Nike Campus Trek

Nike recruiters selected sixty students from MBA programs at Columbia, USC, Virginia, Georgetown, Michigan, Texas, and the University of Oregon to attend their annual campus trek visit last Wednesday. It was a great experience for all of us, and a unique opportunity to connect with employees and recruiters in our specific fields of interest.

8:30 a.m. – We started the morning off right with a light continental breakfast and networking with other MBAs from around the country. Most were interested in marketing, though a fair number were focusing on finance, merchandising, or strategic planning.

9 a.m.— Individually, three executive speakers gave us lessons on Nike culture, history, human resources and retail forecasts.

Nelson Farris, Director of Corporate Education, spoke on the history of Nike, highlighting the accomplishments of Phil Knight, Bill Bowerman, Jeff Johnson, Steve Prefontaine, Michael Jordan, and Carolyn Davidson.

David Ayre, VP of Global Human Resources, talked about Nike culture, goals, and talent opportunities within the company. Particularly of interest was his spiel on developing at least 30 people within the company who could be VPs for any position. How do you succeed at Nike? Be smart. “But if you think you’re the smartest person in the room, you probably aren’t.”

Louis Jordan, CFO of Global Retail, gave us an inside look at some of the goals and revenues of Nike that clearly weren’t meant to be shared outside the room. He did impart some great Nike maxims, like “Remember the Man,” “Be a Sponge,” and “Nike is a Company.”

10:30 a.m.— A panel of Nike MBAs were perhaps the highlight of the trip, talking about the 2-year rotational program, how they found their way to Nike, and how others should proceed if Nike is their dream. Julian Duncan from Global Brand Marketing stole the show, with an impressive background in football, Madden NFL parties, DJing and a lot of humor.

11:30 a.m. — Lunch, not surprisingly, was my favorite part of the trip. I sat next to Jen Jacobs, a nice lady in Brand Marketing, and a bunch of good-natured Texas folks who wanted to know more about the Warsaw program. The lasagna: excellent.

12:15 p.m. — The pouring rain didn’t stop us from enjoying a tour of the Nike campus. What a place! I’m more of a fan of inner-Portland than the suburbs, but you can’t beat the spectacular college-campus feel of the Beaverton location. A blue-line MAX stop nearby is icing on the cake.

Sponsorship Overview

My previous sports marketing terminology post covered some basic definitions of everything from affect transfer to the seven mechanisms of influence in sports sponsorship. This post, while still a cursory glance at sponsorship, lists some principle reasons why companies sponsor teams and events, criteria for choosing what to sponsor, and marketing strategies to pursue in conjunction with sponsorship.

Reasons for sports sponsorship:
· Strengthen customer relationships
· Acquire new customers
· Portray brand as unique or differentiated, relevant, active, relatable, or similarly related to the company value proposition
· Generate advocacy on a targeted tier of the consumer spending pyramid
· Provide incentives for retail distribution channels
· Create awareness and acceptance
· Correlate brand with goodwill and positive emotions of event

Sponsorship criteria:
1. Brand fit
2. Interest
3. Reach
4. Event credibility
5. Risk
6. Activation & implementation difficulty
7. Control by governing body

Integrated Marketing
1. Central marketing theme
2. Member programs
3. Merchant programs
4. Advertising
5. Promotions
6. PR
7. Athlete relations
8. Partner (team/host city/event) presence
9. Onsite activation

Competition Between "Traditional" and "Extreme" Sports

According to a recent SGMA International survey, the popularity of some extreme sports is much higher than many traditional sports. To compete with these adrenaline-sports and stay relevant to young fans, a traditional sports league’s general strategy should be to create a more exhilarant experience. The league should add visual appeal, integrate youth interests and youth brands, and create “extras.”

Many adventure sports—such as surf competitions, snow boarding, and mountain biking—are geared toward television audiences, since watching these events in a stadium setting is difficult. To compete for television viewers, a league should ramp up the visual thrills of its sport. On-screen score boxes with cartoons can add excitement, while virtual confetti and animated dueling robots are more likely to keep young people interested and engaged.

Visual appeal is not limited to television audiences. In-stadium, a sports league can create thrills by adding special-effects lighting, improved sound systems, and video boards in high-definition. The new cricket league, Twenty20, has gone further, changing uniforms, adding firework displays to the stadium experience, and dressing cheerleaders in sports bras.

Beyond visual appeal, a sports league needs to integrate youth interests and brands to compete against adrenaline-sports. By creating a presence on the Internet or in the world of video games that allows for a high level of interaction, leagues can construct a social milieu that appeals to a media-savvy generation while also branding their sport as “cool.” The NBA’s creation of a headquarters in Second Life is just one example of how a league can use online communities to generate interest.

And, although it’s understandable why some leagues choose large, unglamorous corporate sponsors (i.e. the NHL and Scotiabank, and MLB and Bank of America) these sponsors can put off young viewers. Better sponsorship choices include Sony Playstation and Mountain Dew: the sponsors of kiteboarding, wakeskating, longboarding, and other non-traditional sports.

Finally, adrenaline sports often emphasize style over statistics. For that reason, it’s important for a league to adopt events, stunts, or individual performances outside the scope of regular competition. Consider the slam dunk contest: this NBA competition allows participants a forum for individuality and style. It also appeals to a basketball subculture by showcasing moves and behavior not generally seen on the court. Similarly, all-star games, three-point contests, and field-goal competitions highlight the individual athlete over the team and can help leagues compete with sports that rely on freestyle play, tricks, and an alternative image.

Though a traditional league would benefit from a more exciting and relevant fan experience, it should be wary of upsetting fans who rely on the sport’s history and traditions. To avoid becoming another XFL, a league should court youth viewers without resorting to major format shifts, gratuitous behavior, or iconoclastic rule changes. If a traditional league can adapt to changing interests and technologies without isolating its core fan base, the league can compete with adrenaline-sports and stay relevant to a new generation.

[This post derives from my entrance essay to the Warsaw MBA program, originally written September 2007.]

Sports Book Trailers

So many of the videos seen on the Internet are those viral videos with funny cats or Saturday Night Live clips that people share over email or IM. But for those of us who want to use Internet videos for promotions, the Internet is becoming a friendlier place to raise awareness using the important video medium.



I made the above video for a book about football in Alaska. It took only a couple of hours using the Ken Burns effect on iMovie, the simplest video editing program I know of.

Facebook App -- Fan Page

The Facebook App I wrote about last time is working and in full-gear. Every day roughly 40 new users upload the application to track their favorite Olympic sports. Unfortunately, the application usage has grown linearly, rather than exponentially as we'd hoped, but there are some bright spots.

One of these bright spots is the fan page. Every application has a fan page--those users who are so pleased with the application that they become "fans." Usually this is a relatively minor percentage of overall users. For example, the Michigan St. Football Application has more than 6,000 users, but only 150 fans. Our Olympic Games 2008 application has only 200 users so far, but 44 fans.

Facebook, for all its flaws, allows for some pretty neat data collection. The fan page enables us to run numbers on even a relatively modest sample size, and to come up with some neat findings.

The table to the left, for example, shows the gender and age range of the fans page. It's startling to see that more of our Olympic Games Application fans are women rather than men. And, looking at the ages, 40% are minors.

It would be interesting to compare these numbers with Facebook's overall demographics or the Neilsen rating demographics for the Beijing Olympics on NBC. My guess is these numbers are much closer to the former group than the latter.

In an unrelated surprise: the 44 fans of the application aren't just Americans. There are users from Switzerland, New Zealand, China, Canada, Australia, Morocco, England, Lebanon, and elsewhere.

Olympics Facebook Application

I'm happy to announce that the Facebook application I created (with George Mandis of Snaptortoise) is now up-and-running.

Olympic Games 2008 is a fun way to track medal standings by country, rank, or event. And though we don't have high usage numbers yet, this project has taught me a lot about the opportunities and challenges surrounding the promotion of a Facebook application. I've put links on content-sharing sites like Digg and Reddit, posted on group forums like Yahoo groups and Tribe, and mentioned it on StumbleUpon. So far, my best luck has come directly from Facebook, where friends and friends-of-friends have helped our little sports app take off.

The best part of this experiment has been what I've learned about running a project that unfolds in real time. If Uzbekistan gets a medal and we don't have a flag ready for that country, or there's a tie for bronze, we need to adapt quickly or lose viewers.

The hardest part of this project has been entering in stats for each event. Was there a way to automate this? Next time I'm looking for an open source data feed.

Sports Terminology

Below is a compilation of sports business terminology.

Activation – The act of leveraging sponsorship to augment the impact on the target audience. For example, during Visa's recent sponsorship of the Olympic Games they spent $3 to $4 on marketing for every dollar spent on acquiring sponsorship rights (not including media buy).

Affect Transfer in Sponsorship – A non-conscious connection in which positive feelings for a sporting event or property transfers to a brand. For example, "I love the NFL so I love Pepsi." (The second mechanism of influence in sports sponsorship.) (Pracejus, 2004)

Affiliation in Sponsorship – Consumers define themselves in part by their memberships and affiliations to various social groups, so highly identified fans see themselves as "members" of the team and act in ways to support the team. (The fourth mechanism of influence in sports sponsorship.) (Pracejus, 2004)

Ambush Marketing – A marketing campaign by an organization with the goal of associating themselves indirectly with a sports event in order to gain the recognition and benefits associated with being an official sponsor (Sandler & Shani, 1989). An example of ambush marketing took place in the 2000 Sydney Olympics when Qantas Airlines used the slogan, "The Spirit of Australia" in imitation of the games’ slogan "Share the Spirit," despite Ansett Air being the official sponsor.

BIRGing – Basking In Reflected Glory. When a fan takes credit for a team’s success.

Blasting – A defensive mechanism similar to CORFing wherein a fan will attribute negative characteristics to the opposition. For example, after a loss to the Pistons, a Blazer’s fan might say, “The Pistons are from dilapidated Detroit, whereas the Blazers (and I) are from progressive Portland.”

Branding – The effort of distinguishing one product or service from a competitor’s product or service. Factors of branding include Brand Awareness (getting customers to recognize your sport product), Brand Image (building a customer’s belief in the product), Brand Equity (the value the brand adds), and Brand Loyalty (consistent preference of a brand).

Communication Communities in Sports – A segmentation of those who watch sports. The three Communication Communities proposed by Shoham & Kahle (1996) breaks the market into three groups:

1. Those who watch live sporting events (spectators)


2. Those who watch sports on TV (viewers)


3. Those who read about sports (readers)

Consumption Communities in Sports – A segmentation of those who participate in sports. The three consumption communities proposed by Shoham & Kahle (1996) breaks the market into three groups:

1. Those who participate in competitive sports


2. Those who participate in fitness sports


3. Those who participate in nature sports

CORFing – Cutting Off Respective Failure. When a fan distances himself from his team’s failure or loss.

Endorsement – The use of a (sports) celebrity’s name, likeness, or autograph in connection with the sale or promotion of a product or service. Fans might chose to buy the product in order to emulate the celebrity, in what is sometimes called “image transfer.” (Gardiner, 2006)

Event Management – The planning, organization, delivering, and management of an event. Typical tasks include management of ticket sales, sponsors, performers, permits, promotions, and budgets.

Experiential Consumption – When the consumer takes on an active role in the production and delivery of the consumption experience. Sports spectators are often active in their consumption of their experience, such as those who feel drained after watching a game or match. (Morgan & Summers, 2005)

Extreme Sports – Also called “Adrenaline Sports,” “Action Sports,” and “Adventure Sports,” these are sports with a perceived level of danger that often focus on performing tricks or stunts, and which are geared toward the individual rather than a team. The adherents of Extreme Sports are perceived to reject traditional marketing approaches. The X Games and Gravity Games are both examples of multi-sport events that feature extreme sports.

Fan Equity – What a fan believes he deserves for his loyalty. Also, the emotional bond that links a fan to a team. (McDonald & Milne, 1999)

Image Transfer in Sponsorship – The abstract beliefs about a property that transfer to a sponsor. An example of this is when a consumer feels that the personality of a brand takes on the personality of a property—as in Ironman watches (brand) taking on the toughness of an Olympic decathlon (property). Moderating variables include degree of similarity, level of sponsorship, event frequency, and product involvement. (The third mechanism of influence in sports sponsorship.) (Pracejus, 2004)

Implied Endorsement in Sponsorship – This mechanism requires the consumer to infer that the property is somehow endorsing the brand. Athletes are a primary example of this, as in: "If Greg Oden is wearing those shoes then I'll jump higher if I wear them too." (The sixth mechanism of influence in sports sponsorship.) (Pracejus, 2004)

Implied Size in Sponsorship – The perceived size of an event selected for sponsorship is a signal of the company's financial strength. Implied size acts as a heuristic (mental shortcut) similar to "price equals quality." (The fifth mechanism of influence in sports sponsorship.) (Pracejus, 2004)

Licensing – The method of exploiting intellectual property by transferring the rights of use to a third party without the transfer of ownership. In sports this often means the use of a logo or trademark on merchandise, such as the use of a team-specific logo on a credit card.

Marketing Sports – Marketing a sports good or service directly to sports consumers. Selling tickets is a prime example of this.

Marketing Through Sports – Using a sports affiliation to market non-sport goods and services. Selling stadium naming rights is an example of this kind of marketing, and should not be confused with licensing.

Narrowcasting – Media messages directed at specific segments of the population defined by values, preferences, or demographics. Sports marketing strategists attempt to distinguish and separate the large groups of consumers that are brought together through sports.

Olympic Effect, The – An economic boom that affects the hosting city and country of the Olympic games. Examples of this include increased housing prices in London years before the 2012 games, and the creation of jobs brought on by the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

Parasitism in Sports – The act of taking advantage of another’s representation without authorization. For example, in 1977 the state of Delaware created a lottery based on the results of NFL games without permission from the league. (Moorman & Greenwell, 2005)

Primary Sports Roles – Those who participate in sports. (See Consumption Communities in Sports.) This is also called “direct involvement.”

Reciprocity in Sponsorship – The message of reciprocity is that the sponsor supports an event an individual consumer cares about, so the consumer will go out of his way to support the sponsor by purchasing the sponsor's product. (The seventh mechanism of influence in sports sponsorship.) (Pracejus, 2004)

Relatedness in Sponsorship – The closer the relationship between properties and sponsoring companies, the easier it is for consumers to recall the sponsoring company's brand. For example, it is easier to remember that Speedo sponsored Olympic swimming than it would be to remember Coca Cola's sponsorship of the same property. (Pracejus, 2004)

Secondary Sports Roles – Those who act as listeners, readers, spectators, or viewers of sports. (See Communication Communities in Sports.) This is also called “indirect involvement.”

Seven Mechanisms of Influence in Sports Sponsorship – The seven mechanisms through which sponsorship can influence consumers. Proposed by John W. Pracejus, the mechanisms that sponsorship influences brand equity and brand positioning are, in order of cognitive elaboration needed: Simple Awareness, Affect Transfer, Image Transfer, Affiliation, Implied Size, Implied Endorsement, and Reciprocity. (Pracejus, 2004)

Simple Awareness in Sponsorship – The awareness of a brand's existence, or initial exposure to a brand. (The first mechanism of influence in sports sponsorship.) (Pracejus, 2004)

Sponsorship – A deal under which a sponsor pays a sport entity (athlete, event, league, or team) to promote the sponsor’s product or organization. The sport entity also often delivers advertising space and some level of exclusivity. (Andreff & Szymanski, 2006)

Sponsorship Recall – The recognition of a company's role as a sponsor. In a practical application: a non-leading brand must be prepared to spend more money than a leading brand to achieve high sponsorship recall. (Pracejus, 2004)

Works Cited

Andreff, W. & Szymanski, S. “Sponsorship, in Handbook on the Economics of Sport.” Edward Elgar Publishing, 2006. p 49.

Gardiner, S. “Sports Law.” Routledge Cavendish, 2006. p 433.

McDonald, M.A. & Milne, G.A. “Cases in Sports Marketing.” Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 1999. p 6.

Moorman, A. M. & Greenwell, T. C. “An examination of consumer perceptions of ambush marketing practices.” Journal of Legal Aspects of Sport, 2005. p 191.

Morgan, M..J.J & Summers, J. “Sports Marketing.” Thomson Learning Nelson, 2005. p 16.

Sandler, D.M. & Shani, D. “Olympic Sponsorship vs. ‘Ambush’ Marketing: who gets the Gold.” Journal of Advertising Research, August/September 1989, Cambridge University Press. p 9.

Pracejus, J. Edited by Kahle, L.R. & Riley, C. “Sports Marketing and the Psychology of Marketing Communication.” Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2004. p 175-186.

Works Consulted

Kobel, P. “International Report on Question B : Ambush Marketing Too Smart to Be Good ? Should Certain Ambush Marketing Practices Be Declared Illegal and If Yes, Which Ones and Under What Conditions?” International League of Competition Law. Accessed January 3, 2008.