8/14/2013

Sample assignment: Adelaide Football Club

Executive Summary

Adelaide Football Club (AFC) is a famous club in Australia, it plays games in AFL and other matches. It provides high-level matches for its customers (fans), so that satisfies customers' needs. Although there are some micro and macro environment factors affect AFC, it still runs well in the recent years. Also AFC segments its market in two ways, by geography and by age, and it helps AFC runs more efficiency and effective.

 

 

 

Introduction

Adelaide Football Club (AFC) is a famous football club in Australia. It established in late 1990, competes in the Australian Football League. Based at AAMI Stadium in the South Australian capital of Adelaide, the club has won two premierships in 1997 and 1998. The official colours are navy blue, red and gold. So far the club has two offices, one is in Adelaide, and the other in Melbourne. (AFC, 2009)  As a football club, its main product is not physical object, but is the performance of the players in each match. Through their outstanding performance, the club can attract more fans and sponsors, so that the club can get more benefits. In the rest of this report, it will review the appropriateness of its product by analysing market environment, type of product and target segment.

 

Discussion

 

Market Environment

 

The marketing environment surrounds and impacts upon the organization. There are three key perspectives on the marketing environment, namely the 'macro-environment,' the 'micro-environment' and the 'internal environment'. (Marketingteacher, 2009) In this section, it will discuss from two market environment- micro-environment and macro-environment.

According to Kotler et al (2006) the microenvironment refers to the forces that are close to the company and affect its ability to serve its customers. It includes the company itself, its suppliers, marketing intermediaries, customer markets, competitors, and publics. Among these micro-environment elements, the competitors have more effect on AFC than other elements.

Some markets are very competitive, with a number of vendors selling the same kinds of products or services. Conversely, some markets have low or no competition, particularly if the industry is protected by government legislation. (EcnomyWatch, 2009)  The market which AFC in is very competitive, because there are many other teams play the same sports as AFC. In AFL, there are total 16 teams. So within Australia, there are 15 competitors. But in the whole world, its competitors are countless. That is because, some Australian may be not the fan of Australian rules football, maybe they like soccer, and they maybe the fans of Manchester United. So in this level, Manchester United also can be treated as AFC's competitor. Focus on the Australian market, Geelong Football Club affects AFC a lot among the 15 competitors. There are two reason for that, the first one is from geography perspective. The below figure shows the 16 teams in AFL, it clearly there are two teams near AFC, one is Port Adelaide, and the other one is Geelong. People always choose the club near them because it is easy for them to watch the game.

 

The second reason is Geelong has very good results in the past. It has been playing in the Australian Football League, it has been VFL/AFL premiers eight times and won a record nine McClelland Trophies. Formed in 1859, Geelong is the second oldest club in the AFL after Melbourne and one of the oldest football clubs in the world. Geelong was an under-achieving club. Despite playing in five Grand Finals it took 44 years until it won another premiership- an AFL-record 119-point victory in the 2007 AFL Grand Final. Despite recording the most successful home and away season in the game's history, the club went one win short of back-to-back premierships in losing the 2008 AFL Grand Final, but won the 2009 Grand Final against St Kilda. (GFC, 2009)

From these two points of view, Geelong Football Club is the major competitor for AFC. But fortunately, AFC still have some advantages, such as number of members. AFC continued to rank number one for membership in the AFL during season 2008. Its average home game attendance was 40,683 compared to Port Adelaide's 23,841. The AFL average was 36,996.  The figure below shows 2008 ticketed members for each AFL team. (AFC, 2009)

To sum up, although AFC has many competitors, and its competitors get stronger and stronger, AFC still performance well.

From the macro-environment perspective, macro-environment means the larger societal forces that affect the whole microenvironment- demographic, economic, natural, technological, political and cultural. (Kotler et al, 2010, P134) Among these six factors, three factors can affect AFC. First one is demographic, it has bad effect to AFC. The population of Australia is not big which is only 20 million. That means this market is not big. The figure below shows the population in different States. (ABS, 2009)

From the figure, it shows South Australia only has 2 million people, but has two AFL team, this information is not good for AFC. The second factor is economic. As the global economic recession in 2007 and 2008, Australian income is declined, potentially people would choose spend less money on some entertainment, such as watching AFL. But lucky, AFC's members keep increasing in recently years. The third factor is culture which has positive effect on AFC. According to ABS (2007), more than 30% SA people attended AFL in 2005-06. It is twice than the average of Australian sports attendance in AFL.

To sum up, form macro-environment, it affects AFC in both positive and negative way. But in the overall level, it has positive effect.

 

Type of product

 

Product is anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition use or consumption that might satisfy a want or need. It includes physical objects, services, persons, places, organisations and ideas. (Kotler, et al, 2010, P7) And service can be defined as deeds, efforts, or performances. (Berry, 1980, P20-24) For the AFC which is the football club, it belongs to the service market, because though it provides service (performance of players) to its customers, and makes its customers fun and relax. In the rest of this section, it will state the three level of AFC's product (service).

  1. Core product.  Core product refers to the benefit of the product (service) that makes it valuable to buyer. (marketingteacher, 2009) AFC provides the matches for the fans (buyer), the fans want their team win the games, so they can feel happy, relax and exciting.
  2. Actual product.  The actual product must then reflect the core product in its characteristics, packaging, branding, and quality. (Pike, 2006) For AFC, because their actual product is service which is intangible, it doesn't need to be packed and labelled. And according to Kotler (1996) a brand is a name, term, sign, symbol or design or combination of them, intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors. So its brand is Adelaide Football Club, or Crows.
  3. Augmented product. It is usually consists of lots of added value, for which the buyer may or may not pay a premium. For AFC, its augmented product may include some gifts, sports dress and souvenirs from team. There is a shop called CROWmania in Adelaide sold these kinds of goods, and it promises that 100% team products. Also, the fans can buy this kind of goods on online on AFC official website.

 

Target segment

 

In general, dividing the market into different segmentations and applying different strategies for each segment based on their characteristics and needs is crucial in order to come up with effective marketing plans. Traditionally, researchers have examined different demographic factors, such as gender, age, education level, and household income to determine whether segmenting the market based on these characteristics is beneficial (Dietz-Uhler et al, 2002) For AFC, its market can be segmented in two ways, geography and aged.

There are two offices of AFC, one is in Adelaide, and the other in Melbourne. The club sets an office in Melbourne because Melbourne has more population than Adelaide and not far from Adelaide. Through an addition office, the club can get more members of Club, and improve its financial performance. The fans from Adelaide and Melbourne may have different characteristics and needs.

The fans from Adelaide: these fans (customers) are easier to be held by AFC, because there are only two teams in Adelaide. They won't become other team's fans unless AFC does so bad in certain season. So far, AFC does not bad, so they will still be the fans of AFC. All they want is AFC plays well in all matches in the season.

The fans from Melbourne (or other places in Victoria): these fans (customers) are not stable compared with the fans from Adelaide. As mentioned above (from the first figure), there are ten teams in Melbourne area (includes Geelong), and there are total 16 teams in the AFL. So the people in Melbourne have at least 10 options to decide which team they support. Consequently, AFC wants to increase its market share in Melbourne is very hard. But in the bright side, Victoria's population is 2 times than South Australia. Compared with fans from Adelaide, fans from Melbourne have their own needs, for example, maybe they can not go back Melbourne immediately after the matches finish, they may need some places for stay overnight. Also, the transport cost is a problem of these fans. If the club has free coach from Melbourne to Adelaide, the customer satisfaction will increase dramatically.

AFC also segments its market by age. But it does not so well in this way, it just has two categories- one is kids, and the other is people exclude kids. It should be classified into more sub-groups. According to ABS (2005), it shows that people in age from 25 to 44 are more like to participate in sports. Also, generally, people in this age have job, in another word, they can afford the tickets. AFC should treat these people specially, because these people are its main customers (fans). And their needs are simple, all they want is just a fantastic game. There is another benefit from focusing on these group people. Because these group people often have family, their kids or their partner, maybe they will come to watch the game together. Potentially, their kids or partner will become the fans (buyer). The club's customer size will be increased. Also this group (age between 25 to 44) can be segmented by gender, because male and female fans have different needs. (Clark et al, 2009) And as males are typically thought to be more involved with sports than females, AFC should consider male fans' special needs, such as big sports clothes. (Galen et al, 2008) For the kids group, their needs are different from adults, they maybe not so interest in the matches. Maybe they like the mascot more. Also, on the AFC's website, there is a special link for kids. So far, because AFC does not bad in AFL, it can say that all its fans' needs are satisfied.    

 

 

Conclusion

AFC's product is not physical object, but service. It provides performance for the customers (fans). And its customers' need is AFC plays well in the AFL or some other matches. Both micro and macro environment have effect on AFC, but so far, AFC runs well, it provides the good matches to fans (buyer). So its customers' needs are satisfied.

 

Recommendations

As mentioned above, AFC needs consider how to segment its market. And it is recommended that AFC should focus on its fans (customer) in age from 25-44. That will make its business more effective and efficiency.

 

 

 

 

Reference List

Books and Journals

 

1. Berry, L., June 1980, Services Marketing Is Different, Business Magazine

 

2. Clark, J., Apostolopoulou, Artemisia, Gladden, James M.2009,  Real Women Watch Football: Gender Differences in the Consumption of the NFL Super Bowl Broadcast , Journal of Promotion Management; Vol. 15 Issue 1/2, p165-183,

 

3. Dietz-Uhler, B., Harrick, E. A., End, C., & Jacquemotte, L. 2002,. Sex differences in sport fan behavior and reasons for being a sport fan. Journal of Sport Behavior, 23,

 

4. Galen T. Trail, Matthew J. Robinson, and Kim, Y 2008,Sport Consumer Behavior: A Test for Group Differences on Structural Constraints, Sport Marketing Quarterly, 2008.17. 190-200,

 

5. Kotler, Phillip and Armstrong, G, 2006, Principles of Marketing 12th edition,  Pearson Education Inc. New Jersey

 

6. Kotler, Brown, Adam, Burton and Armstrong. 2010, Marketing, 8th edition, Pearson Education Australia, Frenchs Forest

 

7. Kotler, Philip., 1996, Marketing Management Analysis, Planning, Implementation, and Control. 8th  edition. New Delhi: Prentice-Hall of India Pvt. Ltd.

 

8. Pike W, 2006, The demise of independent wine production in France: a marketing challenge? International Journal of Wine Marketing

 

Websites

 

9. Australian Bureau of Statistic, Jun 2009, Australian Demographic Statistics http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/3101.0

 

10. Australian Bureau of Statistic, 2005, 1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2005, http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@.nsf/46d1bc47ac9d0c7bca256c470025ff87/daaada81176e2f89ca256f7200833023!OpenDocument

 

11. AFC, 2009, The Club, http://www.afc.com.au/the%20club/tabid/4491/default.aspx

 

12, AFC, 2009, Corporate Packages 2009, http://www.afc.com.au/hospitality/tabid/4562/default.aspx

 

13. Economywatch, 2009, Market types, http://www.economywatch.com/market/market-types/

 

14. Gautam, J. 2009, Marketing environment, http://knol.google.com/k/marketing-environment#

 

15. Geelong Football club, 2009, Detailed history http://www.geelongcats.com.au/gfc%20history/tabid/4015/default.aspx

 

16. Marketingteacher, 2009, the marketing environment, http://www.marketingteacher.com/Lessons/lesson_marketing_environment.htm

 

17. Marketingteacher, 2009, Three level of product, http://www.marketingteacher.com/Lessons/lesson_three_levels_of_a_product.htm