Gemba’s 2019 Dojo Explore Award winners Amelia Faulkner and Anthony Maginness have just arrived back on home soil after a once in a lifetime trip to Europe. Here they spent two weeks taking a deep dive into the world and sport and entertainment. More specifically, the multi-billion-dollar football industry.

WHAT’S THE DOJO EXPLORE AWARD?

Each year at the company’s annual conference, Gemba presents two employees with the Dojo Explore Award – a peer-nominated accolade that recognises outstanding contribution to our business and the industry. The winners are sent on a research trip to world-leading events, with the aim of gathering insights from the forefront of the industry as well as to accelerate their personal development. It’s #goingtogemba on an epic scale! Previous Dojo Explore destinations include the 2015 Rugby World Cup in London, Sundance Film Festival in Utah and the NBA All-Star Weekend in Charlotte.

WHAT THEY GOT UP TO?

The short answer. Everything.

3 countries, 11 days, 2 Football matches and 15 industry meetings with global rights holders, brands and agencies. The experience was completely invaluable for both Ant and Millie. Getting access to some amazing people and organisations who were so generous with their time has meant they’ve come back to Australia armed with a heap of great learnings, as well as memories.

Here are some of the key highlights according to our Dojo Winners:

• Attending Bayern Munich versus Borussia Dortmund at Allianz Stadium – 70,000 fans cheering and chanting from start to finish. Probably the best sporting atmosphere’s we’ve ever experienced
• Meeting with Formula 1 and getting a behind the scenes tour of Williams Racing Team’s Headquarters 
• Getting the chance to sit down with some forward-thinking agencies who are working with global rightsholders to capture information on sport and entertainment fans in order to develop better communication strategies 
• An all-access, behind-the-scenes tour of both Twickenham Stadium and 02 Arena 
• Catching up with arguably the biggest rights holder in the world, FIFA, in their Zurich offices to talk through some key items on their agenda, including the future of broadcast, growth of women’s sport and the challenges in managing a global sponsorship portfolio
• Sitting down with Rugby Football Union (RFU) and the England Cricket Board (ECB) to talk through the similarities and differences between the UK and Australian sporting landscapes 

To hear more about what they got up to, check out the #dojoexplore on Twitter and Instagram.

If you’re interested in opportunities at Gemba, check out our Careers Page on our website or through Jobs on LinkedIn. Otherwise, flick our Talent Acquisition Manager an email at [email protected].