CHAPTER	9

Promotion concepts

Just ask anyone the first thing that comes to mind when they think of sports marketing, and they are likely to say advertisements produced by corporations such as Nike, Gatorade, and Anheuser Busch or events such as the Super Bowl, the Masters, Daytona 500, and March Madness. Many of these advertisers utilize star athletes to endorse their products. Sports and sports celebrities have become a major spectacle of today’s media culture. Sports celebrities have been looked upon as role models for decades, and with the technological advances in broadcast and interactive media, it appears that the famous and not so famous athletes are everywhere.¹ Some of the most widely utilized advertising spokespersons include famous athletes such as Michael Jordan (Nike, Hanes, Gatorade), Tiger Woods (Nike), LeBron James (Nike, Gatorade) Peyton Manning (ESPN, MasterCard, Direct TV, Sony TV, Gatorade, and newly acquired Papa Johns), and Danica Patrick (GoDaddy.com, Tissot, Hot Wheels). While many of the wealthy athletes make most of their money from endorsements Floyd Mayweather makes 100 percent of his money from salary or winnings. Mayweather makes $85 million on the contracts from his fights and that total does not include any endorsement sums.² As we have discussed, sports marketing is much more than advertisements using star athlete endorsers. It involves developing a sound product or service, pricing it correctly, and making sure it is available to consumers when and where they ask for it. However, the necessary element that links the other marketing mix variables together is promotion.

Typically, the terms promotion and advertising are used synonymously. Promotion, however, includes much more than traditional forms of advertising. It involves all forms of communication to consumers. For many organizations, sports are quickly becoming the most effective and efficient way to communicate with current and potential target markets. The combination of tools available to sports marketers to communicate with the public is known as the promotional mix and consists of the following promotion mix elements:

  Advertising – a form of one-way mass communication about a product, service, or idea, paid for by an identified sponsor.

  Personal selling – an interactive form of interpersonal communication designed to build customer relationships and produce sales or sports products, services, or ideas.

  Sales promotion – short-term incentives usually designed to stimulate immediate demand for sports products or services.

  Public or community relations – evaluation of public attitudes, identification of areas within the organization in which the sports population may be interested, and building of a good “image” in the community.

  Sponsorship – investing in a sports entity (athlete, league, team, event, and so on) to support overall organizational objectives, marketing goals, and more specific promotional objectives.

Within each of the promotion mix elements are more specialized tools to aid in reaching promotional objectives. For example, sales promotions can take the form of sweepstakes, rebates, coupons, or free samples. Advertising can take place on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, television, in print, or as stadium signage. Sponsors might communicate through an athlete, team, or league. Each of these promotional tools is a viable alternative when considering the most effective promotion mix for a sports organization. Regardless of which tool we choose, the common thread in each element of the promotion mix is communication. Because communication is such an integral part of promotion, let us take a more detailed look at the communications process.

Communications process

The communications process is an essential element for all aspects of sports marketing. Communication is the process of establishing a commonness of thought between the sender and the receiver. To establish this “oneness” between the sender and the receiver, the sports marketer’s message must be transmitted via the complex communications process.

The interactive nature of the communications process allows messages to be transmitted from sports marketer (source) to consumer (receiver) and from consumer (source) to sports marketer (receiver). Traditionally, sports marketers’ primary means of communication to consumers has been through the various promotion mix elements (e.g., advertisements, sponsorships, sales promotions, and salespeople). Sports marketers also communicate with consumers via other elements of the marketing mix.

Figure 9.1 Communication process

Source: Solomon, Michael R., Consumer Behavior, 3rd Edition, © 1996, p. 194.

For example, the high price of a NASCAR Sprint Cup ticket communicates that it is a higher quality event than the more inexpensive Nationwide Series. In addition to sports marketers communicating with consumers, consumers communicate back to sports marketers through their behavior. Most notably, consumers communicate whether they are satisfied with the sports product by their purchase behavior. In other words, they attend sporting events and purchase sporting goods.

The communications process begins with the source or the sender of the message. The source encodes the message and sends it through one of many potential communications media. Next, the message is decoded by the receiver of the message, and finally feedback is given to the original source of the message. In the ideal world, messages are sent and interpreted exactly as intended. This, however, rarely occurs because of noise and interference.

Figure 9.1 shows a simplified diagram of the communications process. Each box in the figure represents one of the elements in the communications process. These elements include the sender, encoding, message, medium, decoding, receiver, feedback, and noise. To maximize communication effectiveness, it is necessary to have a better understanding of each of these elements in the communications process.

Source

The sender or source of the message is where the communication process always originates. In sports marketing, the source of messages is usually a star athlete. For example, you might think of Maria Sharapova shooting pictures with her Canon or Troy Polamalu washing his long hair with Head & Shoulders. Recently, Forbes published the 2013 highest paid athletes.³

Interestingly, despite a significant loss of $30 million in revenue, Tiger Woods remained atop the list of athletes to watch as spokespeople in the 21st century. This list also included Roger Federer, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Drew Brees and David Beckham. Other notables were Maria Sharapova (22^nd), Tom Brady (11^th), and Dale Earnhardt Jr (32^nd).

Although these sources are all individual athletes, there are many other sources of sports marketing messages. The source of a message might also be a group of athletes, a team, or even the league or sports. Additional sources of sports marketing messages are company spokespeople such as John Solheim, the chairman of Ping Golf, or owners such as Mark Cuban of the Dallas Mavericks.

Sources do not always have to be well recognized and famous individuals to be effective. Sports marketers use actors playing the role of common, everyday sports participants to deliver their message from the perspective of the representative consumer of the sports product or service. Other effective sources are inanimate objects, such as the college mascots like the Big Red mascot from Western Kentucky University featured in the Capital One Mascot Challenge commercials. In addition, sports marketers rely on sales personnel to convey the intended message to consumers. Informal sources, such as friends, family, and coworkers, are also sources of marketing information and messages. As we learned in Chapters 4 and 5, reference groups play an important role in influencing purchase behavior and transmitting the marketing message.

Whatever the source, it is agreed by researchers that to be effective, the source must be credible. Credibility is the source’s perceived expertise and trustworthiness. A very persuasive message can be created when a combination of these two factors (expertise and trustworthiness) is present in the source. For a source to be trustworthy, that person must be objective and unbiased. Certain athlete endorsers, such as Peyton Manning, former coach Mike Ditka, and Michael Jordan, are known for their perceived trustworthiness. We sometimes look to friends and family as information sources because of their objectivity. In fact, word-of-mouth communication is believed to be extremely persuasive because the source of the message has nothing to gain from delivering the message. Additional unbiased sources are those “man-on-the-street” testimonies given by the common consumer. For example, many of us have seen infomercials that use “regular people” to describe how they lost weight or became physically fit by using the latest and greatest fitness equipment.

Source credibility is also enhanced when the sender of the message has perceived expertise. Naturally, an athlete such as LeBron James is believed to deliver expert messages when the product being promoted is related to athletics, or more specifically, basketball. At least this is what Nike is counting on.

LeBron James, one of NBA’s most popular players, came directly out of high school with signing the richest show endorsement deal that any NBA rookie had ever signed. Nike signed James to a $90 million endorsement contract narrowly beating out Adidas, which was the sponsor of James’ high school team. James signed endorsement deals with a range of other top companies, including Coca-Cola Corporation. James has endorsed a slew of Coke products, starting with Powerade and eventually moving to Vitamin Water and now Coca Cola. He signed a new shoe contract with Nike in 2010 that pays more than $10 million per year. During the 2012 London Olympics, Nike and McDonald’s ran a global advertising campaign that featured James as a champion and rival, respectively.⁴

Ad 9.1 Arnold Palmer: one of the most credible endorsers ever

Source: Lamkin Corporation

Other examples of athletes who endorse products related to their sport include race car drivers such as Dale Earnhardt Jr. promoting Mountain Dew, Chevrolet or Nationwide Insurance and tennis players such as Roger Federer promoting Nike tennis equipment. The general rule of thumb is that the message is more effective if there is a match-up, or congruence, between the qualities of the endorser and the product being endorsed. In fact, the match-up hypothesis states that the more congruent the image of the endorser with the image of the product being promoted, the more effective the message.⁵

If the match-up hypothesis holds true, then why do companies pay millions of dollars to star athletes to promote their nonathletic products? For example, Olympic gold medalist snowboarder Shaun White is a pitchman for American Express, hockey star Alex Ovechkin promotes Gillette products, and golfer Phil Mickelson is an endorser for Rolex. First, consumers have an easier time identifying brands associated with celebrity athletes. Second, athletes are used to differentiate competing products that are similar in nature. For instance, most consumers know and associate Derek Jeter with Gatorade. Jeter’s association helps to create and then maintain the desired image of Gatorade, which in turn differentiates it from other bottled sports drinks on the market.

Encoding

After the source is chosen, encoding takes place. Encoding is translating the sender’s thoughts or ideas into a message. To ensure effective encoding, the source of the message must make difficult decisions about the message content. Will the receiver understand and comprehend the message as intended? Will the receiver identify with the message? In 1974, Adidas launched its “Impossible is Nothing” campaign. Originating from a quote taken from the great Muhammad Ali, the notation has been a powerful Adidas slogan for many years and many people will continue to remember the brand with the same philosophy for times to come. However, as of March 2011, Adidas brought together sport, street and style for the very first time collectively highlighting that the company was willing to go “All in” for the consumer.⁶ The campaign was the biggest marketing push in the brands history. The premise behind the push was to create intimacy between their assets and the brand fans and consumers. The goal was to help them create and enhance their own style whilst giving them the latest news on hot tendencies.⁷ The plan was part of their strategic Business Plan – called Route 2015 – where the company set social and environmental targets that aimed to shape how they would grow and meet their business goals.⁸ Adidas wants to close in on the market leader. That is, of course, a name familiar to many: Oregon-based Nike. The company is seeking sales growth of 45 percent to 50 percent by 2015, and “All Adidas” (or “all adidas”) is part of that. The idea of the campaign is to show off Adidas’ versatility. It won’t be just across sports, although those such as the Chicago Bulls’ Derrick Rose, soccer stars Lionel Messi and David Beckham, and even the entire Notre Dame Football program is “all in” with the campaign. In addition to sports, the company will highlight its diversity among celebrities, too, with folks like pop star Katy Perry and rapper B.o.B.⁹

Sources have a variety of tools that they use to encode messages. They can use pictures, logos, words, and other symbols. Symbols and pictures are often used in sports marketing to convey the emotional imagery that words cannot capture. The most effective encoding uses multiple media to get the message across (i.e., visually and verbally); presents information in a clear, organized fashion; and always keeps the receiver in mind.¹⁰

Message

The next element in the communications process is to develop the message, which refers to the exact content of the words and symbols to be transmitted to the receiver. Decisions regarding the characteristics of this message depend on the objective of the promotion, but sports marketers have a wide array of choices. These choices include one-versus two-sided messages, emotional versus rational messages, and comparative versus noncomparative messages.

The sidedness of a message is based on the nature of the information presented to the target audience. The messages can be constructed as either one- or two-sided. In a one-sided message, only the positive features of the sports product are described, whereas a two-sided message includes both the benefits and weaknesses of the product. Another decision regarding the message in the promotion is whether to have an emotional versus rational appeal. A rational appeal provides consumers with information about the sports product so they may arrive at a careful, analytical decision, and an emotional appeal attempts to make consumers “feel” a certain way about the sports product. Emotional appeals might include fear, sex, humor, or feelings related to the hard work and competitive nature of sport.

Table 9.1 Creating a more effective message

•  Get the audience aroused.

•  Give the audience a reason for listening.

•  Use questions to generate involvement.

•  Cast the message in terms familiar to your audience and build on points of interest.

•  Use thematic organization – tie material together by a theme and present in a logical, irreversible sequence.

•  Use subordinate category words – that is, more concrete, specific terms.

•  Repeat key points.

•  Use rhythm and rhyme.

•  Use concrete rather than abstract terms.

•  Leave the audience with an incomplete message – something to ponder so they have to make an effort at closure.

•  Ask your audience for a conclusion.

•  Tell the audience the implications of their conclusion.

Source: James MacLachlan, “Making a Message Memorable and Persuasive,” Journal of Advertising Research, vol. 23 (December 1983–January 1984), 51–59.

A final message characteristic that may be considered by sports marketers is comparative messages. Comparative messages refer to either directly or indirectly comparing your sports product with one or more competitive products in a promotional message. For example, golf ball manufacturers often compare the advantages of their product with competitors’ products.

Regardless of the message characteristics, the broad objective of promotion is to effectively communicate with consumers. What are some ways to make your sports marketing message more memorable and persuasive? Table 9.1 summarizes a few simple techniques to consider.

Medium

After the message has been formulated, it must be transmitted to receivers through a channel, or communications medium. A voice in personal selling, the Internet, television, radio, stadium signage, billboards, blimps, newspapers, magazines, athletes’ uniforms, and even athlete’s bodies all serve as media for sports marketing communication. In addition to these more traditional media, new communications channels such as social media and the multitude of sports-specific cable programming (e.g., the Golf Channel) are emerging and growing in popularity.

Decisions on which medium or media to choose depend largely on the overall promotional objectives. Also, the media decisions must consider the costs to reach the desired target audience, the medium’s flexibility, its ability to reach a highly defined audience, its lifespan, the sports product or service complexity, and the characteristics of the intended target market. These media considerations are summarized in Table 9.2. For example, sports marketers attempting to reach the African American market may choose television as a communications medium because this market watches more television than average households. In addition, the African American market watches more WNBA, NBA, and college basketball than the average household. Furthermore, a decision to target women may include advertising specific to the NFL. American women watch the NFL more than MLB and the NBA. In the past decade the NFL has launched several marketing and outreach programs such as coaching clinics, women’s apparel, and the donning of pink during Breast Cancer Awareness Month to target the female viewing audience. This audience has grown from 32.6 percent in 2006¹¹ to over 33 percent in 2013.¹²

Table 9.2 Making media decisions

•  Cost to reach target audience •  Flexibility of media •  Ability to reach highly specialized, defined audience •  Lifespan of the media •  Nature of the sports product being promoted (e.g., complexity of product) •  Characteristics of the intended target market

Table 9.3 Most watched programs in U.S. television history

1.  SuperBowlXLVIII (2014): 111.5 million (Fox) 2.  Super Bowl XLVI (2012): 111.3 million (NBC) 3.  Super Bowl XLV (2011): 111 million (Fox) 4.  Super Bowl XLVII (2013): 108.4 million (CBS) 5.  Super Bowl XLIV (2010): 106.5 million (CBS) 6.  M*A*S*H* series finale (1983): 106 million (CBS) 7.  Super Bowl XLIII (2009): 98.7 million (NBC) 8.  Super Bowl XLII (2008): 97.5 million (Fox) 9.  Super Bowl XXX (1996): 94.1 million (NBC) 10.  Super Bowl XLI (2007): 93.2 million (CBS)

Source: Nielsen Newswire 2014, “Super Bowl XLVIII Draws 111.5 Million Viewers, 25.3 Million Tweets,” http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/newswire/2014/super-bowl-xlviii-draws-111-5-million-viewers-25-3-million-tweets.html, Published February 3, 2014, accessed June 20, 2014.

As Table 9.3 illustrates there was a record numbers of viewers for Super Bowl XLVIII, XLVI, and XLV. In fact, each of these Super Bowls successfully became the most-watched television program of all time, recording 111.48 million, 111.34, and 111.04 million viewers respectfully.¹³ As this number increased the gap between male and female viewers shrank. Forty-six percent of the Super Bowl audience was female; while approximately 54 percent of the U.S. audience was male and about 11 percent of the U.S. audience was African American. For Super Bowl XLVIII there was a continuation of success as it became the most watched program in U.S. history. This is the fourth time in five years that the Super Bowl has set record audiences. The Super Bowl claims the top for the five most watched TV programs, CBS series finale M.A.S.H. claims the sixth spot and the Super Bowl reclaims spots seven through ten.¹⁴

Decoding

The medium carries the message to the receiver, which is where decoding takes place. Decoding, performed by the receiver, is the interpretation of the message sent by the source through the channel. Once again, the goal of communication is to establish a common link between sender and receiver. This can only happen if the message is received and interpreted correctly. Even if the message is received by the desired target audience, it may be interpreted differently because of the receiver’s personal characteristics and past experience. In addition, the more complex the original message, the less likely it is to be successfully interpreted or decoded. As the accompanying article illustrates, decoding often varies among consumers and sometimes proper decoding can lead to questionable, and a range of, interpretations of ads.¹⁵

Receiver

The receiver, or the audience, is the object of the source’s message. Usually, the receiver is the sports marketer’s well-defined, target audience. However, and as previously mentioned, the receiver’s personal characteristics play an important role in whether the message is correctly decoded. For example, consumers’ demographic profile (e.g., age, marital status, and gender), psychographic profile (e.g., personality, lifestyle, and values), and even where they live (geographic region) may all affect the interpretation and comprehension of the sports marketing message.

Feedback

To determine whether the message has been received and comprehended, feedback is necessary. Feedback is defined as the response a target audience makes to a message. The importance of feedback as an element of the communication process cannot be overlooked. Without feedback, communication would be a one-way street, and the sender of the message would have no means of determining whether the original message should remain unchanged, be modified, or abandoned altogether.

There are several ways for the consumer or target audience to deliver feedback to the source of the message. The target market might provide feedback in the form of a purchase. In other words, if consumers are buying tickets, sporting goods, or other sports products, then the sports marketer’s message must be effective. Likewise, if consumers are not willing to purchase the sports product, then feedback is also being provided to the source. Unfortunately, the feedback in this case is that the message is either not being received or being incorrectly interpreted.

When using personal communication media, such as personal selling, feedback is received instantly by verbal and nonverbal means. Consumers will respond favorably by nodding their head in approval, acting interested, or asking intelligent questions. In the case of disinterest or inattention, the source of the message should make adjustments and change the message as it is being delivered to address any perceived problems.

Another common form of feedback comes through changes in attitude about the object of the message. In other words, the consumer’s attitude shifts toward a more favorable belief or feeling about the sports product, athlete, team, or sport itself. Generally, the more positive the attitude toward the message, the more positive the consumer’s attitude toward the sports product. This should, in turn, lead to increases in future purchases. One of the many uses of marketing research is to gather feedback from consumers and use this feedback to create or redesign the strategic sports marketing process. The control phase of the strategic marketing process is dedicated to evaluating feedback from consumers and making adjustments to achieve marketing objectives.

Thus far, we have only examined feedback in one direction – from consumer of the product to producer of the product. However, feedback is an interactive process. That is, consumers also receive feedback from the sports organization. Organizations let consumers know they are listening to the “voice of the consumer” by reintroducing new and improved versions of sports products, changing the composition of teams and their coaches, adjusting prices, and even varying their promotional messages. For example, when the Brooklyn Nets season got off to a start fans throughout the tri-state area were not convinced of the hype surrounding the team’s much anticipated move from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The Brooklyn Nets had yet to sell-out for any of their home games, leaving open seats scattered throughout the $1 billion arena. The closest the Nets had come to a sell-out was for their first home game of the 2012–13 regular season, a 107–100 win against the Toronto Raptors. Attendance for the game was 17,732, according to statistics from The Sports Network, almost 1,000 fewer than the first game of the 2011–12 regular season back in New Jersey. The Nets’ second home game, played against the Minnesota Timberwolves, drew only 14,017 fans, the lowest amount for their regular season thus far. Attendance increased for the third and fourth home games, peaking at 17,032 for Brooklyn’s win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Despite not being able to sell-out their new home stadium, the Nets have increased their attendance average by 800 tickets over last year, by listening to consumer feedback.¹⁶

Noise

The final element in the communication process is noise. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as perfect communication because of noise, or interference, in the communications process. Interference may occur at any point along the channel of communication. For example, the source may be ineffective, the message may be sent through the wrong medium, or there may be too many competing messages, each “fighting” for the limited information-processing capacity of consumers.

When communicating through stadium signage, the obvious source of noise is the game itself. Noise can even be present in the form of ambush marketing techniques, where organizations attempt to confuse consumers and make them believe they are officially affiliated with a sporting event when they are not. An excellent example of how noise can affect the communication process is found in ambush marketing, which will be explored in Chapter 11.

Sports marketers must realize that noise will always be present in the communications process. By gaining a better understanding of the communications process, factors contributing to noise can be examined and eliminated to a large extent.

Promotion planning

Armed with a working knowledge of the communications process, the sports marketer is now ready to create an efficient promotion plan. Not unlike the strategic marketing process, promotional plans come in all shapes and sizes but all share several common elements. Our promotional planning document consists of four basic phases: (1) identifying target market considerations, (2) setting promotional objectives, (3) determining the promotional budget, and (4) developing the promotional mix.

Target market considerations

Promotional planning is not done in isolation. Instead, plans must rely heavily on the objectives formulated in the strategic sports marketing process. The first step to promotional planning is identifying target market considerations. During the planning phase, target markets have been identified, and promotion planning should reflect these previous decisions. Promotional planning depends largely on who is identified as the primary target audience. One promotional strategy is based on reaching the ultimate consumer of the sports product and is known as a pull strategy. The other strategy identifies channel members as the most important target audience. This strategic direction is termed a push strategy. These two basic strategies are dependent on the chosen target of the promotional efforts and guide subsequent planning. Let us explore the push and pull strategies in greater detail.

Push strategy

A push strategy is so named because of the emphasis on having channel intermediaries “push” the sports product through the channel of distribution to the final consumer. If a push strategy is used, intermediaries such as a manufacturer might direct initial promotional efforts at a wholesaler, who then promotes the sports product to the retailer. In turn, the retailers promote the sports product to the final user. When using a push strategy, you are literally loading goods into the distribution pipeline. The objective is to get as much product as possible into the warehouse or store. Push strategies generally ignore the consumer. A variety of promotion mix elements are still used with a push strategy, although personal selling is more prevalent when promoting to channel members closer to the manufacturer (i.e., wholesalers) than the end users.

Pull strategy

The target audience for a pull strategy is not channel intermediaries but the ultimate consumer. The broad objective of this type of promotional strategy is to stimulate demand for the sports product, so much demand, in fact, that the channel members, such as retailers, are forced to stock their shelves with the sports product. Because the end user, or ultimate consumer, is the desired target for a pull strategy, the promotion mix tends to emphasize advertising rather than personal selling. It is important to note that because sports marketing is based largely on promoting services rather than goods, pull strategies targeting the end user are more prevalent. In pull strategies, your objective is to get consumers to pull the merchandise off the shelf and out the door. For example, in the past, Sears Craftsman, through its NASCAR relationships, planned to blitz consumers with discount opportunities for a Father’s Day sales push. Craftsman was the official tool of NASCAR and the title sponsor of NASCAR’s Truck Series dubbed “Craftsman Weekend at the Races.”

Coupons good for $10 off a purchase of $50 or more were distributed to fans at 38 races through the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series, a semi-professional and amateur circuit on short tracks throughout the country. It was anticipated that the company would distribute about 75,000 coupons at the events. Coupons had to be used by June 17, Father’s Day.

In another example, Burger King signed a six-month, seven-figure agreement to become Major League Soccer’s first official quick-service restaurant. Burger King offered in-store and online promotion of a $100,000 sweepstakes, and also gave away Burger King- and MLS-branded soccer balls and “Have It Your Way” gift cards valued at $2.

Although pull strategies are more common in sports marketing, the most effective promotion planning integrates both push and pull components. For example, marketing giant Procter & Gamble’s (P&G) objective was to stimulate consumer demand for its Sunny Delight and Hawaiian Punch brands. To do so, P&G designed a promotion featuring the late UCLA basketball coach John Wooden and one of his former star players, Bill Walton. The pull strategy offered consumers a Wooden and Walton autographed picture and coin set for $19.95 and proof-of-purchase. The push promotional strategy was directed at Sunny Delight and Hawaiian Punch distributors and retailers who carried the P&G brands. If the “trade” reached their performance goals during the promotion, they earned a framed picture of Walton and Wooden that was autographed and personalized for the distributor.

Promotional objectives

After target markets have been identified, the next step in the promotion planning process is to define the promotional objectives. Broadly, the three goals of promotion are to inform, persuade, and remind target audiences. Consumers must first be made aware of the product and how it might satisfy their needs. The goal of providing information to consumers is usually desired when products are in the introductory phase of the product life cycle (PLC). Once consumers are aware of the sports product, promotional goals then turn to persuasion and convincing the consumer to purchase the product. After initial purchase and satisfaction with a given product, the broad promotional goal is then to remind the consumer of the sports product’s availability and perceived benefits.

Informing, persuading, and reminding consumers are the broad objectives of promotion, but the ultimate promotional objective is to induce action. These consumer actions might include volunteering to help with a local 10k race, donating money to the U.S. Olympic Team, purchasing a new pair of in-line skates, or just attending a sporting event they have never seen. Marketers believe promotions guide consumers through a series of steps to reach this ultimate objective – action. This series of steps is known as the hierarchy of effects (also sometimes called the hierarchy of communication effect).

The hierarchy of effects

The hierarchy of effects is a seven-step process by which consumers are ultimately led to action.¹⁷

The seven steps include unawareness, awareness, knowledge, liking, preference, conviction, and action. As shown in Figure 9.2, consumers pass through each of these steps before taking action.

Figure 9.2 Hierarchy of effects

Photo 9.1 Having greater knowledge of sports such as hockey moves consumers through the hierarchy of effects.

Source: Shutterstock

  Unawareness – During the first step, consumers are not even aware the sports product exists. Obviously, the promotional objective at this stage is to move consumers toward awareness. Awareness may occur in a variety of ways and helps expose a consumer to the products, however, it is important to note that consumption cannot occur if a consumer is unaware of the product.

  Awareness – The promotional objective at this early stage of the hierarchy is to make consumers in the desired target market aware of the new sports product. To reach this objective, a variety of promotional tools are used.

  Knowledge – Once consumers are aware of the sports product, they need to gather information about its tangible and intangible benefits. The primary promotional objective at this stage is to provide consumers with the necessary product information. For instance, the NHL.com Web site has a link called the Learning Center, which is designed to give youth players tips on how to play the game. Similarly, Major League Baseball has a Baseball Basics: On the Field link on its Web page (see: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/baseball_basics/on_the_field.jsp) targeting international fans of the game. Another example of creating and enhancing knowledge is the proliferation of classes called Football 101 targeted toward women and novice fans. Football 101 primers have been held at the Super Bowl Fan Experiences, various NFL and college football game day events, and even been offered in Spanish to accommodate all fans. Teams and organizers hope that once the fans become more knowledgeable, they will then move to the next level of the hierarchy – liking.

  Liking – Having knowledge and information about a sports product does not necessarily mean the consumer will like it. Generating positive feelings and interest regarding the sports product is the next promotional objective on the hierarchy. The promotion itself cannot cause the consumer to like the product, but research has shown the linkage between attitude toward the promotion (e.g., advertisement) and attitude toward the product.¹⁸ The objective is to create a feeling of goodwill toward the product via the promotion.

  Preference – After consumers begin to like the sports product, the objective is to develop preferences. As such, sports marketers must differentiate their product from the competition through promotion. The sports product’s differential advantage may be found in an enhanced image and tangible product features.

  Conviction – Moving up the hierarchy of effects, consumers must develop a conviction or intention to take action. Behavioral intention, however, does not guarantee action. Factors such as the consumer’s economic condition (i.e., financial situation), changing needs, or availability of new alternatives may inhibit the action from ever taking place. The objective of the conviction step of the hierarchy of effects is to create a desire to act in the mind of the target audience.

  Action – The final stage of the hierarchy, and the ultimate objective of any promotion, is to have consumers act. As stated previously, actions may come in a variety of forms, but usually include purchase or attendance.

Theoretically, the hierarchy of effects model states that consumers must pass through each stage in the hierarchy before a decision is made regarding purchase (or other behaviors). Some marketers have argued this is not always the case. Consider, for instance, purchasing season tickets to a professional sport for business purposes. The purchaser does not have to like the sport or team to take action and buy the tickets. Regardless of what the hierarchy of effects proposes to do or not do, the fact remains that it is an excellent tool to use when developing promotional objectives. Knowing where the target audience is on the hierarchy is critical to formulating the proper objectives.

Establishing promotional budgets

Global advertising expenditures continue to see steady growth. According to figures provided by ZenithOptimedia, global advertising expenditures were on track to grow 5.5 percent in 2014, to $537 billion.¹⁹ Furthermore, these expenditures are expected to grow by 5.8 percent in 2015 and 6.1 percent in 2016. Total advertising spending in the United States is predicted to reach $191 billion in 2016, accounting for nearly one-third of all global expenditures. China (9.5 percent), Japan (9.4 percent), Germany (4.0 percent), and the UK (3.9 percent) round out the top five countries in global advertising expenditures. Television is predicted to retain the largest share of advertising expenditures accounting for approximately 39.2 percent, followed by the Internet (27.1 percent), newspapers (13.7 percent), magazines (6.4 percent), outdoor (6.8 percent), radio (6.3 percent), and cinema (0.5 percent).²⁰ As marketers continue to shift budgets towards targeted, digital media, ZenithOptimedia predicts that Internet advertising will increase its share of the advertising market from 20.7 percent in 2013 to 27.1 percent in 2016, while newspapers and magazines will continue to shrink at an average of 1–2 percent per year.²¹

Over the past several years, this growth, in part, has been attributed to a surge in digital spending and continued success across televised platforms, further enhancing opportunities surrounding events such as the Olympic Games. NBC estimated that it would generate billions in revenue for Olympic advertisement spots. In fact, over the past several years TV ad expenditures have increased for most sports with tennis and NASCAR experiencing the greatest percentage increases in spending. The NFL and NCAA football are still king, contributing more than one-half of the dollar volume gain.²² As shown in Table 9.4, the companies that lead the way in ad spending for sports are makers of beer, telecommunications, and cars with Verizon Wireless, Anheuser-Busch, AT&T Mobility, Ford, Toyota, and Chevrolet at the top of the marketing industry.

In today’s environment, digital screens are a critical part of the sport marketing mix and the following landmark figures speak to that irrefutable fact. For example, digital advertising expenditures in the United States are predicted to reach $61 billion by 2017, as ad spending gradually shifts to mobile devices.²³ Today’s ads are more complex and engaging, enabling innovative new targeting and rich media strategies that stand poised to offer ever-increasing, targeted value to sports fans, and better returns on investment for marketers. A variety of different industries and organizations are increasingly investing in mobile and Internet ad platforms. Therefore, it’s not just sports putting up big numbers. In fact, sports are one of four verticals outside of the overall Top 10 that have experienced triple-digit growth in the past year. However, sports experienced the most dramatic growth, increasing a whopping 489 percent year-over-year compared with 2012 data.²⁴

As Frank Weishaupt, SVP of Global Revenue for Millennia Media states, “if the sports vertical were an athlete, we’d accuse him of juicing with that kind of statistical improvement in just one year.”²⁵ While some experts may emphasize that the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup may have fueled much of that bump, the upward trend is projected to continue and it’s more likely to be attributed as by-product of the ability to watch almost every pro sport on your mobile device. For example, leading up to the 2014 Super Bowl, the NFL reported seeing a 33 percent increase in the number of fans watching digital video and growth in mobile viewership.²⁶ Mobile has definitely changed the way we follow our favorite teams. This is not surprising given that the largest viewership times on online videos are tilted towards sports.

Global sporting events such as the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup are big attractions for advertisers and sport appears to be a perfect vehicle to help advertising mediums, especially the digital platforms utilizing Internet and mobile devices, to finally reach their potential. The continued growth in smartphone penetration, faster network speeds, and humanity’s love of watching sport have created a perfect melting pot for sport to showcase digital marketing’s true potential for marketers. According to Adam French, author of “Sport and the Marketing Revolution” (2013),²⁷ this melting pot exists for three primary reasons: (1) Sport = engagement: Marketers of sports properties are working with a market filled with fans – highly passionate, energized, and engaged people rallying around a particular team, individual, or group. French adds that fans are highly passionate and invest their emotions, time, and money into supporting a team, contending that this passion manifests itself in a disproportionate interest in everything connected to that team, including advertising. (2) Sport consists of easily definable segments: Leagues and competitions very neatly split markets. Sport segments consist of a group loosely defined as “people with an active interest,” and there is a very clear set of large segments within that, split neatly across team loyalty. French noted that the ease of basic segmentation pairs nicely with new digital targeting techniques such as contextual and geographic targeting. (3) Value utilization in second screening: In today’s environment consumers utilizing a second screen while they watch sport is commonplace and with the onslaught of 4G networks, more fans will be able to watch sport on their mobile, representing another fantastic opportunity. French adds that the statistics, player data, and social banter inherent in most sports make sport a perfect use case for second screening. Collectively, these innovative new targeting and rich media mobile platforms stand poised to offer ever-increasing, targeted value to sports fans, and better returns on investment for marketers, in turn enriching fan experiences.

Table 9.4 Top 50 sports advertisers (ranked by total sports ad spending in 2011)

Source: Sports Business Journal

The NFL generates billions of dollars in revenue yearly and these interests are tied with many other large powerful companies. Companies such as Anheuser-Busch, Sprint, and Barclays, among others, who invested $2.5 billion in ad spending, are concerned what their return on investment will be when leagues are presented with the prospect of cancellation due to a lockout or strike. Though the people who are going to be hurt the most are the fans and the viewers, this interruption of play is a concern for all advertisers.²⁸

In addition to companies spending huge dollars on sports advertising, teams and leagues are constantly promoting the sport. For instance, the NHL released the poorly reviewed “Game On” campaign after the strike season, MLB is still trying to capture fans with the “I Live for This” campaign, and the NBA is still using the classic “I Love This Game” promotion. In the case of the NHL, increases in advertising were needed to make potential fans more knowledgeable about and able to appreciate hockey. Major League Baseball wanted to stress the passion that their players have for the game and generate the same passion in their fans. In all cases, teams and leagues are advertising to keep up with the tremendous competitive threat of other entertainment choices for the fans.

In theory, the promotional budget of the NHL or the NBA would be determined based on the many objectives set forth by the leagues’ marketing strategy. In practice, promotional budgeting is an interactive and unscientific process by which the sports marketer determines the amount spent based on maximizing the monies available. Some of the ways promotional budgets may be established include arbitrary allocation, competitive parity, percentage of sales, and the objective and task method.

Arbitrary allocation

The simplest, yet most unsystematic, approach to determining promotional budgets is called arbitrary allocation. Using this method, sports marketers set the budget in isolation of other critical factors. For example, the sports marketer disregards last year’s promotional budget and its effectiveness, what competitors are doing, the economy, and current strategic objectives and budgets using some subjective method. The budget is usually determined by allocating all the money the organization can afford. In other words, promotional budgets are established after the organizations’ other costs are considered. A sports organization that chooses this approach does not place much emphasis on promotional planning.

Competitive parity

Setting promotional budgets based on what competitors are spending (competitive parity) is often used for certain product categories in sports marketing. For example, the athletic shoe industry closely monitors what the competition is doing in the way of advertising efforts. Adidas has an annual budget of roughly $20.09 billion²⁹ of which approximately 11.6 percent is spent on advertising and marketing. New player to the shoe market Under Armour’s annual budget is $2.33 billion which includes footwear revenues of $299 million and a marketing expense of 11.27 percent;³⁰ Puma’s budget is $4.44 billion,³¹ with approximately 18.2 percent spent on marketing/retail; and Asics has a budget of $2.5 billion.³² Other contenders such as Brooks have budgets of less than $500 million.³³ In fact Brooks Sports CEO Jim Weber noted that Nike will spend more by noon today than they will spend on marketing in a whole year.³⁴

Competitively, these entities race to keep pace with Nike’s promotional spending if they intend to increase market share. Nike, whose annual budget consists of roughly $25.3 billion in revenue, 11 percent ($2.75 billion) of which is spent on “demand creation,” a marketing label used to categorize expenditures which consist of advertising, promotion, and the cost of endorsement contracts with athletes, is the current market leader.³⁵ In fact, according to Matt Powell, Nike spends about $2.8 billion on marketing per year, equating to approximately $8 million a day, some $300,000 per hour or $100 per second.³⁶

One athletic shoe company that does not follow its competitors’ huge promotional spending is New Balance. New Balance has begun to gear towards a more conventional route for advertising. New Balance is going to begin advertising with TV, print, digital advertising, online communities, and viral video content as well as in-store and event exposure. New Balance had $2.39 billion in sales,³⁷ spending $14.4 million on marketing and advertising in 2012.³⁸ Instead of using famous athletes, New Balance has paved its success by understanding its primary consumer, the 35–59-year-old baby boomer. Rather than paying celebrities to endorse its products, they prefer to invest in research, design, and domestic manufacturing. This unique positioning was illustrated in a campaign by New Balance with creative advertisements based on weather conditions and the necessary New Balance gear for each condition, in addition to New Balance’s Web page stating “When function, design, and aesthetics unite”.³⁹

Percentage of sales

The percentage of sales method of promotional budget allocation is based on determining some standard percentage of promotional spending and applying this proportion to either past or forecasted sales to arrive at the amount to be spent. It is common for the percentage to be used on promotional spending to be derived from some industry standard. For example, the athletic shoe industry typically allocates 5 percent of sales to promotional spending. Therefore, if a new athletic shoe company enters the market and projects sales of $1 million, then they would allocate $50,000 to the promotional budget. Likewise, if Converse, a subsidiary of Nike Inc. since 2003, totaled $1.45 billion in sales in the previous year, then it might budget $72.5 million to next year’s promotional budget.

Although the percentage of sales method of budgeting is simple to use, it has a number of shortcomings. First, if percentage of forecast sales is used to arrive at a promotional budget figure, then the sales projections must be made with a certain degree of precision and confidence. If historical sales figures (e.g., last year’s) are used, then promotional spending may be either too high or too low. For example, if New Balance has a poor year in sales, then the absolute promotional spending would be decreased. This, in turn, could cause sales to slide even further. With sales declining, it may be more appropriate to increase (rather than decrease) promotional spending. A second major shortcoming of using this method is the notion that budget is very loosely, if at all, tied to the promotional objectives.

Objective and task method

If arbitrary allocation is the most illogical of the budgeting methods, then objective and task methods could be characterized as the most logical and systematic. The objective and task method identifies the promotional objectives, defines the communications tools and tasks needed to meet those objectives, and then adds up the costs of the planned activities.

Although the objective and task method seems the most reasonable, it also assumes the objectives have been determined correctly and the proper promotional mix has been formulated to reach those objectives. For instance, suppose the Vanderbilt University women’s basketball team wanted to achieve an attendance increase of 15 percent from the previous season. To this end, the director of marketing for athletics must develop a promotional mix that includes local advertising, related sales promotions, and public relations in an effort to reach all target audiences. Even if the attendance goal is achieved, it is difficult to determine whether the money required to achieve this objective was spent in the most efficient and effective fashion.

Choosing an integrated promotional mix

The final step in building an overall promotional plan is to determine the appropriate promotional mix. As stated earlier, the traditional promotional mix consists of advertising, personal selling, public relations, and sales promotions. The sports marketing manager must determine which aspects of the promotional mix will be best suited to achieve the promotional objectives at the given budget.

In choosing from among the traditional elements, the sports marketer may want to broadly explore the advantages and disadvantages of each promotional tool. For example, personal selling may be the most effective way to promote the sale of personal seat licenses, but it is limited in reaching large audiences. Table 9.5 outlines some of the considerations when deciding on the correct mix of promotional tools.

Although the factors listed in Table 9.5 are important determinants of which promotional tools to use to achieve the desired objectives, there are other considerations. The stage of the life cycle for the sport product, the type of sports product, the characteristics of the target audience, and the current market environment must also be carefully studied. Whatever the promotion mix decision, it is critical that the various elements be integrated carefully.

Promotional planning for sports is becoming increasingly more complex. With the rapid changes in technology, new promotional tools are being used to convey the sports marketer’s message. In addition, it is becoming harder and harder to capture the attention of target audiences and move them along the hierarchy of effects. Because of the growing difficulty in reaching diverse target audiences, the clarity and coordination of integrating all marketing communications into a single theme is more important than ever.

The concept under which a sports organization carefully integrates and coordinates its many promotional mix elements to deliver a unified message about the organization and its products is known as integrated marketing communications. Think for a moment about the promotional efforts of the WNBA. The promotional goals are to increase awareness and develop excitement about the league. To accomplish this, the WNBA will combine national advertisements, sponsorships, cable and network broadcast schedules, and tie-ins with the NBA. All of these communications media must deliver a consistent message that produces a uniform image for the league to be successful. Not only must the WNBA deliver an integrated promotional mix, but the league’s sponsors and the 12 teams must also transmit a unified message.

Table 9.5 Evaluating the promotional mix elements

The primary advantage of integrating the promotional plan includes more effective and efficient marketing communications. Unfortunately, determining the return on investment (ROI) for an integrated promotion plan is still difficult, if not impossible. Professor Don Schultz has identified four types of information that must be available to begin to measure ROI for integrated communications.⁴⁰ These factors include the following:

  Identification of specific customers – Identification of specific households, including information on the composition of those households to make inferences.

  Customer valuation – Placing a value on each household based on either annual purchases or lifetime purchases. Without this information on the purchase behavior of the household or individual, the calculation of ROI is of limited value to the marketer.

  Track message delivery – Understanding what media consumers or households use to make their purchase decisions, and how a household receives information and messages over time. In addition, this involves measuring “brand contacts” or when and where consumers come into contact with the brand.

  Consumer response – To establish the best ROI, behavioral responses are captured. In other words, consumer responses such as attitudes, feelings, and memory are deemed unimportant and purchases, inquiries, and related behaviors (e.g., coupon redemption) are evaluated.

Summary

Promotional planning is one of the most important elements of the sports marketing mix. Promotion involves communicating to all types of sports consumers via one or more of the promotion mix elements. The promotion mix elements include advertising, personal selling, sales promotions, public relations, and sponsorship. Within each of these promotion mix elements are more specialized tools to communicate with consumers of sport. For example, advertising may be developed for print media (e.g., newspapers and magazines) or broadcasts (e.g., radio and television). However, regardless of the promotion mix element that is used by sports marketers, the fundamental process at work is communication.

Communication is an interactive process established between the sender and the receiver of the marketing message via some medium. The process of communication begins with the source or sender of the message. In sports marketing, the source of the message might be an athlete endorser, team members, a sports organization, or even a coach. Sometimes the source of a marketing message can be friends or family. The effectiveness of the source in influencing consumers is based largely on the concept of source credibility. Credibility is typically defined as the expertise and trustworthiness of the source. Other characteristics of the source, such as gender, attractiveness, familiarity, and likeability may also play important roles in determining the source’s effectiveness.

After the source of the message is chosen, message encoding occurs. Encoding is defined as translating the sender’s thoughts or ideas into a message. The most effective encoding uses multiple ways of getting the message across and always keeps the receiver of the message in mind. Once encoding takes place, the message is more completely developed. Although there are any number of ways of constructing a message, sports marketers commonly choose between emotion (e.g., humor, sex, or fear) and rational (information-based) appeals.

The message, once constructed, must be transmitted to the target audience through any number of media. The traditional media include television, radio, newspapers, magazines, outdoor billboards, and stadium signage. Nontraditional media, such as the Internet, are also emerging as powerful tools for sports marketers. When making decisions about what medium to use, marketers must consider the promotional objectives, cost, ability to reach the targeted audience, and the nature of the message being communicated.

The medium relays the message to the target audience, which is where decoding occurs. Decoding is the interpretation of the message sent by the source through the medium. It is important to understand the characteristics of the target audience to ensure successful translation of the message will occur. Rarely, if ever, will perfect decoding take place because of the presence of noise.

The final elements in the communications model are the receiver and feedback. The message is directed to the receiver, or target audience. Again, depending on the purpose of the communication, the target audience may be spectators, participants, or corporate sponsors. Regardless of the nature of the audience, the sports marketer must understand as much as possible about the characteristics of the group to ensure an effective message is produced. Sports marketers determine the effectiveness of the message through feedback from the target audience. Understanding the communications process provides us with the basis for developing a sound promotional plan. The promotional planning process includes identifying target market considerations, setting promotional objectives, determining the promotional budget, and developing the promotional mix.

The first step in the promotional planning process is to consider the target market identified in the planning phase of the strategic sports marketing process. The two broad target market considerations are the final consumers of the sports product (either spectator or participants) or intermediaries, such as sponsors or distributors of sports products. When communicating to final consumers, a pull strategy is used. Conversely, push strategies are used to promote through intermediaries. After target markets are considered, promotional objectives are defined. Broadly, objectives may include informing, persuading, or reminding the target market. One model that provides a basis for establishing promotional objectives is known as the hierarchy of effects, which states that consumers must pass through a series of stages before ultimately taking action (usually defined as making a purchase decision). The steps of the hierarchy of effects include unawareness, awareness, knowledge, liking, preference, conviction, and action. Once objectives have been formulated, budgets are considered. In the ideal scenario, budgets are linked with the objectives that have been set in the previous phase of the promotion planning process. However, other common approaches to promotional budgeting include arbitrary allocation, competitive parity, and percentage of sales. Most sports organizations use some combination of these methods to arrive at budgets. The final phase in the promotion planning process is to arrive at the optimal promotion mix. The promotion mix includes advertising, personal selling, public relations, sales promotion, and sponsorship. Decisions about the most effective promotion mix must carefully consider the current marketing environment, the sports product being promoted, and the characteristics of the target audience. Ideally, the sports marketer designs an integrated promotion mix that delivers a consistent message about the organization and its products.

Key terms

  arbitrary allocation

  communication

  comparative messages

  competitive parity

  credibility

  decoding

  easily defined segments

  elements in the communications process

  emotional versus rational appeal

  encoding

  feedback

  hierarchy of effects

  integrated marketing communications

  match-up hypothesis

  medium

  message

  message characteristics

  noise

  objective and task method

  percentage of sales

  promotion

  promotion mix elements

  promotional budgeting

  promotional objectives

  promotional planning

  pull strategy

  push strategy

  receiver

  second screening

  sidedness

  source

  target market considerations

Review questions

1.  Define promotion and then discuss each of the promotion mix elements.

2.  Describe the elements of the communication process. Why is communication so important for sports marketers? What is the relationship between communication and promotion?

3.  Define the source of a sports marketing message and provide some examples of effective sources. What is source credibility? What are the two components of source credibility?

4.  What is meant by encoding? Who is responsible for encoding sports marketing messages?

5.  Discuss the various message characteristics. What are the simple techniques used to create more effective messages?

6.  Why is television considered the most powerful medium for sports marketing messages?

7.  Define feedback. How is feedback delivered to the source of the message?

8.  Outline the basic steps in promotion planning.

9.  What is the fundamental difference between a push and a pull strategy?

10.  Describe the three broad objectives of any type of promotion. What is the hierarchy of effect, and how is this concept related to promotional objectives?

11.  What are the various ways of setting promotional budgets? Comment on the strengths and weaknesses of each.

12.  Comment on how you would choose among the various promotion mix tools. Define integrated marketing communication.

Exercises

1.  Evaluate the promotional mix used for the marketing of any intercollegiate women’s sport at your university. Do you believe the proper blend of promotional tools are being used? What could be done to make the promotional plan more effective for this sport?

2.  Find any advertisement for a sports product. Then describe and explain each of the elements in the communications process for that ad. Do the same (i.e., explain the communications process) for the following scenario: A salesperson is trying to sell stadium signage to the marketing director of a local hospital.

3.  Conduct an interview with the marketing department of a local sports organization and discuss the role of each of the promotional tools in the organization’s promotion mix. In addition, ask about their promotional budgeting process.

4.  Describe three television advertisements for sports products that are designed to inform, persuade, and remind consumers. Do you believe the advertisements are effective in reaching their promotional objectives?

5.  Locate advertisements for three different sports products. Comment on which response in the hierarchy of effects you believe each advertisement is trying to elicit from its target audience.

6.  Find an example of a comparative advertisement. What do you believe are the advantages and disadvantages of this type of message?

Internet exercises

1.  Using the Internet, find an example of an advertisement for a sports product and a sports-related sales promotion. For each, discuss the targeted audience, the promotional objectives, and the message characteristics.

2.  How do organizations get feedback regarding their promotions via the Internet? Find several examples of ways of providing sports marketers with feedback about their promotions.

3.  Consider any sports product and find evidence of advertising and sales promotion not on the Internet. Then locate the product’s promotion on the Internet. Comment on whether or not this organization practices integrated marketing communications.

Endnotes

1  Allen Bush, “Sports Celebrity Influence on the Behavioral Intentions of Generation Y,” Journal of Advertising Research, vol. 44, no. 1 (2004), 108–118.

2  Kurt Badenhausen, “Mayweather Tops List of The World’s 100 Highest-Paid Athletes,” Forbes.com (June 28, 2012), accessed March 9, 2014.

3  Kurt Badenhausen, “The World’s Highest-Paid Athletes 2013: Behind the Numbers,” Forbes.com (June 5, 2013). Available from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2013/06/05/the-worlds-highest-paid-athletes-2013-behind-the-numbers/.

4  “LeBron James Net Worth, Salary, Endorsements,” Celebrity Networth. Available from: http://celebnetworth.org/lebron-james-net-worth-salary.

5  Michael Kamins, “An Investigation into the Match-Up Hypothesis in Celebrity Advertising: When Beauty May Be Only Skin Deep,” Journal of Advertising, vol. 19, no. 1 (1990), 4–13.

6  Christy Kilmartin, “Insights into Adidas’ New ‘All-in’ Campaign – ‘We Run All’”, Adidas Group Blog (March 29, 2012). Available from: http://blog.adidas-group.com/2012/03/insights-into-adidas%E2%80%99-new-all-in-campaign-we-all-run/, accessed March 9, 2014.

7  Ibid.

8  Adidas Group, Performance Counts Sustainability Progress Report 2011, Adidas-group.com, accessed March 9, 2014.

9  Michael Santo, “Adidas to Launch Biggest Ever Marketing Campaign With a New Slogan,” Huliq.com (March 15, 2011). Available from: http://http://www.huliq.com/3257/adidas-launch-all-adidas-2011-global-marketing-campaign-its-biggest-ever.

10  Martha Irvin, “If Not on Point, Slang Can Make a Tight Campaign Sound Wack,” The Commercial Appeal (November 29, 2002), C1.

11  Nielsen Newswire, “Football TV Ratings Soar: The NFL’s Playbook for Success,” Nielsen Newswire (January 28, 2011). Available from: http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/newswire/2011/football-tv-ratings-soar-the-nfls-playbook-for-success.html, accessed June 22, 2014.

12  David Broughton, “Report Spotlights Female Fans,” Sports Business Journal (October 14, 2013), accessed March 9, 2014.

13  Nielsen Newswire, “Super Bowl XLVIII Draws 111.5 Million Viewers, 25.3 Million Tweets,” Nielsen Newswire (February 3, 2014). Available from: http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/newswire/2014/super-bowl-xlviii-draws-111–5-million-viewers-25–3-million-tweets.html, accessed June 20, 2014.

14  Radio & Television Business Report, “Looking at the Football TV Ratings Explosion,” Radio & Television Business Report (January 28, 2011). Available from: http://rbr.com/looking-at-the-football-tv-ratings-explosion/.

15  Bill Sanders, “How Impact of ‘Tiger Recession’ Changed Athlete Marketability,” Sports Business Journal (August 2, 2010). Available from: http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2010/08/20100802/From-The-Field-Of/How-Impact-Of-Tiger-Recession-Changed-Athlete-Marketability.aspx.

16  J. Alan Hayes, “Brooklyn Nets Seek Capacity Crowd,” Ticketnews.com (November 14, 2012). Available from: http://www.ticketnews.com/news/brooklyn-nets-seek-capacity-crowd-111214732.

17  Robert Lavidge and Gary Steiner, “A Model for Predictive Measurements of Advertising Effectiveness,” Journal of Marketing, vol. 24 (1961), 59–62.

18  Rajeev Batra and Michael Ray, “Affective Responses Mediating Acceptance of Advertising,” Journal of Consumer Research, vol. 13 (September 1986), 236–239; Leon Shiffman and Leslie Kanuk, Consumer Behavior, 4th ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1996), 237–239.

19  ZenithOptimedia Executive Summary, Advertising Expenditure Forecasts April 2014. Available from: http://www.zenithoptimedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Adspend-forecasts-April-2014-executive-summary.pdf, accessed June 21, 2014.

20  Ibid.

21  Ingrid Lunden, “Internet Ad Spend to Reach $121B in 2014, 23% of $537B Total Ad Spend, Ad Tech Boosts Display,” Techcrunch.com (April 7, 2014). Available from: http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/07/internet-ad-spend-to-reach-121b-in-2014–23-of-537b-total-ad-spend-ad-tech-gives-display-a-boost-over-search/, accessed June 21, 2014.

22  Kantar Media, “Kantar Media Reports, U.S. Advertising Expenditures Increased 3 Percent in 2012,” Kantar Media (March 11, 2013). Available from: http://kantarmedia.us/press/kantar-media-reports-us-advertising-expenditures-increased-3-percent-2012, accessed March 9, 2014.

23  Felix Richter, “Mobile Share of Digital Ad Spend to Rise Sharply,” statista.com (August 22, 2013). Available from: http://www.statista.com/chart/1388/digital-ad-spend-in-the-us/, accessed June 21, 2014.

24  Frank Weishaupt, “Mobile ad Spend Increase Across Verticals,” Millennial Media (March 19, 2014). Available from: http://www.millennialmedia.com/blog/2014/03/mobile-ad-spend-increases-across-verticals-yoy/, accessed June 21, 2014.

25  Ibid.

26  Cynthia Boris, “Sports Goes for the Mobile Ad Gold with Near 500 Percent Growth in Spending,” MarketingPilgrim.com (March 24, 2014). Available from: http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2014/03/sports-goes-for-the-mobile-ad-gold-with-near-500-perecent-growth-in-spending.html, accessed June 21, 2014.

27  Adam French, “Sport and the Marketing Revolution,” Mobile Marketer (October 29, 2013). Available from: http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/columns/16469.html, accessed June 21, 2014.

28  Rich Thomaselli, “Over $12 Billion at Stake if NFL Lockout Prevents 2011 Season,” Advertising Age (January 10, 2011). Available from: http://adage.com/article/news/12b-stake-nfl-lockout-prevents-2011-season/148093/, accessed March 9, 2014.

29  Adidas AG Delivers Exceptional Fourth Quarter Results,” NASDAQ.com, Globalnewswire, Adidas AG (March 5, 2014), accessed March 10, 2014.

30  Jack Lambert, “Tidbits From Under Armour’s Annual Report,” Baltimore Business Journal, bizjournals.com (February 25, 2013), accessed March 10, 2014.

31  Puma.com, Group Management Report For Financial Year 2012, accessed March 10, 2014.

32  Kenji Hall, “Asics Wants More Than Runner’s High,” Businessweek (February 26, 2008). Available from: http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2008–02–26/asics-wants-more-than-runners-highbusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice, accessed June 20, 2014.

33  Kurt Badenhausen, “Brooks Running Shoes Hit Their Stride,” Forbes.com (May 20, 2013). Available from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2013/05/20/brooks-running-shoes-hit-their-stride/, accessed March 10, 2014.

34  Ibid.

35  Matthew Kish, “5 Fun Facts from Nike’s Annual Report,” Portland Business Journal, bizjournals.com (July 23, 2013), accessed March 10, 2014.

36  Matt Powell, “How Much Does Nike Spend on Marketing,” theshoegame.com (July 13, 2013). Available from: http://theshoegame.com/articles/how-much-does-nike-spend-on-marketing.html, accessed March 10, 2014.

37  “New Balance Fact Sheet,” New Balance (March 2013). Available from: https://www3.newbalance.com/on/demandware.static/Sites-newbalance_us-Site/Sites-newbalance_us-Library/default/v1393572846066/pdf/NB_Factsheet.pdf, accessed June 21, 2014.

38  Andrew Newman, “Campaign Redefines Running as a Social Activity,” New York Times (July 8, 2013), accessed March 10, 2014.

39  NB News Health & Fitness Report, “Purposeful Design and the Upcoming NB 890,” NB News Health & Fitness Report (Winter 2011). Available from: http://www.aperfectdealer.com/nbnews/2011/new_balance_nb890_running_shoes.html.

40  Don Schultz, Stanley Tannenbaum, and Robert Lauterborn, Integrated Marketing Communications: Putting It Together and Making It Work (Lincolnwood, IL: NTC Publishing Group, 1992); Don Schultz, “Rethinking Marketing and Communications’ ROI,” Marketing News (December 2, 1996), 10; Don Schultz and Paul Wang, “Real World Results,” Marketing Tools (April–May 1994).374