Sports Marketing Term Paper

Sports Marketing

NFL or the 'National Football league' as it is referred to, is America's pride and cause for the inculcation of the inherent patriotic spirit in the heart of the American. The NFL conducts football games as a part of the tradition every year, and every year Americans gather at the stadium where patriotism is at its height and nationalistic fervor is at its peak. In the game that was conducted on September 24, 2001, soon after the attack on the World Towers by an Islamic militant group that left more than thousands dead and severely injured, the national spirit was at its ultimate peak, and the Americans gathered there underwent heightened emotions and feelings, and this was the time when pamphlets were distributed among the audience with the words of the 'Star Spangled Banner', and the 'God Bless America', and 'America the Beautiful'. Small American flags, almost a million of them in number, were also brought to the stadium to be distributed among the audience. There were a lot of tears and memories of the injured and the dead in the attacks were brought up and shared among the large number of people gathered there. (Patriotism abounds as NFL makes emotional return)

The Super Bowl can be said to be a game where patriotic fervor is brought to the forefront, and herein lays the marketing strategy of the NFL. Every year, the Super Bowl offers marketers the opportunity to learn more about marketing strategies from studying the advertising strategies and the players and also the various coordinators of the game. For example, the Super Bowl XXXVI that took place, as part of the games played under the National football League was a very good example of the packaging of the 'patriotic' theme by the advertisers and the marketers of the game. This was a game where American patriotism was supported by large groups of people, and this included people from the various departments like that of police, the armed services department, the fire department, as well as the interviews conducted with the troops that have been posted in Afghanistan.

The proud heritage and the very mettle of the American people was showcased through this game, and it was towards keeping up with this theme that the logo design of the game was in keeping with the American stars and stripes, and in blue and white and red. The music that had been selected to be played during the opening sections of the game was in keeping with the theme, and therefore was a sort of music that would induce patriotism, and the various depictions of famous historic personalities and icons of America was also part of the performance. The various lessons that can be learned about the marketing strategies used by the organizers and the marketers of the NFL during the Super Bowl Games are applicable not only to the marketers with large budgets but also to those with a small one, and they can be applied to the traditional means of marketing as well as to the newest concept of marketing through the Internet. (13 Lessons in Marketing, Super Bowl Style)

The first lesson to be learnt from the Super Bowl Game XXXVI is the fact that both Levi and Pepsi had prepared well before the game in that they were able conduct a study and to analyze the target audience in such a manner that they were able to understand perfectly well the interests of the teenager through the ages, and they were able to change their marketing strategies according to the needs of the present day teenager. According to the marketing study that they had undertaken, it was discovered that the present day teenager was demonstrating an inordinate interest in nostalgia, and the two companies Levi and Pepsi adapted their theme to this basic interest, and this had a massive appeal to the teenager at the Super Bowl Game. In addition, Levi ran the same advertisement twice, once in English, and once in Spanish, and this showed that the company had a basic understanding and a keen sense of awareness of the demographics of the target audience that the advertisement was being aimed at.

Another interesting factor of the marketing strategy that was used by Levi was that it conducted a 'customer preference survey' of the visitors to the Website, and the winning customer was announced at the Game, before their actual commercial was aired. The company 'E*Trade' used the opportunity of the Super Bowl football Game to launch its own campaign about the change in its old image, and this type of strategy proved to be extremely effective, if only because of the reason that the audience at such events is generally very large, and comprises a great part of the target audience for the launch of such marketing and advertising campaigns.The new and latest product that had been created by the company AT& T. called 'mLife' was effectively launched during the Super Bowl Game. Several days before the Game, mlife commercials had been aired by AT& T, but anonymously. This had led to a lot of speculation and curiosity as to what exactly 'mLife' was.

It was during the Game that the secret that mLife was a concept for a wireless and mobile life was discovered, amid much appreciation. This is another strategy that was used during the NFL by a Company wanting to launch its new product. That 'sponsorship can make or help build brands' was effectively demonstrated during the Super Bowl Game. Schwab, E*Trade, and Miller were the three companies, among numerous others, that helped in building or creating brand equity by sponsoring different portions of the Game. In a similar manner, the fact that a major event, like that of the Super Bowl Game of Football, is in fact an opportunity for a company to launch several new products in the market must be remembered. It was in this way that the Sports Goods manufacturing Company 'Reebok' launched its 'limited edition' sneakers as a commemorative of the Super bowl Game that as being played at the time. (13 Lessons in Marketing, Super Bowl Style)

This is a very effective marketing strategy, and can be used by various marketers when they want to launch a product. Motorola happened to opt for producing the headsets that were worn by the coaches of the Super Bowl game players. Therefore, this gave Motorola the opportunity to choose a place of prominence for the display of their logos. The position that they chose was a prominent one indeed, and this was at the earpieces, and facing outwards near the microphones used by them. This position gave Motorola a very definite edge over other advertisers, as the coaches were seen throughout the Game, and so were the Logos. Another important marketing strategy used by the NFL was that it tried to draw interest into both its websites as well as into its various broadcasts by getting the innumerable fans of the game intimately involved in the Game.

This was done by allowing the fans of the Game to cast their votes online, as well as by asking them to take part in various polls that were conducted online, and also by asking them to vote during the Game for the Super Bowl MVP. In addition, the marketers of the game attempted to use multiple outlets to promote the Game, and these were the Game broadcasts, the SuperBowl.com website, and the NFL.com websites. It was in this way that a cross-promoting strategy was used to build up a large audience for the Game. 'Know the weakness of the competitor' is an adage that was used to great advantage by the marketers of the Super bowl game, and this was used to secure the support and the backing of the fans of the Game. (13 Lessons in Marketing, Super Bowl Style) When the NFL signed up with the Nielsen Media Research in a five-year agreement that detailed that it would obtain all sporting and marketing information from the Nielsen Sports Marketing Service, in other words, the agency would provide all information as was necessary from the various television and broadcasting networks so that this information would be useful in the creation and the development of the marketing plan. (NFL picks up Nielson media Research Option Inks New Five-Year deal)

The fact is that the National Football League utilizes various e-marketing strategies to not only create a wider base of fans for the Super Bowl Games, but also attempts to bring people together by creating more personal and friendly relationships among the fans of the Game. The Sports Marketing League applies all its e-marketing efforts to not only maintain a high level of fan interest in the Game but also to make them get more and more involved with the sport in itself. The NFL considers it to be a key factor in its innate strength that it possesses the ability to bring a lot of people together.….....