive games, and historical highlights, all designed to resonate and deepen their relationship.
Multi-language support Given the global nature of Manchester City’s fanbase, the platform was design to support multiple languages with AI. This inclusivity allowed fans from different regions to engage with content in their native language, enhancing accessibility and connection.
Commerce integration I integrated features to enable fans to purchase merchandise, tickets, and other club-related products directly through the community platform and other channels. Personalized recommendations and exclusive offers incentivised purchases, further driving engagement.
Community Social features allowed fans to interact with each other, share their experiences, and participate in fan forums. These interactions fostered a sense of community and belonging among supporters.
To validate the platform's effectiveness, we conducted comprehensive design research using various methodologies across Manchester City’s diverse global fanbase. It provide valuable insights into user behavior, identifies pain points, and informed data-driven design decisions.
Fan focus groups (global) Held focus groups with diverse segments of the fanbase to gather qualitative insights into their experiences and perceptions of the platform and the club. These discussions provided valuable feedback on feature sets, content strategy, and usability.
In-depth interviews Conducted a series of one-on-one interviews with key user personas to explore their motivations, preferences, and barriers, this offered a deeper understanding of individual experiences and importantly why they supported the club.
Sentiment analysis Utilised social media monitoring to analyze sentiment and discussions around the club and platforms to capturing real-time feedback and public perception in season and out of season.
Feature testing Implemented A/B testing for different types of content and platform features to determine what resonates best with the clubs fans. This also help optimise content delivery.
Personalization testing Tested personalisation strategies to evaluate their effectiveness in enhancing user engagement and delivering relevant content. Including language testing using AI dubbing.
Prototype testing Tested mid-fidelity prototypes of the platform with fans. Conduct usability testing sessions to identify any usability issues and gather feedback on the design and functionality.
💡Achieving goals (pun intended)
The personalised content and experiences demonstrated in the platform cultivated stronger emotional connections and commitment to the club. The multi-language support has effectively engaged a diverse, global audience, ensuring inclusivity and accessibility. The integration of commerce features has boosted merchandise and ticket sales, while the rich data gathered on fan behavor and preferences has provided valuable insights for continuous improvement.
More importantly the vibrant community fostered by the platform has the ability to create a deeper sense of belonging among fans, further strengthening their loyalty and connection to Manchester City. A unique approach that not only enhances satisfaction but also positions the club as a leader in leveraging technology for fan engagement.
