We, the Data Talks teams, are excited to announce the Lewes FC-Data Talks partnership!
We are delighted to have the chance to champion innovation and equality in sports. While also creating unrivaled commercial success for Lewes FC. Naturally, you might have a lot of questions, like why this partnership? What we aim to achieve through this partnership and so on. We are more than happy to oblige and answer ALL your questions. And, if we miss any, please feel free to contact Lorraine Moalosi, who’d be honored to answer those questions too!
Before we dive right in...
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So why this partnership?
Our CEO and Founder, Stefan Lavén answered this oh-so beautifully:
“At the heart of Lewes FC is a strong passion for innovation and equality. This is evident in everything they do not least, in how they allocate their resources between their men’s and women’s teams. So of course, Data Talks could not miss out on the opportunity to partner with a club whose ethos reflects ours. With this partnership, Data Talks and Lewes FC have a chance to prove the merit of using data to create unparalleled commercial success, for both men’s and women’s teams.”
Moreover, the CEO of Lewes FC, Maggie Murphy also had this to say:
“Football is full of emotion. But when you’re trying to hit targets and make good decisions, you need to be thoughtful and rational. For that, you need good evidence, good data and good ways of connecting, understanding and handling data. Data Talks will help us to clean up and streamline the way we handle information internally, which in turn, will help us make good commercial decisions and engage better with our fans, owners, partners and suppliers. We’re delighted to welcome Data Talks to the Lewes FC team.”
Let’s dive deeper into this.
Lewes FC’s ethos reflects ours
If you have been following us for some time you know by now how passionate we are about innovation and equality. The Data Talks Customer Data Platform is the epitome of innovation. We have built a SaaS platform that makes it easy for sports organizations to sell more tickets, negotiate sponsorship agreements of higher value, and increase merchandise sales. Moreover, not everyone knows what a CDP is, so to make it easier to understand and reap the benefits of using a CDP, we brought you the Sports CDP crash course podcast. Because innovation needs to be accessible in order for it to yield results for all. And not just a select few.
To take it a step further, we launched the women in sports: beyond the hashtag initiative. And what was our goal? To create tangible value for women’s sports. We understand that we have to go the extra mile in order to make sure that our innovation is not only accessible to the mainstream masses but also to the underrepresented and underserved groups as well. And one only has to look at historical statistics to know how underserved women’s sports are.
That’s what we are passionate about, innovation and equality. And guess what? You do not need to dig much to know that innovation and equality are at the heart and center of Lewes FC.
Did you know that Lewes FC is the first and ONLY club in the world where women’s and men’s teams get EQUAL resources? And that in July 2017 the club became the first professional or semi-professional football club to pay its women’s team the same as its men’s team. Enough said, right?
The partnership goals
Prove the merit of using data to create unparalleled commercial success
We use the tagline “More supporters. Superior sales. Real revenue” for a reason. Through the use of our 4 fundamentals to selling more tickets and merchandise, we create commercial success for many clubs and federations across the globe, from Australia to Austria, the UK, Sweden, and many other countries. And we power all of this with data, that is, supporter data. Using that data to create a win-win situation for all involved. So this is not about benefiting clubs at the expense of the fans, but rather giving the fans what they want, using the information they so generously give their beloved teams. Proving the merit of using data to create unparalleled commercial success is indeed one of the biggest goals of the Lewes FC-Data Talks partnership.
Data Talks will bring this same success to Lewes FC. And why Lewes? Once, again, because of their commitment to growing the quality and success of both their men’s and women’s teams. They don’t sacrifice their women’s team to support their men’s.
And what results are Lewes FC anticipating from our partnership?
- Understanding how to work with data internally as a team
- Having clean and reliable data that they can use as evidence for their decision-making
- Engaging better with fans, owners, partners, and suppliers
Let’s have a brief overview of how this will all work.
Understanding how to work with data internally as a team
This is yet another important goal of the Lewes FC-Data Talks partnership. Our product, the Data Talks CDP takes the guesswork out of the seemingly huge topic of “what is the best way to handle data”. For example, with the CDP:
- You don’t have to worry about GDPR because it is compliant by default. That’s because it primarily collects first-hand information and retains the supporter’s preference when it comes to marketing consent and such.
- Out-of-date, duplicated, and therefore unreliable data is never an issue. That’s because the CDP automatically updates data with each supporter interaction made. For example, if I buy a Lewes FC jersey right now, this will be updated in the CDP automatically and in real-time.
- You can have all your data in one source. So your CRM, ticketing, merchandising and all other data can be easily integrated into the CDP. Meaning that you don’t have to open a dozen different sources to get an overview of how your supporters are interacting with your club. So, you will know what they are buying, when they are buying, how often, and for how much. All from one source – the CDP.
This naturally empowers confident decision-making that is rooted in good evidence, that is, reliable data.
Making good commercial decisions
The Lewes FC-Data Talks partnership will help Lewes FC make good commercial decisions. Exactly like Maggie said, “Football is full of emotion. But when you’re trying to hit targets and make good decisions, you need to be thoughtful and rational. For that, you need good evidence, good data, and good ways of connecting, understanding, and handling data”.
Think about it, when it comes to good commercial decisions, everything counts.
- Who do you sell your tickets to? Why? And to which games?
- How do you make sure that you are not sending the same fans over and over again the same ticket offers? When emotions are high (on the side of the supporters), the last thing you want to be receiving is spam emails offering you tickets to a game you have zero interest in.
- How do you find the balance between sending enough reminders to your fans to buy tickets and not sending any at all? And you can’t pick this number out of thin air since it will depend on the individual supporters themselves and their purchasing and web behavior.
- Not all fans are the same in that they all have different demographics, purchasing behavior, and web behavior but how could you possibly tell them apart if you don’t have the right data and in the right condition?
This is where the partnership will come in handy. The Data Talks CDP will take the guesswork out of the Lewes FC team’s decision-making. Making this a pertinent part of the Lewes FC-Data Talks partnership.
Engaging better with fans, owners, partners, and suppliers
Better data handling and therefore better decision-making will not only serve to make the Lewes FC team’s life easier. But this will have a huge impact on how they engage with their fans, owners, partners, and suppliers. Fans will get communications they can really appreciate and therefore want to interact with. Owners will have a better understanding of what the team’s goals and strategies are and actually see the team succeeding and exceeding those goals. And partners and suppliers will be delighted by the high stakeholder engagement and be encouraged to bring even more value to the club. The Lewes FC-Data Talks partnership is indeed all about creating a win-win situation for all parties involved.
Fans & Community Engagement Coordinator, Shrey Nilvarna had this to say on this matter:
“The partnership with Data Talks will definitely help us in organising and structuring the data we have internally. It will also help in providing more personalised service to all our fans and owners. It will be key in understanding how our fans and owners interact with the club and how we can improve what we offer to them. For my role, I like to work with data to improve on matchday experiences and marketing of the fixtures, hence this partnership is a leap forward to improving as a club.”
A win-win situation indeed.
Key takeaways
Both Data Talks and Lewes FC are incredibly proud and excited to announce the Lewes FC-Data Talks partnership. Stefan Lavén the CEO and founder of Data Talks is delighted to partner with a club that champions both equality and innovation in sports. Maggie Murphy, the CEO of Lewes FC, is delighted to welcome Data Talks to the Lewes FC team because she believes in Data Talks’ ability to help the Lewes FC team clean up and streamline the way they handle information internally, which in turn, will help them make good commercial decisions and engage better with fans, owners, partners, and suppliers.
Watch this space for more exciting things to come.
