Guillem Graell
Most brands have audiences they do not own and emotional equity they cannot monetise. The platforms sit in the middle, the data sits with someone else, and the relationship with the customer is rented rather than built. Turning fan affinity into a direct revenue line, at scale, is one of the harder commercial problems any consumer-facing organisation now faces.
Guillem Graell is the former Chief Marketing Officer of FC Barcelona who helps organisations turn audience affinity into direct-to-consumer revenue at scale.
Full Profile
Why organisations work with Guillem Graell
- He ran brand, digital and direct-to-fan at FC Barcelona between 2017 and 2021, a period in which the club’s digital products generated over one billion euros. Few speakers have operated a P and L of that size in this category.
- He built Barça Studios and BarçaTV+ from scratch into a direct-to-consumer business valued at more than 250 million euros, giving him a working blueprint for content as a revenue line, not a marketing cost.
- He took the club’s social footprint past 400 million followers and made it the first football club with 10 million YouTube subscribers, with engagement that consistently led the global sports rankings.
- He is now building, not retired. As co-founder of D2F Partners he designs, operates and funds direct-to-fan brands, so the case material in any keynote is current rather than archival.
- He teaches brand strategy at UPF Barcelona School of Management and marketing management at ESADE, which forces him to translate operating experience into frameworks that other leaders can use.
Biography highlights
- Chief Marketing Officer, FC Barcelona, 2017 to 2021.
- Co-founder and Managing Partner, D2F Partners, building direct-to-fan businesses in sport and entertainment.
- Founder of Barça Studios and BarçaTV+, a direct-to-consumer venture valued at over 250 million euros.
- Earlier brand and marketing roles at Procter and Gamble, Reckitt Benckiser, Chupa Chups, Codorniu Group and Accenture.
- Faculty at UPF Barcelona School of Management (Master in Brand Strategy, since 2014) and ESADE Business School (Master in Marketing Management).
- Industrial Engineering, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, and General Management Programme (PDG), IESE Business School.
Biography
Sports clubs were among the first consumer brands to discover that their audience was bigger than their stadium and worth more than their broadcast deal. Between 2017 and 2021, FC Barcelona had to act on that fact, and the person running brand, digital and direct-to-fan inside the club was Guillem Graell.
As Chief Marketing Officer, he rebuilt the club’s commercial relationship with its supporters around a direct-to-consumer model. He founded Barça Studios and launched BarçaTV+, a venture later valued at more than 250 million euros, alongside subscription, content and product lines that pushed digital revenue past one billion euros. The social audience grew past 400 million followers, and the club became the first in football to cross 10 million YouTube subscribers.
His route into that role was unusual for sport. Industrial engineering at the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, the General Management Programme at IESE, and brand and commercial roles at Procter and Gamble, Reckitt Benckiser, Chupa Chups, Codorniu and Accenture. The FMCG discipline of building emotional brands at scale travelled with him into one of the most-watched sporting institutions in the world.
He now co-runs D2F Partners with Enric Llopart, the club’s former digital director, designing and funding direct-to-fan businesses for other sports and entertainment brands. He teaches brand strategy at UPF Barcelona School of Management and ESADE, which is where the operating playbook from Barça gets pressure-tested against other categories trying to own their audience.
Key speaking topics
- Direct-to-consumer strategy in sport and entertainment
- Building and monetising LoveBrands
- Digital business models and content as revenue
- Brand transformation in legacy organisations
- Audience, community and fan engagement at scale
- Innovation in marketing and commercial models
Ideal for
- CMOs, Chief Brand Officers and Chief Digital Officers in consumer-facing categories
- CEOs and boards of sports, entertainment, media and lifestyle businesses
- Heads of direct-to-consumer, content and digital product
- Marketing and growth leadership teams reframing how they own customer relationships
Audience outcomes
- A working view of how a billion-euro digital and direct-to-fan business actually gets built and run
- Practical reference points for moving from audience metrics to commercial outcomes
- A clearer line between brand strategy, content investment and direct revenue
- Useful comparisons between sport, entertainment and other consumer categories trying to own the customer
- A confident perspective on where digital products, subscriptions and community fit inside a brand P and L
Talks
How to build emotional equity that converts into community, loyalty and direct revenue.
Key takeaways:
- What separates a brand customers like from one they actively defend
- How content and digital product investment compound brand equity over time
- Where the FC Barcelona LoveBrand model translates into other consumer categories
How to turn emotional brand equity into profitable digital business models.
Key takeaways:
- Designing multichannel digital businesses around the customer relationship, not the campaign
- Treating content as a revenue category, not a marketing cost
- Building the leadership and team structures that direct-to-consumer brands actually need
How direct-to-consumer thinking changes the commercial structure of a legacy brand.
Key takeaways:
- Reading where revenue is moving inside a brand and category
- Building a direct-to-fan or direct-to-consumer line alongside existing channels
- Lessons from launching Barça Studios and BarçaTV+ inside an institution
Videos
Fees
| EUR | GBP | USD | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home Country | €12000 to €40000 | £10,001 - £35,000 | $15000 - $50000 |
| Asia Pacific | €12000 to €40000 | £10,001 - £35,000 | $15000 - $50000 |
| Europe | Under €12000 | Under £10,000 | Under $15000 |
| Middle East & Africa | €12000 to €40000 | £10,001 - £35,000 | $15000 - $50000 |
| South America | €12000 to €40000 | £10,001 - £35,000 | $15000 - $50000 |
| United Kingdom | Under €12000 | Under £10,000 | Under $15000 |
| US East Coast | €12000 to €40000 | £10,001 - £35,000 | $15000 - $50000 |
| US West Coast | €12000 to €40000 | £10,001 - £35,000 | $15000 - $50000 |
| Virtual | Under €12000 | Under £10,000 | Under $15000 |