MMS715 – Sport Promotions and Public Relations | Assignment Help

Introduction

This promotional plan is focused on North Melbourne Football Club, that competes in the Australian Football League. The club was established in 1869 and is nicknamed as ‘The Kangaroos’ (North Melbourne, 2020 a)). The promotional plan is developed considering a scenario where the club is relocating to Tasmania. This promotional plan analyses the organizational environment to identify opportunities and then several strategies are suggested to capitalize on the opportunities.

The promotion plan has three sections: The first section involves a situational analysis that involves an analysis of the product, competitor, market, consumer, and identification of promotional plans objectives. The second section involves the development of the promotional plan and identification of available IMC avenues with justification. This section will involve breakdown and evaluation of IMC elements, application of IMC with a promotional plan, and outlining how IMC elements can work in synergy to achieve the marketing aim. The third section involves the presentation of actions that must be taken by the organization. This section will involve developing an action plan (bounded by timeline), integration of components, budget for the plan, and measurement of the components.

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Situational Analysis

Product Analysis

  • There are three different membership packages: ‘Marvel Stadium’, ‘Blundstone Arena’, and ‘More Packages’. The club plays its matches in two stadiums and as a result, there are two different packages for each stadium. In the ‘Marvel Stadium’, there are three forms of membership: Reserved Seat, Reserved Bay, and General Admission. In the ‘Blundstone Arena’, there are three forms of membership: Premium Reserved, Reserved Seat, and General Admission. As part of ‘More Packages’, the club offers several membership options: AFLW (Women Team), Junior Membership, Long Distance, and Supporter Membership (North Melbourne, 2020 b)).
  • The packages differ in terms of the seat location, hospitality features, and exclusive offers in merchandising. The premium seats are reserved as part of more expensive membership packages and can cost up to $89 per month (North Melbourne, 2020 b)).

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Competitor Analysis:

The competitor for the club can be divided into three categories: immediate competitors, secondary competitors, and indirect competitors.

  • The immediate competitors of North Melbourne are the other AFL teams as they offer the same product as North Melbourne. Among the 18 AFL team, North Melbourne ranks 15 in the number of memberships: In 2019, the club had over 42,000+ members, however, Richmond had over 103,000 members (Fox Sports, 2019).
  • The secondary competitors of North Melbourne United are other sporting events. While AFL is a domestic league competition, several other sporting events are played at global scale including Cricket, Soccer, and Hockey. OTG (2020) identified that besides AFL, some other popular sports in Australia include Netball, NRL, Cricket, Tennis, Basketball, Soccer, Cycling, and Swimming.
  • The indirect competitors include various forms entertainment including movies, drama, plays, and social media.

Market Trends:

  • The league has low visibility outside Australia and the league is trying to increase its audience base. The league organized an exhibition match in China between Melbourne and Brisbane in 2010 (AAP, 2010).
  • Till 2019, the membership for the league was increasing, as many clubs recorded membership growth in two digits. Of the total 18 clubs, 14 clubs demonstrated growth in membership in 2019 (FoxSports, 2019).
  • However, in 2020, due to COVID-19, the prospects of the league are not encouraging as social distancing is being followed. In the initial days of the pandemic, the plans were to organise the league in empty stadiums, however, the plans were discarded and the league was suspended (GulfNews, 2020).

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Consumer Trends:

  • Although the product is targeted at all age groups, however, the predominant buyers of memberships are adults as they have the disposable income to spend on membership and attending matches.
  • There can be members from various aspects of society; including unmarried, married, family, working-class, middle class, and upper class. The reason it caters to all audience is that it is a sport that can be watched by everyone. However, it is usually observed that the majority of the audience is male.
  • Another key consideration is that different consumers have different expectations: While the middle-class audience would want a value for money, the upper-class audience would want premium features (including access to the locker room and interaction with the team).
  • Sports audience are generally considered to be loyal towards their team and they buy merchandise of the team.
  • In 2019, the membership of the club had crossed 42,000 however currently it has fallen to 37,000 due to the league being suspended due to COVID-19 pandemic (Fox Sports, 2019; North Melbourne, 2020 b)).

Critical Review of Past Promotion:

Although the team has won premiership only 4 times since 1925, with the last win was in 1999, the club has a significance in AFL due to its long history. The past promotion has focussed on highlighting the history of the club. In its earlier days, the club was known as ‘Shinboners’ as the players had a reputation of targeting the shinbones of opposition players. In modern times, the club is known as ‘Kangaroos’, as part of the strategy to create a nation-wide fanbase, by associating the club with something ‘Australian’. The term ‘Shiboners’ is still associated with the club as it reflects the determination and camaraderie of the club and members (North Melbourne, 2020 a)).

The second aspect around which the promotion has been focused on is the guernsey, which since 1925 has consisted of being white and royal blue. The current uniform is manufactured by Canterbury with Mazda and Hello Solar being the sponsors. Many other merchandises are also offered using the same color combination (North Melbourne, 2020 a)).

The third aspect around which the promotion has been focused on is the Good Friday Football. On this day the club plays a match with any other club and part of the money from tickets is donated to charity (North Melbourne, 2020 a)).

 

SWOT Analysis:

MMS715

Promotional Plan Objectives

Based on the situation analysis, the following objectives have been developed.

Organizational Objective: To bring together the ‘Shinboners’ together, so that despite the lack of games due to COVID-19, the members are still engaged.

Marketing Objective: To Rebrand the ‘Kangaroos’ to ‘The Tasmanian Devils’.

IMC Objectives: There are several IMC objectives as mentioned below:

  • Sale Promotion
  • Fan Engagement
  • Advertising Revenue

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References

AAP. (2010). Jurrah stars as Demons win in Shanghai. The Roar. Retrieved from

https://www.theroar.com.au/2010/10/18/jurrah-stars-as-demons-win-in-shanghai/.

Fox Sports. (2019). AFL membership ladder 2019: Carlton’s shock rise, Richmond top the chart, SA clubs drop off. Fox Sports. Retrieved from

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-membership-ladder-2019-carltons-shock-rise-richmond-top-the-chart-sa-clubs-drop-off/news-story/8a5227832e7966699d48c83695ffa9cc.

Gulf News. (2020). Coronavirus: Australian Sports Leagues face Coronavirus Fallout. Gulf News. Retrieved from

https://gulfnews.com/sport/coronavirus-australian-sports-leagues-face-coronavirus-fallout-1.70551630.

North Melbourne. (2020) a). Home. North Melbourne. Retrieved from https://www.nmfc.com.au/.

North Melbourne. (2020) b). Membership. North Melbourne. Retrieved from

https://am.ticketmaster.com/kangaroos/#/.

On the Go Sports. (2020). The 10 Most Popular Sports in Australia. On the Go Sports. Retrieved from

https://www.onthegosports.com.au/news/10-most-popular-sports-australia.