Posts tagged emerging technology
Sports marketing trends – reaching the ‘fan in the stand’
May 9th
Trends in sports marketing are shifting from the ‘traditional’ methods of communicating with a target audience – the trend is to ‘engagement and connection’ via emerging technologies… this is particularly evident in the sports marketing sector with initiatives deployed by the ’savvy’ marketers – and the athletes now tapping into the ‘Tweet Generation’. For a while behind the curve on mobile/cell SMS/Text technology the USA is now right at the bleeding edge utilizing these applications. Tony Ponturo, who for 26 years was the Vice President of global media, sports and entertainment marketing at Anheuser-Busch, Inc. and also President and CEO of Busch Media Group, has made a minority ownership investment in the Leverage Agency and will serve as Chairman.Regarded as one of sports and entertainment marketing’s most influential people, Ponturo led Anheuser-Busch’s development as a sports and entertainment juggernaut during his career with the renowned brewing company.
CNBC’s Sports Business Reporter, Darren Rovell asked Ponturo and Ben Sturner, the CEO of Leverage, to discuss the future of sports marketing. Here are some of the questions and answers.
Rovell: Leverage has negotiated deals with Kraft, Gillette, Nestle and KFC – some of the biggest companies out there – what are these companies looking for?
Sturner: These companies don’t just want signage, they want a robust platform. They require that any deal that is done touches the influencers. That it has interactivity, that it is inclusive, but has the feeling of privilege and that it cuts through the clutter.
Further to our post yesterday about social meda, the experts have no doubt.
Rovell: Over the past month, social media – especially Twitter – has exploded. How do you see the sports world embracing this?
Sturner: Something like Twitter is an amazing tool that everyone should embrace. It allows teams, leagues and athletes to spot trends, to become opinion leaders, to learn real time about how people feel about the fan experience. In the next six months, I expect teams and leagues to start hiring social media experts to allow them to monitor, initiate and integrate what is going on out there. So anyone in college who is looking for a job in sports, this position might be the easiest way in. www.yachtsponsorship.com
Sports fans amongst Internet’s biggest users
Jan 30th
Digital media is fast becoming the medium of choice for sports fans and pushing the boundaries of media convergence across TV, internet and mobile, according to new research. The study by the European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA), indicates that twice as many sports fans use the internet whilst watching TV compared with the average user (32% vs. 16%).
TV and internet now far outstrip other media at peak viewing times, and twice as many sports fans watch video via mobile compared with the average mobile user (12% vs. 6%). The ‘Sport and the Shift to Interactive Media’ Reportshows just how much sport affects media consumption.
Over a third (36%) of all European internet users visit sports websites and these sports site users spend over 13 hours online each week, 10% more time than the average European and an increase of 27% since 2004.
Brands need to work out how best to reach and interact with this sports-driven audience as it develops and it is vital that marketers create strategies to take advantage of the media opportunities surrounding key sporting events. sb:mktg has been at the forefront of utilising emerging technology to engage with fans through their ‘brand-to-fan’ initiatives – using SMS and Screenza technologies with brands including NASCAR.com, Manchester United and Texaco.
Watching sports online via video is proving a primary draw. According to EIAA data, nearly 40% of sports site users watch TV, film or video clips online, much more so than the average European internet user (39% vs. 30%). This activity has grown in popularity amongst sports site users by 144% since 2006. ComScore figures also show that from January to December 2007, time spent on sites with video streaming and downloads has increased by 72%, from 53 to 91 minutes. In March 2008 alone, nearly 154 million people visited these sites, an increase of 22% when compared to the same month in 2007. From January to December 2007 an average of 76 million Europeans visited sports sites each month.
EIAA research shows that from 5.30-9pm 73% of sports site users watch television and 68% use the internet, making them by far the most used media during this peak consumption time. The internet is also proving a medium for round-the-clock consumption and with 87% of sports site users having broadband, presenting high-impact opportunities for marketers to target this audience as they look to follow the action in real-time online.
The need for information and updates on the go is highlighted by the fact that 93% of sports site users own a mobile/PDA/Blackberry (83% of Europeans) and are heavy users of mobile internet. Interestingly, they are twice as likely as the average European mobile/PDA/Blackberry user to watch video/film clips via their mobile (12% vs. 6%).
Additionally, almost half (48%) of all sports site users communicate via social networking sites.
Ultimately, sports site users are more engaged and receptive than the average internet user – sports fans have positive attitudes to online advertising with 57% rating internet advertising high on creativity, compared to 51% of all European internet users and 71% of sports site users find that the internet provides them with what they want quickly. Alison Fennah, Executive Director of the EIAA says, “With a definite correlation between the increase of users of sports sites, sports fans are becoming a targeted demographic. Looking at their online habits and activities, sport site users are likely to increasingly move their sports consumption online partly due to its ease of use and accessibility, and but also its real-time availability and technological capabilities. Ultimately this highlights how marketers can target and benefit from this captive and engaged audience online. Marketers must look to tap into this trend and media mindset when creating and developing their advertising campaigns.”
The study involved 7,008 random telephone interviews with over 1,000 respondents in the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy and the Nordics respectively and 500 respondents in Belgium and the Netherlands respectively. www.eiaa.net
Volvo Ocean Race reach fans via Google Earth
Dec 22nd
The organisers of the Volvo Ocean Race have announced a new initiative that harnesses the power of Google Earth to display the multimedia content.Volvo Ocean Race head of technology and new media Andrew Ferguson says, “This is yet another tool, another option for fans of the race. In this case, we’re using the power of Google Earth to provide an accurate representation of each leg through the media the sailors are providing.”
To follow the Volvo Ocean Race on Google Earth, fans need to visit the Volvo Ocean Race website www.volvooceanrace.org/Multimedia/google, where they can download the Google Earth data file, (the ‘KML’ file), and find help and instructions in order to get started.
New media, branding and global sports sponsorship
Dec 19th
Author: James Santomier, Sacred Heart University, CT, USA
New media has emerged as a significant dimension of branding and global sports sponsorship because it provides the capability to communicate with consumers worldwide via a multitude of digital platforms. Results of new research indicate that a new paradigm is emerging which involves thematically linked, integrated, strategic global marketing initiatives driven by new media applications, which have enhanced the value of sports sponsorship.The integration of new media technologies has changed the manner in which sport is produced, marketed, delivered and consumed. This has contributed significantly to the ongoing fragmentation of media channels worldwide and prompted a dynamic and synergistic relationship between new media and sports sponsorship.
The proliferation of new media technologies, the revolution in consumer to consumer communications and the need for brands to gain permission to engage consumers have also precipitated a transition in marketing logic “from a goods-dominant view, in which tangible output and discrete transactions were central, to a service-dominant view, in which intangibility, exchange processes and relationships are central” (Vargo & Lusch, 2004). Core marketing activities now include “interactivity, integration, customisation and coproduction”, and value “is defined and co-created with the consumer rather than embedded in output”. New media, therefore, has become a vehicle for the expansion of integrated marketing communications, which includes the use of multiple media channels and publicity methods in order to sell products, services and ideas (McAllister & Turow, 2002). The use of multiple new media platforms in sports sponsorship communications, a fundamental dimension of sports marketing communications, enables brands to communicate effectively with consumers, develop brand awareness rapidly in new markets and provide new content opportunities (Roberts, 2006/2007).
Although digital communication technologies are becoming increasingly important in the marketing mix for most enterprises, Thorbjornsen & Supphellen (2004) maintain that it is also important to integrate a broader range of brand-building activities that strengthen relevant associations and enhance positive emotions for the brand. Brand management has reduced its dependency on advertising and is now using multiple channels, such as product placement, sponsorship and events marketing, in order to engage consumers and sustain experience around the brand (Arvidsson, 2006).
Successful global brands have integrated new media platforms as well as generated branding benefits and revenue. It is predicted that sports sponsorship will maintain its synergistic relationship with new media and continue to enable sponsors and sponsees to enhance communications through the use of multiple channels and to develop products and services specific to their core consumers. http://www.imrpublications.com/