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Marketing Myopia
What did you get out of reading this article?
In ‘Marketing Myopia’ many companies and businesses mistakenly have a narrow minded approach to marketing, only considering it as a way of selling their product. Instead, he argued that companies should look at marketing from the consumer’s point of view. For example, a company that sells hiking boots should not define its marketing in terms of sales of hiking boots, but market itself as a company concerned with outdoor exploration and adventure. Levitt believed that products should be viewed as a consequence of marketing rather than marketing being a necessary consequence of a product. Again, the focus should be on filling customer needs through goods and services rather than creating goods and services and then attempting to find customers. A business will showcase marketing myopia when a business views marketing as specifically a way of selling their product, rather than from the standpoint of fulfilling customer needs. If you view marketing from the broader perspective of fulfilling customer needs, you will be able to adapt to changes in the market. On the other hand, if you take the myopic view that marketing is only selling products to customers, your company may die when the product falls out of favor in the marketplace.
What was the result of the railroad industry not defining its industry correctly?
The Railroad industries growth halted as they chose product over customer. This is a result of them defining their industry to be in the railroad business opposed to the transportation business. In other words the industry was focusing on the wrong area, they were concentrating on a product instead of being customer orientated. The article suggests the railroad industry should have targeted developing further in the area of transportation for people and not focusing solely on products, this would have created greater opportunity for a constant expansion of the industry for many years.
In Levitt’s article what did the oil industry continue to do and what was its
consequence?
The oil industry did not look to develop and grow as an industry and look at gas as an alternative, this is a result of all the focus being put on oil, and they only saw gas as a mineral that would deplete the oil industry. Oil companies soon fell behind when some oil executives explored the gas industry by themselves, it is now a multi billion-dollar industry and the way of the future.
What are the implications of this article to sport in general and to sport
marketing industry in particular?
With relation to sport, ‘Marketing Myopia’ has significant relevance. In most cases, if a sport as a product remains the same for a long enough period of time customers will lose interest. The sport must continue to develop as an industry and appeal to the customers to ensure a continual growth. Many sports have evolved through rule changes, some through equipment development, and a few even purely based on entertainment value. Many of these changes are to improve spectators enjoyment of the game, but the over riding reason being the appeal to customers rather than staying focused on the product (marketing myopia). Look at it this way, rugby union has changed its scrum call from ‘crouch…touch…pause…engage’ to ‘crouch…bind…set’ In the hope that it would speed up the game and create better viewing for the customers watching the game. Also the technology being used in sports like tennis and cricket has been set in place to continue the growth of the two sports, the ‘hawk eye’ systems being used are to reduce human error and create more fair and entertaining games. Cricket is a great example of targeting costumers rather than the product, cricket was doing fine as sport in its test match format, but for this interest to continue they had to keep developing, they did this with the introduction of the one day format (a shortened version of the game). Even still cricket went the extra step and created a game largely focused at customers for entertainment, ‘twenty20’ cricket. It has been a huge success and cricket viewing is at an all time high.
Marketing Through Sport
Definition:
through Sport is, marketing or advertising a product or service through any particular sport, it could be at a stadium on a billboard, on the players jerseys, or on a tv commercial during a sporting event. The product or service does not have to be related to the sport. This is done to attract the viewers to the product being advertised not the sport being played.
Example 1:
The New Zealand All Blacks rugby team has recently signed an $80m deal with ‘AIG’ that is a global insurance company. AIG said “We didn’t take our search for a new team to sponsor lightly – we wanted to make sure we chose a sport whose values were aligned with our own.” AIG is advertising their company logo on the front of the rugby Jerseys. The All Blacks being the best rugby team in the world, and rugby being a very global sport means that they are watched by millions of people across the globe and they will see this brand on the jerseys even though they have not real link to the sport.
Picture:
Example 2:
BMW sponsor the PGA tour, which is a series of golfing tournaments run throughout the year in America. BMW has no relation to golf, but is using the sport to advertise their product. Golf is a sport that has been known to be played by wealthy people all around the world and watched by millions. BMW are high-class expensive machines, this is why they choose to target the sport of golf where there tends to be people with the money to by one of their cars.
Picture:
Example 3:
Doritos advertising their product during NFL games. Once again Doritos chips have nothing to do with the sport but because it is watched be millions of people it is a great way to market their product. It is also a time where food may be on peoples mind, and watching the advertisement may encourage the viewers to purchase that product.
Picture:
The advertisement link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5192E9Pnfo
Marketing Of Sport
Definition:
Marketing of sport is advertising any particular sport. It is to expand a sport in either fan numbers, player numbers, viewership of the sport, or just general awareness to build interest.
Example 1:
Playing a sport in a country where it is non existent or very small to build interest within the public. For example Canada played USA in an international match on New Zealand soil, this was to show a country where the sport was very small what a spectacle it can be, to create numbers, and build interest in a new area.
Link address for more info:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sports/4732130/New-Zealand-to-host-ice-hockey-showdown
Picture:
Promotional Poster
Example 2:
The New Zealand All Blacks promoting rugby in Asia. they played their first game ever in Japan in 2013, and as they are a world renowned team this was a great way to showcase rugby in one of the most populated areas in the world. As a result the whole stadium sold out in a matter of hours.
Link address for more info:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/04/sports/rugby/04iht-rugby04.html?_r=0
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Japan vs New Zealand
Example 3:
In 2010 the New Zealand cricket team played Sri Lanka in Florida to promote cricket in America. They played series consisting of three T20 games. (the most entertaining of the three formats for a crowd thats not sure what was happening)
Link address for more info:
Sport as A Service
Heterogeneity
Heterogeneity in terms of sport is the unpredictability of the event and the many outcomes that are possible. This can be a good and a bad thing for people, it can create a tense and exciting environment, nonetheless it can create disappointment when the outcome of the product is not in favour of the customer.
Inseparability
Service inseparability is basically states that services are produced and consumed at the same time and can’t be isolated from their providers. Providers can be people or machines. Further, both the consumer and the provider equally affect the service outcome. Inseparability means that the services provided to the customers can not be separated or detached from the service provider. The employee becomes a part of the service if service employee provides the service. The physical presence of the consumer is a must for service inseparability.
Intangibility
Fundamental Characteristic of services referring to the fact that a service (since it lacks physical existence or form) cannot be seen, smelled, tasted, touched, or stored.
In sport intangibility is the experience when the game or event is over and you cannot take anything from it, once it has happened that is it.
Perishability
A service that has an expiring date and after that date the service cannot be sold. For example a ticket to the RWC final, and after the game is played the ticket is useless, and you cannot keep that exact experience with you.
Simultaneous production and consumption
The production of the product ‘sport’ is during the game and the consumption of the product ‘sport’ is at the same time when people are watching the game. This defines ‘sport’ as a service not a good.
Birging and Corfing
Corfing
Cutting Off Reflected Failure
CORFing refers to distancing ones self from a failing team, organisation, or player. This is when people don’t want to be associated with something or someone that is losing so they will cut their link between team and the losing club, team, or player.
Birging
Basking In Reflected Glory
BIRGing refers to a person reflecting in the triumph of someone or something else because of their link with them. For example an Australian may BIRG when an Australian swimmer wins a gold medal at the Olympics
Australian Open Case Study
Explore a potential reason for the strong increase in sport tourism and provide a brief explanation as to why you think it is the result of psychological, personal and environmental factors.
Sport tourism has had a strong increase, and studies suggest this is due to the extensive broadcasting and more global promotion of events, helped by marketing tools like social media.
The Australian Open is the only tennis Major that is situated in the southern hemisphere, so it is the closest tournament for many tennis fans around the globe, for them to come and watch the best of the best in action.
This is a great tournament for Australia as a country, many residents will travel to Melbourne to experience this once a year event, not only for the tennis but the festivities that are associated with it.
In relation to the Australian Open it increased in size when it was transferred to purpose built facility ‘Melbourne Park’ in 1988. This was a major factor that contributed to the tournaments recognition globally, it was now an arena specifically designed for this tournament, which appealed to people all over the world and encouraged them to visit.
What are some of the potential downsides to hosting a hallmark sport event?
A sporting event like the Australian Open brings a huge amount of visitors to the city, many will see this as a positive for businesses and tourism but it also creates congestion and extra traffic impacting on locals travelling to work and other mean of transport.
A tournament like this may create large revenue but it also costs a lot to prepare and run. Unprecedented amounts of organisation.
Stress for organisers is a negative impact.
With events like this it draws people from around the globe, these people want to have a good time while they are on holiday so may be seen on and broadcasted on media in a way that doesn’t reflect Melbourne, upsetting the locals.
Increased crime due to police having to be involved in the security of event.
Are the psychological, personal and environmental factors the same for a decision to attend the Australian Tennis Open vs participating in the Gold Coast Airport Marathon? What are some differences?
Psychological
Psychologically its completely different from attending the Australian Open to actively participating in the Gold Coast Marathon.
The differences being:
Weeks of psychological preparation go into running a marathon compared to a few hour to attend the tennis.
Watching tennis is easy and relaxing, in comparison to participating in a marathon where it is physically demanding and takes a lot of mental (psychological) strength.
Personally
Watching the tennis at the Australian Open does not take much self preparation or time but can be personally rewarding at the same time, however preparing to run a marathon can take weeks of training and personal dedication it can be a very time consuming activity and can dramatically effect someone personally, but there is also huge personal reward to be gained for this activity.
Environmentally
Depending on what the person wanted to experience in terms of weather could determine what event they would rather. For example if they wanted hot and relaxing conditions they should attend the tennis as it is played during the middle of the summer in January, but if they wanted to experience cooler temperatures and physically exert them self they should defiantly compete in the Gold Coast Marathon, as it is run in the winter.
When a new professional sport team or hallmark event enters the market, how does this change the sport consumption decision-making process?
For an individual to consume a sport the psychological, personal and environmental factors come into play. If a new professional sport team enters the market for an individual to begin following them they must have some sort of connection it may be:
Psychologically:
The team that they were supporting is loosing and the cant deal with it so they switch.
Personal:
Family or friends are playing or have links with the new team
Cheaper to support financially
Environmentally:
Where the team is situated is more convenient
Can attend games
They are playing for your province
These are all factors that will contribute to some ones decision on sport consumption and what team they would follow if a new professional team entered the market.
Active Ageing in Queensland
There is absolutely another possible industry that sport can be positioned in. The older Queensland generation are generally not very active and find themselves doing typical things like gardening and reading, however, there are many that would still be involved in physical activity if it were more structured, developed, and advertised. Sport needs to develop and take into account for the older generations, marketing myopia suggests it may be left behind for something else. I don’t believe that sport will ever come to this but the development into older age groups can only have positive effects, like a healthy lifestyle, exercising, community engagement, enjoyment of the activity etc.
The case gives us a general situation analysis, what are your first impressions of who the target markets might be? Why?
I believe the target market are people aged over 50yrs who are inactive that have the potential and capability to be active but just lack motivation. It is also targeting the government and other major governing organisations to create awareness of the issue, and help support the industry. They are targeting the governing bodies as it is promoting a healthier lifestyle for the general population and these organisations will want to back plans and initiatives like this as it not only looks good for them but it really does benefit the community.
The case study is targeted at government organisations / community welfare and sporting groups in oder to gain support. Stating the problem, giving facts to show the problem is an actual problem and showing possible solutions to the problem by pin-pointing certain organisations that could assist them in achieving their goals. Showing what each organisation could bring to the table in order to work towards a solution to the ageing population becoming more active is a great tool in which to rally support from each group.
We have already been given some objectives, what are your first impressions of the strategies that can be used to meet these objectives?
The strategies that need to be implemented in order to achieve the objectives are as follows:
Objective 1: To increase the proportion of physically active mature aged Queenslanders
Strategy: Research should be undertaken to find what the mature aged Queenslanders are most interested in, then action should be taken to promote and engage this demographic.
Objective 2: To improve the existing recreation services and opportunities for active mature aged Queenslanders.
Strategy: This would best be undertaken by extensive marketing and further development in the organisations and sports already available, possibly by moulding the sport or activity to better suit the older generation, also have an age limit.
Objective 3: To advocate that all Queenslanders maintain an active lifestyle throughout their lives.
Strategy: This is a very broad objective that will take time to accomplish, I believe that if the older generation begins to come physically active through the Active Ageing program that it will filter through the community and more people will follow them, however this could take years before a significant change could be identified.
Do you think this case study suggests another possible industry that sport could position itself within?
Biography
Name: Ruaridh Mackenzie
Age: 18
Background: Born in Scotland, moved to NZ at three months of age. Grew up on a beef and crop farm. Boarded at Christchurch Boys High School.
Family: Dad Farmer, and played rugby for Scotland, Mums a Nurse, Sisters are studying.
Started Bond: Jan 2014
Studying: Dip Sport Management
Next Year: Bachelor of Business
Sport: Bond University Breakers Rugby, Reds Under 20 also love to play cricket, and anything involving a ball.
Ruaridh Mackenzie 