advanced theory and practice in sport marketing - Marshalls University

elaborated upon in the chapter, as well the impact of the sport marketing mix, the
escalator concept, and the elements of the sport marketing plan.
Sport marketing is unique to traditional marketing in numerous ways:
■ The sport product takes many forms including a consumer good, a consumer
service, a commercial good, or a commercial service.
■ The main sport product is perpetually intangible, subjective, and variable.
■ Sport and hence the sport product has an appeal that is wide and varied.
■ The sport product is normally publicly consumed and consumer satisfaction
is directly affected by the external environment.
■ Sport product elicits strong emotional connections.
■ Sport consumer believes that they are the experts when it comes to knowledge
of the product.
■ The sport product is a perishable commodity.
■ Since the sport product is demand based, the consumer demand for the main
sport product varies greatly.
■ Sport organizations concurrently compete and cooperate.
■ Sport marketing efforts focus more on product extensions than the primary
sport product.
■ Influences from mass media have resulted in a reduced emphasis on traditional
sport marketing.
The oversaturation of sport in the mass media has resulted in an evolution in
the traditional method of controlling and coordinating the marketing mix. This
exposure is called publicity. The expanded public relations efforts have forced
marketers who traditionally viewed the marketing mix as the 4 P’s of marketing
evolve their theory into the 5 P’s of sport marketing – product, price, place,
promotion, and publicity. Strategic implementation of the sport marketing mix
can only be utilized if it is in conjunction with understanding the 3 C’s of competitive
analysis – the consumer, the company, and the competition in terms of
product impact, potential risks, and feasibility. Ultimately this analysis seeks
to determine how to provide value to the sport consumer, and enticing them to
become more involved with the sport product. 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 – whether they are nonconsumers, indirect consumers, light users,
medium users, or heavy users.
Sport marketing plan must be developed and utilized to address the needs and
wants of the sport consumer. Sport marketing plans are comprehensive frameworks
for identifying and achieving a sport organization’s marketing goals and
objectives. The process used in developing a sport marketing plan is a 10-step
process:
1. Identifying the purpose of the sport marketing plan
2. Analyzing the sport product
3. Forecasting the market climate
4. Positioning the sport product
MANAGING THE SPORT MARKETING MIX 33