Arsenal FC

The Challenge

As one of the world’s most recognisable football clubs, Arsenal FC wanted to deepen its understanding of fan engagement and loyalty drivers across both domestic and international markets. With football evolving into a truly global entertainment product — spanning live match attendance, merchandise, digital platforms, and sponsorships — the club needed to know:

How fans were experiencing the brand across different channels (stadium, broadcast, digital, retail).
What motivated supporters to spend more time and money with Arsenal, versus following other clubs.
Where barriers existed that limited deeper engagement — particularly for international fans unable to attend matches in person.
How to strengthen the commercial value of partnerships and sponsorships by demonstrating high levels of audience cut-through and emotional connection.

Understanding this was critical to supporting Arsenal’s long-term goals of growing revenues, building global reach, and maintaining its reputation as a club with deep community roots.

The Solution

Skopos designed a multi-method research programme to explore the Arsenal fan experience in detail:

Quantitative surveys with season ticket holders, casual matchgoers, merchandise buyers, and international fans to map satisfaction and loyalty drivers.
Qualitative interviews and focus groups to explore the emotional connection supporters felt with the club, and how this compared to competitors.
Digital engagement analysis, including feedback from users of Arsenal’s website, mobile app, and social media platforms.
Segmentation modelling to identify distinct fan types (e.g. “matchday loyalists,” “digital-first supporters,” “global superfans”) and assess their relative commercial potential.
Partner perception testing, capturing how fans responded to Arsenal’s sponsorship activations and whether brand associations felt credible and authentic.

The Outcome

The insights provided Arsenal with a clear roadmap for strengthening fan relationships and maximising commercial outcomes:

Identified core motivators of fan engagement (heritage, connection to players, club values) that should be amplified in communications.
Highlighted areas of frustration (ticketing processes, merchandise availability, and international fan access) where operational improvements were needed.
Enabled the club to refine digital platforms, ensuring online content felt premium and globally accessible.
Provided evidence to strengthen sponsorship negotiations, showing partners the depth of fan passion and the reach of Arsenal’s global audience.
Supported the design of targeted fan engagement strategies for different segments, from UK match-going families to international superfans.

As a result, Arsenal FC was able to enhance its global fan engagement strategy, deliver more effective sponsorship activation, and build stronger, more profitable relationships with supporters across markets.

Arsenal FC

The Challenge

The Solution

The Outcome

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