50 years of Katowice’s Spodek

The Katowice Spodek was opened on May 8, 1971. It is one of the city’s architectural icons, managed by PTWP Event Center since May 2016. In 2016-2019, the Spodek operator worked on refreshing the image of Spodek, distinguishing its offer against the background of growing competition from MICE facilities and presenting a new quality of management in a facility previously neglected in this respect. The COVID-19 pandemic changed everything, eliminating plans for a suitably grand celebration of the 50th anniversary of the sports and entertainment hall. As a result of the lack of events since March 2019, the Spodek manager lost the ability to generate income and thus manage the budget allocated for the anniversary celebrations. In the face of uncertainty regarding the epidemic status and the applicable restrictions, a decision was made to conduct the 50th birthday of Spodek exclusively through online activities and focused on comprehensive media relations. The budget for cooperation with the media was PLN 0.

From the analysis of press publications and monitoring of the surroundings, conclusions were drawn for the development of the strategy:

– Thanks to its original architecture, Spodek has become one of the most characteristic buildings in Poland. Despite the passage of five decades, the design and solutions used still fascinate professionals and amateurs of good architecture

– the facility enjoys the sentiment of music and sports enthusiasts from all over the world, it is famous for its very good atmosphere during events held there

– in the face of growing competition from modern arenas, as well as the challenges brought by the pandemic, the manager of Spodek faces the difficult task of maintaining relations with key event organizers and ensuring that the calendar of events is filled again after the industry is unfrozen

Obtaining significant qualitative and quantitative media coverage in the absence of a real anniversary event required adopting appropriate strategic assumptions to support the facility manager in the task of refilling the Spodek event calendar, made more difficult by the pandemic. The most important ones included:

– inflow of new knowledge about Spodek, which would allow for the preparation of publications from a “fresh” perspective;

– triggering emotions by recalling experiences that accompany concerts, matches, meetings with stars and other events.

– taking advantage of the fact that access to similar facilities was limited for over a year after the anniversary culmination;

– strong involvement of the most important media and establishing cooperation with them in order to obtain quality publications.

Thanks to the relations with the media developed over the years, open communication about the difficult situation in which the event industry finds itself and interesting content developed on the occasion of the anniversary, selected media became co-creators of the celebrations and communication of the 50th anniversary of Spodek, which, under the circumstances, could not celebrate the anniversary in a manner appropriate to the function of the facility.

Media relations activities are carried out throughout the anniversary year. They culminated in May, when the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of the hall’s operations fell on a daily basis.

Communication with the media is based on traditional tools of cooperation, such as: press releases, interviews, expert positioning, meetings with the media, as well as presenting interesting facts and the history of the facility during individual visits and tours of Spodek. During such tours, materials are created that present facts, interesting facts or photos previously unknown to the general public, thanks to which, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the facility, it is possible to rediscover it, arouse interest in the hall, about which – it would seem – everyone already knows everything. As a result, exclusive materials are created. For example, a series of materials was created within the TVN Group – Spodek appeared, among others, in the programs “Dzień dobry TVN”, “Co za tygodni”, TVN24 news materials, a program for TVN GO. Celebrating its 50th anniversary, Spodek was also the place from which the Katowice branch of TVN, celebrating its 20th birthday, broadcast.

For the purposes of the 50th anniversary communication, a set of 50 most interesting, previously unknown to the general public, stories, anecdotes, and facts from the history of Spodek was developed, enriched with archival photo and video materials.

In cooperation with the media, the Spodek manager encourages readers to send in their memories – the most interesting of them were published, for example, by the strongest regional title – Dzienniki Zachodni (PPG Group). Journalists from Radio 357 and Radio Katowice, for example, were invited to moderate debates devoted to Spodek, organized in a live studio broadcasting from Spodek during the anniversary celebrations.

Individual cooperation with individual editorial offices resulted in, for example, live entries from the intriguing technical attic right under the Spodek dome, inaccessible on a daily basis, and other spaces previously closed to the public, such as dressing rooms, trapdoors (mobile warehouses, one of the greatest secrets of Spodek), or the VIP box.

Journalists who themselves have many memories of Spodek and are happy to share them were invited to cooperate – this is how, for example, Piotr Stelmach hosted a three-hour broadcast “Zielony Żoliborz” on Radio 357, devoting it entirely to discussions about Spodek and recalling the best events from the 50-year history of the facility.

The messages highlight the distinctive features of Spodek: architecture, historical moments, the advantages of the facility and the opportunities that the hall and its manager create for event organizers. On their basis, appropriately profiled materials for the media are prepared.

Thanks to cooperation with the media, nearly 3,000 press, radio and internet publications were generated between January and mid-May 2021, with a total reach of 318,998,140. Mentions in SoMe brought in a further 27,998,680. The advertising equivalent exceeded PLN 3 million, with a zero budget from the Spodek manager. The media involved in the cooperation brought added value by drawing from archives and preparing new content. Cooperation with media partners was carried out on a free basis.