Demonstrating accountability and ROI continue to be front and center among the demands placed on sports marketers in justifying their investments. Yet, I continue to be underwhelmed by the means with which many of us attempt to assess and measure the impact of these investments. I’ve used this space, in the past, to espouse some […]
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Marketing Sports
“Passion” and “engagement” are probably two of the most over-used words in today’s marketing vernacular. Yet when it comes to describing the audience delivered by live sports events, they are also probably the most accurate. This has become particularly resonant to me of late, as I observe and analyze sports fans both professionally as a […]
Read More »In The Event Of A Work Stoppage, Who’s Ready For Their Close-Up?
There’s rampant conversation these days about the impact of potential work stoppages in the NFL and NBA, all replete with much speculation. As marketing researchers, we earn our keep by gauging the perspectives, opinions and reactions of various audiences, but I’ve tried to stay away from the prediction game. It’s counter productive here, and I’m […]
Read More »The Grass Is Greener — On Our Side Of The Street
One of my favorite movies is the old Peter Sellers classic, “Being There.” Sellers plays Chance, an illiterate live-in gardener who, upon the death of his wealthy proprietor, is cast into a real world that he has been totally sheltered from. A comedy of events brings him inside the power circles of U.S. political might, […]
Read More »Ad Bowl: Is The Measurement Game Over Yet?
Full disclosure … I’m writing this before the Super Bowl. So, chances are that by the time you read this, you’ve already consumed countless analyses on which of the $3 million, 30-second TV spots aired during the big game on Sunday were most compelling, funny, recalled, breakthrough, profligate and, on the other end of the […]
Read More »Even Seinfeld didn’t take it this far!
Even Seinfeld didn’t take it this far! Recalling Seinfeld’s remark that in sports one is often “just rooting for a shirt”, SPORTS & LEISURE RESEARCH GROUP President Jon Last in this January 11 column speaks to ways that sports marketers can leverage research to maximize the sale and ROO of their licensed merchandise.
Read More »My End-Of-Year List: Three Words To Live By
So while others recall the best deals of the year, the most effective campaigns and those who made a difference, I’ll take this opportunity to impart some of the more important life lessons that one can take into the coming year in sports marketing. This is the time of year when folks put together their […]
Read More »The ‘New Simplicity’: Why Bigger Isn’t Always Better
We are still clawing our way out of an economy that has not fully righted itself, and the current consumer mindset brings significant implications for sports marketers. The prevailing attitude has become one of calculated rather than conspicuous consumption. Last month, I teased the notion raised by our research that we are cycling through a […]
Read More »Not all Audiences are Created Equal
I encouraged sports and media marketers to move beyond simply selling a product or property, and embrace the most unique sellable asset available access to an audience. Several months ago, in this space, I jumped on one of my favorite soap boxes, and encouraged sports marketers to move beyond simply selling a product or property […]
Read More »Listening To AND Asking The Customer
Despite being a staunch advocate of classical marketing research methodologies, I’m actually starting to buy into some of the “buzz du jour” about social media as a viable tool for measuring fan sentiment. The older I get, the more I become convinced that the average person in our “sound byte society” has the attention span […]
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