#BRANDING

This is it. This is the #Branding chapter. Has to be hashtag, you understand.

Branding is integral to establishing identity on the part of the fans, who are your customers and you need their moneys.

“Logic goes out the window when brands are able to create such emotional connections.” I’m glad the book said it so I don’t have to feel bold or cynical thinking it.

Brand Equity: “A set of assets and liabilities linked to a brand, its name and symbol, that add to or subtract from the value provided by a product or service to a firm and/or that firm’s customers.”

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Brand equity has many benefits, notably brand loyalty. Brand loyalty creates power in the ability to command higher sponsorship prices. Also, brand equity creates resiliency in the case of losing seasons, in that there is less fluctuation in attendance and other support if brand equity is high.

Ability to raise price of admissions tickets etc. is also a function of brand equity, loyal members of the fan base will pay more than fairweather fans.

Brand equity also allows for better licensing and merchandising opportunities, even moving into other ventures less tightly affiliated with the actual on-field play.

HOW BRAND EQUITY IS DEVELOPED

• Brand Awareness
• Brand Image (follows from awareness)
  • Winning contributes to this but many other factors also involved)
  • Brand associations come with many extras
  • Risky to associate too strongly to individuals because they come and go
  • Rivalries are great for this
  • Behavior of fans and org can be a positive as well as a negative

Sources of Brand Association with teams

• Logo, marks, nickname, and mascot
• Owners
• Players
• Head coaches
• Rivalries
• Entertainment package surrounding game or event
• Stadium or arena in which games happen

Sponsors can create brand associations, including uniform and equipment logo real estate

Athletes can create brand associations, winning is one of the best ways but off-field stuff helps as well

Agencies can create brand associations by representing players and brokering deals

Health clubs can create brand associations though the choices they make in their facilities

Content Development (online work like website stuff) can create brand associations. The New England Patriots were an early adopter.

Some key facts for your eyeballs:

• The sport product is inconsistent in its consumption
• The core element or performance is just one element of a larger ensemble
• The marketer typically has little control over the core product
  • We do not market that Michigan is #1, because next year we may not be!

Consider the difference between a core product and an extension

• Core Products:
  • Apparel and equipment
  • Rules/techniques
  • Star power
  • Fan behavior
  • Venue
  • Personnel and process
• Extensions:
  • Electronic products
  • Tickets, programs, other literature
  • Memories, artifacts
  • Hybrid products
  • Novelties, fantasies

Game presentation: the management of the core products and the extensions that together create the fan experience

Key issues in sport product strategy:

• Differentiation
  • Setting yourself apart from competition (other leagues, sports, etc)
• Product Development
  • Using focus groups etc. to find that which appeals
  • Consumers grapple with five separate issues that must be considered:
    • Relative advantage of new over old
    • Complexity or difficulty in adopting
    • Compatibility with consumer values
    • Divisibility into smaller trial portions
    • Communicability of benefits
• Product Position
  • The imagery and other materials you need to present your appeal is your position within the market. Manage these five images:
    • Trademark imagery (#BRANDING)
    • Product imagery (performance)
    • Associative imagery (be seen in good places)
    • User imagery (the image of the fans)
    • Usage imagery (where and how that logo shows up)
  • Positioning can be considered along two axes: cost and action
• Brands and Branding
  • Name recognition and awareness
• Product and Brand cycles
  • Population dynamics could be instructive here…
  • Product life cycle:
    • Introduction
    • Growth
    • Maturity
    • Decline

Come back soon!

Segmentation is dividing your customers up into groups, and these groups can be defined by multiple simultaneous traits (e.g. female executive golfers)

Several issues are important when considering when (and how much?) to segment a market:

• Identifiability
• Accessibility
• Responsiveness

Modern technology makes the first two much easier, but still worth asking, and #3 is as challenging as ever, especially also considering the size and financial value of the segment in question

Niche and segments are different. A segment is an artificial division in a group to better understand its behaviors. A niche is a small group with a specific interest that is often overlooked by larger companies.

FOUR BASES OF SEGMENTATION to help understand a population

• State-of-Being Segmentation
  • Geography
    • Don’t neglect your outer rims!
  • Age
    • Update for hip modern kids!
  • Income & Education
    • Highly correlated….
  • Gender
    • Women can be marketed to as well, and understanding the target is vital for success
  • Sexual Orientation
  • Race and Ethnicity
• State-of-Mind Segmentation
  • One option is VALS typology
    • Innovators
    • Thinkers
    • Achievers
    • Experiencers
    • Believers
    • Strivers
    • Makers
    • Survivors
  • Probably could use Myers-Briggs or other things also
• Product Benefits Segmentation
  • The different benefits or focuses of the population
  • Easy for people who are hardcore fans to understand people with a different benefits package
• Product Usage Segmentation
  • A more tangible expression of hardcore vs avid fans in how they spend their time & money

Integrated Segmentation Strategies & Tactics

Once you know your groups, you can market to them more effectively

The 24:48:48 strategy:

• Get essential fan data within 24 hours (name, zip code, phone#)
  • Use buying data to calculate lifetime asset value of fan
• Communicate within 48 hours to establish marketing such as offers for promotions
• After all contacts, complete followups within another 48 hours to keep active 2-way communication