Building Arsenal fan loyalty in India through culture and community

Arsenal wanted to strengthen its relationship with existing supporters in India while introducing the club to new audiences in a market where cricket dominates the sporting landscape and football fandom is fiercely competitive.

Matchday content alone would not be enough. To build genuine loyalty, Arsenal needed to feel relevant to Indian fans beyond what happened on the pitch. That meant understanding local culture, communicating in regional languages and creating opportunities for supporters to see themselves reflected in the club's content.

The challenge for Engage Digital Partners was to develop a long-term Fan Engagement strategy capable of connecting a global football brand with local communities while maintaining Arsenal's identity and values.

Brave Bison developed a long-term audience engagement strategy built around six content pillars: fan stories, cultural moments, influencer collaborations, player-led content, matchday storytelling and localised club communication.

More than 1,000 pieces of content were created specifically for Indian audiences, including regional-language posts, festival content and topical creative connected to India's cultural calendar.

We worked with nine Arsenal supporters' clubs to source user-generated content and bring authentic fan voices into the club's channels. Creator and celebrity partnerships also helped connect football with wider Indian culture, including activations involving Ranveer Singh, Sunil Gavaskar and Harsha Bhogle.

Fan-first moments, including personalised videos and messages from Arsenal legends, helped move the relationship beyond content consumption towards a genuine sense of belonging. The Fan Engagement programme delivered more than 18 million reach across four seasons, over 3.5 million video views and standout cultural moments that generated international media coverage.