NEW WEBSITE AND DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

A new layout to launch the renewed official website www.acmilan.com,  available to the Rossoneri fans all over the world.

In the constantly developing sector of technological innovation, AC Milan upgrades and offers its stakeholders a renewed web platform to meet the needs of the global fan base and of the sponsors, by synchronising communication and commercial expectations.

The new website is part of the digitalization plan of a Club that is willing to meet the ever growing innovation-related criteria. Lamberto Siega, Marketing & Digital Director at AC Milan tells us about this new forward-looking challenge that also involves the world of sports and football.

What can you tell us about the new website?

This initiative is part of the Club's Digital Transformation plan. In the digital ecosystem, the website plays an important role serving our global fan base. It is the access point for ticketing and merchandising as well as the Club's information tool. We mainly focused on the look & feel, making the visual aspect consistent with the graphic style introduced at the beginning of the season in collaboration with DixonBaxi and already present at the Stadium, at Milanello and Vismara sports centers, in all our social content, on Milan TV and obviously in the official App. We have made the browsing experience easier, introducing new formats and graphic templates that are now more flexible and suitable for our communication demands.

Therefore, the new website is an evolution of fans' experience rather than a real "revolution" - it represents an important step in the immediate and near future.

You spoke about Digital Transformation. Can you tell us more about this project?

The first important aspect I wish to highlight is how much Digital Transformation is an ongoing improvement process.

In autumn 2018, we defined a three-year development plan with the new Management and today we are halfway through the work. We hope we can start a new innovation cycle alongside the project relevant to the stadium very soon.

Which are the cornerstones of this project? How much progress has been made?

The Club's digital strategy is based on three main areas: Content, an ecosystem for services / digital products and internal enablers of productivity.

Content are essential to improve the Club's digital audience, through the improvement  the quality of our productions, their personalization and the increase of presence on multiple touchpoints; in the last 12 months we have almost doubled (+ 90%) our productions and strengthened our presence also thanks to the launch of the official App (+15 million articles read), the social network Tiktok (+15 million views since launch) and the constant development of Chinese social networks.

During the lockdown period we increased our editorial content through the launch of our productions such as "Icons", "Skills" and "Stats", significantly enhancing our sponsors' visibility. Moreover, we started the podcasts series and launched a top event that merged the world of music and football: "From Milan To Love". The virtual show was created together with Roc Nation and generated more than 2.5 million views in 50 countries worldwide.

As for the digital ecosystem, we launched the official App in August 2019 and obviously the new website today. Last year we also released the new Ticketing system and the new CRM, which allowed us to improve the communication performances with our fans and our partners. In this area it is essential to ensure an ultimate fan experience to secure engagement and consequently to get to know fans and their interests a lot better, therefore generating a virtuous circle.

The last question: which is the biggest challenge you’re facing in carrying out these projects?

I'd say that there are three main challenges.

The first one is to match the holistic approach towards the fans with the needs of the different business areas: every initiative, regardless of the vertical area (ticketing, merchandising, editorial...) must keep an overall vision with the aim of generating direct revenues (where possible) but also indirect value, through the collection of data and information. The role and the purpose of the FRM (Fan Relationship Management) Area are key to this challenge.

The second one is to match a complex "machine" (that is active and "alive" 365 days a year) with the rapid innovation required by the market. We must be constantly ready to launch new products and renew existing ones according to the technological developments and trends while focusing on what we're already doing. Even more important, we need to follow digital trends to collaborate with our partners which are constantly increasing their spend on digital media and expect great results from a Global entertainment brand like ACM; This will be performed without unnecessarily overloading the structure and processes.

The third challenge is to be able to adapt to a dynamic context strongly influenced by sporting factors. Staying on the course and focusing on the project activities in a more independent way is an important success factor for sustainable and lasting growth.

These three challenges are driving us in the Digital Transformation plan, testing us and inspiring us to constantly improve. We still have a long way to go and many initiatives to develop. Thanks to the constant and strong support of our Management and of the ownership, we are also aiming at further strengthening the Club's leading role in the digital world.