Relay Insights: Profiling the Female Super Bowl and Olympics Fan February 10, 2010
Posted by pknox in : Uncategorized , 300commentsOn Friday evening, NBC will broadcast the Opening Ceremonies of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. Together with Sunday’s Super Bowl it marks the second high profile sports telecast in a span of a week.
In addition to their proximity on the calendar, these two events also share the distinction of having two of the largest female fan bases in the U.S.
According to Simmons Consumer Research, 48.6 million women 18+ are fans of the Winter Olympics, while 35.3 million women are fans of the NFL (the only sport to boast more female fans is the Summer Olympics with 51.9 million). Nearly half of the Winter Olympics total fan base (49.4 %) in the U.S. is female, compared with 37.9 % of NFL fans.
Nielsen reported that last year’s Super Bowl telecast averaged 38.3 million female viewers, the most for any TV program since 38.6 million women watched the 1994 Winter Olympics figure skating competition, and the third-largest female viewership since Nielsen starting tracking female viewership in 1991. Nielsen estimates that Sunday’s broadcast of Super Bowl XLIV boasted an average audience of 106.5 million U.S. viewers, meaning the broadcast likely attracted an average audience of more than 40 million female viewers.
In contrast, last year’s Academy Awards averaged a total of 36.3 million viewers, an estimated 22 million of those being women.
Research from Simmons also indicates that a large percentage of these two groups of female sports fans (a total of 25.2 million women or 22.1 % of all U.S. women 18+) consider themselves fans of both the NFL and Winter Olympics.
So, who is this female sports fan who we presume will watch both of this week’s broadcasts?
Well, she’s more likely to be between the ages of 35-44 (20.1 %, index of 110), white (83.1 %, 107) and a parent (58.3 %, index of 108).
This female fan is also highly educated (she is 43 % more likely than a member of the general public to be a college graduate and 28 % more likely to have attended graduate school), more likely to be married (55.46 %) and more likely to have a household income over $100,000 (33.7 %, an index of 125).
In terms of brand preference, this fan prefers Diet Coke to Diet Pepsi, is more likely to carry a Motorola than a Samsung phone, more likely to use Verizon or AT&T than Sprint and prefers Coors Light to Bud Light.
So what else should marketers know about how to engage this group of more than 25 million women?
Here are a few tips:
This female fan likes commercials that make her laugh (80.0 % agree with statement, 120 index), always looks for special offers (72.9 %, 124 index), doesn’t mind brand name products in her favorite TV shows (60.7 %, 120 index) and often notices ads on billboards (62.1 %, 129 index).
She is also more likely than a member of the general public to be drawn to stores she doesn’t shop by coupons (134 index), buy magazines (132), read a newspaper most days (123) and rely on the internet for information (123).
Will marketers heed these suggestions to engage the female sports fan? Tune in Friday to find out.
Research Sources: Experian Simmons NCS/NHCS Summer 2009 Study and The Nielsen Company
We are Relay Worldwide.
Our mission and goal is to make brands a more meaningful part of people’s lives. As experts in brand consulting, sponsorships, lifestyle and experiential marketing, we use relevant insights to create real connections with people where they live, work and play. We are a part of the Publicis Groupe family and we serve a diverse roster of brands including Coca-Cola, Walgreens, PayPal, Sharp Electronics, Kashi and Beam Global Spirits & Wine.
Contact us anytime, follow us on Twitteror visit us at our new website: www.relayworldwide.com
The NBA in India February 6, 2010
Posted by Michael McCarthy in : Uncategorized , 1,329commentsOver winter break, I had the opportunity to go to India with the Business School to study Indian business and culture. While in Chennai and Madurai, we were able to visit the Chennai Open, the tennis tour event, and take part in some Indian sporting culture by playing cricket and kabbadi. As someone interested in the NBA, it was noticeable how absent basketball was. Besides a random Bobcats-Knicks game on TV and two courts (with no one on them), there was no basketball to be found. As the NBA begins to promote the game in India, it will be interesting to see how well it catches on with the general public. The NBA has already launched an NBA India web site, to help promote the game there and plans to open an office in the future. Will the NBA be successful in India? There are reasons to be optimistic.
With India’s economy growing, the culture of India has been changing. The younger generation is more urban and western in culture. This generation is breaking from the traditions of the older generations, such as arraigned marriages and clothing options. This generation also has higher incomes, due to many countries looking to India for talent and customers. With this growing income will come a larger piece of entertainment spending. If the NBA positions itself correctly, it can capture some of this new market.
India already has a large sports spectator base with cricket. Cricket is by far the most popular sport in India. In 2008, the Indian Premier League was established, based on the Twenty20 style of cricket. This league has been very popular, since it condenses a cricket game, which previously could take days, into a few hours. The question is which sport will become number two?
The NBA’s biggest competitor in this would seem to be soccer. As noted in Slam Magazine, The English Premier League has started to gather momentum in India, along with other top European leagues. In my time there, a number of stores were filled with international soccer jerseys.
The key to which sport becomes number two may be which sport produces the first Indian star. Two markets similar to India for basketball would be China and Brazil. China is similar due to the large number of people and the growing economy, allowing a new middle class to afford to watch and play the game. Brazil is similar in that one sport was dominant (soccer) and basketball was able to gain a foothold as a strong secondary sport. However, both China and Brazil had something India does not have yet: a national star. In China, that is Yao Ming, whose jump to the NBA has made the China market much more accessible and has prompted much growth in basketball participation among youths. In Brazil, the star was Oscar Schmidt. His playing years in the 80’s and 90’s made Brazil a strong international team, and led many youths to play including Nene Hilario and Leandro Barbosa. Therefore, the key to the NBA’s success may be to cultivate a strong playing culture, in order to produce a star that will attract the Indian audience.
Next week, I will look at the New Jersey Nets marketing campaign for the year.
Relay Insights: Five Ways to Drive Sponsorship Value in Today’s Economy February 5, 2010
Posted by pknox in : Uncategorized , 16commentsIn this ongoing environment of economic uncertainty, many companies are reviewing their sponsorship investments as part of an overall audit of marketing spending. However, the current business landscape also presents a new opportunity to work with partners to evaluate key sponsorship provisions, fine tune existing portfolios and ensure that any new sponsorship investments work hard to meet business objectives.
Here’s a look at five areas where brands can really move the needle for maximizing value in their partnership agreements:
1. Leverage the flexibility the market has afforded
Gone are the days when properties can insist on multi-year commitments in order to attract sponsors into the fold. The recent announcement that Papa John’s has signed a short-term partnership with the National Football League to serve as the “Official Pizza Sponsor” of Super Bowl XLIV is yet another example of sponsors having the flexibility to leverage national properties during shorter promotional windows. Over the past two years the NFL has inked similar partnerships with KFC, IHOP and McDonald’s, who will be the Presenting Sponsor of this year’s Pro Bowl, demonstrating that even heavyweights like the NFL are more willing than ever to be flexible. While you’re at it, negotiate in the flexibility to modify contractual elements that may not be working as hard as you expected.
2. Reconsider exclusivity
Ask yourself if paying for exclusivity is really necessary. While exclusivity does have a critical value in some product categories where it’s an important element for selling in programs to retailers or other channel partners, many brands continue paying a premium for exclusivity when that status has declining value in a cluttered sponsorship world. Make sure you are clear about the role of exclusivity in making your sponsorships perform.
3. Require activation rights and property assistance
Fans need reasons to spend their limited disposable income on your product or service, and one of the best ways to explain those reasons is through a meaningful one-on-one interaction. Work with properties to repurpose passive sponsorship elements (e.g. program ads or concourse signage) into ways that your brand can have a real, person-to-person conversation with fans about your product or offering.
4. Beware of “escalators”
Many properties have historically made annual price “escalators” a standard element in sponsorship agreements. These automatic increases assume sponsorship value goes up each year regardless of any other factors (attendance, your sales, the economy, etc). Brands should be wary of such clauses, especially if these increases aren’t tied to specific performance metrics being met by the property. Similarly, the old policy of charging additional fees for post-season rights should also be resisted.
5. Demand accountability
Remember, the balance of power is now with the brands, so demand that properties be accountable for both program execution and property performance along key metrics such as attendance, brand interactions, TV ratings and web traffic.
We are Relay Worldwide.
Our mission and goal is to make brands a more meaningful part of people’s lives. As experts in brand consulting, sponsorships, lifestyle and experiential marketing, we use relevant insights to create real connections with people where they live, work and play. We are a part of the Publicis Groupe family and we serve a diverse roster of brands including Coca-Cola, Walgreens, PayPal, Sharp Electronics, Kashi and Beam Global Spirits & Wine.
Contact us anytime, follow us on Twitteror visit us at our new website: www.relayworldwide.com