The Anfield Wrap: Leading The Rise Of Fan Media

Fan media is the on the rise. The digital age has seen a dramatic change in the type of content football fans digest, with supporters turning away from traditional linear channels, to engage with the creators that sit alongside them in the terraces.

One of the greatest examples of this is The Anfield Wrap, the Liverpool FC fan media group, that has recently released JÜRGEN, a docuseries focused on the club’s legendary manager and created entirely in-house.

With Erdinger, NIVEA Men, Nike, and Levi’s among the brands the organisation has collaborated with, we spoke to The Anfield Wrap’s CEO, Neil Atkinson, and Head of Brand & Marketing, Craig Hannan, to find out how they are leading the way in football media’s evolving commercial landscape.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and Anfield Wrap’s journey?

Neil: The Anfield Wrap started in 2011, first and foremost as a podcast. Its unique selling point from the first moment was that it was always recorded in person. That was a really powerful factor for us. From there, Radio City Talk approached us and asked us to do a radio show, which we began doing once a week.

Elsewhere, there was an attempt to create a magazine, which was a really good product. This was done to try and find partners and sponsors but it never really took with the audience. It was an early reminder that in this football coverage world, lots of people tell you that they love high quality, prestige-based, high-end stories that go back in time with loads of research but, the vast majority of football fans just care about: ‘Is Darwin Nunez going to be fit enough for the next game?’

So, while the magazine struggled, the podcast was going from strength to strength. In March 2014 we went from two podcasts a week to 12 podcasts a week. And in 2017, we started to create jobs, building over 100 contributors across the year.

Craig: Since then, we’ve launched apps, we’ve gone on tours, and we’ve run big campaigns. One of the things I’ve tried to do is differentiate The Anfield Wrap from the entire media landscape.

Amongst all of the noise online, we want to separate ourselves from the rest. We’ve done this through big brand campaigns such creating as a Trent Alexander Arnold mural on Anfield Road and most recently, a six-part docu-series on the manager, Jurgen Klopp.

Fan media is growing. Why do you think fans are switching off mainstream and watching more fan content instead?

N: I don’t like fan media being referred to as ‘DIY’ or ‘bedroom media’. As far as I’m concerned, it’s bespoke and built for purpose. The best fan media just understands the people it’s speaking to.

While it is annoying that we do not have access to the footage Sky do, like the goals, what I can say for certain is that everyone who speaks on The Anfield Wrap has watched the game. And they have not just watched the game we are talking about now, they have watched the game three months ago, or three years ago.

So, where you are often starting the conversation in fan media, is where the mainstream media is ending the conversation. For example, I do not need to introduce the idea that Dejan Lovren is a bit mad!

C: We can tell a story that maybe the mainstream media can’t tell. We’re in the stands when Liverpool beat Barcelona 4-0. People don’t want you telling them what just happened in that match. People want to know what the Kop felt like when Gini Wijnaldum scored two goals in three minutes. It’s that sort of authenticity that is fan media’s superpower.

Attracting fans is one thing. But how do you attract brands? How do you think these commercial relationships differ from the mainstream?

C: It’s taken a while in honesty. But we’ve convinced brands and sponsors with the product we offer. We are producing content daily, and anything we make or produce for a partner we would have done anyway.

We put our faces at the front of everything we do so whenever we work with a brand or partner it must be something we authentically believe in. We can’t just produce content for a partner because we’ve been paid some money.

For example, we worked with Nivea Mean to donate 50 iPads to care homes during in the pandemic to keep people in touch with families. We surprised 90-year-old care home resident, Eric, with Kenny Daglish. That’s the kind of content we would have done anyway, celebrating people in the city. We use these kinds of things as case studies for other brands.

In terms of reaching out to brands, LinkedIn is the biggest tool we use. It is a great platform to tell the story of The Anfield Wrap and how we can add value.

When competing from brand budgets, how do you separate yourselves, specifically from the mainstream media that you are competing with?

C: On budgets, we look at it as ‘lower budgets, higher creativity’. We have squeezed every dime out of these deals.

For example, on the JÜRGEN documentary, we did everything, from the idea, strategy, production to the marketing campaign, in-house. And that is quite unusual. We have a team of creatives that understand the granular detail of Liverpool’s cultural terrain. We are the Liverpool Football Club fans in Liverpool and we understand how to tell a story that resonates.

Where do you see the future of fan media going from here?

N: I think the big question is where does fan media and mainstream media crossover, and then co-habit. What does that look like? I don’t think anybody has clarity yet.

I do think that the mainstream has got closer to us. Think about the model of The Athletic. While there are obviously huge levels of journalistic professionalism around, they are focused on catering to clubs and supporters and trying to exist in our space.

There are some people on the edges, but no one is fully engaged in both.

We have some ideas to slide into that space and incorporate the authenticity of fan media and the professionalism of the mainstream.

I also look at the likes of the Goal Diggers podcast, and what they are doing with cross-club content. I think that is interesting as a direction of travel. I think you might see a lot more of those things.

C: I think fan media will become bigger and bolder. One of the things about football fans is that we are very tribal. We see one person do something and we want to do it better.

I also think you will see more and more brand work. There is clearly a niche and a space for brands to interact with authentic voices. You’ve seen the quality of fan media get better and better over time.

You’ve now got Sky Sports News on a Friday morning using four people from fan media, or BT Sport interviewing fans before the game instead of ex-professionals. Maybe you’ll see the fans in the studio one day! That will be interesting!

The first three installments of The Anfield Wrap’s JÜRGEN documentary can be found on YouTube.