SEA - Practical Application of Science Volume I, Issue 2 (2), 2013

Alexandru Lucian MIHAI The Doctoral School of The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania

SPORT PROMOTIONAL MIX Theoretical article

Keywords mix Sport promotion

JEL Classification M31

Abstract

In sport marketing, the word promotion covers a range of interrelated activities. All of these activities are designed to attract attention, stimulate the interest and awareness of consumers, and of course, encourage them to purchase a sport product. Promotion is about communicating with consumers and educating them. The purpose of a sport promotional strategy is to build loyalty and product credibility, develop image, and position the brand. A promotional strategy is similar to a , but the promotional strategy seeks short-term objectives, both direct and indirect. Promotional objectives usually include increased sales, stimulate impulse buying, raise customer traffic, and present and reinforce image. It also provides information about products and services, publicizes new stores or websites, and creates and enhances customer satisfaction.

180 SEA - Practical Application of Science Volume I, Issue 2 (2), 2013

Introduction SPORT PROMOTIONAL MIX

Sport is one of the most important The most important elements of sport social concepts. Many companies use promotions (also known as the sport as a tool to create brand loyalty. The promotional mix) include: , companies using professional sponsorship, , licensing and produce the image that their equipment is . the reason why the is successful. As a result, the equipment produced by the Advertising company sells very well. Advertising is one-way paid messages The term ‘sport marketing’ was first about the sport product (Internet – especially used in the United States by the Advertising , newspapers, magazines, TV, Age in 1978. Since then it has been used to radio, direct mail, scoreboards, in-arena describe a variety of activities associated signage, pocket schedules, game programs, with sport promotion. posters, outdoor advertising). Sport marketing is the application of Advertisements make sports more marketing concepts to sport products and popular. All the organizations hoping for services, and the marketing of non-sport profit use concepts like arts and sports to products through an association to sport. introduce or recreate themselves. This is the Sport marketing therefore has two key basic factor in sport image. Sport image can features. First, it is the application of general be used in various types in society. The marketing practices to sport-related products basic objective of advertisements is to link and services. Second, it is the marketing of the product with success, and for the other consumer and industrial products or consumer to transfer that image of success services through sport. to the product. According to Pitts and Stotlar (2007), in Advertising is a controlled medium. a sport marketing perspective, promotion That is, the message delivered to the applied to the is defined as the consumer is carefully crafted and controlled function of informing or influencing people by the organization so that its content about the sport company’s products, consists of only information that the community involvement, or image. In this organization wishes the consumer to receive. definition the many segments of people to However, because the company controls whom the sport company promotes are a advertising, its credibility with consumers significant factor when developing may be low. promotion strategies. The sport company In sport, advertising can take many promotes to the end consumer, the business forms. There is advertising of sport products consumer, the general community, the and services and advertising through sport business community, and the media. To events. inform means that the sport company wants The major issue facing the sport to tell them something. To influence means marketer’s use of advertising is whether to that the sport company wants a specific stress reach or frequency. Reach refers to the action from the person. Usually, the final identification of potential consumers, and action wanted is a purchase action. frequency relates to the number of exposures required to access the consumer. Both are critical to a successful advertising strategy. When determining reach, the advertiser must

181 SEA - Practical Application of Science Volume I, Issue 2 (2), 2013 decide which consumers are being targeted. or trademark; exclusive association with the When determining frequency, the advertiser event or facility; exclusive association must decide how many exposures are within a product or service category; use of necessary to reach the prospective various designations or phrases in consumer. Here, factors such as price, the connection with the product, event, or stage in the product’s life cycle, purchase facility, such as “official sponsor”, “official frequency and competitive advertising need supplier”, “official product”, or “presented to be addressed. It should be remembered by”; exclusive use of the product; and that it takes a number of exposures to authorization to conduct particular communicate a specific message, as there promotional activities such as contests, are always communication barriers to advertising campaigns, or on-site product overcome. sales. With a distributed campaign, the Sport sponsorship relationships offer advertising budget is used evenly throughout the corporate sponsor and the sport brand to the year for a predefined period. The project their image, increase their audience, percentage of recall is initially low, but and amplify the number and quality of recall elevates with repeated weekly media opportunities. With this in mind, the exposure. Activities, such as professional potential corporate sponsor and the sport sports which are constant, result in a playoff organization should have similar target period and have a limited off season, mainly markets, and have a mutual understanding use a distributed advertising budget. It about the mission, goals, objectives, and should be remembered that all advertising vision for each other. This information is campaigns have time limits in terms of then utilized to develop sport sponsorship effectiveness. However, eventual advertising proposals and negotiate sport sponsorship wear-out can be delayed by introducing agreements. Sport sponsorships are designed variations on the theme. to articulate the benefits derived from the agreement for all parties involved. Sponsorship Corporations make significant investments in sport for a number of Sponsorship is a form of promotion reasons, such as: to establish or improve that involves a partnership between sport their image through association with high- organizations or events and corporate visibility events; to promote their entities. Business partnerships are based on products, thereby increasing sales; to display exchange theory. Corporations provide goodwill; and to obtain access and exposure money, products, or services to sport to the events’ target markets. organizations or events, and in return sport Sport events benefit from the organizations or events provide rights and sponsorship arrangement because the benefits of association. If the sponsorship is corporations often provide the events with to be successful, continue, and grow, both products, services, and financial resources. parties must perceive the exchange as fair, Obtaining sport sponsorships is important and the sponsoring corporation must for the overall marketing success of sport determine that it has achieved an acceptable because sponsorships often provide sport return on investment (ROI). Sponsorship marketers with the resources necessary to agreements may include but are not limited package, promote, and deliver their events. to the following rights and benefits: use of the sport organization or event logo, name,

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Public relations Licensing

Public relations are concerned with The licensing process gives sport building a good image for sport organizations the opportunity to establish a organisations. It is important for sport presence in a specified marketplace while organisations to have a good relationship also creating a new source of revenue. This with different groups in the community, is most often accomplished through the including the media, government sport creation of licensed merchandise, such as departments, local councils and even fan hats, shirts, uniforms, and other apparel. The clubs. To have a good relationship with goal of licensing is to enhance brand these groups, sport organisations need to awareness and appeal, especially in new communicate with them on a regular basis. markets. The licensing process involves It is therefore essential that sport protecting an intellectual property such as a organisations identify what sort of logo or mark. The intellectual property may information about their products public be registered publicly, for example in the groups will be interested in. Once form of a patent or trademark, as a means of determined it is a matter of working out how establishing ownership rights. It may also be to communicate this information in a way retained within the firm. Commonly referred that will enhance the sport organisation’s to as know-how, this intellectual property is reputation and cultivate the improvement of commonly based on operational experience. relationships. Public relations are different relating Personal selling to other forms of promotion in that it is free to a sport organisation. It usually involves One of the most effective ways to getting some information into the mass promote products and services is through media as a news item. For this reason, public one-on-one communication between a relations are often called . Publicity representative of the sport organization and focuses on the use of unpaid, non-personal the sport consumer. The goal of personal promotion of a sport product or service contact is to provide additional information through a third party that publishes print about products and services in a manner that media or presents information through radio, is not sales based or visibly targeted. The television, or the Internet. The goal of any sport marketing professional seeks to build good publicity is that it is viewed as coming awareness of the organization and its from an unbiased, neutral source. products and services through goodwill in As a sport marketing professional, the community, and social involvement with understanding and utilizing public relations the members of the population. This is is critical to success, as it is the management accomplished through community relations function that helps to evaluate public and “giving back” efforts through attitudes, articulate policies and procedures socialization. of an organization that may be of public Personal selling is one of the most interest, and execute programs of action to important activities in the promotional mix acquire public understanding and approval. because it is the revenue-producing element. Three aspects of public relations utilized in Sport marketers consider personal selling sport marketing efforts are media relations, unique and highly effective because it sports information, and sport journalism. involves face-to-face interaction with the target audiences rather than mass

183 SEA - Practical Application of Science Volume I, Issue 2 (2), 2013 communication to thousands of consumers. to develop a favourable opinion about a Personal interaction with consumers allows product or brand with the intention of sales people to adapt messages based on stimulating them to try it. There are three feedback, communicate more information to main objectives of promotion: to inform, to the target audience, guarantee that the target persuade, and to remind. audience will pay attention to the message There are a number of generalizations that is being delivered, and develop a long- that can be made about promotion. term relationship with the target audience. Promotions temporarily increase sales Successful salespeople realize they must substantially; promotion in one product adapt their sales pitch to the selling category affects sales of in situation. complementary and competitive categories; and promotions can result in increased Conclusions traffic. Most of the generalizations are true; however, it is important to understand how In many segments of the sport to utilize these elements in order to ensure industry, sport marketers are pressured to that the results are longer lasting, and lead to increase their product sales to generate maintaining current customers and attracting increased revenues for their organizations. new ones. This pressure poses a challenge. Because sport marketers are involved in persuading REFERENCES: consumers to buy, they run the risk of [1] Constantinescu, M., Sport Marketing. From a exaggerating or misrepresenting their transactional approach to a relational perspective, ASE Publishing, Bucharest, 2009 products in an effort to sell them. Today and [2] Ferrand, A.; McCarthy, S., Marketing the in the future, sport marketers should Sports Organisation. Building networks and recognize this risk and monitor their relationships, Routledge, London, 2009 marketing strategies to ensure that they [3] Fullerton, S., Sports Marketing, Eastern communicate honest images and messages Michigan University, Michigan, 2007 [4] Jinga G., Năstase M., Managerial and about their products that are consistent with marketing approaches in sport, ASE Publishing, the core values of their organizations. Bucharest, 2006 Selecting the correct promotion mix is [5] Masterman, G., Strategic Sports Event potentially one of the most difficult Management. An international approach, decisions facing the sport promoter. As it is Butterworth-Heinemann, London, 2004 [6] Pitts, B. G.; Stotlar, D. K. , Fundamentals of the case when selecting the appropriate Sport Marketing. Third edition, West Virginia , the blend of promotion University, Morgantown, 2007 activities engaged in the enticement of the [7] Schwarz, E. C.; Hunter, J. D., Advanced consumer must reflect the type and nature of Theory and Practice in Sport Marketing, the product or service and the specific Elsevier’s Science & Technology Department, Oxford, 2008 characteristics of the consumer. [8] Shilbury, D.; Westerbeek, H.; Quick, S.; Promotion is the way in which sport Funk, D. Strategic Sport Marketing. 3rd edition, marketers communicate with potential Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest (Australia), 2009 consumers in order to inform, persuade and [9] Smith, A. C. T., Introduction to Sport remind them about a product or brand. The Marketing, Elsevier’s Science & Technology aim of promotion is to encourage consumers Department, Oxford, 2008

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Figure 1: The sport promotional mix

ADVERTISING SPONSORSHIP

SPORT PROMOTIONAL MIX

PERSONAL PUBLIC SELLING RELATIONS

LICENSING

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