The Consumer in Sports Marketing

As those who habitually frequent the pages of this blog or take an assiduous interest in marketing are well aware, that of sports marketing is a terrain of action with boundaries generally distinct from that of any other marketing specialty.

The explanations to this simple assumption can certainly be broad and layered, and it is certainly not the case to address all the specifics of sports in this article. Let us summarize, then, by borrowing a definition from Mullin and Hardy (2014) by saying that“sport marketing is different from any other type of marketing because for human beings, sport has a sociological, cultural, and emotional meaning that is profoundly different from any other type of product or service.”

It is precisely from this axiom, which is necessarily simplistic for purposes of synthesis, that another very important corollary arises: consumer behavior toward Sport is entirely different from Consumer Behavi or classically understood. Whether one operates in sports marketing on the side of teams, athletes, agencies or companies that use sports to communicate, it is good to delve into how the end consumer approaches-and then decides, consumes, in short behaves- towards the sports object, sports practice or sports consumption per se. As it is easy to guess, because the understanding of this concept is self-evident and before everyone’s eyes on a daily basis, consumers approach sports differently than they do an insurance policy, a bar of soap, a blender, or a package of cookies.

The decision-making process

Thus, to introduce the process of Decision Making and Consumer Behavior in sports marketing, the simplest thing to do is to borrow-again from the excellent work of Mullin and Hardy-a schema that can summarize the various stages of the decision-making process. Like all models, this diagram has no pretensions to exhaustiveness either, but it is an excellent starting point for accounting for all facets of this important journey.

Central to this model is the threefold partition between Socialization, In volvement and Commitment in sport (i.e., socialization, participation and finally commitment to the consumption of the sport product). As will be evident, this central focus is merely the result of consumer decision-making, that is, the end point of a process that brings the individual progressively closer to the product.

This central node, which is consumption, is arrived at through two orders of factors: environmental (environmental) factors and individual (individual) factors. In the following lines, we will deal with the environmental factors, while we will deal with the individual ones in a later discussion.

Environmental Factors

The gray area in the upper right of this rectangle consists of the Environmental Influences, or to put it in more sociological terms “heterodirected.” These are those elements in which the subject under consideration is immersed: these factors originate from outside but, as can be seen from the arrows going in and out of the gray area, are slowly absorbed and modified by individual influences, which will be discussed later.

The first element of environmental factors to be considered is certainly Significant Others, an Anglo-Saxon term that is not limited to romantic relationships but includes all those people who are significant to the subject. To put it in marketing terms: the stakeholders. It is obvious to everyone how, especially in childhood or adolescence, it is precisely from these Significant Others that the approach to sport starts.

From Dad watching games on television on Sundays, to big sister coming home from the gym, to schoolmates going to play soccer after class, it is so normal for us to have someone approach sports that we hardly realize it. Yet in terms of marketing, sales and professionalism, all of this has important reflections on decisive KPIs such as stadium attendance. Research shows that only 4 percent of those who go to a game at the stadium go alone.

In the remaining 96 percent, so almost all cases, you may be accompanied by a friend, girlfriend, parents, or go with your children. It is now already clearer how this will translate into more monetary terms: it will be much easier to sell a “family” package, including seating, parking and dinner, than it will be to do for a single, standalone ticket.

How sport communicates

Proceeding to the right, again within the gray area at the top, we find “Market Behavior of sport firms:5p,” that is, how sport itself (and all firms, properties, companies and participants) communicates with the world, and thuswith the subject. And it is not difficult to see immediately that, precisely because of its emotional and deeply intimate properties, sport communicates in very different quantities and ways from the rest of the world. Unlike other marketing models, which are based on the famous Kotlerian 4Ps, sports has an extra P, that of public relations (initially included by Kotler in the P of Promotion). This stems from the fact that, unlike the aforementioned cookie envelope, sports gets a lot more people talking about itself. Sports newspapers, dedicated broadcasts, billboards with sports testimonials, special places in city centers already give a good measure of the power of sports in terms of volume of communication. Nothing else, not even technology or politics, or economics or music, surrounds the subject in the modern era as much as sports. Again: what does this mean in terms of marketing and strategy? That certainly sport has a far greater influence than the rest when it comes to talking to the consumer. But also that any good marketer will have to contend with fierce and very wide-ranging competition if he or she is to succeed.

Cultural norms and values

The factors referred to as“CulturalNorms and Values,” that is, and the norms and values peculiar to each culture give-if ever there was a need-another fair measure of the transversality, complexity and depth of reasoning that must underlie any sports-related strategy. To explain this obviously very broad concept, let us take an example. The 2010 World Cup in South Africa had (FIFA data) a television coverage per single minute of 3.2 BILLION. This indicates that, in the totality of the entire World Cup, 3.2 BILLION people watched at least one minute of match broadcasts on television. Without bothering with the calculator, it means that -approximately- at least half of the entire world population has seen one minute of the World Cup. In addition to the amazement that such a figure cannot fail to arouse, this means that sports and its transversality crosses what are the normal socio-cultural boundaries that any company (again, or property, or Team, or brand) must face in its daily life. Because certainly, a 13-year-old Indian boy, an African child, a Japanese businessman, and a British college student may all love soccer equally (and maybe, why not, play it), but it is clear that one must speak to them with their differences in “norms and values” in mind. This translates even better, in marketing terms, when one thinks about the work of agencies and organizers who have to prepare similar events. How can one communicate well and simultaneously to the Indian kid, the Japanese businessman and the Andean worker? This is also why the organizers of London 2012 had been provided with a juicy handbook of the basic cultural norms of the world in order to best navigate the endless culture of the Olympics. Contained in this little volume were hundreds of pages of cautions and little cures (sometimes even necessarily stereotyped) about the fact that Italians gesticulate while speaking, the British do not like to be asked about economic matters, the Japanese do not tolerate sneezing in public, and so on…

Race, Gender and Class in Sport

Finally, to fully understand the heterodirected phenomena that influence consumer behavior in sports marketing, it is impossible not to talk about Race, Gender and Class. Although these topics are often -and foolishly- considered taboo, there is no reason why we should not attempt to give a scientific and objective picture and view of phenomena that are widely found and widespread. It is not a question of the fact, as is usually believed, that certain behaviors are a matter of mere tradition, but rather that they arise from well-founded, present and statistically detectable elements: in short, it is evident that Race, Gender and Class, and it is also to be included geographical origin, are very relevant in the way each consumer approaches sports.

In fact, to be fair, it can be no coincidence that Scandinavians are excellent rally drivers, that golf is considered a “sport for the rich,” that a Mexican plays soccer rather than field hockey, and that American football, basketball, and the 100-meter dash are dominated by black athletes.