with heart and soul towards success
Soccer is an economic factor of enormous proportion that generates billions in turnover all over the world. However, just as in any company, big goals in soccer can only be achieved in a team effort and with the proper leadership and motivation. How do you manage a soccer team and a club in professional sports? How do you motivate and emotionalize players, employees and an entire region?
European soccer champion Stefan Kuntz took over the German soccer club 1. FC Kaiserslautern in 2008 when the team experienced the most difficult times in the club’s history. He demonstrates how - when he assumed his duties while the club was in truly dire straits - he succeeded in bundling powers and arousing emotions by creating a collective team spirit in order to achieve the impossible: avoiding relegation and consolidating the club. The „heart and soul“ campaign headed by manager Stefan Kuntz was the kick-off for a transition. The goal was to inspire, emotionalize and motivate players, employees and fans alike and to increase their identification with the club. Right before the 1. FC Kaiserslautern’s impending relegation to the Third League, successfully rekindling the emotional fire and rousing the backing of an entire region for the brand „FCK“ was a major feat that can only be attributed to the highly effective marketing strategy. Amongst others, the campaign strategy included the sale of adequate fan articles as well as ticket promotions that increased average attendance at the games by 24 per cent. Thanks to the campaign, concrete economic goals were met that ensured the traditional Palatinate club’s economic survival beyond the season. In the end, the team was even able to fend off the impending relegation from Germany’s Second Soccer League. The „heart and soul” campaign turned out to be such a tremendous success that it was even honoured with the „Marketingpreis des Sports 2009“, the German marketing award of sports 2009.
Global Topspeaker Stefan Kuntz is highly experienced in all areas of professional sport. As a player with the German National Team, he won the European Soccer Championship in 1996 and with the 1. FC Kaiserslautern, he was German Champion and winner of the DFB Cup. After his active career, Stefan Kuntz was highly successful in coaching various clubs and in his capacity as chairman of the board, he effectively managed the German League Club 1. FC Kaiserslautern for many years.
Apart from the parallels between a soccer club and a commercial enterprise, the Global Topspeaker also points out the special aspects of Germany’s most beloved sport in his presentation.
Get an insight into the world of professional soccer and its similarities to modern corporate marketing practices with the entertaining presentation of sports manager Stefan Kuntz. Let yourself be emotionalized by Stefan Kuntz when he shares his experience with you in this lively lecture and demonstrates his unique approach to bringing projects under way, solving problems and breaking new ground.
Contents of the presentation:
- Analogy of soccer clubs and commercial enterprises
- Successful teamwork
- Measures for team building
- Motivation for players and employees
- Marketing strategies for soccer and business
Other lectures by Stefan Kuntz
The team is the star
In the past three decades and in his various capacities as soccer player, coach and soccer official, Stefan Kuntz has experienced all the ups and downs the soccer business has to offer and therefore knows exactly which factors make the difference between a team’s success or failure. As a team player, the 1996 European Soccer Champion experienced very different types of coaches, as a team captain and later as the chairman of a German Soccer League club, he learned what it means to assume a particular responsibility within a team.
Squad planning - finding, developing and keeping the best players
What makes a successful soccer player and how do you recruit them? What characterises a winner? And how to find the right players for a team to get the most out of the group as a whole? In particular in times where there is a shortage of specialists, many parallels become apparent between soccer players and employees in companies. But even if you promote and develop a talent, how do you make sure that the player or the employee stays with the club or the enterprise?
