In Venice, even football works in its own way

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“How to win in football by losing matches” is the title of an article published in February on Bloomberg which spoke of the Venice soccer team and its recent commercial success. A few months before the English edition of Esquire he wrote: “With such attractive shirts, does anyone care if they never win again?”. The title of the article was «Fashion FC: how Venice became the trendiest soccer team in the world». And of similar items many others can be found, above all in the international press.

From these points of view, Venice in recent years has actually been a success with few precedents and a case that made school. Between the last year in Serie B and last season in Serie A, for example, merchandising sales went from generating around 730 thousand euros in revenues to over 3 million: a huge amount for a small newly promoted team that becomes even more remarkable if we consider its recent history, mostly made up of such frequent difficulties and failures that it has never allowed it to create a solid bond with its city (such as Rome in Rome, Fiorentina in Florence, Naples in Naples).

Of those 3 million euros generated by merchandising thanks to skills and strategies brought by its American ownership, 96 percent came from abroad (from 27 different countries). This data roughly encompasses what Venice has been in recent years: a team relaunched by foreign investors and professionals who have brought solidity by focusing on marketing as much as on the sporting side. But so far the sporting results have mainly served for marketing: many small teams have passed through Serie A in recent years, few have been able to benefit from it like Venezia.

Those 96 percent of sales abroad also say that there are two teams, or rather three: one seen from abroad, one seen from Italy and one seen from its territory. Locally, however, the last few years of Venezia were told in much less enthusiastic tones: the sporting result prevailed, considered essential and primary for those who follow the team closely.

Last year, the first Serie A championship after a long time ended with a relegation from last place at the end of a season also made up of disputes, battles on the sidelines and differences within the sports management which culminated in the resignations of Paolo Poggi and Mattia Collauto, the two former Venetian footballers (much loved in the city) who had contributed to the relaunch of the team.

Even the current season, in Serie B, had started very badly, so much so that until a few weeks ago the team risked the second relegation in a row despite the large investments made in the summer to immediately return to Serie A. In the winter transfer market, however, the The club corrected its mistakes by changing everything: players, coaches and sports management. In this way, she not only managed to save herself, but also qualified for the promotion playoffs on the last match day. Like two years ago, therefore, Venezia has the possibility of returning to Serie A, even if they won’t even play as favorites in the first round of the playoffs: Saturday night against another regenerated team in the current championship, Claudio Ranieri’s Cagliari.

But it is precisely in these months of difficulty on the field that Venezia has become an international brand, pursuing some of the most interesting projects that can now be found in the world of football, especially in Italy, where outside of the big teams the methods of do are still “those of the past”.

It all started symbolically after the promotion in Serie A with the transition from Nike to Kappa as technical supplier, a choice made to have more control over the productions and to associate with another Italian brand. And thanks to the freedom granted by Kappa, the famous shirts designed by the New York creative agency Nowhere FC were created for the return to Serie A. The club’s renewal was then completed with the makeover of the “brand identity” — logo, website, uniforms — entrusted entirely to the German studio Bureau Borsche, which in Italy has also redone the image of Inter.

The Serie A return shirts are the ones that drove the increase in sales. And from there, thanks to the image built around the club, the Venezia kits have become better known than the team itself. In addition to selling a lot, they continue to be worn in the most diverse settings: by Vampire Weekend, by Måneskin or by Pete Doherty in concert, by Larry Nance of the New Orleans Pelicans before an NBA game (in this case a fake shirtit was later discovered) or by actor Matthew Fox at a press conference in Cannes.

But in the last two seasons, Venezia has also carried out initiatives that have helped to define its brand even better, following the four long-term objectives that the American ownership has set itself: sporting excellence and example of integrity, social responsibility, commitment to towards the community, safeguarding the cultural and environmental heritage of Venice.

April 25th, Feast of San Marco and the Liberation. pic.twitter.com/WRGCTEGfDw

— Venezia FC (@VeneziaFC_IT) April 25, 2023

There is a collaboration with the Iuav University (the University Institute of Architecture of Venice), which among other things has led to the creation of clothing lines that have contributed to the volume of sales with refined and quality products. Uncommon editorial initiatives and partnerships for Italian provincial football are regularly proposed, such as some of the most recent: the collaboration with the Moovit to facilitate the journey of fans to the stadium, the commitment with Ocean Space, an organization that promotes the protection of the oceans, and support for associations that seek to protect the city and the Venetian lagoon.

Even the reactions to these initiatives, however, seem to get more feedback from abroad than in Italy. This can also be seen from the flow of comments in Italian which until recently usually appeared under contents that did not strictly concern football, with comments such as this: «Excuse me, but tomorrow is the match and do you think about these things? » (the comment in question was a a video in which Linda Joronen, environmental educator and wife of the current goalkeeper of Venezia, discussed with Jane da Mosto the association We Are Here Venice on the occasion of Earth Day).

Seen from abroad, Venice fascinates, sells and makes one wonder to what extent results on the pitch count. In Italy, and in Venice, the perspective is completely different. Commercial initiatives do not find so much following, and if they do, they remain confined to certain sector niches. Attention is above all to the results, which overall have been excellent for a team that ceased to exist just over five years ago, but which do not seem to be sufficient for the public.

Between the current season and the past one, the results obtained on the pitch have aroused protests, in particular from organized supporters, and made the environment around the team rather cold, if not generally hostile and negative.

This was noticed for months at the Penzo stadium, already in itself little frequented in the coldest periods of the year, due to its position and the way it is exposed to the bad weather of the lagoon. The company also had to manage the discontent of the fans online as well, making the decision to apply rather strict moderation to its Facebook page, the most frequented by the local public of all the social networks in which it is present. The club explained: “Over the past year, the nature of the comments on this platform has degenerated, to the point of misrepresenting the club’s values ​​and misrepresenting the spirit of the Venetian community as a whole.”

(Paola Garbuio/LaPresse)

The company also added that “the use of aggressive and unreasonable tones” risked alienating “existing and potential fans and partners, with the ultimate danger of weakening the club, its economy and its ability to compete at the highest levels”.

In recent months, however, the contribution made by the new coach, Paolo Vanoli (Antonio Conte’s former assistant at Chelsea and Inter), and the team’s ever-improving performances have helped to reconcile the environment and justify the many investments made by the company on players, especially foreign players, who have not been paid up to now.

This moment of Venice, which will try to continue in the playoffs, is represented in particular by a player, the Finnish center forward Johan Pohjanpalo, who with his goals has in a certain sense guided the recovery of the team. In his case, however, it’s not just the goals that matter. Pohjanpalo seems to represent what the fans would like from their team: more attachment and sharing, as well as a decisive presence on the pitch. Although coming from abroad with an international career, Pohjanpalo has chosen to live in Venice, for example, and not in Mestre as most of the team does for reasons of convenience (the training fields are there). At the end of the matches, then, it has become a tradition to see him have a beer with the fans at the stadium bar, still wearing the game uniform.

(Paola Garbuio/LaPresse)

The company is now trying to support this reconciliation with the local public by concentrating more on its presence in the area, which in recent years has been somewhat overshadowed by the success it has enjoyed abroad: «We will still be innovative and you will see us doing more for bring fans closer to the team» had already said in February the president Duncan Niederauer, former CEO of the New York Stock Exchange.

Since then the club has reorganized itself to address its territory, not just on the promotional side. The renovation works of the Taliercio sports center in Mestre are underway, after having been financed also with the issue of bonds through an online platform. In this way the club has raised over 5 million euros from fans and supporters from 33 different countries. The stadium, on the other hand, remains an open and complex question. Having one in the lagoon is suggestive, but also counterproductive due to a whole series of limits that cannot be overcome (dimensions, practicality and connections, above all). For this reason, the club is supporting the project of the municipality of Venice for a new plant near Mestre, which however has recently been hampered by the exclusion from the PNRR, the national recovery and resilience plan with which the Italian government plans to spend European funding from the Recovery Fund.

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