Pelliccioni and Zoppis in Nyon for the UEFA-led Digital Workshop

An interesting training opportunity was launched by the UEFA NAs Communications Department for its member associations, focusing on the theme of digital communications. On 28 and 29 November, Luca Pelliccioni and Andrea Zoppis – respectively Head of Press Office and Head of Merchandising & SLO Area for the FSGC – took part in the two-day programme coordinated by UEFA’s Monika Mkhitaryan and Carlos Laorden. Guiding the fifteen participants, representing associations with broadly similar human and financial resources allocated to communications, were two outstanding mentors: Geoff Wilson and Stuart Rowson. The former, a UEFA consultant for communications activities and more, has also been one of FSGC’s key reference figures since the launch of its first communications strategy plan and even earlier, during the creation of the Strategic Plan launched in 2021. The latter, until very recently a journalist at the BBC – among others – shared his expertise specifically on effective communication across digital platforms, in particular social networks. Starting from the basics of creating weekly and monthly content plans aligned with a set of strategic objectives that each participating association has drawn up and committed to achieving within twelve months, the programme covered a range of highly topical themes: engaging younger generations through effective and appealing storytelling; specific examples of how to communicate with a highly selective and clearly defined audience in terms of content; features of SEO and analysis of how social media algorithms work; available tools and recommendations for the creation of multimedia and digital content. The second day of sessions was built around tangible professional case studies similar to the communications environments of the federations represented (in addition to San Marino, also Albania, Andorra, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Moldova and Montenegro). Particularly inspiring was the case study presented by the Basketball Federation of the Republic of Ireland, illustrated by Nathaniel Cope. A journalist with an impressive CV, he showed and demonstrated how the rebranding of the Irish association and a decisive digital shift, based on live streaming basketball games using AI-driven cameras, have dramatically broadened the horizons of a federation that certainly does not oversee the most practised sport in Ireland. There were several clear points of contact, in this specific case, with the launch of FSGC’s young OTT platform, Titani.tv. The next professional contribution came directly from the UEFA Corporate Communications unit, through a joint presentation by Andy Jones and Valeérie Robert-Tissot. The two, the only professionals working in the Nyon-based unit, showed how an approach based on purely organic social media communication (that is, without paid targeting campaigns) has generated clear benefits, largely thanks to clear weekly and monthly planning that takes into account key days and events to align with. Before the respective delegations returned to their home countries, there was also time to delve into the specifics of e-mail marketing, the specific functionalities of websites and the potential that lies in instant messaging applications (such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger). To conclude, the central theme of data analysis and performance measurement across different multimedia platforms was addressed, using integrated tools (Instagram and Business Suite Insights) and cross-platform tools (such as Google Analytics, for example). This broad overview culminated in a session of open speech between participants and speakers on ways of fostering cooperation between smaller associations and on future touchpoints on the subject, with a follow-up scheduled for March at the latest, when the mid-term review of the respective digital strategic plans presented at the UEFA Digital Workshop will take place.

---