Sydney FC uses Storyblok’s CMS to build digital experiences to boost match day revenue by 370%
A category leader in content management system (CMS) Storyblok, was used by Australia’s most successful football club Sydney FC to build a digital stadium experience that generates a massive amount of engagement from the fans.
Back in 2018, Sydney FC had to embark on a 4-year journey playing at different sites across Sydney so the aged Allianz Stadium could be rebuilt from the ground up. This was exhausting for the team and fans who missed having a stadium of their own.
As the end of construction approached, Sydney FC knew it needed to do something special to build enthusiasm for the team’s return to the new stadium. The club decided to work with Herbert Digital, a Storyblok Certified Partner, to build an exciting digital stadium experience with Storyblok in just 4 months.
Along with being the main source of content for everything about Sydney FC, the website features an Experience Selector that enables fans to pick the best seats for their circumstances and the atmosphere they want to enjoy.
Says Jeremy Butler, head of consumer business, marketing and content at Sydney FC: “We were under intense time pressure to create relevant content for the website. The intuitive design of Storyblok was effective in allowing our content team to approach the project with minimal training. We, as marketers, can independently change the content without having to involve developers. This, combined with the ability to view changes in real-time, allowed us to achieve our objective ahead of the deadline.”
Thanks to Storyblok’s Visual Editor, Sydney FC was able to create all of the content in the CMS in just two weeks. When it launched in 2022, the website had over 1 million page events. Match day revenue skyrocketed by 370%, and attendance increased by 228% year-over-year.
Sydney FC only planned to use the website for the initial return to the stadium, but after seeing this success and experiencing how easy and cost-effective it is to manage content with Storyblok, it decided to continue using it as its primary membership hub.
Says Dominik Angerer, co-founder and CEO of Storyblok: “Great digital experiences generate excitement far beyond the devices that they live on. Sydney FC has been able to use compelling content to drive action by their fans, leading to record revenue and attendance. This is a winning strategy, both on and off the pitch.”
