‘The sports industry needs a revolution’: Inside the Juventus Creator Lab

Last May, Serie A giants Juventus launched the Juventus Creator Lab, a laboratory in which digital creators work closely with the club’s communications department to bring Juventus’ media reach, engagement and storytelling to the public. next level.

“The sports industry needs a revolution in approach given recent trends,” said Mike Armstrong, Director of Marketing and Communications at Juventus, during our most recent conversation. “The Juventus Creator Lab is unique in the industry worldwide.”

It was in 2022 that Juventus had the idea of ​​building a space dedicated to digital creators, which today has the shape of a square building located next to the main team’s training center in Turin, Italy, and is painted inside and outside. out with the traditional black and white colors.

But if the what It was clear from the beginning, the as it remained a work in progress for several months.

“We tried to build the plane as we flew it,” Armstrong confessed.

It all started with discovering what drives a younger generation of football fans to follow one club over another, and Juventus’ extensive research has led to a clear answer: content. However, evidence has shown that football audiences around the world have begun to pay increasing attention to what happens outside the 90 minutes of play.

“Traditional broadcast studios cover the game, but we take inspiration from creators to tell more and better stories about players,” said Armstrong. “We wanted to highlight the respect and success that creators have around the world.”

In the short term, the goal behind the Juventus Creator Lab is to “generate traffic and deliver more to the global Juventus fan base” by telling the stories of Bianconeri at all levels, covering not only the men’s team, but also the women’s team, the reserve squad called “Next Generation”, the club’s former players and the esports teams.

The new laboratory allows Juventus to establish partnerships with renowned social media pages, creators and influencers to generate content that seeks to increase brand recognition and resonate with the 175 million followers that the club has across all its digital platforms.

“The goal is to expand reach through partnerships that we consider strategic,” said Armstrong. “All of our partners were chosen based on the logic of people who can innovate with Juventus.”

In the medium and long term, there is a strong commercial objective behind the Juventus Creator Lab, which is to transform it into a revenue-generating entity.

As Italian football undergoes a shift from broadcast to digital, which is in part due to Lega Serie A’s difficulty in reaching a financially satisfactory agreement with national television broadcasters, Juventus sees the digital space as the perfect opportunity to close independent and paid sponsorship deals. .

“The focus on digital growth complements the shifts in viewing patterns we see around the world,” said Armstrong.

And while Juventus is not new to publishing original content – last year it released the documentary about striker Federico Chiesa’s return to action following a serious knee injury – the Juventus Creator Lab will increase the production of branded content, thus enabling that the club monetizes by selling its intellectual property rights.

“Now we can sell a lot more than we used to,” concluded Armstrong.

Although the Italian football business model still relies heavily on sporting results, Armstrong is optimistic about Juventus’ ability to leverage the digital space and generate a revenue stream that can finally be separated from what happens on the pitch.

“Over the last few years, we have been able to show growth in a period where we have seen a decline in player numbers and performance,” Armstrong said.

As content continues to grow as a predominant feature in modern football, Juventus is relying heavily on its storytelling and media reach to satisfy its fans’ demands, whilst also seeking to unlock the untapped financial potential of the digital world.