As a senior, I have finished up my last volleyball season. I played volleyball for thirteen years and decided to continue my career from Illinois to little ole West Virginia Wesleyan in Buckhannon, West Virginia. I am a sister of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority and currently hold the position of Formal Recruitment Chair. I am a member of the LEAP program, National Society of Leadership and Success, the Student Life Committee at WVWC, SAAC, and plan to join the Wesleyan Marketing Association this semester. I am passionate about traveling and got to experience 3 weeks in Ireland this past summer, and plan to travel as much as I can in the upcoming years. I am a Marketing major working on my 5-year Master’s degree with a specialization in Non-Profit Organizations.I have held internships at Jimmy John’s Corporate Office as a Social Media Moderator, at Stonewall Jackson as a Catering and Sales/Weddings intern, and at the Greenbrier Resort this past summer as a Communications intern.  After I am done with college I hope to go into event marketing, preferably sports. My dream job would be doing events or Public Relations for a professional sports team. My entire life I have been surrounded by basketball and sports, my dad was an assistant coach for 10 years at the University of Illinois and he coached in the 2004-2005 Division I National Championship game. Watching the passion my dad has when he coaches and the teams along the way have been what made me want to be involved in sports past my own play. Although my dream of coaching has passed, I want to be involved with events.  This past summer I got the amazing opportunity to have a mini internship with the New Orleans Saints. I got to see the ins and outs of what a professional football team looks like. I must say it was fast-paced but something that only confirmed my want to be involved with sports.

My entire life has been surrounded by sports. Since before birth sports has been embedded in my blood. I went to my first basketball game to cheer on my dad coaching when I was a little more than a month old. It’s taken me places I never thought I would be, it’s provided opportunities for my family, and it’s taught me how to be the best version of me. Sports have been my passion, I went to my first basketball camp at 5 years old. I’ve played almost every sport in the books and am thankful every day for that experience. My family has been a huge part of this journey, they have been there through the ups and the downs of the sports world. My mom has always been my biggest fan and sacrificed many hours, weekends, and time taking me to and from practices and tournaments all across the country. She never missed a game. She has cheered me on even when things didn’t go my way. Without my dad’s constant push and support to make me the best player and person possible I wouldn’t be where I am today. Growing up with a father who is a college basketball coach wasn’t always easy, he missed many games and moments due to coaching, but he made up for it behind the scenes. He opened up many doors for me, helped me with my workouts, and would never let me give up even when I mentally and physically wanted to give up. He has always been my biggest fan, and I credit all of my success to him. Sports have made a huge impact on my life and I owe it all to my dad..

Although my career has come to an end, my fellow athletes can relate when I say there is no better feeling than playing a game you love. There is nothing to compare to that moment when you have finally reached the goal that you have put tons of sweat, blood, tears, pain and emotions forth for. It’s these moments in an athlete’s life that we strive for, and should constantly be chasing. Sports have taught me to have a thick skin, how to face criticism, how to be disciplined, how to be independent, and what it means to be a true team player; something that has carried over into my personal life as well. A team becomes your family, and these are the moments you hold dear to your heart even after the fame and curtains have closed. At the end of the day, I can look at myself in the mirror and thank my lifetime of sports for helping me become the person I am today. Never take your sport for granted because it will always be a part of you.

End of the Year

As the end of the year rolls around, I am very excited to take the skills and lessons I have learned from my sports marketing class into the real world. I never understood the depth and importance of sports marketing until taking this class. Here are the top five things (among many others) that I learned this semester:

1. Sports marketing can be successful, even when the actual team itself is not as successful. Although it would be very convenient and beneficial to be a sports marketer for an already winning team, that does not define your marketing tactics. Through social media, the fan experience, and clever tactics, the marketer can actually help get the team talked about. For example in Jeremy Darlow’s book Brands Win Championships we learned that marketing tactics can actually have an impact on the success of the team. Notre Dame and Oregon are two of the schools that fall under this category. The University of Oregon Ducks has never won a basketball or football championship in their history, yet they are a household name. We turn on the TV and see the green and yellow and know right away that the Ducks are playing. Due to a partnership with one of the most popular athletic wear brands, Oregon has built an empire. They have the hottest new jerseys and it’s something that is sent out on social media to fans. It also has an effect on their recruits because they get to offer the opportunity to work with Nike every three years to create new uniforms. Many colleges are starting to catch on and move from the traditional uniforms and ways of marketing, into the new generation of social media and innovation. This is one of the most important take aways I got from this class. As a marketing major and someone who wants to work with sports this is something that I will always remember. Clever tactics boosts marketing.
2. Social media and instant fan engagement is also something I took away from this class. I always knew the importance of social media for advertising but never thought of how the sports team can also be used as an “advertisement”. Social media is a free (mostly) outlet to reach fans globally. The minute you post a picture, a tweet, a status, etc, it is sent out to not only your followers, but other followers as well. When a fan retweets a tweet, that tweet gets sent out to all of his/her followers and that creates more brand awareness. Although social media can cause problems, this marketing tactic is an easy way to get your team on top. Creating cool graphics, surveys, shoutouts, giveaways, and promotions allows for quick reach and fan engagement. Social media is a huge aspect of society and something that should be taken advantage of by all marketers. Although it is not the traditional way of marketing, learning these different platforms is what keeps you ahead of the game.
3. Using free assets was something new I learned during this class. It really stuck with me when the sports marketing lady from WVU came to talk about how important it is use your free assets. These include social media, the team, and different opportunities you have right in front of you. As stated about, social media is a great way to reach out to fans for free. But I never thought of how important it is to use your assets right in front of you! One of these biggest assets is that team! Using the team to create cool social media posts, having mini camps where the kids get to meet their favorite players, autograph sessions, fan engagement at games during time outs, etc. The little things that are sometimes surpassed are the best marketing tactics because they are right at your fingertips. Taking advantage of these opportunities not only markets the team and what you want to sell, but can create a good reputation of the team and ultimate fan loyalty.
4. Importance of marketing to younger generations is very important. Keeping up with trends on social media and throughout the country are very important ways to market to the younger generation. By reaching out to younger fans across the country you can create brand awareness and fan loyalty at a young age. This creates a bond with the fan and may prompt them to attend your college when they are older or become a lifelong fan and buy season tickets and jerseys of their favorite players or even send in donations. Taking advantage of your free assets is another way to allow marketing to the younger generation. By offering mini camps or autograph sessions you let kids live out their dreams of meeting their favorite players and they want to continue to come back to games.
5. Senses have a huge effect on marketing. I never really even thought about this until we had to write about it for a blog post. This is another example of utilizing what is free. The smell of walking into a stadium and smelling hot dogs and popcorn is something that every fan loves. Creating an environment that touches on the senses  is a great asset and a great way to give fans that experience they are looking for without them even knowing. The article we read for class on this topic is something that I have book marked on my computer so that I can refer back to it whenever I go into the professional career. There were many cool aspects that I want to utilize on, no matter what type of marketing I go into.

Although this semester has been a stressful one, I have loved taking the sports marketing class. I have learned a lot of new things that I will take with me into the real world.

Oregon Ducks assignment 2.0

The University of Oregon Ducks has a long-standing history of tradition and national championships, and now innovation. The University of Oregon prides itself on staying true to traditions, while still finding new ways to draw in recruits and fans. Oregon has a strong tradition of spirit including their cheerleaders, The Duck, the fight song, the Pit Crew, the Oregon Hall of Fame, winning national championships, but most importantly, their sports teams. The Oregon Duck Mascot has been called “College Football’s Most Loveable Mascot”. Before the Duck came around, Oregon referred to themselves as the “Webfooters”. Years later the students voted on a new mascot name and choose the “Ducks”, literally did they know this mascot would eventually become a household name. At first this name was not taken very well by sporting teams because ducks weren’t seen as intimidating or scary. But now the Oregon Ducks are one of the most sought after DI colleges for recruits because of their innovation and tradition. The green and yellow of Oregon has become fan colors all across the country, and has led to some pretty great seasons. This past basketball season they made it to the NCAA men’s basketball Final Four games. They hold many national championships in Men’s and Women’s Outdoor and Indoor Track and Field, men’s and women’s cross country, and acrobatics and tumbling but none in the sports they are most popular for.

This draws out an interesting plot, the main sports associated with Oregon Ducks have never won a national championship, yet are a household name. Why? what stands Oregon apart from the rest of the DI schools who hold far more national championship titles in basketball, football, volleyball and baseball? The answer is simple: Oregon’s marketing tactics. Oregon does it all from strategically designing their uniforms, their facilities, their sponsorships and their social media marketing. The partnership with Nike is one of the strongest qualities of Oregon athletics. This partnership is not only appealing to the fans who already like the Nike brand of apparel and shoes, but it appeals to recruits who overall make the program better which attract a bigger, more national fan base.

Nike designing the uniforms is another tactic used by Oregon. This tactic is not only appealing to their fan base, but to their players and recruits as well. When fans see the team run out on the field or the court with a new jersey design, they go wild. They take to social media and share with all their peers how much they love the new jersey designs and gets other people looking at them. This is also appealing to top recruits in the country because what 18 year wouldn’t love to work with Nike to design a uniform at their potential future school? Oregon can promise that every three years the team will get to create and design a new uniform for their team. This attracts some of the top recruits in the country, which leads to them winning games and become a top competitor in college football. This also is a way to attract the younger demographic which can create lifelong fans. Another win for Oregon is their facility. Facilities don’t seem like they would fall under the category of “marketing” but they do. The athletic facilities were built with hopes to draw more people into the little town of Eugene, Oregon. And so far this has proved right. People love the facility and travel from all over the country to watch Oregon play. This not only brings a huge crowd, but helps with recruiting purposes because any top recruit is going to love playing in front of a sold out crowd with the most innovative jerseys. The facilities are also focusing on “greening” which is to make the facilities green to help with recycling and sustainability. Although this may not seem like a huge deal, it attracts events to the facilities. These events bring fans which may allow for a bigger fan base who fall in love with Oregon’s campus and their efforts to make their facilities green. (NRDC.org) One of the last but not least tactics Oregon utilizes is social media. Social media is the best way to target the younger demographics, and to get your brand talked about for free. Social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram allow for quick and easy shares and likes. Right now, videos and gifs are extremely popular. When visiting the Oregon Duck’s athletics page it show that they are up to date on trends. They have many cool graphic videos, gifs, and pictures that get lots of retweets and likes. Twitter is one of the most popular ways to reach younger people right now, and a great way to appeal to recruits and younger fans.

In my opinion, what Oregon is doing is something all top universities should strive for. As a student athlete myself, if a coach told me that I would be able to uniquely design a uniform I would be all over it. I know that as an avid sports watcher, I can always pick out the Oregon Ducks teams whether it be football, basketball, volleyball, track, etc because of their uniform designs and colors. I don’t think their marketing tactics are all hype, I think they have some smart people pulling the strings to help them get where they want to be. But I have to agree that I don’t think Oregon could have done everything they have without the constant support of Nike. As a small town in Oregon, they did not have the demographics to create the brand on their own.  But now that they have Nike fully behind them, I think they are a threat to mess with and will continue to become a powerhouse.

Check out these links to learn more about the Oregon Ducks and why their marketing strategies are so important!

https://toky.com/journal/2015/01/15/college-footballs-best-brand/
http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/2011/11/22/2577616/oregon-football-nike-uniforms
http://rickmulready.com/oregon-ducks-social-media/

Click to access collegiate-game-changers-UOregon-case-study.pdf

Use of Social Media

I chose to study Wheeling Jesuit University in Wheeling, West Virginia’s social media. I chose to do this DII school because they are in the Mountain East Conference like West Virginia Wesleyan College.  Wheeling Jesuit is one of the top Division II athletic schools in the nation. They have 19 collegiate sports. Their volleyball and basketball teams stand out as the top in the nation the past 10 years. The volleyball team won the national title in 2016.

I decided to look at their social media platforms to see who they reach, how they reach them, and what makes them stand out. The athletics side of Wheeling utilizes their website, Stretch Video Portal, Live Stats, Twitter, Youtube, and Facebook. Their website is decked out in their colors, black and red. On their home page they have posted their top stories, upcoming events, links to their Twitter, Youtube and Facebook, an athletic calendar, Athlete of the Week, and a link to their photo gallery. Their navigation is very clean and easy to access, but their social media links don’t work on their page. This is hurtful because so many people use social media and they may lose followers due to the fact that the their social media links don’t connect properly.

Stretch Video Portal is a way for fans to watch live event videos just by clicking on the game or match that is happening at that moment. This allows for fan interaction and allows fans from all over the country to watch home games. Live Stats is through a company called Side Arm Sports. With Live Stats you don’t get to watch video but stats are updated live. The problem I see with this social media aspect is they only provide live stats for 9 of their 19 sports. Although I understand that the sports that have chosen to live stat are the more popular sports, it hurts the fan base and parents who may want to watch how their child is doing in one of the other 10 sports.

Their Twitter page is @WJUCardinals. They have 2,341 followers. After scrolling through their Twitter feed it seems that they use Twitter as a platform to keep people informed about games and top plays. They also post pictures of the players. Their Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/WheelingJesuitCards shows interviews with players and past exciting games. They keep their Youtube page very updated with student-athlete interviews. They have 621 subscribers and each video gets between 50-500 views. This is a good source of information for their fans and parents. It keeps the fans engaged about what is going on with their everyday lives. Their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/wjucardinals is also kept up to date with articles about the athletes, games and other athletic games or rewards that have happened. They have 1,049 likes which means their posts are reaching 1,049 fans.

Although they have a strong following for DII sports, I think their social media could use some improvement. First, I think they would really benefit from having an athletic instagram to showcase athlete of the weeks and different sporting events going on. I also think they need to step up their Twitter and Facebook posts. I think with having so many followers they could even boost their fan experience more by incorporating some more graphics and interactive social media. With so many teams being nationally recognized, they could definitely boost that a little more with some cool graphics and not just the normal play by play then silence when no game is on. They could also benefit from posting their Youtube videos on their Facebook wall or doing live Facebook events. Like when they teams make it to the national tournaments, showcasing a day by day type of update going on with Facebook Live. They could also do player profiles, not just athletes of the week. But certain players who really stand out, not just one boy and one girl a week. Overall I think they have a good fan base, but could really benefit and up their social media with some tweaks.

New Orleans Saints Partnerships

 

New Orleans Saints is partnered with many different companies and organizations. They are partnered with Budlight, Chevron, Coca-Cola, Mercedes-Benz, People’s Health, and most recently Waste Pro. Waste Pro is a company that has 75 locations throughout 9 different states in the South, including Louisiana.

Waste Pro’s idea is: “to transform the waste and recycling industry into a values-driven service.”  Their company is based on sustainability and dependability, creating a relationship with their customers, and creating a quality workplace for their employees.  They are privately owned company that specializes in waste collection, recycling and disposal. Waste Pro is one of the fastests growing companies in its field and already serves more than 2 million residential and over 40,000 commercial customers.

The New Orleans Saints recently signed a partnership with this fast-growing company. Waste Pro is now the official sponsor of waste and recycling. They will be providing their services for any home games as well as any other events help at the New Orleans’ Mercedes-Benz Superdome and at their training facility. The President of Waste Pro of Louisiana, Deuce McAllister, happens to be a former New Orleans Saints player who helped orchestrate this partnership. McAllister stated about their partnership that, “[Waste Pro] are committed to keeping our community clean and adding to the Dome field advantage.” Per terms of their agreement, Waste Pro was also granted permission to advertise and promote their organization by using the Saints marks and logos in their marketing campaigns and on their vehicles.

This partnership is an important one for the Saints. It not only allows for goodwill, but for a good use of promotional tactics, and creating a fan experience. With environmental issues being a big concern for a lot of people right now, this partnership shows that the Saints care about their environment and that they want to do all they can to make their Dome and areas near-by clean. This also allows the players and Saints franchise to open up doors for the importance of recycling and cleaning up after ourselves. It gives them a voice to speak out to the people of New Orleans to not only keep their Dome clean, but to keep the streets of New Orleans clean. In creating a clean environment inside the Dome, will also create a better fan experience and create brand loyalty. Fans will be more likely to come back if the arena is clean and especially if they are conscious about the environment. As a promotional tactic in the future, the Saints could partner with Waste Pro and create an event like a park clean up. In this event people could help clean-up a nearby park or downtown. It could be a volunteer basis and the players could be there as well helping clean up. If you come out to the clean up and help clean you not only help the environment, learn more about Waste Pro, but also get to meet your favorite Saints player. This is good advertisment for both Waste Pro and the Saints because it shows the Saints are committed to helping the  environment. And good for Waste Pro because they get to advertise themselves with a major name like the New Orleans Saints, in an area that will provide them with customers.

Information from: http://www.neworleanssaints.com/news-and-events/article-1/Waste-Pro-Inks-Multi-Year-Partnership-with-the-Saints/d546399e-5429-4619-890b-385820c2d392

 

Sense Marketing

As a customer and a marketer, I know how important it is to connect with a customer on a level no one else does. In Evan Brown’s blog “Paving The Way To Improve Brand Experiences: Sense & Sensibility” he emphasizes how important it is to use senses. It’s like our guest speaker from WVU talked about, utilize what is free. Everyone has senses and utilizing something that most people already have is a vital skill to have and will help set your brand apart from others. I know as a customer the stores that smell the best and leave the best impression with me are the ones I continue to go back to.  Here is a brief summary of how to use the different senses to improve a customer’s brand experiences and create more brand awareness.

SMELL:
As stated in the article, smell is the most important sense we have next to smell. Humans can remember up to 10,000 different odors. This is where knowing what your lobby or stores should smell like come in handy. It is so important to establish a smell, because when your name comes up on an ad or being talked about, people can recall that smell, smell it, then crave it. Some companies that were discussed in the article, I could smell instantly from memory like the Sheraton Hotel lobbies, Dunkin Donuts and Cinnabon. These make me remember memories and how much I enjoy each of these things. I thought it was very interesting that smell can affect consumer behavior and how it can determine how long people will stay in a store or return.

HEARING:
When walking into retail stores or restaurants I was not aware of the “science” per say that goes behind what music these place play. Abercrombie and Fitch was an example used and is a retail store that I remember blaring music when I was younger. It is very interesting that they actually play that music because “loud volume leads to sensory overload, which weakens self-control”. Whereas restaurants tend to play slower, softer music to keep customers there and spending money.  Sound can also have an effect on our mood and can cause people to either come to your store or stray away depending on the music you are playing and the demographic you are trying to reach.

SIGHT:
Sight is the most important sense that brands can utilize. This means that brands have to really consider how they want their brand displayed and perceived. This falls into a more visual communication between the brand and the customer. Conducting the right emotion can draw in customers who feel a personal connection to the brand. Success in using sight also turns into being consistent so that your customers recognize your brand right away. That creates a foundation for your customers to become aware of your brand when they see it without even having to think about it. This can be created by color, shape, design, typography, photography…etc.

TASTE:
Taste is an important tactic for restaurants because seeing things can lead the brain to “tasting” them thus craving them. Using Coca-Cola as an example is an easy one to relate too. Coke is my favorite brand of soda and when I see the commercials or ads with a refreshing Coke, I crave one. This is a lot because they have a very good brand awareness, but also because they tap into the sense of taste and refreshing is what you associate with that brand. Same with McDonald’s, they use taste very well and draw you in because you can almost taste the salty-ness of the fries when you see a picture.

TOUCH:
This is an interesting concept that I would not have thought of as being as important, mostly because we take advantage of touch especially in stores that we have always been accustomed to touching things. But as customers, getting to actually touch the product before purchasing it can make or break the decision. According to this article, being able to physically touch a product improves connection with the customer because they are able to feel and press and turn on/off their products while also seeing what size and shape they prefer more.

West Virginia Wesleyan college could use sensory branding to promote indoor sports teams by creating a type of smell that mixes the sweat and heat of the gym with the smell of hotdogs and popcorn which are utilized at bigger arenas, schools, and professional teams. Sight could also be improved by creating our own label, the pawprint is the same as the Clemson pawprint, therefore does not create much brand awareness for our school given that Clemson is a bigger school. Hearing is somewhat good because the announcers play music that is what our generation listens too, but it could be improved. I know that most of the games I have been to the same songs are played throughout timeouts and halftimes and can get repetitive. There could also be music playing outside, or creating some type of “hype” up or run out song associated with all sports that whenever someone listened to it they would think of Wesleyan sports. Touch could also be improved by creating a “tunnel” for the players to high five them before or after games. That creates an emotional connection to players and allows for younger kids to get to give their favorite player a high five before the game, something they will remember forever.

Information from the blog post and article cover picture obtained from the article by Evan Brown found at https://www.designmantic.com/blog/sense-and-sensibility-in-branding/

Sport Marketing to Millennials

The Sport Marketing with Millennials video about digital marketing was extremely interesting. Michael Grahl talks about his job as a digital marketer and how he markets to millennials. This is his primary focus when using digital marketing because he knows that millennials love the social media and visually appealing things online or on TV. In this video he talks about how he reaches out to and engages millennials as a digital marketer and what works to draw in the audience. I think it is very interesting how his career path wasn’t direct but that he said with the Milwaukee Bucks for so long.  He talks about how as a sport marketer he cannot worry about the game’s outcome but what he must focus on and control are ticket sales, game entertainment (half time shows, dance team, timeout), merchandise, and sponsorship sales. They want to create an unbelievable experience and fun environment so that no matter win or lose the customer (fan) is walking out the area talking about the fun they had. Grahl also talks about digital marketing being a very important way to grow your customer base and create an unforgettable experience that allows the customer to want to interact with the brand. Grahl and his team have used digital marketing to help promote the Bucks’ “new era”. They are really starting to reach out to the youth to start them in that early on experience, one that they will never forget and become Bucks fans for life. I thought it was really interesting that although they haven’t been very good the past few years that their website activity had jumped 10%, all of that due to digital marketing and the new draft picks that they have received through their “new era”. I like how they tell the story of the individual players, it allows the fan base to connect to the players on a more personal level and to relate to their stories. The Bucks market to millennials because they believe they are very important. When marketing they try want to stay as authentic and true to themselves as possible when making connections and networking with customers. They use a lot of different social networks to connect to their customers, and must be approached in different ways depending on who they are trying to communicate with. Like he said they don’t speak the same on Facebook as they would on Twitter, or post the same post on Snapchat as they would on Instagram. They use their young players (millennials) to help connect to their customers by showing the individual personalities through social media, for example their Bucks opener countdown campaign. Michael Grahl had a lot of really interesting things to talk about and I really enjoyed this video because sports marketing for a professional team is my dream job.

Two takeaways that I got from this talk that would be used at WVWC would be not worrying about the game’s outcome, but focusing on entertainment and creating an atmosphere that people WANT to come back to and can’t wait for the next game. I think Wesleyan needs to implement more timeout and halftime entertainment. Right now they only have these for the basketball games and football games. As a volleyball player, I have been to other DII schools who take a short intermission after the second set and the school does fun things for the fans to win prizes. For the other sports, things could be done at halftimes or timeouts as well. Raffles are always fun and a good fundraising technique. Mini-games that associate with the sport during timeouts and halftimes are also beneficial because it brings more fan base because they want to win a prize or show off some skills. The game entertainment could be blasted all over social media to really get students to the games. Even do some type of drawing for if you follow the WVWC Bobcats twitter then your name could be drawn and you could win a prize. Right now Wesleyan just doesn’t market things over social media as well as they could.

Another thing I found very interesting was the staying authentic portion of how they show their players off by their individual personality. I think Wesleyan could easily do this with their teams by starting a snapchat or doing more personal interviews with individuals on the team. Another way they could show the individual personalities of the players would be creating videos for each team in a fun setting. This would show people that even though the student-athletes are always busy, that they can still have fun. Although we have the student-athlete of the week interviews, I think those could be made more personal and authentic by maybe having the student-athlete of the week do some funny activity that they show a clip of after the interview. And they could interview the individual athlete along so that it creates a more personal feel. They could even do Twitter or Instagram “take overs” the week of a big game or match and the team can “takeover” the Twitter and Instagram to get people pumped for upcoming game. I think there are a lot of ways that Wesleyan could improve their digital marketing and connection to letting non-athletes know when games are being played.

-Paulina Nottingham

Ads for Athletes

 

Sport marketing can be used for many different tactics. To draw in already athletes to their product, make an appeal for the athletic lifestyle, advertise for their product or sport team and many many other ways. Advertisements are used to give the customer brand awareness, we have seen the success of sport marketing through big companies like Nike, Adidas, UnderArmour, etc. So for my article this week I wanted to look at some lesser known advertisements and see how smaller companies choose to appeal to customers in their market.

The first two ads are from a marketing campaign in 2013 called “Reveal Your Inner Athlete” by Rademar a sporting goods shop in Tallinn, Estonia. I had no idea what Rademar was, and it was hard to find specifics because it is a foreign company. But this campaign looks like it is supposed to be advertising how being an athlete is inside of you all the time. At first, I was a little grossed out when I came across the foot picture, but after looking at it more and seeing it paired with the picture of the male’s chest I started to see the point in it. I think it’s actually a really cool concept. Being an (former) athlete I understand that you live, breath, eat, sleep and everything in between for your sport. There are many days I would come home and feel like my jersey and my shoes were apart of me. Whether it was after an extremely hard practice or game and everything hurt, or because you were so proud of the success you had made, your sport truly does become a part of you. For state of being purposes I believe that this ad campaign was geographically ran in Estonia, because there is not much information on the campaign so it was ran just in that area. This can also be said to be true because Rademar is only located in Estonia, therefore we wouldn’t have shops in America. The age that this campaign is going after seems to be high school athletes/college athletes because it demonstrates not only a jersey and laced up shoes, but the male in the photo seems to be younger. They are trying to appeal to the athletes in the area to buy their products from the sporting good store and are relating to people who would be playing sports right now, not just exercising. I am not sure what the income/education factor would be in this campaign. Since it is applying mostly to athletes I would say that it would be applying to families that could afford travel sports equipment and equipment for their child’s career. Gender wise, I think the campaign is using males, which would lead to the demographics more overseas since sports are still very masculine in smaller areas. I think this creates the difference between smaller establishments and the bigger corporations like NIKE that have to appeal to women and men to create a market brand. This ad creates a very unique state-of-mind segmentation. I have never seem something like this before and I think that it has a really neat concept to it. It catches your eye and really makes you think about what is happening in the photo. Then you make an emotional connection to it (if you are an athlete) which is what the brand is trying to do. Whether you are a current or former athlete it really connects the customers to the product because of how important sports are in some people’s lives. I think this campaign really worked and I think it would be interesting to see a bigger corporation do something like this and see if it would be successful as well.

The 2nd ad I chose is from a campaign for Foot Locker called “The Locker Room.” I chose this ad to compare and contrast to what I thought was a successful campaign from above. As an athlete I don’t see this being a successful campaign at all. When I first saw it the only think I could think of is “why is a woman laying in a bed for a sport marketing ad?”. To me this isn’t something I would look at and think, “I need to go to Foot Locker right now.” I don’t really get the concept of her laying in a bed, after thinking about it could be about being in a constant healthy lifestyle state of mind. But even then I didn’t quite understand especially because I associate Foot Locker with shoes and the only shoes are on the floor and very hard to notice. It is a visually pleasing ad, but does not get the concept across. The geography of this ad is definitely reaching out to someone who lives a healthy lifestyle, in this case it’s not high school or college athletes, but just someone who likes to workout and be healthy. The “loft” style of the ad makes you think of this person living close to or near a gym, or maybe has one on their floor in which they just roll out of bed and go to in the morning. The age application is geared more towards 20-40 males and females in my opinion. People who lead healthy lifestyles but aren’t necessarily playing a sport. With the presence of the photo,  I would say this is more campaigned for people who also have a middle class income, because of the way things are set up, and yoga is seen to be something people do who have money and free time to do it. This particular ad is leaning more towards active women, but there was another ad in the campaign that had a man laying in the bed with his running stuff on so this campaign applies to both. Overall, I’m still not quite sure what exactly the Foot Locker campaign was going for. To me it was a confusing ad and as a consumer I don’t want to think to much about an ad when I see it, I want to know what I’m getting into and make my decision from there.

Overall, the first ad campaign was my favorite of the two and I think it was a really good idea. I think with some work the “The Locker Room” campaign for Foot Locker could be better, but to me its just a counteracting campaign right now. Why would people living a healthy lifestyle be shown laying in beds? It’s almost like the people in the ads are just there to look good and not actually be working out.

-Paulina Nottingham

 

Sports and Commercials

I choose the Nike Sportswear Presents: Nike Tech Pack commercial. I thought this was an interesting twist to their normal type of marketing and advertising technique.Normally, Nike chooses to incorporate the actual action of sports into their commercials to advertise for their products. I thought this was interesting where they just advertised through some of the most iconic faces of our sports world today. This allows for a different twist on how the customer perceives Nike. This allows for Nike to show that they not only have action sport attire, but also just daily sporting attire that even the best athletes chose to wear on a daily basis when they aren’t practicing their sport. I think that this is an awesome ad campaign because it shows a different side of Nike and allows them to reach out to a broader range of customers and demographics. People who like sporting attire but not necessarily play a sport. It applies to the learning theory because it allows the customer to feel a different way about Nike than they did before, instead of the extreme practices and games, the customer can connect to the more low key and down side of life in comfortable clothing.

As a former athlete, I know how comfortable Nike attire is, and as a girl I think a lot of their casual attire is cute. I think a lot of people associate Nike with just dri-fit and sports shoes and the grind of the sport, but forget that they have casual clothes too that allow the athlete to be comfortable even in their down time. The vibe of the commercial also gives off a more casual vibe because it shows professional athletes in everyday life which allows normal people to relate to them more. I think Nike did a really good job with this commercial by addressing the different demographics and outlets that it could to connect to a new base of customers. Many of the faces in this video (whether you are a sports fan or not) are pretty popular even in everyday life. These are people that we see in the spotlight everyday, whether because they are famous outside of their sport, or a sport star. I think it was also very important that they covered all the areas of sports, from tennis to basketball, to baseball, to soccer – it gives the customer a brand image that no matter who you are, where you live or what sport you play the Nike is the go to attire.

By using the different cities all over the world, I think this also gives off a different factor. Not only is Nike the most prominent sport wear in the United States, but that it is also known and worn throughout the world. This allows customers to feel connected to each other all over the world, whether you are a professional athlete or not.

I really enjoyed this commercial and seeing the different side of Nike. I think this type of marketing campaign is also important for them to touch on every now and then so that they can reach out to different demographics all over the world.

Jerry Rice Popeye’s Commercial

After watching the Jerry Rice Popeye’s Commercial I don’t understand how it is perceived as racist. My first instinct was not that it was racist but that it was corny and had a poor delivery. I don’t think it is a good marketing campaign but I didn’t see this as driven by racism. The idea was good, but I think it was poorly orchestrated. I didn’t quite understand the meaning behind the commercial, and thought it was too long and drawn out.

I think the first mistake they made was having Jerry Rice not catch the football, considering he is widely known as a former NFL wide receiver who would have clearly not missed a football that was tossed to him. At that point I became uninterested in the rest of the commercial because I was focused on why he would have missed the football if the mask was designed to eat the wings and play football at the same time. Although I don’t think that him catching the football would have made the commercial much better, but I think that it would have kept me interested. They also made Jerry Rice’s character look stupid instead of funny. He came off very un-athletic which we all know from his past is not true. In my opinion if you are going to use a pro-athlete in a commercial you should utilize his strengths to help sell the brand, not try and create a different persona for him. If it would have been any regular actor I think that commercial would have been a little more funny, but not successful.

The “wingovations” idea was a cool concept but their commercial didn’t get the point across. I think that Popeye’s should have made a mini-series with all the different “wingovations” and in different situations to utilize what these fake inventions would actually look like in a game watching setting.  I just really didn’t understand the point of marketing all these “wingovations” in the way the commercial was set up. It felt very rushed and silly. In conclusion, I don’t think this commercial was successful at all and I don’t feel as if it was racist, I just think it was a waste of money marketing campaign.