Anton Bichan
K. P. Pilova, research supervisor
O. D. Shvets, language adviser
National Mining University, Dnipropetrovsk
Sport Marketing As a Part of Promotion
Sport is always unpredictable and emotional. It gives us strength and health. But today sport is the major element of the entertainments industry. Sport is a product, spectators are customers.
Sport marketing is a part of marketing which focuses both on the promotion of sports events and teams as well as the promotion of other products and services through sporting events and sports teams. It is a service in which the element promoted can be a physical product or a brand name. The goal is to provide the client with strategies to promote the sport or to promote something other than sport through sports.
Sport marketing impulses memberships, and sales and recognition represent the biggest benefits for the companies, the athletes, the associations, the leagues and the sports events organizers. Marketing helps to understand the customer and the marketplace and informed marketing decisions help to increase the company’s, club’s or association’s performance. On the other hand, being an entertainment, sports are considered to have a large value with celebrity status. Due to the status and importance in people’s life, sports are considered a profitable and sustainable marketing source.
Sport marketing is divided into two sectors. First is the marketing of sport teams and events. The marketing of sport events and teams is the marketing strategy which is designed or developed a “live” activity, which has a specific theme. Mostly this kind of strategy is used as a way to promote, display or exhibit different things, such as a sports team, a sport association among others. There are different events that can clearly exemplify this concept, such as the Super Bowl, the Olympic Games, the UEFA Champions League and the FIFA World Cup. Those events are promoted by TV and radio commercials as well as by the contracts signed with other companies in order to transmit the event.
The second sector is the marketing of products through sport. Marketing through sport it is a marketing strategy that can be used in two different ways. The use of marketing and promotion can be carried out through the sport. In this case, the use of marketing is under responsibility of the different sporting associations. When using marketing and promotion through the sports club the responsibility falls on the different sports clubs. The peculiarity of sports is the issue that “sport is the only entertainment where, no matter how many times you go back, you never know the ending.” This singular fact is used by marketing companies as an advantage because in this way every time the audience attempts to an event several times they will perceive the advertisements again and again, therefore the marketing of sports reflects differently, than in other usual areas or common industries, a wide field of opportunities and diversities for the different companies which operate on this field.