The archive · Marketing & Growth · Marketing decision · 2025–2026
Wisła Kraków scores each fan's luck with AI — attendance up 42%, highest in the league
Relegated Polish club computes how much luck each supporter brings — luckiest get VIP boxes, unluckiest get merch discounts — and fills the stadium
Wisła Kraków FC · VML Poland
What it had to solve
After relegation to Poland's second division, Wisła Kraków faced a financial crisis in which filling the stadium was existential. Traditional ticket promotions couldn't give fans a powerful enough reason to come back.
How it works
When Wisła Kraków were relegated from Poland's top division, the club's finances were in trouble: filling the stadium was no longer about morale, it was existential. Fans already believed their presence brought the team luck — the problem was that superstition had never been measurable, so it couldn't be rewarded.
VML Poland built the Lucky Fan Index from data the club already collected: attendance records for more than 220,000 supporters, cross-referenced with over 200 in-game metrics across 63 home matches. Every fan received a personal luck score — present for a last-minute winner and the score rose; present through a string of missed chances and it fell.
The scores were then activated commercially. The luckiest fans won VIP box upgrades; the unluckiest got discounts in the fan shop so they could buy luckier merchandise. Average attendance rose 42.2%, the highest in the league, and the campaign took the 2026 Cannes Lions Creative Commerce Grand Prix.
Why it lands
- It took a universal football superstition and gave it a number, making every fan's presence feel consequential.
- The index turned a legally required compliance database into a commercial platform with ticket, upgrade and retail hooks.
- Rewards ran both ways — luckiest fans got VIP boxes, unluckiest got discounts — so no supporter felt excluded.
- The loop ended in transactions, not impressions: tickets, upgrades and merchandise, all driven by a personal score.
- Facing relegation, the club chose creativity over price cuts at the moment discounting looked like the only option.
What it did
Average attendance rose 42.2% — the highest in the entire league — boosting engagement and revenue. The work won the 2026 Cannes Lions Creative Commerce Grand Prix.
What you can take
Make an intangible belief measurable and personal: when the metric is about the fan rather than the product, attendance becomes a stake in the team's story — and superstition becomes a growth engine.
Since then
The index became a flagship engagement platform for Wisła Kraków, and the Cannes jury praised it as a model that made fans feel valued rather than simply making tickets cheaper. VML Poland framed it as proof that a creative use of data can fill a stadium and change a club's fortunes.
Sources
- Wisła Kraków FC — The Lucky Fan Index: how Wisła Kraków used AI to give every supporter a personal stake in the team's success
- VML scores Creative Commerce Grand Prix with 'Lucky Fan Index'
- Cannes Lions 2026 Grand Prix Winners in Brand Experience & Activation, Business Transformation, Commerce, Effectiveness, Strategy, Innovation, and Luxury
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