• Posted on April 4, 2024
• Aashish

Global Perspective Sports Marketing Assignment Sample

 

PRO KABADDI

1. Executive Summary

This significant report focuses on exploring the sports and marketing aspect associated with the Pro Kabaddi League and its appeal to the sorts viewers of the Asia. The report advances through outlining the popularity of the Kabaddi game amongst the national and international viewers. Moreover, this critical report concentrates on marketing communication objectives concerning the sports in association with brand awareness and increase of ticket sales. In addition, the report underpins the IMC campaign Strategy in relations to the sport through developing discussion related to overall strategy, target market and intended positions justification and possible advantages and disadvantage. Later ward, the report will highlight the benefits and features associated with the sport as a part of creative brief. The final phase of this critical report will also portray the appropriate and relevant time line and budget as a part of strategic implementation concerning the IMC strategy.

2.  Marketing Communication Objectives

2.1 Introduction

Marketing objectives play a significant role in providing the managers with a path on how to achieve the goals of the organization. This objective helps achieve three specific aspects which help in achieving the marketing pals of the organization. The three major aspects include the ability to communicate, compete in the market, and be convincing. Each of these aspects helps organizations in fulfilling their objectives effectively. In the given case study, it is important for the Pro Kabaddi League to achieve these objectives as it will play a significant role in increasing its brand value and making the league more lucrative to investors.

2.2 Brand awareness of the event

In light of developing the effective and appropriate brand awareness of the sport Pro Kabaddi, it is essential to stick up to fulfilling the core objectives related to brand awareness. In order to develop smart mart marketing goals and objectives, it is essential to enhance website traffic through the launching brand awareness campaign of native and sponsored articles (Arıkan et al. 2021). Along with that targeting the sports loving audience who would be interested in such articles and driving them back to the sports websites associated with the sports. In order to develop a general and basic knowledge about the sports brand that will entice the viewer it is important to promote the brand through distribution channels like TV and social media, ensure relevant content and targeting strategy for offering the right perspective of the sport at right time to right people (Jadhav and Raizada, 2021). Brand awareness can be further enhanced through the use of marketing events and promotions where the players are asked to meet and greet the fans and thus generate greater interest in the game (Arıkan et al. 2021). Another smart objective that can be taken into consideration is to develop and enhance brand affinity through the proper usage of PR, brand awareness campaign for sharing all the relevant sports news and updates. Additionally, helpful information about every detail of the sports which will help both viewers to become fully aware of the sport initiative and also help the sports brands to successfully promote the sport (Mishra, 2018). Through broadcasting the sports and every highlight repeatedly through the different online and offline media platforms. Thus, it will assist in the enhancement of viewership for the sport which not only promote brand awareness for the Pro Kabaddi but also will help the league to generate more revenue.

2.3 Increase in Ticket Sales

Ticket sales revenue is often considered to be the “lifeblood” of all sports organizations and leagues as it is the very source of revenue that helps in sustaining the league in the long run. In consideration of increasing in ticket sales for the league of Pro Kabaddi, there are some smart objectives that are needed to be fulfilled for attracting viewers to the sports event of Pro Kabaddi. As opined by Petrović (2021), another significant reason why it is important for ticket sales to increase as it will help generate revenue for the sport which in turn would lead to the development of better infrastructure. Firstly, it is important that the marketing and ticketing strategy acts critical in taking the Pro Kabaddi out of the sphere of traditional fanbase. The development of ticketing strategy and the financial framework must be based on data and information concerning the viewers, their interest, preferences, audience behavior and geographic regions and designed for attaining clearly defined goals (Sportcal, 2019).

Moreover, the use of data for recognizing the target audience, data related to the means that influences the decision concerning ticket buying and establishing the ticket strategy according to that can increase the ticket sales. In addition, the use of behavioral analysis and surveys concerning the ticket purchasers can enable a deep insight regarding the ratio of people that are interested for the sport due to ticketing strategy as well as the base viewers for the sport (Sportcal, 2019). The utilization of significant qualitative and quantitative marketing research by the market researchers will assist in confirming the ticket and price and understand the demand. Also, promoting the ticket sales through online mediums and brining sport related products in the market for fans, like t-shirt, accessories can positively increase the ticket sales (KPMG, 2016). Thus, abiding by these smart measurements, the league and its marketing team can easily enhance the ticket sales.

3. IMC Campaign Strategy

a. Discuss the development in line with appropriate planning frameworks

a.1. Overall Strategy

It is important to have effective strategies in place which will help in achieving the marketing objectives of the league. Having this strategy will work towards effectively achieving the goals of the league and making the sport more popular. The strategies that have been outlined are:

• Through targeting a specific set of audience and viewers
• Developing engaging contents through PR and timing contents properly
• Building sponsorships and brand partnerships
• Through the utilization of social media and social media influencers for marketing

The first strategy will ensure a better understanding of the viewers concerning interest, location, income, lifestyle, Level of athleticism and age for establishing an appropriate marketing strategy. The second strategy will help in engaging many viewers through developing contents with their favorite and preferred sports figures. This can be done through YouTube videos, press release and blogs (Trivedi et al. 2020). The third strategy can be tying with popular athletes and sports through brand partnership, promotional contests can help in effective sports marketing. The final strategy can help in boosting brand awareness among fans through Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

a.2. Target Market

Outlining the target market is essential for the league as it will make it easier for the league to better capture the market at a faster rate. In the given case, an approach of behavioral and demographic should be considered concerning the teams participating in the league. According to Leszczyński et al. (2022), this will help in easily attracting the consumers to the game and make it popular amongst the target market. Similarly, the use of behavioral segmentation will help in attracting specifically sports enthusiasts who will also serve the role of promoting the game to a wider audience. It has been explored that around 60% of the digital audience concerning 13 to 35 years age group are deemed as the primary target market in India for the Pro Kabaddi (Kpmg, 2016). As per the consumer theory named, means-end chain theory, the means through which consumers interlink product attributes along with the particular consequences, and the means through which these outcomes satisfy their individual values (Borgardt, 2020). This theoretical framework and analysis can help the sports marketers in analyzing and framing marketing problems as consumer decisions. The habitual buying behavior best describes the patterns followed by the consumers when it comes to buying tickets for Pro Kabaddi League games. It is because in this buying behavior consumers generally have little involvement in the purchase and thus, making it difficult to gauge what the reaction of the consumers would be (Abdolmaleki et al. 2018). This is evident in the given case, as the consumers have just been introduced to the game, and will thereby be very difficult for the league to compete with other sports like football or cricket. Hence, there is very little brand loyalty present with the fans. Thus, it is important to use effective segmentation patterns that will help in generating brand loyalty for the game.

a.3. Justification of Intended position

In this scenario, there are different methods that will help in justifying the position taken by the league. One of the major methods can be through the opening of clubs, where every franchise participating in the league comes together. The start of clubs will help create a strong fan base and provide an outlet for the fans to interact with each other and also meet the players (Khotamov and Umarov, 2019). The clubs can also help organize tickets and thus create a greater engagement for the game (Coutinho et al. 2021). Through this method, demographic segmentation can be achieved easily, and also the habitual behavior of the consumer can be changed. Similarly, this will also help in keeping the stakeholders happy with the new engagement methods as it will help in generating more attention towards the league.

a.4. Advantages and Disadvantages

Hence, after a thorough look at the given strategy, it is evident that it will help in bringing out the advantage of greater engagement of the fans with the game and more attention towards the league making it popular among a certain target audience. It will also help in generating greater interest in the game which will have a positive reflection on ticket sales. Considering the 7Ps of marketing the following strategy will be effectively met by the theory as it will help in structurally managing all the marketing goals and thus making the game more engaging for the market (Rahmanpour et al. 2021). It should, however, be noted that despite the advantages it presents it also has some underlying issues. One of the major disadvantages is heavy competition from other sports, where it is difficult to generate interest towards kabaddi and the lack of big names in the sport (Maharana and Chaudhury, 2018). Barring these two disadvantages, the following strategy will act in favor of the league.

4. Creative Brief

After a thorough study of the given paper, a definite idea about the creative brief of the project can be determined. The major aim of the league as discussed before is to find greater recognition for the sport in the country and make it more engaging globally. It also involves making the sport be able to generate significant revenue through greater ticket sales and other sales associated with the sport. A closer look at the Pro Kabaddi league has yielded that the league, despite having gained a significant foothold in the sports industry, is yet to hold a significant part of the tournament’s attention. As per the view of Mishra (2018), one of the reasons can be outlined as the inability of the Logo or tagline to generate a positive response. Therefore, it is important for the league to come up with a distinct logo and tagline which will define the main essence of the game. The tagline for the sports must be developed in a manner that can be memorable and being able to generate a lasting impression, also it must be developed in such a way that it develops a positive tone and recognizes the uniqueness of the sports league. The brand identity and personality must be recognized and experiments related to sizing and placements must be done for enabling the logo to acquire a positive response (Coutinho et al. 2021). The logo must be developed in a manner that it tends to reflect the sportsmanship spirit of the sport and teams.

The first aspect that needs to be considered while developing the logo is to identify it with the game and how the league wants to represent it to the consumers. This needs to be followed by the correct set of calligraphy where the message is clear to the consumers and is easily visible followed by colors. Similarly, the tagline will help in bringing forward the essence of the game. The tagline that has been used in all these seasons has been “Le Panga” which essentially highlights the intrinsic value of the game (Rajashekar, 2020). Thus, to ensure the proper working of the strategy, a new tagline should be developed that will highlight the strength of the game and thus appeal to the target set of consumers.

a. Features and Benefits

The major features of the event have been outlined as:

• One distinct feature of the league is that it is heavily based in India which is already rich in sports, which makes it easier to attract engagement from game enthusiasts across the country.
• The application of the tagline “A Winner Never Stops Trying” can be exquisite feature for the sport.
• The consumer behavior strategy can be seen as an effective strategy as it will help in appropriate marketing for the sports (Abdolmaleki et al. 2018)
• It is also a segmented market which will make it easier for the implementation of a segmentation strategy that will help attract consumers to the game (Tiwari et al. 2019).
• The major segment of the players is all local players each representing different states which makes it more intimate and thus promises greater engagement from the consumers.

The major benefits of the event have been outlined as:

• Unlike other sports, Kabaddi is one of the oldest sports in India, and thus, the use and implementation of the IMC policy will help revive an integral part of Indian history and bring it back to the spotlight to be nurtured and honored.
• Greater engagement will also help develop a separate genre for indigenous sports and help identify talented sportsmen in this field and thus develop the sports arena of the country as a whole (Trivedi et al. 2020).
• Furthermore, unlike cricket, the cost of training in cricket or football, the cost of learning and training in Kabaddi is significantly less and as a result, has the ability to attract a wide variety of sportsmen to master this field and develop a niche of sports in the 21st century.

5. Implementation

a. Justification

Strategy implementation needs to be conducted effectively so that the major goal of the league can be achieved. The IMC therefore will be implemented through the use of the following methods of sales promotion, direct marketing, sponsorship opportunities, and advertising. As per the view of Khasnis et al. (2021), the goal of the organization, advertising is one of the major avenues for the sound implementation of the process of IMC as it will help reach a wider audience in a very short span of time. This can occur in the form of campaigns run in social media handles like that of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter along with advertising in the form of print media. Marketing through sharing videos related to teasers and trailers about the sports, previous highlights, and campaign concerning voting for best player, interviews with the sportsmen before the matches can be effective marketing campaigns (Xu et al. 2022). Similarly, using the method of sales promotion will help in capturing the attention of the consumers and promoting engagement through meet and greets. Using sponsorships will help have a strong grip on the financial aspects of the league where the managers will be able to avail better infrastructure and thereby increase the quality of the game. It will also help in providing better exposure to the game and make it more popular with the consumers (Trivedi et al. 2020).

b. Timeline

Timeline is an important aspect of the given project implementation as it will help outline the time taken to achieve the objectives of the game and make it a success. The following timeline will be followed when it comes to achieving better engagement for the game and increasing ticket sales from the consumers. As a brief discussion outlining goals will be done in first week and Outlining Market Communication Objectives will be completed in the second week. The development of campaign strategy will be done in second week. The outlining of target markets will be done in the third week and developing creative briefs and outlining benefits will be done in the third week. In the fourth week, the outlining tools and techniques are to be used. The outlining of budget and implementation of plan will be done in fifth and sixth week respectively.

[Referred to Appendix 1]

c. Budget

Budget is an important consideration as it will outline the total amount of money that will be required for the effective implementation of the IMC strategy by the league. As it can be seen from the strategy that there are several steps that will need to be implemented to make the league successful and increase ticket sales. This includes greater customer engagement through the development of clubs, increasing ticket sales through promotional offers, and developing a new logo and tagline to make it more inviting for the customers. Hence, a strong and effective budget is required for the league that will help them achieve all these objectives within a definite monetary structure. [Referred to Appendix 2]

6. Measurement and Evaluation

Name of the Tool	Medium	Evaluation
Marketing	Social Media	Using social media will be effective in gaining attention from the consumers over a wide area in a short period. Engagements can be increased through the use of campaigns run on social handles such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (Trivedi et al. 2020). It is through the use of this metric greater attention and interest for the game can be developed.
	Clubs	The start of clubs will help in bringing together the fans and make them more engaged with the game. This will help in increasing both engagement and viewership and thus act in favor of the growth of the game.
	Promotional Events	Using promotional events include organization competitions for the fans and sports enthusiasts to participate where they will be able to play interactive games against which they will be provided with season tickets. This can also take place with the help of coupon distribution and lucky draws which will make it more interesting for the consumers and thus attract them towards the game (Mishra, 2018). This is also where big names in the sports and entertainment industry come together to act as ambassadors for the game which will help in creating better engagement.
	Mobile applications	This includes developing games in the form of mobile applications which will further generate interest for the game. These apps when made available internationally will help in spreading the knowledge of the game across the globe and hence attract new customers to the game.
Technical	International broadcasting	This will be made possible by selling the rights of the game and making it available to residents outside the country as well as foreign nationals (Navarro-Picado et al. 2022). This will help in spreading the game across domestic boundaries and thus making it more popular.
	Live Streaming	Live streaming will ensure that the game is shown across all major media outlets and thus generate more interest in the game (Xu et al. 2022)

Table 1: Measurement and Evaluation

(Source: Trivedi et al. 2020)

7. Conclusion

It can be concluded from the given paper that the Pro Kabaddi league has already been able to capture a significant part of the market with its viewership being second to that of the Indian Premier League (IPL). However, despite the improvements made in the growth of the league, there is still a significant lack of fans’ engagement with the game with low levels of ticket revenue sales. Hence, through the implementation of the IMC strategy greater engagement can be created for the game making it globally known. The strategy will also effectively help in generating greater revenue for the league and thus make it more competitive when compared to the rest of the sports in the industry.

References

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