Throughout the world there are hundreds of different sports team in a variety of different sports. After reading my professors blog post, I was inspired to take a deeper look at sports team and their fan loyalty. I grew up watching mostly hockey and a bit of football so I am very familiar with the different teams. I currently work for the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre as a box office representative. This gives me the opportunity to interact and speak with Ottawa Senators fans on a weekly basis. It is truly incredible to watch the passion that some people have for their sports teams. From my experience, there is usually two common reasons that people become fans of a sporting team. First, there is an influential person whether it be a dad, brother, mom, friend who is already a fan and is able to convince you to become a fan. This can help make the game day events fun as a family and a more social event. The second reason is because of a person's actual location. Since I was born and raised in Ottawa it was only natural to be a fan of the Ottawa Senators! I find most people do like their home town but some will have favourites for other reasons. Ottawa Senators are not just a sports team, they have been able to create an overall brand. They offer jerseys, scarfs, hat, bottles, basically anything you can think of with the Senator logo on it. This helps bring the fan together and be united by a common sports team. Below is a picture of the Ottawa Senators logo which helps reinforce the brand.
Last semester I attended the John Molson Sports Marketing Conference which had industry experts speak about their daily operations and marketing strategies. It was very interesting to hear their stories and strategies on how they not only built a sports team but a brand. This creation of a brand helps develop and retain loyal fans. This helps unite mass amounts of people to support their teams from the actual arena or from home or from anywhere. Specifically, in the NHL there are 30 teams with completely different logo and brand identities. This helps create unique experiences for their fans and help develop a loyal following. I think the marketing team's must work hard to keep their fans coming back to the hockey games and increase their attendance rates. The picture below helps summarize all 30 team's and there different logos.
An important element that marketers must analyze when building these brands are a person's attitude. An attitude can be defined as "a lasting, general evaluation of people, objects, or issues" (Solomon, White, and Dahl, 2013). The sports team must create a positive attitude about their team, although sometimes an attitude is already predisposed. This can happen when an influential other already dislikes a team or there is a rivalry. For example, Toronto fans are extremely loyal to their team and when playing Ottawa, is it called the "Battle of Ontario". Ottawa and Toronto have had a long lasting rivalry and will continue to because of the their fans. Attitudes can be described using a model of "ABC". "A" represents affect which helps describe how a consumer feels about an object (Solomon, White, and Dahl, 2013). "B" represents behaviour which is a person's intention or actions regarding the object (Solomon, White, and Dahl, 2013). "C" represents cognition which are the beliefs about the object (Solomon, White, and Dahl, 2013). Marketer's must strategically use this model to help ticket sales as well as merchandise sales. This model can also help described the level (high or low) of involvement a consumer has towards an object (Solomon, White, and Dahl, 2013). Any sports team wants their fans to be high involved consumers. The higher the involvement level the more the fans will spend and the more loyal they will remain. Below is a picture which helps summary the ABC model.
Source: https://www.google.ca/search?q=abc+model&biw=1607&bih=732&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=nDyrVN-hKIX1yASNmICgAw&ved=
Overall I believe sports and sporting events are a large potential for marketers to help build a brand. Each team uses marketing strategies to help develop their individual brand identity. I think it is important to understand the fan's attitude to help create a loyal fan base. And for the record, Go Sens Go:)
What sports team to you support? Are a loyal fan whether they are winning or losing? Do you believe sports marketing is important?
References
Solomon, Michael, Katherine White, and Darren W. Dahl. 2013. Consumer Behaviour: Buying, Having, Being Sixth Edition. Canada : Pearson.
Last semester I attended the John Molson Sports Marketing Conference which had industry experts speak about their daily operations and marketing strategies. It was very interesting to hear their stories and strategies on how they not only built a sports team but a brand. This creation of a brand helps develop and retain loyal fans. This helps unite mass amounts of people to support their teams from the actual arena or from home or from anywhere. Specifically, in the NHL there are 30 teams with completely different logo and brand identities. This helps create unique experiences for their fans and help develop a loyal following. I think the marketing team's must work hard to keep their fans coming back to the hockey games and increase their attendance rates. The picture below helps summarize all 30 team's and there different logos.
An important element that marketers must analyze when building these brands are a person's attitude. An attitude can be defined as "a lasting, general evaluation of people, objects, or issues" (Solomon, White, and Dahl, 2013). The sports team must create a positive attitude about their team, although sometimes an attitude is already predisposed. This can happen when an influential other already dislikes a team or there is a rivalry. For example, Toronto fans are extremely loyal to their team and when playing Ottawa, is it called the "Battle of Ontario". Ottawa and Toronto have had a long lasting rivalry and will continue to because of the their fans. Attitudes can be described using a model of "ABC". "A" represents affect which helps describe how a consumer feels about an object (Solomon, White, and Dahl, 2013). "B" represents behaviour which is a person's intention or actions regarding the object (Solomon, White, and Dahl, 2013). "C" represents cognition which are the beliefs about the object (Solomon, White, and Dahl, 2013). Marketer's must strategically use this model to help ticket sales as well as merchandise sales. This model can also help described the level (high or low) of involvement a consumer has towards an object (Solomon, White, and Dahl, 2013). Any sports team wants their fans to be high involved consumers. The higher the involvement level the more the fans will spend and the more loyal they will remain. Below is a picture which helps summary the ABC model.
Source: https://www.google.ca/search?q=abc+model&biw=1607&bih=732&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=nDyrVN-hKIX1yASNmICgAw&ved=
Overall I believe sports and sporting events are a large potential for marketers to help build a brand. Each team uses marketing strategies to help develop their individual brand identity. I think it is important to understand the fan's attitude to help create a loyal fan base. And for the record, Go Sens Go:)
What sports team to you support? Are a loyal fan whether they are winning or losing? Do you believe sports marketing is important?
References
Solomon, Michael, Katherine White, and Darren W. Dahl. 2013. Consumer Behaviour: Buying, Having, Being Sixth Edition. Canada : Pearson.
