Fan Loyalty Plan - Essay Example

Fan Loyalty Plan Contents Contents 2 Fan Loyalty Plan 3 Executive Summary 3 Fan Behavior Theory 4 Strategy Formation 5 Fan Analysis 7 SWOT Analysis of Sport Fan Analysis 9 Implementation of the Strategies 11 Proposed Value Proposition 12 Forecasted Effects of the Strategies 12 Conclusion 12 References 13 Fan Loyalty Plan Executive Summary There has been a reduced number of Manchester United fans within the last two soccer seasons of the English Premier League. This reduction in the fan base is due to the lack of this team to qualify for the European Champions League for the first time in many years, and to perform poorly under the leadership of David Moyes. David took over from the successful Sir Alex Ferguson but failed to maintain his high standards. He was sacked in ten months after which Louis Van Gaal took over. Manchester united has 20 league titles to its name and is therefore a team that should qualify for the group stages of the European Champions League each season, even it means being eliminated in the group stages (Mason, 1999). To increase the number of supporters, it is necessary to include an innovation plan in terms of the tickets availed to those wishing to watch the games from various stadiums in which the team is playing (Mullin, 2007). These innovations are in terms of ticket availability and attachment of discounts. The availability is brought to an easy to access website, as well as outlets or agents selling the tickets in various stores across the country. The discounts attached are in terms of bonus games for season tickets, reduced prices and player autographs for people who buy season tickets. These are viable strategies that can be implemented to bring back the lost supporters and to attract new fans to the stadiums (Shilbury, 2009). These strategies will boost the number of fans visiting the stadiums, increasing the ticket sales and generating more revenue for the club and its sponsors. This huge fan base will also attract new sponsors targeting a large market. It will create the notion that this club is highly popular, thus attaching a product to their sponsorship will easily sell it (Wolfe, 2002). Fan Behavior Theory Soccer fans are usually attached to their team, and it gets emotional when they either win or lose. This passion and attachment to a soccer club is common among local residence. In this case, the strongest supporters of Manchester United are the people who live within Manchester, although there is fan competition with Manchester City, creating a rivalry known as a derby. This derby is usually the peak of their football rivalry that motivates many fans to go watch the games between the two teams in their stadiums (Fullerton, 2008). The factors that determine whether the football fans will buy tickets, or even use the tickets they have bought, include their belief in the team. A history of heroic performances and a good form encourages fans to go watch live games, expecting a win. These spectators can fail to go to the stadiums if their team has been underperforming in the recent past, or has a poor history against the team they are facing. In the case of Manchester United, there was reduced belief and trust in the team when David Moyes took over. His reign was characterized by a series of losses, and embarrassing ones in their home ground at Old Trafford. Many goals were scored against them, and the most memorable ones were consecutive losses against Sunderland, a team that was among those trailing in the English Premier League table. These losses took place at home, and the result was a reduced number of fans in the stadiums (Barajas, 2007). In fact, one match saw a drone flying over the stadium with a banner requesting David Moyes to quit his managerial role for the sake of the team and its fans. Strategy Formation To increase the number of faithful fans and to maintain the existing supporters, it is important to have unique marketing strategies. The uniqueness of these strategies will determine the level to which the number of fans will rise. These strategies should be well executed to ensure that they are effective and realistic (Bauer, 2008). Several strategies were formulated for this purpose (Heere, 2007).One of them is the creation of a more advanced website with easy and improved ticketing services. This website can have a booking system that will allow fans to place orders for tickets of various forthcoming games or seasons. They are availed for many fans in whichever part of the continent, and even give directions to the respective stadiums, in addition to dates of the games and the respective seat numbers. Another strategy to apply is the use of agents in outlets to sell the club tickets. These agents reduce the effort required in acquiring a ticket. One can easily get a ticket from their neighborhood through these strategically positioned agents. The agents should be located on every street of Manchester and its environs. The agents can also put up some Manchester United advertisements to attract fans and make them aware of the games and their times. Popularity of these agent outlets and their busy nature in the ticketing business will attract the attention of people who are not even soccer fans. They will want to experience the soccer craze that takes people to football stadiums (Theyson, 2009). Granting bonus games to people who purchase season tickets will attract more people to the stadiums. They will be given a chance to watch one free Manchester United game from Old Trafford by imply purchasing the tickets that usually run for the whole season. Another strategy that can be used to add to the Manchester United fan base is the reduction in ticket prices. These tickets can be sold for a subsidized price for a season. To make this strategy successful, the Manchester United players should perform to their level best. The fans will not regret their stadium visits after watching exemplary performance from their team (Giulianotti, 2002). Consequently, they will be willing to attend games in the subsequent season regardless of the ticket prices. This technique depend on creating a winning mentality among the fans, and assuring them of the team’s success. Therefore, they will be excited to buy tickets for other expensive games involving their team. Ticket-buyers can also be granted autograph sessions once in a while. The people who purchase season tickets should be given a chance to sit with the players in a brief session involving the sitting with players. This session can be made exciting by bringing it to the Old Trafford stadium field. The fans will get to interact with their players and bring their t-shirts, shorts, balls, caps and other items for signing. This interactive session with the Manchester United super stars will create a wave of excitement among the fans, encouraging others to purchase season tickets for the following season as long as this additional bonus stands. This strategy can run for a whole season, after which the number of fans buying season tickets will be too big to get the autographs (Green, 2001). The above mentioned strategies can easily be implemented to create a huge fan base. Implementing them will definitely grow the fan base positively, encouraging more fans to sign up for the team’s fan database (Hall, 2006). In fact, the fan loyalty will improve tremendously, especially form the interaction with players. Fan Analysis Manchester United has many supporters. These are the people who have a personal and emotional relationship with the football club (Kim, 2007). They are faithful to the club regardless of its performance. Their reactions to wins or losses are usually emotional, and at times teary or violent. This team has a huge number of supporters on a worldwide scale. They vow never to defect from supporting the club and would rather travel from their distant countries to watch big games in the home stadium of Old Trafford (Ross, 2007). These supporters are mostly found within the region of Manchester, although supporters are also found in other parts of the world. Fans are people who support the team through electronic media and commercial sources. They buy kits to show support for the team. They also subscribe to channels that allow them to watch games involving this team. These fans do not manage to go to the stadiums to watch the live football games. Instead, they rely on companies that record and replay the games, or television channels that air them as they happen, such as Super Sport. They also use live internet streams to get the games at the comfort of their homes. The recent form of Manchester United, and especially that under the leadership of David Moyes, destroyed the self-esteem of many fans. The motive of some of the fans is to bask in the glory of being champions. Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson was a team to respect and one filled with glory for their key victories. Many fans associated themselves with the team for its glory. However, the losses that followed the departure of this legendary manager saw many people leave this team and join other winning teams. Such teams include Liverpool, which was doing good with Suarez as their main striker before he left for Barcelona, the Spanish giants. Another group of fans supports team for the economic benefit it grants them. People used to sports betting, like that offered by Bet365, used to bet on wins by Manchester United, and mostly managed to scoop payouts. However, a decline in the team’s performance saw the gamblers lose some money before they decided to desert it and opt for others. Fans with financial motives on a team greatly depend on its awesome performance, the lack of which turns them off. A team with constant wins both at home and away creates confidence in fans such that they can place huge amounts of money as bets for the performing teams (Funk, 2001). The entertaining nature of Manchester United’s performance created another motive for fans. Some of them watched the team’s game for the clean game they played, with great attacking strikers and a reflexive goalkeeper. This attraction brought many people to stadiums. They wanted to experience the thrill first-hand, and thus bought tickets with which they would be allowed access into the stadiums. The level to which they watched the games on television or over the internet depended on the thrill offered in games (Smith, 2007). In fact, it was always a norm that Manchester United would produce an exemplary performance whenever they played at Old Trafford. The result of this was sold-out tickets for home games, regardless of the prices set for each ticket. There was also an increased purchase of the home kit due to this amazing wins. There is also a social motive among Manchester United fans. They tend to watch their games so as to spend time with friends. This social time can be spent in stadiums and other social places at which they can watch the games. However, the embarrassment of a team’s performance can stop people from spending their social time watching games. SWOT Analysis of Sport Fan Analysis The intended strategies have their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats as indicated in the SWOT analysis below. Their strengths can be stated as ease of access for the website and the agents. The website can be accessed at the comfort of a fan’s home and they can purchase the tickets without having to visit any outlets. The agents located in the streets of Manchester and other cities and towns around this area are also within reach by fans and supporters (Wann, 2008). They are easy to go to and purchase tickets throughout the season as long as they are not sold out. The bonus games, reduced prices and the signing of autographs have the similar strength of attracting fans due to their pleasurable appearance. These offers appear to be too good to miss. Fans will be prompted to try them out, even if for just a single season (Won, 2008). These strategies also have their weaknesses. The website can be inaccessible in low internet days. It also requires one to have access to a smartphone, tablet or computer, all of which should have good internet connectivity. The failure of having any of these devices means that one cannot use the internet option to purchase tickets for games they wish to attend. They will have to go to outlets to physically purchase the. The agents have a weakness in that they will require the construction or hire of a physical structure or van from which the tickets will be sold (Brown, 2003). They will also require the employment of people who will be situated in these booths to sell the tickets. These employees are salaried, and they must make more than they are paid to ensure that this strategy is profitable to the football club. The bonus games, reduced prices and autographs also have a common weakness in that they will lead to the selling out of tickets. The opportunities that lie in the website include the creation of a fan database. This collection of fan details will help the club monitor its fans and follow up on their game attendance. The agents have an opportunity of creating local groups of fans per street. The bonus games have the opportunity of extending to other competitions that the cub participates in, such as the European Champions League (Cousens, 2001). The reduced ticket prices create an opportunity of selling tickets to the fullest, such that the stadium is fully occupied and no tickets are wasted. Creation of sessions in which players can sign autographs for the spectators with season tickets creates a personal relationship between fans and the players (Tower, 2006). The threats associated with these strategies are mostly associated with competition from other teams, especially Manchester City with which they share a region (Richelieu, 2008). The website can be copied and used by other clubs. A threat with the physical tickets sold at the agent outlets include the damage of the tickets, which can occur in the event the outlet burns or gets destroyed. The bonus games and reduced ticket prices increase the threat of clashing fans in terms of those kept out of the stadium after it exceed capacity. Allowing players to interact with all the players that bought season tickets creates a security threat to them. The five strategies can be ranked as per the table below: strategy ranking (1-low benefit 5- highest benefit) Online ticketing 2 Agent outlets 3 Bonus games 3 Reduced prices 4 Player autographs 2 Table 1: Ranking of the strategies The three highest ranking strategies are the agent outlets, the bonus games and reduced ticket prices. The three have the highest levels of viability and the least risks on implementation, guaranteeing maximum revenue generation for the club and its sponsors (Ross, 2008). Implementation of the Strategies Implementing the agent outlets will require identifying the most suitable locations with die-hard fans and supporters within the country. These outlets can be set up as simple temporary structures with regular working days. They can even be put up as promotional tents that advertise the Manchester United club, showcasing their success and major historical events. They can also be incorporate in already existing stalls that deal with sports, such as shops selling sporting gear and uniforms (Meenaghan, 2013). The bonus games can be advertised in one season such that they will apply in the subsequent one. They can include highlight games of the season that follows, or home games that are expected to be of major attraction in the league. These bonus games should be distributed throughout the season depending on the number of people who purchase season tickets. A big number of them will require that multiple games of the same magnitude be used as bonus games. Fitting all supporters in the same bonus game can lead to overcrowding and confusion in the game. In fact, it would be favorable to make the players randomly pick a game. For more efficiency, a random number generator can be used to assign supporters to random games, considering the players who also come in groups of friends (Farrelly, 2010). The reduced ticket prices call for the implementation of a system that monitors issuing of tickets to ensure that prices are uniformly adjusted. Proposed Value Proposition The products used in these strategies include addition of agent outlets, bonus games and the player autographs. Modifications can be made on the existing club website to include the Manchester United ticketing system. The delivery of the tickets will change in terms of near-home availability and delivery from the agent outlets and the website. The experience of having a session with all the great players in this club will also enhance loyalty. Forecasted Effects of the Strategies These strategies will be affected by the improving performance of Manchester United. This team has a high chance of qualifying for the European Champions League for the coming season, showing that they have been playing to their level best. This expectation will increase the purchase of tickets, especially if the prices fall. Their state of the art performance will also encourage people to purchase season long tickets for the coming season, which might mean good business for the agent outlets (Guez, 2013). Conclusion The chosen strategies include the creation of agent outlets that sell tickets to supporters at the convenience of their neighborhood. Other strategies are the awarding of bonus games and the reduction of ticket prices. The result of these strategies is an increased fan base, which has an effect of attracting potential investors and retaining the existing ones. It also boosts the brand of the team, especially after a period of low and poor performance. 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