2012 London Olympic Games - Essay Example

Explanation and analysis of the London Olympic Games BY YOU YOUR SCHOOL INFO HERE HERE Explanation and analysis of the London Olympic Games Outline of the event On August 10, 2012, the Great Britain women’s hockey team was pitted against the New Zealand women’s team at Olympic Park. Tickets for this event, the deciding match that would determine bronze medal status for the loser, were fully promoted for the historical opportunities in advancing women’s hockey as well as the inability of Great Britain to achieve a medal in this sport since 1992 (IHF 2013). When tickets were initially put on sale, there was little promotion involving national pride or the presence of integrated marketing communications available to inspire women’s sporting advancements. However, after it became clear that Great Britain would, indeed, win a medal, the scope of promotion and even service quality appeared to be redesigned and positioned under national pride and support for women’s sporting. The Great Britain v. New Zealand hockey event, upon discovery of Britain’s team involvement, changed intentions from being a generic sporting event requiring traditional management oversight to a marketing opportunity to expand the brand presence of the United Kingdom women’s sporting associations, improve national reputational standing internationally, and also provide visitors with a total quality experience. Merchandising, promotion, public relations, sponsorship, and entertainment took a radically different approach (hence, the concentration was on marketing support and revenue-building through marketing). Under the EMBOK model of events management, these particular knowledge domains are fundamental aspects of the events planning model (Getz 2007). These elements and processes required significant flexibility and rapid alteration to achieve profit and service quality provision goals with a new events positioning strategy based on national honour and conceit for the achievement of women’s sports participation. Purpose of the Event Great Britain’s involvement in this particular events match extended the life cycle of the event, transforming it from being just a mere constituent part of the broader 2012 Olympics to a full-fledged short-term project objective. The life cycle of this event project was transformed from a three to four-hour event to an elongated strategic project objective that would have a considerable period of growth before meeting ultimate decline. This event became a tangible special project requiring significant marketing flexibility and reallocation of labour and finance. This project established a vision whilst also planning, organizing and evaluating the project to determine appropriate promotion and merchandising opportunities. This is considered ideal, best practice project management methodology (Slack, Chambers and Johnson 2004). Because of the opportunities of gaining more consumer interest associated with national pride and support for women’s advancement in sporting, this August 10, 2012 event became a stand-alone event in order to maximise sales revenues from dedicated and patriotic customers. This event now had its own identity as a historical event disparate from the brand established by the London 2012 events planning authorities. Coupled with attempting to express a positive national image to an engaged international viewing community, this event maintained tremendous opportunities for capitalisation financially and improving the overall brand identity of the 2012 Olympic Games. Motivation for event attendance Bowdin, McDonnell, Allen and O’Toole (2010) describe the fundamental motivations for attending events. People, according to the authors, have a rather holistic cultural need to mark important occurrences in their lives as an opportunity for celebrating significant life moments. Even in the digital media age where people have seemed to lose touch with their fundamental social norms and even religious beliefs, people need events like the Olympic Games to mark the important local aspects of our lives (Bowdin et al. 2010). Under most respected motivational models, social belonging and receipt of esteem from others in the social environment are some of the most fundamental human motivations that lead to better happiness and self-development both cognitively and emotionally (Morris and Maisto 2005; Maslow 1987). The initial promotion indicating a moderate to high-priced ticket price along with the many historical connotations associated with the integrated marketing communications in place for this event, inspired attendance by appealing to inherent needs for celebrating significant moments relevant to our local histories. National pride in the social environment was clearly visible, with even local citizens sporting national heritage merchandise in an effort to create a unified and patriotic Games visitor culture. Through marketing prowess and even engagement by the multitudes of visitors to the Olympic events illustrating a renewed patriotic conceit, this event seemed to be a very critical national spotlight in which the attendees could become engaged with the vibrant and enthusiastic social condition. Therefore, it was a blend of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation that determined the desire to attend this historical, short-term event. Intrinsic motivation was stimulated by a legitimate liking for the sport of hockey and the rules of its competitive play. Extrinsic motivation, as described by Weiten and Lloyd (2005) was borne of the external environment, knowing that there would be exuberant cheering from the crowd and a social desire to win the coveted Olympic medal in hockey after 20 years. If the event had been less-important to women’s sporting and to enhancing national pride and integrity, the motivation to attend the event would not have been supported enough to ensure ticket purchasing decision-making under intrinsic motivational models. It was only when the event took on sudden international and historical importance, as relevant to the hypothesis offered by Bowdin et al. (2010), that the desire to be a part of the social environment that could only serve to enhance the event and service experience. Blackwell, Miniard and Engel (2006) suggest that the majority of individuals in society are not aware they are driven to certain behaviours because of motives. Despite this, there are some instances in which consumers are aware that they are being influenced by motivational needs (Blackwell et al. 2006). When considering whether to purchase the tickets, it was considered with conscious awareness of the potential opportunities for engagement with sporting or other relevant national celebrities and, perhaps, even being able to be caught on camera during an historical match-up. Furthermore, the Olympic Games 2012 planning committees and various sponsoring organisations were promoting an interactive voting campaign entitled “Top 10 Most Sexy Olympic Athletes”. For aesthetic purposes of athlete visualisation and also potential engagement with important celebrities and government actors that were dominating the media for their local and international accomplishments, it became much greater extrinsic motivation to attend the New Zealand v. Great Britain women’s hockey event now that it had such superior local and international attention. Furthermore, there was more extrinsic motivation due to a series of consistent rumours (though not validated through legitimate marketing propaganda) that a member of the Royal Family would be attending this event to support Great Britain and also women’s sporting advancement. Since the ticketing price was already pre-established and regulated by appropriate authorities in planning and government, there was no risk with all of this sudden domestic and international attention for price increases occurring under price discrimination models. Social media sites were abuzz for a short period before the event about the alleged visitation by an important national figure that fuelled more enthusiasm to attend this event. Coupled with a great deal of advertising on many social media sites promoting the importance of the event to national heritage and women’s sporting, the consistency of integrated media communications only served to reinforce a final purchasing decision. Jones (2010) describes the many opportunities for events planners for this type of high-profile event like the aforementioned match between New Zealand and Great Britain. “The gathering of thousands of individuals is an opportunity to reflect on the communitarian nature of our species” (Jones 2010, p.5). Upon reflection of the motivations that drove a decision for attendance to this event, it was realised that there would likely be much more inter-socialisation occurring with many spectators who, for the duration of this event, would be part of a cohesive and unified social order with considerable pride in accomplishment from UK representatives and athletes. It is not common in most events for a great deal of social interaction and engagement, however the purpose and scope of this particular event provided ample opportunities for making long-term social acquaintances or enjoying the sensation of a short-term type of utopia. Knowing from visual experiences watching televised broadcasts of various Olympic events, it was realised that music and art would also be introduced into this event model that would only serve to enhance the total experience in relation to service quality and sports player engagement. Marketing of the event When a brand is able to provide consumers with opportunities for self-expansion, it is more likely they will develop important attachments and sustain brand loyalty (Greenwald 2002; Muniz and O’Guinn 2001). The more an individual is attached, the more their egocentric considerations of the brand begin to erode and they begin sharing their own resources with the brand (Muniz and O’Guinn 2001). As soon as Great Britain won the right to compete in the bronze competition, sponsors of the event and associated marketers began developing brand communities in social media to enhance consumer engagement and brand attachment for the event and also for the broader London 2012 brand identity. By highlighting the advantages of maintaining national pride and showing support for women’s sports, it illustrated how the events brand could provide self-expansion opportunities. This appears to have been successful for this sporting match as the volume of engaged social media users increased prior to the event and used their own capital (both social and financial) to better engage with the event. Enthusiasm provided by online promotions in social media created buzz about the event and even had dedicated, attached consumers defending negative commentaries about women’s sports which illustrated that self-expansion opportunities can improve word-of-mouth and build long-standing attachments when conducted appropriately. The event seemed to understand the rather inexpensive, yet effective utilisation of social media to assist in promoting an event. Viral marketing was present for this even on Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter and MySpace with recurrent upgraded notifications and events planning activities as they were being adjusted to meet the high demand and new, unexpected national and international attention for this event. One interesting marketing tactic used on the Internet involved a variety of creative, virtual avatars that allowed interactivity with consumers whilst their virtual characters engaged in a virtual hockey match with other online players. Chat functions were supported with this software, providing random opportunities for small-scale prizes with a spin of a wheel at the end of the play duration. Phillips (2010) believes that for certain consumer segments, how clever a consumer actually is in creating unique and cool avatars to represent themselves is now growing in importance over even one’s own physical attractiveness. This type of contemporary social power is what will sell products and services (Phillips 2010). The event did an excellent job of using viral marketing that was periodically adjusted to maintain interesting and engaging content whilst allowing consumers to socialise in their preferred media environment using avatars and associated support software. The events planners also utilised effective logo presentation, in this case Union Jack (the British flag) on a variety of print and online advertisements. Effective utilisation of logos are one of the fundamental practices of marketing as it promotes brand recall and also creates emotional connections dependent upon the scope and intention of the advertising. Planners understood the fundamental lifestyle and social needs of consumers and then included Union Jack as a representation of the event purpose and intention to reinforce consumption interest. Coupled with an effective merchandising plan, a variety of national heritage-inspired merchandise were included for online sales and, ultimately, before and during the hockey event. Elements of customer service for the event Turban (2002) defines customer service as activities that are designed to enhance total customer satisfaction, which is essentially meeting or exceeding consumer expectations associated with the product and primarily related to service provision. Events planners understood that the fundamental drive for event attendance would be national pride and conceit in an environment where frivolous and spontaneous consumption was common when enhanced with alcoholic beverage consumption and enthusiastic social engagement. Quality customer service is necessary to achieve a market segment’s willingness to attend future events planned by the same committees and organisers and to achieve positive word-of-mouth that would have been relevant for coinciding London 2012 events. Service competence and superiority was present during the hockey event, especially with the volume of concessions salespersons available to provide rapid and convenient food products during the match. During the event, it was personally noticed that the amount of sellers moving about the seating section was exuberant, however it was providing very contented and satisfied consumers. The expediency by which product was delivered to the customer and financial transactions completed was outstanding and often led to much higher gratuities for the sellers. Various balloon entertainers were also moving about Olympic Park to engage children and provide free or low-cost balloon creations depending on their complexity. Events planners realised that this event, much like the Olympics, was as much a family-oriented event that required emphasis on youth interaction to enhance the family experience to which this was relevant. Superior service was also present with several support staff members that were controlling and directing lines to various concession areas and restroom facilities. To minimise waiting times by shuffling consumers through shorter lines and delegating opening of additional concession windows during periods of high consumer traffic, it enhanced the total quality service experience that translated into much happier consumers willing to spend more resources. The quality of the event It did not make sense for this event to utilise complicated service quality models such as total quality management as this is a dedicated process involving multiple stakeholders and social conditions to improve a brand or organizational competitiveness over the long-term. Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (1985) describe elements of a quality service philosophy that must be present to satisfy customers. These include, but are not limited to, quality of communications, courtesy, responsiveness, knowing the customers’ needs, and the tangibles (servicescape) of the event environment. These dimensions were present with courteous and openly-social support staff members that regularly engaged consumers during periods of wait and during certain portions of the hockey event. Rapid responsiveness was visible in the aforementioned concession salespersons and their presence for answering questions in a timely manner that further enhanced service perceptions. Most importantly, however, was the servicescape. The ambient temperature of this area of Olympic Park was far too cold for sustaining a comfortable experience, which was commented on by several diverse demographics of attendees. Some were not prepared for this and did not bring with them adequate dressing materials to combat poor servicescape conditions. Furthermore, the lighting above the seating area was very bright, in fact blinding if the attendee turned their attention upwards for more than a brief moment. All other dimensions of the servicescape were either satisfactory or excellent based on appropriate comfort dimensions in the seating area, utilisation of sponsorship signage and associated promotions, and ensuring ample openness in common areas (such as concessions) to avoid overcrowding sensations that can dull a servicescape experience. Evaluation of event success After taking into consideration all identified negative and positive experiences aligned with marketing, service quality theory, consumer engagement and motivational needs, as well as marketing communications, the event was an overwhelming success. Despite a few elements of the servicescape, which were combatable when utilising appropriate proactive dress and avoiding direct contact with spotlighting, nearly all constituent elements of this event were aligned with appropriate models and theories for proper events management strategies. The fundamental aspect that brought this event so much engagement and enthusiasm in very diverse demographic segments of consumers was excellence and dedication to quality service (especially relevant for human capital support in the event) and effective use of marketing communications. The level to which the brand attempted to create connections with consumer emotions was successful and this translated into many merchandise sales that were obvious during the course of the event. Expensive and less-expensive merchandise were being spontaneously purchased by many different cultural and demographic-based market segments that likely provided ample profitability for this very high-profile event. To support this concretely, the events planners would have to resort to an evaluation/metrics system of quantitative survey research to fully understand how consumers felt about this event in ways that cannot be effectively spoken with a revenues analysis. However, viral marketing, promotion of positive social engagement, and use of promotional icons to build more support for national pride and advancement of women’s sports was extremely successful in fully motivating consumers and guaranteeing profit for this event. References Bowdin, G.A.J., McDonnell, I., Allen, J. and O’Toole W. (2010). Events Management, 2nd ed. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Getz, D. (2007). Event Studies: Theory, research and policy for planned events. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Greenwald, A.G., Banaji, M.R., Rudman, L.A., Farnham, S.D., Nosek, B.A. and Mellott, D.S. (2002). A unified theory of implicit attitudes, stereotypes, self-esteem and self-concept, Psychological Review, 109(1), pp.3-25. IHF. (2013). London 2012 Olympic Games July 29 – August 11, 2012 – Women. International Hockey Federation. [online] Available at: http://www.fih.ch/en/competitions-156/match-4062-nzl-v-gbr-bronze-2012-womens-olympic-games Jones, M. (2010). Sustainable Event Management: A practical guide. UK: Earthscan. Maslow, A. (1998). Maslow on Management. London: Wiley. Morris, C. and Maisto, A. (2005). Psychology: An Introduction, 12th ed. Pearson Prentice Hall. Muñiz, A. and O’Guinn, T. (2001), Brand Community, Journal of Consumer Research, 27 (4), 412-32. Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A. and Berry, L.L. (1985). A conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future research, Journal of Marketing, (Fall), pp.41-50. Phillips, C. (2010), Brand Loyalty: The Ultimate Book of Choice and Value, HoAm Presst Publishing. Slack, N., Chambers, S. and Johnson, R. (2004). Operations Management. Harlow: Pearson Education. Turban, E. (2002). Electronic Commerce: A Managerial Perspective. Prentice Hall. Weiten, W. and Lloyd, M. (2005). Psychology: A Down to Earth Approach. 7th ed. Prentice Hall. Read More