Bringing the handball business to the next level

In his opening words, EHF President Michael Wiederer underlined the importance of this traditional side event of the EHF FINAL4 in Cologne: “It is always great to combine top sports with this round of business experts and other activities, as this contacts constantly bring new elements in our events.”

For David Szlezak, Managing Director of EHF Marketing, the heart of the EHF FINAL4 will always be the four matches on the court, but: “The European Handball Talks have become an integral and attractive part of this event, to bring together handball with external experts, which can drive our product ahead. Due to the networking character, the exchange of ideas and innovations makes this business part special and can bring handball to the next level.” The future of digital fan activation and ESG was presented by the seven finalists of the 'DARE TO RISE Impact Contest' – a premiere at the European Handball Talks.

Managing sport in a complicated world

Simon Chadwick, Professor of Sport and geopolitical economy, opened the event with an impressive keynote on how sport, business and politics are connected: “The world was easier in the past, before globalisation, digitalisation and climate change became the three giga trends. For years, the impact of countries such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, China and Russia in almost all international sports has risen, in parallel the geopolitical situation has changed tremendously. New social media platforms were implemented and mega companies such as Amazon, Google and Netflix have started to become part of the global sports rights business. And all those developments have a huge influence on sports. Mainly for the Gulf countries, the soft power of sports is crucial.”

Professional sport meets creator economy: What is in it for both sides?

As content is everything, the number of content creators in sports arose – parallel all leagues, federations, sports and athletes try to find the secret to engage young people like GenZ. Influencers and Content Creators play a core role in this development. “GenZ consumes sports differently. It is all about digital channels, and the mixture of sports and entertainment is a core part. In future, we have to bring content creators and rights holders together to have a business effect,” said Haruka Gruber, Senior Vice President of DAZN Media.

Big stars and role models – even outside sports – will play a huge role in the process of engaging youngsters in sports. “But the most important thing is that we and they deliver authentic content,” added Rebecca Zenner, Managing Director of DRAVT: “In future, we will have a ‘normal’ co-existence of rights holders and content creators, and we will more and more use subcultures to promote sports. The balance between sports and entertainment will look different.” For Dennis Gehlen, Founder of TAKE.TV, all panel participants agreed that all sports, who want to be recognized need a strong story telling with a lot of emotions and authentic content. “But what are the handball stories, which could be broadcast by Netflix or others?” was a main question.

Fragmentation, streaming giants, new technologies: Where is the transformation of the sports media landscape heading?

With streaming services, the options for watching sports rose dramatically – and with it, the time and money people spent on the digital usage of sports. For experienced rights expert Jochen Lösch, Owner and CEO of JL Sports Investment, only top competitions can take the revenue and the global attention. “With the ‘Drive to Survive’ documentary Netflix caused a major Formula 1 boom in the USA – and suddenly the interest was growing more and more. And this means that costs for media rights in this sector explode like in other global sports.”

The discussion was if handball has the stars and the strengths to get big players such as Amazon, Disney, Netflix or Google get involved – and what could be the key. Again, it was all about storytelling and exclusive content. As for the EHF FINAL4, an almost-live story needs to be written, as the attention span for this event is quite short. “But if you do not manage to get your product broadcast by the top players, give it for free by your own OTT platforms and use influencers to create awareness”, says Lösch, and adds: “Handball definitely has stories to tell.”

AI in sports: Simple use cases for every club and federation

The second day of the European Handball Talks started with an impressive presentation by Philipp Ostsieker, CEO of Transform Sports. In around ten minutes he showed, how Chat GPT can create a whole campaign for a fan loyalty programme for a handball club, including a budget calculation, a marketing campaign and a key visual for it. “AI is so easy to access now, simply use it, not only to save money and time but also to be creative.”

How to create a resilient love brand in the fast-moving world of sports

Every sports fan in the world knows the claim 'More than a club' of FC Barcelona. But how did the multi-sport club use this claim and its club values to create one of the biggest brands in the sports world and to take the revenue of it? Guillem Gaell, former CMO of FC Barcelona and Managing Director of D2F Partners explained the strategy. “It is all about the fan. We have 400 million followers, but only seven million of them have ever been to Barcelona, so we need to reach them on digital channels, with the exclusive content produced in our Barca Studios. We do not transport only the stars, but the heart, our Catalan identity and all other values of our club. We became a global sports media player with a huge audience, which is willing to pay for our content and our merchandise.” One part is the 'Culers' campaign to increase the number of members all over the world – and all are proud to show their membership card.

Sustainable, digital, effective, measurable: What does sports sponsorship have to achieve – and what is asking too much?

The final discussion was about the needs of sponsors – and a poll of YouGOV proved that fans on the one hand prefer companies that act with social responsibility and on the other hand companies, who are sports sponsors. But what can handball offer? “We are an authentic sport with accessible athletes and the right values, we have a clean house and a clear structure”, said David Szlezak, Managing Director of EHF Marketing: “But you can never compare handball to football in any department, especially when it comes to potential partnerships with blue chip companies. But still, we have many unique things, we can offer to sponsors and partners, like many hidden champions as Machineseeker, the title sponsor of the EHF Champions League Men. It is always a challenge to find the right fit. Definitely, we can offer the best value for the money.”

Heike Kranz, Head of People Experience at Volvo Cars Austria focused on the importance of the sustainable and eco-friendly ways of sponsorships, while Guillem Gaell is sure that in sporing in general and in handball “much more money can be earned. We just need to know exactly, what the sponsors need and want.”

DARE TO RISE Impact Contest

For the first time the 'DARE TO RISE Impact Contest' was part of the European Handball Talks. Five start-ups had qualified for the final in the fan engagement category and pitched for the award. The first-ever winner was 'Cheer', a Czech start-up with a virtual VR fan zone, which had its successful start already in Czech hockey clubs. Data Gamification by PlayerOn, fan engagement platform by Nagano, XR Digital Experience by Fansea and Interactive Viewing by Snapscreen were the remaining finalists in this category. In the ESG category, the sustainable fan mobility concept of Ummadum and the audio commentary for visual-disabled people by Mycrocast were the winners. EHF Marketing developed this 'DARE TO RISE Impact Contest' to infuse innovation, sustainability and entrepreneurship into European club handball.