Success story · Telefónica · Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar

Rafa Nadal Academy

+48M

people reached

Case summary

End-to-end digital transformation of Rafa Nadal Academy: a virtual layer to amplify global reach and a phygital layer at the museum in Manacor.

Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar runs a 76,400 m² ecosystem in Manacor that brings together a sports academy, school, hotel, high-performance centre, museum and tennis, football and padel facilities. An internationally renowned infrastructure with a recurring challenge: its value was fundamentally local and in person. The academy has driven an end-to-end digital transformation of its user relationship model, structured in two complementary layers: a virtual layer developed together with Telefónica that extends the ecosystem beyond Manacor to reach remote audiences, and a phygital layer that digitalises the in-person museum experience with measurable interactive modules.

Client

Telefónica · Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar

Sector

Education

Service

Ad-hoc customer experience

48.683.586

people reached

+25K

new people registered in its database through the interactive experiences

+100K

questions answered by the Rafa Nadal AI avatar

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01 The challenge

Digitally transforming the academy

The client's initial brief addressed two apparently independent needs: to raise awareness of the academy beyond Manacor and to refresh the museum's offer with interactive experiences going beyond tennis. In the analysis phase it emerged that both stemmed from the same underlying problem: the Nadal brand had high-value physical assets, but lacked a digital layer connecting them to each other and to its global audiences. From that diagnosis, the scope of the project was redefined as an end-to-end digital transformation of the user relationship model.

02 The solution

Global reach and phygital depth

The intervention is structured in two layers with different goals but a common architecture. In the virtual layer, developed together with Telefónica, the academy's 76,400 m² were modelled in a navigable environment that includes facilities, areas under construction and technical spaces, with a gamified journey linked to an incentive system (prize draws and discounts at the shop, museum, hotel and training programmes). In the museum's phygital layer, the traditional exhibition model was replaced by interactive modules —VirtualFootball, SkillGame, VirtualRace, Photocall, AskRafa, BasketBall—, each conceived from the design stage as a measurable unit: usage time, completion, repetition and referral.

Next step

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Key learnings

What this case teaches the sector.

The digital layer as a connector between business units

The Rafa Nadal Academy ecosystem operated with each unit as an independent asset: academy, school, hotel, museum, facilities. The virtual layer doesn't just widen international reach: it acts as an entry point and cross-selling channel between shop, museum, hotel packages and training programmes.

Every experience, designed as a measurable unit

The museum modules —VirtualFootball, SkillGame, VirtualRace, AskRafa, BasketBall, Photocall— aren't creative pieces with metrics bolted on afterwards: they're conceived from the design stage as measurable units (usage time, completion, repetition, referral). In large-scale phygital projects, data isn't "installed": it's designed in.

Redefine the scope before proposing technology

In large-scale projects, the scope must be redefined before proposing technology. What arrived as two independent requests was in fact a single, poorly articulated digital transformation: a brand with high-value physical assets and no digital layer connecting them to its global audiences.

Gamification with direct commercial return

The Virtual Space's gamified journey isn't limited to entertaining: every challenge is connected to an incentive system —prize draws and discounts redeemable at the shop, the museum, hotel packages and training programmes— that turn the virtual experience into a cross-selling channel between the group's business units.

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