A stadium suit that makes music

From sponsorship hospitality to a place of belonging. 

A hospitality box is one of the most familiar assets in football sponsorship. It gives a brand visibility, access and a place to host guests on matchdays—but it rarely creates a meaningful relationship with the wider club community. People may visit the space once, have a drink and remember the match, while the sponsoring brand remains little more than a host.

For Levi's, the challenge was to give its partnership with FC St. Pauli a purpose beyond traditional hospitality. The brand has credible roots in music, style and youth culture, while FC St. Pauli is defined by its neighborhood, its values and the people surrounding the club. Simply adding more branding to the stadium would not have connected these worlds.

The task was therefore to transform a commercial sponsorship asset into a space that could serve the local community throughout the season—not only selected guests on 17 home matchdays. It needed to provide genuine access for young people and emerging artists, reflect the voices of the Kiez and create reasons for people to return. The central question was: How can Levi's move from hosting an audience for a day to helping build a community that feels at home in the space?

A music studio built with the community.

Over the course of ten years, Levi's and FC St. Pauli transformed a traditional hospitality box at the Millerntor into the Levi's Music Studio: a permanent cultural space for music education, artistic collaboration and community life.

The development began by opening the room to young people from the neighborhood and providing more than 4,500 free music lessons. It then evolved into a working studio where people could learn, write, rehearse and record music. Today, the space hosts the Unterm Dach Sessions, artist collaborations, songwriting sessions, interviews, talks, community gatherings and matchday formats.

Rather than using music as a theme for a sponsorship campaign, Levi's created the conditions in which music culture could develop inside the stadium. Access is kept open and low-threshold. Formats are created with the community rather than simply presented to it. Local hosts such as PIMF, Booz and Meira Werner bring their own perspectives, audiences and credibility into the program, while artists including Samy Deluxe, Yungblud, Chapo102 and Badchieff connect the studio with a wider music audience.

A recurring program across the football season turns individual activities into recognizable rituals. Matchdays generate attention, while music lessons, studio sessions and community formats create the deeper relationship between the brand, the club and the neighborhood.

The Levi's Music Studio therefore goes beyond a converted stadium box. It is an owned cultural platform that connects football, music, style and social participation—and shows how a sponsorship can create lasting value when people are invited not only to visit a space, but to help shape it.