advanced theory and practice in sport marketing - Marshalls University

THE ESCALATOR CONCEPT
To stay on the cutting edge of providing value for the sport consumer, the
sport marketing professional strives to establish ways to gain new consumers
into the sport market while enticing current sport consumers to become more
involved with the sport product. Earlier with regard to product usage we talked
about the Pareto Principle, otherwise known as the 80/20 rule. The utilization
of the 80/20 rule by marketers is fundamental to the development of segments.
But how do marketers then develop the segment over time? The concept that is
essential to this development process is the escalator concept. This concept is
utilized to represent the movement of consumers to higher levels of involvement
with a specified product. This concept is diagrammed in Figure 2.2.
Media consumers
Aware nonconsumer
Misinformed nonconsumer
Nonaware nonconsumer
Indirect
consumers
FIGURE 2.2
THE ESCALATOR CONCEPT
Light users
Medium users
C o n s u m e r s
Source: Mullin, B. J., S. Hardy, and W. A. Sutton (1999). Sport Marketing, 2nd ed., p. 36.
Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
24 ADVANCED THEORY AND PRACTICE IN SPORT MARKETING
Heavy users