Contemporary Sport and Event Marketing (Essay Sample)

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Contemporary Sport and Event Marketing
Who does the event attract (ie. Types of people – remember subcultures, casual / serious leisure participants, PCM spectators), list key sponsors and is there any reason for the event.
The IRB sevens series is a league based tournament that comprises of 15 top teams in sevens rugby. It was established in the 1999-2000 season but has gained popularity in the 2000-2011 season after a sponsorship agreement with HSBC. The series is an initiative of the IRB that aims at making sevens rugby a viable commercial product. In addition, the series reaches people of different culture worldwide with a reported participatory audience on over 500million live fans throughout its global tour. The event also broadcasts to over 32 media channels in 16 different languages. On this regard, it is believed to reach over 332 homes and an approximated 760 million viewers. With 147 countries reached through live broadcasts of the event, one can confidently claim that the event is cross-cultural. However, one should note that the main audience of the event comes from the participating nations.
The IRB sevens series attracts individuals who have developed allegiance to sevens rugby to the sports stadiums. Allegiance to the sport is catalysed by the patriotic nature of individuals attending the event. On the other hand, home spectators could be categorised at various levels of the Psychological continuum model. For spectators from 15’s rugby playing nations such as New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and England, a majority of them have developed an allegiance to the sport. However, in countries that are not top tier in the tradition 15’s rugby, most of the fans are in the awareness stage of the PCM. In these countries, it can be argued that spectators are more likely to advance into the attraction stage based on the performance of the team in the series. Broadcasting channels are the most likely catalyst of this advancement in contrast to social groupings and connections. For instance, in Kenya sevens rugby fans have developed allegiance to the national team instilled by national pride. The allegiance is believed to have resulted from the consistent performance of the national sevens team in the series. As a result, the leading communication company in the country, safaricom, initiated a yearly event dubbed the safaricom sevens series. The event has gained popularity among the Kenyan elite class with growing spectator numbers since its year of inception.
The IRB sevens series is associated with the global bank HSBC. The bank holds all the naming rights of all tournaments in the series. However, the bank sublets the naming rights of some naming rights of some of the tournaments to other sponsors while still holding the naming rights of the whole series. Though the brand image of the bank is not directly transferable to the rough sport, the bank is able to establish its trademark and promote the services it offers to its customers through the event.
2.    Analyse product augmentations or activities from the event itself and  inspect media types such as websites, TV advertisements, radio, newspaper, etc to identify elements from the event and within media types that link to any of 7 E’s that would attract spectators, participants or attendees.
a.       Discuss why these elements link to 7 E’s? (Hint: remember to use elements of 7E’s, cognition, affect and psychological involvement to assist in answering these questions).
Various elements from the series would help drive the degree of spectatorship of this global event. For instance, in the promotion of the series the IRB team developed a promotional campaign dubbed #bringyourgame. The promotion strategy was meant to capture the attention of spectators towards this event. Through the advert the IRB hopes to create a cognition in the viewers mind that would let them perceive sevens rugby as a fun sport. By watching the advert, the viewers mind is filled with images that make him/her seek involvement in the sport. The advert shows that the fans are the real supporters of the game and the players are just a central part of the all event. In addition, the television commercial shows that the sport is cross-cultural and that it attracts its viewers from various demographic segments. All these strategies by the IRB aim at developing a schema in the spectator’s minds that would effect to a positive attitude towards the sports. By showing images of star players from the participatory countries, the advert believes that it can help its spectators recall the experiences in previous events. Though a memory recall the advert will be able to create a positive affect of the event. Through the advert, one can argue that spectators in the attachment and allegiance psychographic levels develop a feeling of belonging to the sport. The spectators perceive themselves as belonging to a social group that can match supporters of other sports. Not only does the advert capture the fans emotions, but also shows them the excitement and entertainment levels associated the sport. This is because all the people in the advert are in a jovial mood; one that IRB wants to associate with the sport. The effects of the advert on its viewers affect inspire them to develop an action call. The IRB achieves this by using the #bringyourgame hash tag. Through the Hash tag, rugby fans can communicate to one another and the rest of their world their perceptions and feelings towards the event. Therefore, the advert is a well thought marketing strategy that will not only attract more viewers to the sport but also aid in developing allegiance towards the sports for new followers of the game.
 
b.      Discuss how well you feel the product augmentations or activities from the event and those used in the media types link to 7E’s. Support your answer by providing examples of areas of product augmentations or activities from the event or those used in media types that were either done well or poorly.  
The #bringyourgame was used with great effect in marketing the event. This is because the hash tag acted as a platform for instilling involvement in the event through conversations. Thereby, Rugby fans were able to share their thoughts and experiences from previous events. As a result, the fans developed a feeling anxiety where each of them anticipated the kick-off of the event. Though the hash tag was effective in generating conversations on twitter, IRB should have considered other social media. For instance, involvement in facebook conversations was quite low as compared to twitter. The low level of involvement could be attributed to the events bias towards one social media tool. By involving facebook in their conversations, the IRB could affect the degree of influence of the event through conversations in the social network. Despite the high levels of engagement initiated by twitter conversations, the IRB should also consider developing cognition in the minds of their facebook fans.
 
c.       Identify what 7E’s are either missing or implemented poorly and need inclusion or improvement in the event. Describe what product augmentations or activities you would improve or include in the event to link to 7E’s. Describe how these included or improved product augmentations or activities are going to better link to 7E’s. (Hint: remember to use elements of 7E’s, cognition, affect and psychological involvement to assist in answering these questions)
The series does not develop the element of existence towards their fans. Sevens Rugby fans do not have a lifestyle that they would associate with to socially define their sport. Existence would help achieve high numbers of supporters, as they would have an identity that defines them. The IRB would consider using some of its top players as their opinion leaders. On this regard, rugby fans will develop an altitude towards the opinion leader. These opinion leaders can be expressed through use in commercials and adverts not only for the sport but also for the contributing sponsors. When constantly viewed as public figures, viewers will tend to idolize these leaders by emulating their fashion trends and behaviours. Therefore, the IRB should note that existence is the best measure of its fans allegiance to the sport. Further, the IRB should develop strategies that will help define sevens rugby fans.
 
d.      Identify what 7E’s are either missing or implemented poorly in advertisements used in various media types identified previously. If you feel some of the 7E’s are missing from advertisements in media types and need inclusion identify which of the 7E’s needs inclusion and then describe how these 7E’s would be included. If you feel some of the 7E’s used in media types need improving then identify which of the 7E’s needs improving and then describe how you would improve the 7E to make it more effective. (Hint: remember to use elements of 7E’s, cognition, affect and psychological involvement to assist in answering these questions).
The bring your game advert is effective in exploring most of the 7E’s with the exception of escapism. The commercial fails to develop a mood where the viewer feels that he/she is in an extraordinary place. Through the commercial, the viewer does not conceptualize the notion that he/she can relieve the tension associated with his/her daily routine. The advert would achieve this element by capturing reactions of persons ...