BACHELOR THESIS Fan Engagement From a professional sports team's perspective Johan Hedberg Daniel Koskinen 2013 Bachelor of Science in Business and Economics Business Administration Luleå University of Technology Department of Business Administration, Technology and Social Sciences Fan Engagement - From a professional sports team’s perspective ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Writing this Bachelor’s thesis has been an interesting 10-week long journey, in the spring of 2013, filled with hard work and times of struggle. This thesis is the last component of our bachelor degree in International Business Administration at Luleå University of Technology, and it has provided us with knowledge about sports marketing, relationship marketing and especially fan engagement. We would like to express gratitude to Anders Trollsås at Modo Hockey, Anna Ersson at Skellefteå AIK and Peter Gyllander at Frölunda Indians for disposing time to answer interviews and for providing us with valid information for our thesis We would also show appreciation to our supervisor Mana Farshid for guidance, support and contractual feedback during the course of our thesis Finally we would like to thank family and friends for their understanding and patience. Luleå University of Technology, Daniel Koskinen Johan Hedberg i ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to obtain a deeper understanding about fan engagement in professional sports. Fan engagement originates from both the field of sports marketing as well as relationship marketing. This thesis has examined the benefits of fan engagement as well as marketing strategies for the concept. For this thesis, qualitative case studies with three hockey teams from the Swedish Hockey League, Modo Hockey, Skellefteå AIK and Frölunda Indians, has been conducted in order to be able to reach the purpose of this thesis. Our findings suggest that team identification (fan loyalty and fan attachment to a team), fan retention (fan satisfaction, strengthen the relationship with fans), new opportunities for sponsorships and brand image are considered to be important benefits for professional sports teams. Two strategies to use for professional sports teams in order to engage fans are online and event strategies. Regarding websites, data suggested that it mainly is used to provide information as a one-way communication tool, and that social media is primarily used for professional sports teams to interact with fans. A general conclusion can be drawn that fan engagement is an important factor to consider for professional sports teams. ii SAMMANFATTNING Syftet med denna studie är att få en djupare förståelse för supporterengagemang inom professionell sport. Supporterengagemang härstammar både från sportmarknadsföring och relationsmarknadsföring. Denna studie har undersökt mål och fördelar med supporterengagemang samt dess marknadsföringsstrategier. För att uppnå syftet med denna studie har kvalitativa fallstudier utförts med tre elitserieklubbar, Skellefteå AIK, Modo Hockey och Frölunda Indians. Resultat av vår studie visar att klubbarna anser att det är viktigt att få supportrar att känna sig som en del av organisationen, skapa lojala supportrar, stärka relationen samt göra supportrar nöjda i syfte att behålla dem. Nya sponsringsmöjligheter och varumärkets anseende visade sig också vara fördelar. Två strategier klubbarna kan använda sig av för att engagera supportrar är online och evenemangstrategier. Insamlad data visade även att klubbarnas officiella hemsidor primärt används som envägskommunikation för att tillhandahålla information och att social medier används främst för att samverka med supportrar. En generell slutsats kan dras att supporterengagemang är en viktig aspekt att ta hänsyn till för professionella sportklubbar. iii 1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 1 1.1 BACKGROUND ...................................................................................................................... 1 1.1.1 Sports Marketing .......................................................................................................................... 1 1.1.2 Relationship Marketing in Sports ......................................................................................... 1 1.1.3 Customer Engagement ............................................................................................................... 2 1.2 PROBLEM DISCUSSION ...................................................................................................... 3 1.3 PURPOSE ................................................................................................................................ 4 1.4 DEMARCATIONS ................................................................................................................... 5 1.5 OUTLINE OF THESIS ............................................................................................................ 5 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................... 6 2.1 BENEFITS OF FAN ENGAGEMENT ................................................................................... 6 2.2 FAN ENGAGEMENT MARKETING STRATEGIES ........................................................ 11 2.2.1 Online Strategies ........................................................................................................................ 11 2.2.1.1 Social Media .......................................................................................................................................... 12 2.2.1.2 Official team websites ...................................................................................................................... 13 2.2.3 Event Strategies .......................................................................................................................... 14 2.3 CONCEPTUALIZATION ..................................................................................................... 17 2.3.1 Conceptualization of RQ 1 – Benefits of Fan Engagement ....................................... 17 2.3.2 Conceptualization of RQ 2 – Fan Engagement Marketing Strategies .................. 18 2.3.3 Graphically Conceptual Framework .................................................................................. 19 3 METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................... 21 3.1 PURPOSE OF RESEARCH .................................................................................................. 21 3.2 RESEARCH APPROACH .................................................................................................... 21 3.3 RESEARCH STRATEGY ...................................................................................................... 22 3.4 DATA COLLECTION METHOD ........................................................................................ 23 3.5 SAMPLE SELECTION .......................................................................................................... 24 3.6 ANALYSIS OF DATA ........................................................................................................... 25 3.7 QUALITY STANDARDS ..................................................................................................... 25 3.7.1 Validity ............................................................................................................................................ 26 3.7.2 Reliability ....................................................................................................................................... 26 4 EMPERICAL DATA ....................................................................................................... 28 4.1 SKELLEFTEÅ AIK ................................................................................................................ 28 4.1.1 Background ................................................................................................................................... 28 4.1.2 RQ 1 - Benefits of Fan Engagement .................................................................................... 28 4.1.3 RQ 2 - Fan Engagement Marketing Strategies ............................................................... 30 4.2 MODO HOCKEY ................................................................................................................... 32 4.2.1 Background ................................................................................................................................... 32 4.2.2 RQ 1 - Benefits of Fan Engagement .................................................................................... 32 4.2.3 RQ 2 - Fan Engagement Marketing Strategies ............................................................... 35 4.3 FRÖLUNDA INDIANS ......................................................................................................... 38 4.3.1 Background ................................................................................................................................... 38 4.3.2 RQ 1 - Benefits of Fan Engagement .................................................................................... 38 4.3.3 RQ 2 - Fan Engagement Marketing Strategies ............................................................... 40 5 DATA ANALYSIS ........................................................................................................... 43 5.1 RQ 1 - BENEFITS OF FAN ENGAGEMENT