From Ad Age
Review by Brad Burgess in SRM 435 (section 1)
The NBA has allowed all 30 teams for the 2013-2014 season to have new areas on the court for sponsorships. These areas include ad space on the apron of the court right in front of the benches and on top of the backboard. Ads are not however allowed anywhere inbounds on the court. The apron ads will be highly visible throughout the game and even though the backboard ads are not as visible they still will appear a few times throughout the game.
These ads are only allowed during pre-season and regular season games that are broadcasted locally. All games broadcasted nationally on ESPN or TNT the ads will have to be removed. This also applies to the playoffs. No ads will be allowed to be shown during playoff games. This ad campaign is a one year trial period. After this upcoming season the NBA will reassess the campaign and discuss what the future parameters will be.
Looking ahead to other future goals for ad sales the NBA has discussed the selling of ad space on NBA jerseys. This is a concept that is currently used in the WNBA and used by other teams worldwide. To many around the world it is normal to have ads on jerseys but to the US it is an uncommon concept. This could lead to millions of dollars in ad revenue. The ad logos have been discussed as being small patches on the top corners of the jerseys in order to keep the jerseys classic, clean, and not plastered with ads.
Analysis:
Ad sales is one of the most lucrative aspects of sports marketing, promotions, and of course sales. Professional teams make millions if not billions of dollars on their advertisements sales each year. Teams and sports are going above and beyond to find the best possible ways to get more ad space into a game, practice, or in the eyes of media and fans. As ad space gets exhausted new creative ways are being born to place ads. In this articles case placing and ad on the top of the backboard sounds foolish at first. However, there will be a handful of times when the overhead cameras on the basket are shown on TV and when that happens someone’s name will be popping up. If someone wants to buy ad space on the top of a backboard for a few minutes of camera time every game then why not. Seeing the opportunity for more money as a team or business is always smart. There are arguments that ad space will consume the game, but the game isn’t changing, the players are still playing the same way. The only time I personally think that ad space/time effects the game is when there are media/commercial time outs. That disrupts the game but ads on the floor should not affect the flow or play of a game. Lastly I think that as a country we are weary of ad sales on jerseys because it takes away from the pride of the team. It may clutter a jersey that to some is a work of art. However, in most countries the entire jersey is sold to a company for ad space. It is the norm to not see a team logo as the biggest logo on the jersey. I think that once as a country we get use to the idea of ads on jerseys it will become second nature to us. I look at it this way, there are millions of shirts given out as free giveaways with tons of ads on them. People still wear those because it’s normal. I think that one day ads on jerseys will be a normal thing too.
This article is relevant to this course because it is showing the importance and need for all three of our core topics marketing, promotions, and sales. It is talking about new ways to market your team and to promote your sponsors. All of it includes the sales of ad space, jerseys, and anything pertaining to sponsorship sales. Most of the money that floats around in sports besides paying the players comes from the sponsorships and ads that are linked to the game. That being physical signage or commercials run during the game. Ads in so many cases are what sports have become.
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Review by Ryan Hourigan in SRM 435 (section 1)
With advertisers still waiting for the NBA to approve the space of ads on jerseys, advertisers will begin to have the opportunity to use ad space on the courtside aprons in front of the player’s benches as well as the top of the backboard. Starting in he 2013-2014 season all 30 teams will be allowed to sell the two new spots inside their arenas. The new aspect of the courtside apron will change from the teams website or twitter handle to the advertisers company name, giving the advertiser an extremely visible location to the local audience. Chris Granger, exec VP-team marketing & business operations at the NBA, declined to tell how much each NBA club would make in ad revenue. These new advertising methods have a catch; it is a one-year trial run that will only show these removable ads during locally televised games, not for nationally televised TNT or ESPN games. The NBA also is exploring the idea of placing advertisements on jerseys like professional soccer teams in Europe and Asia as well as the WNBA.
The execution of this ad space was well thought out by the NBA in allowing teams to monetize these spaces. The courtside apron has a distinguishable position for many camera angles and will allow the advertiser to have its brand seen numerous times throughout the duration of the game. The previous hash tags and websites clearly did well in a marketing aspect or else the NBA would not have pursued the thought of monetizing these locations. The location of the advertisements on top of the backboard will only have an impact when that camera angle is utilized, mainly after a big dunk. The only downside I see in this deal with advertisers and the 30 NBA teams is that these removable ads will only be shown during locally televised games on local networks and not during the biggest and most watched games on national television. I believe in time this will change after the teams and advertisers get more accustomed to the change. While the NBA is contemplating adding advertisements to jerseys in the future, I believe that is a mistake. Although the teams will make money off of this ad space, I think it takes away the aesthetics of a classic NBA jersey and turns it into a walking billboard. This new way of advertising is relevant to this class because it is a brand new attempt at monetizing space on the basketball court as well as potentially using ad space on jerseys. New marketing schemes are vital to the success of a team in hopes of bringing in more revenue as well as product awareness for the advertiser. It is also relevant because it is using the basic concepts of marketing by putting the name of an advertiser in a high-profile space and will now have brand recognition with a team.
From Time
Review by Ryan Gerrity in SRM 435 (section 2)
College football has been a cornerstone for not only college students, but for fans of all ages. It seems as though college football brings the best out of people because they want to be apart of something bigger than themselves. Football is not just a four hour event, it is a weeks long countdown until a full day event that starts at sometimes, 8:00 AM. Attendance to these college football stadiums has filled over 80,000 people, but in the past couple of years, attendance has fallen dramatically.
The Southeastern Conference is the biggest, best, fastest, strongest conference in college football and they have even seen a fall in attendance. Nine of the fourteen SEC schools have seen a dramatic drop in attendance at college football games. University of Florida had a 137 game streak of sold out home games and that streaked ended just over a year ago. The University of Alabama, who has won the last two National Championships, has not sold out any of their home games in the past two years.
Before attendance dropped dramatically most Universities required the season ticket holders to make a donation on top of their purchase of the tickets. Most schools had a requirement of at least $5,000. Now, there is no required donation because they are trying to attract more people to purchase the season tickets. Another threat to the Universities and a cause of the drop in the attendance is the upper classmen that are attending the Universities. Over the past year 20% more upper classmen are not going or purchasing tickets to the football games. Another problem the Universities are having is promoting the games that the students or fans do not care about. All the fans want to see a top 25 ranked team in the country, and they cannot sell the tickets to the lower ranked teams. Some of the Universities are requiring people to buy tickets in two, one ticket for a big game against a big name school, and a ticket against a smaller school.
Marketing and promotions for college football games is very easy because everyone wants to be apart of the game and atmosphere. The problem the Universities are having is getting the fans into the game. Everyone loves to go to the tailgates, but once the tailgates end most people have started to go hoe to their own house and watch the game on their big screen HD TV. Having promotions at the tailgates is very important and when we worked the JMU football walking around the tailgates promoting the game worked. Interacting with the fans and getting them involved in the process is important because you want to know what will get them into the game and stadium.
A marketing strategy that could work for college football attendance is to promote the idea of being apart of something bigger. There really is not much better than the atmosphere of a intense college football, and you cannot replace that with atmosphere with a TV and surround sound. This article is relevant to this course because there is important ways we can learn how to promote and market tickets to not only students, but also all fans. Learning the different ways to reach people through different kinds of channels like social media, email, personal promotions through the tailgates. Also knowing your client, in this case it is the students and fans, and trying to promote the idea of going into the stadium and game.
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Review by Ben Edsall in SRM 435 (section 2)
The article we chose to use for this assignment was called “College Football Encounters Its Biggest Rival: The Couch” written by Brad Tuttle. This article talked about the current trend of college football teams struggling to sell out games, even including the SEC. It stated that with today’s drastic improvement in television technology, people do not feel the need to go to games when they can watch better quality in their living room. Tuttle also discussed how teams are struggling to sell season tickets as well as games against lesser opponents. The decrease in fan attendance is not extreme, but looks like it will continue to decline in the future. In the article it showed that nine out of fourteen teams in the SEC saw a decline in attendance. With these hard times some teams are starting to not require donations from season ticket holders. One program that was hurt tremendously was the University of Nebraska. The donations for the 2013 season ticket holders dropped 25% to 80% compared to last year.
Later on in the article the topic of watching the game at home vs. watching the game at the stadium is discussed. People tend to feel that they receive a better experience in the comfort of their own home compared to the stadium. When people watch at home they have high definition television, their own food/beverages, easy access to the bathroom, and can watch multiple games. These factors need to be addressed by college football teams and figure out a more efficient way to market themselves. They need to promote that the experience at the stadium is like no other. I believe that teams can positively promote themselves by reaching out to the media and getting fans excited for the upcoming game. The team can do activities around campus and get the students involved to show school spirit, and make them feel as though they are a part of something bigger. Another strategy is to hang up posters around campus and host pep rallies to create a buzz around campus. Not only is the comfort of watching the game at home a huge factor, but the prices of food and beverages at games as well. From a sales point of view I believe it would be beneficial to lower the prices so more people would purchase the products, rather than keep them high where everyone just ends up getting frustrated. I believe that if football teams took these factors into consideration they could see a rise in ticket sales.
This article is relevant to this course because it demonstrates the difficulty with fan attendance, and how teams need to market and promote themselves to increase ticket sales. Last weekend I worked the football game for James Madison University against Central Connecticut State University, and noticed some positive aspects of promoting the team. I walked around tailgates handing out posters and key chains to boost morale. Everybody loves getting free stuff and it showed from the reactions I received. If you are able to hand out free merchandise then there is a possibility more students will attend games. Also when students and fans were entering the stadium before kickoff I handed out thunder sticks which increased the excitement in the stadium tremendously. Overall I had a great experience working the game and feel that if teams put more effort into promoting the positive aspects of the game day atmosphere then they would have higher ticket sales.
From Ad Age
Review by Ryan Oliphant in SRM 435 (section 1)
On August 17, fox introduced its new national television network; Fox sports One (FS1) to audiences across the nation. The 24/7 sports network reached 90 million homes that Saturday. Reaching 90 million homes pleased many of the advertisers signing ad deals with the network. FS1 will carry advertising from blue-chip marketers in the auto, electronics, food & beverage and insurance categories. General Motors, Chrysler, Ford, Toyota, Microsoft, Samsung, Pepsi, State Farm, Geico, AT&T, Verizon, and Taco Bell are among the companies that will run advertisements on the sports network. Automotive companies so far are spending the most for advertising on the new station. Such companies include Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai, Kia and the Big-Three Detroit auto-makers, GM, Chrysler and Ford. Ford has long supported Fox’s broadcast network and will big a big partner once again with Fox’s new channel. The automotive company has agreed to sponsor the pregame show for FS1’s new Big East College Basketball coverage coming in the fall and they will run advertisements throughout the networks regular programing and broadcast schedule. FS1 will lack NFL games but Fox is strongly suggesting companies who purchase times for the NFL regular season as well as time in the Super Bowl too buy time on FS1 too.
What Fox is essentially trying to do is market their new Fox sports 1 channel to companies for ad space. To effectively market FS1 to companies for ad space they have to attract enough viewers and be on enough cable providers. The network must not only compete with the “World Wide Leader of Sports”, ESPN, for business but also NBC Sports, CBS Sports and other sporting networks. To compete with these other networks Fox has to really sell and promote their new channel not only to audiences across the nation but also to advertisers. The television network did a lot to promote the new FS1 by running commercials, internet ads, utilizing social media and sending emails to customers before the big launch on August 17. Besides the different PR initiatives, what will also make audiences aware of the new channel is the instantly recognizable on-air talent including Regis Philbin, former NFL quarterback Donavon McNabb, NBA great Gary Payton, and former tennis star Andy Roddick. With this array of on air talent and personalities, a massive PR campaign, and the rights to broadcast big time sporting events such as U.S. Open golf, World Cup soccer, UFC, and Major League Baseball Fox is very much on their way to attracting consumers to the new FS1. This will also help Fox Sports 1 become a more recognizable sports channel. All these factors appeal to advertisers. Fox recognized this and booked hundreds of millions of dollars in ad sales.
The cable company then had to find interested advertisers to be on board and help support the startup channel. They looked to marketers who had long supported Fox’s broadcast networks, such as Ford. Companies such as Microsoft and Samsung use sports to reach consumers so they as well purchased ad space on FS1. With the cable company reaching millions of homes, more blue-chip marketers than decided to market their brand on the channel. It was important that Fox Sports 1 reached 90 million viewers its opening weekend to convince companies that they made a wise advertising investment.
We had learned about promotion in class and more specifically the sport promotional mix. Fox with their new channel, Fox sports 1, used several promotional tools commonly used in sport to promote the 24/7 sports station. The company used infomercials throughout the summer to get consumers and marketers attention about the release of the new channel. They had several sales presentations, most recently Cynopsis Media’s Second Annual Sports Business Summit. The cable network then created a website to explain about the upcoming programing, introduce the new on air personalities, and inform the public and marketers about what to expect from the new channel. Fox then created a Facebook page and a Twitter account to promote the new channel and get attention.
Another significant concept from our class that we touched on is sales. Fox is trying to “sell” this channel to consumers, to have them buy into their programing and sporting events. They are then trying to sell this new channel to advertisers so they can buy ad space. One initiative that Fox is trying to do is sell Fox Sports 1 ad space with Fox’s ad space during the Super Bowl. The company is really trying to encompass more of an all-buy across the media group instead of having everything be separate. Fox’s new channel Fox Sports 1 is still fairly new, being aired about three weeks ago on August 17. The cable network will have to do a lot in regards to marketing, sales and promotion if they are to compete with the other sporting networks, including the giant, ESPN. By continuing to use promotional tools, selling ad space, and covering big time sporting events Fox could very well grow in popularity. They even one day could surpass the monopolistic ESPN.
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Review by Henry Bronez in SRM 435 (section 1)
Fox Sports Media Group unveiled a new channel, Fox Sports 1 (FS1) as a key competitor to ESPN and other network leaders in the sports broadcasting industry. FS1 was broadcasted in 90 million homes when it premiered in August, which is only slightly lower than the 100 million homes, that ESPN and its networks reach. Major enabling factors for Fox being able to introduce this channel are contracts Fox were able to sign with most major broadcast distributors and monetary support from marketing firms on Madison Avenue that were dependant on said contracts.
Fox Sports Media went down to the wire getting the distribution packages secured but in the end the network was able to obtain distribution deals with all major providers including Time Warner Cable, DirectTV, Dish, and others. These last minute deals are what enabled the new channel to air in those 90 million homes and is the key to being able to effectively compete with industry leading channels such as ESPN and ESPN2. Without these deals coming to fruition FS1 would only have been available in about half of the90 million households that were predicted to marketing firms when obtaining marketing deals and selling advertising prior to the initial broadcast.
The Fox Media Group wasted no time in selling advertising on the new channel. Somewhere in the “hundreds of millions” worth of advertising time was sold prior to FS1’s initial broadcast. The main purchaser of early advertising has been from the auto industry with both domestic and overseas auto-manufacturers purchasing significant advertising time. This is not unexpected, as Fox Media has maintained a strong working relationship with the auto industry in the past, particularly Ford Motors. Insurance companies as well as the food and beverage industry have also purchased advertising time on the channel, which bodes well for early success. Fox Media carries strong brand recognition as a network and without the support from previous advertising clients the success of FS1 during its first few weeks of broadcast would have been suspect.
One key shortfall of FS1 is the lack of its ability to broadcast games from the National Football League (NFL). However, Fox holds the broadcasting rights to this season’s Super Bowl XLVIII and has strongly encouraged those who have purchased Super Bowl advertising time to also invest in FS1. Although FS1 will not carry NFL games Fox Sports Media is using the new channel and promoting advertising as a complete package across several different mediums. Including but not limited to both broadcast and cable broadcasting and digital services in order to offer a more complete advertising portfolio. The media group is promoting Super Bowl advertising as a total buy-in of advertisement rather than simply buying advertising space between linked channels. This new approach may put off some companies who would rather buy time on specific channels to target particular audiences, although if the price of time does not increase dramatically the new strategy of a total marketing package may also gain appeal because it will enable companies to reach an audience across several different channels and mediums for an only marginally higher price.
This approach has the potential to send ripples through the sports and broadcast industries when it comes to buying and selling advertising. If the Fox Sports Media Group is successful with selling advertising as a complete package across an entire network rather than specific channels it may further increase the price of advertising time but also may pique the interest of the companies, teams and organizations wealthy enough to afford expensive air time. A complete network package of adverting is much more marketable as an effective use of company dollars than investing in a single specific channel. The possibilities of Fox’s attempt to create a complete marketing package as a single network is interesting and quite broad in how it may play out, but if successful it very well may be a game changer in how media advertising is bought and sold.
