In July 2018 we signed one of the biggest Swedish sports sponsorships to date: the main sponsorship of the Swedish elite football leagues, Allsvenskan and Superettan. The partnership was unique, as for the first time in history, we were allowed to sponsor Swedish activities, due to the gambling license legislation passed by the Swedish government. Now Unibet is stepping up the game with club-specific podcasts in collaboration with Spotify.
When Unibet became the main partner of the Swedish elite football league, some very new and exciting initiatives were launched. Allsvenskan’s Unicoach, a long-term programme that develops the future of Swedish football, is one of them. Football trainers will get a dedicated advisor that will support them. They will also get more education and a completely new digital platform for cooperation and sharing of best practices. With Hemmaklubben, we wanted to give fans the power to decide how much money should be directed to each club. This is done through a voting model, where our customers vote for their favourite club. At the end of each season, we distribute the funds according to the total number of votes.
Unique collaboration with Spotify
With the season starting, we are extending the possibility for the fans to follow their club a little bit closer through a unique collaboration with Spotify. 17 football podcasts, including a supporter pod for every club in Allsvenskan, will be available at Spotify´s new Allsvenskan hub.
The 16 club-specific podcasts will consist of newly founded pods, as well as already well-established ones. One thing they have in common is that they are driven by passionate supporters with a genuine love for the sport. Discovery's expert commentators Irma Helin and Jonas Dahlquist will also share their knowledge and views of the league through special episodes.
By supporters, for supporters
Raúl Valencia Lopez, Marketing manager for Unibet, Sweden has been working on this project together with Spotify and Swedish elite football. We had the opportunity to ask Raúl some questions regarding the collaboration. He opens our sit down with:
“We are so thrilled about this partnership. By players, for players is Unibet’s motto and in this collaboration, we add a deeper meaning to it and create something that is by supporters, for supporters. As a main sponsor of the Swedish elite football league, it is only natural for us to be a part of this and together with Spotify, to support these 17 podcasts in this unique venture.”
How did the idea of collaborating with Spotify come up?
We have data on the importance of a long-term relationship with our customers, and we have always had the ambition to start a collaboration with the biggest podcasts for our audience. Since there wasn’t any availability to collaborate with the biggest ones, we turned to a player we know focuses a lot on building its own content through podcasts, Spotify. But instead of doing one podcast, we made 17 together!
Some of the supporter podcasts already exist and have been on the air for a while. What was the reaction when you talked to them about this?
This wasn’t doable without the biggest podcasts in form of BBPodd, Testa Stör and DIFPodden. These were vital to make it possible with all the podcasts. The dialogue was tight with representatives from mainly Testa Stör (AIK), with whom we’ve done some things the previous season, but since we started the dialogues with them, they’ve always been positive.
What does this collaboration with Spotify mean?
It means that this initiative is partly funded by Unibet. The money is used to empower the podcast by giving them the right equipment, funds and the time to make the best possible content. In return, we are aligning with one of the most hyped-up brands in the tech world. We are also getting our brand aligned directly into the supporters' cores and can communicate our content in a team-specific manner.
Unibet is the main sponsor to Allsvenskan and Superettan with amazing projects like Unicoach and Hemmaklubben. Why podcasts?
To be able to ensure the good things we do reach our audience, we must make sure that they are seen, or in this case heard, by the right people. We need to develop ourselves together with our customers’ habits so that we follow them wherever they are.
Has this been done before?
This is the first time in Spotify’s history this has been done. It’s the biggest collaboration in podcasts for Spotify ever.
One last question – which podcast are you looking forward to the most?
As a proud AIK supporter, I really like to hear “Testa Stör”, the AIK podcast. But for those who want to have a more overarching take of the Allsvenskan, I recommend “Allsvenskan enligt Irma och Jonas” with the two Discovery pundits Irma Helin and Jonas Dahlquist who have a weekly podcast, talking about Allsvenskan.
Everyone can tune in
Everyone with a Spotify account, free or premium, will be able to listen to the podcasts. One episode a week will be released from each of the different podcasts which will make up for a total of approximately 1.000 unique episodes throughout the season.
