AC Milan has confirmed its role as a key player in the licensing sector. Valerio Rocchetti tells us about the evolution of a club that looks to the future as a global brand.

AC Milan is now recognized as a global lifestyle brand, connecting with fashion, culture, and art. How has the role of Ecommerce, Retail & Licensing Director changed in recent years, and which skills are essential today to succeed in this sector?

Valerio Rocchetti: When I joined Milan in 2020, the department consisted of only two people and generated around €6 million in revenue. Our model was typical of many football clubs: outsourcing, low royalties, and few internal synergies. Today, we are a 25-person business unit, with team members coming from different industries, because I believe in cross-sector collaboration. Last year, we reached €31.6 million in revenue. This year, we aim to further improve.

We completely changed our approach: we internalized ecommerce, worked on the product, services, and customer centricity.

We are aware of the extraordinary projects related to AC Milan’s 125th anniversary, from collaborations with iconic brands such as NYY, Off-White, New Era, Medicom, and Assouline, to the celebratory kit designed by fans for the fans. What do you think was the key element that made this project so successful?

We started working on the 125th anniversary celebratory plan two years ago, with a clear goal: positioning Milan as a global lifestyle brand, with a narrative that could speak both to long-time fans and a newer, younger audience. From July to December, we created a true journey, with a drop on the 16th of every month (leading up to the anniversary on December 16th, 2024) in collaboration with notable partners: from eco-friendly bottles with 24Bottles to jewelry with Nove25 (a well-known Italian brand in the USA), to the sold-out collaboration with the New York Yankees and the lifestyle project with Off-White.

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Read the full article written by Federica Pazzano on licensingitalia.it