Sports Marketing: AFL, Rugby Union, and Psychological Factors

This report delves into critical aspects of sports marketing, examining the significance of on-field performance for club members, the impact of athlete reputation on brand strength, and effective advertising strategies within the context of Australian Rules Football (AFL). It analyzes how on-field s...Read More

Running head: SPORTS MARKETING: CHALLENGE QUESTIONS
SPORTS MARKETING: CHALLENGE QUESTIONS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1SPORTS MARKETING: CHALLENGE QUESTIONS
On-field performance and its relative importance for club members
It is debatable whether on field performance is affected by the perspectives of club
members in regards to more lucrative club memberships. However, most players do provide
more emphasis on on-field performances despite being much satisfied with their annual
memberships. There are members that have been known to give more importance to annual club
memberships rather than on field performances but the larger number of club members actually
give more importance to on-field performances. This is because players tend to also live up to
the expectations of their peers and seniors in the team. Although membership is a significant
factor that becomes a priority for many members, performance is also a significant aspect as
most people develop a passion for sports. Being associated with the club actually imbibes within
most members a spirit through which they focus on gaining success (Pink, Saunders and Stynes
2015). Concerning AFL it has been found that membership is directly related to the positive
changes in club memberships that have been recorded. Hence, on field performance provide
greater motivation to the club members rather than any other aspect that affects membership. On-
field performances provide members with greater motivation to participate in the club events.
The notion that on-field performance is lesser important to annual memberships cannot be
completely agreed upon. Club members seek value within the club and acceptance among the
peers. They look forward to on-field performance to generate satisfaction and significance. The
members often view their memberships with pride. This can only be effectively enhanced
through better club performances rather than just the satisfaction concerning the annual club
membership.

2SPORTS MARKETING: CHALLENGE QUESTIONS
Brand strength and the Athlete’s reputation
Athlete’s reputation is of prime value in regards to their endorsements. This is because
sports oriented endorsement based campaigns are more likely to focus on the success factor.
People often associate an athlete with certain essential attributes. These attributes are generally
sports related but many times also concern the personal lives of the individual sportsmen. Hence,
reputation becomes much important when a brand is endorsed by an athlete. Hence, concerning a
larger picture sports stars like LeBron James of Basketball fame or Football great Ronaldo are
selected by brands due to their reputations. Reputation of athletes can crucially determine brand
strength and brand promotion. Firstly, reputation of the athletes help to build awareness of a
brand. Hence, a more reputable athlete will greatly enhance the prospects of the brand that he/she
endorses (Ratten 2016). Secondly, the reputation of the athletes validate the product features of
brand. This means that the attributes of the endorsed products are often seen to mirror the
reputation of the athlete. Thirdly, the reputation of the athletes boosts the brand equity. This
means that the endorsed company or product can earn revenue that is multiple times more than
what the company has spent as a result of the endorsement. Keeping these essential factors in
mind it can be said that reputation of athletes become the primary factor leading to the success of
the product when affecting brands positively. Reputation is the most important aspect of an
athlete’s life. It becomes more important than form or performance at times.
Types of products network advertising client manager would want to advertise
The Australian Rules football is a fast moving game with a range of skills that are
displayed by players (Coutts et al. 2010.). It is a game that features some of the same rules that
one gets to see in rugby. Hence, the product choices that can be advertised during AFL matches
should have the same energetic vibes as is displayed in the games of AFL. Hence, it will be more

3SPORTS MARKETING: CHALLENGE QUESTIONS
effective if the advertised products are soft drinks, energy drinks, energy bars, sports shoes,
Aussie Rules Football oriented products and sports oriented clothing and wristwatches. This is
mainly because these products are trendy and have a certain amount of youth appeal. The
network advertising team and the client manager should definitely target these products because
they will have a great appeal to the customers if displayed in between games. As an example the
sports clothing and sportswear would have more value as the target audiences will be able to
greatly identify with them. The context of the games will provide added value to the
attractiveness of the products (Fujak and Frawley 2016.). The audience will feel a greater urge to
buy the products. Energy drink can be shown in between the matches and the audience can
directly connect the ideas of energy drinks with the energy of the players in the matches. All the
items that have been shown will have significant contextual and psychological value for the
audience. The products that have been displayed will have greater cultural value as AFL is a
traditional Australian sport enjoyed by the larger part of the population.
Psychological factors that can affect a game between Gold Coast Suns and Gold Coast
Titans
The Gold coast Titans represent the Australian Rules Football discipline and the Gold
Coast Titans represent the Rugby Union discipline. Both of these football disciplines are very
popular across Australia. The psychological factor that will primarily affect a game in between
these two teams is the immense curiosity that can be generated in the mind of the viewers. It can
be an ecstatic moment for the viewers (Robertson, Back and Bartlett 2016). On a personal level
the viewers will have the same amount of curiosity. This is because even on a personal level the
person will be curious to know about how two teams from two similar but significantly separate
disciplines of sport can be joined into an inter-disciplinary match that will display two popular

4SPORTS MARKETING: CHALLENGE QUESTIONS
teams fighting on the pitch. The environmental factor will also be guided be the same amount of
curiosity that will be generated by both the psychological and the personal factors. This is
because the game will put two teams from the same city against each other. The environmental
factors will be affected by the curiosity of people to view a match that showcases the two
separate sports teams from the same region against each other. Hence, psychologically people
would like to view a match between two regional rival out of curiosity, personally the same will
be affecting the choice of the attendant and environmentally the same aspects of curiosity and
unique spectacular value will affect the groups or individuals.

5SPORTS MARKETING: CHALLENGE QUESTIONS
References
Coutts, A.J., Quinn, J., Hocking, J., Castagna, C. and Rampinini, E., 2010. Match running
performance in elite Australian Rules Football. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 13(5),
pp.543-548.
Fujak, H. and Frawley, S., 2016. The relationship between television viewership and advertising
content in Australian football broadcasts. Communication & Sport, 4(1), pp.82-101.
Pink, M., Saunders, J. and Stynes, J., 2015. Reconciling the maintenance of on-field success with
off-field player development: A case study of a club culture within the Australian Football
League. Psychology of sport and exercise, 21, pp.98-108.
Ratten, V., 2016. The dynamics of sport marketing: Suggestions for marketing intelligence and
planning. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 34(2), pp.162-168.
Rayner, M., 2017. Rugby Union and professionalisation: elite player perspectives. Routledge.
Robertson, S., Back, N. and Bartlett, J.D., 2016. Explaining match outcome in elite Australian
Rules football using team performance indicators. Journal of sports sciences, 34(7), pp.637-644.