Sports Product HSS 3000/5263 Sport Marketing Brian Turner

What is the sport product? “… a good, a service, or any combination of the two that is designed to provide benefits to a sports spectator, participant, or sponsor”

What is the sport product? Goods Services

What is the sport product? Tangibility Standardization/consistency Perishability Separability

Branding “…name, design, symbol, or any combination that a sports organization uses to help differentiate its products from the competition”

Branding Brand names –Element of the brand that can be vocalized –Guidelines Positive, distinctive, generate positive feelings and associations, be easy to remember, and easy to pronounce Translatable to a dynamite attitude-oriented logo Imply the benefits the sports product delivers Consistent with the image of the rest of the product lines, organization, and/or city Legally and ethically permissible

Branding Brand mark or logo

Branding Process Brand awareness Brand image Brand equity

Branding Process Brand Loyalty

What is a licensed product? “… not manufactured by leagues, teams, or schools, but rather by independent companies under an agreement with a sport entity.” Licensing –“…a contractual method of developing and exploiting intellectual property by transferring the rights of use to third parties without transfer of ownership.”

What is a licensed product? Trademark –“… any word, name, symbol, or device or combination thereof adopted and used by a manufacturer or merchant to identify his goods and distinguish them from those manufactured or sold by others.”

What is a licensed product? Trademark infringement –“… the reproduction, counterfeiting, copying, or imitation in commerce of a registered mark.” –Bars companies that do not pay for the right to use these trademarks from manufacturing products bearing those marks.

What makes licensing work? Intangibility of sport Support/involvement with a team Brand awareness

What makes licensing work? Licensee advantages –Positive association with the sports entity –Greater levels of brand awareness –Save time/money in building brand equity –Receive initial distribution with retailers –Expanded and improved shelf space –May be able to charge higher prices Licensee disadvantages –Athlete, league, or sport may fall into disfavor –Success depends on success of team –Styles change quickly

What makes licensing work? Licensor advantages –Expansion into new markets –Generate awareness of the sports entity –Increase its brand equity –Very little risk Licensee disadvantages –May lose some control over the elements of the marketing mix

How does licensing work? Licensees pay an initial, one-time licensing fee They take on production issues and assume risk by manufacturing product They then pay a royalty for the use of specific trademarks on specific products

Licensed-Product Revenues Retail Sales of Licensed Sport Products in the US

Approach of Professional Sport Leagues NFL MLB NHL NBA

Collegiate Licensing Up to the 1970s, manufacturers did not pay royalties Significant revenues began in the late 1980s

Quality Service quality –SERQUAL –TEAMQUAL

Quality Product quality –Performance –Features –Reliability –Conformance –Durability –Serviceability –Aesthetics –Perceived quality

New Sports Products New products from organizational perspective –New to the world –New product category entries –Product line extensions –Product improvements –Repositionings

New Sports Products New products from the consumer’s perspective –Discontinuous innovations –Dynamically continuous innovations –Continuous innovations

New Product Development Idea generation Idea screening Analysis of the concept or potential Development Test marketing Commercialization

New Product Success Factors Product considerations –Trialability –Observability –Perceived complexity –Relative advantage –Compatibility

New Product Success Factors Other marketing mix considerations –Pricing –Promotion –Distribution Marketing environment considerations –Competition –Consumer tastes –Demographics

Product Life Cycles Introduction Growth Maturity Decline

Product Life Cycles Fad Classic Seasonal