This is the third in a series of posts reporting on the Accelerated Sports Management Program run by Infront Consulting and Stride Sports Management.
The latest lecture concluded the subject of Media, Marketing and Endorsements. The course is held at three different locations each week, so I decided to attend the lecture at Whitten Oval instead of the usual AAMI Park.
This segment was held the day after the Super Bowl, so the first part of the day was spent reviewing Super Bowl ads. Taking the analytic view, we discussed the target demographic for certain ads. The task was then given to look at it from an Australian point of view, and come up with a half time ad concept for the AFL Grand Final.
The first guest of the day was Professional Netballer Bianca Chatfield. Bianca is one of top players of the game, and therefore has a larger share in media and endorsements than your average netballer. Despite Netball having the highest participation rate for females in Australia, the league operates as semi-professional. Only a handful of players earn enough money from the game to sustain a living.
Bianca first spoke about an incident that happened leading up to the 2010 Commonwealth Games, when she was not selected for the national team. The best thing an athlete can do is take a breath and think before lashing out in a situation like this, and Bianca did just that. As a writer for a newspaper, she was able to tell her own story and control the message that was sent out.
Bianca is hoping to contribute to the game post-retirement, including working with the league's Players Association.
After a quick session on Organisational Structure and Budgeting, the lecture focused on Culture and Branding. Living in the sports capital of the world (Melbourne), we are immersed in sport from an early age. However, looking at other cultures, it is easy to see that there is no rule of thumb when defining how sport is relateable to different markets. Taking the example of the new Super Rugby franchise Melbourne Rebels, we looked at how difficult it is to launch a new team, especially one in such a competitive marketplace. Distinguishing your brand from others is just as important in sport as it is in other industries.
The last special guest was Darren from PMY Consulting, who discussed what the company does and what is needed to be taken in to account when marrying brands with sports properties, such as events or TV rights.
The next post will be the final in the series, which will be the conclusion of the subject of Negoiation and Industrial Relations.