Problem description:

I want to write a graduation thesis about sports marketing companies.

Analysis:

Sports marketing refers to the process of designing and implementing the production, pricing, promotion and channels of a sports product for the purpose of satisfying consumers' needs or desires and realizing enterprise goals.

Sports marketing is not only the most important function of sports enterprises and organizations, but also the strategy and method often adopted by many non-sports enterprises and organizations. This is not only because sports marketing is the essence of the sports industry, but also because the sports industry is growing rapidly and there is no sign of slowing down. This is true not only in the developed countries of western sports industry, but also in China. Take the United States as an example. In just ten years, the sports industry in the United States has jumped from 1 1 in China to the sixth largest industry. Although there are different estimates on the overall size of American sports industry, the most conservative estimate is $654.38+052 billion, while the highest estimate is close to $300 billion. But this is enough to show the rapid development and optimistic future of the sports industry. From the perspective of industrial segmentation, sports industry includes many market segments, such as sports tourism, sporting goods (manufacturing and sales), sports clothing, amateur sports, professional sports, leisure sports, student sports, outdoor sports, sports business (such as sports marketing companies), sports sponsorship and sports management institutions, and so on.

Sports marketing, like traditional marketing, is a process, a cyclical process. The sports marketing management model well describes this cycle process and the elements of sports marketing, which is of reference significance to decision makers and sports marketers in sports enterprises and non-sports enterprises participating in the sports industry.

The simple explanation of this model is that the process of sports marketing cycle begins with the setting of sports marketing mission by sports and non-sports enterprises/organizations. This mission must be consistent and coordinated with the overall strategy of the enterprise or organization. On the basis of setting the mission (goal) of sports marketing, enterprises and organizations must study and analyze their own environment (including macro and micro environment), that is, analyze consumers, competitors, companies and climate, which is also commonly known as "4C research". Based on the information and data of sports market obtained by 4C Research, enterprises and organizations subdivide the sports market according to certain standards and determine their own target market. In the target market, enterprises and organizations formulate sports marketing mix strategies that adapt to their own development, including product strategy, price strategy, place strategy and promotion strategy, that is, 4P mix strategy. Finally, through the implementation, management and evaluation adjustment of this combination strategy, enterprises and organizations can sell their sports or non-sports products to consumers more effectively and efficiently.

Sports sponsorship

In this sports marketing model, "sports sponsorship" is one of the most popular and distinctive strategies adopted by sports and non-sports enterprises.

Sponsorship is defined as "paying cash or equivalent to an asset (usually sports, arts, entertainment or games) to obtain potential business opportunities that can be exploited" (Ukman, 1995). To put it bluntly, sponsorship is to exchange something for others. The simplest form is that enterprises or individuals donate money to support an event, organization or individual, and the return is the advertising effect. Some forms of sponsorship may be relatively complicated. Sponsors provide goods, services and funds in exchange for advertisements, naming rights or facilities, bundled products, on-site sales or delivery, goods and tickets.

Although sponsorship is not a patent of sports, sports sponsorship accounts for more than 65% of the total sponsorship expenditure. Sports sponsorship ranges from mass sports competitions in the community to the Olympic Games. Sponsorship fees range from $55 million for the Olympic Games to $65,438+0,000 for youth sports events. But what these activities have in common is that they can provide a series of opportunities for sports marketers to market their sports/non-sports products and services.

In today's sports industry, because sponsorship is a huge and popular industrial branch, all kinds of enterprises have participated in sports sponsorship extensively, and sponsorship is one of the promotion methods. Why should enterprises sponsor? The most common reasons are: enterprises want to establish a good corporate image in front of the public, want the public to see and remember the name of the enterprise, and make rational use of the existing resources of the enterprise (in most cases, sponsorship is cheaper than other forms of advertising). Other reasons for corporate sponsorship are: in order to contact specific market segments, to consolidate the basic market, to link enterprises with sports, to do similar "charity" marketing, and so on.

The general operation process of sports sponsorship is as follows:

Model of sports sponsorship execution process

With the approach of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games, various sports/non-sports enterprises and organizations pay more and more attention to the Olympic Games, and people are increasingly aware of the rich business opportunities contained in the Olympic rings.

Among them, commercial sponsorship is one of the easiest ways for sports/non-sports enterprises and organizations to "marry" with the Olympic Games. Tracing back to history, the sports sponsorship relationship between the Olympic Games and enterprises has existed for many years. As early as 1896, Kodak Company broadcasted an advertisement in the official program of the first modern Olympic Games. From 1928, Coca-Cola Company began to establish a long-term cooperative relationship with the Olympic Movement. There is a long-lasting relationship between sponsorship and the Olympic Games, and this relationship has become more and more complicated with the increasingly fierce sponsorship competition.