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.
