The uniqueness of sport: Testing against marketing's empirical laws (original) (raw)

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR IN SPORTS MARKETING IN THE CONTEXT OF FOOTBALL

This article evaluates the main concepts of Sports Marketing that influences on consumer behavior in the context of football. As it is disputable if sports consumers are unique or not, within researchers and marketers, this article also tries to investigate the literature presenting opinions on the topic. The author has tried to find out the main traits that make sports consumers unique or non-unique by synthesizing academic literature and a case study on Fenerbahce SK. This research is not empirical and presents a theoretical framework.

Consumers' Perceived Value of Sport Team Games - A multi-dimensional approach

Consumers’ evaluations of their favorite sport team’s contests are influenced by the value that the team provides to them. The current research contributes to the sport management literature through conceptualizing and measuring the dimensions that influence the perceived value consumers link with their favorite sport team’s games and testing the explanatory ability of this perceived value on their satisfaction with, and commitment toward, the team. Five semi-structured expert interviews were conducted to conceptualize perceived value dimensions and measurement items. Next, a multi-dimensional Consumers’ Perceived Value of Sport Games scale (CPVSG) was developed and tested across two studies with football (soccer) consumers (N1 = 225; N2 = 382) in Germany. Results from CFA and SEM analyses indicate that five dimensions – functional, social, emotional, epistemic, and economic value – reflect perceived value dimensions that consumers associate with sport team games. Results also indicated these perceived value dimensions were predictive of consumers’ satisfaction with, and commitment toward, their favorite team. Thus, this research adds to the literature by providing the multi-dimensional CPVSG scale and demonstrating its value in explaining variance in attitudinal outcome variables.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BRAND ASSOCIATIONS AND FAN BEHAVIOURS FOR FOOTBALL TEAMS

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BRAND ASSOCIATIONS AND FAN BEHAVIOURS FOR FOOTBALL TEAMS

The intense competition in the sports sector has caused changes in the sports marketing perception of team management. Club managements aim to develop brand relationships, strengthen fan loyalty and manage fan behaviors to establish an emotional bond between club brands and fans for gaining competitive advantage. In this context, the current study aimed to assess the relationships between brand relationships, fan loyalty, and fan behavior in football teams. The survey sample is 503 (293 male, 210 female) respondents. Data were collected from Besiktas Gymnastics Club, Fenerbahce Sports Club, and Galatasaray Sports Club team supporters by face-to-face survey method. The structural equation model was used in the research hypothesis testing. The findings identified no statistically significant effect of the attributes and benefits, defined as team brand associations facets, on fan behaviors. Brand associations had a significant influence on the attitudinal and behavioral loyalty of supporters. Besides, behavioral loyalty was an important determinant of fan behaviors. The results indicated that approximately 68% of the variance of attitudinal loyalty could be explained by the attributes and benefits of brand associations' facets (R 2 =.677). Furthermore, facets of the brand associations accounted for approximately 66% of behavioral loyalty variance (R 2 =.659). Both brand associations (attributes and benefits) and fan loyalty (attitudinal and behavior loyalty) facets explained approximately 32% of the variance in fan behavior (R 2 =.317). Consequently, it is important to create strong and competitive brand associations in football teams, independent of sporting achievement, create positive fan behaviors, and support these behaviors. The research results could be useful for sports managers/marketers and theorists to explain and interpret fan behaviors.

The Nature of Sports Marketing: A Conceptual Framework

International Journal of Health, Physical Education and Computer Science in Sports, 2014

Sports' marketing has established itself over the last three decades as a very special form of marketing. However, it is quite surprising that the nature of sports marketing is relatively unknown as different definitions of sports marketing indicate. Indeed, a generally accepted definition does not exist to date and opinions about the nature of sports marketing differ widely. This paper examines the nature of sports marketing and therefore seeks to contribute to the ongoing discussion as to whether sports marketing are any different from principal marketing or just a modified version. It starts with a discussion of three different definitions of sports marketing. Then the unique characteristics of sports and sports marketing are described followed by implications for sporting organisation, companies involved in sports marketing and sports marketing academics. In this paper, four sports marketing domains are identified and they are theme-based, product-based, alignment-based and sports-based strategic domains. At the most fundamental level, theme-based strategies use the traditional components of a marketing strategy-target market and marketing mix decisions-to sell nonsports products. This can be differentiated from the product-based strategies that represent the use of traditional marketing mix and target marketing decisions in an effort to sell sports products. The sponsorship-based strategies are represented by the alignment-based and sports-based strategies. Alignment-based strategies use sponsorship in the efforts to sell nonsports products. Conversely, sports-based strategies involve some form of official sponsorship of a sports property in the task of marketing one of the many sports products that crowd the marketplace. This conceptual paper is exploratory in nature. It is based on the secondary sources which are mainly available from various reports, scholarly articles in this field and the relevant websites on the internet.

Sport Consumer Behavior Research: Improving Our Game

Sport consumer behavior (SCB) research continues to grow in both popularity and sophistication. A guiding principle in much of this research has focused on the nature of sport-related experiences and the benefits sport consumers derive from these experiences. This emphasis has generated new knowledge and insights into the needs and wants of sport consumers. Although these efforts have contributed to the field's understanding of SCB, the vast majority of this research has centered on psychological phenomena and the evaluative and affective components of these sport experiences. Approaches to this work have also narrowed, with SCB research predominately relying on cross-sectional studies and attitudinal surveys to collect information. This has resulted in limited findings that seldom account for how various situational or environmental factors might influence attitudinal data patterns at the individual and group level. This special issues seeks to deepen our understanding of SCB by providing seven papers that demonstrate or validate findings using multiple studies or data collections.

Consumer-brand relationships in sport: brand personality and identification

International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 2009

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships between the brand personality of a sports team and the related consumer outcomes of identification and retail spending. Design/methodology/approach -A field study was conducted with games watched and retail spending as outcomes. Structural equation modeling was used to explore the relationships among constructs. Findings -The two brand personality dimensions of wholesomeness and successfulness are mediated through prestige to predict the consumer's identification with the team. The two brand personality dimensions of imaginativeness and toughness positively influence identification with the team while successfulness has a negative influence on identification with the team. Once a consumer identifies with the team quasi-brand, retail spending and viewership increase. Practical implications -Sports teams can utilise information gleaned from this study to better promote an attractive image, thereby increasing the number of games watched and retail spending. Originality/value -This paper presents an original twist on personality research by looking at the influence of the brand personality of an intangible sport brand on consumer identification and retail spending.