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Durham Bulls Marketing Plan

PRT 476

By: Michael May & Nicole Szkola 2 DURHAM BULLS MARKETING PLAN

Executive Summary The Durham Bulls are the Triple-A affiliate of the MLB’s Tampa Bay Rays located in Durham, NC. The team is the most recognized team in the minors not only for the movie Bull Durham, but also for being one of the many sources of entertainment for those in and around the triangle. The Durham Bulls have been known to break records for attendance, and their fan loyalty only grows stronger with every championship ring they receive, including their latest in the 2015 season. The team is driven to make the Durham Bulls Athletic park the leading source of entertainment for the triangle area. The Durham Bulls have been around since 1902 and are currently led by general manager Mike Birling who prides himself on making sure the games provide “affordable family entertainment.” The Durham Bulls pride themselves on their environment and their employees’ work ethic. It is with this mindset that the DBAP is able to fill seats game after game, but in order to do more so they must add more variety. There are several strengths such as the fact that they are a well-known brand, but the Bulls also suffer from weaknesses such as the negative connotation the city of Durham has. There is a lot of room for growth for the Bulls, especially in the social media aspect, but there is also a lot of competition in the surrounding areas. The Durham Bulls are in a great position right now but can continue to make their brand better with the proper marketing techniques. The DBAP is great for continuing traditions, while creating new experiences for everyone. The fan base for the Durham Bulls is so diverse it can be broken down into several different target markets but our marketing plan focuses on three distinct target markets that we believe could be improved. These three target markets are families within the triangle area who have not attended a Bulls game before, college students within the triangle, and white-collar workers in the triangle who also have not attended a Bulls game before. With an overall goal of being the main source of entertainment for the triangle area, we also hope to achieve being the number one choice of entertainment for triangle families, to be a leading inexpensive source of college students’ entertainment, and to offer a high quality opportunity to network. Our overall strategy is to increase season ticket holders by 10% within the next two seasons, but we also hope to increase the sale of family plans, college night tickets, and suite terrace box rentals. To do all of this we plan to create new marketing tactics for each target market that we have identified including perfect attendance awards and revamping Wool E. Bulls’ PR for the triangle families, creating $5 college rush and discounted beer on college nights for a college students, and bundling an advertisement with a suite rental while also running an ad in the Triangle Business Journal for our white-collar target market. We believe with these tactics in place we can continue to grow the Durham Bulls attendance ratings.

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Table of Contents Executive Summary ...... 2

Introduction ...... 5

Mission Statement ...... 5

Background...... 5

Situational Analysis ...... 6

Internal Analysis ...... 6

External Analysis ...... 6

Position ...... 7

Positioning Statement ...... 7

Unique Selling Proposition ...... 7

Competitor Analysis ...... 7

Costumer Analysis ...... 8

Target Markets ...... 9

Marketing Goals ...... 9

Value Proposition ...... 10

Marketing Strategies ...... 10

Marketing Tactics ...... 10

Perfect Attendance ...... 10

Wool E. Bull PR ...... 10

$5 College Rush ...... 11

Discounted Beer on College Nights ...... 11

Rent a Suite and get a 30-second Ad ...... 11

Triangle Business Journal Advertisement ...... 12

Implementation and Evaluation ...... 12 4 DURHAM BULLS MARKETING PLAN

Action Plan ...... 13

Appendix ...... 13

References ...... 16

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Introduction

Mission Statement

To present baseball, The Great American Pastime, as affordable family entertainment with a commitment to customer and community service, ethical business practices and the professional growth of our employees.

Background

In 1902 Mr. W. G. Bramham secured the Durham club to play in the North Carolina League for four months. On April 24, 1902 the Durham Tobacconists played and won their very first game, only to lose their first game of regular season. After completing the season the Tobacconists were asked to move to New Bern but Brahmam refused and the team did not play in Durham again until 1913 when they joined the newly formed North Carolina State League. Durham came first in the league in 1917 although the season was ended early for World War I. Two years later the Piedmont League was formed and the Bulls joined them. The Bulls grew attention with their crazy antics over the years and in 1932 secured their first MLB affiliation with the Philadelphia Phillies. In 1933 the Bulls finally had a stadium to call their own but did not play on in it During the Great Depression and four years following it burned to the ground completely. It took only two weeks to rebuild the DAP but the field was used on and off again until the 1980s. In 1987 the movie Bull Durham is filmed and brings a new level of attention to the team. As the new fans kept rolling in the bulls decided to expand and built a new stadium, the Durham Bulls Athletic Park was then opened in 1995. In 1998 the Bulls become affiliated with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and this lasts through to today. In 2001 they set an all-time paid attendance mark of 505,319, which has continually been shattered and as of September 5th 2015 the record is now 554,788 breaking the previous record by over 21,000.

Over the year’s managers, leagues, and names have changed, the attendance has continued to grow, and the Bulls have altogether won 17 championships. After being sold to Capitol Broadcasting Company in 1991 the team was practically re-branded. The Bulls marketing team has been very successful with their promotional nights including an almost sold-out Star Wars night in 2015 and a “bark in the park” night that saw over 500 dogs. These and several others including $1 concessions, education days, and weekend fireworks will be brought back for the 2016 promotions. Durham Bulls have always been proud to be in Durham and are always looking for new ways to represent the “Bull City.” The Bulls now have Bull City jerseys and will be having a promotional night centered on it. While there have been many different attempts at promotions and some are not as successful as others, overall the bulls are one of the top nationally ranked minor league baseball teams and a lot of their success is because of their marketing tactics. 6 DURHAM BULLS MARKETING PLAN

Situational Analysis

Internal Analysis

Strengths 1. The Durham Bulls are established and well known in the Triangle. This allows them to have a strong rapport with their fan base. 2. The Durham Bulls have a strong employee base. The marketing department is large and works hard to market the Bulls. In addition, with several highly regarded colleges close by, the Bulls are able to hire qualified interns who can turn into fulltime employees. 3. The Durham Bulls already have a strong history of attendance. This allows the Bulls marketing to reach out to first time fans rather than trying to keep the old fans around. 4. The Durham Bulls Athletic Park has legitimacy because of housing team USA baseball in the past as well as the ACC tournament. Weaknesses 1. The city of Durham is known for having a high crime rate. This may deter potential viewers from attending a baseball game. 2. It is a hassle trying to park around the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. This may also discourage potential or past viewers from going to a game or returning to watch another game. 3. There is a lot to manage for the Durham Bulls. They have their own brewery, there have been changes made to the stadium in recent years, and the Bulls are now entirely responsible for their own operations. This gives the Durham Bulls’ staff more responsibilities that they must handle.

External Analysis

Opportunities 1. The Durham Bulls have an easy opportunity to expand their social media reach in a time when social media is a very strong tool. One main area that the Bulls could focus would be their interactions with fans and potential fans on Twitter. 2. With the renovations made to the stadium and the introduction of their own brewery, the Bulls have an opportunity to reach new fan demographics. 3. Until every game is sold out, the Durham Bulls have the opportunity to sell more tickets and boost attendance. Games during the week have been known to have lower attendance numbers so running more attractive promotions during the week would be a good start to selling more tickets. Threats 1. Other minor league baseball teams in the area serve as a threat to the Durham Bulls. These teams include the Carolina Mudcats and the Holly Springs Salamanders. 2. Other professional sport teams in the area also serve as a threat to the Durham Bulls. These teams include the Carolina Hurricanes and the Carolina Railhawks. 3. Other leisure options such as the Durham Performing Arts Center (DPAC) could draw fans away from games. 7 DURHAM BULLS MARKETING PLAN

Position

The Durham Bulls have experienced a great amount of success over the past few years on the field, yet they have struggled to sell more tickets. The atmosphere surrounding The Durham Bulls Athletic Park is already high quality and attractive to fans. Other, more unique marketing strategies will need to be implemented in order to sell more tickets. With the implementation of these new strategies, the Durham Bulls should be able to see an increase in ticket sales.

Positioning Statement

For the triangle, the Durham Bulls will provide a cost effective way to have fun. The Durham Bulls are known for great facilities, reasonably priced tickets, and high-end entertainment. Our outstanding minor league baseball experience promises to show you a good time.

Unique Selling Proposition

“Continuing traditions, while creating new experiences.”

Competitor Analysis

There are many competitors, direct and indirect, in the Triangle area that the Durham Bulls must compete with in order to win the time and money of individuals in the community. There are many direct competitors in the sport industry. Among these direct competitors, there are collegiate, semi-pro, minor league, and professional teams.

The Durham Bulls must compete with collegiate baseball programs. Unfortunately, for the Durham Bulls they happen to be competing with four ACC baseball teams. These teams include North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina, Wake Forest University and Duke University. All of these universities are close, especially Duke and North Carolina, and pose a threat to the Durham Bulls fan base. Since students get tickets free, the college baseball teams have a strong advantage over the Durham Bulls who must charge money for tickets.

The Durham Bulls must also compete directly with local semi-pro, minor league, and professional teams. Among these competitors are a semi-pro baseball team, minor league soccer and baseball teams, and a professional hockey team. The Holly Springs Salamanders is a local semi-pro college baseball team. Now the Holly Springs Salamanders offer baseball much closer to home for members of that community. The Bulls must market why these fans should make the drive and pay more money to watch them as opposed to the Salamanders. The Carolina Mudcats have been a competitor of the Durham Bulls for many years now. The Mudcats are also a minor league baseball team, who is classified as Single-A. The Bulls must market why their Triple-A baseball team is better to watch than the Mudcats’ Single-A team. 8 DURHAM BULLS MARKETING PLAN

Another local minor league team is the Carolina Railhawks. The Railhawks are a minor league soccer team who competes in NASL. Soccer is popular in North Carolina, so the Railhawks provide potential Bulls fans with the opportunity to watch another sport of a similar caliber to the Bulls. Finally, the Bulls must compete with the local NHL franchise, the Carolina Hurricanes. The Carolina Hurricanes are the only major league franchise in the area so they offer the most high quality product. Fortunately, for the Bulls, the only time their season overlaps with the Hurricanes is when the Hurricanes make the playoffs, which has not happened since 2009.

Outside of their direct competitors, the Durham Bulls still must compete with many entities. These indirect competitors are just as important as the direct competitors mentioned previously. These indirect competitors include restaurants, bars, movie theaters, parks, and other leisure venues. The most important indirect competitors include PNC Arena and the Durham Performing Arts Center (DPAC).

PNC Arena houses the Carolina Hurricanes and the North Carolina State Men’s basketball team. Basketball ends in March and the Hurricanes play into late May early June if they make it to the Stanley Cup Finals. This leaves a lot of open time for PNC Arena, and they use it wisely. PNC Arena offers concerts, WWE, Monster Trucks and other types of entertainment in the offseason. This offseason happens to be during the Durham Bulls’ season. This gives people something to do other than go to a Bulls game. Therefore, the Bulls have to market why going to a Bulls game would be better than attending any of these events at PNC Arena. A similar, but more local issue arises when we address DPAC. DPAC is a performing arts center located right down the street from the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. DPAC runs shows throughout the year creating competition with the Durham Bulls for the money and time of local consumers.

The Durham Bulls’ marketing team has a lot they must plan for between their indirect and direct competitors. The Durham Bulls must sell the experience and value of attending a Bulls game versus attending another event.

Costumer Analysis

Minor league baseball has a continually growing fan base. In the past few years, the amount of women attending games has increased, as well as the amount of fans who are over the age of 65. Families with a larger income are more likely to come to a game than families who do not make as much, but those who do come to the game tend to be on their phones. The amount of people on their phones is increasing, but the amount of those technology users who are looking up things that are not related to their sporting events is decreasing, meaning those who are using technology are most likely checking statistics of the game and other such things. Of the fans who do come to the game the number of returning fans continues to grow, meaning if they come in the door once they will likely come multiple times. Less people, aged 13-27 are coming to the game, but the amount of fans who are older than that continues to grow. The biggest fan base resides in the south. Most of the fans follow their minor league team on Facebook, and the amount of fans who do so is on the rise. Fans who buy apparel are most likely one of the over 30% who checks their teams Facebook at least three times a week, or they are one of the fans in attendance.

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Minor League baseball is known for being a cheap way to watch baseball with other engaging activities going on throughout the game. In the Durham Bulls mission statement, they claim they are not only bringing you America’s pastime, baseball, but they are serving you all around family entertainment. Attendance to minor league baseball games are on the rise because tickets are cheap enough even people who are not avid baseball fans will want to go. Due to all the extra entertainment that goes on during a game, the minor league market is larger than for other sports. Entire families come to the game even if only a few truly understand what is going on, teenagers can actually afford to come, and adults of all ages have been known to hang out at the ballparks.

The diversity of fans at the park means that the baseball aspect entertains not everyone. Those who are at the game and are more consumed by their phones are most likely giving the team more advertisement by tagging them in pictures or checking in to the game online. If a team has a strong online presence, they have a better chance of getting more people in the door. Once they get the fans within the park, they have to keep all of them entertained whether they are there for the cheap beer and baseball or to watch their kid race the mascot around the bases. Minor league baseball games are all about entertainment, and while fans may not be completely focused on the game, in the end it brings in a lot more money to the organizations.

Target Markets

For the Durham Bulls, we have chosen to analyze three target markets. These include families within the triangle area who have not attended a Bulls game before, college students in the triangle, and white- collar workers in the triangle who have not attended a Bulls game before.

Families within the triangle area have an average household income of $73,778. The average family in the south spends 5.4% of their income on entertainment per month. Triangle families fall right on the national average for their spending on entertainment. In addition, 35% of Americans in their income bracket attend minor league games.

There are many colleges in the triangle area. We will mainly focus on the students who attend North Carolina State University, University of North Carolina, Duke University, North Carolina Central University, Shaw University, Meredith College, William Peace University, and Wake Technical Community College.

White-collar workers make up 60% of the population of the Research Triangle Park. The median income for white-collar workers age 45-64 is $72,406 while for workers age 65+ it is $56,634. Marketing Goals

1. Be the main source of entertainment in the Research triangle area. 2. To be the number one choice of entertainment for triangle families. 3. To be a leading inexpensive source of college students entertainment. 4. To offer a high quality opportunity to network. 10 DURHAM BULLS MARKETING PLAN

Value Proposition

“We will be the main source of entertainment in the RTP area by offering innovative promotions, seats for every fan, and a high quality baseball experience. No matter age or gender, we will provide an exceptional experience that leaves fans wanting more.” Marketing Strategies

Our overall strategy is to increase season ticket holders by 10% from 2016 to 2018. We would also like to increase the sale of family plans by 15%, college night tickets by 15%, and suite/terrace box rentals by 10%. Marketing Tactics

Perfect Attendance

This promotion applies to all of the Elementary through High Schools in Wake County. As an attempt to get more families to attend the Durham Bulls game (increase sale of family plans by 15%) we will offer students who have zero unexcused absences four tickets to see a Durham Bulls game during one of our four pre-determined Perfect Attendance Games This targets the family from multiple avenues. First off, the opportunity to win something such as tickets for the family will motivate children to not skip school. As most parents want their children to be in school and get the best education possible, they will appreciate that the Durham Bulls are rewarding their children for being in class. We will put up posters (see appendix) in all Wake County schools advertising this and will have the teachers mention it to students.

Wool E. Bull PR

This is another promotion geared towards the youth in Wake County. As an attempt to get more families to attend the Durham Bulls game (increase sale of family plans by 15%) we will be sending Wool E. Bull around to select school campuses in Wake County. Wool E. Bull will be promoting specific games and teaching kids the importance of a good education. Once again, we are aiming to get parents to respect the Durham Bulls for putting an emphasis on the importance of education. Since technology is a major part of the culture that our youths grow up with today, we will also be focusing on improving Wool E. Bulls social media interaction. This will be an easy way for the Durham Bulls to get in contact with current and potential fans. In order to create hype around the Wool E. Bull appearances, we will be sending out flyers (see appendix) to the select schools chosen. 11 DURHAM BULLS MARKETING PLAN

$5 College Rush

In an attempt to increase sale of college night tickets by 15%, we will be running a $5 college rush promotion. This promotion will be run at all home games. An hour before the game starts, students with a valid college student ID will be able to purchase any remaining tickets for just $5. Once the ticket has been purchased, students will have to enter the ballpark in an attempt to make sure tickets are not being sold to non-students. We will be posting flyers (see appendix) at all colleges in the triangle area as well as tweeting out an image of the flyer on each game day.

Discounted Beer on College Nights

Another promotion that we will run on college nights is a discounted beer ticket (see appendix). In an attempt to increase sale of college night tickets by 15%, we will incentivize students to come to the game with cheaper beer. This promotion will not be run every home game like the college rush but only when it is college night. The way the promotion works is as follows: college students with valid school identification and a driver’s license that proves they are of age to consume alcohol will be given a beer ticket. This beer ticket has four boxes on it with the prices $1, $2, $3, and $4 listed. The students first beer will cost $1 and each beer after that will cost an extra dollar until the fourth beer is reached. Ultimately, the students could potentially enjoy four beers for just $10, which is the price of one beer at a Carolina Hurricanes game. The reason the beer gets more expensive as you drink more is to encourage more responsible drinking. We have to remember that the Durham Bulls have a lot of families attend games so you don’t want to gain fans while losing others. If students drink too much and become rowdy, this may deter families from coming on college nights.

Rent a Suite and get a 30-second Ad

In order to increase the sale of suite and terrace boxes by 10%, we have chosen to run a mutually beneficial promotion for a business entity and the Durham Bulls. If your company rents out a suite, we will give your business a 30-second ad between your inning of choice. The innings are set out at a first come first serve basis. This plan will bring in more customers who may have never been to Bulls game, and with 60% of minor league baseball attendees attending more than one game we will hope to have repeat customers based off that experience. The monetary value of renting out the box will also be beneficial to the Durham Bulls. For the business, they will have an opportunity to network, have a company outing, and advertise their company while enjoying the great atmosphere at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. We will be mailing ads (see appendix) to all local business and also post the idea on our social media sites. 12 DURHAM BULLS MARKETING PLAN

Triangle Business Journal Advertisement

Another attempt to increase the sale of suite and terrace boxes by 10% will include an advertisement (see appendix) in the Triangle Business Journal. This will allow us to reach more businesses in the triangle area. The ad will highlight the fact that “Our suites allow you to experience the best baseball in North Carolina in a luxurious setting. Great for celebrations, hosting clients, and rewarding employees.”

Implementation and Evaluation

In total we have created 6 tactics and 4 strategies which we will have in place within the next two seasons. Each tactic will require different amounts of work and money. There are over 100,000 students in the wake county school system but a very small percentage of those have perfect attendance therefore we will not be losing much money when giving out the tickets for attendance. We will be spending around $25 per student but the positive publicity we will receive for it will make this very worth it. Wool E. Bulls PR will mainly be social media activities so we will only be asking for an extra $250 from our budget to allocate for his events and new uniform. We will start the perfect attendance games in 2016 and give out the tickets in June, we will be asking for an extra $1,000 from our budget for them. We will start implementing our new tactics for Wool E.’s PR as soon as possible and continue so through 2018. Our college market will also not need for us to fund a lot, we will already have everything we need. We will need to make our college rush night well known with advertisements but they will be through social media. We already have the beer we need and just need to print the beer ticket itself which we will spend roughly $200 on. We will start the advertisements for these in April of 2016 and continue through September of 2018. The Suite and Advertisement combo also requires no change to budget as it will all be advertised on social media, but the ad we take out in the Triangle Business Journal will cost us around $500 per year. As with the college market tactics we will start implementing these in April of 2016 and continue to do so through September of 2018. Overall we will be asking for an extra $2,250 for our budget starting in 2016 and continuing through the 2018 season. We will measure the success of these nights differently for each tactic. We will see if the perfect attendance games are a success by seeing how many of the given tickets are actually used and if over 75% are we will continue with this promotion. Wool E. Bulls’ public relations success will be evaluated by seeing how many new followers he gains and how often his posts are shared or retweeted. The College rush’s success will be evaluated based on how many of these tickets are sold within the two seasons, and the same with the beer ticket. The suite and ad combination will be evaluated after the 2018 season by seeing how many businesses not only used this tactic, but by having them fill out a survey at the end and see if any of them were continued customers. The survey given to those who rent the suites will include a question asking how they had heard from us and if over 25% of them said through our Triangle Business Journal ad we will continue to pay for this advertisement. 13 DURHAM BULLS MARKETING PLAN

Action Plan

Durham Bulls New Tactics

Triangle Business Journal Advertisement

Suite and Ad combo

Discounted Beer on College Nights

$5 College Rush

Wool E. Bull PR

Perfect Attendance Game 4

Perfect Attendance Game 3

Perfect Attendance Game 2

Perfect Attendance Game 1

Perfect Attendance Tickets Given

Dec-14 Jul-15 Jan-16 Aug-16 Mar-17 Sep-17 Apr-18 Oct-18 May-19

End Date Start Date

Appendix

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References

Point2 Homes. (n.d.). Retrieved April 27, 2016, from http://www.point2homes.com/US/Neighborhood/NC/Durham/Research-Triangle-Park- Demographics.html#Lifestyle

SBRnet. (n.d.). Retrieved April 27, 2016, from http://sbrnet.com/research.aspx?subrid=715#baseminfansum1

Capitol Broadcasting Company. (n.d.). Retrieved April 27, 2016, from http://www.capitolbroadcasting.com/divisions/sports/durham-bulls/

(n.d.). Retrieved April 27, 2016, from http://www.milb.com/content/page.jsp?sid=t234

(n.d.). Retrieved April 27, 2016, from http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/about-us/contact/