FIFA Master 15th edition: February summary

“Milan l’e’ un grande Milan” The 15th Edition of the FIFA Master has already completed two months in Milan, and what a couple of months they have been! February 2015 saw 31 international students from diverse backgrounds wrap their heads around sports marketing and sports strategic planning in this fast paced, high caliber SDA Bocconi module.

Along with the month of February came the commencement of the sports marketing sub-module, the first part of which was conducted by Professor Paolo Guenzi. The sessions of Professor Guenzi focused on in-depth analysis of analytical marketing; understanding the sport consumer; strategic marketing and positioning in the sport business. Professor Guenzi used cases such as Giro d’Italia, the National hockey league and the case of UniCredits’ partnership with the Champions League to give us a broad level insight into the practical application of marketing theory in sport.

Professor Davide Reina, who conducted the second part of this sub-module, focused on brand management; managing marketing communication processes and tools; sponsorship and web and sport. Professor Reina’s interactive approach highlighted to us the multi-faceted directions sports marketing can take, and how we might approach it. Professor Reina utilized case studies from South America, as well as drawing parallels from outside the sports industry, in order to give us an optimal idea of product placement and strategic sports marketing.

The Sports Strategic Planning Module was coordinated and presented by Professor Mikkel Draebye. This module highlighted to us not only how critical it is for an organization to have and implement an effective strategic plan, but also perhaps how there is a disparity in strategic planning in the sports industry. The sub module focused on formulating and implementing a strategic plan and overarching strategic planning theory, including analysis of subdomains, resource appraised models and formulation frameworks. Professor Draebye encouraged us to work in groups, whereby he tutored us through planning, formulation and implementation of strategic planning in a sport and country of our choice. Examples that the groups chose included Rowing in New Zealand and Soccer in the United States of America.

February also saw three group visits; to Casa Ducati, in Bologna, and two more closer to home, Sky Sports Italia and CASA Milan.

Our visit to the Ducati included a tour around the factory, where we could see the assembly of their iconic bikes, as well as a guided tour around the official Ducati museum. Our visit was made even more memorable by the presence of Inter Milan and Argentina national Player, Javier Zanetti, who became our class mate for the day, as we followed a program hosted by Alessandro Cicognani, Licensing and Partnership director, Ducati Motor Holding who presented Ducati’s history, marketing strategy, brand equity and positioning.

We were also fortunate enough to visit Sky Sports Italia, a truly incredible day out, whereby not only were we able to tour the SKY building, complete with studio tours (!) but we were also able to hear from distinguished speakers on a variety of topics and which were highly relevant in this increasingly commercial world of sport. Riccardo Botta, head of SKY Italia’s production and creative hub, introduced us to the company and explained to us both how Sky Sports is structured, and the production process of creative content in the firm.

Matteo Mammí, Director of Sport Rights and Programming, explained the TV rights acquisition process, the thoughts behind the content that SKY broadcasts and the potential in terms of audience for each of them. In the afternoon, Francesco Pierantozzi, SKY Executive Producer for Rugby, explained to us with great passion the strategy for making the 2015 Rugby World Cup a unique experience for their customers and how this competition represents an incredible opportunity for the further expansion of Rugby knowledge in Italy.

Finally Toni Scheinman, Creative Director New Content, showed us how SKY has differentiated and innovated the content proposition related to sport, extending the reach from the old concept of only broadcasting matches live to a complete 24/7 show schedule of pre and post match shows and in-depth analysis of teams and athletes.

We also had the opportunity to go to Casa Milan, the new headquarter of the corporate part of AC Milan. Here Antonio Marchesi and Jaap Kalma, explained to us the plan for the new stadium which is expected to be built right in front of Casa Milan and how this structure will help the club to build stronger links with the local community.

Not only is this module at SDA Bocconi packed full of  highly relevant content taught by experienced faculty members, but the distinguished guests we have been introduced to as part of the guest speaker lecture series  has continued to be fantastic.

Andrea Gellner, Managing Director of Adidas for South Europe, presented to us the history of Adidas and its evolution to become a global firm through its key exclusive partnership. 

Carlotta Ventura, Group Senior Vice President Brand Strategy and Media at Telecom Italia, explained to us the strong advantages a company can obtain through links with positive sporting values.

Andrea Ceraico, General Director of Redbull Italia, presented an inspiring presentation, which focused on a wide range of topics, from the alignment of Redbull with sports events in terms of brand awareness, perception and equity, to the advantages of vertical integration, as seen by Redbull’s development of their own internal media house. It is difficult to determine whether Mr Ceraico’s presentation made half the class want to go out and participate in cliff diving or extreme snowboarding, or send in a CV! Perhaps a combination of the three.

Vince Gennaro, Author and Professor at Columbia Univeristy, told us about the emergence and increasing importance of data in sport for companies, clubs, analysts and consumers, followed by the team of OPTA who showed how the main tools for elaboration of statistics during live matches are built.

Andrea Bassani, Chief Television & New Media Rights Officer of Euroleague Basketball, and Cem Ulkeroglu, Independant Sport Consulant at Stelia Sport and Media and alumnus during the first edition of the FIFA Master, highlighted their experiences in the media area with the former speaking about the expansion of the  Euroleague as a TV product around the world and how this has been beneficial in  reforming the distribution system, while the latter expanded on his expertise in media rights, marketing, sponsorship and event management, which he aquired during his work at the  Turkish Football Federation.

Daniene De Negri, Founder of Sports Makers gave a fantastic and insightful presentation not only on his company, Sports Makers, but on other companies with an eco-friendly positioning and business model framework. Mr De Negri highlighted the numerous ways that you can achieve your dream when the right ingredients are added together.  

Paolo Bedin, General Director Serie B presented the model and framework of the Italian Serie B, which provided a truly insightful perspective into how the league is run, from which a plethora of lessons could be drawn. Particularly interesting was learning of the requirement that Serie B imposes on its clubs regarding age restrictions on players in order to promote youth development and also the marketing and business strategies they use to increase stadia spectatorship numbers.

The list of highly distinguished guest speakers continued when we were fortunate enough to have nearly three hours discussing all things sports administration and tennis with Francesco Ricci Bitti, Chairman of the International Tennis Federation. Mr Bitti was a wealth of information as he discussed his experiences and administration within international tennis. Indeed, the class was extremely reluctant for the session to finish!

Suffice to say that the 15th Edition if the FIFA Master is loath for this module to end as the alumni before us surely felt. One thing that is for certain, however, is that great things will surely follow. As we move swiftly through our time here with SDA Bocconi, we look forward to the upcoming sub-modules yet to be embarked upon and beyond  that, to spring and summer on the Lake of Neuchatel (surely to be seen through a library window!)

The module at SDA Bocconi, as with the entire International FIFA Master, certainly is a fast paced, action packed and highly intensive. However, the strategic direction and vision of the Scientific Committed is keenly felt and we all, as a whole class, are thoroughly enjoying.

Grazie!

Kirsty Burrows and Guglielmo Cammino

Class representatives