One of the most gripping stories of the Summer Football World Cup was the fantastic march of the Croatian national team. The whole world was impressed as footballers who could barely even step on the field fought for their nation and each other, and their efforts were crowned with success, surpassing the legendary bronze medal of 1998 all the way to the final. Although there was no shortage of geniuses in the squad, it was mainly the team unity that raised them above the others, and the Croats themselves saw the “secret of success” in the fact that stardom here or there, in this squad everyone was equal.
Of course, the unit is primarily the merit of the professional crew and the federal captain Zlatko Dalic, but at the same time, the support from fans and media from home also greatly contributes to the creation of a positive atmosphere. Like the team's tactics, this was not left to chance: Tomislav Pacak, head of communications for the Croatian Football Association, presented at the SPORTO conference in Slovenia the campaign used during the World Cup, which put the whole country on the side of the Modric, from the president to the youngest. After the conference, Pacak also pointed out that the festive atmosphere created by the national team still persists, but at the same time the situation with the clubs is far from rosy, and the Hungarians are also envious of something: they would like to see some of the new stadiums in Croatia as well.
After the successes, it may seem natural that the Croats supported their team as one man at the World Cup, but at the same time the situation was not nearly so ideal before the tournament. The right to participate in the qualifiers warned the fans to be cautious, and since Dalic was also able to lead the team in few matches, he did not yet have the full support of the fans. Because of the overwhelming omens, there was a great need for confidence-building and a communication that would radiate unity to the nation and the outside world.
Tomislav Pacak and his team started their work with research, wondering what content most moves the Croatian sports-loving society. After trying the examples, these quotes achieved the best result: “My mom says I'm the best. And I was raised to always believe what my mother tells me.”— Diego Maradona. “Dad was a superhero. He loved football so much that even after a long working week in the port he took an extra job at the Gremio stadium as a security guard to see the game. Many times I think about what Dad said: play free and only care about the ball. Enjoy the game”— Ronaldinho. The strongest common point in the two stories is the Family. This is how the central idea, #Family (Croatian: #Obitelj), was born, which brought together three key characteristics: it expresses how football is present in the lives of Croatian families, helps to create content behind the scenes and also builds on the character of the Croatian team, that is, a strong, truly cohesive squad can compete against the star teams. it.
In the practical implementation, social networks were mainly expected, among them Instagram, which produced a great reach in Croatia. They tried to involve the players in the preparation of all content: they brought them closer to the fans with childhood photos, family photos, and even personal questions could be asked from everyone, to which those involved answered in a video on the Federation channel.
However, the really exciting part of the campaign came during the tournament. As a result of the successes, communication also “exploded” and they began to follow the Croatian national team from many parts of the world, the reach of entries increased several times. Following the strategy, the Croats mainly published images showing unity and respect and love for each other. It has become an iconic image, for example, when Luka Modric and Domagoj Vida celebrate together with their children on the track. Pacak, however, also stressed that it was only half-planned: the children were not told to go into the field, but their photographer knew at the same time that he had to take pictures that symbolized family cohesion.
In addition to the World Championship silver medal, the team gained a huge following thanks to the combined impact of the success and the campaign. Of all the national teams that participated in the World Cup, the Croats grew the most in their follower base: they grew 21.3% on Facebook, 46.4% on Twitter, 116.8% on YouTube and 188.4% on Instagram. And the “phantom likes” are ruled out by the fact that while in 1998 100,000 people waited for the bronze medalist Suker team home in Zagreb, now 550,000 people (only 4.1 million live in the whole country!) gathered to receive the heroes.
The message of family and togetherness was thus completely ingrained in Croatian everyday life and in the dressing room, and it was so “baked” about the national team that Pacak received the following message from a Brazilian photographer:”I've photographed at six World Championships so far, and in the 37 years of my career, I've never seen a team as cheerful and cheerful as yours. The beautiful football, but especially the joyful moments shown by the players and their families, say that with me. The attached photos that I have taken of you, I will definitely enter some competitions!”
According to Pacak, it is impossible to say how much the leap in popularity is due to the success achieved on the field and to what extent to communication, at the same time it can be said that the two activities strengthened each other and thus reached (almost) the throne of the football world.
After the presentation by Tomislav Pacak, we also had the opportunity to prepare an individual interview. Answering our questions, he said that Croatian club teams are also struggling to lure spectators, which could be increased by building a community similar to that of the national team, but infrastructure gaps greatly hinder their work. Pacak believes that the development of club football is also hampered by a lack of business expertise, and only a few associations can afford to work with specialists in all areas.
The success of the national team in the world title probably could not have been achieved without the background support of the Croatian people, to which professional communication provided an essential grip. These are unique and unrepeatable moments. Returning to “reality”, there is probably a lot to do in this area with the domestic championship as well. How do Croatian clubs help to communicate?
It is not easy for us to slip back into “reality”. The spread between Croatian clubs is quite large, they are at different levels in this. Dinamo and Hajduk have significantly different opportunities than the others. In addition to them, two more teams put a lot of emphasis on professional communication, the rest no less. From time to time we organize league level campaigns and motivate clubs to help our work to try to convey the same message to their audience during these periods. In addition, if a club proactively visits us, we are happy to help with their social media presence or any other activity. We don't shy away from anyone, but I admit, we could promote the league better so that we have more followers and more people go to the league games. At the same time, we work with a small team, our possibilities are limited.
We have a different relationship with each club. For example, we have a very close cooperation with Dinamo Zagreb, and it is easy to work with them. On social media, they always wish the national team every success, and we usually reciprocate this when they play in the Europa League or Champions League. Of course, we would love to do this with others, but suffice it to say that some clubs do not even have Instagram or Twitter channels.
Hajduk Split is a counterexample to Dinamo. Before the World Cup, it was stated that they would not “waste” a word on the national team. And they stuck to it, which I think was a big mistake, as many of their own supporters also stood behind the national team and resented that Hajduk stubbornly insisted on their offenses. According to them, they did not even follow the World Cup, which of course is impossible, but in terms of communication they really did nothing for us.
I think so. But this is only part of the solution. At the end of the day, what matters is what kind of product we offer, that is, what kind of football we offer. And, of course, what circumstances. Hungary, for example, is far ahead of us in terms of infrastructure development. Our president, Davor Suker, for example, always mentions you as an example, often says that Croatia would need a few new stadiums... We are also a little envious from this point of view, just as the Hungarians look with admiration at the results of our national team. So we could make a deal: You give us a couple of stadiums and we give us a couple of players. Both sides would be pleased.
Each team needs to do more for the fans and for everyone who is next to the team. Sponsors, media, everyone deserves more attention. Today on TV anyone can watch a Manchester United vs Arsenal or Real Madrid - Barcelona cheerleader, with which a match of Lokomotiva Zagreb - NK Istra is very difficult to compete with. But if the club manages to build a good relationship with their environment and become a part of their lives, they gain the emotional edge. As a Croatian, it feels completely different to support Dinamo Zagreb or, say, Barcelona. Foreign teams can also be loved, but if you support the local team where you grew up, you develop a much closer bond. It is necessary to build on this good sense of sentimentality, emotional saturation, to be able to attract more viewers to the matches.
Implementation depends primarily on human resources. As long as the clubs do not have specialists who bring professional marketing or communication approaches from the competitive sphere, we cannot expect any outstanding development. Unfortunately, in clubs, mainly due to the lack of financial resources, one person is responsible for a lot of areas, and the lack of expertise brings with it the wrong solutions. In marketing, however, creativity counts the most: clubs could also think about collecting ideas from local schools and fan circles, but I haven't seen many examples of this either. What we can do to help the process, even on an inspirational level, is to bring good examples from, for example, a professional event organized by UEFA every year and present it to the clubs. There is something that can be learned from everyone that can advance this process.
