March 9th, 2022, Emily Patel
How AFC Bournemouth delivered value for fans and sponsors with YouGov Profiles
The challenge
Gain a better fanbase understanding and partner with brands that share the club’s core values.
The solution
Using YouGov audience intelligence for sophisticated sponsorship development, identifying relevant partners.
Business outcomes
Commercial revenue growth and differentiation in the marketplace.
Business challenge
AFC Bournemouth (AFCB) wanted to uncover a more detailed understanding of their fanbase; their attitudes, perceptions and behaviours towards both football-related and non-football-related topics.
Their goal was to win new sponsors - and retain existing ones - that resonated with the values of their audience. For this, AFCB needed accurate data intelligence that would ensure they stood above their competition to potential sponsors, while as also important that their insights came from a trusted third-party provider with credible and up-to-date data to complement the matchday data the club already holds.
Solution & approach
AFCB subscribed to YouGov Profiles, which they have chosen as their trusted audience profiling and strategic planning tool. With access to hundreds of thousands of demographic, psychographic, attitudinal and behavioral metrics about their fanbase, the club’s commercial team gained confidence that they were shortlisting potential partners that were relevant to supporters and shared the club’s values.
When talking to sponsors, the commercial team also used YouGov Profiles to demonstrate the value of partnerships by highlighting synergies between the AFC Bournemouth fanbase and the potential sponsor’s target audience, helping them to stand-out from the competition and present a clear business case for future partnerships.
Business outcomes
The AFCB commercial team now see YouGov Profiles as an invaluable asset in improving the efficiency and overall success of partnerships – but also in other business areas such as marketing, media, retail and ticketing.
Through a data-backed commercial strategy, AFCB have been able to deliver value to their fans, their existing partners, and new partners alike – all while achieving the added benefit of standing out to potential partners through shared values and objectives.
The use of YouGov Profiles has led to a significant increase in conversion rate and improvements in lead time from contacting a prospect to securing a meeting, helping the club take ambitious strides towards their off-field objectives. AFCB have now secured several digital partners and an official club sponsor since subscribing to YouGov Profiles.
Client testimonial
“Since teaming up with YouGov Sport we have benefitted enormously. Internally, we better understand our audience of supporters and their perception of non-football related topics. Externally, we have been able to identify industries and brands which align with our values and objectives - giving us an advantage when contacting and prospecting potential partners.
Recent successes from using data from YouGov Sport to support our sales process has led to us securing new digital sponsors and an official partner of AFC Bournemouth. Thank you to the team at YouGov Sport for their support throughout.”
Rob Mitchell, Commercial Director, AFC Bournemouth