500 words essay 3 hrs

1

CASE

NOTES

REQUIRED: • GROUP WORK • TITLE PAGE • REFRENCE(S)

MKTG-1093 CASE STUDY | WEEK 3

M & M MEAT SHOPS & CANADIAN CURLING

CASE 0BMKTG-1093 1BCASE STUDY | WEEK 3

[email protected] PROFESSION OR INDUSTRY

2

Case: M&M Meat Shops and Curling Canada

Grassroots Sport Sponsorship M&M Meat Shops, a supermarket-style butcher, first opened its doors in Kitchener, Ontario in 1980. At supermarket prices, M&M sells choice cuts of flash-frozen meat. Because the meet is frozen quickly and at extremely low temperatures, its freshness and flavour are preserved at the moment of freezing and remain when the food is cooked.

By 1992, M&M had expanded to Quebec, under the banner of Les aliments M&M. This quickly led to the establishment of 37 franchises in the province. M&M expansion continued with the purchase of the Calgary-based Jeffery’s Foods in 1997 and the opening of franchises in British Columbia. By 1999, M&M had opened its fiftieth store in BC alone. By 2001, M&M Meat Shops was included in the list of Canada’s 50 best-managed companies, and today it is Canada’s largest retail chain of specialty frozen foods.

The communities in which M&M franchises are located have benefited from the company’s success. The owners are adamant that building a strong community is not a privilege but a civic responsibility. At the local level, franchise owners are urged to support local charities, nonprofit organizations, school programs, and amateur sports teams. Grassroots soccer programs in particular seem to have benefited with M&M support. In the Kitchener-Waterloo area, for example, the company supports 30 teams. In addition, M&M Meat Shops is the major corporate sponsor of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada (CCFC). The annual 2003 Charity BBQ Day raised over $1.2 million, and since 1989, M&M has raised $8 million for CCFC research projects.

Marketing through Curling at M&M Meats M&M Meat Shops has a marketing advisory council (MAC) comprising representatives from the individual franchises. The MAC dictates what sports sponsorships will be supported at the national level, and to which sponsorship each individual franchise owner will financially contribute. With such a responsibility, it is important that the MAC provide solid reason why a particular sponsorship is undertaken.

CASE 0BMKTG-1093 1BCASE STUDY | WEEK 3

[email protected] PROFESSION OR INDUSTRY

3

Curling has been designated the national sport of choice by MAC but not without consideration of other major Canadian activities. Skating was given serious attention but, in the end, was eliminated because its sponsorship properties were too expensive. The Blue Jays of Major League Baseball and the Canadian Football League Grey Cup Game have received sponsorship in the past. But since 1996, the national corporate sponsorship has been with the sport of curling.

Curling was chosen because it was a game that appealed to both men and women. Both sexes were active participants at all skill levels of the game. Curling was one of those sports that made good television, with excellent audience ratings among both men and women. It was also a game that was readily identifiable as part of Canadiana, an identity M&M wished to cultivate for itself. Curling was also a relatively low-cost grassroots sport with a wide participatory base; again qualities that M&M reiterated for itself through its corporate advertising.

The first major national commitment that M&M made to curling was sponsoring the Kitchener-based Wayne Middaugh curling team in 1996. Team Middaugh had been World Champion in 1993 and 1998, and, with the sponsorship support of M&M, it had become one of Canada’s premier rinks. Prior to this relationship with Team Middaugh, M&M had extensive involvement in curling at the local and provincial levels through individual franchise support. Team Middaugh billed the national commitment as a great match—“champion Canadian curlers in partnership with a champion Canadian company.”

Such sponsorships are renewable but are reviewed on an annual basis. This was obviously a good partnership. Not only was M&M the official sponsor in 2001–2002 of Team Middaugh in its quest to represent Canada at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, but M&M Meat Shops also partnered with the Sherry Middaugh rink in its quest as the Canadian Olympic women’s team. The sponsorship supplied the curlers with athletic clothing and performance-based financial incentives. The rinks in return were expected to appear at M&M promotional events (e.g., charity golf tournaments, franchise promotions, merchandise advertising) and to represent the company on the curling rink.

The M&M–curling relationship extends beyond the financial support of curling teams. M&M has a strong commitment with curling’s “skins games”: It became the title sponsor for the $75 000 Canadian Skins competitions, the first of which was held in February 2001. Prior to that, the company had been an associate sponsor of the World Curling Tour in 1999 and 2000. M&M had taken out a silver sponsorship for the Canadian Curling Olympic trials held in Regina in December 2001, a generous involvement given its support of two serious contenders in the Middaugh rinks. Finally, M&M made a major contribution to the 2002 production of the acclaimed full-length film Men with Brooms, produced by Alliance Atlantis Broadcasting.

Source: Institute for Sport Marketing Case Studies. Laurentian University 2003-2005

CASE 0BMKTG-1093 1BCASE STUDY | WEEK 3

[email protected] PROFESSION OR INDUSTRY

4

CASE 0BMKTG-1093 1BCASE STUDY | WEEK 3

[email protected] PROFESSION OR INDUSTRY

5

1. Consider the following questions: a. Why is M&M Meats marketing through curling a good example of a grassroots sponsorship

initiative? b. Is grassroots marketing effective for NSO’s? Why or why not? c. What are your impressions of their perspective websites?

2. Now have a look at the website: a. M & M Food Market: https://www.mmfoodmarket.com/ b. Curling Canada: http://www.curling.ca/

3. Answer& Submit the following questions & submit to drop box: a. Name four other grassroots marketing initiatives in Canada. b. Do you agree that M&M Meats and curling are “a good fit” for future marketing action? i.e.

2019, 2020, 2021 c. Comment on M&M Meats grassroots efforts in terms of participation, spectatorship, and

other grassroots organizations? What are the sizes of this market? d. Be ready to share with class; choose leader