TSG is movement: "Credible, interesting, significant"

A survey of TSG Hoffenheim season ticket holders by a Bachelor student at the Reinhold-Würth-Hochschule (Künzelsau) has revealed a first important trend regarding the relevance of the "TSG is movement" future strategy. "We were thrilled to see how comprehensively informed our supporters are and how high the approval ratings are for our approach," explained managing director Dr. Peter Görlich.

"It's important to me that TSG is socially committed" achieved the best score – 1.38 on a scale from 1 to 4 – of all the statements that related specifically to the club. In addition, the respondents clearly felt that football clubs had an important social responsibility to fulfil: "Bundesliga clubs should assume social responsibility to the greatest possible degree" achieved a score of 1.20. "Sports clubs are role models" even scored 1.08.

The approval ratings when it came to need for social responsibility in general and specific projects in particular – ranging from the reusable cup system to our sustainable African textile brand umoja, which TSG created – were significantly high. On a scale of 1 to 5, TSG's involvement also achieved good results: "TSG is movement is ...": "credible": 1.57; "interesting": 1.74; "significant": 1.97. "This concrete approval strengthens our focus and shows that the strategy is understood and recognisable," said Görlich.

The questions testing the knowledge of TSG's cooperation partners were answered as follows: PreZero: 96.8 percent; Global United: 49.4 percent: the Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation: 46.6 percent. The interviewees were also well or very well informed about the projects initiated by "TSG is movement": 88 percent knew about the reusable cup initiative; 69.2 percent knew that environmentally friendly grass paper is used for TSG publications; 64.7 percent knew about the climate ticket; and 56.4 percent knew about the lifestyle brand umoja, which is being developed in cooperation with African organisations.

The cooperation with PreZero, which has lent its name to the TSG Hoffenheim stadium, is not only well known but meets with almost unrestricted approval too. "We also want to combine our core business – and this includes marketing – with social issues in a meaningful way and make a difference together. That goes down well and shows that in addition to quantitative aspects such as reach, qualitative and content-related elements will gain in importance," explained the TSG managing director.

If the respondents were aware of the following projects, their approval ratings were as follows: PreZero initiative "New thinking for a clean game": 81 percent; cooperation partnership for resource conservation and waste management: 90 percent; reusable cups: 80 percent; and the climate ticket: 82.7 percent.

"The survey confirms to us that in our "TSG is movement" future strategy, we've chosen exactly the right way to fulfil our social responsibility with concrete projects. We will consistently continue these efforts," declared Görlich.