Sports Marketing 2.0 | Pat Coyle

How will blogs and social networks change the lives of sports fans? What can sponsor brands and sports teams do to harness new communication technology (media channels) to increase fan loyalty and utlimately make more money? What challenges and risks must we (teams and sponsors) face and what new decisions will we need to make in order to capitalize on new opportunties brought on by the changing media landscape?

This blog will chronicle the sports marketing realm. We’ll explore case studies, new gadgets, research and more. Along the way we’ll pay close attention to fans, who are our customers and our audiences. We’ll follow the exploits of brands, who are our sponsors, as they seek to leverage sports entities in order to gain market share; and we will discuss what teams are doing (or could be doing) to cement the bond between the fan and the team - as well as the fan and the sponsor brand.

As we go along, we’ll pay close attention to technology as it influences and changes the media playing field and the lives of fans, teams and sponsor brands. We’ll chronicle change. We’ll even make some predictions. We’ll test hypotheses and publish our results (both successes and failures) in hopes that our readers might learn along with us - and join us in conversation - so that we might embrace change and improve our circumstances.

Change is difficult, especially when you’re having success. Yet improvement is impossible without change. And as technology continues to evolve, change (or the need for change at least) is coming faster and faster. I’m not interested in change just for the sake of change. Rather, I am resolved to change as necessary so that I might continuously improve. If you feel the same way, then you’re probably going to enjoy reading (and contributing to) this blog!

OK. Initial post complete. Now let’s get out of the clouds and into specifics.