The Elusive Fan: Reinventing Sports in a Crowded Marketplace by Irving Rein, Philip Kotler, Ben Shields
Is Sports Management Theory really different from simple run-of-the-mill Management Theory? Do the underlying principles for attracting and then retaining consumers differ in the world of sports versus soaps? Is cultivating and then reinventing a sports brand in need of unique frameworks and checklists as if not enough have made their way into presentations and reports through standard MBA marketing courses?
In a few lines towards the end of “The Elusive Fan - Reinventing Sports In A Crowded Marketplace”, the authors neatly present the case for the relevance of their book and why the Sports Industry as a whole is looking at some unique issues and hence needs little twists in its thinking caps that decision makers in other industries do not face. “...segmentation in sports often presents a dilemma that other industries do not typically face. Inherent in many sports brands is the democratic ideal that everyone should be able to participate, go to the games, and share in the home team’s fortunes and failures. The problem is that, while it is essential to make a profit, much of a sports brand’s ability to function in the community is based on the goodwill and civic obligations of the sport.” The implication of such a reality as they state is that “Sports brands must not only segment and target desirable audiences but they must be willing to manage unprofitable relationships.”
Having said that, there is no denying the significant areas of overlap in managing a sports business as compared to any other business. Hence, any textbook with a focus on the Sports Industry would also be applicable in large doses for any executive, with the added advantage of having ‘you-can’t-put-me-down’ interest levels for the reader, especially if you are one of those who get turned on by the talks of balls and high on visualisations of grass fields. Of course, if the book is well-written and flows easily, a text book may end up feeling like a thriller with new secrets revealed as each page is flipped.
Summary
The following summary is taken from the website for the book: http://www.theelusivefan.com/about.html
The Elusive Fan is a groundbreaking guide to engaging and retaining today’s fragmented, ever-shifting, and demanding sports fans.
The sports industry is booming like never before. At all levels, from professional and high school to college and club, revenues are reaching previously unimaginable heights. Sports are now a multi-billion dollar global business that is on the cutting-edge of entertainment, new media technology, and communication and marketing synergies. And the industry will only continue to grow by leaps and bounds into the foreseeable future.
The bad news: Competing for sports fans has never been more intense and uncertain.
World-renowned communication expert Irving Rein, international marketing guru Philip Kotler, and communication specialist Ben Shields explore the many challenges facing sports today and offer their expert analysis of the current and emerging market trends that are making it so difficult to capture the hearts and minds of today’s sports fans. Using a wide mix of case studies from many of today’s most successful sports leagues, teams, stars, and facilities, they show how you can:
- Transform sports products into strong brands that transcend winning and losing
- Integrate new technologies to engage fans and maximize revenue
- Build star-powered attractions to drive sports brands
- Develop enduring connections with fan markets
- Anticipate and quickly respond to the competitive and cultural trends that affect the sports marketplace
- Reconnect fans through a number of innovative strategies
Authors Rein, Kotler, and Shields deliver an innovative new business model centered squarely on fan satisfaction and retention. They give you the tools for successfully transforming your sports product into an enduring brand, immune to the vagaries of winning and losing—flexible enterprises that quickly adapt to changing market conditions and consistently deliver a unique and satisfying sports experience.
Whether you are a decision maker for a sports team or league on the professional, college, or high school level, a marketer, advertiser, or sponsor of a sports product, an athlete looking to break out into new markets, a business leader searching for clues to emerging trends, or a fan who is interested in the past, present, and potential future of the sports business, this book is a must-read.
Combining expert analysis with field-tested strategies for winning hearts and minds, The Elusive Fan is your guide to surviving and thriving in today’s fragmented, ever-widening world of sports.
What’s good about the book?
- Amidst situational analysis and problem solving frameworks and checklists, you are never far away from a real-life case illustration. A sports story popping up every few lines holds interest easily and makes the book easy, fun and fast to read.
- While practising managers rarely define strategy while consulting their dusty textbooks from B-School, good books on management theory usually have the art of neatly summing up actual management behavior in a structured framework. The Elusive Fan seems developed around how sports brands and brand managers behave in circumstances and not as a lecture on how they should behave.
- The breadth of sports covered through case studies and examples is impressive. While most references are to American sports, understandably and fairly so, there is enough to go around from the rest of the world to make the book globally relevant. Beckham is there and so is Benefica, Sania and Sharapova illustrate points effectively and cricket and its emergence as a credible player in world sports is acknowledged.
- With little known tales of famous people and quirky stories about little known people, the book arms its reader with great material to be used in water-cooler discussions, party banter or heated sports debates. For example the story of Gorgeous George, the pro wrestler who first positioned himself as quirky, unconventional and with heavy undertones of sexuality in his brand, much before Beckham took his first steps. Or how the 1910 boxing showdown between the white Jim Jeffries and the black Jack Johnson led to racial tensions and caused riots all over America. There are tons of them inside and the reader may come out on the other side of the book appearing very knowledgeable indeed.
What’s not so good about the book?
- The authors emphatically make the point that the fan connection cannot be dependent upon performance on the field and poor on-field performance should not necessarily lead to a drop in fan interest. They also provide interesting alternative strategies for building sports brands (the branded facility, the branded management etc.). However, while theoretically they make a valid point about attempting to keep the popularity of a sports brand immune from on-field performance, they are rarely able to convince us that this has been achieved in practice with good effect. In fact they acknowledge ‘underperformance’ as one of the major factors that leads to the decline of a sports brand and leave one a little unconvinced by their argument that lowering fan expectation is perhaps a good way to avoid letting the sports brand underperform.
- Sometimes the reader may struggle a bit in being convinced that a case study or a real-life illustration successfully backs the point being made. This is a little harsh as it does not happen too frequently but it is true that you may at times be left with a feeling that a better story could have done the job better. For example, the case of the Daytona International Speedway as a branded facility that successfully transformed its brand when faced with competition, leaves you unconvinced that a Fan Zone with higher priced tickets was the answer to all the challenges that the venue faced that the authors themselves have listed down.
- One secondary yet important failing of the book may be that it fails to leave its readers with sports specific jargon and terminology. For good or bad, jargon is an important part of an executive’s existence in this Dilbert world and terms like Brand Connectors or Brand Transformation are hardly going to be enough returns for those who have maintained their habit of reading only to impress people in conference rooms.
Who is the book for?
What’s fascinating about a subject like sports is that one need not be associated with the industry to enjoy a well written book on sports. And The Elusive Fan may successfully qualify as a book that readers across segments would enjoy.
- Sports Industry Executives - Will find this very handy in not just enhancing their knowledge but also as a source of reference when faced with specific challenges. Turning to the right page may be a catalyst towards finding the right approach to tackling the problem.
- Marketing and Strategy Managers - Will find it a good read and will help them brush up their basics
- Management Students - Of sports management programs will definitely love it. However, it may lie somewhere in the middle for them. If they have already done brand management courses, a lot of the concepts will seem repeated. On the other hand this book should not be the only instruction received in the overall subject of brand management.
- Sports Enthusiasts - Should enjoy it as the theory never gets overbearing and most of the book reads like a collection of sports stories.
Is it relevant for Indian Sports?
If we look at the maturity of sports as an industry in India, then in spite of IPL and its global renown, it would not be difficult to acknowledge that India has a long way to go. So how relevant can a book that largely takes a world view of the problems that are faced by sports in the USA be for India?
The answer is that it is completely and truly relevant. Where else are sports fans as elusive as they are here? In spite of the love for cricket, we only generate crowds for international games and now the IPL while almost all domestic cricket passes by unwatched and unnoticed. Let’s not even get started with other sports.
The challenge is to analyze our situation correctly and pick up the right tools to address our problems. For example, is the first step required in transforming some of our sports properties correct benchmarking? I have attended some sports events locally and it is clear that the organizers aspire for nothing more than a game taking place. There is rarely thought or desire to attract any kind of an audience for the event. Maybe, as a first step some of these organizers have to dream of filling in the stands and have a vision of how they want their event to be consumed. Maybe they need to tell themselves that they want to make the state Hockey Super Division league at least 30% as popular as the I-League and then the rest would follow.
India suffers from the Elusive Player syndrome as much as it suffers from elusive fans and if our sports are to be fixed, challenges will have to be addressed simultaneously on many fronts. Each component of the industry has to identify its own targets, problems and solutions to overcoming the problems. A reading of The Elusive Fan may just help turn some thoughts in the right direction.
No comments:
Post a Comment