Healthy Competition a Goldmine for AFL

Being a passionate Fremantle Dockers fan yet living on the other side of Australia meant I recently succumbed to purchasing the AFL’s mobile telecasting program ‘AFL Live’ for what seems like a small fee each week. But it wasn’t just for the desire to see my team of choice in action, it was to ensure I don’t miss out on any of the action in what has been a very entertaining couple of weeks in the AFL. With 7 of the last 19 games finishing with margins of less than 10 points and teams which were previously sorely underperforming now on the rise, how could you not want to watch it? It’s exciting.

Whilst yes, I do now make sure I catch at least a quarter of the Fremantle game each week, I have found myself actually watching more of other matches and getting far less work done while I do. I can tell you that no matter how convinced I am that I will do my homework with a small screen of the footy on my lap, it is yet to happen.

I am sure that there are many people who have recently done the same, especially considering the information recently released in a graph by The Economist (shown below) which indicates AFL is the most popular sport in the world based on the percentage of the population which engages in spectatorship at any stage during the season. Provided my assumptions are correct and this is resulting in In-App purchases for the AFL, it is meaning the closing gap between team’s performances throughout the competition is becoming an absolute goldmine for their marketing department. The matches are speaking for themselves; just begging for people to put down what they’re doing and focus entirely on watching the game to ensure they know what to talk about at work or school the next day.

I am not wild about spending some $6/week for the privilege, mostly because I am still a poor university student just trying to make it through my degree and still be able to eat and maintain a social life, however I will stick with it. At least just for the moment – until it no longer becomes worth it, or until my Mum takes a look at my bank statement and talks some sense into me.

Understanding the Sport Consumer

A Gold Coast Suns Case Study

The Gold Coast Suns have been arguably one of the most successful new sport establishments in recent history. Here is some possible theory as to why:

Imagine you are the marketing manager of the Gold Coast Suns. What strategies would you develop to engage fans using psychological, personal and environmental factors?

Due to being a marginalised sport, it is important for the Gold Coast Suns to target the NRL focused Gold Coast market in as many ways as possible to encourage fan engagement, particularly during the early stages of their existence. It would be important to develop strategies which cover all of the following:
Psychological
Psychological inputs come internally from the sport consumer and are their beliefs and feelings about the apparent outcome of a sport experience. Many different ways of initiating psychological reactions to a sporting experience have been developed by sports marketers and include provoking consumers by highlighting the entertainment, socialisation, vicarious achievement and physical skills of players which could all be gained by attending an AFL match. In the case of the Gold Coast Suns, providing these would mean to market their game as a more exciting and social option as opposed to attending other sports matches on at the same time. One way in which this could be achieved would be to introduce a pre-match or half-time entertainment program involving showcasing local musical talents or established musicians. This would help encourage those who were otherwise inclined to attend another sporting match or not engage in the sport experience at all.
Personal
Personal inputs refer to the individual characteristics of the population, these can be defined by their demographics. One strategy which may target the personal inputs of individuals in the market is to promote the game and/or club as a highly diverse game which can be enjoyed by all, whether their ethnicity, gender, age or other factor.
Environmental
Environmental factors, unlike personal and psychological, are external to the sport consumer and create the ‘pull’ towards a particular sporting activity. As the marketing manager at the Suns, one way to encourage a greater environmental pull would be to create family memberships to promote whole family attendance. Or perhaps a ‘Bring a Friend’ campaign whereby people who often come to the AFL can get a second ticket half price for a friend who rarely attends or has never attended a Gold Coast Suns match before.

Apart from being more competitive on the field, how can the Gold Coast Suns improve their crowd and member numbers?

The Gold Coast Suns can improve their crowd and member numbers perhaps by introducing membership and ticketing packages whereby units become cheaper the more are purchased. An example of this could be buy 1 adult membership and get a children’s membership half price, or perhaps buy 2 adult ticket and a child can come for free. This would help to increase ticket sales and hopefully encourage further support for the team.

Are the psychological, personal and environmental factors the same in choosing to attend a Gold Coast Suns game instead of attending a Gold Coast Titans game? If not, what are the key differences?

I believe that the psychological and personal factors for attending a Titans game as opposed to a Suns game are very similar. Both outline that the sport consumer is attending the match for the enjoyment of the sport and/or to fulfil their own desires in attending, such as feeling part of something. However both teams have different environmental ‘pulls’ in Australia’s multicultural society, for example the Titans would attract a higher crowd of Maori’s, New Zealander’s and Pacific Islander ethnicities. Whereas alternatively, the Suns would attract a higher percentage of Australian Indigenous people. This could be largely due to the environment in which each relative audiences have been brought up, and due to their historically traditional interests.

Marketing through sport vs Marketing of sport

MARKETING THROUGH SPORT
When typically unrelated products use the marketing power of sport to sell their products:

Swisse TVC featuring Australian Cricketer Ricky Ponting

The Swisse Vitamins range uses a selection of talented athletes to market their various vitamin products; using the athletes to highlight the benefits of each of their products. An example of this is Ricky Ponting being used to market their Mega B+ range, claiming that by using it he is able to reduce stress and support energy production and as a result improve his performance. By marketing through athletes they are able to target typically physically active individuals who are looking to improve their performance in ways which the athletes claim the products have helped them to improve.

AFL is one of Australia’s most popular sports to both watch and play. By Toyota having naming rights to the entire Championship season means their brand name is seen and recognized a large portion of the Australian population.

Euskaltel is a Spanish telecommunications company based in the Basque (Euskadi) Country in northern Spain. By sponsoring a team in the UCI World Tour, Euskaltel were able to promote both their company and their region’s talent internationally, and most significantly across Europe, Canada and Australia where championship races are held. Unfortunately the team folded at the end of 2013 due to Euskaltel becoming engulfed in economic turmoil in the Basque region of Spain.

MARKETING OF SPORT
Using the marketing mix (4 P’s) to promote participation in or support of sport.

Cricket Australia Summer of Cricket TVC

Cricket Australia used this TVC to inspire support of the Australian Cricket Team in the upcoming International summer series by appealing to a sense of patriotism and unity, and creating excitement around the event. The use of colloquial terms and phrases such as “come on, mate” helps to unite the Australian public to support the cricket team and in return supports their final phrase of “it’s what unites (a)us”.

AFL 9s Promotional Video

The AFL used this advertisement to promote participation in their modified version of the game which is created in order to increase the number of people who are able to play AFL. They use the ad to highlight the ways in which AFL 9s is different from AFL and how it can be easier to join in and play well for more, particularly highlighting the ability for women to join in with the men’s game.

This advertisement appeared in Melbourne’s ‘Herald Sun’ to promote attendance and memberships of the Melbourne Vixens in the ANZ Championship. This is an example of marketing of sport as it directly promotes support of the netball team through purchasing memberships.