The Magic of Matchday
En2End bring the magic of matchday to the masses with their unique hybrid experiences. Founder Claire Hughes discusses how they create experiences for clubs, rights holders and brands that delight fans at home and away
Since being established in 2019, En2End has gone from strength to strength, successfully pivoting during the Covid-19 crisis from delivering physical VIP matchday experiences and partner activations to creating bespoke online solutions for governing bodies such as UEFA and global brands such as FedEx and Vitality.
The events Claire and her team curate provide partners with a platform for continual engagement with their own clients and fan base, as well as allowing brands to access and maximise their matchday rights.
“When Covid hit, during those first few weeks of lockdown, my husband and I came up with an online matchday experience which was a complete game-changer,” said Claire.
By combining the very best of the in-person experience with a top-class virtual presence, En2End created several hybrid and virtual events which has included a series of one-hour preview shows for UEFA, which included the Champions League, Europa League and EURO finals. This series of events brought together UEFA with their global partnership network in fully virtual attended summit and workshop sessions. The events were hosted hybrid, with some physical and remote contributors, viewed by an audience across the globe.
Hybrid Events & Connecting With Gen Z
“It’s not about replacing the in-person experience; it’s about how we’ve adapted and developed this experience to offer it to a wider audience, using technology. The fact that we have all learned to use technology more frequently in our daily lives, why would we go backwards, especially when the younger generations are watching and interacting with sport in a completely different way. You’re always going to want to be there in person – that is still the ultimate experience, but to be able to talk to a wider audience, and to a younger audience, hybrid activation is crucial. They’ve grown up as digital natives, and they’re the future fans of sport and brands. It’s about adapting the traditional way of activating. Technology is so adaptable, and it’s changing at a rate of knots. We create that in-person experience online. You can still get nice touch points, but by combining the in-person with online, you get a better fan experience whilst allowing partners and rights holders to really maximise the use of your assets.”