According to a 2019 survey of leading global sports organizations, 94% of decision makers believe that innovation is important or very important to their future development. However, only 46% of them are currently implementing a concrete innovation strategy.
The COVID-19 pandemic has clarified the need for sports organizations to be innovative, able to operate and thrive in a fast changing macro environment, respond to opportunities, transform the culture, use new tools, define new business models, and minimize risks.
Gary P. Pisano, a thought leader on the management of innovation at the Harvard Business School, argues that sustaining innovation activities requires strategic planning. An innovation strategy serves as a handy tool to align diverse groups and business units in the organization, clarify objectives and aspirations, focus efforts and drive communication.The innovation efforts must be articulated so that they can be aligned with the organization’s overarching goals.
N3XT Sports supports clients in the sports industry by developing a holistic innovation strategy that can guide the development of innovation and establish it as a key pillar of their overall strategy & business objectives.
Our work in innovation strategy goes from A to Z; from setting up the mission, tactics, operations, staffing, type of skill sets, the cost structure, to then potential revenue streams, business modeling, both internal and external communication strategy as well as an internationalization strategy.
We conducted these steps on behalf of one of the top football clubs in the world which has set an ambition to become a reference point in the world of sports. Read on to better understand the steps we took to co-create this strategy and how it delivered value to our client.
PHASE 1: Exploring the club's innovation context
At the offset of the project, we enabled our client to accumulate quick learnings on the state of the industry of innovation in sports. We produced detailed business cases for them thanks to a thorough market research that our team performed alongside 1-on-1 interviews that we arranged for thanks to our unparalleled access in the industry. Once the benchmarking exercise was concluded, we facilitated several ideation sessions to develop a vision, mission and key objectives for the club’s innovation activity. During these sessions, we supported the client to decide the exact focus of the club when it comes to innovation.
Finally, we designed a comprehensive set of innovation-specific frameworks and blueprints to be used by all stakeholders when carrying out the innovation activity.
PHASE 2: Defining the club’s innovation structure
To ensure that innovation was an activity that grew as results were achieved over time, the next step was to define what the minimum viable structure would be for innovation. This was supported by defining the key activities that needed to be achieved and prioritizing them on a season-by-season basis. With an understanding of the time, budget and people needed to achieve the different activities, it became clear what shape the operational team of innovation could have. Key recommendations were made on the governance of innovation within the club as well.
The next step was to define the partners that would be working with the innovation activity. Using the N3XT Sports Football Innovation Framework, these partners were categorized to see which could contribute to the club’s innovation activity. To conclude phase 2 of the project, we developed an ecosystem map to identify which partners needed to be onboarded and how.
PHASE 3: Planning the club’s innovation operations
The third phase of the plan focused on the cost structure and revenue streams of the innovation activity. We developed an agile budget structure that would adjust over the course of the first season based on dynamic objectives being met by the innovation activity, leaving room to access specific budget items in case of new opportunities coming up. On the revenue side, we focused on the innovation activity’s business model as well as incremental partnership opportunities.
The final step of the third phase was to recommend a series of tools & solutions to manage the innovation activities. We also co-created a series of KPIs — from internal, process, and brand KPIs, among others, that would be tracked by the innovation owners within the club.
PHASE 4: Preparing for innovation implementation
The final steps of the innovation strategy development process included communication and internationalization. With communication, there was a dual focus on developing the internal and external communication mechanisms.
As one of the top football clubs in the world, one of the main objectives for the club’s leadership was to internationalize the brand and leverage its global following. As such, the innovation strategy included the development of a list of target countries and cities, whose innovation ecosystems would align with the innovation direction of the club. These international locations were then prioritized based on their likelihood of supporting the strategic objectives of the innovation activity.
An innovation strategy can support an organization to complement future business models with current ones and future-proof it by connecting to new value ecosystems and stakeholders. With our football club client, they were able to secure a budget for innovation and launch the activity in 2020, thereby starting the shift of the brand and support of the business objectives. N3XT Sports continues its support to the club in implementing its strategy.
¨An innovation strategy serves as an essential tool to align diverse groups and business units in the organization, clarify objectives and aspirations, focus efforts and drive communication. The innovation efforts must be articulated so that they can be aligned with the organization’s overarching goals. “
Success stories like this one are becoming more and more common, and yours should be one of them. With understanding and commitment from your organization’s leadership team, the proper culture within your organization, and a clear vision of the corporate strategy, you can start your innovation activities.
Thinking about implementing an innovation strategy within your organization? Fill out this form and we will contact you as soon as possible.