How Sparta football team managed the change of visual identity in Freelo and how it continues to manage projects today

Karel Dytrych asks for Freelo
Kamil Veselý, Marek Časta a Rudolf Reisner answer for AC Sparta Praha

Modern, but with respect for tradition. This was the spirit behind the complete change of the visual identity of AC Sparta Praha football club, which has a history of more than 120 years in the world of football, in 2021. New logo, jerseys, merchandise or custom font - several companies and freelancers worked on this large project. How did Freelo help them?

“I have to say that since we started using Freelo, I have a much better overview of the organization of my department. Project Management is much easier, it objectively saves everyone time. Another indisputable advantage for us is that our suppliers use the same program, so coordinating activities is even easier.“

Kamil Veselý Marketing Director AC Sparta Praha fotbal, a.s.
Sparta Football Club has changed its visual identity. Source

Key partners showed us how to work with Freelo

Managing projects and tasks via email was becoming unbearable for Sparta employees. Behind the 90-minute effort of the 11-member team is a large crew and a number of departments that deal with ticket sales, merchandising, sponsorship, partner fulfillment and building management, among other things. The marketing department alone employs 15 people, so they started looking for another solution. After MS Teams and email, they finally landed in Freelo, which they got to know through partners.

“Freelo allowed us to closely link not only the three key stakeholders but also the other expert consultants who worked on the project. Thanks to Freelo's features, it was always clear which person was responsible for a given task and the other team members had a perfect overview of the next steps. The great cooperation of the whole team allowed us to present the new visual identity of Sparta as we wanted and within the deadline we set.“

Rudolf Reisner Project Coordinator, Brand Manager, AC Sparta Praha fotbal, a.s.
Sample of Sparta football team projects.

The creation of the new visual identity took a year and a half

To modernize and unify. This was the main goal of the complete visual change of the Sparta's identity. The process from project approval to implementation took approximately year and a half and cost one million CZK. The project involved several entities, besides Sparta, also graphic designers, sports agency 2Score, Go4Gold, Footballmania, and others.

12 projects
33 active users
500+ all tasks
8.000+ comments on tasks

“We managed the whole project in Freelo. This allowed us to connect the three main big entities that worked on the project. Everything had to fit together nicely, so we chose one coordinator at Freelo to oversee the project, and that kept it moving forward.“

Marek Časta Senior Digital Marketing Specialist, AC Sparta Praha fotbal, a.s.
Creation of the new Sparta football team logo. Source

The change has divided fans into two camps

As the Sparta marketing team predicted, this major change has divided the fans. While some liked the new logo or jerseys, others had to get used to the change gradually. After some time, however, the marketers found through research that the project was a success. Most fans ended up liking Sparta's new visual identity and jersey sales doubled or tripled.

“The most difficult thing was to decide for such a big change, which is unprecedented among Czech football teams. In the end we managed to do it successfully thanks to the great upper management that Sparta has, but also thanks to the fans.“

Marek ČastaSenior Digital Marketing Specialist, AC Sparta Praha fotbal, a.s. Source

Freelo helps Sparta with smaller projects

The work with Freelo didn't end with the change of visualization for Sparta. They continue to manage CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) projects such as the AC Sparta Praha Foundation Tournament, the vaccination centre against Covid-19 directly in the Letná grounds or the T-Mobile match of dreams come true.

Read also 2Score plays the major league in sports marketing and Freelo helps them significantly

“We mainly use Freelo to communicate and keep projects on track. We recently dealt with a change of ticketing vendor. We connected 4 different parties in Freelo that could communicate with each other comfortably.“

Marek Časta Senior Digital Marketing Specialist, AC Sparta Praha fotbal, a.s.

Finally, a practical TIP from AC Sparta Praha Football Club

In the case of a larger project, such as the change of the visual identity in Sparta, the coordinator who oversees the tasks in Freelo has proven to be of great help.

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