Sports Marketing
Introduction
Sports Marketing is a Promotional strategy whose major function involves informing, persuading or influencing the decisions of the customer. Its major objective is to develop and promote a products primary demand. Different companies have varied promotional strategies. Some use these strategies to expand in their different markets while others use them to reach selected and particular markets. Most promotional strategies goals are to provide the basic necessary information about the product and to differentiate it in order to increase its sales, its value and to stabilize its overall market. (Shank, 2009)
To make the product more appealing to the customers or the target group, adverts designers use successful sportsmen and women to act as role models while advertising their products in the process. (Mullin, Hardy & Sutton, 2007)
Michael Schumacher for many years acted as a role model for formula one rally drivers. He has won the title seven times and he is regarded as the greatest F1 driver currently. Born in 1969 in Hurth Germany he has been a role model for Mercedes and Ferrari group of companies among other companies. Currently he is a good will ambassador for UNESCO. Besides the accidents that he may have been blamed for while racing in the tracks, Schumacher presents a cool and a likable image. He has donated a lot of money for charity and has never been involved in any matters touching on his integrity as a person, his trustworthiness or any deception on his part. Ethically in the year 2002 in the Australian Grand Prix when his teammate Rubens Barrichello was compelled to slow down to allow him win the race he returned the favor in the same year while racing in the United States Grand Prix.
For all his sporting events he lived to the expectations of the sponsoring teams. While acting as a role model he presents a picture of safety while driving fast on the roads. These may mislead some people into believing that driving fast may not be dangerous. Shumaker himself has led a lot of campaign against fast driving and general adherence to road safety standards. On the overall, Schumacher has provided a good role model to many upcoming rally drivers.
Tiger woods’ official name is Eldrick Tont Woods. He was born in the year 1975 and lives in Jupiter Islands in Florida, in the USA. He presents a poor role model to issues relating to his moral integrity. Currently he is still the greatest golfer of all time and he is one of the world’s highest paid athlete. For many years he has been the role model for Nike shoe brand and Gillette razor blade. In 2009 when he publicly admitted his own personal failures and apologized for his troubled private life, most of his sponsors which included general Motors and Accenture terminated their contracts. Only Nike continued sponsoring him but they suffered heavy financial losses in the process.
The use of role models in product advertising may not be ethically positive as all human beings have their own successes and failures. To make a decision to use only a person’s positive attributes while ignoring and vilifying his negative attributes is both cynical and unreasonable. The whole concept of using celebrities to advertize products works both ways. They may improve or decrease sales depending on the season and the position they are currently in. To gain the best advantage, several celebrities should be used for a shorter period of time but at diverse periods of their professional sports life.
References
Mullin, B. J, Hardy, S. & Sutton, W. A. (2007) Sport Marketing.3rd Ed.
Champaign: Human Kinetics, cop. 2007.
Shank, M. D. (2009) Sports Marketing: A Strategic Perspective.4th ed. Upper
Saddle River (NJ): Pearson Prentice Hall: Pearson Education International cop. 2009.
Skinner
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