Showing posts with label licensing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label licensing. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

"Pinkwash? For Every $100 Of NFL Pink Merchandise Sales, Only $3.54 Goes Toward Cancer Research"

From SportsGrid.com




Analysis by Ryan Murakami in SRM 435 (section 1)

‘A Crucial Catch’ is a merchandising campaign that the NFL is apart of during the month of October. The purpose of the campaign is to support breast cancer research. In the article, the author debates how much this campaign actually benefits cancer research. According to Business Insiders, the NFL of keeping about 90 percent of the sales for the Breast Cancer Awareness gear, even though they claim to only keep 45 percent. Of the 10 percent of money that the American Cancer Society does receive, less than 80 percent actually goes toward the funding of research. So the bottom line is, is the NFL really helping a good cause or are they taking advantage of an opportunity to “look good” just to create more revenue?

From a marketing standpoint, this campaign creates a great opportunity for the NFL to market to different audiences and focus on female spectators, who are about 45 percent of the NFL fan base. Over the first four years the campaign has been in existence, it has brought in 4.5 million in revenue. On the outside the league will get positive publicity from the general public by teaming up with the American Cancer Society. If fans truly look into the actual numbers though they will figure out that it is not as beneficial for the cancer research. The NFL can push the Breast Cancer Awareness gear since it is only available for a certain time of year and target a specific market, with their female audience. This is a wonderful marketing tool for the NFL to look like they are “helping” a cause and gives the fans a chance to buy different apparel items that are not available year round.
This article can definitely relate to what we have learned in class this semester I believe the NFL has a product that people want with the Breast Cancer Awareness gear. The league will use the campaign to show fans they are involved with the American Cancer Society, which will also prompt more fans to buy the gear. From a sales standpoint, Ticketmaster also gives a small percentage to cancer research during October. This could potentially encourage fans and people involved with breast cancer research to support the league this particular month. The NFL seems to be the only party benefiting from this partnership and I believe this needs to change very soon.

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Analysis by Tyler Green in SRM 435 (section 1)

The article we decided to review and discuss in class was the big controversy rising up about the National Football League and its fifth annual partnership with the American Cancer Society and their campaign titled ‘A Crucial Catch’. Even though that campaign may appear to be selfless and compassionate of the NFL, others are beginning to think that underlying motives are simply to enhance their public image among the female fan base as well as take a large cut of the profits in merchandise sales. The agreement between organizations has the NFL putting pink in just about every aspect of the sport from player equipment to merchandise sold in stores to raise funds to support the fight against breast cancer and to advertise the Crucial Catches message (women over 40 getting annually screened for breast cancer). The issue is that for every $100 of merchandise purchased in the name of breast cancer research, only $3.54 is contributed to the fight. With all the money the NFL is generating, people cannot help but become angered at the mere 1% they will be contributing to their community causes this year.

From a sales/marketing stand point with disregard to ethics and morals, I would say that this campaign is a pretty smart way to generate large quantities of revenue. They have pinpointed a target market and a topic that affects many Americans nationwide, so it is a no brainer that it will bring a lot of attention and support. In addition to the money made, they also are doing wonders for their image by acting like such a strong advocate of fighting breast cancer while keeping the profits behind closed doors. If they can attract new customers (primarily female ones) and establish a positive connection with them to retain their allegiance, the could consider this “marketing mission” accomplished.

This article relates to our class in a number of ways, the first one being advertising and publicity and the roles they play in this campaign. The NFL is obviously giving some of the profits from sales to the ACS, so as a result they are paying for a little bit of advertising by being associated with a powerful subject such as breast cancer. This then leads into publicity because it creates a positive image for the league with all the coverage that can be done on the matter without money coming out of the NFL’s pockets. In addition to these, there is also a greater behavioral response incentives put on buying the merchandise when one believes they are helping to fight breast cancer. Particularly in the affiliation/community and health/fitness portions of incentives due to the female community coming together as one, and the emphasis on being healthy and cancer free. Last but not least, a lot of sponsorship aspects can be seen for this topic with the commercial agreement/mutual benefits between the NFL and ACS, the sponsorship trends of how “everyone is doing it” for the month of October, and the many sponsorship platforms the NFL is operating out of, which is just about all of them discussed in class.

Overall the article really got Ryan and I thinking about the concepts learned in class, the strategy the NFL is using to approach this sales/marketing opportunity, and how the class could easily and openly discuss such a matter with strong opinions.


Friday, January 11, 2013

"South Florida can get up to $10 million in BCS National Championship Game retail sales"


From the SunSentinel

Review by Alex Boecker in KIN 332

The 2013 BCS National Championship Game was held in South Florida this past Monday, and as always it came with a lot of hype. Coaches and players are interviewed, analysts pick apart the teams and choose their winner, bets are placed and people around the country tune in to see the spectacle. However, one major part of any event like this that skates somewhat under the radar is the economic impact it has on both the schools and the local area where it is held. SunSentinel.com reports that total retail sales for the game between Alabama and Notre Dame could reach as high as $40 million. South Florida could also be seeing as much as $10 million of that, which is the average 25% of total retail sales that the region gets for a BCS National Championship Game. Without the impact of sports marketing, the teams and the local features and attractions would not be known to the fans and a large chunk of these earnings would go down the drain.

The local community and the schools playing in the National Championship might see some big numbers, but they aren’t the only ones. The Highland Mint, a collectibles manufacturer and distributor, makes anywhere from 30-40% of their annual earnings off big games like this including the Super Bowl and the NBA Championship Game. Without big venues like this stores like The Highland Mint would quickly be out of business. They too not only rely on the teams marketing themselves and making their brand desirable, but stores like these must also market themselves and show the consumer that they make a quality product that is superior to knockoffs and especially competitors.

Unfortunately, when there is such a large market for sports memorabilia like this people will find any way they can to make a quick buck from it and when they do no money goes back to the local economy or to the schools. After the games is when many of the counterfeiters come out to sell and the Collegiate Licensing Committee estimates that after BCS games around 5,000 items are confiscated outside the host stadium. Even though the internet has become the main culprit in counterfeit sales and forged items, people can still be tricked on the street and it is absolutely crucial to check out items before buying them and make sure that they are CLC certified and are completely legitimate. Whether fake or real, people will try to sell their memorabilia and it can be tempting to go with a counterfeit that is much cheaper. Even though it may cost a little extra, making sure that the items that are being advertised are real not only gets the customer a higher quality product, but also ensures that money goes to the right places so the teams and locations can market themselves again in the future.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

"Owning Orange"

From Athletic Management

Review by Jordan Fields in KIN 332 (Section 1)

Syracuse University has been known for both their athletic and academic standards. Though lately their athletics have been less productive then what the school has been use to in the past, Syracuse University is still making headlines. Like every college in the nation with a sports program, SU has trademarked many different aspects of their proud school. SU has trademarked everything from their famous mascot Otto the Orange to the nicknames of their players the “Orangemen” and “Orangewomen”, they even trademarked their stadium names. Now SU is going through a legal debate on whether or not they can trademark the word “Orange” as it deals with clothing and other merchandise. The issue here is that the word orange is so vastly used in other major and minor collegiate programs. For instance a few schools that were discussed in the journal I found were programs such as, Boise State University, University of Florida, and the University of Tennessee. These programs were discussed in the article due to how intertwined they are with the color orange. These teams were worried and I believe rightfully so, if SU was to be successful in acquiring the desired trademark then it could drastically affect the marketing of these teams. These teams use the word orange a lot in retail and in promotions. The answer to this problem was a co-existence agreement. Though the details of the agreement are uncertain, they are currently being worked out. The idea of a trademark is to insure that there is no confusion on the origin of an idea or object. Syracuse’s main reason for the trademarking of the word “Orange” is solely to prevent the sale of unlicensed or unofficial products using the schools nickname. This trademark, however, would not stop other schools from being able to use it in accordance with their own programs. This was one of the terms agreed upon due to how unlikely it would be that customers would mistake Syracuse for their school. George McGuire, who is the attorney handling legal issues with the school’s case, states that this agreement only re-affirms each school’s rights to use the word “Orange” as it had before and that colleges which are not part of the agreement will also be able to continue to use the word as it relates to their programs. This agreement will also apply to high school programs, as long as no connection to Syracuse is made through the word “Orange”. I think it should be passed in favor for SU, the only people being harmed by this are people selling the unlicensed products. It has no real affect on any other schools and it will help generate more revenue for Syracuse. They are only looking to stop the unlicensed sale of items with the school’s nickname. Being that it is their nickname, I feel as though they should have the right to protect it.