Euroleague Final Four Mentor

Case: Euroleague Final Four

Mentor: Chris Kennett

Understanding customer experience in terms of brand awareness through the use of pop-up stores at fanzones in sport events.

La Salle University of Ramon Llull – Degree program in Management of Business and Technology

Bachelors Thesis, Summer 2019 | Svetlana Krstajic

LA SALLE Ramon Llull University Degree Program in Management of Business and Technology

KRSTAJIC, SVETLANA: Pop-Up Stores in Sport Events Research Case: Euroleague Final Four

Bachelor’s Thesis in Sports Management, 49 Pages, 4 pages of appendices

Summer 2019

ABSTRACT

The subject of this thesis is to research and understand customer experience in terms of brand awareness through the use of pop-up stores in fanzones sports events. The aim here is to get more knowledge on how customers experience with pop-up stores and if it improves their brand awareness towards certain brands. This is done by collecting data at the Euroleague Final Four in Vitoria Gasteiz held in May 2019.

The theoretical framework of this research consists of what brand awareness is as well as in depth analysis of what pop-up stores are, their benefits, key elements as well as limitations. Theoretical part also includes an insight on successful pop-up stores in both the fashion and sports industry.

The empirical part of the thesis was implemented as a quantitative research where the target population were the fans that attended the Euroleague Final Four Fan Zone, where the pop-up stands of the Euroleague sponsors were located. Fans of all ages, residence and gender participated in the survey that was done at the Euroleague Final Four in person.

From the results of the study it can be concluded that the customer experience was positive at the pop-up stands, however in terms of brand awareness the pop-up stores did not have a significant effect on the customers. Both males and females expressed similar opinions throughout the research questions, meaning that gender did not have an effect on customer experience. This could be due to the nature of sponsor pop-up stands at events rather than retail stands, which would require further research.

Table of Content

1 INTRODUCTION

2 BRAND AWARENESS 2.1 What is brand awareness 2.2 Brand awareness & pop-up stores

3 POP-UP STORES 3.1 What are pop-up stores? 3.2 History of pop-up stores 3.3 Key elements of pop-up stores

4 VALUE OF POP-UP STORES 4.1 Pop-up stores as a retail strategy 4.2 Benefits of Pop-up stores and building brand awareness 4.3 Limitations of Pop-up stores 4.4 What sports can learn from the Fashion Industry 4.5 Successful sports Pop-up stores

5 CONCLUSIONS 5.1 The unexplored gap

6 METHADOLOGY 6.1 Methodology 6.2 Description of sample population

7 FINDINGS 7.1 Results 7.2 Demographics 7.3 Pop-Up Store/Brand Awareness related survey questions 7.4 Social Media Questions

8 DISCUSSION 8.1 Discussion 8.2 Limitations

9 CONCLUSION AND FURTHER RESEARCH 9.1 Conclusion 9.2 Further Research

10 REFFERENCES

11 APPENDECIES

1 Introduction

With the advance of technology and innovation, there always comes a time of certain disruptions that not only change retailing, but business in general. Looking back, the growth of cities and railroad networks made modern department stores possible, the 1960s and 1970s brought the rise of discount chains like Walmart and Kmart. These changes are directly affected by the consumer and their expectations. (Darrell K. Rigby: 2011). However, it is important to note that new disruptions do not eliminate the previous one, but rather adapt and change. Today, retail stores face a new challenge. According to the Credit Suisee Bank, 25% of the USA shopping malls will be closed by 2022 due to the lack of customers visiting the physical shops, while about 7000 stores closed in 2017 alone. Now, this does not necessarily indicate that physical stores are going to vanish. (Van Elven: 2018).

Stores will continue to exist in the foreseeable future, as they can be an effective competitive weapon. Research shows that physical stores boost online purchases, Europeans retailers report that it captures nearly 5% of online sales in areas near physical stores, but only 3% outside those areas. Having mentioned that, owning a physical store will not be enough to satisfy Generation Z consumers. According to the report by The Future Laboratory, 75% of Generation Z consumers prefer stores that provide a memorable and encouraging offer. (Darrell K. Rigby: 2011). It is also important to mention the millennials, since this is the most adaptive and entrepreneurial group (Huffelen). Their adventurous lifestyle and innovative mindset, is influencing the way they shop and the way they want to experience shopping. Interestingly enough, they are the ones who are more likely to shop in physical stores, since they are looking for the experience and a way to interact with the product. In addition to that, millennials are open to new environments that offer unique settings, a story to tell and share with their friends.

With this new way of shopping and interacting with brands, come new tools and strategies for businesses to satisfy their customers. In the last few years there has been a movement away from a purely sales-oriented retail strategy, where traditional retail spaces have been converted into branded “flagship” spaces for branded experiences like Apple and Starbucks did. Recent trends have seen retail go mobile and, in some cases, temporary pop-up concepts.

While this has its origins in the traditional marketplace concept, these spaces are increasingly focused on providing branded experiences and deepening customers engagement, both in physical and virtual contexts.

Interestingly enough, even though one can find heaps of secondary information on pop- up stores and how retailers use this new strategy, there is little research done on this phenomenon in the sports industry. This is an attractive gap to explore especially when it comes to sport events, which will be the primary objective in this research paper. Due to my previous experience with working in the Sports Industry, specifically Euroleague Basketball, and my life- long passion for sports I decided to use the Euroleague Final Four, hosted in Vitoria Gasteiz this year, as a case study to gather data. Pop-up stores have always been a field of interest especially due to the fact that it has become a trend in the retail world.

Euroleague Basketball is a sports and entertainment business that runs the European competitions of professional basketball clubs since 2000. There are two main men’s basketball competitions that run each year, the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague and the 7Days EuroCup, where the best Europeans basketball teams compete. Not only that, but Euroleague Basketball also has the EB Adidas Next Generation Tournament which is an under-18 showcase. Euroleague competitions have become more popular as the years go by with 186 games being played in season 2009-10 and 260 games being played in season 2017-18. Not only that, but the season average for attendances in 2009-10 was 1,182,046 while in 2017-18 it was 2,282,297. In the Turkish Airlines Euroleague competitions, there is the Final Four which is played each year in a different city. This is where the Fan Zone is located with the Euroleague Sponsors stands including activities, games, merchandise, and social media activations for the event. Euroleague’s title sponsor is Turkish Airlines, with some of the premium partners include 7Days and Adidas. (Euroleague.net)

Having mentioned that, using the Euroleague Final Four as the primary case the main focus of this research paper is to understand customer experience in terms of brand awareness through the use of pop-up stores at fan zones in sports events. Some of the research objective of this research paper include:

• To determine what transfer there is from fashion to sport • To understand what pop-up stores bring value to • To see how pop-up stores can be improved in sports events/tournaments • To determine the customers experience in pop-up stores

These research objectives along with the research question will be answered throughout this paper, starting off with the literature review where there will be an in-depth analysis of pop-up stores (history, benefits, values, limitations, examples, etc.). Moving along with the empirical research where the results of the survey at the Euroleague Fan Zone are presented. Then, an explanations and analysis of the results will follow where finally a conclusion will be drawn and discussed to what the data collected could potentially mean.

2 Brand Awareness

2.1 What is Brand Awareness?

Building a strong brand that customers can relate to or that can simply express the message or goal of the company is of utmost importance in today’s business. Not only do we find this in fashion and retail companies, but any industry where a company is trying to build a loyal customer base. Branding is a process which involves the creation of a logo, symbol or design that your customer can identify with and can differentiate one’s product with another (Lopez 2016). This is also called brand awareness, the customers strength and ability to recall the brand, or in other words brand recognition. This can be measured simply by the customers’ ability to identify the brand in different situations and from different visible and recognizable attributes that have been mentioned above (Keller et al, 2012).

There are several different brand theories that describe what a brand is and why it is important, some describe brand and brand awareness as how the company creates meaning while other theories look more into how consumers see the brand. But overall, according to Aaker (2002) a brand can either burden a company or make it successful.

2.2 Brand Awareness & Pop-Up Stores

As mentioned, building and creating brand awareness for a company is of crucial importance in order to compete and create a loyal customer. Thus, companies are looking into different ways to increase their brand awareness by using new tools and strategies to catch the attention of the consumer. Retailers wanting to reach new markets without any serious commitments are increasingly turning to Pop-Up events and stores to help improve their brand awareness. (Daisyme, 2016). With strong retail merchandising software, retailers are able to gather and analyze detailed insights of the impact of stores programs to uncover new customer trends, improving their decision making. (Lane, 2017). Pop-up stores are starting to become the new tool to build brand awareness and engage consumer in an effective and tactful manner where one can assess how the market reacts to the entry of a brand, product or promotions.

The idea is to build your brand through the education of your products and services providing customers the opportunity to try out the latest products and exposing the brand's new technology or innovation and immersing them in an experience rather than a sales pitch which consumers are not looking for these days (Holman, 2016). This is also highly important for e- commerce businesses, where they lack the closeness with customers, which Pop-up stores can provide (Warnaby & Shi, 2018). However, before diving deeper into the topic, one must be familiar with what Pop-up stores are, their key elements, benefits and limitations.

3 Pop-Up Stores

3.1 What are Pop-Up Stores? Pop-up retail, or Pop-up stores, are retail stores that are open temporarily, typically anywhere from 3 days to 3 months. They take advantage of the current trend and trending products, the industry that introduces pop-up stores the most is apparel and toy industry (Kenton, 2018).

These types of stores are used in order to introduce the consumers to a brand or a new product where the consumer may directly interact with it. “Those high-touch experiences have always been part of any brand’s journey to go directly to a customer. It is not a new phenomenon, but because retail is changing so much, pop-up stores are that new high-touch way of getting in front of your customers, client or consumer.” (Arati, no date).

This is why brands are slowly becoming more flexible, meaning that it is now less common for brands to look for a long-term lease for rentals of stores. The traditional leases were chosen by location, where you tried to lock in the longest lease possible (Milnes: 2017) In fact, the average length of a retail lease is about 5 years, compared this to 1991 that the usual rental lease was 20 years. (CBRE, not dated)

3.2 History of Pop-up Stores Although pop-up stores are currently in trend and are being used by famous brands like Nike, Adidas, Google, Louis Vuitton, Guns n’ Roses, Hermes, etc. It is a concept that originated all the way back in 1298 in Vienna Austria. During the cold Decembers and Christmas Holidays the, even now well-known, Christmas market would be held where one can encounter the farmer’s market and many different stands that are an example of old-fashioned pop-up stores (Kenton: 2018).

Moving forward to 1997, in Los Angeles California, where an event was created by Patrick Courrielche, a media entrepreneur, writer and arts advocate. This event was called a one- day “Ultimate Hipster Mall”, this is the moment where the term pop-up store became known and started to intrigue the masses as well as large brands. Target is another big brand that in 2002 took a 220-foot boat and decided to locate their pop-up store there for a two week “Black Friday” for the customers. The year 2009 is important for Pop-up stores, as it is the year when the concept started to be used in different industries rather than just retail. There were many more examples throughout the years of pop-up stores becoming more popular and prominent in the world of retail.

Similarly, according to Cradlepoint Technologies 2012, pop-up stores started to emerge in Europe and the United States in only in 2003. Both sources mention that Target was one of the first brands to really take advantage of this new way of selling and building brand image. Following along with GAP who furnished a school bus with 60’s themed apparel and accessories, using the bus as a travel pop-up store.

In contrast to the previous mentions, source from Retail Is Detail (2015) claims that pop- up stores were popularized by a Japanese fashion label named Comme de Garcons. The founder of this brand is Rei Kawakubo who opened the brands first pop up stores in Berlin 2004 and from then on has been using pop-up stores all around the world including Warsaw, Helsinki, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, etc. Through Kawakubo’s pop-up stores brands started to get inspired and the concept progressed in the fashion industry especially.

As one may notice, determining the exact time and period when pop-up stores began is debatable, but nevertheless, pop-up stores is continuing to rise and through technology is starting to gain a new shape “Mobile broadband technology is expanding the possibilities for a diverse array of applications for mobile pop-ups. (Cradlepoint: 2012).

3.3 Key Elements of Pop-Up Stores There are three different elements that make up a good pop- up store: Location, design and customer service. The first element to take into account is the store location (the store front: 2016). Where one places the pop-up should resemble or be an extension of the online platform, or the brand. It would also be advised to have the pop-up stores located in a place with high traffic in order to attract as many customers as possible. (Bergman: 2014). The second element is design and creativity (Baras: 2014). The design of the store is important as it tells the story of the brand and what message you want to portray. Lastly, customer service is key, as mostly the pop- up store staff is inexperienced, it is suggested that companies actually spend time, training and resources, because customer service, like in every business, is crucial to bettering customer experience (Tedla: 2015)

Keeping that in mind, Forbes published an article named “Pop-Up Retailers: Must know Details to Make Yours a Success” written by Nicole Leinbach-Reyhle (2014) where she interviewed CEO’s and Authors about pop-up retail who gave their insight on the key elements of Pop-ups. The number one key element of a pop-up store according to author Gonzalez is the idea and story behind the Pop-Up store. What one is looking to achieve through the store and the message that they are trying to convey “Remember that as a merchant, your store is your story”.

Two elements that have now been mentioned beforehand but are interesting to look into come from Insights Samsung. The first one is to market the pop-up store, which means that retailers must market the location and give consumers good reasons to visit the store. This can be done through demonstrations, live events, performances and visits by famous people (Guillot: 2017). An example of this is when Wrangler paid tribute to its hometown in November of 2017, for its 70th anniversary of opening. They opened a 1500 square foot pop-up store and placed jean sculptures across the city to attract the customers attention. Perhaps an easier and less expensive alternative could be using the existing technology that is offered today, like social media experiences and limited edition products.

Along the lines of technology, Insight Samsung also believes that deploying the right technology in a pop-up store is a key element for a well-functioning store. This can be applied to all industries, as technology is being used more and more to improve the customer experience. One needs to make sure they have the right digital media and customer content that engages the customers. Cameras can be used in order to understand and collect data about how customers move and where the most foot traffic is (Guillot: 2017).

4 Value of Pop-Up Stores

4.1 Pop-Up Stores as a retail strategy Temporary retail stores continue to thrive as an $8 billion industry that grows 16% annually since 2009 (Specialty Retail Report). It is safe to say that the fashion industry has embraced pop – up stores and found ways to satisfy the customers by making the relationship

between the customer and brand more meaningful. Building this relationship with the customer and fully embracing the art of pop-up stores can be done in a few different ways (Coleman: 2018): Using established stores - Use of pop-up stores in department stores has proven to draw customers. One example of this is the luxury brand Fendi that used this strategy, when opening their pop-up store in Selfridges. Embracing Omni channel - For a long-time retailer did not combine or compliment the offerings of their online and physical presence, this has proven to be a mistake as this process should complement each other. Today, pop up stores are used to drive a wider Omni channel strategy by the fashion industry. For instance, Rihanna could be a good example of that, where she announced her new Fenty Clothing Fall Collection. As the collection went online she also opened up a pop-up shop in New York to sell the collection. This helped ease the transition in the fashion industry in general from catwalk to stores, since sometimes this can be hard to translate into physical stores. Pop-up stores can offer “samples” or “limited edition” collections from the fashion runway. Personalization - This has been a concept that has proven to be highly popular, everyone wants something of their own, something different. This can be difficult as in the most part fashion is mass produced, take an example of Zara that is one of the most popular brands today and offers customers new products every week, however they are not customized. Many brands have added the ability to customize products as part of their pop-up experience. Arche the footwear brand, when they launched their new footwear, they made a pop-up store in New York, enabling customers to personalize their shoes. This is a great way to attract people to the pop-up stores and have a more personalized experience that will be memorable. Concept stores - Pop up stores have the advantage of being able to be designed to push a certain concept or design for a certain amount of time, not being restricted. Vivienne Westwood, creates her own and unique stores. Every season you are able to change the store according to the current trends, current products, or certain message that the company wants to portray. It gives the companies a sense of freedom and creativity that physical traditional stores would perhaps not be able to offer. Finding Target Market – In order for this retail strategy to work one must know who you want your ideal customer to be. If the target is Millennials, most likely, the pop-up store should be set up in

a downtown location. This does not mean heavily populated area, but rather places where your target market exists.

This new strategy will soon become another channel in which you are able to engage customers. One can see that events are starting to use this strategy more and more, for example in big concerts where they sell t-shirts or album releases, where they often have a full pop-up experience. In this strategy it is important to note the idea of “limited amount of experiences available”. This means that only a certain amount of people is able to experience the pop-up store. This means that the usual target of these stores is “super fans”, as they are the ones who find out first about these events then the average user of the brand. (Baird: 2018)

4.2 Benefits of Pop-Up Stores & Building Brand Awareness

Thus far, there have been explanations, examples and opinions on Pop-Up Stores and they functions, however it is also important to look at the benefits that these types of stores bring to the business, specifically how brand awareness is built through these benefits.

Firstly, the whole idea behind pop up stores is to develop a sense of urgency and “limited edition products” that will in the end help stores boost their sales and in turn offload their inventory. In this way, stores are also able to increase sales for the larger purchases that they might not be able to sell otherwise. This creates a sense of urgency and also can translate into higher willingness to pay and increased desirability as the consumer considers the goods as a scarcity. (Zentes, Morschett & Shcarmm-Klein: 2017).

Then, pop-up stores are a great way to experiment with new ideas and products. If the company is trying to figure out in what direction they want to go, regarding their style or concept they can test out their ideas with pop up stores. This will be less expensive in the long run, then launching the products or ideas and them turning out to be a complete fail.

Next, pop up stores are used as a marketing opportunity, since usually these stores are unique and exciting, making consumers want to interact and share their experience. This

increases their probability of sharing the brand on their social media platforms, thus gaining free marketing. Not only that, but pop-up stores can help companies make consumers aware of their online platforms.

Furthermore, it gives companies that ability to collaborate with different businesses that would perhaps be harder to cultivate in an ordering setting. For example, pop up stores tend to be quite popular during certain season and holidays, like Christmas. In these cases, businesses like chocolate and flower stores may work together, or jewelry stores might collaborate with flower stores, etc. (Subramanian: 2014). According to Melissa Gonzalez, who is a pop-up store architect at the Lionesque Group, there is two other benefits worth mentioning about this store concept. This benefit is being present at relevant events and bring customers deeper into the brand lifestyle. (Retail Touch Points)

CEO Melissa Gonzales of The Lionesquare Group and author or “The Pop-Up Paradigm” agrees with the previous suggestions, however believe that the brand awareness the Pop-Up stores bring with press, media, influencers and customers, customer education, etc. Giving customers in depth knowledge of your brand and your purpose is what counts most of all. Gonzalez’s company does research on the value of pop-up stores and has concluded in the previous years that an average Pop-Up store that they work with sees a 35% increase in sales. Not only that, but 50% off these stores see an average increase of 30% on social media engagement during the lifespan of the Pop-Up.

4.3 Limitations of Pop-Up Stores In order to have an objective view on Pop-Up retail it is of significance to mention the limitations and factors that might be holding back Pop-Up stores today. In fact, the temporary nature of the Pop-Up store can also be the limitation that could cause problems. The main problems retailers are facing with these types of stores are technological barriers, location and costs (Center of Economics and Business Research: 2014).

In order to be a successful store, one must have working internet and sales devices so companies can promote their stores in real time through social media as well as take card

payments. This is difficult to do sometimes due to the nature of the pop-up stores. Creating a new landline takes up to 15 days, which means that stores need to operate on Hot Sports or not internet at all. This needs planning and time to make sure all these factors fall into place, especially when a company is creating a moving pop-up store. Depending on the location of the store there might be outage of electricity which could further cause loss in revenue.

The location is crucial in order for a Pop-Up store to be successful, so area with high foot traffic are recommended. However, finding these locations and leasing these areas is not always an easy task. Landlords sometimes only offer long term leases which debunks the whole idea of a temporary Pop-Up store. Not only that but finding the right location that would clearly and most effectively promote your product/brand and get the message across to the customers takes time, money and resources. Companies want to be in a location where they know that their customers are.

Costs can seem like a benefit in this case since they are lower than those of a permanent store. In addition, if the Pop-Up store does not go as planned, the store can be closed and there is not much of a burden. However, there are still a few costs that one must look out for, for example: Property, Insurance, Purchasing Stock, Music License, Technological investments, Designing the store, etc.

4.4 What sports can learn from the Fashion industry

In order to get a better insight of the Pop-Up store world and how much it has affected businesses and their strategy we ought to take a look at one of the biggest industries today, fashion. Pop-up stores have somewhat been like a “heaven sent” for the fashion retail industry, because they are in need of physical outlet in order for their customers to interact and feel the clothes (Coleman: 2018). They have fully embraced and effectively used Pop-Up stores to their benefit and have further pushed the boundaries.

Influencers – Kylie Jenner must be one of the most well-known reality TV celebrities from this generation. Kylie opened up her own pop-up store in Los Angeles with make-up products and clothing.

Collaborations – One of the many things the fashion industry does well is collaborate with other brands to create a new wave of interest for their customers. One of the most talked about collaborations in recent history was Louis Vuitton x Supreme. The amount of interest this collaboration caused was like nothing seen before, it led to praise, criticism and numerous people and brands using it as an example.

Design and Innovation – Hermes is one of the many luxury brands that are popular in today’s age. The company chose their signature orange color to be their focal point in their “Hermesmatic” pop-up stores that was world-wide and traveled to different metropolises. The brand invited customers to bring their own silk scarf or buy a new one at the pop-up store and re- design them. The store had washing machines in their signature orange color that dye the scarf in intense violet, denim blue or bright pink. Then, the dryers restore your new scarf to its original softness, so your new scarf is ready in 48h and free of charge.

As one can tell, the Fashion industry has become extremely creative in the way they present their brand and want to attract their customers. The world of sports can take examples of these brands to create their own pop-up stores. Especially, looking at sport events where sponsors can use pop-up stores to attract fans and introduce them to the brand.

4.5 Successful Sport Pop-up stores

Since, this paper is primarily focused on sports and sport events, it is important to mention examples of successful pop-up stores that used this marketing strategy to increase their brand awareness. Well-known companies like Nike, Reebok and Adidas have all utilized and successfully implemented pop-up marketing strategy in order to reach certain marketing goals.

Nike is known to making some of the most interactive and engaged pop up stores, they take advantage of the pop-up store benefits and are able to use the space for product sampling or promoting a new collaboration. One of the most famous Nike Pop-Up stores was called “Makers of the Game” that was held in Los Angeles. This was done to kick-off the NBA All-Star weekend. Visitors could choose from a wide range of activities: playing basketball on a full-size court, Q&A session with Kobe Bryant and shoe designers, appointment to create a one- of-a-kind custom pair of sneakers, etc. Even though this is a fashion brand (Nike) it collaborated with the NBA to attract more attention and make sure the fans are aware of the important weekend that is to come. This was also a win-win for fans to get to know one of the most famous basketball players in history and play the game that they love the most.

BILL HANSTOCK/UPROXX

Nike also used pop-up store in order to introduce the company into a different culture. As they celebrated their 30thanniversary of the Nike Air Force 1 shoes, they opened up a pop-up store named “Pivot Point” in Tokyo Japan. This store was opened in 2012 for a week, and as mentioned before their aim was to give the opportunity for the young Japanese culture to immerse in the rich New York culture. They released limited edition products and announced their next pop up in London. (Spire Research and Consulting Pte Ltd: 2013). As one can tell the

goal is not as much sell the product anymore, in fact, the process of purchasing in a store will become irrelevant at some point, since transactions are not limited anymore to traditional stores, but can be done online or over social networks. The idea is that customers want to try out the products before actually buying them. Some retail stores offering sports equipment, also give the customers the ability to have a training session with the products. (Dr. Henkel: 2017).

https://news.nike.com/news/nike-sportswears-pivot-point-lands-in-japan

Nicole Srock Stanely, Dan Pearlman Berlin agency worker, stated that “the future belongs to those who make each square meter an adventure”. This is exactly what the sports retail industry is trying to do today in order to attract their customers and improve their business. Adidas is a company that continuously seeks new ways to surprise their customers are be on top of the game. For example, they have created a unique experience in Berlin’s Bikini Mall, where they have opened up a pop-up store that produced custom-made sweater under the motto “Knit for you”. (Spire Research and Consulting Pte Ltd: 2013)

fashionunited.uk 2017

Also, in 2014, Adidas opened one of their many “Shoe Box” pop-up stores, in order to promote their collaboration with Stan Smith shoes. It featured exclusive and limited-edition products as well as interactive experiences. They had a wall with over 120 Stan Smith shoes, with technology features such as interactive floors, with 3D effects that customers can control. Adidas also included 3D printers in the stores where customers were able to make personalized lace locks. Attending these pop-up stores are also VIP guests like Conor Maynard, Ashley Walters and Maverick Sabre. Other than the interactive aspects of the pop-up store, customers were also able to buy one of the 200 pairs of Stan Smith shoes which came with a limited-edition box.

Probably one of the most successful Pop-up stores from Adidas was done in London with the launch of the new NMD shoe brand. Adidas created one of the most “hyped” Pop-up stores located in Shoreditch, lasting 6-days and 6-nights. Adidas included DJ sets, art performances, film screenings and celebrating creativity, art and underground culture. Although Adidas is a well-known brand world-wide, they used this pop-up store in order to promote their new shoe brand NMD. They also hosted workshops in a two-floor space for people to get creative and get inspired.

The Drop Date 2016

5 CONCLUSIONS

5.1 The Unexplored GAP As one can notice, there is a sufficient amount of information concerning the Pop-Up stores, especially now that it is gaining more and more momentum. Articles and journals explaining and debating how this strategy can be beneficial to businesses and what CEO’s think about it as a new way to reach their customers. An important concept that has been weaved throughout the sources is that it all comes down to building brand awareness and helping customers and potential customers gain more knowledge on the product and brand itself, what it represents and what it stands for. The customer expects experience and that is what the companies are fighting to give and are constantly trying to up themselves.

Although it is vital to know the perspective of the businesses as they are implementing this marketing strategy, there is a lack of information looking at the customer's point of view. If one knows the opinion and the thoughts of the customer, then companies would be able to learn and improve their Pop-Up stores. The focus is constantly on what “value” Pop-Up stores bring to the businesses, but does it bring any “value” to the customers? Do they find it appealing, what do they like, what don’t they like? All these simple as well as more in depth questions would be helpful to further investigate the true value Pop-Up Stores bring. “Customers will share details and insights in-person you’d never be able to capture online.”

What the next step will be in the research paper is to investigate and understand customer experience in terms of brand awareness through the use of pop-up stores in sport events.

6 METHADOLOGY

6.1 Methodology

The research methodology is an important part of any research as it is there to guide and design the framework for a study. It outlines the procedure of the research activity and makes sure that it is answering the research problem/question.

To begin with it is important to mention that the data was collected in collaboration with Euroleague Basketball, who designed and administrated to the questionnaire meaning that I will be doing the primary analysis of the dataset generated from this survey. The primary objective of this paper is to measure if pop-up stores have an influence on brand awareness through the perspective of the consumer/customer at the Euroleague Fan Zone.

The Euroleague Final Four is the final four formal championship of the Turkish Airlines Euroleague competition that is held at the end of every season in May. During this three-day competition Euroleague Basketball organizes a Fan Zone for the fans to visit before or during the games. The Fan Zone is usually located in the city center and popular squares to attracted as many people as possible. It is open from morning to evening filled with games, shows, contests and activities at the stands sponsored by Euroleague Basketball partners Turkish Airlines, 7Days, Adidas, Bwin, Eneos, Endesa, Volvo, etc. A 3X3 Tournament will also be hosted, One Team activities, with famous athletes visiting fans as well. This is a great opportunity and location to do the primary data collection as this is what sport events do with pop-up stores during tournaments, using them to introduce fans to the events sponsor’s, to offer activities related to the sport played, to invite athletes and attract people that may not be attending the games, but are just interested in learning more about the event, etc.

In this case study specifically, quantitative data collection was used in order to answer the research question as best as possible. Quantitative data is data expressing certain quantity, amount or range in form of numerical quantities (stats.oecd.org). This was useful in this case, as the survey presented asked questions using a scale (1 being low - 5 being high) and in order to

collect sufficient number of samples of relevant data. Furthermore, quantitative research gives a more definitive assessment of the depth and effects of pop up stores on brand awareness through the perspective of the consumer. Some examples of the questions asked in the survey are: “From a scale 1-5 please rate how much these factors influenced your motivation to visit a sponsor’s stand?” or “Please rate how attractive the following elements are at the sponsor's stand for you.”

In the survey there are a total of 22 questions that are quick to answer. The primary focus when creating this survey was to make it as simple and straightforward for the participants to answer. The time it takes for the survey to be answered was also calculated (between 3- 5minutes) in order to make sure that the participants are focused and willing to do the survey. To keep the survey interactive, it is beneficial to include different types of questions, in this case yes/no questions, scaling questions (to see how strongly she/he agrees or disagrees with a statement), rating questions (to see how much she/he likes or dislikes certain factors), and short answer questions.

6.2 Description of sample population

A sample population consists of all elements that share a common set of characteristics and that comprise the universe for the purpose of the research problem (Malhorta 2007, 335). Because it is not possible to collect data and information from the entire population, a sample was selected for this research study.

The goal here is to receive information from the target audience of the research study, which in this case are people of all ages, gender, residences who have visited the Euroleague Final Four Fan Zone that was held in Vitoria Gasteiz in Spain. People who did visit the Euroleague Final Four in the Arena but have not visited the Fan Zone would not be considered valid for this research study as this data would not be of value to answer the research question in understanding the customer experience in terms of brand awareness through the use of pop-up stores in sports events (in this case Euroleague Final Four). The aim of the research study was to collect a total of 300-400 surveys in order to have enough data to analyze and discuss.

7 FINDINGS

7.1 Results

This section presents the analysis of the primary material that was collected, nd discusses the findings of the research together with the theories. The survey used consisted of 22 questions that the participants had to answer (Appendices). However, only 14 of these 22 questions were of value for answering the research question of this study.

7.2 Demographics

To begin with, it is important to know the demographics of the participants, in order to get an idea of the characteristics of the population. Demographics information provides data regarding the research participants and it is necessary in order to determine if the participants are a representative sample for generalization purposes. (Neil J. Salkind, 2010)

Table 1: General Information regarding the survey sample General Information

Total Number of Surveys 400

Arena Number of Surveys 157

Fan Zone Number of Surveys 194

Other 49

Applicable Number of Surveys 316

A total number of 400 surveys were collected during the 3 days in Vitoria Gasteiz Euroleague Final Four. There was a total of 157 surveys done at the Arena, while 194 surveys were done directly at the Fan Zone. However, there are 49 surveys that were not recorded where they took place. The reason why only 316 of 400 surveys are applicable for analysis is because

only 316 participants of the survey actually went physically and visited the Fan Zone, which is crucial in order to get valid information further along the survey.

Table 2: Gender of the survey sample Male Female Other

Gender 274 121 5

From the 400 surveys collected there were a total of 274 “Males”, “121” Females and 5 “Other”. This was expected, as there are generally more males than females attending the Euroleague Final Four. However, it would have been more precise if the same number of males and females participated in the survey so that more detailed analysis could be done and compared.

Table 3: Age of the survey sample 26-35 > 66 < 18 years 18-25 years years 36-50 years 51-65 years years Blank

Age 76 55 84 122 48 13 2

When looking at the age of the participants (table 3), the highest number of visitors of the Euroleague were aged between 36-50 years (122), while 26-35-year olds were also close in number (84). It is interesting to see that under 18 years old were also present, this is most likely due to parents taking their children to the Final Four. Once again, the same amount of different age groups could have been collected in order to compare in further research. This way we do not have the full picture of what over 66-year olds of 18-25-year olds have.

Table 4: Residence of the survey sample Basque Rest of Rest of Rest of the Country Europe Spain world Russia Turkey Blank

Residence 213 27 108 6 5 39 2

Finally, when it comes to the residence (table 4), the highest number of participants that took the survey were from the “Basque Country” (213), followed by the “Rest of Spain” (108). This is to be expected as the Final Four was held in Vitoria Gasteiz this year, meaning that people from that area were more likely to visit the Final Four then people from “Rest of Europe” or “Rest of the World”, due to location, financial aspect, finding a place to stay, etc. This can be one of the factors that swayed the research the most, due to the fact that it does not make the survey as generalized as possible. The answers to the questions can be seen as bias as people from mostly one country have answered the survey.

7.3 Pop-Up Store/Brand Awareness Related Survey Questions

After the demographics section, questions related to the pop-up stands and Fan Zone experience were asked. Here participants were asked to rate and scale certain factors or if they agree/disagree with certain statements regarding the Fan Zone.

The first question was to “Rate how these factors influenced your motivation to visit a sponsor’s stand (1=very low, 5=very high) with n=316. On the bar graph below, one can see that the participants had similar answers where they found that the “The activities offered” was the most important factor in motivating them to visit a stand at the Euroleague Fan Zone. Then, “The products offered” and “Design of the store and visual innovation” was also rated with mostly 4 and 5. The lowest rating was given to “The brand itself”, seeming that people are less interested in what brand the stand itself is.

RATE THE FACTORS THAT INFLUENCED YOU TO VISIT THE STANDS...

214 64

27 94 103 84 102 7 58 164 19 111 NUMBER PARTICIPANTS OF NUMBER 17 28 82 80 62 52 40 1 = VERY LOW 2 3 4 5= VERY HIGH RATING

The brand itself Design of the store and visual innovation The products offered The activities offered Table 5: Respondents rate the factors that influenced them to visit the stands

The next question was to “Rate how attractive the following elements are at a sponsor’s stand for you (1=not attractive at all, 5=very attractive)” (table 6) n=316. In this case, “Games and Challenges” received the highest rating 190 people giving it a 5, followed by “Testing/Interaction with the product” that received a 4 from most participants. Although all elements have high grades overall, “Celebrities and Influencers” has the lowest rating along with “Promotions”. Having said that, it seems that they generally find all of the elements attractive, with very few people rating these elements with a 1-3.

Table 6: Respondent rate how attractive the following elements are

RATE HOW ATTRACTIVE THE FOLLOWING ELEMENTS ARE...

1 = Unattractive 2 3 4 5= Very Attractive

190

154

140

139

116

114

111

5 5

3 NUMBER PARTICIPANTS OF NUMBER

ELEMENTS OF A POP-UP STAND

It was also important to know what people thought they gained or have not gained by visiting the Fan Zone stands, and if that experience added any value or increased their brand awareness. This was done by asking the participants “After visiting the Fan Zone sponsor’s stands, how strongly do you agree with the following statements? (1=strongly disagree, 5=strongly agree) n=316. On the bar graph below (table 7), it is clear to see that most participants highly agree with the statement that “The Fan Zone was worth visiting”. There was a high number of strongly disagree with the statement “You want to know more about the brands” and “You have gained more knowledge about the brands.” However, one can also notice that most of the statements were answered with a grade of 3, meaning that they are not sure or have divided opinions about the statement. This is quite surprising, as it means that the motivation is not connected to engaging with the sponsors and their brands, but it could be that the fans want to engage with the event itself, team or players of the tournament. It could also be that the sponsors are not doing a good enough job to motivate the fans to engage.

Table 7: Respondents rate after visiting the fan zone how strongly they agree with the following statements

AFTER VISITING THE FAN ZONE HOW STRONGLY DO YOU AGREE WITH...

You have gained more knowlegde about the brands You want to know more about the brands You want to buy their products/service

The Fan Zone experience was worth visiting

185

105

100

52 52

9 9

1 = STRONGLY 2 3 4 5 = STRONGLY DISAGREE AGREE

NUMBER PARTICIPANTS OF NUMBER RATINGS

In order to get an idea what sponsor’s stands attracted the most attention during the Fan Zone experience, the participants were asked to recall 3 sponsors that they recall seeing at the Fan Zone during the Final Four (table 8). Not a surprise, Turkish Airlines, Adidas, Endesa and Oscar Mayer where they top four sponsors that participants of the survey recalled seeing. Turkish Airlines as the main Sponsor of Euroleague was by far the first sponsor the participants thought of. When asked which of the sponsor's stands they enjoyed the most, the Turkish Airlines and Oscar Mayer stand where by far the first one’s on the list. This is most likely because Adidas and Turkish Airlines tend to have activities and games that involve basketball that the fans find entertaining. In order to give you a better understanding, some of the activities include 3X3

(Euroleague), Dancing, Basketball shooting game, Photo with the trophy, Virtual Reality (stubhub/Axa), etc. (Images: Euroleague.net)

Table 8: Respondents recall 3 sponsors at the Fan Zone Recall 3 sponsors at the Fan Zone Turkish Airlines 224 Adidas 135 Endesa 132 Oscar Mayer 116 Bwin Spain 98 Euroleague 89 Axa 62 7Days 58 Stubhub 47 Eneos 31 Other 24 Volvo 23 THY 0

Euroleague.net

Table 9: Respondents recall what stands they enjoyed the most Which did you enjoy the most? Turkish Airlines 75 Oscar Mayer 63 Adidas 54 Other 31 Bwin Spain 30 Endesa 13 Eneos 10 Axa 7 Stubhub 7 7Days 4 Euroleague 3 Volvo 2 THY 0

In order to get an even better insight into why these two stands where the most enjoyable we asked the participants to answer why they enjoyed that stand the most (table 10). There was a total of 7 criteria in this section:

1. Games & Challanges – This includes 3X3 games, shooting games, tournaments, and other phyiscal activities 2. Other – This is used if the participants had other options in their mind 3. Giveaways – Free gifts from the sponors at the stands 4. Ditigal and Technological Innovations – This could include VR and social media activities 5. Testing and interaction with products – If the sponors came out with new products, the fans testing them out (shirts, shoes, balls, games, food, etc) 6. Celebrities or influencers – Meeting the teams, athletes, other celebrities from the sports world, social media influencers, etc. 7. Promotions – This could include promotions on products, like merchandise

The answer that by far got the most votes was due to “Games and Challenges” (181 votes) that were held on the stand. Other factors like “Giveaways”, “Celebrities and Influencers”, “Testing and Interaction with the product”, “Promotions”, and “Digital and Technological Innovations” were not seen as an important factor that contributed to their level of enjoyment.

Table 10: Respondents recall reasons why they enjoyed it

Reason why you enjoyed it? Games & Challenges 181 Other 62 Giveaways 28 Digital and Technological innovation 15 Testing and interaction with the product 14 Celebrities or Influencers 13 Promotions 3

7.4 Social Media Questions

Involving social media in the questionnaire was a logical step in this process. People like to share their experiences with friends, and visually with their followers. This gives the brand an opportunity to engage with the customer and if the pop-up stand is doing their job correctly, it will drive people to share their experience on social media. One of the first questions was if the participants participated in any of the sponsor's activities that involved social media. Looking at the pie chart it is clear to see that ¾ (237 participants) of the participants did not participate in any social media activations. This could be due to the lack of social media activation in the Fan Zone or it could be that the activation was not successful.

Table 11: How many respondents participated in sponsor’s social media activity/activation

On the other hand, when asked if they shared their Fan Zone experience at the stands on social media only 47% said “Yes”, which is not a high number keeping in mind that in today's day, social media has become part of our daily lives. This could be a good way to measure how successful certain pop-up stands were, since the sharing and mentions on social media is a good way for brands to know if they grabbed the customers attention and if they created some sort of buzz.

Table 12: How many respondents shared their Fan Zone experience on social media

Finally, for future reference and perhaps what sports stands could find useful is knowing what social media platform the participants use to share content (table 13). This way brands could develop activities that correspond to that specific platform. In the 316 participants of the

survey, 42% answered that they use Instagram, while WhatsApp was the second most popular social media platform. While not surprising, as Instagram is by far the most interactive platform and platform that is trending, Snapchat and Twitter were rated low, which are also popular platforms. Of course, this could have to do with the age of the sample, which consisted mostly of 36-50-year olds. This age group tends to choose Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram as their social media platform compared to Snapchat and Twitter.

Table 13: What social media respondents use for sharing content

WHAT SOCIAL MEDIA IS USED MOST FOR SHARING CONTENT?

Facebook Instagram Twitter WhatsApp Snapchat Other

2%2% 16%

33%

42% 5%

Now, that there is a general overview of the data collected with results that give an indication of how people react to pop-up stores and if these pop-up stores drive value for the brands, it only makes sense to further investigate this matter. This was done by segmenting the data further by gender. This factor can give an idea of how brands need to behave or change their pop-up stores to better resonate with gender.

7.5 Gender as a contributing factor

Gender is an important factor to take into consideration while analyzing data, as males and females might have different tastes, criteria and interests that brands need to look out for. Pop-up stores at sports events can look to segment their fan base and create interesting concepts that would appeal to both males and females. In order to further investigate this matter, a parallel will be drawn for some of the survey questions between males and females to see if there are any significant differences. There was a total of 207 males and 103 females, the 6 remaining participants did not confirm their gender, so they were not able to take part in this analysis.

Question: What attracted you to visit the Fan Zone? Table 14: What attracted you to visit a stand at the Fan Zone (Male/Female)

What attracted you to visit a stand at the Fan Zone 160

140 135

120

100

80 73 73 64 60 61 5758 55 60 49 45 43 39 40 3335 28 26 2828 24 2421 21 17 18 19 20 13 13 1413 11 9 8 6 6 4 6 2 0 1 0 Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female The brand itself The desing of the store The products offered The activities offered 1 2 3 4 5

From the data analyzed, one can see that both males and females agree that “The activities offered” is what attracted them most to visit the Fan Zone. Not only that, but both agree that “The brand itself” is what attracted them least to visit the Fan Zone. In the fashion industry the brand itself tends to attract the customers, but it seems here that the sponsors brand is not as

important. This may be because the sponsors of sport events are usually brands that either are available to people, or people use or know about already. It could also be brands that people are not interested in or have nothing to do with the sport event that they are attending.

Question: Rate how attractive these elements are at a stand

Table 15: How attractive these elements are for males/females

Rate how attractive these elements are at a stand 140

116 120

100 84 80 74 76 80 71 69 68 65 66 61 57 60 60 55 47 48 42 42 45 45 4040 38 39 40 28 27 26 22 2225 25 24 18 20 18 17 18 15 13 14 13 20 9 10 12 8 6 6 7 5 2 4 1 1 3 2 3 1 3 2 2 0 Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Games and Challenges Testing/Interaction Celebrities/Influencers Digital/Technological Giveaways Promotions with product Innovation

1 2 3 4 5

In this case, once again, both genders agree that “Games and Challenges” are the most attractive element at a stand. For females it seems that “Giveaways” are also a popular factor at stands, that would attract them. Males tend to have an average rating for all elements, while females rated most elements as a 5, which could potentially mean that females pay closer attention to these certain elements and rate them as important. The males seem to have a more average opinion where they have similar ratings for all the elements.

Question: How strongly do you agree with the following statement?

Table 16: How strongly males and females agree with the following statements

How strongly do you agree with the following statements?

120 113

100

80 72 68 67

60 56 56 4950 44 39 38 40 39 40 36 35 34 32 33 2930 26 25 24 22 21 21 18 18 20 14 1010 12 1211 11 7 6 8 3 1 0 Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Gained more knowlegde about the Want to know more about the Want to buy products/services Fan Zone was worth visiting brand brand

1 2 3 4 5

It is good to know that the Fan Zone experience was, in both male and female opinion, worth visiting (table 16). It seems that both enjoyed their time before the games and that the stands were a success in that sense. However, none of the other aspects were seen as “Strongly agree” (5), while both genders rated “You want to know more about the brand” as the lowest. Here we can say that people visit the stands out of pure fun and curiosity before the games rather than actually being involved with the stands and wanting to find out more about the brands.

Question: Did you participate in any sponsor’s activity/activation that involves social media?

Table 17 & 18: Did the males and females participate in any sponsor’s activity/activation that involves social media (Male n=207) (Female n=103)

This is an interesting comparison, it would be expected that females would want to participate in social media activations, but it turns out that 69% of males participated in these activities, while only 12% of females participated. Yes, there were more males than females who took the survey, but the numbers are drastically higher for males in this case.

Question: Have you shared the Fan Zone experience on any social media platform while being there?

Table 19 & 20: Have males and females shared the Fan Zone experience on any social media platform while being there (Male n=207) (Female n=103)

Both males and females have the same percentage of “Yes” and “No” answered in this question. 53% answered “No” they did not share their Fan Zone experience on any social media platform while being there. This was surprising, as people tend to like to share their experiences and activities they are participating in, especially if it’s in a big sports event like Euroleague Final Four. This could be because the stands were not eye catching enough or did not offer enough activities that the participants wanted to share on social media. This can definitely be seen as a red flag for the sport event as sharing content from the event helps boost the brands marketing and helps improve brand awareness.

Question: Which social media platform? Table 21: Which social media platform do males and females use? (Male n=207) (Female n=103)

Which Social Media Platform 70 59 60

40 34 29 30 20 19 20 9 10 6 4 3 2 1 0 0 Facebook Instagram WhatsApp Twitter SnapChat Other

Male Female

Instagram and WhatsApp seem to be the two most popular social media platforms for both males and females. The only difference is that, females seem to use WhatsApp more while males used Instagram more. WhatsApp seems to be a popular platform for communicating with friends and family, sharing their experience, while Instagram is more for the collective group and posting photos or stories from the event.

Overall, it seems that in this case gender did not play a major role in the opinions of the participants, nor did it have an effect on how the participants viewed the stands, since both agree on the same elements and factors. This could of course be because there were less women who participated in the data collection.

8 Discussion

8.1 Discussion In order to get a clear picture of the survey results, one can now discuss and compare the information received from both the primary and secondary research. In the literature review we discussed the overall value of the pop-up store as a marketing tool for retailers to use. Specifically, the idea of the pop-up stores is to build the company’s brand through education of their products/services and providing the customers an opportunity to try out the products/services. Brands can thus immerse customers into an experience through the design of the pop-up store, activities, innovations, etc. creating a memorable moment that the customer will share.

We took a look at fashion and retail pop-up stores, that have proven to be successful in attracting customers and building brand awareness using all the elements and benefits a pop-up store offers. These fashion pop-ups were able to create a sense of urgency by limited edition products being sold, or creative promotions/giveaway being handed/sold at stands. Through this they were able to boost sales of the brand, experiment with new ideas, advance marketing strategy, etc. The idea was that the knowledge on pop-up stores that fashion brands have would be easily translated into sport event pop-up stores, however that was not the case.

Surprisingly, from the results of the survey we can summarize that people at the Euroleague Fan Zone have a lack of interest in the brands (sponsors) and are not looking to interact with the brand itself. This is clearly shown when the participants are asked to name the sponsors of the event, and mostly the three main sponsors were named (Turkish Airlines, Adidas, Endesa). In this case, activities and games are definitely what attracts and lures in the crowed. This can include shooting games, mini tournaments, challenges, pictures with the trophy, etc. that have to do with the sport that the fans are watching. The event itself seems to be enough for the people to come and visit the Fan Zone. Along those lines, having little interest in sharing the experience on social media, it seems that the customers see this as an opportunity to enjoy themselves before the games. What does correlate with the secondary research is that there are certain elements like design of the store/stand and giveaways/promotions which prove to be

important generally for pop-up stores to attract people. When it comes to gender, as the results have shown, there are no major differences in opinion.

From the results it was clear that the fans did not gain any knowledge on the brands, did not gain knowledge on products/services and did not want to improve their knowledge on the brands that they previously had. Having said that, most of the participants expressed that the Fan Zone at the Euroleague Final Four was worth visiting. As known, the pop-up stands at the Fan Zone are mostly sponsors of Euroleague Basketball, which makes sense and it supports the sponsorship theory. Sponsorship is marketing communication tool, who’s objective is to improve consumer attitude towards to company and increase recall. The theory framework suggests that if companies who are sponsoring an event provide a moderately inconsistent “fit” to their company will be viewed as more positive/favorable by consumers. This is because an inconsistent “fit” means that the sponsor itself has nothing to do with the event, for example Banks sponsoring sporting events, or in this case Turkish Airlines sponsoring Euroleague Basketball. However, in this case we also have expected or consistent fit, where Adidas (a sport retail brand) is sponsoring the event that has to do with sports. When you have an inconsistent fit, it results in the audience being surprised as they do not expect certain activities from the sponsors. The point being, in the sponsorship theory, the main objective is for the sponsors to engage in order to increase awareness and create consciousness of the sponsor.

This triggers further investigation on how events and sponsors utilize pop-up stores and how they are different from retail pop-up stores. In case of sport event, pop-up stores are mostly used for the sponsors of the sport event, to promote, sell merchandise, make sure fans are aware of the sponsor’s and offer fun activities before the games. To be more precise sponsorship activation is what sport events use to determine how they are positioned in the minds of their audience. Through the use of creativity/innovation to cast a certain memory or image related to the brand/sponsor. We can clearly see this in the Euroleague Fan Zone where most of the sponsors use activities to engage and attract fans to visit the stands. The idea here is to leave the fans with a positive impression on the sponsors rather than promoting and selling like retailers do.

This is definitely something that Euroleague can improve on for their future Euroleague Final Four events and make sure that the fans benefit from visiting the stands. This can be done by continuing to add more challenges and activities, as it seems that it’s what they enjoy the most. Not only that, but one thing that the fashion industry does well is the store designs, which grabs the attention of the people where sport stands could improve on. However, one must be aware that fashion pop-up stores and sports pop-up stores have different customers that may not be looking for the same features or find the same features valuable.

8.2 Limitations

Validity and reliability needs to be taken into account in order to ensure the quality of the research. This can depend on the structure of the questions, the design of the questions, the sample tested on, etc.

There was a total of 400 respondents, where 316 were valid for this research. This is a good sample size, but the male to female ration could have been done better, in order to have the same about of males and females to test if there truly was a difference in gender. So, this research can be considered moderately reliable. The theoretical part of the research was defined using reliable references from diverse sources. Next, the questionnaire was done in a coherent manner and the questions were formulated so that they were easy to understand and quick to answer. This was also tested out when the survey was made, in order to make sure that everything went smoothly when the data was collected at the Euroleague Final Four event.

When it comes to the sample, although there were 400 participants, it could have represented a wider range of the population. Most of the people who have done the survey were either from the Basque Country or the Rest of Spain which is not as representative as it could have been as this event hosts people from many different countries. If there was a wider range of countries, more data analysis could be done to see if people from specific countries prefer certain factors/elements more of have different opinions on certain aspects of pop-up stores/stands. On this note, getting different type of fans could be another way to make the research more in-depth. This could be loyal Euroleague fans, Fanatics, Local fans, etc. to see if perhaps Fanatics would

participate more or be more involved with the Fan Zone stands then Local Fans for instance. This would provide valuable information for sponsors to see what people to target and how.

Age is another factor that could have been looked into more depth. The age group that was most prominent was 35-50 years old, but more analysis could have been done to see if age plays a role in what people find attractive and what elements stand out. Perhaps, people that are younger or under 18 could be more interested in seeing celebrities and influencers and sharing on social media then 35-50-year olds, as young generations now are highly involved with social media platforms and it has become part of their daily life style.

Finally, this research study has been done to investigate sport events specifically and see how pop-up stores benefit them, which has been done through the Euroleague Final Four. Having said that, one cannot base their conclusions on only one investigated sports event, thus not making it as generalized. Euroleague fans and people who visit the Fan Zone could be different from FIFA events or other sport events.

9 Conclusion and Further Research

9.1 Conclusion Now, that all the data has been presented, analyzed and discussed some conclusion can be drawn in order to see if the research question is successfully answered. The goal of this paper was to “Understand customer experience in terms of brand awareness through the use of pop-up stores at Fan Zones in sports events”, in this case the sport event was the Euroleague Final Four that took place at Vitoria Gasteiz.

What one can draw as a final conclusion to the research study is that, in case of Euroleague Final Four, the stands did not improve brand awareness from a customer’s perspective. There could be different reasons to why this may have happened, which could be a follow up research case to see what Euroleague can do to improve this. Having said that, the fans still enjoyed the Fan Zone experience and the activities that Euroleague Final Four sponsors offered, saying that the Fan Zone was worth visiting. One can say that Pop-up stores at sporting

events work on a different basis and have perhaps different objectives then retail pop-up stores which were analyzed in the literature review. In the case of sport events, sponsors are the ones who set up the pop-up stands, with the goal to interact with the audience, create consciousness of the sponsors and create a positive relationship between the audience and sponor.

9.2 Further Research What can be done for further research is to take factors like age, gender, fan types and see how that segmentation would change the data collection. Not only that, but this type of research should be done at a few different sport events in order to get valuable information that can be comparable to see how pop-up stands differ from one another and if it effects participants experience. Furthermore, taking into account the sponsorship theory, further research could be done on the different “fits” in the sponsorship theory and how that has an effect on the customers experience.

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11 APPENDECIES

FAN AWARENESS ON SPONSORS’ DIGITAL ACTIVATIONS SURVEY Vitoria Final Four, May 2019 1. Interviewer Nil Can Juan Fabián Marcela Other volunteer 2. Day of survey application Friday Saturday Sunday 3. Have you visited the Fan Zone? Yes No (If the answer is no, go to question 14) 4. 1 being very low and 5 being very high, please rate how these factors influenced your motivation to visit a sponsor’s stand (1 = very low, 5 = very high) Regarding your visit to the Fan Zone, on a 1 – 5 scale 1 2 3 4 5 The brand itself The design of the store and visual innovations The products offered The activities offered 5. Please rate the how attractive the following elements are at a sponsor’s stand for you (1 = not attractive at all, 5 = very attractive) Regarding your visit to the Fan Zone, on a 1 – 5 scale 1 2 3 4 5 Games and challenges Testing/Interaction with the product Celebrities or influencers Digital and technological innovations Giveaways (free gifts) Promotions (competitions to win prizes)

6. After visiting the Fan Zone sponsors' stands, how strongly do you agree with the following statements? (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree) Regarding your visit to the Fan Zone, on a 1 – 5 scale 1 2 3 4 5

You have gained more knowledge about the brands You want to know more about the brands You want to buy their products/services The Fan Zone experience was worth visiting

7. Mention 3 different sponsors you recall seeing at the Fan Zone Adidas Axa Bwin Spain Endesa Eneos Euroleague Oscar Mayer Stubhub THY Turkish Airlines

Volvo 7Days Other:

8. Mention 3 different sponsor’s activities/activations you recall seeing at the Fan Zone a. ______b. ______c. ______

9. From the visited stands, which brand did you enjoy the most? Adidas Axa Bwin Spain Endesa Eneos

Euroleague Oscar Mayer Stubhub THY Turkish Airlines

Volvo 7Days Other: 10. What was the main reason? Games and challenges Digital and technological innovations Testing/Interaction with the product Giveaways (free gifts) Celebrities or influencers Promotions (competitions to win prizes) Other:

11. Did you participate in any sponsor’s activity/activation that involves social media? a. Yes / Which one/s? Adidas Axa Bwin Spain Endesa Eneos Euroleague Oscar Mayer Stubhub THY Turkish Airlines

Volvo 7Days Other: b. No

12. Have you shared the Fan Zone experience on any social media platform while being there? (This includes sharing photographs / videos, posts, status updates, instant messaging) a. Yes / Which one/s? Facebook Instagram Twitter LinkedIn

WhatsApp Snapchat Other: b. No 13. Do you intend to share content later? Yes No Don’t know

14. What media channels do you frequently use to follow Euroleague Basketball? Free TV Paid TV OTT Euroleague Euroleague’s My club’s (Dazn) TV official website website Online Offline Online Offline radio Blogs Euroleague press press radio app Facebook YouTube Twitter LinkedIn Instagram Other

15. From the media channels that you frequently use, in which ones have you seen Euroleague sponsors' advertisement? Free TV Paid TV OTT Euroleague Euroleague’s My club’s (Dazn) TV official website website Online Offline Online Offline radio Blogs Euroleague press press radio app Facebook YouTube Twitter LinkedIn Instagram Other

16. From which sponsor do you remember seeing advertisement? Adidas Axa Bwin Spain Endesa Eneos

Euroleague Oscar Mayer Stubhub THY Turkish Airlines

Volvo 7Days Other:

17. Mention 3 activities/activations from Euroleague and sponsors that you recall took place in different social media platforms previous to the Final Four. (For example different contests, invitations to use specific hashtags, tag friends, etc.) a. ______b. ______c. ______

18. Age

< 18 years 18-25 years 26-35 years 36-50 years 51-65 years > 66 years 19. Gender Female Male Prefer not to say 20. Residence Basque Country Rest of Spain Turkey Russia Rest of Europe Rest of the world 21. Which team are you a supporter of? Real Madrid Fenerbahçe Anadolu Efes CSKA Moscu Other 22. Ticket to the Final Four Yes - regular Yes - VIP No