Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Investigation #8

Investigation #8
Sports Events

Pinterest Board : https://www.pinterest.com/karyssa_jane/sports-events/

Infographic:

Monday, March 9, 2015

Investigation #7

Investigation Exercise #7 “DO WHAT YOU LOVE AND LOVE WHAT YOU DO”
Part One:
The content of this website is very thorough! It’s useful to me as a potential buyer wanting to attend this summers 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada. The photos of this site make me feel as though I am in a Canadian stadium getting ready to watch the USA take on their competition. They use great bold links, which make it easy to navigate and want to plan and organize my trip right there through FIFA. This site is definitely organized by my needs. It gives me a preview at the top of the website of what my experience would look like, then as you scroll down it gives you information about players and the teams qualified for the World Cup and then right directly in the middle it really grabs my attention with information on how to buy tickets for games I’m interested in, how to reserve hospitality, and if I am interested in being a volunteer at the FIFA world cup. Looking for information on this site was very convenient. It hit all of my needs. What this website offers that I especially love is a map of Canada so you don’t have to leave the website to Google. It shows you where all the matches will take place how far away each venue is from one another. This is a great content rich strategy!

In the terms of visually eye appealing this site isn’t the best. It doesn’t have the “Oooh Aaahh” factor but it makes up for that with its impressive first hand photos and videos. You can tell FIFA values more on getting their information updated and on the web than they value making it look pretty with hard to use gadgets. I think this is a positive that they focus more on their content, and in return as a buyer I feel less overwhelmed by unnecessary decorative distractions.This site screams passion all over it. For a buyer like myself that is extremely passionate about soccer they convey it in various ways that make it hard for me to leave the site without making strides closer for myself to attend the FIFA world cup in June. I can tell they are passionate about what they do because they show the different organizations they work with and are proud to show them off, without having the fear of buyers loosing site on their product.
There are many ways to interact with FIFA. They have a great Facebook page, YouTube channel, and twitter feed that I am a frequent visitor on and I have tweeted at FIFA multiple times. I actually recently saw they were giving away free tickets on twitter and participated in the drawing. Their aren’t any direct ways to contact and share opinions and thoughts with other buyers directly on the website but that’s what their social media is for. FIFA is such a large organization that they wouldn’t be able to reach all of their buyers effectively off their site. They have plenty of other websites that have opportunities to share experiences, just not this exact website.The FIFA website is directly linked with their Facebook, YouTube channel, and twitter and I would say they are a though leader based on the their effective marketing and advertising and being able to interact with customers internationally. I personally am drawn to this site as a buyer for soccer products, tickets, and gear because I know what I am getting is always the real deal. Unlike ticketstub or other online sites that sell tickets for the World Cup, FIFA has the trust value, and I think that’s what drives its customers. They also attract buyers with plenty of deals and sales if you are active on their website!


Part 2: 
Working for ESPN is one of my dream jobs and what ESPN’s objective is to leave lasting impressions and experiences through their events they put on. Through their website they lack showing the experiences their buyers receive from their events rather they focus more on the athletes. This is something I personally would change if I were able to work for ESPN. To make their website more content rich they need to hit more of the sentimental/ emotional chords with buyers. Fox Sports is one of ESPN’s top competitors for 2015. After looking at their website I saw that ESPN was had a larger “wow factor” but fox sports had more of a content rich website because of the wide range of stories and news they provided, not just promoting the athletes, teams, and sporting events.


Investigation #5

Investigation #5
1.     Print advertising in the Sports Event Management field is huge. Sports take active outdoor leisure participation so majority of buyers aren’t at home sitting on a computer 24/7. Here are a few print advertisements I think are very effective.








2.     5 Characteristics for creating an effective logo are:
1.     Think about your target market
2.     Follow company’s color scheme
3.     Be inspired but don’t copy other successful logos
4.     Show the design to a test market
5.     Use feedback given

Effective logo: Starbucks


Ineffective Logos:








These logo’s look tacky with the Word Art and lack eye appeal.  For Swan Real Estate-fewer words are better and the image needs color to attract viewer’s attention. For sound cloud its all one color which doesn’t show much creativity or thought outside the box.


3.     Color is powerful because it can change our mood – the mood of potential customers. If a website improves our state of mind, our relationship with a brand will deepen and the probability of a return will increase.

Reebok’s new advertisement campaign “Be more Human” is a great use of color. The campaign is challenging the world to “Be more Human” and change how people perceive and experience fitness. They have launched multiple commercials that show individuals pushing their limits of fitness in outdoor settings, which draws in viewers to the beauty of nature and what is right in front of us. Reebok wants the audience to see that pushing ourselves and testing our limitations that we can transform both physically and mentally.










Chico Wilcats Change their logo 2 years ago to make it more effective. They changed the face of the mascot and the font/ colors. In doing so it has made the Chico State logo a statement on apparel, ads, prints, and other media.

4.  Choosing a font for your ad isn't just about whether it appears online or in print, but the function the font is intended to serve in the ad. In a headline or title catching the viewer's attention is the primary objective. Flair in fonts is what differentiates between good ads and logos versus great ads and logos.






Best Buy and Facebook uses clear bold font on respecting backgrounds that makes the words stand out. Buyers can see these logo’s from miles away that’s what makes this an effective use of font.

I think the top trends in the sports industry for 2015 so far has been focusing on women athletes and fans and Gamefication. The trend of engaging fans and rewarding them for participation is huge in accumulating loyal fans for the sports industry. The sports industry has been slow on recognizing and praising the power of female athletes and sports fans. We are seeing a current trend in fun, enlightened campaigns aimed at female athletes and fans. Superbowl really made an impact amongst females using the advertisement “Like a Girl”.



Investigation #3

Investigation #3
Sports Event Management Industry
3 Buyer personas
1.Athletes- recognition, comfortable travel, personally touching and bring out the passion for the sport they play.
2. Families of Participating Athletes- Appropriate ticket prices, will travel be easy and convenient (date/time), is the venue meet needs and expectations
3. Sport fans- what candy and food will be sold at this event, interaction with college athletes at events (signatures, pictures, etc), gear or memorabilia sold at event
2. Identify 5 key sources of thought leadership in this industry.  Describe each in your blog, including (a) their purpose/products, (b) overview of types of information they share, (c) how they share the information- forms of thought leadership, and (d) how they promote their thought leadership.  For each, make sure you tell me HOW YOU KNOW they are a thought leader in your industry.  Provide images/links/examples of each of your "thought leaders" in your blog.
1. Bigsoccerhttp://www.bigsoccer.com .
There purpose is to give knowledge about the game of soccer, current events, schedules and other useful information for soccer fans. They promote their thought leadership through social media, blogs, and I know they are a thought leader because they link up with the top women’s soccer sites
.
2. ESPN- a) to provide comprehensive sport coverage, products- espn merchandise, television, news stations, commercials b) Latest news, top plays, top players, top teams, games and schedules c) they primary share their information through videos, they use blogs to recap information and they use social media such as instagram http://instagram.com/espn/ and twitter to provide the latest most important news. D) ESPN promotes their thought leadership through advertisement, endorsements, supporting charities etc.
* ESPN is a thought leader in the sports industry because it is the outlet for all Sports Fans desires and needs by being up to date 24/7 with the latest sport news. 
3. NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) a) membership driven organization that focuses on the well being of student athletes, an inclusive culture, and leadership skills. B) They share quality universities all over the United States, provide college schedules, tournaments, and events. They also provide hundred of thousands of scholarships throughout collegiate sports. C) They show their information throughout college universities using white papers- to prove their argument for athletes becoming student athletes. Using surveys they are constantly gathering information to help make athletes more inspired and passionate about their sport D) They team up many professional sports organizations, they provide how-to succeed academically while being a student athlete.
*NCAA is a thought leader because it covers all college divisions of sports…Division 1, II, III and NAIA. They offer the largest amount of scholarships to student athletes.
4. Stars and stripes FC ….. http://www.starsandstripesfc.com
Stars and stripes is a popular blog page that allows athletes and sports fans, particularly soccer fans to keep up with what is happening in the world with soccer professionally. Its easy to navigate and fun to use and I use them as a thought leader.


Investigation #4

WATCHING GAMES AT WORK
In the article, Leisure is the new productivity; Brigid Schulte emphasizes how the United States needs to find ways to change our overworked culture. The article makes many valuable statements and was found at http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/12/opinions/schulte-leisure-productivity/index.html . If we work more efficient, productive, and creative we would have happier and healthier employees. People need personal time just as much as they need income. This article is very important for the sports industry. Sports teams will get more viewers in the stands at their events. Sport fans will have the time to seek out more knowledge about sports as well as attend sporting events if they are given this valuable leisure time they deserve. In an article I read at the Economist http://www.economist.com/node/5476124 it was similar to Leisure is the new productivity by expressing how American’s are overworked and their leisure time is suppose to increase. Another similar article was found here at ABC news  http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=93604, Viewers of Leisure is the new productivity weren’t afraid to be heard, they made direct comments regarding work hours and not having enough time for leisure activities… some agreeing and some disagreeing.

Overworked Americans ,Sporting Events, Leisure