Merging Physical & Digital Worlds w/ Javier Martinez Garcia

Today’s guest is Javier Martinez Garcia, a Senior Advisor for Manchester City F.C and former Disney executive. 

We get into a number of topics, here are just a few: 

1) How to get your senior leadership team aligned around a customer-centric strategy 
2) Fan experience vs. match-day experience
3) Making business decisions built around your unique brand promise
4) How physical and digital worlds merge to create 24/7 experiences for your customer
5) The future of fan experiences in post-COVID19 world
 

Javier has held a number of executive roles in Europe for the Walt Disney Company. 

Back in 2008-2009, he was the Chairman Disney’s Local Management Board in the Iberia region. In that role he was in charge of the development and execution of Walt Disney Company´s 5 Year Growth Plan for Iberian region.

He was the head of marketing and sales for Disney Parks and Resorts in France, Netherlands, Belgium. 

And he was the Managing Director of Retail and Consumer Products for the Iberia region.

After Disney, Javier went to work with Athletico Madrid. For four years, Javier helped Athletico blow up as their Global Chief Revenue and Marketing Officer and Fan Experience Director. With his lead, Athletico grew 400% in sponsorships, added an extra 14M global followers, and launched an Indian sister team, if you will. One of the most visible things he and his team did was develop and open a brand new 68,000 seat stadium  

Javier left Athletico at the end of 2017, and has been advising with a few different organizations, from sports tech organizations like Microsoft’s Global Sports Innovation Center to Manchester City Soccer Club. 

We cover an array of topics, as we usually do, but we really spend alot of time on two main points. First, we talk about building a senior level strategy and brand that’s focused on engaging the customer. 

But as we get deeper into the conversation, we really spend alot of time on how to engage the customer 24/7. It’s something our team at EngageMint has been focusing on. For many sports & entertainment organizations, the majority of revenue comes from matchday or gameday revenue. But if you’re only making money a limited number of days per year, you can only get so good at it. And if you’re capped by the number of people that can fit into your venue, you’re limited as to the amount of revenue you can generate. 

When you look at the model of the big European football clubs, especially Manchester City, their revenue streams and growth strategies are far more diversified than your average American pro sports team or college athletics department. And certainly, their audience is more global. Which presents a whole other source of challenges, like how do you create emotionally engaging customer experiences for a fan that might never come to your venue? 

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