Increasing Attendance Rates by Developing Game Events and Communication Tools Case: Tampereen Pyrintö Basketball Bachelor’s Thesis Degree Programme of International Business Autumn 2018 Toni Savino 1 ABSTRACT International Business Valkeakoski Author Toni Savino Year 2018 Title Katsojamäärien kasvattaminen kehittämällä ottelutapahtumia ja markkinointikeinoja: Case Tampereen Pyrintö Supervisor(s) Merja Helin TIIVISTELMÄ Opinnäytetyön toimeksiantaja oli miesten Korisliiga-joukkue Tampereen Pyrintö ja työn tavoite oli tutkia, kuinka he voisivat kehittää ottelutapahtumiaan ja markkinointiaan, jotta kotiotteluiden katsojamääriä saataisiin nostettua ja niiden viihdearvoa parannettua. Tutkimuksessa selvitettiin myös, kuinka Pyrinnön fanit kokevat seuran sosiaalisen median markkinoinnin, mitä media- ja ottelutapahtumasisältöä he toivoisivat enemmän sekä mistä sosiaalisista medioista he toivoisivat saavan enemmän tietoa joukkueesta ja otteluista. Teoriaosuuden alku sisältää markkinoinnin suunnittelun ja asiakassegmentoinnin. Lisäksi tarkasteltiin organisaatioiden viestintämenetelmiä, urheilumarkkinoinnin käytäntöjä ja toimintaperiaatteita sekä niiden toteuttamista Suomessa. Lopuksi tarkasteltiin sosiaalista mediaa, sen käyttöä markkinoinnin tukena ja sen hyödyntämistä nykypäivänä. Työn tutkimusosuus toteutettiin kvantitatiivisena tutkimuksena kyselylomakkeella. Lomake julkaistiin sähköisenä Pyrinnön kotisivuilla ja sosiaalisissa medioissa ja siihen vastasi yhteensä 435 henkilöä. Vastaukset antoivat tietoa Pyrinnön kannattajien mieltymyksistä sosiaalisen median ja ottelutapahtumien osalta sekä siitä, kuinka Pyrintö onnistuu tiedotuksessaan. Osia vastausdatasta analysoitiin myös keskenään, jolloin saatiin syvällisempää tietoa eri sukupuolten sekä seurasuhderyhmien toivomuksista ja preferensseistä. Avainsanat urheilumarkkinointi, ottelutapahtuma, sosiaalisen median markkinointi, sosiaalinen media, katsojamäärä Sivut 41 sivua, joista liitteitä 5 sivua 1 ABSTRACT International Business Valkeakoski Author Toni Savino Year 2018 Subject Increasing Attendance Rates by Developing Game Events and Communication Tools: Case Tampereen Pyrintö Supervisor(s) Merja Helin ABSTRACT The thesis was made for Tampereen Pyrintö Basketball club. The objective was to examine how Pyrintö could attract more attendance to their home games through marketing and furthermore how to improve the entertainment level at game events. The study also investigates what supporters think about Pyrintö’s social media presence, what kind of media and game event content they desire more of as well as on which social medias they prefer to find information about the team and games. The beginning of the theoretical framework dealt with marketing planning and customer segmentation and continues with organizational communication and sports marketing practices, including both its principles and its utilization in Finland. The final part consisted of how social media can be used in marketing and how it can be utilized in business. The research was conducted by using a quantitative research method. The data was collected with an online questionnaire that was shared on Pyrintö’s website and their social media channels. Altogether, 435 persons responded to the questionnaire. The results gave information about respondents’ preferences regarding social media and game events, and how Pyrintö is succeeding in its marketing. Certain questions were cross-analyzed in order to gather more comprehensive data about differences in preferences between the genders and concerning their relationship to Pyrintö. Keywords Sports marketing, game event, social media marketing, social media, attendance Pages 41 pages including appendices 5 pages 2 CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Purpose of the thesis ......................................................................................... 1 1.2 Research problem and objectives ...................................................................... 2 1.3 Structure of the thesis ....................................................................................... 2 2 THE ORGANIZATION AND BACKGROUND ..................................................... 3 2.1 Tampereen Pyrintö ........................................................................................... 3 Tampereen Pyrintö Basketball .............................................................. 3 2.2 Development of attendance in Korisliiga .......................................................... 4 3 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ............................................................................ 5 3.1 Marketing planning .......................................................................................... 5 Segmentation ........................................................................................ 6 Communication .................................................................................... 7 3.2 Sports event marketing ..................................................................................... 9 3.3 Social media and marketing............................................................................ 13 Digital marketing ................................................................................ 13 Social media ....................................................................................... 14 How to utilize social media in marketing ............................................ 17 4 SURVEY ............................................................................................................... 19 4.1 Quantitative research ...................................................................................... 19 4.2 Survey analysis .............................................................................................. 20 Background information ..................................................................... 20 Marketing, ticket prices and preferences ............................................. 23 4.3 Cross analysis ................................................................................................ 31 5 RECOMMENDATIONS ....................................................................................... 36 6 CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................... 39 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................... 41 Appendices Appendix 1 Marketing Questionnaire 3 1 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Purpose of the thesis The client’s, Tampereen Pyrintö Basketball, general objective is to increase their home game attendance by attracting the current fans, the club’s own juniors and also new customers by targeting external and internal communication towards them. The purpose of this is to create a free time activity and a meeting place, where the people could enjoy their leisure time and be a part of the community by supporting their own local basketball team. Competition about people’s time is intense nowadays as people are offered lots of different possibilities for their busy lifestyle. Live broadcast sports events are easy to follow anywhere at any time either with a monthly payment or via illegal streams. (PWC, 2017.) These factors are not only problems for Pyrintö but also for other sports events and organizations that battle to persuade both current and potential customers to attend games. A lot of Pyrintö season ticket holders are people who have been attending games for over 20 years. Furthermore, supporter culture has decreased at Pyrintö games compared to what it used to be in the beginning of the decade. (Elisa Hakanen, personal communication 09.06.2018.) The content in Pyrintö and Korisliiga game events has in general little variation as basketball marketing and event budgets are relatively small in Finland, especially when compared to ice hockey (Suomikoris, 2017; Liiga, 2017). Therefore, clubs have to rely on the game entertainment itself. The financial aspects limit the options but there is a demand for more varied events by borrowing ideas from for example the NBA. Currently Pyrintö game events offer music, an announcer and junior cheerleading shows during game breaks. Food and snacks are offered at three concession stands and a “Food Corner” with varying restaurants providing food. Additionally, there is a VIP-lounge for cooperation partners and special guests. According to Pyrintö’s sports director Elisa Hakanen (personal communication 09.06.2018.) the current marketing strategy directs marketing towards all age groups and no particular target segmentation has been done. Marketing is carried out by advertising upcoming home games in the local newspaper Aamulehti and on the local Radio Fun Tampere. Internet marketing is focusing on the club’s own website and its Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube pages. Apart from the above mentioned there is no other marketing. The life of Finnish people is nowadays increasingly focused around the Internet, smartphones, television, while other leisure activities besides school and work have less importance. (TNS-Gallup, 2017.) A Tilastokeskus (2017) survey reveals that it is typical for people of ages between 16 and 64 to use the Internet multiple times a day. Moreover, it is 2 common that the Internet is used with smartphones or tablets. The study reports that especially in the age groups between 16 and 44, people spend a lot of time on the Internet