Sports Marketing Analysis: Examining the Social Service Market

This report provides a detailed analysis of the social service market within the sports industry, focusing on charitable sports events. It examines three specific examples: the Midnight Madness charity baseball game, the AJ Bell London Triathlon, and the Tour D’Afrique cycling event. The report analyzes market factors to identify potential consumer segments, including professional and non-professional athletes, media personnel, and cyclists. It then creates key marketing messages tailored to each event, emphasizing the charitable aspects, athletic challenges, and unique experiences offered. The analysis covers event descriptions, accessibility, costs, and target markets, culminating in strategic recommendations for effective marketing approaches. The report also references academic sources to support its findings and conclusions.

Running head: Sports marketing
Sports Marketing
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction:
This paper will explore the social service market in sports industry. The social service
market will be explored within the market and its relevant consumer segment will be
addressed. The key messages for each target market will be presented with are in line with
the market details outlined...
Analyze the goods/services market within your chosen category/context
Example 1: Midnight Madness Charity baseball game (Sugarland, Texas)
What is it?
This is a charity baseball event conducted from noon to midnight, where Sugarland Skeeters
participate in a baseball marathon in order to raise donations. The funds go to help unfunded
young athletes suffering from Cancer and Lateral Sclerosis. The event is organized by Global
Sports Foundation.
Where do you consume it?
The event is held in Sugarland Texas
How easy is it to access/purchase?
Accessing the service is very easy and the foundation accepts funds, sponsorships from
corporate and volunteer work.
How much does it cost?
Participation cost per team is USD 175. Fee for umpires is USD 20 per game.
Description of the good/service:

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This is a charitable event, in which individuals can pay to participate and the funds are
donated to support young athletes suffering from Cancer and ALS. In the event different
small games such as pool and bracket play, championship play, and softball tournaments are
held (madnessinfo.com, 2018).
Example 2: AJ Bell London Triathlon
What is it?
This is one of the world’s largest triathlon in which participation can be done as a team or
individually. The donations and funds are given to needy children for their healthcare and
education.
Where do you consume it?
The event is held in London, England.
How easy is it to access/purchase?
The process of registration can be done online, and is very easy, and payment can also be
done online. Additionally, payment can also be done through cash at the registered office in
UK.
How much does it cost?
Participation in the event can cost up to USD 100 per person per sport.
Description of the good/service:
.The event is help for 2 days (Saturday and Sunday). For Saturday, the events includes super
sprint, sprint, Olympic and relay race. For Sunday, the events include sprint, Olympic and
Olympic plus (livetotri.co.uk, 2018).

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Example 3: Tour D’ Afrique
What is it?
This is a charitable cycling event.
Where do you consume it?
The event is held in Africa.
How easy is it to access/purchase?
Up for the event can be done for the entire four months or a section of the tour. However, the
organization only selects professional level cyclists.
How much does it cost?
Participation fee can be around USD 16,900 for the complete trip across Africa.
Description of the good/service:
This is a charitable cycling event through the length of Africa, starting from Cairo, Egypt up
to Cape Town, South Africa, spanning a length of 7500 miles, across 10 African nations. The
funds are used to support the rural doctors in Africa to reach patients in the remote villages
(tourdafrique.co.za, 2018).
Analyze market factors to identify possible consumer segments that would consume the
Respective goods/services.
a) The General Consumer Market
The general consumer market for charitable sports event for social causes includes
professional athletes who want to actively contribute to society through their sports skills.

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Non professional athletes with similar aspirations are also a potential market. Also, non
athletes, such as independent professionals, regular employees, students and any individuals
who are physically fit can participate in the events. Thus the general market for such events
can be very wide, spanning across individuals between 15 to 50 years (Bunds et al., 2016).
b) Three Possible Consumer Segments:
Three consumer segments that can be focused for these products are:
Female and Male Athletes between the age of 18 and 25 years, who aims to contribute to
society by participating in the charitable event.
Television or media personnel who aspires to get more media coverage through the
participation in chartable sports activities.
Professional cyclists between the age of 18 to 25 years who would like to use these events for
their career growth and also to provide social service.
(Bühler & Nufer, 2015)
c) One key target market
For the Midnight Madness softball tournament, the target market can be professional baseball
players between the ages of 18 to 25.
For the London Triathlon, professional athletes between the ages of 20 to 30 years can be the
ideal customer segment.
For the Tour D’ Afrique, professional cyclists between the age of 20 to 30 years would be
ideal.
(Bühler & Nufer, 2014)

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Create key messages for each of the key target goods/service market.
Key message for Midnight Madness:
Midnight Madness is a baseball super bowl charitable mega event, where your participation
helps in a social cause of helping young athletes, currently unfunded and suffering from
cancer and ALS to fight the disease. Your participation provides these young talents to beat
the odds and fight to recovery. In the charitable event, you also get to play with the legendary
Sugarland Skeeters from Texas, and the major league baseball players, as a once in a lifetime
opportunity. Participation for the events is not expensive, and all the proceedings go to
charitable funds that support young athletes, across the country (Lu, 2016).
Key message for London Triathlon:
The London Triathlon is a combination of several sports events that is aimed to test your
athletic abilities. The two day event involves every type of sprint and racing events, and ideal
for athletes. Professional trainers and coaches are always present to support, and famous
Olympian gold medalists also participate in the event. The Triathlon not only gets a lot of
media coverage, but also serves as an ideal platform for any athlete seeking the right
exposure (Schmid et al., 2016).
Key Message for Tour D’ Afrique:
Experiencing the beauty of the African continent, in all its diversity and helping the needy
people of Africa are the two aspects of Tour D Afrique. Cyclists travel the length of Africa
for more than 7000 miles, starting from the beautiful Cairo, across the savannah plains and up
to the coasts of South Africa. This journey is one that no one can forget, and only a few can
achieve. The winners not only get the fame, but an experience of a lifetime. Participation in
this event can help the doctors in Africa to reach out to patient living in remote villages and

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provide healthcare in those remote pockets. In the trip, you will not only experience the
beauty of Africa but also the harsh reality of the suffering of people in the continent, and
thus, the event will test both your physical and mental strength (Nichols et al., 2016).
Conclusion:
The three events, Midnight Madness, London Triathlon and Tour D’ Afrique all aims
to achieve social development through the charitable events, where the funds from
participation are given to help people in need. Professional and non professional athletes,
with the goals to help others and also achieve professional exposure and growth are the best
target customers for these events.

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References:
Bühler, A., & Nufer, G. (2014). International Sports Marketing. Principles and Perspectives,
Berlin.
Bühler, A., & Nufer, G. (2015). International sports Marketing: introduction and
perspectives.
Bunds, K. S., Brandon-Lai, S., & Armstrong, C. (2016). An inductive investigation of
participants’ attachment to charity sports events: the case of team water
charity. European Sport Management Quarterly, 16(3), 364-383.
livetotri.co.uk (2018). London Triathlon. [online] Livetotri.co.uk. Available at:
https://livetotri.co.uk/london/ [Accessed 27 Sep. 2018].
Lu, H. (2016). Inspiration of Successful Experience of US and European Enterprises
Leveraging Sports Marketing on “Going Global” of Chinese Enterprises. Journal of
Sports Science, 4, 250-255.
madnessinfo.com (2018). Midnight Madness – Midnight Madness. [online]
Madnessinfo.com. Available at: https://www.madnessinfo.com/ [Accessed 27 Sep.
2018].
Nichols, B. S., Cobbs, J., & Raska, D. (2016). Featuring the hometown team in cause-related
sports marketing: A cautionary tale for league-wide advertising campaigns. Sport
Marketing Quarterly, 25(4), 212.
Schmid, B., Kexel, C., & Djafarova, E. (2016). Multidimensional Sports Spectators
Segmentation and Social Media Marketing. World Academy of Science, Engineering

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and Technology, International Journal of Social, Behavioral, Educational, Economic,
Business and Industrial Engineering, 10(8), 2669-2672.
tourdafrique.co.za (2018). Tour d'Afrique - Diversified Brands. All Africa Experts.. [online]
Tour d'Afrique. Available at: http://tourdafrique.co.za/ [Accessed 27 Sep. 2018].