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SPT 208 (Campus) - Sport Marketing

Sport Marketing - SPT-208

Course Description & Outcomes

Course Description

Students study current sports marketing problems and apply marketing techniques to develop an effective sports marketing plan. This is a writing intensive course. SPT-208 will introduce students to the application of basic principles of sport marketing with emphasis on sport event marketing and operations. The function of the course is to provide students with an up-to-date understanding of marketing concepts as they are currently applied in various sport management contexts and to provide a foundation for those students who plan to do advanced study and work in marketing, consumer behavior and related fields.

Course Outcomes

Students leave the course with the ability to:

  1. Describe major marketing concepts and theories and how they form the foundation of sports and event marketing
  2. Describe how the concepts of market definition, consumer analysis, market segmentation, product positioning, pricing, promotion, distribution, licensing and sponsorship apply to the specialized area of sports and event marketing
  3. Apply key marketing concepts in the development of a sport marketing strategy
  4. Describe the differences between marketing sport products versus traditional consumer products
  5. Describe unique challenges a sport marketing manager may encounter in developing an international sport marketing orientation

Sport Marketing Plan

Purpose:

To apply the sport marketing principles you are learning in this class to a real-world project. A sport marketing plan is something you will either create and/or use in the business of sport.

Tasks:

To complete this assignment you should...

  1. Identify a company and a new sport product for that company. The chosen company and the new product you have come up with will be the basis for the sport marketing plan.
  2. Read the SMP assignment and all resources provided in Bright=space (SMP Documents Folder) to support you and your team.
  3. Use the instructions and resources as you complete each Milestone. Follow the associated deadlines.
  4. Keep a running reference page that incorporates all sources used in each Milestone
  5. As you complete each Milestone, incorporate any feedback provided by the instructor.
  6. For the final plan, add a table of contents, executive summary and conclusion and reference page for your final paper (and presentation as needed).
  7. Add any supporting materials (tapes, story boards, visuals) as appendices
  8. Proofread and submit final sport marketing plan paper to the ASSIGNMENT link on Brightspace.

Criteria for Success:

Your sport marketing plan project is evaluated based on four criteria:

  • Content (appropriate information, integration of marketing concepts and theory)
  • Presentation (professionalism, grammar, spelling and organization)
  • Creativity (independent ideas and suggestions, appropriate strategies and objectives)
  • Synthesis (unity of each phase of the project, the parts contribute and strengthen the whole).

Final Plan Write-up (20% of your final grade):

  • You and your team will prepare and submit a formal written sport marketing plan (this is not the power point slides)
  • The report will contain a minimum of 15 pages
  • Use double space between lines, 12-point font size, either Times New Roman or Arial font
  • The cover of your report must show all team members’ names
  • APA reference page, and appendices should be included
  • All standard grammar and writing rules apply and will be evaluated as part of the final grade

Milestones

Milestone #1

Due as posted in Brightspace        Worth: 10 Points

Objective

Identify and describe company and product background information, products, and services for the Sport Marketing Plan.

NOTE: Below is the content that should be included in the first two sections of the Sport Marketing Plan. However, the bullets under each heading are not questions to answer. Instead, those are simply statements and questions that you want to address somewhere in the section.

Headings/Structure
  • Introduction
    • Company background: Includes organization’s mission statement (i.e. the purpose of the business)
    • Give a general overview of company, including top-line sales, current marketing efforts, geographic markets, and any other basic background information to help someone become familiar with the company and its products
    • Briefly mention the new product and what it can add to the company
  • Products and Services
    • Current Products or Services: Explain all of the current sport products and services offered by the company (i.e. product offerings)
      • Highlight “physical” sport products and any sport “services” as needed
      • Discuss the uniqueness of the current products/services (i.e. their key point(s) of difference versus similar products from competitors)
    • New/Proposed Product or Service: Include details of the proposed new product – what is it, why is it needed, how does it meet the needs of consumers, how does it fit with the company.
Criteria for Success
  • Effective application of sport marketing content and concepts related to the particular Milestone = 4 points
  • All content is included and Milestone is complete = 3 points
  • Grammar, punctuation, proofreading = 3 points
Resources for Milestone #1:
  • Your company's website
    • Click on all the tabs. Google your company's name with "Investor Relations" after it. Many companies have one website to actually sell their products and and a second website with all the company information, financial reports, annual reports, etc.
  • Company Information research guide
    • Use the various library databases to learn as much as you can about your company
  • Marketing Research Guide

Using AI for Product Ideas & Development

Before using AI

Before using Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, be sure to familiarize yourself with the Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Media Literacy guide.

An AI literate person will:

  • Understand what AI is, how it works, its capabilities & limitations
  •  Know when and how to use AI tools effectively
  • Question AI outputs
  • Apply critical thinking to ensure accuracy and ethical use

AI Tools @ SNHU

Students are expected to follow the guidelines their professors have established regarding the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in their classes. When AI use is permitted, SNHU has contracts with the following two Artificial Intelligence tools:

Use of these AI tools is encouraged because they are secure and remain within the SNHU community. Your content and search activity will not be used to train the models on the web. However no user should ever enter personally identifiable information, private information, or copyrighted information into any AI tools.

Prompt Engineering

Practice efficient and effective prompt engineering (see handout below)

  • Clarity and Specificity
  • Structure and Format
  • Intent and Purpose
  • Constraints and Parameters
  • Iteration and Refinement
  • Experimentation
  • Domain-Specific Language

Evaluate AI Outputs

Evaluate AI outputs for accuracy, bias, consistency, missing context, and misinformation. (see handout below)

  • Check for Factual Accuracy
  • Assess Relevance to the Prompt
  • Evaluate Logical Coherence
  • Review Language and Style
  • Check for Bias and Ethical Concerns
  • Validate Citations and Sources
  • Refine and Iterate

Milestone #2

Draft Due Date and Final Due date as posted in Brightspace   Worth 10 points

Objective:

Conduct a situation analysis for the sport marketing plan

Situation Analysis (SWOT) Research

Need to gather information that impacts the company and the market environment. A situation analysis (see pg. 39 in textbook) is a tool used to understand where your company and product’s position in the market. To complete a SWOT analysis, here are the areas you must research and write about:

  • Economic Climate (e.g., interest rates, currency fluctuations)
  • Political & Legal Environment (e.g. taxes, standards, licenses, free-trade agreements, trademark laws, patent laws, liability)
  • Demographic trends: Overall demographic changes & their potential effects on your industry and market
  • Technological trends: Technology trends impacting/changing the sport company’s product you are creating and the industry segment you would enter/compete in
  • Demand trends: Overall supply and demand for sport product and industry segments you would compete in
  • Competitor Analysis: Key “direct” competitors to your company - What are their products, what makes them successful, what makes their products better? Same information for key “indirect” competitors
  • Product Life Cycle (PLC): Where in the product life cycle is the current core product? Are any new products being launched? Use Chapter 2 (pg. 38) Product Life Cycle.
SWOT Analysis:

After all the above information is gathered and written, you will then create a SWOT Analysis visual. This includes Internal Strengths and Weaknesses /External Opportunities and Threats from your sport organization’s perspective. We will go over this in class.

Headings/Structure
  • Situation Analysis – Briefly reintroduce your product and the industry it will compete in and then also introduce the purpose of the situation analysis.
    • Include a section (subheadings) for each of the areas you researched. Share the information and write about each.
  • SWOT Analysis – This will be a “figure” that you create. An example is on page 39 in the textbook. You will create this last and we will go over it in class.
Criteria for Success:
  • Effective application of sport marketing content and concepts related to the particular Milestone = 4 points
  • All content is included, and Milestone is complete = 3 points
  • Grammar, punctuation, proofreading = 3 points

Sport Marketing Resources

Market & Consumer Demographics

Articles