Episode 545: Bayern Munich CMO Rouven Kasper on Soccer Fandom, U.S. Growth, and Global Reach

**Lance** (0:13)
Welcome to the Inside the ICE House podcast. Today's guest is Rouven Kasper. He is the CMO of global football power, Bayern Munich. Rouven, thanks so much for joining us inside the ICE House. Happy to have you here.

**Rouven Kasper** (0:24)
Perfect being here, Lance. Thanks for inviting me.

**Lance** (0:26)
Bayern Munich has long been a powerhouse on the field, but the club has really evolved into a truly global brand. How do you think about the regional to global transformation and the club's evolution into an institution really, that's recognized by fans, obviously in Germany, but fans all around the globe, including here in the US.?

**Rouven Kasper** (0:48)
So I think everything is getting more and more global. And when you talk about the spot number one globally, which is still growing heavily, and you're one of the biggest assets in this market, you are also automatically growing globally. And when you look at our squad, which is representing 10 nations, there you see already for sure we are localized in Germany. We come from the Bundesliga, but when you see where the Bundesliga is now broadcast in over 200 countries, that we always play in the Champions League, that we are in the UEFA ranking, we are number one before Real Madrid and before Paris Saint-Germain.
We are a global asset, and that's something which we make profit out. So we have 1.1 billion interested people into us, into the club. We have many, many followers in different regions. In Asia alone, we have over 500 million followers. So we are global asset, and that's something which was not yet there maybe 20 years ago, but that's something which has to do with the industry, but as well how we do our business, and at the end, how we perform on a global stage.

**Lance** (2:00)
So when you think about competing not just on the field, but in the global brand landscape right alongside clubs like Real Madrid that you mentioned, PSG, Man U, Barcelona and others, how would you sort of define or describe what differentiates Bayern from those other clubs? Not necessarily on the field, because obviously everyone has their own players, everyone has their own style, but off the field when it comes to branding and marketing and getting that fandom globally.

**Rouven Kasper** (2:23)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. The colleagues there are doing an amazing job, and when it comes to followers and everything, I think Real Madrid is the number one, and then we are directly following. And when you have this possibility of this 1.1 billion followers on our social media, we have 220 million followers. So these are really the fans who are engaged, who are communicating every day with us. And knowing that we have almost 450,000 members, so we are members-owned club, and this is the biggest difference to almost all the other clubs. When you look to the Premier League, to La Liga, to Serie A, most of the times, there are investors in there. And we are a very, very solid, traditional club. We are a powerhouse.
We stand for pleniple success when it comes to sports performance, but also to very strong values. For sure, everybody knows that Germany is a quality-based country for the Oktoberfest and everything. And these are all topics which we try to bring into the international landscape. For sure, from my perspective, and I'm now the CMO since half a year, we still think a little bit too local, too German. And that's something which we need to push us as well, interpreting our brand and more on a global scale, bringing these kind of German USPs to local markets. Doesn't matter if it's to the US, to Latam, to Asia, where the potential is not yet there where we want to be. So there is a lot of room of improvement. But when you look at 95% of our social media followers, they are out of the German speaking countries.
But our members at the same time are for 85% from the Dach region. You see the potential in which we need to work for. And then we will speed up and let's see who is in the first row in the next 10 years.

**Lance** (4:33)
Absolutely. And so you mentioned a lot of countries there. You mentioned a lot of regions. Asia, Lat-Am, obviously non-German speaking countries, and Europe, so on and so forth.
When you look at some of those priority growth markets, how do you bring authenticity when you're trying to expand your footprint into those regions? Because obviously you want to take advantage of them. You want to spread what Bayern does. You want to spread the brand. You want it to grow. You also want it to be authentic. You want how you're pitching these people to feel authentic so that they can really connect with you. How do you bring authenticity into everything?