User Generated Content Marketing Campaign for Ricoh Arena - Case Study Example

USER GENERATED CONTENT MARKETING CAMPAIGN FOR RICOH ARENA by Student’s Name       Code+ Course Name Professor’s Name University Name City Date Introduction The Ricoh Arena is located in the city of Coventry, Rowley’s Green District, and is currently home Coventry City Football club and the Wasps Rugby Football Club. Apart from hosting sporting events, the complex also hosts concerts and other entertainment events including the Multiplay’s Insomnia Festival (Ricoharena, 2016). The arena is recognized countrywide as a premier entertainment venue having hosted numerous international acts in the music industry, including the Specials, Coldplay and Bruce Springsteen. The Ricoh arena was also one of the venues. During the 2012 Olympic Games and the complex’s deal with Wasps RFC has seen the club emerge as one of the biggest rugby clubs in Europe with outstanding facilities. The arena also has facilities in which organizations can host exhibitions and conferences (Ricoharena, 2016). Given the positive reputation the arena has gained over the years, it packs quite a busy schedule that includes football and rugby matches and concerts. In May and June, the arena will host the MTV Crashes and Rihanna’s Anti-World Tour (Ricoharena, 2016). Both the events are expected to attract a lot of fans. However, the Ricoh Arena’s capability of attracting as many fans as possible to its events is under great threat from increasing completion from other event hosting venues and complexes in the city of Coventry and the whole of England. As such, it is necessary for Ricoh Arena to strengthen its consumer interaction through consumer-oriented marketing. This strategy would not only help enhance fan loyalty, but it will also offer the arena an opportunity to acquire and manage new potential ticket holders. This report presents a User Generated Marketing Campaign that Ricoh Arena can utilize to enhance its relationship with its fans and attract new potential ticket holders. Ricoh Arena products and potential customers The Ricoh Arena offers event hosting services to a wide range of events including conferences, concerts and sporting events. Touted as one of the premier stadiums in England, the complex is home to one rugby and football club. Apart from hosting sporting and entertainment events, the Ricoh Arena also has a hotel, two restaurants and one of the largest casinos in the UK (Ricoharena, 2016). This means customers and fans can never fall short of activities to engage in on any particular day they choose to visit the arena. The arena is set on a 20-acre site and boasts of 20000 square meters. The parking is ample, with the total number of onsite parking bays being more than 2000. Apart from the Wasps Rugby Club and Coventry City FC, the Ricoh Arena is also in partnership with other leading companies such as Grosvenor Casinos, Lloyds pharmacy, E.ON and Jaguar (Ricoharena, 2016). Competition in the event hosting arenas industry has become quite intense, with more state of the art arenas and complexes being established around the country. To ensure that the arena continues to be among the top choices for event organizers and fans alike, the Ricoh Arena has to ensure that both event organizers and end consumers are aware of the different services available at the arena and the unique way in which the services are offered. The Arena’s potential customers include sports and music event organizers, blue chip companies, sports teams as well as sports and music fans. Market Research Over the past few years, the UK events industry has undergone a tremendous growth with the industry rising the 16th largest employer as of 2015. According to Fletcher (2015), direct expenditures in the industry between 2011 and 2015 increased by £3 billion, thanks to event organizers and those who attend the different events including exhibitions, concerts, festivals and sporting spectacles. The growth of the industry over the past few years has seen the government direct its efforts towards boosting the industry through the Department of Culture, Media & Sport (Fletcher, 2015). The government now works in close partnership with event organizers and owners of venues to identify and bid for different domestic and global events. The government has also shown its commitment towards supporting such events, with the 2012 London Olympics being a perfect example. The success of the Olympic Games was a boost to the UK’s events industry, as it showcased how the country can be a premier host to a wide range of sporting and even entertainment events (Fletcher, 2015). The continued growth and popularity of the industry have also led to increased completion in the industry, as more and better-designed venues continue to be constructed. This means that The Ricoh Arena now faces even greater competition when it comes to bidding for different events. Similarly, the emergence of many events arenas now means that consumers now have a wide range of options. Ricoh Arena’s main competitors include the Wembley Stadium, The O2 arena, Emirates Stadium and the Twickenham Stadium (Londontown, 2016). The Wembley Stadium is UK’s largest stadium and official home to the England national football team. Re-opened in 2007 after undergoing a face-lift, the Wembley Stadium has emerged as the most outstanding events arena in the UK, hosting different sporting events, concerts and conferences. The stadium has hosted two UEFA champions league finals in 2011 and 2013, and is expected to host other events in the coming months, including Rihanna’s international tour, Beyoncé’s Formation world tour to name but a few (Londontown, 2016). User-Generated Content Marketing User generated content is any form of digital information that end users create and share on different online platforms such as websites and social media. According to Popek (2011, p.14), user generated content is a form of conversational media in that it usually initiates a conversation among consumers and between the consumers and the organization providing a certain product. User Generated Content (UGC) can be viewed and shared by other users of a platform on which it is available and comes in different forms such as videos, photos, infographics, blogs and comments (Seraj, 2012, p.209). The most popular platforms on which user generated content is available to include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube. UGC has grown in popularity over the past few years, thanks to modern day internet users who are not only keen about browsing through websites, but are also interested in the creation of their own sites, blogs and sharing of images and videos thereby contributing to the content of the different online platforms they visit (Rothschild 2011, p.139). Popek (2011, p.4) points out that a lot of UGC is created just for fun. However, sites like YouTube are entirely dedicated to UGC, allowing business to engage fans and customers in the marketing of the different products and services offered by the business Gensler et al., (2013) attributes the increased popularity of UGC to the increased emergence of social media platforms and increased utilization of such platforms by consumers. These communicative tools have empowered both consumers and marketers, allowing consumers to access and share important information about products and services offered by businesses and the business to engage consumers in product design, promotion and even marketing. Ind et al. (2013) report that user generated content can be accessed and used in a timely and less costly way compared to traditional communication and marketing tools. Businesses that utilize UGC give users the opportunity to participate in the business’s value creation Li and Bernoff (2008, p.52) are of the view that brand communication in the modern market environment is largely taking place online as consumers increase their online presence. They point out that UGC has emerged as an important way through which brands can initiate and maintain brand conversations and consumer insights. As the number of consumers who have established an online presence across the different online platforms increase, so is the number of consumers who are not taking part in the generation of content for different business (Chan & Li 2010, p.1033). Businesses have seized these opportunities, with many of them establishing campaigns aimed at capitalizing on this opportunity to improve their customer loyalty, customer base as well as sales (Seraj 2012, p.210). Different global companies such as Microsoft and Yahoo have successfully run UGC marketing campaigns through different social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Consumers are exerting more influence over brands and products, and marketers have seized this opportunity to enhance the engagement between the businesses and their customers (Rothschild 2011, p.140). UGC platforms are characterized by different players, namely contributors, users, advertisers, bystanders and designers. Contributors are those who provide the content while users are those players who utilize the platform. One unique feature of most UGC platforms is that the contributors are often the end consumers. This means that the users of UGC platforms also take part in the creation of the content (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010, p, 59). The total number of users on a given platform has a direct impact on the on the value as well as the amount of content that can be generated on any particular platform. Advertisers are those players who are attempting to reach users while bystanders are those businesses or individuals that are the subject of the content being generated by users. Various scholars point out that modern day consumers are quite fragmented in terms of their tastes and preferences (Kaplan & Haenlein 2010, p, 59). Involving consumers in the creation of content for business has proved to be an effective way through which business can meet the varying needs of the fragmented consumer population. Ricoh Arena UGC Marketing Campaign To enhance Ricoh Arena’s position in the competitive events industry, the current reports recommend that the company should implement a UGC marketing campaign whose objectives would be: To raise the brand awareness of the Ricoh Arena To capitalize on the positive brand associations with other brands currently connected with Ricoh Arena In addition to the above objectives, the UGC campaign also aims at enabling the Arena’s management to gain a deeper understanding of the fans’ buying journey. This would allow the management to enhance its communication with fans in such a way that the purchase cycle would be enhanced. Gaining insight into the fans’ buying journey would also allow the company set up the appropriate touch points. The campaign also aims at contributing to increased revenue generation and creation of experiences that best meets the consumers’ preferences and tastes. Tools The main tools that would be used in the current campaign are the arena’s social media sites. A thorough analysis of the company’s social media platforms which include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat would be conducted first, with the main aim of identifying which platforms have the highest number of fans and followers and the platforms on which users are most active. The campaign will also seek to capitalize on the social media platforms of its key partner, including Wasps RFC, Coventry City FC and Grosvenor Casinos and Lloyds pharmacy. This would make it possible for the proposed campaign to reach a wider audience Actions The Arena will run two complementary UGC campaigns, with the first campaign targeting those fans who been at past events at the Ricoh Arena and who wish to return. The second campaign should tap the creativity of the arena’s current and potential fans. In the first campaign, users would be allowed to upload photos of their best moments on the arena’s Facebook, Twitter or Instagram pages using the #Ricohmemorablemoments hashtag. Fans who garner the highest number of likes on their photos on each of the platforms will stand a chance of winning four tickets to four different events that would be held at the arena in the current year. Users would be allowed to seek likes from their friends and relatives, even those who are not fans of the arena. This way, Ricoh Arena would be able to expand its fan base on the different platforms. In the second campaign, Ricoh Arena will seek to engage its fans in creating a video advertisement. Fans would be allowed to create and upload a video ad for the Ricoh Arena, with the most creative and liked videos standing a chance of winning cash prizes and merchandise from our partners including Jaguar. Timelines The campaigns would run from April up to November of this year, with the final draw to select the winners being made at the end of each month starting from April. The success of the campaigns based on the different performance metrics would determine whether the arena will extend or modify the campaigns over the coming years. Metrics The metrics that would be used to measure the success of the current campaigns include the number of new fans on the company’s social media websites at the end of the years, the total number of submissions that would be received for each campaign at the end of the year, the number of positive comments about the campaigns on the different social platforms as well as the total ticket sales and revenues the company would have earned at the end of the campaign periods. Conclusion User-Generated content marketing campaigns have proved to be quite a success for most businesses that have utilized the approach in the past. Given the stiff competition in the UK’s events industry, the current report recommends that Ricoh Arena should move fast and put in place such a campaign. The Ricoh Arena has partnered with some famous brands including Jaguar, Wasps RFC and Coventry City FC. A video ad and photo contest campaign would allow the arena to capitalize on such positive brand associations to get more fans and potential customers, both from within the UK and from other regions of the world. References List Chan, K. W., & Li, S. Y. (2010). Understanding consumer-to-consumer interactions in virtual communities: The salience of reciprocity. Journal of Business Research, 63(9), 1033-1040. Fletcher, M. (2015). Events industry helps power UK economy - raconteur.net. [online] Raconteur. Available at: http://raconteur.net/business/events-industry-helps-power-uk-economy [Accessed 17 Mar. 2016]. Gensler, S., Völckner, F., Liu-Thompkins, Y., & Wiertz, C. (2013). Managing Brands in the Social Media Environment. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 27(4), 242-256. Ind, N., Iglesias, O., & Schultz, M. (2013). Building Brands Together: Emergence and outcomes of co-creation. California Management Review, 55(3). Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media. Business Horizons, 53(1), 59-68 Li, C., and Bernoff, J. (2008). Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies. New York: Forrester Research Inc. LondonTown, (2016). Sport Venues in London. [online] LondonTown. Available at: http://www.londontown.com/London/Londons-Sport-Venues [Accessed 17 Mar. 2016]. Popek, E. (2011). Understanding the world of user-generated content. New York: Rosen Central. Ricoharena, (2016). About The Ricoh Arena | Ricoh Arena. [online] Ricoharena.com. Available at: http://www.ricoharena.com/about-us/ [Accessed 17 Mar. 2016]. Rothschild, P. (2011). Social media use in sports and entertainment venues. International Journal of Event and Festival Management, 2(2), pp.139-150. Seraj, M. (2012). We create, we connect, we respect, and therefore we are: intellectual, social, and cultural value in online communities. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 26(4), 209-222 Read More