As part of a guest lecture in the Digital Sports Management module, SBC student Jakob von der Wense gave interesting insights into his path from the SBC master’s program to becoming the Director of Marketing and Operations at the Toni Kroos Academy, which was launched last year.
It can happen that quickly: In 2020, Jakob von der Wense, a student in the Sports Business and Communication (SBC) master’s program at Munich Business School, received an email from his lecturer Prof. Dr. David Wagner telling him to get in touch with Prof. Dr. Sophie Hieke as soon as possible. She said she might have an opportunity to work with a well-known German soccer player. Soon after, the first meeting between Jakob and the founder of the Toni Kroos Academy took place. Jakob talked about his path from being a SBC student to being part of the Toni Kroos Academy and his daily work there in the late afternoon of March 8 as part of the SBC master module Digital Sports Management. The guest lecture was organized and moderated by Prof. Dr. David Wagner, who is responsible for the module.
The Toni Kroos Academy is an app for soccer players of all ages that offers video tutorials and training sessions from Toni Kroos and allows users to upload their own videos and receive feedback from professional coaches. Additionally, Jakob shared how the team is trying to engage users through challenges, Q&As and, in the future, also physical training camps. At the beginning of his time as a working student at the Academy, Jakob was responsible for “everything that came up” and he quickly realized that he could make a decisive contribution to many topics. Nowadays, as Director of Marketing and Operations, he is responsible for a wide range of areas. These include maintaining and designing the Academy content, managing the technical development of the app and, of course, communicating with Toni Kroos himself. As part of his responsibilities, Jakob has also regularly traveled to Madrid for the production of new content.
In addition, the SBC student talked about the challenges that the Toni Kroos Academy had to master until the launch on August 8, 2021. Finding suitable technical service providers and identifying the right platforms for user acquisition were explicitly mentioned here. Especially with the second issue, Jakob von der Wense was helped by what he had learned in the SBC courses. After some testing, he and his team were thus able to identify TikTok as the most important partner.
Finally, the soon-to-be MBS alumnus went into the future plans and vision of the Toni Kroos Academy. By means of the app and other accompanying activities, the team wants to offer all children an effective way to train and improve their soccer game.
After the guest lecture, the current SBC students had a private opportunity to ask more questions and talk about possible internships and applications in a small, more informal setting. “It’s always cool when guest speakers and graduates take time in person after the official talks,” the students said.
We thank Jakob for his time and wish him all the best for the future!
After completing your bachelor’s degree, you would like to delve even deeper into the processes of international business administration and specialize in a particular area, such as finance, marketing, or sports business?
Then you will find a broad selection of business master’s programs with different focuses at Munich Business School. In all programs, you’ll benefit from small classes, lecturers from the business world, and outcome-focussed learning that makes it easy to start your career. See for yourself:
Master’s in International Business
Master’s in International Business I Finance
Master’s in Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Master’s in International Marketing and Brand Management
Master’s in Sports Business and Communication
