Sports Experiential Marketing

As for the future of in-venue fan enhancements similar to “Unite This House”, the effort to continue to identify innovative ways to attract fans and maintain attendance will forever be a goal for sport organizations and venues around the country and beyond. As in the world of entertainment, sporting events must remain as relevant as the teams that play in them. Where striving to be the best is as common as the competitiveness of a game or match.

“For a promotion to be successful, it must be profitable. And to be profitable, it must enhance some, if not all, of the following goals: 1. Paid attendance, 2. Corporate tie-ins, 3. Sponsor value, and 4. Media coverage” (Helitzer 317). Promotions must increase the number of people at the event, or paid attendance, it also must enhance corporate tie-ins, which are signs or give-a-ways at the stadium. Sponsor value, or the value perceived by the sponsor must also be enhanced along with media coverage. Media coverage is enhanced by sending the local or national media sources bulletins about the events or by having press conferences. A strategy that a sports marketer must use is to stagger the promotional gimmicks throughout the event. If one staggers the promotion, then the audience is always aware of the event and looking out for the promotions.

Information gathered for this report will explain how sports affect consumerism. I remember when I went to a Cavs game and my family spent money in the stadium, but we ended up spending more money after the game in stores around the stadium. When we left the stadium we saw many other people spending money around it rather than in the actual stadium. This shows that sports help consumerism by themselves but also direct people to other types of consumerism ex: food, clothing, or toys.

Strikes in sports are going to happen and professional teams need to know the affects it could have on attendance at the sporting events. Coates and Harrison (2005) performed a study to see how strikes on baseball could affect the demand for attendance. For this study, the researchers looked at every MLB team in America from 1696 to 1996. There were three strikes studied: (a) 1972 lasted 13 days for a loss of 86 games, (b) 1981 lasted 50 days for a loss of 712 games, and (c) 1994-1995 loss of 920 games (Coates and Harrison, 2005, p. 288). The attendance for the games went down after every strike. The largest drop in attendance would be the 1994 and 1995: “attendance

The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, which is only 45 minutes from Detroit, is a public higher learning institution that was founded in 1817. The University of Michigan is considered to be one of the best colleges in the country.

1. When the Dayton Dragons opened the gates of their new field in April of 2000 with what the team dubbed the “world’s largest outdoor billboard” they were using the strategy of:

There are professional teams that have several promotions throughout their calendar year. Most promotions are created for fans and non-fans to experience the professional sport atmosphere. Some promotions are successful for different organizations and some have no impact on ticket sales because people or fans are not interested. During a team’s bad season these promotions are essential for ticket sales. As a Military veteran I have had the opportunity to attend some events that are focused on Military Appreciation. The Military Appreciation events give soldiers, past or present, the opportunity to see and experience any event that they have not yet seen.

An entertainment or sports event, such as the MLB World Series, has a direct economic impact on the city that hosts the event due to many aspect of business which vary from consumer spending habits to the amount of state-owned parking lots available. Usually in sports, fans hold a lot of pride and faith in their team which makes them more likely to purchase gear for that team or attend their games. The Chicago Cubs, who are the 2016 World Series Champions, serve as a great example to how a sports event directly impacts the city that holds the event. Since the Cubs haven’t won a World Series title in over 100 years, prior to this year, the fans were showing nothing but die-hard support when their team won. Two days after the Cubs won the

Nothing compares with the sights, sounds, and smells of a National Football League stadium. Contrarily, those who are “super fans” of baseball, basketball, or any athletic event for that matter, argue the same. No matter the sport, fans across the nation gather weekly to attend athletic events of all levels; however, social media has caused a dent in that attraction. Social media, while containing great benefits, is destroying appreciation of sports. Sports and attendance of events no long hold value when every play and statistic is at the touch of a button.

Marketing plans and strategies are an important part of almost any business today. One of the biggest industries marketing plans have benefited and changed in a number of different ways is the sports industry. The development of the sports marketing industry has led companies to invest millions of dollars to have their product associated with specific teams, players, and sporting events attempting to connect with consumer and create profit for both parties involved. The money involved in sports marketing calls for these sponsorships and endorsement decisions to be made both strategically and confidently. After researching the sports industry from a business perspective the importance of marketing decisions is

This article continues to explain that once a sports marketer creates a product and advertises it on a small scale, “Sports marketers get ahead by gradually representing bigger, more important and more prestigious sports teams, companies, associations, and athletes.” In other words, sports marketers need to have a plan of action to promote their product on a larger scale over time. Also, sports marketers spend much of their planning on the aspect of promotion. Mihai verifies that the category of promotion serves to prove that the product is desirable through advertising, sales, sponsorship and public relations. If a sports marketer follows these planning steps, his/her work will lead to a successful product with a large margin of profit.

Indianapolis has become a sports’ mecca. Ample options of sport have created an enormous market for the community and visitors to experience. One downfall of being in Indianapolis is the enormous amount of sport market competition. Entering into the sports market in Indianapolis can create an underdog feeling to an already competitive market share. Indy Fuel has to take the necessary steps in order to gain a competitive advantage from established organizations and not let history repeat itself. With Indy Fuel being in its third year, they are slowly starting to catch the attention of the Indianapolis community and work towards creating a passion for hockey in a state that is defined by basketball. Indy Fuel’s marketing goal

Each pair of Crocs are soft, comfortable and odour-resistant qualities that Crocs wearers want. Crocs today, even target a wider path of the market. Crocs use sub-segments for branding their products, as they offer their shoe type for women, men, children, sports, and everyone. For Crocs to further broaden their market, they advertise these segments, meaning customers will find their products to be comfortable e.g. around the house and to take on holiday. Crocs levels of service are customers doing most of the selecting and trying on of garments

of a sports marketer degree is at the end of their education they have to finish an internship which they can get a feel for what they will be doing with their degree and helps them network.

Although marketing is described to involve a variety of activities, such as production, pricing, sales and advertising, the focus of it is to satisfy the needs or desires of consumers without no doubt (Smith and Stewart, 2014). ‘The customer is the alpha and omega of marketing’ (Kahle and Close, 2011, p.2). In other words, the customer is the starting points and ending points of marketing. In turn, sport marketing is usually defined as ‘the application of marketing concepts to sport products and services, and the marketing of non-sport products through an association to sport’ (Mihai, 2013, p.231).