Alex Willis, Director of Digital Media and Audience Development, on the Premier League’s vision for fan engagement and digital transformation.

With 1.8 billion fans from 189 countries, the Premier League is a global sporting phenomenon. Recently, I chatted with Alex Willis, the Premier League’s Director of Digital Media and Partnerships, to discuss how technology and creativity help them stay connected to fans everywhere.

Alex’s career has taken her from journalism into sport, including a decade modernizing one of the world’s most traditional tournaments at Wimbledon. Now at the Premier League, she’s helping shape a new era of digital fan engagement, powered by insight, innovation, and a close collaboration with Adobe.

https://video.tv.adobe.com/v/3478802?end=nothing&learn=on&captions=eng

When you think about the Premier League today, what’s the big picture you’re trying to deliver?

We’re in a privileged position, because football isn’t just a sport, it’s part of people’s identity. The Premier League is often the way the world experiences that passion, meaning our mission is broader than just running 380 football matches a season.

The balance between spectacle and responsibility makes the Premier League unique. It’s not enough to be exciting in the short term, we have to protect the long-term health of the game. Everything from international reach, to financial distribution, to community projects comes back to that central mission: football is for everyone.

At Adobe Summit London, a big topic was the combination of creativity, marketing, and AI. How do these apply to the Premier League?

Firstly, our competition gifts us the raw materials: brilliant goals, great players, drama, and excitement. Creativity is about packaging those moments in ways that resonate – through storytelling, design, or the way we present highlights. Marketing ensures those stories and experiences reach the right people, in the right place, at the right time. Without that distribution, creativity alone simply won’t cut through.

AI is probably the most important element. It powers everything, enabling us to be more efficient, precise, and adaptive. It helps us understand fan behavior in real time, anticipate what someone might want next, and avoid overwhelming them with irrelevant content. Rather than treating creativity, marketing, and AI as three separate silos, we’re bringing them together. When they work in unison, they help us scale the excitement of Premier League football to a global audience in ways that feel personal, not generic.

There are lots of tech partners out there. Why did you want Adobe on your team?

For us, digital transformation isn’t just about updating a website. It’s about rethinking the way we connect with people. We needed tools that could help us understand fans, personalize their experiences, and then deliver those experiences consistently across platforms. Adobe’s strength is that they don’t just offer one piece of the puzzle – they bring data, insight, and creativity together in a single ecosystem.

That’s powerful for us because it means we can move beyond generic engagement and start letting fans shape their own journeys. Someone in Singapore might only want to see Chelsea highlights, for example, while another fan in São Paulo might care more about the raft of Brazilian players. Adobe allows us to capture those preferences, measure what’s resonating, and refine it in real time. It’s a natural fit, because they combine the rigor of analytics with the creative flexibility modern football demands.

Matchday is the beating heart of football. How do you see that experience evolving for fans?

Matchday will always be the centerpiece, but digital technology allows us to enrich it. That might mean clicking through seamlessly to a live broadcast, pulling up real-time stats, or exploring a player’s performance history with just a tap.

Football is a week-long rhythm of conversation. Match previews, archive footage, interactive experiences – they keep fans engaged long after the final whistle. FPL is a great example: it’s a way of living the season through the players you’ve picked, not just the club you support. Adobe Express enables fans to create their own custom team badges, kits, and other FPL assets, allowing them to celebrate their teams in more personalized and interactive ways.

Football fans have high expectations, and younger audiences represent another challenge. How do you keep up with such different expectations?

Fans now measure every digital experience against the best they’ve ever had, whether that’s ordering dinner or shopping online. The challenge is pacing ourselves. We can’t chase every new trend or technology, so we must ensure what we deliver actually adds value.

Younger fans, in particular, expect to participate rather than just watch. They want snackable content, interactive moments, and communities they can be part of. That’s why FPL has been such a success, because it gives people agency, and a reason to care week after week.

How are you measuring success?

Ultimately, it’s about loyalty. Success is when a casual follower becomes a committed fan who keeps coming back. That might show up in engagement metrics, subscriptions, or live viewership – but behind the numbers is the relationship.

Yes, we want to attract new audiences. But we also want to deepen their connection, whether that’s through their favorite club, live matches, or partner products that extend the experience. If the circle keeps turning (from curiosity, to engagement, to long-term fandom), then we’re achieving what we set out to do.

Finally, what could other organizations learn from the Premier League’s approach to digital transformation?

Start with people. It’s easy to get distracted by the latest technology, but transformation only works if it answers a real need. That’s why we’ve built our strategy around football fans: their preferences, behaviors, and expectations.

And never lose the essence of what makes you unique. For football, that’s the unpredictability, emotion, and human drama. Technology enhances and personalizes, but it can’t replace that euphoric feeling of the ball hitting the back of the net.

Claire-Louise Green is VP of EMEA Marketing for Adobe, where she is responsible for all facets of marketing and brand communications across Europe, Middle East, and Africa. She has built an impressive career, leading marketing organizations over the last three decades. Before joining Adobe in 2024, she worked with Palo Alto Networks for 4 years, leading Marketing and spearheading their customer-first transformation across Europe, Middle East, Africa, and LATAM. Before that, she was part of Avaya’s marketing and product leadership team for 18 years.

https://business.adobe.com/fragments/resources/cards/thank-you-collections/mediaentertainment