Elevate Lands Venezia Hospitality Contract
By Bradley Rial
Italian football team Venezia has entered into a partnership with the Elevate agency, with the deal designed to accelerate the club’s commercial growth following its return to Serie A.
As Venezia’s agency operating partner, Elevate will provide support across business strategy, hospitality, corporate partnerships and creative.
Elevate will curate “unique and premium” matchday experiences, including Venezia’s first hospitality boat, which was designed by the agency’s creative team to offer supporters and guests with a unique journey to home matches at the Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo.
The boat experience, which was announced last month, has been dubbed La Serenissima and debuted on Sunday ahead of Venezia’s 2-0 home defeat against Lecce. Elevate chief executive and chairman Al Guido joined supporters on the boat to mark the occasion.
Francesca Bodie, the former chief operating officer of Oak View Group, was also on the boat. Bodie, along with her father Tim Leiweke, the former chief executive of OVG, acquired a significant minority stake in Venezia back in May.
Elevate will also lead partner discovery and commercial growth for Venezia, focusing on identifying brands that align with the club’s identity and expanding its portfolio of commercial sponsors.
‘Hospitality beyond four walls’
Drew Bryant, chief creative officer at Elevate, added: “The floating experience, La Serenissima, is hospitality beyond four walls. Rather than build a room that asks guests to look inward, we built a vessel that turns them toward Venice itself, because for this club, the city isn’t the backdrop, it’s the brand.
“This boat belongs to the club and the city because they are one and the same. So we made the city part of the match day itself: Venetian craft throughout, green and orange always in balance, and an interior deliberately moody so Venice is the brightest thing in the room. A thousand years of memory earned that skyline; our job was to send every guest home with a memory of their own.”
Bodie said: “Returning to Serie A is a moment of pride for our club and our supporters. We are partnering with Elevate to ensure we have the expertise and infrastructure in place to compete at the highest level – not just on the pitch, but across every aspect of our organisation.”
In April, Venezia announced it had secured the contract to manage the new stadium that is being developed as part of the Bosco dello Sport complex in the Tessera neighbourhood of Venice.
A groundbreaking ceremony for the new 18,500-capacity stadium was held last October. The complex extends over an area of 116 hectares, with the stadium also set to host rugby matches and major live events such as concerts. A 10,000-seat arena is also being developed.
Elevate was also recently appointed as Manchester United’s first official hospitality partner.
