This is the first blog I have ever written, and I have to say it was a great experience. Thank you Dr. Machin for pushing our boundaries in the course. She has done an excellent job of forcing us (students) out of our MBA comfort zone in order to better understand marketing. It has been an excellent way to cap off marketing.
In terms of the NFL, I will honestly look at the games very differently. I now notice the little pins or banners that hang in the background. I also appreciate the linkage that they are attempting to create. In my mind, the NFL will continue to be the leading sport in America, and I think they have the ability to grow their fan base here through new innovations, as well as contend for overseas fans.
Friday, December 19, 2014
Thursday, December 18, 2014
NFL's Continuos Innovation
How do you continue to innovate a game that has been relatively the same for over a century? Ask the NFL, they can practically showcase Nathan Furr and Jeff Dyer's concepts from The Innovator's Method.
Once again, I believe the NFL can continually quick test its ideas across the 32 teams. Each team acts as its own profit and loss center, and thus each has it's own ability to market and grow. The big advantage of this is the NFL can see what actions or ideas are working in one area and begin to move them to another.
For instance, in 1974 the Pittsburgh Steeler fans created the idea of the Terrible Towel. This simple little rag became a symbol for the team to rally behind. Now, you can go to every single NFL stadium and purchase one of these towels. Similarly, the NFL had been started as a sports business, not necessarily a pop culture venue. In 1991, after years of most folks tuning out of the NFL halftime show, the league booked New Kids On The Block, a young boy band to perform during halftime. Halftime ratings nearly doubled, and with the ratings came the advertising revenue. This year the league even had a discussion about having the artist pay to perform at halftime.
Recently, the NFL has begun to look into finding new innovative ways to keep viewers watching. They understand that a younger generation does not necessarily want an expensive cable package, nor do they want to sit in a room with a bunch of their friends watching the game on a 50 inch television. Instead, they have pushed and marketed games to be broadcast through cell phones and tablets. Aside from streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, no other sport or entertainment platform provides all of their programing through mobile devices. The important part is the NFL is actively listening to consumers across the board and can rely on metrics provided by a variety of sources. Not every industry has this benefit and perhaps this is why the NFL can be a leader in entertainment innovation.
So what is next? The NFL needs to continue to push its boundaries, as highlighted by Furr and Dyer, companies need to explore new boundaries to gain larger insights. If I were in charge of the NFL innovation, I would begin to develop partnerships with some of the newest visual technologies, such as Oculus Rift, which is currently designed as a virtual reality headset. Instead of being in a room, Oculus Rift transfers the user into the projected environment. It is very realistic and has generated plenty of humorous moments to the users.
Watching the Super Bowl became a reason to invest in a brand new larger television, I don't see why it can't be the reason to invest in a product like Oculus Rift.
Where ever the NFL goes, it had the opportunity to increase its fan base. And as we've seen each of these innovations continues to drive fan allegiance, and that creates more profit for the NFL.
Once again, I believe the NFL can continually quick test its ideas across the 32 teams. Each team acts as its own profit and loss center, and thus each has it's own ability to market and grow. The big advantage of this is the NFL can see what actions or ideas are working in one area and begin to move them to another.
For instance, in 1974 the Pittsburgh Steeler fans created the idea of the Terrible Towel. This simple little rag became a symbol for the team to rally behind. Now, you can go to every single NFL stadium and purchase one of these towels. Similarly, the NFL had been started as a sports business, not necessarily a pop culture venue. In 1991, after years of most folks tuning out of the NFL halftime show, the league booked New Kids On The Block, a young boy band to perform during halftime. Halftime ratings nearly doubled, and with the ratings came the advertising revenue. This year the league even had a discussion about having the artist pay to perform at halftime.
Recently, the NFL has begun to look into finding new innovative ways to keep viewers watching. They understand that a younger generation does not necessarily want an expensive cable package, nor do they want to sit in a room with a bunch of their friends watching the game on a 50 inch television. Instead, they have pushed and marketed games to be broadcast through cell phones and tablets. Aside from streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, no other sport or entertainment platform provides all of their programing through mobile devices. The important part is the NFL is actively listening to consumers across the board and can rely on metrics provided by a variety of sources. Not every industry has this benefit and perhaps this is why the NFL can be a leader in entertainment innovation.
So what is next? The NFL needs to continue to push its boundaries, as highlighted by Furr and Dyer, companies need to explore new boundaries to gain larger insights. If I were in charge of the NFL innovation, I would begin to develop partnerships with some of the newest visual technologies, such as Oculus Rift, which is currently designed as a virtual reality headset. Instead of being in a room, Oculus Rift transfers the user into the projected environment. It is very realistic and has generated plenty of humorous moments to the users.
Watching the Super Bowl became a reason to invest in a brand new larger television, I don't see why it can't be the reason to invest in a product like Oculus Rift.
Where ever the NFL goes, it had the opportunity to increase its fan base. And as we've seen each of these innovations continues to drive fan allegiance, and that creates more profit for the NFL.
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Does the NFL Use Hypothesis Driven Testing?
While entrepreneurs look to the conversion funnel for the lifetime value of consumers, it is not unlikely to think that the NFL does the same. Local NFL teams do this all the time: they find a way to change people to fans, and fans into super fans. With each effort, the team is drawing a stronger connection and increasing the lifetime value of a consumer. Just look at the obituary section of most newspapers and you will find at least one person highlights their fandom of an NFL team. This unfortunately morbid anecdote provides some insight into how the NFL can create a passionate fan base.
As Thomas Eisenmann, Eric Ries, and Sarah Dillard highlight in their article Hypothesis Driven Entrepreneurship: The Lean Startup companies must test and then invest. This is no different for every local NFL team. Each team comes to the draft hoping to find their next franchise player that can lead them to a Super Bowl, but, in reality, most teams settle for good players. Instead of just ending the testing there, the teams continue to measure how individuals players should be marketed. They track jersey sales or appearance to team-sponsored events, and they gauge the fan feedback on individual players. All of this leads teams to identify their superstars: the best player(s) on or off the field.
For instance, Jason Witten of the Dallas Cowboys has been a good tight-end. He is not necessarily an NFL superstar in terms of his game performance, however, his off-the-field activities have made him a Cowboys franchise player. He started his own Jason Witten SCORE foundation, which has donated to fans across Texas as well as his home state of Tennessee. These activities make his jersey one of the highest selling jerseys for the Cowboys. Similarly, Devon Still of the Cincinnati Bengals is an average on-the-field player but he has a powerful off-the-field story. This year Devon's daughter was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma stage 4 cancer, in response Devon shaved his head and has refused to grow his hair back or play in the NFL until she is out of the hospital. The Bengals organization understood the impact that Still had on his community and organization and instead of penalizing Still, they rewarded his unselfish actions by continue to pay a portion of his contract, as well as offer his jersey to the public. They also stated that for ever Devon Still jersey sold, they would donate the proceeds to pediatric cancer research: in one month, over $1 million dollars worth of Still's jerseys were sold. In fact, his jersey was the 9th leading jersey this year despite the fact he hasn't touched a football once for the Bengals.
By tracking the trends of the consumers, the NFL gains a greater understanding into how each team or player could and should be marketed to the fans. Throughout this entire marketing process and story telling, the NFL can track the Eisenmann, Ries, and Dillard's conversion funnel to measure how people go from an outsider, to a fan, and ultimately someone who writes they were a fan in their obituary.
As Thomas Eisenmann, Eric Ries, and Sarah Dillard highlight in their article Hypothesis Driven Entrepreneurship: The Lean Startup companies must test and then invest. This is no different for every local NFL team. Each team comes to the draft hoping to find their next franchise player that can lead them to a Super Bowl, but, in reality, most teams settle for good players. Instead of just ending the testing there, the teams continue to measure how individuals players should be marketed. They track jersey sales or appearance to team-sponsored events, and they gauge the fan feedback on individual players. All of this leads teams to identify their superstars: the best player(s) on or off the field.
For instance, Jason Witten of the Dallas Cowboys has been a good tight-end. He is not necessarily an NFL superstar in terms of his game performance, however, his off-the-field activities have made him a Cowboys franchise player. He started his own Jason Witten SCORE foundation, which has donated to fans across Texas as well as his home state of Tennessee. These activities make his jersey one of the highest selling jerseys for the Cowboys. Similarly, Devon Still of the Cincinnati Bengals is an average on-the-field player but he has a powerful off-the-field story. This year Devon's daughter was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma stage 4 cancer, in response Devon shaved his head and has refused to grow his hair back or play in the NFL until she is out of the hospital. The Bengals organization understood the impact that Still had on his community and organization and instead of penalizing Still, they rewarded his unselfish actions by continue to pay a portion of his contract, as well as offer his jersey to the public. They also stated that for ever Devon Still jersey sold, they would donate the proceeds to pediatric cancer research: in one month, over $1 million dollars worth of Still's jerseys were sold. In fact, his jersey was the 9th leading jersey this year despite the fact he hasn't touched a football once for the Bengals.
By tracking the trends of the consumers, the NFL gains a greater understanding into how each team or player could and should be marketed to the fans. Throughout this entire marketing process and story telling, the NFL can track the Eisenmann, Ries, and Dillard's conversion funnel to measure how people go from an outsider, to a fan, and ultimately someone who writes they were a fan in their obituary.
Monday, December 15, 2014
The NFL and its Social Responsbility
This year has probably provided the greatest test for the NFL. The 2014-2015 season started off on a rocky position by issuing stern yet agreed upon suspensions for players who failed to pass drug tests and one very weak suspension for a domestic assault case. The one assault case, with Ray Rice, soon grew to 5 other assault cases and one public case of child abuse from another star player, Adrian Peterson. These quickly put the NFL on the defensive. I believe that while the NFL has good intentions, it is not a proactive socially responsible organization.
On the NFL's Values Page they provide their Mission and Values statement:
To present the National Football League and its teams at a level that attracts the broadest audience and makes NFL football the best sports entertainment in the world.
To achieve our mission, we will constantly challenge ourselves to improve and be guided by these values:Integrity, Performance and Teamwork, Tradition and Innovation, Diversity, and Learning.
Each value has several subcategories and provides more details but these 5 statements in particular struck me:
While they have the mechanisms to listen to the groundswell, they are not proactive enough to lead be the leader on all ethical dealings as they highlight in their missions and values. If the NFL wanted to be the social leader, they would need to not only monitor their fans but the reaction of the general public. In my opinion, this is asking too much for a sports organization.
On the NFL's Values Page they provide their Mission and Values statement:
To present the National Football League and its teams at a level that attracts the broadest audience and makes NFL football the best sports entertainment in the world.
To achieve our mission, we will constantly challenge ourselves to improve and be guided by these values:Integrity, Performance and Teamwork, Tradition and Innovation, Diversity, and Learning.
Each value has several subcategories and provides more details but these 5 statements in particular struck me:
- We are ethical in all of our dealings with fans, clubs, business partners, and each other.
- We follow through on our words with action. We are honest and direct.
- We set the highest standards and challenge ourselves to keep improving.
- We are accountable for our results and consistently measure our progress.
- We make smart and informed business decisions.
While they have the mechanisms to listen to the groundswell, they are not proactive enough to lead be the leader on all ethical dealings as they highlight in their missions and values. If the NFL wanted to be the social leader, they would need to not only monitor their fans but the reaction of the general public. In my opinion, this is asking too much for a sports organization.
Sunday, December 14, 2014
Drawing the Porter Connection
In an earlier posting I shared some quick information about what I perceived to be a portion of the NFL's Porter Value Chain. The NFL does so much that it would be hard to examine every single operation across the 32 teams but I feel I found an opportunity to help the NFL.
In a Monday night game, New York Giant's player, Odell Beckham, ran towards the end zone as Giant's quarterback, Eli Manning, threw a pass over and behind Beckham. Instead of missing the pass, Beckham did the amazing, and reached back to catch the ball with THREE fingers. While Odell is a talent player, his gloves had a great impact on his ability to deliver. Here is Skip Bayless and Steven A Smith debating the catch:
No offense to Odell, but if the NFL can design a glove to catch a ball traveling over 40 mph behind your head, with three fingers, then I think they can use their performance enhancements to increase safety. For instance, if the NFL designed helmets to better protect their players' brains. Here is one area where the research has begun:
Magnets for Your Helmet
This may be the strongest area for drawing CSR into the actual product that the NFL produces: its players. If the NFL had the ability to reduce the head injuries and traumas current players face then it would help the organization across the board. First, it would allow current players to continue playing longer throughout their career. Great players in their prime, like Troy Aikman and Lawrence Taylor, have had their career cut short because of brain damage. Fans were sad to see them exit the field early. A safer helmet may have kept them on the field, which would have then continued to build strong fan bases around superstars. Second, the NFL relies on getting new players into the system, however, people like President Obama have come out in opposition to the NFL, feeling that the game is too dangerous. If a safer helmet could help protect younger brains then more parents may be open to their children playing the game, which either leads to the future stars or at least engaged fans who remember playing the game as a child. Third, safer helmets would help them with their former players, many who have issues or disabilities from their time playing the game. In fact, they have an active suit against the NFL seeking financial assistance because of the damages done/injuries endured while they played. Creating a safer helmet would reduce the risks of these lawsuits. It would also allow these players to continue to live a functioning life where they can meet their fans after they have exited the game. Those later in life meetings would draw fans and players together with a total focus on the game of football, and this would help them generate more fans and revenue.
I believe over the next few years the NFL will take a stronger stance on their individual player safety. We have already seen it with the rules that have been implemented, the next step is for the technology to match the rules. If this happens, the NFL would align their CSR with financially positive strategies.
In a Monday night game, New York Giant's player, Odell Beckham, ran towards the end zone as Giant's quarterback, Eli Manning, threw a pass over and behind Beckham. Instead of missing the pass, Beckham did the amazing, and reached back to catch the ball with THREE fingers. While Odell is a talent player, his gloves had a great impact on his ability to deliver. Here is Skip Bayless and Steven A Smith debating the catch:
No offense to Odell, but if the NFL can design a glove to catch a ball traveling over 40 mph behind your head, with three fingers, then I think they can use their performance enhancements to increase safety. For instance, if the NFL designed helmets to better protect their players' brains. Here is one area where the research has begun:
Magnets for Your Helmet
This may be the strongest area for drawing CSR into the actual product that the NFL produces: its players. If the NFL had the ability to reduce the head injuries and traumas current players face then it would help the organization across the board. First, it would allow current players to continue playing longer throughout their career. Great players in their prime, like Troy Aikman and Lawrence Taylor, have had their career cut short because of brain damage. Fans were sad to see them exit the field early. A safer helmet may have kept them on the field, which would have then continued to build strong fan bases around superstars. Second, the NFL relies on getting new players into the system, however, people like President Obama have come out in opposition to the NFL, feeling that the game is too dangerous. If a safer helmet could help protect younger brains then more parents may be open to their children playing the game, which either leads to the future stars or at least engaged fans who remember playing the game as a child. Third, safer helmets would help them with their former players, many who have issues or disabilities from their time playing the game. In fact, they have an active suit against the NFL seeking financial assistance because of the damages done/injuries endured while they played. Creating a safer helmet would reduce the risks of these lawsuits. It would also allow these players to continue to live a functioning life where they can meet their fans after they have exited the game. Those later in life meetings would draw fans and players together with a total focus on the game of football, and this would help them generate more fans and revenue.
I believe over the next few years the NFL will take a stronger stance on their individual player safety. We have already seen it with the rules that have been implemented, the next step is for the technology to match the rules. If this happens, the NFL would align their CSR with financially positive strategies.
Saturday, December 13, 2014
Outside of the NFL - To College Football, Army - Navy
I know my blog has primarily focused on the NFL, however, today I had the fortunate opportunity to attend the 115th Army-Navy football game up in Baltimore. I had never attended one of these games nor had I watched on on TV. So needless to say, I was shocked at the level of pageantry and tradition that occurred during the game. One thing stuck out to me as I watched the game and the associated sponsorships: Chevy trucks knew how to leverage CSR for their benefit.
First, as I walked towards the stadium, the entrances were lined with demos from different Army and Navy companies. Whether it was a new tank, or the latest stealth speed boat, the military highlighted their newest technologies and different ways to help our soldiers in the field. This external exhibit event was sponsored by Chevy. Chevy's logo was on almost every tent. Additionally, at the beginning of the exhibit and throughout the concourse Chevy trucks were positioned with different people offering free swag to those who walked by. It drew a nice connection that the military and those individuals who served had Chevy's support but this alone was not the true CSR effort.
At the end of the first quarter, the former CEO of Chevrolet (who was also a Naval Academy graduate) invited a spouse and her daughter onto the field to represent the families of the soldiers serving overseas. After a quick speech, the young lady and her daughter were surprised by the CEO with keys to a brand new Chevy truck in thanks for their sacrifice. The surprise did not end there. As you can see in the video, the young lady's spouse was hidden in the back of the truck. He snuck out of the back and surprised his family. After he appeared, there was not a dry eye in the stadium.
Chevy had taken the chance to fly a soldier back from overseas and so he could surprise his family. In doing so, Chevy recreated the experience many soldiers have faced. That couple created an emotional link between the Army-Navy fans, many of whom have experienced this feeling, and Chevy trucks. Given the reaction from the crowd, I am pretty sure more than a few people will go out or have gone out to buy Chevy trucks. This was a perfect example of using CSR to help increase a brand and expand sales.
On a personal note, below is a photo of me with my Team PHDL teammates:
First, as I walked towards the stadium, the entrances were lined with demos from different Army and Navy companies. Whether it was a new tank, or the latest stealth speed boat, the military highlighted their newest technologies and different ways to help our soldiers in the field. This external exhibit event was sponsored by Chevy. Chevy's logo was on almost every tent. Additionally, at the beginning of the exhibit and throughout the concourse Chevy trucks were positioned with different people offering free swag to those who walked by. It drew a nice connection that the military and those individuals who served had Chevy's support but this alone was not the true CSR effort.
At the end of the first quarter, the former CEO of Chevrolet (who was also a Naval Academy graduate) invited a spouse and her daughter onto the field to represent the families of the soldiers serving overseas. After a quick speech, the young lady and her daughter were surprised by the CEO with keys to a brand new Chevy truck in thanks for their sacrifice. The surprise did not end there. As you can see in the video, the young lady's spouse was hidden in the back of the truck. He snuck out of the back and surprised his family. After he appeared, there was not a dry eye in the stadium.
Chevy had taken the chance to fly a soldier back from overseas and so he could surprise his family. In doing so, Chevy recreated the experience many soldiers have faced. That couple created an emotional link between the Army-Navy fans, many of whom have experienced this feeling, and Chevy trucks. Given the reaction from the crowd, I am pretty sure more than a few people will go out or have gone out to buy Chevy trucks. This was a perfect example of using CSR to help increase a brand and expand sales.
On a personal note, below is a photo of me with my Team PHDL teammates:
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Using Porter's Value Chain for the NFL
Michael Porter his concept of measuring how different activities across a firm can impact the value and profitability of a firm. I have taken his model and framed some of the many activities which the NFL draws its value upon. See the image below:
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Anthropology in the NFL
An Anthropologist Walks into a Bar by Christian Madsbjerg and Mikkel Rasmussen offers some insight into why the NFL may have created the Together We Make Football competition.
Together We Make Football is an online competition where the NFL reached out to fans from across the globe for their story about football and how football have impacted their lives. Across the globe, thousands of fans submitted their stories to be published on the site. From there, other users listen and read the individual stories, voting for their favorites. In the end, the winner will receive an all-expense paid trip to the Super Bowl for them and 10 of their friends.
NFL Together We Make Football
Walking through Madsbjerg and Rasmussen's five-steps, I will show how the NFL is using their insights to increase their fan and consumer base.
Marketing efforts like this are why I feel the NFL is a Marketing Marvel.
Together We Make Football is an online competition where the NFL reached out to fans from across the globe for their story about football and how football have impacted their lives. Across the globe, thousands of fans submitted their stories to be published on the site. From there, other users listen and read the individual stories, voting for their favorites. In the end, the winner will receive an all-expense paid trip to the Super Bowl for them and 10 of their friends.
NFL Together We Make Football
Walking through Madsbjerg and Rasmussen's five-steps, I will show how the NFL is using their insights to increase their fan and consumer base.
Step One - Reframe the Problem
The NFL is by far, America's most popular sport, brining in 35% of the vote. Their next nearest competition is the NBA and MLB with 11%. But the NFL is not satisfied with being just America's #1 sport. They have their eyes set on becoming the #1 global sport. To achieve this position, however, they must compete against soccer (futbol) in most countries and then basketball, which is rising in many Asian countries. The logical business question for them to ask is, "How do we gain market share in other countries?" Instead, I believe the NFL is using the Together We Make Football competition to reframe and gain their insights. They asked for what makes football important to fans instead of how could they gain market share. This re-framing allowed them to garner insights from across the world on the fan experience.Step Two - Collect Data
As I highlighted, they collected all of the fan experiences in a giant video library of information. Moreover, they collected the votes of other fans including the geolocation of where the votes game from giving them the ability to analyze specific user segments.Step Three - Look for Patterns
The NFL is beginning Step Three right now. Over the next few weeks they will continue to place an emphasis on driving fans to vote for their top choice in the final 6 candidates. All of this data will give them the ability to identify trends in different regions and across different segments of the population. Additionally, I feel like the NFL helped emphasize who would be in their finalist, as they span many different demographics. Each one is generic enough to represent different cultural perspectives, yet impactful enough to feel the fan's story.Step Four - Create Key Insights
For this category, I will take my best guess. If the NFL does find trends on why certain segments like football it will allow them to tweak and tailor their message to different markets. For instance, let's assume the NFL finds that the European markets overwhelmingly vote for the finalist that focuses on a team. If this were to happen, the NFL should market teams to the European market. Or if the market votes for stories, which talk about about the kicker experience, than perhaps the NFL should use the kickers as the franchise players to highlight.Step Five - Build the Business Impacts
With the insights and trends identified, this step will hopefully guide the NFL into adjusting their strategies in different segments of the world. If this happens, hopefully the fans will follow and thus the profits.Marketing efforts like this are why I feel the NFL is a Marketing Marvel.
Playing More Than 60 - Other CSR Efforts
In my previous post I discussed the NFL's work with Play 60. Today, I wanted to focus on efforts other than Play 60.
Beyond Play 60, the NFL also has special tributes that it highlights. This week they dedicated some time to remember Pearl Harbor and the generation that helped define America and the world. These special partnerships are highlighted throughout the season. For instance, in the month of October, the NFL highlighted breast cancer awareness. Everyone involved with the NFL, the players, staff, commentators, camera crews, and even the stadium vendors wear pink gear to highlight breast cancer awareness. Each partnership enables the NFL to grow their fan base and expand their products to consumers.
Here is a sample of their CSR efforts, the purpose of the strategy, and why:
The most important takeaway: the NFL understands the importance of building a league-fan connection. By enabling and contributing to these individual social efforts, they help create a competitive advantage in creating more fans and thus more revenue.
Beyond Play 60, the NFL also has special tributes that it highlights. This week they dedicated some time to remember Pearl Harbor and the generation that helped define America and the world. These special partnerships are highlighted throughout the season. For instance, in the month of October, the NFL highlighted breast cancer awareness. Everyone involved with the NFL, the players, staff, commentators, camera crews, and even the stadium vendors wear pink gear to highlight breast cancer awareness. Each partnership enables the NFL to grow their fan base and expand their products to consumers.
Here is a sample of their CSR efforts, the purpose of the strategy, and why:
The most important takeaway: the NFL understands the importance of building a league-fan connection. By enabling and contributing to these individual social efforts, they help create a competitive advantage in creating more fans and thus more revenue.
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Play 60 - Watching Football
I took this Sunday as a chance to do some homework on the NFL. My goal - watch a full day of NFL games and monitor the NFL's corporate social responsibility promotions. I know, this must have been tough. :)
Throughout the day, I counted 22 Play 60 commercials. I did not count the NFL-branded Play 60 items in the background or any comments from the announcers. My personal favorite Play 60 commercial:
So why does the NFL focus on Play 60? Is it the primary CSR effort?
Per the NFL's website, "NFL athletes grew up playing in communities all across America. Now, through NFL PLAY 60, they're encouraging kids in neighborhoods everywhere to come out to play for 60 minutes a day." This is not the only CSR effort undertaken by the NFL but it is their primary effort. It perfectly aligns with their strategy of growing the market and building the future NFL.
Thinking about it from two avenues - the players and the apparel - Play 60 builds the future NFL athletes by promoting young people to get out, exercise, and develop their bodies. Through the course of this, the NFL can get a football in the hands of the kids, or have their players visit and increase interest in the sport from a young age. Moreover, the Play 60 website has a nifty feature, which allows children to look at their local parks and find where NFL players and legends played. For a young kid, playing on the same field that NFL pro played on only helps increase the connection. Whether or not these children become future NFL players, the connection from the program will help grow the fan base. On a second more simple front this also promotes buying NFL apparel. Young people want to be their idols so that means they need to dress like their idols, from the shoes to the jerseys.
I think this perfectly aligns with their strategy and provides them with a more human element. Young children running around with a football without helmets is a lot more friendly than the traditional marketing of the NFL.
On a final note, I did not see one single mention of player health or concussion related advertisements. The NFL undoubtably does not want to highlight to its consumers the product they are viewing is basically destroying players' brains and bodies for the entertainment of others. It is socially irresponsible but not totally unethical because many of these players receive significant salaries over what they could make with just a college degree. Moreover, the NoMore organization ran 6 advertisements featuring NFL players who were taking a stand against domestic violence. It would be interesting to see if they NFL had provide funding or just the players for these spots.
Throughout the day, I counted 22 Play 60 commercials. I did not count the NFL-branded Play 60 items in the background or any comments from the announcers. My personal favorite Play 60 commercial:
So why does the NFL focus on Play 60? Is it the primary CSR effort?
Per the NFL's website, "NFL athletes grew up playing in communities all across America. Now, through NFL PLAY 60, they're encouraging kids in neighborhoods everywhere to come out to play for 60 minutes a day." This is not the only CSR effort undertaken by the NFL but it is their primary effort. It perfectly aligns with their strategy of growing the market and building the future NFL.
Thinking about it from two avenues - the players and the apparel - Play 60 builds the future NFL athletes by promoting young people to get out, exercise, and develop their bodies. Through the course of this, the NFL can get a football in the hands of the kids, or have their players visit and increase interest in the sport from a young age. Moreover, the Play 60 website has a nifty feature, which allows children to look at their local parks and find where NFL players and legends played. For a young kid, playing on the same field that NFL pro played on only helps increase the connection. Whether or not these children become future NFL players, the connection from the program will help grow the fan base. On a second more simple front this also promotes buying NFL apparel. Young people want to be their idols so that means they need to dress like their idols, from the shoes to the jerseys.
I think this perfectly aligns with their strategy and provides them with a more human element. Young children running around with a football without helmets is a lot more friendly than the traditional marketing of the NFL.
On a final note, I did not see one single mention of player health or concussion related advertisements. The NFL undoubtably does not want to highlight to its consumers the product they are viewing is basically destroying players' brains and bodies for the entertainment of others. It is socially irresponsible but not totally unethical because many of these players receive significant salaries over what they could make with just a college degree. Moreover, the NoMore organization ran 6 advertisements featuring NFL players who were taking a stand against domestic violence. It would be interesting to see if they NFL had provide funding or just the players for these spots.
Friday, December 5, 2014
The NFL's 4 Ps
To understand the NFL product, I've built a short 4 Ps of the NFL
Product
- The NFL is - at its heart - a sports entertainment league. They make money by game attendance and viewership.
- The players and the players' reputations are also part of the product.
- The local teams are part of the product.
Price
The NFL price varies by their product:
- Tickets to a game can range from $4 (the Redskins' most recent game) to several thousands of dollars for club box seats.
- Jerseys range from $40 to $250 depending on the edition.
- NFL Redzone typically costs an additional $20 on top of a current cable or dish provider.
Promotion
- The NFL runs many promotions throughout the year.
- Instead of focusing on the promotions and marketing efforts here, I will highlight them in later blogs.
Place
The NFL has several key places:
- Local communities where teams are present - 32 locations across the United States.
- In the homes of fans, for example: "Unique" fan homes.
- In or on the fans, for example "Unique" fans.
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Cracking Bhattacharya and Sen's Findings
C.B. Bhattacharya and Sankar Sen wrote an article, Doing Better at Doing Good: When, Why, and How Consumers Respond to Corporate Social Initiatives for the University of California Berkeley. In their article, Bhattacharya and Sen provide several findings on how doing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities help companies. They examine the internal and external outcomes for companies and consumers. I believe the NFL breaks some of the principles discussed in their article.
The league has quickly increased its CSR activities in domestic violence by mandating all players, personnel, and leadership to take educational programs to help prevent domestic violence. Moreover, the league developed a video on the bad impacts of domestic violence and sent it to all college and high school sports team. Here is the video.
Now Bhattacharya and Sen do discuss how the NFL's recent domestic violence CSR activities may have led to fans to doubt the sincerity of their actions. While I believe this is a possibility, this year's ratings haven't dropped, jersey sales haven't slowed down, and fans have not stopped attending the games. Part of the reason I believe they have sustained their following and loyalty is because the NFL has teams across the country. Each team provides community support and increases the loyalty of the fans to the NFL. It has helped them continually market to the communities that they serve. This is similar to Congress. No one likes Congress but people like their individual members of Congress. This is seen because typically around 90% of members are re-elected every year.
Furthermore, Bhattacharya and Sen said, "Our focus groups and surveys revealed that consumers are more likely to make positive attributions and have positive attitudes when the company engaging in CSR is small rather than big, local rather than national, and a small, personal, privately owned operation rather than a big impersonal conglomerate or multinational." In the case of the NFL, I believe the fans buy into the individual teams over the league itself. Those connections are more local as described by Bhattacharya and Sen but they are all part of a larger national organization.
Another area which may place the NFL and leagues like it into a similar category is the type of competition. While their are jobs at stake, and each owner is attempting to make a profit, the fans do not see the league as a means to put food on the table. Unlike many other companies, most of the people who work in the NFL, players, coaches, front office executives, and even the referees make a sizable income. This may dilute the views on competition, however, companies tend to focus on increasing their profits so they can pay their employees and expand their opportunities. For most of these companies the competition typically comes at the expense of another company, or community.
The league has quickly increased its CSR activities in domestic violence by mandating all players, personnel, and leadership to take educational programs to help prevent domestic violence. Moreover, the league developed a video on the bad impacts of domestic violence and sent it to all college and high school sports team. Here is the video.
Now Bhattacharya and Sen do discuss how the NFL's recent domestic violence CSR activities may have led to fans to doubt the sincerity of their actions. While I believe this is a possibility, this year's ratings haven't dropped, jersey sales haven't slowed down, and fans have not stopped attending the games. Part of the reason I believe they have sustained their following and loyalty is because the NFL has teams across the country. Each team provides community support and increases the loyalty of the fans to the NFL. It has helped them continually market to the communities that they serve. This is similar to Congress. No one likes Congress but people like their individual members of Congress. This is seen because typically around 90% of members are re-elected every year.
Furthermore, Bhattacharya and Sen said, "Our focus groups and surveys revealed that consumers are more likely to make positive attributions and have positive attitudes when the company engaging in CSR is small rather than big, local rather than national, and a small, personal, privately owned operation rather than a big impersonal conglomerate or multinational." In the case of the NFL, I believe the fans buy into the individual teams over the league itself. Those connections are more local as described by Bhattacharya and Sen but they are all part of a larger national organization.
Another area which may place the NFL and leagues like it into a similar category is the type of competition. While their are jobs at stake, and each owner is attempting to make a profit, the fans do not see the league as a means to put food on the table. Unlike many other companies, most of the people who work in the NFL, players, coaches, front office executives, and even the referees make a sizable income. This may dilute the views on competition, however, companies tend to focus on increasing their profits so they can pay their employees and expand their opportunities. For most of these companies the competition typically comes at the expense of another company, or community.
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
The Peterson Voice Recording - Questioning the NFL's Ethics
Once again, Mr. Vincent is in the news. Today it was revealed that, apparently, the NFL's VP of Football Operations, Troy Vincent, had been recorded by Adrian Peterson. The recording had Vincent tell Peterson that "his time on the commissioner's exempt list would be considered time served and that he would be suspended two additional games and not be subjected to the new personal conduct policy on domestic violence - mandating a six-game suspension without pay - if he attended a Nov. 14 disciplinary hearing with Roger Goodell."
Despite this exchange, Peterson was suspended due to charges of child abuse. The NFL has used his situation to show a stronger enforcement on the personal lives of its players. While I agree the NFL should do everything possible to promote better social practices, it is demonstrating rather reactionary and haphazard practices and is exploiting this case to frame its image as a socially responsible company.
Instead of looking at these situations in a reactionary sense the NFL should change its position. Their current question is, How do we enforce ethical / legal issues that impact our players, staffs, coaches, and front office executives? Conversely, their question should start as, How do we stand on the forefront of defining ethics in society? The league could become a leading organization for corporations across the globe.
Referring back to our past change management course, the NFL should create a coalition of players, coaches, league staff, and league executives. This group should review annually the ethical trends in society and validate the NFL's policies on ethical dilemmas. Additionally, they could examine the ethical infringements from the past year and discuss how to set up better enforcement and community outreach. If the players' union did not care to participate because it falls outside of collective bargaining, I would recommend to NFL Commissioner, Rodger Goodell, that the public should be aware of the hesitancy to join. Instead of having the league placing pressure on the unions to review the ethical standards and enforcement policies, the fans and general public would could create a groundswell and move the unions to action. If these changes did occur, the league would receive the benefit of a greater public opinion, which may lead to more fan appreciation.
Clearly, given the NFL's conflicting responses over Peterson's suspension length, engaging in a review of their ethics and ethical polices would better help them market their game moving forward.
Adrian Peterson Responds
Despite this exchange, Peterson was suspended due to charges of child abuse. The NFL has used his situation to show a stronger enforcement on the personal lives of its players. While I agree the NFL should do everything possible to promote better social practices, it is demonstrating rather reactionary and haphazard practices and is exploiting this case to frame its image as a socially responsible company.
Instead of looking at these situations in a reactionary sense the NFL should change its position. Their current question is, How do we enforce ethical / legal issues that impact our players, staffs, coaches, and front office executives? Conversely, their question should start as, How do we stand on the forefront of defining ethics in society? The league could become a leading organization for corporations across the globe.
Referring back to our past change management course, the NFL should create a coalition of players, coaches, league staff, and league executives. This group should review annually the ethical trends in society and validate the NFL's policies on ethical dilemmas. Additionally, they could examine the ethical infringements from the past year and discuss how to set up better enforcement and community outreach. If the players' union did not care to participate because it falls outside of collective bargaining, I would recommend to NFL Commissioner, Rodger Goodell, that the public should be aware of the hesitancy to join. Instead of having the league placing pressure on the unions to review the ethical standards and enforcement policies, the fans and general public would could create a groundswell and move the unions to action. If these changes did occur, the league would receive the benefit of a greater public opinion, which may lead to more fan appreciation.
Clearly, given the NFL's conflicting responses over Peterson's suspension length, engaging in a review of their ethics and ethical polices would better help them market their game moving forward.
Adrian Peterson Responds
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Dear NFL - Welcome Back to Congress
Today the NFL was called to testify to the Senate Commerce Committee on their actions to address the domestic violence surrounding the league. Appearing on behalf of the NFL was Executive Vice President of football operations, Troy Vincent and Ms. Teri Patterson, Deputy Managing Director of the NFL players association. Not only was the NFL called to the hearing but leaders from several other national leagues including the MLB, NBA, and NHL all appeared before the committee.
NFL's Troy Vincent Testifies
While I do not doubt that Mr. Vincent was a victim of domestic violence, nor do I mean to brush aside his background, I think the NFL knew who they were choosing as the message man. Having sat on the back bench, I know these Congressional hearings are pretty well scripted.
In terms of the marketing for the NFL, Mr. Vincent followed excellent crisis communication. He first admitted the failure of the league and then began to address the immediate actions they have taken to improve the situation.
NFL's Troy Vincent Testifies
While I do not doubt that Mr. Vincent was a victim of domestic violence, nor do I mean to brush aside his background, I think the NFL knew who they were choosing as the message man. Having sat on the back bench, I know these Congressional hearings are pretty well scripted.
In terms of the marketing for the NFL, Mr. Vincent followed excellent crisis communication. He first admitted the failure of the league and then began to address the immediate actions they have taken to improve the situation.
Introduction
This blog is designed to cover the topics from the Proactive Marketing in Dynamic Contexts course (MKTG 5674) taught by Dr. Jane Machin. My focus will be on covering the marketing practices of the NFL and how they impact the image and messages surrounding their league.
Over the next few weeks, I plan on covering a variety of topics including:
Over the next few weeks, I plan on covering a variety of topics including:
- Evaluation of your company’s social responsibility efforts
- Output from listening to the groundswell and an observation
- Identification of a particular problem, (re)framed appropriately
- List of potential solutions to this problem
- Critical evaluation of those solutions (or proposed tests to evaluate)
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