Sport Marketing is in the books! Sport Marketing Plan is completed and after some feedback hopefully will publish. The parts I plan to continue working on are:

• Things I can do myself:
  • Create peer reviewed journal of quidditch
  • Create welcome packet for quidditch materials
  • Create video education/promotion materials
• Things I cannot do myself:
  • Census of quidditch players for purposes of determining what rate of player loss is
  • Facebook alternative (community.iqasport.com) work

Let’s gooooo!

Legality here refers mostly to intellectual property and copyright laws. Heeere we go.

The three types of protection here are (with the example of the Spalding ball):

• Copyright – original work of authorship (on the info on the packaging)
• Trademark – protects unique words, names, symbols, etc (the product name)
• Patent – protects new inventions (the technology of the ball)

Five functions of trademark law:

• Identify the source or origin
• Protect consumers
• Designate a consistent level of quality
• Represent goodwill between the company and customer
• Substantial advertising investment

For national trademark protection, it must be registered with the USPTO, which also resolves disputes. The federal registration is not mandatory to establish ownership, but it is very helpful (if you have the time to put into it….)

The Lanham Act allows an individual to hold a trademark if their intention is to do commerce with it, within a reasonable period. When creating a new trademark, there is a consultancy available to determine if it’s already taken. It also has a public library of its trademarks. http://www.uspto.gov

When a new trademark is created, it is classified by the USPTO accordingly:

• Fanciful – totally unrelated to reality and stands out through not even being spelled normally
• Arbitrary – normal English but set apart due to distinctiveness – e.g. Arena Football League
• Suggestive – suggests something about the product, though is not as distinctive – Nike and Powerade are examples
• Descriptive – a basic description, hard to protect by law
• Generic – not protectable at all

Can also deny a trademark for disparaging, slanderous, immoral, deceptive, scandalous, or related to any branch of the US Govt or any President

Descriptive logos can gain protection if through popularity they gain a “second meaning” in the mind of the consumer body. For example, when the Seahawks got big, someone was selling jackets with their colors, and the Seahawk colors had such recognition that they gained secondary meaning and were entitled to protection.

Some interesting IP lawsuit examples here including LSU vs Smack Apparel and sport artist Daniel Moore painting Alabama players

Trademark Infringement lawsuits: the essential nature of the court’s decision will rest on protecting the consumers above all (being sure their quality of material is as guaranteed), so the decision rests on the so-called Polaroid Test:

• Strength of Trademark (is it fanciful, arbitrary, suggestive, descriptive, and how many secondary meanings have been acquired?)
• Degree of Similarity between plaintiff product and defendant knockoff
• Similarity of the Products involved
• Market channels involved (target demographic same?)
• Distribution channels involved (sell in the same place?)
• Intent of defendant (trying to confuse consumers or show some false sponsorship?)
• Sophistication of the potential consumers (are you actually trying to fool them, and are they likely to be actually fooled?)
• Evidence of actual confusion (consumer surveys used to establish this evidence)

Can also sue specifically for False designation of origin, or making people believe your material comes from another source, like the official team or w/e. A major case was the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders suing the pornographic film Debbie Does Dallas because the Cowboys Cheerleaders uniforms had acquired secondary meaning

Dilution or tarnishing of a trademark is also grounds for lawsuit. This seems to only really work if you’re an international supercompany though. Go figure.

Defenses to infringements claims:

• Abandonment (though if you’re getting sued, guess it wasn’t abandoned)
• Fair Use Defense (e.g. the word Olympics can’t be trademarked)
• Genericness (aspirin, cellophane, and trampoline were once all trademarks and now public use)
• Functionality

There’s a huge two-page section on Copyrights and Sporting Events which frankly doesn’t interest me right now.

Communications: Nike was sued for sending out a letter to newspapers and universities regarding allegations against them, and the letter was found to be commercial speech, which is held to a higher standard of truthiness than other forms of communication.

AMBUSH MARKETING: Not really relevant to my pursuits but interesting how far some people go to try and cash in…

Nicknames have commercial value even without being trademarked

There’s a whole section on promotion law, about how anything that includes three elements (the chance, the prize, and the consideration) is a lottery, and normally only states can run lotteries, so sweepstakes have to have an alternative method of entry (AMOE) that is free in order to make the consideration not mandatory.

Emerging Issues By Headline:

• Athletes’ Use of Social Media
• Athletes Trademarking Names and Slogans
• Use of Current and Former Student-Athletes Likenesses in Video Games
  • Hulk Smash the NCAA

The logistics of sport play a role in the marketing. Consider these things that require some kind of plan for distribution:

• The live event itself
• Postgame statistics
• Players and coaches in person appearances
• Tickets to events
• Concessions
• Merchandise/etc

Theory of Sport and Place

A place has an ensemble that is the surrounding geography and features that can add value to a place of sport. The lacrosse field and baseball fields at UM are compared and contribute to the popularity of the lacrosse team over the baseball team

Ensemble (example is Fenway park):

• Landscape
• Artifacts
• History and memories
• Ideologies
• Experiences
• Aesthetics
• Problems

A venue has a “drawing radius” that pulls in customers from a certain area (e.g. 2 hour drive maximum for an NBA team like when establishing the Charlotte Hornets) (can vary with time of day, which day, etc)

Considerations to the surrounding area for a venue:

• Design: must match the aesthetics of the area or risk sticking out
• Politics: ensuring you are in harmony with your neighbors
• Safety: immediate environment should feel safe to leave your car, etc.

Design and layout considerations:

• Ease of access, exit, and internal movement
• Access and sight lines for consumers with physical disabilities
• Location and design of food services, concessions, bathrooms, etc
• Flexible vs. dedicated usage
• Aesthetics

The game is contained within the spectacle which is contained within the festival

Marketing channels (the configuration of distribution):

Traditional channels for goods might be: Manufacturer -> Wholesaler -> Jobber -> Retailer -> Consumer

But this model may not apply to sport services, and the internet has now changed the landscape completely.

There are a billion different ticket distribution models, I’m not even going to try to get into them.

STAY CREATIVE. Got it. Ugh this week sucked and I’m calling it now.

I did bad on the quiz! But the semester is basically over and I have over a 98% in the course, so *shrug emoji*

Social media is vital to modern sports (DUH) for the following enumerated reasons:

• Builds an audience for interaction
• Engages with fans in a comfortable way
• It goes V I R A L
• Drives behavior including ticket buying
• Avenue for branding and promotion

The true art of social media is using it during the event as well as before and after.

• During the game
  • broadcast announcer and production crew can be tied in to these efforts
• Postgame
  • press conferences and analysis
• Enabling the game to live on
  • highlight reels and 360-degree photos

Social media can be segmented, even between different platforms, but this takes extra time and energy that may not be available

Engaging Fans:

• Authenticity of voice (have a real human element)
• Listening
• Learning
• Optimizing
  • time of post, surveys, target audience, etc
• Delivering
  • What, no mention of Wendy’s fiyaaah

What platforms to use? Facebook, Twitter and…. well Tik Tok didn’t exist when this book was published haha

Avoiding Pitfalls

The Red Cross accidental tweet incident is hilarious #gettngslizzerd But then I saw another event where some company tweeted something awful on purpose and suffered fire and ruin, and it was bad.

• Manage access to accounts (see above)
• Keep personal and official accounts separate
• Reserve the right to delete but do so sparingly
• Own your mistakes (slizzerd)

Leverage your players! Players can tweet stuff that drives content as well, and you can even incentivize it!

OK heck it, gonna take that quiz early.

Public relations: “An interactive marketing communications strategy that seeks to create a variety of media designed to convey the organizational philosophies, goals, and objectives to an identified group of publics for the purpose of establishing a relationship built on comprehension, interest, and support.”

SO REALLY BROAD! But also basically what you think of when you think of PR.

PR can be connected to publicity and media relations, but the true PR is much broader than that. Community relations is also very significant, and it’s important to remember that the org doesn’t normally control the media directly.

• Media relations
  • Proactive media relations means putting info specifically out there, not just reacting
  • Be proactive as much as possible, though will always need to be reactive as well
• Community relations
  • Player-initiated, team-initiated, or league-initiated
  • Examples of charity events put on by leagues, players, etc.

Public relations in the sport marketing mix: the example of the Michael Phelps Foundation is an excellent illustration of using good PR and media savvy to promote a big event and maximize publicity

Public Relations Functions:

• Provision of information and general communication
• Image shaping or enhancement through org. publicity
• Community relations
• Employee relations
• Educational efforts to gain political or popular support for the organizational agenda
• Recruiting and business development
• Launching new products or innovations
• Obtaining feedback and reaction
• Coping with crisis
  • Oy vey the examples get dark

Examples of contacts the media director must have:

• Alumni
• Government
• Media
  • Digital media
  • Social media
• Coaching staff
• Organizational hierarchy
• League or association
• Vendors
• Fans
• Community business
• Sport competitors
• Sponsors

Television and entertainment influence on public relations: a breakdown of ESPN TV network. A venue for PR from teams, meeting a critical need.

Now that I’ve read this chapter I can see why chapters 11 and 12 are combined into one lesson.

I bet I can do this whole chapter by the time my YouTube hour music finishes (AND A FREE T SHIRT WILL GO TO THE FIRST FINISHER!)….. (update: boo took me more than an hour :/ )

Chapters 10 and 11 form a two-parter: promotion in ch10, and public relations in ch11.

PROMOTION is any/all of the following:

• Advertising: paid, nonpersonal, sponsored media message
• Personal selling: face-to-face sales dialogue
• Publicity: form of exposure not paid for by or under control of the beneficiary
• Sales Promotion: performance, displays, trade shows, etc.

To be successful, promotion should follow AIDA:

• Increase Awareness
• Attract Interest
• Arouse Desire
• Initiate Action

Look for these components in order to be effective. Also, Promotion can be unpacked into a lot of the following ideas:

• People, publicity, price, planning, passion
• Relevant, risk, research, reward, reaction
• Opportunity, originality, organization
• Motivation, momentum, money, media
• Outrageous
• Try
• Innovate, initiate, incite, idea, imagination
• Overdeliver
• Never say no!
• Smile, shake it up, service

Ultimately, marketing is all about effective communication. Distortion is a major issue, in that even if the idea is formed and sent correctly, outside factors can change its reception.

A press release is an effective way to fully communicate the strengths of a relationship and define the roles going forward.

The advertising process can be outlined as thus:

• Source: the originator of the message (team, league, etc.)
• Message: the content and the execution of the message
• Channel: the means of the message (radio, tv, etc)
• Receiver: the target audience
• Destination: Other people who receive the message through word of mouth from the target audience

Signage: anything that shows the sponsor information like logo or w/e. It delivers an impression instead of a specific message, that can be activated later

Endorsements can come in several forms:

• Explicit (I endorse this product)
• Implicit (I use this product)
• Imperative (you should use this product)
• Copresent (appears with product)

The first historical endorsement in pro sports was when Honus Wagner gave the J. F. Hillerich & Son Company per mission to use his name on the Louisville Slugger bat in exchange for $75. It caught on quick in pro baseball (Babe Ruth, etc.)

Michael Jordan created his own line, the Jordan Brand, of Nike. Now most top athletes create their own line but Jordan was the first.

Measurement of appeal of personality to consumers can be quantified by the Q score. Jordan has the top Q Score since 1987 (Joe Montana and Tiger Woods have come close).

Lance Armstrong is an example of someone achieving a high Q Score but then it all crumbled and he lost his sponsorships.

Rappers use the same endorsement modes with liquors, including creating their own brands now as well. This also creates a market where the relationship does not even need to be in paper ahead of time, but rather a rapper can rap about a product and then the product will retroactively sponsor the rapper and formalize the relationship.

Retired athletes are a great source of endorsement because they are less likely to flame out and destroy their in-progress career, and their credibility is higher. Still possible for bad things to happen (Dennis Rodman comes to mind)

Dead celebrities can endorse things? Seems like a moral gray area. I guess someone somewhere controls their estate so maybe it works out.

Print media is in decline?? SINCE WHEN? Lol.

Print doesn’t just have to be the newspapers though, it can also be pamphlets, posters, direct mail, and schedules. Print media should consider:

• The headline must be a good hook
• The visuals are essential to complement the text
• Text should be detailed and specific
• The reader should know what the next steps are

Electronic media:

• Radio (still active! and affordable)
  • Spanish language broadcast can be very helpful depending on your market
• Podcasts
• Television
  • $$$$

Electronic media can use structure to help reach the audience better:

• Story line
• Problem and solution
• Chronology
• Special effects
• Testimonial
• Satire
• Spokesperson
• Demonstration
• Suspense
• Slice-of-life
• Analogy
• Fantasy
• Personality

Billboards still work! Can be mounted on blimps or trailers. Needs to stand out to work.

Promotional concepts and practices:

Hallmark Event: a major event (one-time or annual) that enhances appeal, awareness and profitability of a tourist destination

Hallmark events can include the Pan American Games, Super Bowl, training camp for the Cowboys, the sky’s the limit!

International games (like the NFL international series) have the following goals:

• Promote the host organization to the public
• Promote the sponsors and products
• Create unique hospitality opportunities
• Promote and add to the sport
• Revenue-generating opportunity
• Attract significant media coverage
• Promote the destination for tourism and future events

Blogs and other internet writing are valuable for their ease of access

Sales Promotions: giveaways or discounts that stimulate engagement. Easy to get carried away in the spirit of promoting, remember the bottom line! Be prepared for lower attendance once the promotion ends, fans will cherry-pick promotions to their advantage if able to.

Scheduling plays a role in promotion (ability to put meat in seats, eh)

Promotion Components:

• Theme (slogan, etc., be sure there’s not an easy judo move to turn it around)
  • Be careful not to overpromise in your slogan!
• Product Sampling
  • Two weeks free!
• Open House
  • Attract an audience for low-stakes familiarizing! Fitness clubs use this a lot
• Coupons, Vouchers, and Discount Codes
• Contests and Sweepstakes
• Premiums and Giveaways
  • Free T shirts! <3

Ultimate goal: keeping consumers on the escalator and moving them up!

Escalator of nonconsumer to light user up to rabid fan. The more mature a sport organization is, the lower the effect of new consumers is on total attendance or participation figures. This is why retention is so vital!

Staircase vs. Escalator

Escalator model works better because there are many steps for many gradations of light/heavy users and nonusers, and the marketing is the engine that pushes the stairways upwards.

Keep an eye on those defectors!

Putting it all together: an integrated promotional model

• As a marketing platform
  • To establish foundation and brand for future applications
  • To create buzz and conversation
• As a revenue platform
  • To develop sales platform
  • To increase attendance
• As an entertainment platform
  • To create a memorable experience
  • TO deliver new broadcast and internet opportunities

Are all these chapters ~32 pages? This sounds normal but feels long for some reason. Maybe it’s just been a stupid hectic week.

Sponsorship: the acquisition of rights to affiliate or directly associate with a product, person, organization, team, league, or event for the purpose of deriving benefits related to that affiliation or association. EXAMPLES:

• The right to use a logo/trademark for advertising
• The right to an exclusive association with the product or service
• The right of entitlement to an event, venue, or facility
• The right to use various designations or phrases in connection with the sport
• The right of service
• The right to use promotional activities
• The rights to the media assets of the sport property

PROMOTIONS/COMMUNICATION MIX:

• Advertising
• Personal selling
• Sales promotions
• Publicity
• Positioning (broader view)

Sponsorship changes with the era (Tobacco used to be a big sport sponsor, not so much anymore). Sponsorship is also a great alternative to radio/TV ads which can get drowned out.

Sponsorship is shown to be effective so the prices are going up. Creating events is a major way to cope with costs going up, by having more control.

What does sponsorship have to offer? Well it’s an investment like any other so it has to pay dividends to be worth it. Reaching target demographics is key. Full layout:

• Increase public awareness of company, product, and/or service
• Alter or reinforce public perception of the company
• Identify the company with particular market segments
• Involve the company in the community or key geographic markets
• Build goodwill among decision makers
• Generate media benefits
• Achieve sales objectives
• Showcase unique product features, technologies or advantages
• Create an advantage over competitors through association or exclusivity
• Gain unique opportunities in hospitality and entertainment
• Secure entitlement or naming-rights visibility

Then there’s a solid 6 pages of details and examples on all of these. I need to go home and not thing. I’ll finish it tomorrow.

OKAY I’M BACK.

SPONSOR ACTIVATION (this somehow sounds like the important part): AKA engagement or experiential marketing

Dow being a sponsor of the Olympics is a good example, because there’s lots of opportunities for Dow materials to be used in Olympic events.

Social media engagement is one of they key forms of activation on the business-to-customer side.

Is it the Number of Impressions Generated or the Impression Created?

To-Do list to prepare for selling sponsorship:

• Make a comprehensive list of all assets in the inventory
• Establish a list price for each item based on the cost per impression
• Conduct research with regard to sponsorship sold in the market and in similar markets
• Establish packaging prices and, if appropriate, discounting for the more inclusive packages
• Remember to determine the real cost of the sponsorship (free tickets you give to radio companies to give away still cost you money)
• Establish sales strategy
• Initiate the eight-step sales process. Sell the best inventory first
• The order in which categories and potential sponsors are presented is critical – large categories first, major national sponsors first, easy closures first. Gain momentum: use the recognition of name sponsors to attract lesser sponsors and leverage those commitments to secure other relationships
  • The wisdom radiates
• Talk to competitors simultaneously to ensure a decision within a comparative period
• Remember that all sponsorship decision makers know each other and often communicate.

EIGHT-STEP SPONSORSHIP PROCESS:

1. Research the category and then conduct research on the top prospects within that category
2. Schedule a meeting with the sponsorship decision maker at the brand within the category that you are targeting. Meet only if the decision maker is present
3. At the first meeting, listen 80% of the time and sell only what you have to
4. Close with a statement that you are going back to determine whether you see a fit and to develop a possible solution that you can present next time. Try for 2 week followup
5. Create a marketing partnership proposal. Practice consultative selling
6. Present the proposal as a draft you will gladly modify to meet the organization’s needs
7. Negotiate the final deal and get a signed agreement. Close the deal when you have the opportunity; ensure that the final deal has agreed-upon deliverables and a timetable
8. Introduce the client to the activation team

Co-op sponsorship: two or more corporate partners or organizations to capitalize jointly on a sponsorship or licensing agreement.

Product placement: most effective in service to a story, can’t be too blatant.

Ethical issues in sponsorship: consider who you’re marketing to and what you’re marketing. Can you afford to be associated with someone who has done bad things? With a company that does bad things? MUST CONSIDER!

Knute Rockne was the force who established Notre Dame as a national force. His philosophy can be summarized here:

• You must be able to cooperate
• Successful people persevere (in sales, 95% rejection rate is normal)
• Competition is a challenge you should thrill to
• A sales manager is the trustee of the potential worth of every salesman in his employ. It’s his job to put enough time and effort into training every individual so that the maximum worth of each will be brought out
• It is the job of the sales manager to know where his men and women are every day and what they are doing
• Selling is dependent on strong fundamentals
• Have a control plan (or chart of play)
• A handler of humans must be willing to break his group down into units and study and understand each one
• PEP = purpose, enthusiasm, and perseverance

Sales are essential to sport marketing, can overcome severe handicaps on paper.

The NFL is moving away slowly from the Meat in the Seats business model, with ever-larger TV contracts replacing the ticket sales as the lifeblood of the sport.

“Nobody goes there anymore; it’s too crowded.”

Yogi Berra

Sales (according to Mark McCormack) consists of:

• Identifying customers
• Getting through to them
• Increasing their awareness and interest in your product or service
• Persuading them to act on their interest

Four main factors must be considered in, let’s say, sellability (success of sales)

• Quality of product
  • On-field quality plays a big factor, as well as venue quality etc
• Quantity
  • Ticket packages, number of games, etc
• Time
  • Does the target have time to spend on the sport?
• Cost
  • pricing can include over time, etc
• Secret fifth perception: how cool the product is?

Qualities to look for in a saleshuman:

• Belief in the product
• Belief in yourself
• Seeing a lot of people (volume)
• Timing
• Listening to the customer
  • Important to recognize what people say they want doesn’t always match reality
• Sense of humor
• Knocking on old doors
• Asking everyone to buy
• Following up on the sale
• Common sense
• Preparation

The organization of the sales department is important and must include:

• The reporting structure
• The relationships between departments is vital
• The organizational style wrt producing materials
• The development process of personnel is important
• Determining the composition of the sales force (salary + commission, number of each kind of employee, etc)

What Do I Have To Sell? *Ears perk up*

• Naming right
• Electronic inventory
• Signage inventory
• Print inventory
• Assets related to ticket sales
• Tickets and hospitality inventory
• Promotions inventory
• Community programs
• Miscellaneous inventory (road trips!)

Direct data-based sport marketing and sales: database marketing (metadata, etc. to target your campaign)

There’s a FULL PAGE CHART of sources of data for different types of customers and what to target them for and just looking at it is EXHAUSTING

Ha! There’s an ROE (return on emotion) which is just as vital as ROI and ROO

Telemarketing isn’t just phone banking anymore, it’s also now internet work

Telemarketing Sales Process

1. Precall planning
2. Approach and positioning
3. Data gathering
4. Solution generation
5. Solution presentation
6. Close (ABC)
7. Wrap-up (don’t forget to prepare follow-ups)

There’s a scenario of a telemarketer….. man this is tiring. I’m really just regular tired though….

Telemarketing can be outsourced, but you would really need to work closely with your outsource crew…..

Direct Mail: another way to get in touch with the peoples.

• ADVANTAGES
  • Targeted
  • Personal
  • Measurable
  • It can be tested
  • Flexible
• STRATEGIES
  • Must differentiate
  • Offer multiple options on one document
  • Provide a range of benefits or exclusivity
  • Use discounts, etc
  • Offer deferred or flexible payments

Another option: email marketing (EMAIL CAMPAIGNS) can be more direct and cheaper to blast out

Annual report is an email with lots of content, links, videos, flyers, etc

Personal (face to face) selling is the most intensive but can be worth the cost

Relationship Marketing (RM) is marketing to other companies rather than direct to consumer

Benefit selling is the creation of new benefits to offset existing perceptions or assumed negatives related to the sport product or service

Holy crap this chapter is 45 pages. Will have to finish it up later. Yikes.

OKAY I’M BACK LET’S DO THIS.

Innovative Promotional Approaches for Selling Sport Products and Services

• Education can sell the fan base
• Remember your packaging
• Remember that fun is good
  • If you build it, they will come
• Couponing is not just for groceries
• Remember the profitability and effect of group sales

Use your Assets to Sell: Hold a meet’n’greet at a season ticket holder’s place (the New Jersey Nets pioneered this influencer-based approach) and other ways to create personal connection to the sport

The Club Sandwich (total inventory plan)

• Full season tickets (meat)
• Partial plans (cheese)
• Groups and advance ticket sales (veggies)
• Day-of purchase and community promotions (condiments)

With a long season, season tickets should be ~60% of tickets, but with fewer games like the NFL, should be 80%

Declining or losing Team	Improving Team	Successful Team
Add staff to sell inventory	Add staff to capitalize on perception	Lay off staff because of lack of inventory
Add discounts to attract buyers	Use discounts to create up-sell	Eliminate discounts
Ticket plan options	Upsell higher cost plans	Offer few plans
Emphasize group sales	Use groups to sell out, offer limited discounts	Limit group inventory, no discounting
Heavily emphasize sales training	Heavily emphasize sales training	Focus sales training or sales contests on increasing account value
Offer payment plans	Offer payment plans	Offer incentives to pay in full
Promotional nights	Target key games with promotion	Use premium giveaways for sponsor activation

Pricing is a skill all by itself. Some things that must be priced are:

• Hard or soft goods (equipment/jerseys)
• Tickets
• Memberships
• Daily usage fees
• Concessions
• Content
• Access for corporate entities
• Image
• Hospitality
• Premium seating
• Exclusive association
• Commercial time and exposure

Satisfaction = Benefit – Cost (still!) so don’t forget there are other prices built in to participating! Especially golf…..

Secondary ticket market: tickets can be resold, like StubHub etc. This may erode the season ticket market over time

Aftermarketing is a term that describes the relationship between the marketer and the customer after all the marketing and sales efforts have been completed, a purchase has been made, and the prospect has become a customer. THIS SEEMS IMPORTANT.

Through good aftermarketing, a relationship can be built that expands the usefulness of the customer.

Customer loyalty is based on the consumers’ feelings about the brand in the areas of confidence, integrity, pride, and passion, as well as satisfaction, utilization, and enjoyment of purchases. Defectors are costly and must be replaced which is troublesome. High-value customers must be treated as members.

OKAY LET’S GET THIS QUIZ OVER WITH.

#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.”

Page 164

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.