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E-Newsletter   |  NOVEMBER 2017
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2017 TTRA Marketing Outlook Forum: Trends and Insights in Sports Travel, as We Head 
into 2018
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In its annual Travel and Tourism Research Association white paper, SLRG speaks to the most interesting developments and opportunities surrounding sports related travel. The Travel and Tourism Research Association brings together leading travel industry marketing and research leaders for their annual Marketing Outlook Forum. For the 6th year in a row, SLRG has been asked to prepare a white paper on recent trends in sports related travel. Among the sports travel trends identified in the white paper, are innovative new uses of behavioral and attitudinal data, and a fresh take on buddy trips. CLICK HERE. to download it, now.
 
Tee-off 2018 with Our Annual Trends and Outlook Presentation
 
We'll again begin the new year with the release of
new research for the golf market.  Culled from our revised and about to enter the field, mixed mode qualitative and quantitative omnibus study, this year's presentation will focus more on macro consumer and marketing trends and how they will be impacting the golf business. We'll look forward to welcoming golf industry partners and friends to the 2018 PGA Merchandise Show at our annual breakfast presentation sponsored by Sports Illustrated Golf Group. Mark your breakfast calendars for Wednesday, January 24. Look for more details and an invitation to this event, at the start of the new year.
Recent Research of Interest
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What's in a name?

Past consumer research conducted by SLRG has identified a number of key factors that influence brand consideration and ultimate purchase decisions for sporting goods, travel and a multitude of categories. We've deep dived into the impact of branding, product packaging and various visual merchandising elements.  But one critical variable that had eluded more immersive study, until recently, was the impact of products' names.  A recent engagement, saw SLRG build off of prior academic research in the package goods space to initiate a multi-modal approach that assessed a comprehensive range of naming approaches through rigorous experimental design coupled with retail immersion and qualitative probing. We created a series of prototype product sell sheets, holding imagery and benefits copy constant, while varying naming elements to represent the breadth of what academic research had previously identified.  Subsequent exercises were designed to elicit respondents' emotional reactions, interest levels, performance expectations and value perceptions of each iteration. The results clearly revealed a number of insights specific to this sporting goods category and how the impact of naming can influence a consumer's consideration set and product efficacy expectations. Click here  to see how we can do this for you
Voice of the Customer Research Informs Sports Venue Renovations  

SLRG is no stranger to working with sports and travel properties, seeking to understand and prioritize specific guest amenity needs, having executed custom studies for various venues. We recently began working with a new client on a multi-modal design study that will further evolve our approach to evaluate the unique and differentiating aspects of what is envisioned to become a truly unique space in the sports industry. Our team will first embed themselves within the client environment and immerse ourselves with current activation elements, experiencing them firsthand from our own vantage point. We'll next deploy an "in the moment" deep, interrogative qualitative approach to speak with selective guests in the live setting. By capturing the customer in this environment, we are able to listen, observe and probe consumer opinions and elicit their emotional connection with the specific elements of this activation; a more effective means than solely having to rely upon respondents' post exposure recall. But this is only the first phase of the research. CLICK TO READ MORE.
POV
Differentiation in an Age of Commoditization

As we look back on ten years of servicing the sports, travel and media industries, SLRG remains steadfastly committed to our clients and to making them smarter with fact-based insights for decision-making.  From day one, we have remained fixated on offering custom research solutions; rejecting the notion that the latest "methodology du jour" supersedes focus on finding the right approach for each client's needs.  We maintain that effective marketing research is both art and science. We recognize that the real "black box" is carefully finding the right sample universe and then posing or eliciting inquiry in the right way. It is concurrently that simple and that difficult to do well. 
We continue to pride ourselves on personal service for every project from our managing partners and the flexibility, efficiency and nimbleness of a boutique firm with the resources and industry know-how of a larger agency.  We understand that one size does not fit all and we offer an unwavering commitment to deliver the insights solution that a client needs rather than a "product focus" on a methodology that a research firm wants to sell. We are relentless in evolving our practice in ways that create cost efficiencies for clients, yet still provide fresh, cutting edge and provocative findings that can inspire action. We hold true to these high standards and they remain a key tenet of our firm's philosophy.  So, while others promise short cuts or automated "solutions," we prefer to recognize the important nuances that surface only under the care of experienced and highly trained consultants, skilled at eliciting true human emotion, perceptions and decision making processes.  It's who we've strived to be and who we will continue to be as we enter our second decade of serving the verticals that we know and are a part of.

To learn more about SLRG, and who we are, VISIT OUR SITE
 or reach out directly HERE.
Speakers' Corner
Tufts Finance Career Forum: "Beyond the Bank" 
It was back to one of his alma maters for SLRG President, Jon Last, who was invited to participate in the "Beyond the Bank" session at Tufts University, October 27th through 28th.  The symposium included 28 alumni leaders in the investment banking and business community at firms that included J.P. Morgan, Jefferies, and Neuberger Berman, to name a few, and over 170 students.  The event has been organized to inspire students to think broadly and gain a bigger picture of business opportunities. Last's speaking sessions explored how sports and travel related marketing research helps financial institutions to better evaluate and value companies, measure and optimize sports marketing effectiveness and leverage the voice of the customer towards better business decisions.  Last also shared perspectives on the optimization of large customer data sets and how they work along side traditional marketing research and financial performance metrics.  Alumni participants also shared insights and advice on their career journeys and served as judges for a student stock pitch competition. 
SLRG IN THE NEWS
Disrupting The Intermediaries And Controlling The Message - An Opportunity For Sports Marketers
In MediaPost's October 2017 Marketing: Sports, SLRG President Jon Last speaks to how growing skepticism about media objectivity is creating great opportunities for sports marketers to engage a direct dialogue with their target audiences.   Read it here.

Why Do We Keep Measuring The Wrong Things In Evaluating Sports Marketing Activation?

Sports marketing programs continue to become more sophisticated, but measurement of their impact has not kept pace.  In the September Media Post: Marketing insider, SLRG offers their take on why and how properties and brands need to gauge return on objective.   Click here to read it.
When the Next Tiger Woods Enters Golf, will the Industry be Ready?

SLRG President Jon Last offers his take on how golf course developers can learn from the past, in the September issue of Golf Business. Click here to read it.
Connect with SLRG
Click here for archived issues of SLRG's "News & Views" e-newsletter, for all of the most up-to-date insight on issues impacting marketing research, the media, travel, sports and leisure industries.

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