Sports and Entertainment Marketing Series

The setting

The RIVER CITY RAPTORS play in a stadium whose lower bowl fills and whose upper deck does not. On television the empty seats are the first thing a viewer notices, and the club has begun to worry about what that says to a sponsor.

Your role

You are to assume the role of a marketing associate with the RIVER CITY RAPTORS.

Your task

The vice president of ticket sales (judge) wants you to recommend how the club should fill the upper deck. Explain the role promotion plays for a club selling an experience rather than a product, identify the elements of the promotional mix you would use, identify the communications channels you would run a sales promotion through, explain the marketing strategy behind the choice, and explain how you would identify the market most likely to sit there.

Performance indicators

• Explain the role of promotion as a marketing function.
• Identify the elements of the promotional mix.
• Identify communications channels used in sales promotion.
• Explain the concept of marketing strategies.
• Explain the concept of market and market identification.

The judge will ask

1. 1.What stops a cheaper upper deck from emptying the lower bowl?
2. 2.Is a full stadium worth more than a profitable one? Defend it.

The setting

HARBOUR CITY FC plays in a stadium named for a regional company that has just been fined over an environmental matter. The naming agreement has years left to run, supporters have begun covering the name on their scarves, and the club has said nothing.

Your role

You are to assume the role of a marketing associate at HARBOUR CITY FC.

Your task

The chief executive (judge) wants you to recommend what the club does. Identify the public relations activities this calls for, discuss the internal and external audiences the club has to address, explain the role of business ethics in continuing to promote the sponsor, explain what the association does to the club's corporate brand, and explain how the club's brand promise bears on the decision.

Performance indicators

• Identify types of public-relations activities.
• Discuss internal and external audiences for public-relations activities.
• Describe the use of business ethics in promotion.
• Explain the nature of corporate branding.
• Identify company's brand promise.

The judge will ask

1. 1.Does the club say anything publicly about the fine?
2. 2.What would have to happen for you to recommend ending the agreement?

The setting

The LAKESIDE THUNDER draw a full house at weekends and a thin crowd midweek. The team on the field is the same, the marketing is the same, and nobody has ever asked who is actually free on a Tuesday evening.

Your role

You are to assume the role of a marketing associate with the LAKESIDE THUNDER.

Your task

The director of marketing (judge) wants you to recommend how the club should sell its midweek games. Explain the concept of market identification and who the midweek market actually is, explain the marketing strategy you would build for those evenings, explain the role of situation analysis in getting there, identify the elements of the promotional mix you would use, and describe the data the club would need to know whether it worked.

Performance indicators

• Explain the concept of market and market identification.
• Explain the concept of marketing strategies.
• Explain the role of situation analysis in the marketing planning process.
• Identify the elements of the promotional mix.
• Describe the need for marketing data.

The judge will ask

1. 1.Who is realistically free on a Tuesday evening, and what do they want?
2. 2.Would you rather add a thousand midweek fans or a thousand weekend fans?

The setting

GRANITE STATE HOCKEY has added merchandise every season and removed none. The team store carries far more than it can display, most of it never sells, and no one has ever been responsible for deciding what the range should be.

Your role

You are to assume the role of a marketing associate with GRANITE STATE HOCKEY.

Your task

The director of retail (judge) wants you to recommend what the range becomes. Explain the concept of product mix and how this one should be decided, explain what the product management function covers for a club store, explain how you would identify the product opportunities worth keeping, explain what a sprawling range does to the club's corporate brand, and identify the data you would monitor to make the decision.

Performance indicators

• Explain the concept of product mix.
• Explain the nature and scope of the product/service management function.
• Identify product opportunities.
• Explain the nature of corporate branding.
• Identify data monitored for marketing decision making.

The judge will ask

1. 1.How would you decide what to cut?
2. 2.What would you do with stock that will not sell at any price?