Ever wondered what it would be like to work for FIFA? We spoke to Will Kennedy about his role as Social Media Manager…
Tell us about yourself, what is your current role and what roles have you done previously?
Hello I’m Will Kennedy and I’m in the digital content team at FIFA. In my previous role, I’ve worked as a strategist for a sports marketing agency and before that, I worked at an advertising agency in their digital and social team working on a range of lifestyle, sport and food and drink brands.
What do you do in your current role?
My role is split. I help produce and distribute content for FIFA’s own channels and for its broadcasters and partners.
“Normal” isn’t a thing in sport so what does an “average” week look like for you?
For the past month I’ve been in Qatar working on the FIFA Arab Cup. We’ve been testing out new ideas and formats that hopefully you’ll see at the World Cup in 2022.
When we are not at competitions or events, there is a lot of planning to do. FIFA is not like a club or a league where you have regular moments every week to produce content around, so we constantly have to think of fun ways to reimagine the archive and engage the fans.
How did you end up where you are right now? When did you know you wanted to work in sport?
When I worked at an advertising agency, I worked on two alcoholic drink brands that sponsored rugby and Formula 1. Working on these accounts, I got to travel the world and create social media content at the games and races I went to. This experience combined my lifelong love of sport, tapped into my passion to create engaging content, and allowed me to travel the world so I decided to pursue this further.
What is your number one focus when it comes to your work?
Trying to keep up with all the latest trends in content, social and sport.
Can you tell us about a time you failed and what you learned from it?
When I moved to FIFA it took a while to get used to an organizing body’s mindset. We must be impartial. When you’re not, you quickly find out from the comments section…
What are you excited about in your industry at the moment?
Web3 and the content creator economy.
If you could change one thing about your Industry, what would you change?
Racism and hate speech on social networks. It’s ridiculous that the platforms haven’t taken a stricter stance on it, but I hope to see it changing in the future – as soon as possible.
Sport is a hectic industry, what do you do to switch off?
Living close to the mountains in Switzerland means I get to ski a lot in the winter and hike in the summer. I also like to switch off with a game of golf.
What is the one piece of advice you would give to someone wanting to work in the sports industry?
Build your network. Add people on LinkedIn, drop them a message and introduce yourself and your passion. You’ll be surprised how many people are actively hiring or on the lookout for new talent and open to conversations with people in the industry.
How can people follow what you get up to…
Check out some of the teams work at @FIFAWorldCup & @FIFAWomensWorldCup on Instagram & Facebook, FIFA TV on YouTube.
Thanks for reading our Industry Insider with Will Kennedy! If you want to read more from the series, you can do so by clicking here.
