Bayern launches new online service

Bayern Munich has a laser focus on marketing and its brand, but also makes a concerted effort to connect with its fans globally. To help aid those causes, Bayern created a “lite website” to ensure fans residing in areas with poor internet service would be able to connect with the club.

The move, while seemingly simple, shows the depth and measures that the club will take to ensure its fans are kept up to date, informed, and have the ability to connect with the club.

As released on FCBayern.com, the lite site will aim to ensure all Bayern fans have the ability to follow the club online:

FC Bayern Munich is the first sports organization in the world to launch an optimized website service explicitly for poor Internet connections: lite.fcbayern.com will deliver all the news about the German record champions and will focus on fast, functional delivery of content instead of its graphical representation. The club wants to offer the new, relevant service especially in areas with a high prevalence of older mobile phones, poor mobile Internet connections and restrictions with regard to internet data packages.

The “plain text” articles will be displayed on the new platform in a chronological overview and the service will initially be offered in German, English and Spanish. FC Bayern is therefore not only focusing digitally on its broadband and high-tech target groups, but is also acting in a globally inclusive manner, reaching people who are currently not reached via the current website, mobile apps or social media. This is particularly relevant for certain areas in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. But lite.fcbayern.com will also offer a fast and functional alternative to the website optimized for emotions, videos and visualizations in rural areas or on public transport.

In addition, the new service will also contribute to accessibility: blind and visually impaired users will have improved access to news for blind readers and text-to-audio services.

Certainly the effort made by the club will resonate with its fans in those areas facing access limitations.