advanced theory and practice in sport marketing - Marshalls University

DIRECT SPORT MARKETING VIA E-COMMERCE – Continued
Active Marketing developed custom Road Runner Sports emails promoting
free shipping offers and product discounts. For the email component, the
agency tapped Active.com’s audience of registered members, specifically active
consumers, ages 25–55, who participate in running activities 3–5 days a
week and have a history of online registration transactions for community
events and activities. The site has signed up over 6 million members – 1.5
million of those have opted-in to receive a variety of e-newsletters specific to
their participation interests – offering database segmentation opportunities
by gender, age, income, and sport or activity to reach a number of direct marketing
goals. In addition, as part of its database marketing services, Active
Marketing Group also provides demographic targeting, matching specific
product offers with a specific audience.
To drive sales conversions, which is the number of visitors (in this case to
the website) that actually make a purchase, the challenge was leveraging
opportunities within the media channel to make meaningful connections
with active consumers and drive conversion percentages. Throughout the
email program, the agency team continued to experiment with creative and
messaging, looking at the consumer experience on certain web pages and
ensuring the message was clear.
Results have shown that this e-commerce effort has worked to engage new
and returning customers, and conversion rates have soared. With the continued
innovations in e-business and e-commerce, more and more individuals
will use this medium for sales and purchases. Sport marketing professional
needs to embrace the online medium quickly and learn as much as they can
to leverage it. If they have the right components in place and the goals set to
take advantage of it, it can be very successful.
Source: Adapted from Johnson, J. (2005). Case Study: Road Runner Sports. Retrieved
March 17, 2006 from http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/7544.asp.
Permission granted for reprint by copyright holder iMedia Communications,
Inc.; a trade publisher and event producer serving interactive media and marketing
industries.
Suggested Discussion Topics
1. You are the Assistant Director of Marketing for Road Runner Sports,
and your main job was to work with the Director to implement this
new e-commerce effort. You get hundreds of email and phone calls
related to this successful initiative, and you are now being asked to
consult many of these companies in implementing such an effort with
their organization. You decide to leave Road Runner Sports and work for
yourself as a Consultant. Your first job is working with a company who
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SPORT E-BUSINESS AND E-COMMERCE 325