I’ve just arrived in Austin for the South by Southwest conference. I’m very excited to meet all the crazy Internet folks down here and see what everyone’s up to .
Meanwhile, I got a voice mail from a co-worker what wants to know the answer to the following question:
What are the top three strategic trends or changes coming to the sports industry over the next 5 years?
Thought starters:
- merging of sports and entertainment
- trends in corporate marketing
- sponsor activation
- effects of digital and Web content
- globalization of sports
- ambush marketing
I’ve been so focused on the Internet for the past year I’m not sure I have proper perspective to answer this question…except as it relates to digital. (is there anything else?)
Plus, it’s difficult to plan 90 days out, and even more difficult to predict what’s going to happen next week, so this is not an easy question to answer.
I’ll be formulating my thoughts over the next day or so and I’ll share them here…but I’d love to hear from you too. I can’t be expected to know the exact answer…so maybe the wisdom of crowds can do it!
What do YOU think???
Great discussion topic!
Here are my initial thoughts…
- The power of “people brands” (the Beckham effect)
- An increasing number of media outlets
- Non-traditional media sources of information (the power of blogs…Deadspin, etc.)
- Monetization of new media
- The continued search for an effective sponsorship ROI measurement tool
- Sponsorship driving business
- Creativity wins!
- NOW wins!
- WOW wins! (borrowed this one from Tom Peters)
- Clutter in the marketplace
- Telling stories….story lines in general (people are just now catching up with one of ESPN’s best tactics
- many more
That’s just my initial list….there are a ton more.
OK, David. Put on yoru Yoda hat…what are the Top 5?? I’ll take a crack at this myself tomorrow.
Wow, fantastic topic Pat, - where to start….?!
Here are 3 initial suggestions (plus one hopeful wish!):
- Increased need for “added entertainment value” at sports events, with as consumers looking for maximum entertainment for their £ / $. Sports marketers will look to improve the ‘live game experience’, with increased competition from ’stay-home media’ coverage (TV, and YouTube).
- Increasing routes to market for all sports, and a greater fragmentation of media.
- Soccer to grow in prominance and importance in the USA.
- sportsmarketing101 to emerge as the dominant sports marketing blog!
Over the next two weeks I will post a fuller, more considered response at my blog http://www.sportsmarketing101.com
[...] Pat is asking for your opinions on what will be the top three trends in sports marketing in the next 5 years? [...]
Here are two thoughts:
1. For sports outside of NFL, MLB, NBA, NASCAR, etc. it will be imperative to develop and execute niche market strategies using today’s (and tomorrow’s) technology and media outlets instead of relying on things that worked 15 years ago or more and thinking “if only we could get on live broadcast TV…”.
2. For certain sports, it will be important to find the fine line between maximizing the entertainment and revenue value and destroying the sport or completely or alienating the fan base.
“Soccer to grow in prominance and importance in the USA.” could have been said in 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000 or now. It just hasn’t happened and i’m not sure it ever will.
Anyhow top 5
1) Reaching niche markets will be easier and more cost effective to niche brands
2) the long tail of sports - production costs to produce goes down - more sports on tv and web
3) less importance on major media or at least as presently constructed
4) let users pull news, interact with news rather than traditional push strategy(pretty much already getting there)
5) The marrying of internet and TV(ITV or whatever else comes along). Digital rights will mean everything.
And the winner is…thanks, guys, for your comments. It’s great to know what everyone’s thinking. I see several ideas I never thought of and a few I’d been considering. It’s so hard to predict what will truly drive sports marketing into the future. Is there a difference answer to this question depending on whether you work for a sponsor, a team or a league?
[...] I asked readers of this blog for their Top trends. Read the comments on this post to see what others are thinking… Related Posts:Top 3 trends in sports marketing over next 5 years“One Percent” Rule is kicking my buttAboutWhat do we do now that fans are in charge?What is “sports marketing 2.0″? [...]
[...] Here are the comments from Pat’s visitors. Feel free to leave your own below. Filed under MyCokeFest, Sports Marketing, Mission: SEC by Alexander [...]
1. Product: Fashion-Oriented, Entertainment-Oriented
2. Channel:Digital-Oriented
3. Consumer: Segmantation–Emphasizing on high level consumer; Emphasizing on popularity
4. Internationalization marketing. cross-culture tactics.
Hi, just thought I’d mention something very relevant here; the International Sports Marketing Summit in London at the end of May, 2008. This event looks like it will discuss some pretty dynamic issues/problems being faced by marketers in these jaded times…here’s the link to the story:
Sports Marketing Summit on Ticket News
I have an assignment on the most important sports marketing trend of all time and the fad that made the most impact on sports marketing. Anyone have any ideas on where I could start? I am lost on where to even begin my research. Thanks!