Sports and the Business World Essay -- essays research papers

Sports and the Business World   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the wide world of sports, teams will try and find a way to better market themselves in the nation to make more revenue. There are many ways to market your team but in the newer generation teams have been taking a different approach. Most teams will advertise there big sports star in trying to have people buy there gear, buy tickets, or simply support their team. But the most effective way to market your team is getting to the kids first. In advertising for a younger generation, you will tie the kids in more at an earlier age and hopefully will stay with the team throughout the years.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Reaching tomorrow’s fans, teams seek long-term benefits from marketing to kids and teens. Youth Marketing is one of the most popular ways that sports are using to market their teams. Television has become the main source of marketing pro teams, as some teams have their own T.V show. The New York Jets launched â€Å"Generation Jets,† a weekly half-hour show for children that uses animated characters, Jets players and New York landmarks to teach life lessons. A few of the lessons featured in season one-preparation, patience, and faith- might also be the keys to success for pro teams that are marketing to kids and teenagers. In airing this show the Jets targeted kids six to eleven years old, in hoping that the kids would watch it before they realize what’s cool. â€Å"Generation Jets† is more than a TV show, it became the opening for a comprehensive kids marketing effort that has seen the team launch a dedicated Web site, create themed mer chandise, and re-brand its community relations activities and kids club. Case in point: Like many teams, the Arizona Cardinals have a kids club through which members receive specially created newsletters and team merchandise. Many marketers figure that kids clubs are a sort of necessary evil, a way to create some connection with children and teenagers who probably aren’t going to buy full-price tickets for years to come.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  For pro teams, getting fans while they’re still young is probably the most important now than ever because of well-established competing forces like the Internet, video games and action sports. The way teams are going about it, varies from team to team. The range of tactics includes everything from scheduling ... ...g to attract four to five year olds. To attract those youngsters, Reebok markets kids-only for kids’ only styles, creates kid targeted retail displays and steals a few tricks from kid’s breakfast cereal. Reeboks main focus is it tries to mirror its kid targeted advertising with retail displays to help young kids make the connection from TV spots to the product in stores. Sales at stores with those displays consistently outstrip sales at merchants without them. On the other hand Nike which is a high profile athletic apparel and footwear company was having trouble positioning themselves successfully with youths. The youths have been more attracted to newer brands such as Volcom or old school with Adidas that is making a comeback because kids watch more and more TV and extreme sports are becoming more and more popular each day. In trying to get the kids back to supporting NIKE, NIKE came out with a contest that had a youths compete in skate and bike jumping. At this event the kids were video taped and the best ones moved on. Also, NIKE was giving out their branded materials in seeking to get the consumer back. This event was highly attended and NIKE was able to increase its brand.