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Sports & Leisure Research Group E-Newsletter | May/June 2015

COMPLIMENTARY DOWNLOAD — A Look at the Opportunities For Those Marketing Through Sports-Related Travel Now Available at sportsandleisureresearch.com

Sports Travel

Sports Travel Marketing Trends and Implications

SLRG President Jon Last addressed members of the Travel and Tourism Research Association on February 25, 2015 regarding trends and strategies impacting the marketing of sports-related travel. This presentation was also adapted for presentation by Last at the May 12, Connecticut Governor's Conference on Tourism (See below). You can download the presentation, here.

SPEAKER'S CORNER

Connecticut Jon Last

SLRG's Last Addresses Connecticut Tourism Industry on Sports Travel

Connecticut tourism and hospitality industry, with the session, "Win Big with Sports Enthusiasts", at the Connecticut Governor's Conference on Tourism. In this interactive presentation, Last reviewed recent consumer research on trends and opportunities for those marketing sports related travel.

Golf Strategies

Fall Golf, Inc. Conference to Look at Forces Shaping the Future of Golf

Golf, Inc.'s Strategic Summit has been scheduled for September 28-30 at the LaQuinta Resort & Club in Palm Springs, California. Among the events scheduled for the conference will be a panel discussion, moderated by Sports and Leisure Research Group President Jon Last that will speak to a number of important trends impacting the golf industry. Panel discussion topics will include land use implications for golf course development, evolving consumer attitudes and needs, the impact of technological transformation on facility operations, and customer service best practices. More details to follow both through this newsletter and here.

RECENT SLRG RESEARCH OF INTEREST

Tickets

The Fan Experience Begins With the Purchasing of Tickets

Sports properties have become acutely focused on all aspects of their direct customer facing functions. Certainly, fan satisfaction with the on-site and in-game experience are key elements that many teams and property holders actively measure, but recently the SLRG team has had opportunity to immerse themselves in research that examines interactions that begin well in advance of game day. Multiple recent engagements have allowed our researchers to get a fan's perspective on everything from communications elements that seek to delineate the offer details and positioning of various ticket packages to online ordering site usability for various properties. Such research can and has been conducted across a breadth of observational, qualitative and quantitative modalities. Each plays a role in optimizing messaging and enabling our clients to create a consistently fan friendly experience across a multitude of touch points. Let us know how we can help you to do the same. Contact us.

Kids

Understanding Kids and the Sports That They Play

In separate recent engagements, Sports and Leisure Research Group has had the distinct pleasure of working closely with two premiere governing bodies from different major sports, to profile youth participants and gain a better understanding of their emotional connection or disconnection with the respective sports at both the fan and participatory level. These proprietary studies yielded insights that looked at the broad and evolving battle for share of kids' time and attention that created unique challenges and opportunities for the client organizations' respective sports against a plethora of competitive activities and responsibilities. Youth research comes with an assortment of methodological challenges, not to mention legal and ethical considerations. Part and parcel to these realities are the necessity to understand the dynamics of parent and peer influences in resulting youth behaviors. We can help you better understand how to resonate with tomorrow’s best customers. Contact us.

Store

See it. Then Believe It.

At Sports and Leisure Research Group, we’ve always been strong believers in the ability of qualitative research to allow the voice of the customer to yield insights and hot buttons that can add expository breadth to a more traditional quantitative survey analysis. For sporting goods brands and properties that want to go beyond the recollection and probed reflection found in these core methodologies, we take great pride in our ability to immerse ourselves directly into the transactional environment, important to a specific client. Over the years that has manifested itself in a number of SLRG engagements where we send a team of researchers into a live environment, be it onsite at a sporting event, or embedded in a retail space to both observe, interview and participate with target consumers or fans. To do this well, and not become a distraction to the actual experience, takes a careful blend of both art and science where we've become quite adept and taken extreme care to become part of that environment. The resulting insights are among some of the most powerful a consultative researcher can deliver. Challenge us to do this for you.

SLRG IN THE NEWS

Recent SLRG coverage of note includes:

Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal: PGA TOUR Courts Millennials on YouTube

The Wall Street Journal’s John Paul Newport assessed the impact of the PGA TOUR’s new Skratch TV initiative, with comments from Sports and Leisure Research Group President Jon Last. Read it here.

Marketing Daily

Marketing Daily: Under Armour Lands 'The Greatest', Signs Muhammad Ali

SLRG President Jon Last offers thoughts on the intriguing marriage of Under Armour and Muhammad Ali in a provocative Marketing Daily Piece. See the article.

Golf Inc

Golf Inc,: A Look at the Mega Deals of 2014

Golf, Inc's April 2015 coverage of a trend towards large scale golf course acquisitions includes a quote from SLRG President Jon Last. You can see the article, here.

Marketing Sports

Media Post's Marketing Sports: Discovering The "Secret Sauce" That Drives Greater Onsite Fan Engagement?

SLRG President Jon Last's May column looks at sports venues' race to modernize their infrastructure and the role of marketing research in finding optimal solutions. Read the article here.

Media Post's Marketing Sports: Opportunities Abound in Sports Related Travel

In his April 2015 Media Post, Marketing: Sports column, SLRG's Jon Last speaks to the huge opportunities in marketing sports related travel and ways in which those promoting it can resonate with this lucrative target. Read the article here.

Media Post's Marketing Sports: Don’t Try To Turn An Aircraft Carrier On A Dime

In his March 2015 Marketing: Sports posting, SLRG President Jon Last speaks to the limitations of trying to drastically reposition a brand through sports and advocates on how good research can prevent such costly errors. Read the article here.