The Sport Product

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• The Sport Product

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Objectives

• To recognize the elements of the sport product
  that contribute to its uniqueness in the wider
  marketplace of goods and services
• To learn the process involved in product
  development as well as its relation to the
  concept of the product life cycle
• To understand product positioning, product image,
  and product branding and their roles in
  successful sport marketing

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The Sport Product

• The sport product is any bundle or combination of
  qualities, processes, and capabilities that a
  buyer expects will satisfy wants and needs (e.g.
  live event, rec. tennis club tournament).
• It is inconsistent in nature.
• The game itself is only a small part of the
  ensemble (e.g. Super Bowl).
• The sport marketer has little control over it.
  (e.g. Toronto Blue Jays)

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The Event ExperienceThe Core Element

• Game form (rules or techniques)
• Players (e.g. stars, role players, hot
  dogs/unsung heroes, coaches, officials)
• Equipment and Apparel (e.g. ball, Zamboni)
• Venue (e.g. stadium, arena, racetrack)

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Product Extensions Those Things That Enhance the
Experience

• Coaches (e.g. Bob Knight, Isiah Thomas )
• Tickets (e.g. souvenir tickets, lineups,
  scarcity)
• Luxury boxes (amenity-laden, status)
• Programs (information, memorabilia)
• Video screens (growing sophistication larger,
  HD)
• Digital ribbons / signage (e.g. dual role
  sponsorship inventory and entertainment device)
• Music (e.g. pre and in-game, connection with
  music artists and popular culture)
• Memorabilia (numerous, collectables industry)
• Mascots (entertain crowd, types, Nav Bhatia)
• Fan groups (e.g. Red Sox Nation)

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The Game Form

• Rules and techniques (e.g. NFL Feel the Power,
  league competitions committees)
• Special features that may make a sport product
  especially attractive to certain consumers (e.g.
  mics on players)
• Individual moves (e.g. Kobe Bryant, Alexander
  Ovechkin)

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Star Power

• A presence that transcends the actual playing
  (e.g. David Beckham, Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan)
  
• Players, coaches and owners are extended beyond
  the event (e.g. Jose Mourinho, Mark Cuban, Roman
  Abramovich)
• Star talent, or its absence, can make or break
  entire leagues. (e.g. Beckham to MLS)
• Sponsors are keys to broad product extension.
  (e.g. NASCAR)
• Media training for athletes

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Equipment and Apparel

• Needed to compete (e.g. hockey stick)
• Tangible connection to a game/match
• Enhances experience (e.g. baseball bats, football
  helmets, retro jerseys)
• Demonstrates affiliation (e.g. soccer scarves)
• Separates players from non-players
• Becoming increasingly high-tech (e.g. FieldTurf)

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Memories, Novelties and Fantasies

• Memories that revolve around historical data and
  artifacts are a key component to consumer
  commitment
• Teams search for hot collectibles to drive
  promotions and fan loyalty (e.g. bobblehead
  dolls)
• Growth of fantasy leagues (e.g. office pools)
• Rise of fan fests and fantasy camps (e.g. Blue
  Jays Fantasy Camp)
• Arose from high price of games, consumers
  desire to learn, feel and do more

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The Venue

• Place for product distribution
• Teams and franchises are closely aligned with
  their venues (e.g. Fenway Park-Boston Red Sox,
  Lambeau Field-Green Bay Packers).
• Memories are created (e.g. Yankee Stadium, Maple
  Leaf Gardens)
• Communities are created (e.g. Dog Pound
  Cleveland Browns Stadium)
• Provide significant revenue streams during and
  outside of game days. (e.g. event stages,
  conference facilities in new stadiums and arenas)
• Can hinder product package

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Personnel and Process

• Successful marketing depends on people that
  process the product (e.g. ushers at Maple Leafs
  games)
• Point of contact for customer (e.g. ticket
  agents, gate ushers, guest services
  representatives, concession staff)
• A solid core product may be destroyed by
  lacklustre personnel and process performance
  (e.g. issues with ushers at Blue Jays games)
• Concept of reciprocity
• Case example Maple Leaf Sports and
  Entertainment Ltd.

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The Ticket and other Print and Electronic
Materials

• Tickets used both as a promotional tool
  (redeemable coupons on reverse) and as source of
  revenue (display brand - sponsorship inventory)
• Personal seat licenses (PSLs)
• One-time payment for right to buy season tickets
  for a seat(s)
• Programs promotion tie-ins, can be collectables
• Magazines and newsletters
• Websites (e.g. official team site, kids-focused,
  etc.)
• DVDs (e.g. championship season, greatest moments)
• Video games (e.g. EA Sports)
• New technology creates new sport products

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The Organisation

• All elements of the product are designed to add
  value to the organisation
• Product elements combine in the consumers mind
  as representations of a particular organisation
• Most leagues have properties or enterprises
  divisions
• Integrated product strategies yield value through
  synergy contribute to escalating franchise
  values

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Sport Product Strategy

• Differentiation
• Product development
• Product position
• Brands and branding

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Product Differentiation

• Make a product distinctive and attractive in your
  consumers minds
• Marketers must constantly evaluate and
  re-evaluate their products
• Forms the basis for sustainable competitive
  advantage
• What makes one product different from another?
• e.g. CFL vs. NFL

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Product Development

• Two steps
• Generate ideas
• Screen and implement ideas
• Refine product concept market and business
  analysis development of product market
  testing commercialisation
• Consumers determine the success or failure of
  a product innovation

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Consumers Propensity to adopt a Product
Innovation

• Five perceptual issues
• Relative advantage of the new product over old
  preferences
• Complexity or difficulty in adoption and use
• Compatibility with consumer values
• Divisibility into smaller trial portions
• Communicability of benefits

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Product Positioning

• Elements should lead to coherent image that
  organisations must convey to consumers
• How customers perceptually locate proposed and
  present brands in the market.
• Difficult in sport industry as media images are
  public and beyond control of marketers
• Assists the sport marketer in understanding how
  customers see their market.
• Based on information, marketers can maintain
  position or reposition a product or category.
• Concept of Law of Stickiness

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Sergio Zyman Managing the Five Images of Any
Organisation or Product

• Trademark imagery
• Product imagery
• Associative imagery
• User imagery
• Usage imagery

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Perceptual Mapping

• Formed by asking consumers to rank certain
  product attributes
• Select two attributes of product.
• Place each on an axis.
• Pool consumers to rate product on attributes
  (scale of 1 to 10).
• Information will help determine product position
  in the market and conceptualize market segments.

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Potential Attributes

• Level of excitement
• Price
• Proximity to action
• Level of performance
• Authenticity
• Affiliation
• Socialization

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Brand Equity

• Crucial concept for sport marketers
• Definition added value that a product has by
  virtue of its brand name
• Brands can be created or retained in the names,
  marks, designs or images of any product elements
  (e.g. ESPN)
• Key components
• Name recognition or awareness
• Strong mental or emotional associations
• Perceived brand quality
• Strong customer loyalty

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Product Life Cycle

• Four stages
• Introduction
• Growth
• Maturity
• Decline
• Sport products vary in the shape of their
  developmental and life cycles
• Teams and franchises have more volatile and
  unpredictable cycles
• Where are MLS, MMA in the product life cycle?

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Speculations about Sport Product Life Cycles

• Game forms that enjoy any kind of maturity seem
  to be resistant to decline.
• Teams and franchises have much more volatile and
  unpredictable cycles than those of their overall
  sports.
• Equipment cycles appear more technology- driven
  than apparel cycles.
• Apparel cycles blend the more stable trends in
  game forms with wide fluctuations in fashion.