Sports media advertising - Term Paper Example

? of Many sporting events have been found to draw enormous attention of sports lovers throughout the world due to their nature (Winston, 2003). As a result of this, advertising in such highly contested events requires that there should be a high degree of professionalism so as to reach the target audience. The kind of advertisement that is used during such events requires careful selection so as to ensure that it appeals to potential consumers of the product. In this essay, I will discuss the appeal in sports media advertisement and the impact that it has on us. In a modern day world, sports have been termed as one major currency and I believe it is because of the major investments that these events are accompanied with. Between 1998 and 2008 for example, various broadcasting houses were able to spend massively to ensure that they got broadcasting rights to Olympic events. In my view, this represents the economic value that sporting events and their images possess. Many market players have been for years interested in utilizing sporting events for purposes of promoting their business as evidenced by the massive payments they make to advertising agencies in such events. I can argue that this is because of the appeal that sports advertisement has on people who watch the event whether live or via television. Sports are seen by many in my opinion, to be a true reflection of the modern civilized world. Sporting events have the ability to articulate both local and international cultures while at the same time including various aesthetics. Sports form a unique tool for media advertisers because of their ability to draw large audiences through entertainment. They capture people from different cultures and therefore an ideal tool that can be utilized for purposes of advertising. The manner in which sports are structured also serves as a good ground for advertising. Consumers are attracted to sporting events because of uncertainties in their outcome, rules that govern them and commercial breaks in each event. Sports are a depiction of human drama and this is the justification of their popularity amongst people. They appeal to many because originally, some sporting events were reported in the news and that is where they originated. The increase in media complexity has therefore impacted on the way most businesses seek to advertise during sporting events. Sports fans form a larger part of audience that I believe is an idiosyncratic kind of consumers that is targeted by many consumers (Max, 2005). The way fans are loyal to their teams taking part in the sporting event is therefore a clear reflection of how a consumer can be tied to a commodity. In addition, major sporting events throughout the year form part of a fans emotional calendar and this is mostly utilized by business personalities in ensuring that they reach their consumers. Fans have a tendency of making a follow up of their team’s performance whether winning or losing. Apart from their loyalty, most fans in a sporting event are normally a huge audience that is diverse. They are therefore a recipient of all types of advertisers because of the diversity that they carry with them into the event. The other advantage that sports advertising carries with it is the ability to easily categorize the fans into various sections depending on what they can be able to consume. In line with this, fans in any given sporting event that is targeted by business people can be categorized into their level of education and the income that they earn. People who are educated can participate in a sporting event and thereafter come out with the spillover effect of advertisement, which has an added advantage to business people in the long run. This has been popularly termed as direct sports consumption whereby fans have a tendency to consume something because it was advertised during the time when the sporting event was on. Sports media advertisement is also seen as advantageous because the rate or frequency at which each event is repeated helps in creating consistency in the advertisement of the product. People who watch television four times weekly for a certain sporting event for example are more likely to memorize what is advertised during the commercial breaks which later influences their shopping behavior for the product. Gender is also part of what is seen as a major factor in terms of sports consumption for advertisers. In terms of consumption for example, men are likely to score high in terms of sports consumption than female in any given product. It is however important to note that young educated and well earning boys are the most common in any sporting event. They are also likely to spend more of what they earn and are therefore important to all advertisers who seek to promote their product. The type of product that is evident in a sporting advert also impacts on the attitude that consumers have towards it. In the recent, common products advertised in the media through such channels include alcoholic drinks, cars, and shaving products among others that are thought to be more useful to fans watching sports events at the time. Accompanied with sports personalities, these adverts act as a symbol of prestige and a center of attraction for the consumer. The adverts are also aimed at give those who cannot afford the product a burning wish to ever own the product thus making them have a pursuit of it later on (Tibbs, 2010). Most products also tend to elevate the status of the consumer thus making others envious of them and compelling them to also strive for the product. There are however several issues that arise from sports advertising that are a key concern of stakeholders in the media industry. Legal issues arise about the nature of the products that are advertised accompanied with sporting events. The argument is whether the information delivered to the consumer is misleading and intended to create more attention towards the product or whether there is sincerity in the content delivered. Sports and advertisement of tobacco products in the media has been common for a long period of time, but little has been researched on the effect that this has on the target audience. Since the use of sports image on cards in advertising of tobacco in Britain, the notion has been created that advertising the product to the audience in a sporting event normal and can therefore go on despite the effect on younger viewers. The major problem has been that advertisers in most cases are the sponsors of the sporting event and have therefore the right to do so regardless of the laws that govern the same. The world health organization has been on the forefront in fighting against advertising of tobacco and its association with sporting events. The effect of sports advertising alcohol and tobacco in sporting events is evident whereby various brands of beer are still connected to certain sporting events by fans long period even after the advert has been illegalized. Communication of information that is targeting the youth in sporting events has adverse effects on their consumption of the commodity because of the way the product is linked to certain physical activities. Various countries have placed a complete ban on sponsorship of sporting events by alcoholic companies just to ensure that the same does not translate to extreme advertisement. Sports advertising also lead to an ambush in marketing rights, especially in international events such as Olympics and world cup. The same can be described as ‘theft’ of association rights especially in advertising for the Olympic ring because it gives the advertiser an access to the global platform to market themselves and their products. Olympics are the mostly desired events by advertisers because of the diversity that they possess and their organization. In addition to the massive investment made by those seeking to associate their business with Olympic Games, organizers of the event always work hard to ensure that it is only the investor who accesses these rights and not any other party. Ambush marketing is popular especially by brand competitors who seek to unlawfully spoil the rights of the event’s sponsor for the purpose of them gaining from the sporting event. Organizers of sporting events in co – operation with media owners have come up with various strategies to protect sponsors of events from ambush marketing. This is a move that is aimed at making sports advertising more secure and ensuring its only investors who benefit from the event. Unique logos and brands have been put in place together with the use of strong names that make events more secure for all advertisers and marketers. Domestic regulations have a key role to play in control of ambush marketing that is as a result of sports advertising and its appeal. In recently concluded Olympics in Beijing for example, the world’s fastest runner Usain Bolt had to hold puma shoes three times whenever he won although the official sponsors of the event were Adidas. Many business agencies have become interested in advertising that is accompanied with sports images because of the status that most holders of such rights have and the conditions under which those rights can be transferred. Contracts involved in this case are those between the organizers of the events and those who broadcast it and between bodies that govern the sports and marketers who are out to promote a certain product through the sporting event (Hopkins, 2011). Rights that are given to such individuals are normally monopolized in that the seller ends up doing all that appertains to the event therefore attaining exclusive rights to advertise it. The main advantage that is associated with this is the fact that it prohibits competitors of the rights holder from completely benefiting in the sporting event. Apart from barring competitors, holding advertising rights in a given sport event ensures that the rights holder completely maximizes the effects of the marketing campaign at the time. This can best explain why transferring of these rights normally has a high economic value because the advertiser is given the sole right of supplying a given product thus making it to be associated with certain sporting event. The advert is also flashed on screens of every channel that has secured a right to broadcast the event and therefore reaches a wider audience than expected. The end product of all this is increased consumer awareness of the product being advertised and therefore placing much attention due to the association to the sporting event. The effect of sports advertising has grown rampantly over the years due to improvements in technology and complexity of sporting events. Sport advertising has been found to lead the way for all other forms of advertising. There is a need to ensure that whoever seeks to advertise through the use of sports images has someone who really understands the power that a sporting event carries with it. Sports and entertainment possess the power to influence and create a strong brand through advertising. To do this effectively, many businesses have resorted to ensuring that they understand the ever changing pattern of sporting activities and maximize the advertisement rights that are granted to them. The need to understand how sports advertising affect those in the audience that is targeted by advertisers is important because it provides resourceful information when it comes to planning for subsequent advertising. Before arriving at a decision to invest in sports advertising, corporations have to understand how the advert can be formulated to ensure that it relays intended information about the product and it is attractive to the consumer through powerful tool of persuasion that is not exaggerated at all. To have a proper appeal to the consumer, the advertisement is also in line with rules and regulation that govern advertising in such sporting event. The legal environment is particularly important in ensuring that consumers are protected from business people who are out to apply the power sporting events in exploiting fans through malicious advertising or ambush marketing. There are several effects that are as a result of sports advertising on those that they target. First of all, it is in terms of memory retention of the information relayed during the sporting activity. An advertisement that is played each time during a commercial event is likely to be remembered more by viewers who are watching the sporting event. A good example is the recently held world cup in South Africa where Coca Cola Company ran its advertisement on a number of screens all over the world. The long term benefit of this has been that many viewers still remember the structure of the advertisement and therefore have incorporated that into their psyche which is of great benefit to the company. The other effect of sport advertising on our part is the urge or intention of purchase that it creates in us whenever we watch the event. The frequency at which we are exposed to the advertisement has a direct impact on the need to purchase a product whenever we are watching a sporting event. We tend to believe that something is good to us because it has been advertised to us through the media when we are watching our favorite team battling it out on the field. As a result of this, we develop a desire to purchase the product depending on how the message in the advertisement was delivered to us and therefore risk becoming instinct buyers. The setting in which the advertisement is done also has impact on the behavior we as consumers develop towards the product. The influence of sports advertising is however powerful when it comes to shopping behavior of most consumers in that they tend to be biased when shopping for any given product. The difference comes out clearly when male and female buyers base their purchase on advertisements that they have seen in the media (Gerdy, 2002). Male for example are more influenced by adverts from soccer and athletics than female shoppers at one given time. Research indicates that most shoppers tend not to plan to buy any product but find themselves buying it as a result of the influence they get from sports media advertisement. The same is more pronounced at the time when the event is taking place and to identify ourselves with the product being advertised, we therefore purchase it for purposes of group solidarity. The other influence from sports advertising is the role model influences that the advertisements carry with them. We tend to believe that if our role models in the sporting event are using the product that is being advertised, then there is a need for us to purchase it. Research shows that we tend to believe that if somebody we adores so much in a sporting event is used in an advert and encourages us to go for the product, there is no need for us to question it but rather go for it. Most advertisers have applied this and successfully marketed their products but the risk involved in this as earlier discussed the likelihood of the consumer being exposed to exploitation or false information. In conclusion, it can be noted that teenagers are an important part of the market and most advertisers have noted this. Sporting events and personalities in them possesses power that can be used to influence teenagers in a way that is likely to have them act in a certain manner. The influence is important when it comes to marketing of any given product through the word of mouth. In addition, sports advertising can be said to influence our loyalty towards a given product just the way they are loyal to their teams participating in the sporting activity. There are however legal issues that arise as a result of sports advertising especially in terms of products that are not supposed to be sold to a certain age. In addition to that, the appeal that sports advertising has can be said to attribute to economic crimes such as ambush marketing whereby competitors of a brand that has secured rights to advertise in a sporting event may advertise in the background with an aim of utilizing the current state of viewers. References Winston, F., (2003), advertising: A short introduction, Doha: DHL Publishers. Max, S., (2005), Advertising and the mind of the consumer, Chicago: Chicago publishers. Tibbs, F., (2010), Advertising: Its business and culture, Washington: Chambers. Hopkins, C., (2011), Scientific advertising, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Gerdy, J.,(2002), Sports, The complete American addiction, Washington: LA Read More