Business Development Strategy in Sports and Entertainment
Marketing strategies need a rigorous and completely regulated implementation while trying to remove the risks and using financial assets which may not be obviously mentioned as investments. Market strategies mainly serve the need of the genuineness of brand as well as the product.
Sponsoring sports and games events as part of marketing strategies can only be planned very provisionally for achieving the purposes of marketing strategy. (Jacobs, J., Jain, P., & Surana, K.)
The proposed marketing plan is for our college soccer team which will play in 4 major tournaments during this season. The team has got good fan following and the students of the college, their friends and alumni are following the performance of the team.
The plan is to get sponsorship from McDonalds which is one of the leading food chains in the US associating with McDonalds as it will create a mutually beneficial association. The Marketing plan is that McDonalds will sponsor the college soccer team by offering them financial support and assistance in the needed areas and the team management will take various PR measures that help McDonalds to gain the advantage of their investments.
The implementation of the plan will be made after a detailed analysis of the demography of the followers of the program and to support the sponsor in every aspect. The expected duration of the association will be Duration 3 months. The team will take part in four major intercollegiate, inter-university soccer tournaments. The presence of our team in all these tournaments will give additional mileage to the sponsor.
Being the soccer team of a college, the vast majority of the followers of our team are teenagers and youth, which features as an additional attraction for the sponsor. Few reasons are listed below.
The required target audience of the sponsor is the exact target audience of the event; both are youth below 25 years.
People aged 14-35 constitutes 80% of the target audience of the event, and the rest 20% includes people aged 35-60.
The above statistics included direct viewers of the event, TV viewers and internet audience.
Objective of the marketing plan
The marketing plan to gain sponsorship for the college soccer team is multifold. The primary objective of the plan is to get financial support and assistance for the soccer team from a sponsor. Simultaneously, the sponsor should also benefit out of the program. Hence, we propose a win-win strategy by implementing the marketing plan. The mutual benefit aspect is the main reason to select McDonalds as the sponsor, as they are more directly connected with the youth community. The Marketing plan will ensure that
The expenses of the team are met by the sponsor.
Branding of the sponsor takes place during the event.
The logo, slogans, color schemes, etc. of the sponsor are prominently displayed at the event venue, on team member jerseys, promotional materials, team Advertisements, digital campaigns, etc.
The brand name of the sponsor is mentioned along with the team name in all materials.
The marketing plan will thus be mutually beneficial and rewarding for both the parties involved. (Jacobs, J., Jain, P., & Surana, K.)
Strategies for implementation
The implementation plan of the marketing plan is the most critical one.
We have identified different media to cover the entire set of target audiences. The media identified for promoting the event are
Direct viewers
Television
FM channels
Social media networks
Online streaming
Newspaper/ Magazine promotional advertisements
Flyers, hoardings, leaflets, merchandises
The media mix mentioned above offer excellent publicity for the events. There is also perennial media presence like the videos of the event uploaded on digital social networking websites. These websites will continue to show the events to interested visitors even after many years. Thus, the marketing plan has a long-term promotion opportunity as well.
There are many indirect benefits for the proposed marketing plan. Sponsorships often inspire indirect sales of products and services. For example, when a brand deploys executives at sports events or when they are taking part in marketing events, product demo shows, interested people might memorize the brand name and may become a customer in future. Hence, any future benefits of sponsorships should also be considered as long term indirect benefits. Many organizations have a tendency to ignore or overestimate such valuable sources of future income at the time of calculating ROI.
Sponsoring sports events also help in gaining a long-term brand identity. Sponsorships serve the capability to reach beyond simple, immediate sales and revenue. It helps in building and establishing a brand’s identity. As per many studies, a brand’s might contributes more than 60 to 80 percent of general sales outcome, establishing branding as a critical aspect for prolonged, futuristic, and sustainable sales growth. A figure-based analysis or market study can support brands to identify their real brand value that their corresponding target clients support.
Budget
The budgeting part is crucial for the sponsors as they will be worried about the ROI part. After calculating all the aspects, we have reached a consolidated budget of $15000 as the sponsorship fee. This will offer excellent brand presence for McDonalds and also fund the program in a big way. Fund allocation for posters, flyers, etc. is $2500 and online promotion through social media will be $3000 (Budget Template - Tulsa Soccer Club Hurricane.)
Evaluation of the marketing plan
The post-event analysis of the plan shows that the promotion plan was a big success. The branding advantage received was exceptional for the budget. McDonalds got the advantage of promoting their products among the youth and got a good response as well. The sales in the nearby stores showed a dramatic increase during the event and even after the event. The long term advantage is yet to be assessed. (How to Create a Marketing Plan, 2014)
An additional advantage of goodwill towards the brand was also gained as part of the event. People inclined toward the college team found McDonalds as a brand that supports the need for helping a not much popular entity like a college soccer team. The positive impression gives an image of corporate social responsibility to McDonalds. Considering all the aspects, the marketing plan was fruitful in achieving its predestined objectives.
References
Jacobs, J., Jain, P., & Surana, K. (n.d.). Is sports sponsorship worth it? Retrieved May 15, 2016, from http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/is-sports-sponsorship-worth-it
How to Create a Marketing Plan. (2014). Retrieved May 15, 2016, from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/43018
Budget Template - Tulsa Soccer Club Hurricane. (n.d.). Retrieved May 15, 2016, from http://www.tschurricane.com/managertoolbox/finance/497931.html
