Marketing Strategy Text and Cases - Essay Example

Marketing Strategy Text and Cases ESPN is cable and satellite television channel that is based in the United States (US) with a global distribution network in 180 countries and in 11 languages. The firm has over 50 business franchises including broadband, wireless, on-demand video, books and high-definition TV. Under the stewardship of George Bodenheimer, ESPN has managed to establish the firm a household brand with regard to sports news and all events related to sports (Mullin, Hardy, & Sutton, 2007).

Bodenheimer has helped define the firm’s mission and integrated it with company’s everyday activities and operations. The firm’s versatility and diversity in terms of leadership and management has increased and maintained its client base to over 60 million users daily. This has been achieved through a leadership style that is characterized by decentralization, free-thinking and delegation of duties and responsibilities as a culture within the organization (Lowry, 2005). As a multimedia sports entertainment company ESPN has had tremendous headways into profitability by entering into a contract with the National Football League (NFL).

This deal has seen ESPN’s TV channels gain a massive following for screening live NFL games to millions of Americans (Green, Costa & Fitzgerald, 2002). Targeting the youth in their strategies has seen the firm increase its viewership base and bolster the loyalty of its customers for years to come. To keep up with the competition, ESPN has increasingly been paying higher prices to lock up new major league baseball and pro football rights from their competitors like Comcast (Ferrell, 2012). Competition has had to spend more money to deliver the same quality of sports entertainment to its customers due to increased competition.

This threatens the firm’s envisaged growth because current expenditure leaves little resources to be invested into new projects (Subramani, & Rajagopalan, 2003). ESPN charges higher fee for its cable services compared to other companies, which has generated a lot of ill will towards the company. ESPN risks losing a lot if its phone project does not gain attention in the market, which will translate to the idea being a white elephant for the firm. Adopting cross-platform strategies including the social media will bolster the firm’s advertisement field ad help it reach audiences (Churchill Jr, & Iacobucci, 2009).

Market studies have revealed that there is an increased interest in NFL games from female viewers thus; developing programs suited to female viewership will be an added advantage. Implementing competitive prices for their services will help improve ESPN’s image to its clients (Generated By a Sport Event, n.d). ESPN has established a culture of sports entertainment and it should endeavor to maintain this by being innovative in its marketing and programing strategies. Instituting policy changes that harm the firm’s reputation and image to its clientele should be avoided at all costs.

References.Churchill Jr, G. A., & Iacobucci, D. (2009). Marketing research: methodological foundations. Cengage Learning.Ferrell, O. C. (2012). Marketing Strategy Text and Cases. London: Cengage Learning.Green, B. C., Costa, C., & Fitzgerald, M. (2002). Marketing the Host City: Analyzing Exposure Generated By a Sport Event. International Journal of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship, 4(4).Lowry, T. (2005). Case 6-15: ESPN. In the Zone, ‘BusinessWeek, October 17th, 2005, 66-78. Mullin, B. J.

, Hardy, S., & Sutton, W. A. (2007). Sport marketing (Vol. 13). Human Kinetics 10%. Retrieved From: https://www.inkling.com/read/strategic-marketing-cravens-piercy- 10th/comprehensive-cases/case-6-15-espnSubramani, M. R., & Rajagopalan, B. (2003). Knowledge-sharing and influence in online social networks via viral marketing. Communications of the ACM,46(12), 300-307.