Mini Analysis report
Wilson1982
Mullin4E_PP_chap06.pptChapter 6 The Sport Product
6
The Sport Product
C H A P T E R
Objectives
- To recognize the elements of the sport product that contribute to its uniqueness in the wider marketplace of goods and services
- To learn the process involved in product development as well as its relation to the concept of the product life cycle
- To understand product positioning, product image, and product branding, and their roles in successful sport marketing
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The Sport Product
- The sport product is any bundle or combination of qualities, processes, and capabilities that a buyer expects will satisfy wants and needs.
- It is inconsistent in nature.
- The game itself is only a small part of the ensemble.
- The sport marketer has little control over it.
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Game Presentation
- For many sport organizations, the primary product is a game, tournament, or event.
- Marketers for these organizations attempt to create an experience enjoyable for consumers, independent of home team success.
(continued)
Game Presentation (continued)
- The combining of all elements on game day or night is an art and science called game presentation.
- Many of the elements that go into game presentation can be seen in figure 6.1.
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Event Experience: Core Element
- Game form (rules or techniques)
- Players
- Fan behavior
- Apparel
- Venue
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Product Extensions: Things That Enhance the Experience
- Coaches
- Tickets
- Luxury boxes
- Programs
- Video screens
- Music
- Memorabilia
- Mascots
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Game Form
- Rules and techniques
- Special features that may make a sport product especially attractive to certain consumers
- Individual moves
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Star Power
- A presence that transcends the actual playing.
- Today’s players, coaches, and owners are extended beyond the event.
- Star talent, or its absence, can make or break entire leagues.
- Sponsors are keys to broad product extension.
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Fan Behavior
- Fans are an essential part of any sport event and move the core product into the realm of spectacle; they expand the drama.
- Sport marketers must be careful how they promote fan behavior as part of the event experience, because unruly fans can poison the atmosphere and incite violence.
- Many sport organizations are attempting to regulate rowdy fan behavior and excessive alcohol consumption.
Apparel
- Equipment needed to compete is part of the core product.
- Apparel and equipment also go well beyond the core product and become key identifiers and extensions for brands.
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Venue
- Teams and franchises are closely aligned with their venues.
- Memories and communities are created within those venues.
- Venues also provide significant revenue streams during and outside game days.
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Marketing the Core Experience
- For the core sport event (product) to be marketed effectively, sport organizations must control and use additional key elements of the experience:
- Personnel and process
- Memories
- Novelties and fantasies
- Tickets, programs, and other printed materials
- Hybrid and electronic products
Personnel and Process
- Personnel and process refer to the event staff and the manner in which they go about their jobs.
- From the sport consumer’s perspective, those employees and the way that they interact with consumers are part of the sport event experience (core product).
(continued)
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Personnel and Process (continued)
- Personnel working for sport organizations should
- emphasize common courtesy, “aggressive hospitality,” and extratransactional encounters with customers;
- be proactive and decrease complaints;
- follow a consistent dress code for event staff and consistent ethos of service throughout the venue; and
- incorporate personnel procedures and training into company policy.
Ticket and Other Print
and Electronic Materials
- Tickets can be used as both a promotional tool and a source of revenue.
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Hybrid and Electronic Products
- Applications on mobile devices
- QR codes
- Video games
- Sport-linked music production
- Fantasy sports
Organization
- Sport marketers incorporate as many of these key sport product elements as possible into their overarching marketing strategy.
- All the elements can add value to the sport organization.
Sport Product Strategy
- Differentiation
- Product development
- Product position
- Brands and branding
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Product Differentiating
- What makes one product distinctive from another and attractive in the consumers’ minds?
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Table 6.1
Product Development
- Generation of ideas
- Screening and implementation of ideas, which includes
- refinement of the product concept,
- market and business analysis,
- development of the actual product,
- market testing, and
- commercialization. (continued)
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Product Development (continued)
Theories of innovation suggest that consumers grapple with perceptual issues when deciding to adopt a product innovation:
Relative advantage of the new product over old preferences
Complexity or difficulty in adoption and use
Compatibility with consumer values
Divisibility into smaller trial portions
Communicability of benefits
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Product Position
- Product positioning refers to how marketers attempt to create or change the perception of the product in consumers’ minds.
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Figure 6.2
Managing the Five Images
of Any Organization or Product
- Trademark imagery
- Product imagery
- Associative imagery
- User imagery
- Usage imagery
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Perceptual Mapping
- Select two attributes of product.
- Place each on an axis.
- Poll consumers to rate the product on attributes (scale of 1 to 10).
- Information will assist in determining product position in the market and potentially in segmentation.
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Brand Equity
- Name recognition or awareness
- Strong mental or emotional associations
- Perceived brand quality
- Strong customer loyalty
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Figure 6.3
Product Life Cycle
- Introduction
- Growth
- Maturity
- Decline
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Speculations About Sport Product Life Cycles
- Game forms that enjoy any kind of maturity seem to be resistant to decline.
- Teams and franchises have more volatile and unpredictable cycles than those of their overall sports.
- Equipment cycles appear more technology driven than apparel cycles.
- Apparel cycles blend the more stable trends in game forms with wide fluctuations in fashion.
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