ACF FIORENTINA ATTENDANCES: A
FUTURE PERSPECTIVE
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The purpose of this essay is to identify consumers who could contribute in increasing
Fiorentina attendances beyond the current levels. Based upon available data of Fiorentina attendances from 1994/95-2010/11, it appears that there are at least four different groups of consumers attending Fiorentina matches. These existing consumers can fill the stadium to around 70% of the overall capacity. To go beyond this point, I argue that Fiorentina should focus on two groups in particular. The first group are fans of tomorrow – children. Fiorentina has to actively engage in attracting these consumers by entering into a relationship with schools and enhancing children’s match-day experience with various activities. The second identified group are tourists. I argue that Fiorentina has to exploit Florence’s unique position
in terms of tourist attractiveness. Although these groups seem disregarded nowadays, they
represent a great potential for the future. This essay puts forward some recommendations of
how this could be achieved.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Short-term: bring back to the stadium past consumers
• Improve public relations and community involvement to strengthen the bond between
the owners and existing fans and exterior environment.
Medium term (2-5 years): attract the next generation of supporters
• Set-up a family stand and the kids’ area to enhance kids’ experience on match-day
• Introduce a club mascot, so that kids could associate a funny figure to the club
• “Open day” initiative, where kids could mix with Fiorentina players and the manager.
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• Launch a membership scheme for its junior supporters
Long term (more than 5 years): reposition Fiorentina product to attract Florence’s
tourists
• Build a new, modern stadium that would offer comfort and entertainment for this high
expectation clientele
• Design a completely new product that will be tailored to tourists’ needs
• Develop a relationship with Florence’s Tourist Agency
• Strengthen the cultural value of the Fiorentina brand through the promotion of the
Calcio Storico Fiorentino
INTRODUCTION
Beech and Chadwick (2006) observe that sports organisations have in the past failed to effectively apply segmentation techniques, and thus missed an opportunity to retain customers and grow their fan base. Harris and Elliot (2006) pointed out that this was due to the fact that sports organisations have not had the resources to undertake market research.
However, sports organisations nowadays generate substantial amounts of revenues and operate in a crowded leisure market. They also operate on a global basis and as a consequence their customers have become more diverse and selective. Therefore, sport organisations need to engage in marketing research to understand the needs and behavioural patterns of various groups of customers. Arsenal, for example, is currently undergoing a process of segmenting their 150,000 plus members in order to understand unique needs and preferences of identified sub-groups (Nick Payman, personal communication, 9th March
2011).
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This essay discusses the case of ACF Fiorentina. Through an analysis of past attendances, the
first section introduces the marketing environment of the club. This section identifies the
behavioural patterns of various groups in the current fan base and uses these findings to
explain the considerable drop in recent attendances. In this section I also present demographic
and statistical data that serve to determine which groups of consumers Fiorentina need to
focus on to increase their stadium utilisation. I then discuss the marketing mix strategies that
could help Fiorentina attract these new customers, and hence increase attendance.
MARKETING ENVIRONMENT
ACF Fiorentina is one of the most renowned clubs in Italy. It was founded in 1926 and since then has played in 73 out of the 81 seasons in the Italian Serie A; winning two titles and a further 11 podiums, giving them a fifth rank on Italy’s overall table (WorldFootball, n.d.).
After entering into controlled administration in 2002, the club was bought out by one of the
richest Italian entrepreneurs, Diego Della Valle. Under him Fiorentina climbed three ranks in
the Italian football and was ahead of time back in the top tier competing for the top places1.
Stadio Artemio Franchi, the home ground of Fiorentina, has a capacity of 45,809 (Wikipedia, n.d.), while the city of Florence has 365,659 inhabitants (Comune di Firenze, 2010).
Past attendance data
Not all sports fans are alike and a variety of factors influence one’s decision to attend a
football match. Shank (2009) lists few critical drivers of game attendance, such as; fan
motivation factors, game attractiveness, economic factors, competitive factors, demographic
factors, stadium factors, value of sport to the community, sports involvement, and fan
1 Fiorentina skipped Serie C1 due to the summer 2003 scandal known as “Caso Catania” which led to the enlargement of Serie B from 20 to 24 teams (La Republicca, 20th August 2003).
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identification. In this section I will try to explain Fiorentina past attendances through fan
identification and entertainment value2.
Figure 1 in Appendix I emphasises that a great portion of the club’s customers are personally
committed and emotionally attached to their club. This was proven when the club played in
the fourth tier of the Italian football (2002/03), yet the fans still bought 16,648 season tickets
and 8,000 match-day tickets. These fans have some characteristics of the fans that Tapp and
Clowes (2000) described as “fanatics” and “committed casuals” respectively. Both groups of fans are committed to Fiorentina through thick and thin and will attend the game irrespective of the quality of football on display. For most of them the club is at the centre of their lifestyle. However, it could be that at this stage of the competition some of the 8,000 match- day ticket holders place some kind of priority to other non-Fiorentina related activities. The commitment of these two groups of fans was confirmed when Fiorentina climbed back into
Serie A in 2004/05 and these fans made up almost 24,000 season-ticket holders. In the subsequent four seasons, these two groups bought the same number of season-tickets, fostered by the increased engagement by the Della Valle. On the other hand, match-day ticket fans peaked in the season of the return in Serie A and dropped by 42% by the 2006/07 season. This happened despite that Fiorentina played outstanding football, reaching
Champions League spots on both occasions (in 2005/06 and 2006/07). However, the
Calciopoli match-fixing scandal stripped the side of the opportunity to play in Europe. It seems like some match-day ticket fans became jaded with what Italian football has to offer. I
thus distinguish match-day ticket fans on two groups. One group perceives the entertainment
value solely through the quality of football on display, while the entertainment value of the
second group comes also through unfixed matches and uncertainty of outcome. The second
2 Other factors, such as; economic factors (the perceived value of “Fiorentina” product), competitive factors (TV coverage of games) or stadium factors also have an effect on Fiorentina attendances, but will not be addressed due to their lower relevance in this essay’s context. Neither will I enter into detail of the macro environment of the club, which Jobber (2004) described as legal, economic, social, technological and ecological, since it cannot be influenced by the club.
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group only partly came back in the subsequent two seasons (2007/08 and 2008/09), despite
that the Della Valle made few big signings and Fiorentina twice more qualified for
Champions League.
In the 2009/10 season, Fiorentina attendances plummeted in both types of tickets, despite the
prospects being good before the season. In my opinion this drop can be attributed to the city’s
glooming expectations about the owner’s real intents. In the summer 2009, Felipe Melo was
sold to Juventus for 25 mio EUR (Sportmediaset, 7th July 2009), while this money was not
reinvested in the team. This operation gave rise to a lot of criticism from the local press and
fans, arguing that the owners are solely driven by profits. Criticism ultimately led to a resignation by the president Andrea Della Valle (Sportmediaset, 24th September 2009). Since
then the owners have on many occasions made it clear that the objective is to have a strong
team with balanced books. However, the fans perceived these messages as an owners’
disengagement from the club’s ambition. The link between the city and owners has broken.
Shank (2009) observes that organisational characteristics are also an important factor of fan
identification. The Fiorentina case clearly confirms this observation since the current season
attendances are lower than they were in Serie C2, and for the first time in fifteen years lower
than the Italian average (Figure 1 in Appendix I)
However, as this case clearly illustrates, the city of Florence is very passionate about its
football team. With good public relations, community involvement and clear communication
about the club’s strategy attendances could soon bounced back to 30,000-35,000. The
question is however, what could Fiorentina do in order to replace some disillusioned fans
with new customers and drive the attendances beyond this point?
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On a medium term, I believe that Fiorentina should focus on building a new fan base by
targeting schools and young families from Area Fiorentina.3 Demographic data show that
40,000 children aged from 6-14 live in this area, while 38,446 families with one or more
children live in Florence alone (Comune di Firenze, 2010). Occasionally Fiorentina has price
promotions for the U14 children, but I believe that this is not enough. I therefore give a few
propositions of how they could better capture this market. On a longer run, I think there is a
need to go beyond this area. According to a study published by Osservatorio nazionale del
turismo (2009), Florence attracts on average 2 mio foreign tourists per year. Another study reports that the tourism in the Florence province generated 2,802 mio EUR revenues and that
tourists are increasingly looking for not only traditional cultural sightseeing, but also different
kind of experiences and emotions (VivaioImprese, 4th March 2009). This data show that
tourists present a big potential and Fiorentina should actively engage in developing this segment.
MARKETING MIX STRATEGIES
An effective marketing mix should match customer needs and create a competitive advantage, since knowledge of what customer values can lead to increased satisfaction and differentiate the organisation from their competitors. The four elements should be coordinated and consistent as part of the strategic position of a product (Jobber, 2004).
Medium term
The overall aim of this marketing strategy is to attract the next generation of supporters, by enhancing kids’ experience on match-days and by organising events that would help to start a lifelong passion for Fiorentina.
3 Area Fiorentina is known as the area which comprises Florence municipality and some surrounding municipalities that also identify strongly with the club.
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Besides price reductions, Fiorentina should set up a family stand with the kids’ area, where children would have the opportunity to engage in various activities, such as: play with each other, having their face painted in the club’s colours, etc... I believe that Fiorentina should also design a club mascot which would actively interact with these kids and progressively become the club’s symbol with the objective to promote the Fiorentina brand amongst kids.
The mascot is of utmost importance since it can give a whole new identity to the club.
Furthermore, I think that an “Open day” initiative should be introduced. On this day kids would get the opportunity to enter into the club’s environment and culture. This day should be designed as a mix of football activities, quizzes with prizes, computer games and other
various kids’ activities. On this day the Fiorentina manager and players would come along to
mix with children and thus give them the opportunity to meet their idols. Furthermore, the
club could also organise interesting story telling that would be carried out by the players.
The club could also launch a membership scheme for its junior supporters and enter into an
active partnership with various kids’ stores and organisations in the Area Fiorentina. These
partnerships would help the club with organising kids’ events by providing expertise or
material to design the kids’ area. In return these partners would get a higher exposure.
Fiorentina could reward new scheme entrants by offering them a signed article, presented by
the club’s president at the half time on the pitch itself.
“Fiorentina in the Community Department” should be set up with responsibilities for running
youth and community activities and actively cooperating with schools in Area Fiorentina.
Initiatives promoting respect for their fellow supporters and the refrainment from using foul
language and aggressive behaviour should be run. Fiorentina could also promote school
group bookings by offering attractive prices and sharing the proceeds raised with the schools.
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Long term
The overall aim of the long term marketing strategy is to reposition the Fiorentina product in order to attract Florence’s tourists. Positioning is all about how the consumer perceives your sports product relative to competitive offerings (Shank, 2009). Developing a relationship with this high expectations clientele by solely offering them a football match is unlikely to be fruitful. In this optic the current sub-standard and antiquated stadium is a big weakness. Built in 1931 and refurbished for the 1990 World Cup it can hardly attract customers looking for comfort and entertainment. Fiorentina should thus build a new stadium if it were to attract this segment of clients. However, stadium alone is unlikely to respond to all the needs of these customers. Fiorentina has to create an environment where tourists can enjoy the game, the hospitality and something typical from Tuscany or Florence. While football is the most important thing, for this type of customers it’s also about having a great evening out. In addition to the characteristics of the product itself, other marketing mix elements (pricing, distribution and promotion) also play a major role in the success of a new product (Shank,
2009). The next paragraph will focus on how Fiorentina could promote the new product in order to persuade tourists to attend a Fiorentina match.
While a majority (70%) of foreign tourist that visit Florence self organise their trips, the remaining 30% come through tour operators (Osservatorio nazionale del turismo, 2009). It thus makes sense for Fiorentina to develop a relationship with the Florence’s tourist agency, since they are the main contact for those tourists that come to Florence on their own.
Fiorentina should promote its product through the agency’s website and in the agency’s many offices in town. It would also be beneficial to build its own premise in the tourist area, where they would be given the opportunity to explore the stadium product through interactive tools.
For this product to be successful it is essential that tourists are able to buy tickets on the day of the match itself, something that is not effortless today due to the Pisanu law. The
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Fiorentina website should also play a major role in communicating the product to those that
seek information before coming to Florence.
Depending on the marketing budget and forecasted return on investment, Fiorentina could enter into a relationship with various hotels, tour operators, and camping sites in order to
improve the visibility of their product.
The last proposition and perhaps the one with the greatest potential to build a bridge between
Fiorentina and Florence’s cultural heritage is to actively engage in the promotion of Calcio
Storico Fiorentino. This type of football is somewhat a mixture of both soccer and rugby
which originated during the 16th century in Florence. It was played in costumes without any
rules and regulations (Ultimate Italy, 2006). In the summer months, when tourists are
flocking to Florence and Serie A season has already finished, tournaments organised in
Calcio Fiorentino could represent a great asset for Fiorentina and could serve as a vehicle
between Florence’s heritage and Florence’s football club.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Beech, J. & Chadwick, S. (2006). The Marketing of Sport. London: FT Prentice-Hall
Comune di Firenze (2010). Annuario Statistico del Comune di Firenze 2008. Retrieved on the 14th March 2011 from: http://statistica.comune.fi.it/pubblicazioni/pdf/Comune%20di%20Firenze%20- %20Annuario%20statistico%202008.pdf
Harris, K. & Elliot, D. (2006). Segmentation, targeting and positioning in sport. In: Beech, J. & Chadwick, S. (eds.). The Marketing of Sport. Harlow: Prentice Hall
Jobber, D. (2004). Principles and Practice of Marketing, 4th edition. London: McGraw-Hill
La Repubblica (20th August, 2003). Serie B a 24 squadre: C’e anche la Fiorentina. Retrieved on the 23th March 2011 from: http://www.repubblica.it/2003/h/sezioni/sport/calcio/calciomercato/ventiquattro/ventiquattro/ventiqua ttro.html
Mullin, B et al. (2000). Sport Marketing, 2nd edition. Leeds: Human Kinetics.
Osservatorio Nazionale del Turismo (2009). Il Turismo delle citta d’arte : Caratteristiche, Tendence e Strategie di Sviluppo. Retrived on the 16th March 2011 from: http://www.turistica.it/download/Pubblicazioni_non_a_pagamento/Turismo_delle_citta_d_arte.pdf
Shank, M.D. (2009). Sports Marketing: A Strategic Perspective. New Yersey: Prentice Hall
Stadiapostcards (n.d.). Attendance statistics of Italian Championships. Retrieved on the 12th March 2011 from: http://www.stadiapostcards.com/
Sportmediaset (7th July, 2009). Juve-Felipe Melo: Affare fatto. Retrieved on the 18th March 2011 from: http://www.sportmediaset.mediaset.it/mercato/articoli/articolo24909.shtml
Sportmediaset (24th September, 2009). Fiorentina: A.Della Valle lascia. Retrieved on the 18th March from: http://www.sportmediaset.mediaset.it/calcio/articoli/articolo26803.shtml
VivaioImprese (4th March, 2009). Studio l’ impatto economic del turismo in provincial di Firenze – anno 2008. Retrieved on the 16th March 2011 from: http://lnx.vivaioimprese.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=202%3Anewsarticle002 02&catid=3%3Anews&Itemid=50
Tapp, A. & Clowes, J. (2002). From “carefree casuals” to “professional wanderers”: Segmentation possibilities for football supporters. European Journal of Marketing, 36 (11/12), 1248-1269.
Ultimate Italy (n.d.). Calcio Storico Fiorentno. Retrieved on the 21th March 2011 from: http://www.ultimateitaly.com/festival-events/calcio-storico-florentino.html
WorldFootball (n.d.). Serie A – All-time league table. Retrieved on the 10th March 2011 from: http://ita.worldfootball.net/ewige_tabelle/ita-serie-a/#redirect
Wikipedia (n.d.). Discussione: Stadio Artemio Franchi. Retrieved on the 11th March 2011 from: http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discussione:Stadio_Artemio_Franchi#Sulla_capienza_dell.27impianto
APPENDIX I
Figure 1: Fiorentina attendances divided by season tickets and match-day tickets, in comparison with Serie A attendances.
Fiorentina Serie A 35000
30000
25000
20000
15000 76 41 54 57 75 72 66 69 68 60 49
10000
5000
0 10/11* 10/11* 01/02 02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 01/02 02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07 07/08 08/09 09/10 06/07 07/08 08/09 09/10 94/95 94/95 - - 00/01 00/01 Season tickets Match-day tickets
Total attendance x = stadium utilisation in % * Unfinished season; for 1994/95 to 2001/02 only total attendances available
Source: Stadiapostcard (n.d.), elaborated