Sponsor Interaction and Immersive Communication: The King League Case Study

Abstract

Introduction: Nowadays, traditional sports leagues are constantly seek-ing innovative ways to communicate with fans and enhance sponsor in-teraction. The rise of fast consumption and dynamic content formats has reshaped how fans engage with sports, prompting leagues to explore innovative communication strategies to stay attractive. One such exam-ple is the football Kings League, founded by the professional footballer Gerard Pique, who has stood out for pioneering dynamic formats and immersive experiences to engage fans and improve bonding ties with sponsors. Moreover, the league’s innovative approach extends beyond traditional boundaries by leveraging celebrity endorsements from vari-ous domains, thereby attracting new audiences to the sports arena. This scenario provides a baseline for investigating how the Kings League is reshaping sports communication in response to changing dynamics of fan engagement. Objectives: Examine the innovative approaches the Kings League uses to engage fans and develop sponsorship relationships through dynamic formats and immersive experiences. Evaluate the effectiveness of dynamic formats and immersive experiences in capturing audience attention and building strong fan relationships. Compare the communication strategies of the Kings League and tradi-tional sports leagues such as La Liga, identifying differences and simi-larities in approaches to fan engagement and working with sponsors. Methodology: For this qualitative study, document analysis will be em-ployed as the primary methodological approach. The study involves a systematic review and interpretation of textual data extracted from offi-cial league documents such as reports, press releases, marketing materi-als, broadcasting channels taken from the official websites and social media platforms of the Kings League and La Liga. Results: The preliminary results describe an extraordinarily innovative communication strategy developed in at least four directions. Firstly, due to the selection of marketing communication tools, integrated pub-lic relations stands out, characterized by transmediality and hybridiza-tion of messages. Secondly, the prominence of social channels is appre-ciated, particularly Twitch. Thirdly, there has been a drastic change in the prescribers and opinion leaders who have become internet celebri-ties, such as Ibai Llanos. Finally, there is also greater access to a younger audience (Generation Z and Alpha) interacting with the content. Discussion: The comparative analysis of the results reveals substantial differences between the communication strategies developed by the Kings League and La Liga. Although innovative and current elements exist in La Liga’s communication, the Kings League stands out for its 360º communication in digital media and for creating a new commu-nication model. Conclusions: Among the conclusions, the idea that the communication strategy has been a critical element in the idea of the Kings League’s football business model stands out. This strategy has opened doors to a new collaboration framework with new sponsors and new segments of the target audience. Given its recent creation, it is still early to predict its viability, especially in a media environment immersed in accelerated and continuous change.