Dynamo and DIGMA: "The meaning of our joint work is to surprise and inspire"

Dmitry Mankin: We are extending our cooperation with DIGMA, which means that the first year was a success for both parties. Our partner produces wonderful, high-quality, cool domestic equipment. It's no secret that many things are being digitized in football right now, and artificial intelligence adds a lot of possibilities to this. Our digitalization takes place using DIGMA technology, which has proven itself to be very convenient, reliable and multifunctional. We see a lot of good reviews from a wide variety of fans – office workers, students, gamers.

I would like to mention very modern marketing. DIGMA really builds a value connection with its audience and tries to find a non-trivial way to the hearts of consumers. Sports marketing is a logical way to increase your brand awareness due to the fact that it is shown a large number of times during the match.

But with DIGMA, we went even further by launching the Dad – Coach project, in which we talk about football players and their dads. He is very valuable and deep, reveals the connection of fathers and children. Football is definitely about the connection between dads and children, and technology is feedback, where young people can tell dads how and what works. This project has aroused great interest from fans. We would like to wish success to our partner so that our cooperation remains useful and positive.

Arina Smirnova: A year ago we signed the first agreement with Dynamo and today we are extending the contract for a new season, and perhaps this is the best assessment of cooperation that can be thought of. Last season we worked with the flagship line of DIGMA PRO, and this year we are starting cooperation with the entire parent brand of DIGMA and will speak on behalf of the entire brand.

I would like to note that in June we started selling domestic-built devices. The corporate sector is increasingly asking for equipment assembled domestically, and for us localization is primarily logistics and service. Production is built into the same support system as the rest of the products. There are fewer delays on the way, repairs are faster, the stock of parts is always in stock, and does not travel for several months.

Why did we choose football? According to research, football matches are watched by more than half of the country's population. And we choose football because it gathers all kinds of people at the screens. During the first season of partnership, we received not only an increase in brand awareness, but also a live contract with fans. We will continue to equip the club infrastructure with large screens for analyzing games, tablets for the coaching staff, laptops for employees, and so on. There will be new special projects and integrations, we will update the DIGMA zone at VTB Arena, we will continue contests and activities at all club venues.

The extension of the contract is a strategic step based on the fact that we have coincided with the club without long negotiations. Technologies should be accessible, the movement should be constant, and the result should be measurable.

Maria Starostina: We are very pleased to continue our cooperation and would like to present a gift to Alexander Kutitskiy – this is a laptop of our flagship line DIGMA PRO.

Alexander Kutitskiy: Thank you so much for the gift. To be honest, this is my first laptop in my life. I constantly see such tablets at the coaching and medical staff. They use them to monitor the activity of our training sessions, the health of the players and analyze the games. Hopefully we'll see more wins on these tablets.

– The fourth home match and the fourth extension with the sponsor. Will this series continue?

Dmitry Mankin: We like this trend. If the sponsors run out, we will ask them to sign up for the second round (laughs). Sports marketing is becoming a more understandable and interesting tool for companies. We hope that Dynamo with our approach is especially interesting for our sponsors because of the connections with our fans that we can form.

– Is Dynamo used to surprise fans, are there surprises or unexpected activities before matches?

Dmitry Mankin: We will try to do it. This is probably the point of working with a company like DIGMA – to surprise and inspire.

Maria Starostina: Integration into Dynamo home matches is one of the important components of our activities. We continue to develop, we have launched a project to support the D home stand – we give away prizes from our company at every match. And we are not going to stop there.

– Last year Dynamo signed a contract with DIGMA PRO, and this year with DIGMA. What is the reason for this?

Maria Starostina: We are undergoing a transformation within the brand. If before that there was an emphasis on the flagship line, now we are developing the brand as a whole. We are raising the level of products to the level of the flagship line and we want the basic products to be heard too, and people can choose what is right for them.

– Are you planning to co-produce a merch or a line of devices?

Maria Starostina: Collaborations and joint identity are very important components of any partnership. We create projects with meaning. Last year we did a project "We speak the same language" with the participation of Dynamo players. And for him we created a T-shirt that was wildly popular with fans. Everyone was after her and participated in our practical jokes. This year there will be more projects that we will announce as they become available.

– Do you have a feedback form from fans? How important is their opinion to you?

Dmitry Mankin: The marketing of the first wave was sociometric. We conducted research and made a representative sample, learning something about the fans. This is accurate knowledge. Or less accurate according to focus groups, when they received inspiring information for something. In the marketing of the second wave, CRM systems appeared, where we see the exemplary behavior of fans – what they buy, do, and so on. Now AI agents are being introduced that can analyze content, reviews, conversations on social networks. Good ones can even respond on behalf of clubs, give some comments. And we are just trying to build our work with the fans on this third level and understand them better.

Every season we conduct research and see that a certain number of people know that the sponsor is a partner of the team, and those who know about it have a better attitude towards him. According to all these studies, DIGMA has good recognition rates and a great attitude of fans. We see by all metrics that the brand is healthy, developing and positive.

Arina Smirnova: Thank you for such a high rating. Of course, we collect feedback in all possible channels, including from Dynamo fans. Our zone at VTB Arena has become an excellent platform for communicating directly with our users. It was a great and rewarding experience for us, because getting feedback directly from our customers is very important.

– What is the difference between cooperation this season and last year?

Arina Smirnova: We have expanded the package that we had last year. I don't want to reveal all the cards, but if you look at the shape of the players, now there is also our logo there. We want to participate even more in the activities of the club. A cool community gathers around our cooperation. A lot of creative people put a lot of energy, soul and creativity into it. I hope that we bring only the most beautiful things to our audience so that they can enjoy life and come to the stadium more often.

– Can you remember who came up with the idea to release the Dad – Coach project? Whose story impressed you the most?

Maria Starostina: I can't remember who first came up with this idea. She was just born in the process of discussion with colleagues from Dynamo. It was a synergy of creative people. I watched each issue with trepidation, and all the stories were very interesting and close. Probably, the Tyukavins' story was the first, that's why she responded like that. The last issue with Marinkin was also very interesting about how a father supports his son on his way. Many thanks to all the speakers. I hope these personal stories have found a response in the souls of the fans.

– There was a lot of writing in the press that Zenit corrupted Konstantin Tyukavin with its proposal. Will the amount of the contract with DIGMA be enough to corrupt Andrei Mostovoy?

Dmitry Mankin: I think that our relationship with DIGMA and the pace of development will allow us to include such deals in the contract in some future. But for now this season we will focus on something else. We do not disclose the amount of contracts. But the fact that you have linked these two things is quite fair. The club earns on sponsorship contracts, and the main item of expenditure is the salaries of football players.

– Was there any conversation with the players to win the trophy, because your success directly depends on it?

Maria Starostina: We go to all home games and always support the club. We are only for Dynamo to become a champion.