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Interview with Nigel Geach

There is a small interview with Nigel Geach. The very interesting person in our business, that is why rather busy ;) But I has had the luck to learn his opinion on some questions.


Nigel Geach
Sports Marketing Surveys (Research)Nigel Geach is a Director of Sports Marketing Surveys, the International Sports Market Research Company, responsible for the marketing and sales side of the business on a worldwide basis. Having been involved with Sports Marketing Surveys for over 20 years, he has seen the steady growth of the area of sponsorship evaluation as being a fundamental part of sponsorship activity.

Previous to Sports Marketing Surveys, he worked in the UK and America with multinational companies in the consumer durable industry after graduating in Business Management. Nigel has been involved in sponsorship research since 1986 and has seen the massive growth of televised sport throughout the world. For ESA, Nigel will bring depth of knowledge and commitment to the Board utilising a wealth of experience of people and techniques.

- In the beginning, I wish to thank you for answering my questions. How have you come to sports marketing?

- In 1984, a small number of my colleagues joined together to put together a market research company to provide data to the Sports Industry. The company now is 300 people and has 18 offices around the World.

- In some articles I approved, that sports marketing is an especial thing which considerably differs from marketing in other branches. Sports marketing - Is it really specific kind of activity or it is also the same marketing, but simply works with sports? In other words, are there in sports marketing any features inherent only in it one?

- Sports Marketing is different to other marketing – it has a high degree of passion, and also has different target markets in different sports, making it a different marketing proportion in every sport.

- Your agency successfully works 20 years on the market. Can tell, how it was started? You have offices on several continents. Does sports marketing works different in the various countries?

- Having offices in different countries does make a difference. For example in Japan, companies want to make sure that any sponsorship or sports marketing is discussed and researched before they start and generally speaking the sponsorships/marketing platforms carry on for many years.

- You work with many well-known organizations and trade marks. How does your cooperation usually begin?

- We have built up a very strong client list over the years and work for many major brands – we contact the major brands and organisations when they announce their sports events and sponsorships to tell them that we have data to help them.

- So, what it the value of economic impact studies at work with sports event? How do you use results?

- Economic impact as a result of sporting events is very important to the region that is hosting the event. They worry that this data is used to show how much additional benefit this sporting event has brought to the country such as hotels, restaurants etc. This information is used in turn to help bidding cities for events to convince the local government.

- Will you make any marketing actions on Olympiad in Pekin?

- We have not yet completed our Beijing programme and hope to do so in the next few weeks.

- How do you think, is Olympiad in Sochi really unusual? Are you going to cooperate with its organizers?

- The Olympiad in Sochi is very interesting as it appears that there will be a great deal of interest in this former Soviet area – it is billed as the most technological sporting event in Russia.

- Tell, is Russia interesting market for sports marketing, for sponsoring events?

- Russia is an important sports marketing market as it is a growing nation in sports and for the most part the market there is expanding.

- Are there any successes of which you are really proud?

- Our business has been successful over the years working for some of the best brands so this is very pleasing.

- Today sports marketing still starting to develop in Russia, nevertheless, many people would like to work and earn in this sphere. Can you advise them something? How is it better to begin? Where?

- Any new emerging market such as Russia has to ensure that the events are well organised, interest is high amongst the population and then good sponsorship will follow. There will then be good opportunities for employment with the organisers of events, sponsors and TV channels.

P.S. Thanks a lot for cooperation, Clare Morgan!

Value of teletranslation of sports event and its feature.

Value of teletranslation of sports event and its feature.

One picture costs 1000 words

Lao Tsi

Teletranslation of sports event - probably, strongest argument in negotiations of action organizers and the potential sponsor. In fact this “item” has a wide spectrum of variations and ways to present the sponsor, therefore it possesses a more potential to pay back investments wholly.

Not casually all over the world interests of the television companies are considered at the decision on geography of accommodation of professional commands, definition of their number in sports leagues, drawing up of a calendar of games, etc. Moreover, usually not only clubs, but also leagues live on profits from the broadcasting rights sales.

Russia, certainly, is the exceptionally one country: for example, the most popular game in the country, football, actually represents itself the championship of Moscow and the Moscow area and when it comes to its end and defined the winner it becomes clear, that it is also the championship of a name of city of Moscow.

In Russia sports translations still have a low rating and the basic source of the income for TV today still are serials. Probably, now, with a choice of Sochi as the capital of Olympiad 2014, the situation may change, but much will depend on, whether there is it the tendency or a transient fashion. In other words, probably, now it’ll feed us hard with sports translations till long-awaited winter in subtropical paradise will come, in fact in such country we live…

But simply translation of sports event is not all. Here that sports producer NBC (USA) Andrew Stegantsov in one of his interview speaks about this occasion: “We Shall admit, on any American channel plan to broadcast some competitions by the certain kind of sports. Before carrying out purchase, analysts of the channel estimate a prospective rating of transfer, think, that where, in what volume to buy, communicate with sports federation, clubs, players. After money are paid, there is a work with advertisers and media. Then the analytical group works with two parties and begins in details how in film, to work above everyone the staff, each detail - “Detailed marketing”. Present directors of the same “The lord of rings”: they have finished shooting a heap of a material, then all have gathered, trying to see, experience a picture. In the same way there is a process of preparation of sports show - the big collective gathers and tries “to see” the product then with confidence to tell: “Yes, we let it out”.

Teletranslation technology is rather complex process, it is not casual the whole analytical group makes a decision on the future of the project. In fact the decision depends on many parameters. For example, it is necessary to consider quality, standards of the transferred image, architectural features a place of carrying out of sports event, a minimum quantity of chambers and, accordingly, operators. Besides in calculation undertakes the rating, a share and other parameters of media planning, the great value has the status of sports event, its appeal as kind of sports, its productivity, presence of a sports intrigue and players-stars.

Thus traditionally it is considered, that the cost price to broadcast sports event is not high, as it, first, does not demand expenses for the organization (already there are commands, there is an arrangement on a match, everyone will precisely occur during certain time, etc. unlike cinematographing, teleplays, concerts, etc.). Secondly, all is shoots for one set - there is no doubles, long schedule of shooting, etc., opposite - all shooting have finished for 2-3 hours. Thus the good match which has been finished shooting qualitatively, will collect enough greater audience at repeated display. And if sports event from the category special event (NBA All-Star Game) or is characterized as “historical” (a final of Champions League) in due course its price and value will grow as the price for excellent cognac or the real estate located in a zone of the future Olympiad...

That sports event had “appetizing” kind of view, it is necessary to finish shooting it with definitely way. How? To solve it is in advance impossible: sports are interesting by the improvisation, spontaneity.

Certainly, there are any sort experts and analysts who can create sensation “the planned improvisation”, but when the leader of National championship on football of CSKA loses a command from the bottom part of the tournament table “Luch-energy” with count 4-0 it becomes clear, that direct translation of this match, most likely, will collect a smaller audience, than its repetition after the result becomes known. Screens will be adjoined with millions fans and fans of sports, including “not football” people to personally embody event in all details. And in fact such matches not a rarity, recollect, a victory of modular Russia over football above modular France, victory FC “Spartak” and FC “Locomotive” Above the European grandees in matches of Champions League and all the Europe Championship on basketball of 2007.

These matches have a historical value, for the devoted fans each detail, everyone the staff, each word of the commentator is important. Here again there is very a important question for similar events: what details and how to select on a course of translation? The answer to this question searches any more for one generation of documentalists. Remember: the chamber embodies history, the validity or it only vision of this validity by the operator? Whether it is possible to put simply the chamber and shooting green and it will be already “documentary” shooting or it is not enough of it? (There is something such in translations of the country Championship on football, isn’t so?) If to consider, that the director and the operator solve themselves, that what will be in the staff and that is not present (thus that in the staff does not get, occurs in the World in parallel what decided to take there, and occurs simultaneously and, probably, of great value), whether that it is possible for them to trust, what the validity was those?

Thus we shall notice, what if directors and operators in documentary cinema have time to select a material, to solve that will get in “the thing”, and what is not present, to build “a picture”, to shoot in the necessary tones, through the necessary filter, to make a copy, mount in necessary rhythm, to impose the musical theme emphasizing an atmosphere of the staff, so director of translation of sports event has no opinion to use anything of presented. Here details, an atmosphere, character of event - all this is defined in real time and in real time it is necessary to make a decision, defining, that will get in history and that will not. Characters which define an intrigue, result of a match, too “naked”, what refers to “right now”, so, will notice it the director and the operator or not and how they will present it, sensations during viewing, but also destiny of the match depend not only mine, the spectator, (will the disk with it just get dusty or it it is possible to sell itself) and its participants (the player becomes more pleasant, more interesting to the spectator or not).

“Last year I was in Ukraine and looked the football match on TV, - tells Andrew Stegantsov in interview. The picture represented a bare field, and the distant plan, grasped in the staff any military fence with various inscriptions, the five-floor house where people sit on balconies and free of charge football, any pipes look. It, certainly, details, but here only with a sign “ a plus” or with a sign “a minus”? Why those who supervise over shootings on a place (operators, directors), think, what people will look only at a match and on football players? Really colors are not important? In the Europe the lawn at least has color and there are in a good condition, and many Ukrainian fields with earthen high temples near goalkeepers. It’s too a detail. Today the main problem - to raise staginess of sports. And sports clubs, and not just TV, also should work above it.”

Stars of sports become not owing to results, and owing to TV which to us tells about them. It can fascinate and incline to experience eternal “middlestronger” of the tournament table, and can force to see at the winner as the cold, prudent person who has collected all “gold”, and nothing has left for another one…

The TV makes the “Stars” from simple sportsmen, which then earn owing to it, TV men, and the main thing earn also, earns also sports, all sports industry earns.

In Moscow suburbs, in city Visible passed the World championship on basketball among girls under 21 years. It is a rare opportunity to see a birth of the future stars which will define an alignment of forces in the future in this popular game kind of sports. Here for you a traditional favorite of any competitions on basketball - The USA team (the future DreamTeam?), here for you and “crazy hands” Capreo, playmacker of team Belgium, here for you and French starcenter the Gruda, the girl with impressing harmony of technics of possession of a ball and the physical power, acting already for the basic combined team of the country. And the main thing, here you can live see a couple which is setting the fashion to all game of team Russia: fire and ice, but do not refer, and were united: Ekaterina Savelyeva (attribute - purposefulness, hot, emotionality, passion) and Elena Danilochkina (attribute - cold, restraint, a thrift). Who saw it, that will agree, what their game is the really esthetic one show for the present gourmet!

Nevertheless, from matches with participation of modular Russia in this World championship eyes hurt - approximately 1/5 or 1/7 (depending on installations of contrast and brightness on your television receiver) a game field where there are the most active actions of sports event, are filled in monstrous light reflections on a floor. These reflections are so strong, that completely hide a marking of a field, there, where it with them is crossed. Matches it is possible to look or coming off each three minutes at rest for eyes (our combined team forces the trainer of a command-competitor to take the blessing constantly timeouts), or in solar glasses.

Sport Marketing: Positioning Principles of a Professional Sport Club

Sport Marketing: Positioning Principles of a Professional Sport Club

1. Sport marketing today in Russia. Professional sport clubs

Sport marketing is about 30 years old. In Russia, according to some specialists, it appeared about 13 or 15 years ago when some of the sport clubs became completely independent. In fact, the school of marketing managers in the field is about to begin its formation in our country.
Today it is considered that in Russia “sport marketing began with Sergey Kushenko”, the leader of CSKA. However, there is no a person to say that “sport marketing began with him in Russia”. Many clubs today haven’t got a marketing manager on the staff to specialize exactly on the selling of a sport event. Such functions are performed by supervisors. It is evident according to results that they do others’ business.
The task of a manager is to create the atmosphere and conditions favorable for an investment; the one of a marketing manager is to take the advantage on the situation by attracting spectators to a stadium, sponsors and mass-media to a partnership. The management duty is to raise the gained capital.
However, there are some professional sport clubs in the country which are aimed not only on sport achievements during various competitions, but also on gaining the profit. Yet most of them are non-profit organizations, and have no legal right to divide their income.
In fact, today sport ought to earn their living. Still, they live on sponsors’ investments. This resembles patronship mostly as the investments are not aimed on gaining a profit. It makes the conditions of clubs volatile. The stories of BC “Dinamo” (St. Petersburg), BC “Shahter” (Irkutsk), BC “Vodnik” (Arhangelsk)[1], etc.
Also the situation is complicated by deficit of the literature and science works about professional sport clubs marketing activities. For instance, “Sport Marketing” after T. Shaaf is widely known, but in Russia it was published in 1998, and hasn’t been republished. Today it can be considered outdated. Other works in the field hasn’t become popular with professionals, as they are thought to be a transformed version of the letter work. In Russia there is a little-known monograph named “Social psychology of marketing in sport after V.B. Myagon’kova, Doctor of Philosophy. It’s written in a very complicated science language, and hasn’t become popular with professional associations.
It is a common opinion that Patrick Nelly is the founder of sport marketing. During the 1970th he was looking the sponsors for different sport competition. In general, this concept appeared spontaneously, as sport has been thought to be non-profit field, thus market laws shouldn’t work in it.


2. “Sport marketing” vs. “Marketing in sport”. The tasks of sport marketing

One should differ “sport marketing” from “marketing in sport” – the letter is the adaptation of marketing tools from other fields. Professionals come to opinion that traditional marketing methods have extremely low efficiency in application to a sport field. That is why today this area can be considered to be a separate applied discipline. The main difference of “sport marketing” from marketing in other fields is that in spite of having certain rules to stick to, “planned improvisation” and experiments play very important role.
Besides, sport marketing has a number of specific tasks:
To impress spectators, fans; to provide with a dramatic show; to provoke emotional empathy; to make feel; to choose someone’s side; to make interested in a competition outcome;
To involve a sponsor in a process; to grow his loyalty to a club; to show spectator that sponsor is a “good guy”; to create an associative link between the brand of a professional club and the producer’s brand;
To create the causes for news by informing mass media as well as by making them take the side of a club or the one of competitors, their deeds and decisions; to involve mass-media into a dramatic dialogue;
To gain profit for a sponsor and a club, to control spectators’ impressions;
To emphasize on the interaction with diverse cultural organizations in order to create the “illusion of presence”.


3. “Sport marketing” vs. Show Business Marketing.

“Sport marketing” is frequently compared to the marketing of show business, and this is completely incorrect. The matter is there is a significant difference between the characters created in the fields, which determines the strategy and the methods of their creation. So, spectators want to be near to the movie, theatre and entertainment stars, they want to communicate, to become the other half of the stars etc. People want to be like sport stars, as they set an example (at any age). The meaning of this difference of sport can be seen for example in a movie title: “Like Mike”.
Besides, fans usually only want to enjoy the works of film actors, pop- and rock stars. Yet people want to assist in the achievements of sport stars somehow. Social psychologies note that fans say “we won” when they inform about the positive outcome of a match of a supported team. When the club loses, they say “we lost”.
One can conclude on the basis of all the mentioned that the character in show business should be pleasant to watch, while the one of sport should be suited to share the feelings, to watch, to be able to identify with a spectator easily. In other words, the “history” of a sport club is to be dramatic, and a dramaturgic approach is ideal to the assigned tasks.
What are the benefits of such an approach?
First of all, a spectator is provided with the possibility to support the team in a more emotional and open way. He can not only be happy about the team’s win, but also to share the loss.
Secondly, club obtains faithful fans; it is able to present its history in order to attract new fans with minimum effort.
Thirdly, sponsor obtains the most effective way to affect fans, who are the potential consumers of his product.
The fourth, such an approach attracts the attention of mass-media. It is advantageous for them to cover a sport event as they understand: it reflects the character, his nature; they know its antagonists and protagonists.


4. Sport Image creating principles. Attributes Method for sport clubs, sport teams and sportsmen

Before the beginning of character creation one should take into account the following important points:
During its lifetime existence a sport club has gained some specific reputation, which should be used and developed;
The character of an advertisement of a marketing campaign is a consumer. For instance, a person buys the product of a company which goes in for charity. Consequently the consumer supports neither the company nor the charity object; he supports himself according to his believes. For example, he may pray for forgiveness of his sins by doing this or simply he may satisfy his own requirement to perform an altruistic act;
That is why visiting a sport event may become an example of
Showing one’s social class (VIP seats on CSKA match)
Showing the care of one’s children (by having free time together, sitting in a family sector in the stadium);
Showing the belongingness to a specific society with a common interest among its participants (for example, interest to enter a fan club);
A desire to travel, learn the world, satisfy one’s thirst for information (by traveling with a club for an arrived match
Getting rid of emotional tension (during the process of a team support)
Thus, the most convenient strategy for the creation of a dramatic image of a professional sport club is an "attributes method". It is based on the marketing laws told and proven in the book "22 indispensable marketing laws".
The key concept in any product positioning is an "attribute". Attribute is a word, phrase (or, may be, an expression) indicating the quality associating with the professional club name. As a rule, it is the first association to come to consumer's mind. In his interview Andrey Stegantsov noted that "sport marketing should take into consideration many sport peculiarities. There are playing kinds of sport with 30 or 40 players or individual ones with 2-3 to 10 players. It plays a great role too. There are more dynamic and graceful kinds of sport. One should not only know, but operate these features and nuances in order to get associative series for one or another brand. There is a range of both positive and negative features in sport, as well as there is a complete set of effective tools to identify TM with the features and feelings to make spectators trust sport. That is a simple success formula of an American professional sport[2]".
Such an attribute exists for any club. The richer the history of a club, the stronger this association:
• BC "Detroit Pistons" - bad guys
• BS "Los Angeles Lakers" - traditional champions
• BC "Utah Jazz" - effective school basketball
• Football club "Spartak" - a champion in tradition
• National American Basketball team - "The Dream Team"
Players also have such attributes. Moreover, players' attributes are usually expressed in the nickname essence given to them by mass-media or fans.
For instance, everyone knows who all these players are: "The Aerial", "The unfriendly gost", "The Russian Rocket", "Russian tank". The essence of each of these nicknames is the property a sportsman is associated mostly in a spectator's opinion.
Thus, except having incredible spring ability Mike Jordan had an excellent direct hits percent. He was recognized as the best defender many times. He had many other qualities that made him a world star in this kind of sport. But during one of his first seasons in NBA he won the upward throw competition in All Stars show, and gets the official nickname of "The Aerial". Further the topic was developed in mythological articles by mass-media. They stated that Jordan's figure and the body let him hang in the air, which is impossible for his competitors.
Now this property becomes an attribute for spectator, and he comes to engrave it in his own memory. And the myth about the "God of Basketball" is beginning to boost. Due to this myth Jordan made his fortune on the advertisement contracts. Today the attribute "The Aerial" mainly belongs to a star player Vins Carter; but an attribute cannot belong to two people. That is why he gets the nickname of "Vinceniry", which was formed from his name, became the synonym of an attribute "Spring Ability".
The club of football club “Spartak” today recovers its positions in Russian football after lingering crisis (there was a chain if dope scandals, stealing the means of a club, the hostility between a coach and players). “Spartak” for a number of years hasn’t shown the play made it the Champion of the country. Still, before the beginning of the season 2006/2007 in diverse mass-media web pages one could watch one and the same idea: “Who is to become the champion this year? There are 3 contenders: “CSKA”, because it has a very strong team, “Zenit” because of the very strong acquisitions, and “Spartak” as it is considered to be a traditional champion.
So far people perceive this team as the championship leading contender. That is, “Champion” is an attribute of Football club “Spartak”.
For example, basketball is an entertainment, effective, dynamic etc. kind of sport. Besides, a team may have the “temper” able to be an attribute. So it turns out to be, for example:
The most effective team (do not mix up with “Champion Team”;
The most entertainment team;
The most unpredictable team;
“Forever second” team;
“The tallest team”;
“Bad guys” (“Detroit Pistons”);
The strongest defense team;
The most international team;
The most scandalous team.
For example, hockey club “AK Bars” became the most effective in a regular championship. It has scored 4 goals in general during the game (skipping approximately 2 goals during a game). The team with the strongest defense became Hockey Club “Metallurg” (Magnitogorsk), as it skipped minimum number of goals (it skipped about 1,8 goals and scored 2,7 goals during a game).
It is exactly the way one should present the confrontation of these two teams when they met in the final game. (Besides, in the final match hockey club “AK Bars” skipped 2 goals, while “Metallurg” skipped only 1).
The aim is to fit the attribute presented to a spectator as much as it possible. As a rule it is the most distinctive feature of the professional club, the one that is really exists.
For instance, in case football club “Spartak” is a “Champion team”, the attribute “National Team» appeared due to a great number of the team’s wins hasn’t get accustomed to spectators. Fans didn’t want their favorite team to be “National”, because the product made by the team is so aesthetically acceptable, that it cannot be understood by everyone (most of the team audience is considered to be the artistic intellectuals).
Next, football club “Spartak” has always been distinguished by a sharp uncompromising struggle to the end of a match. When a new trainer Starkov came, mass-media immediately said he will not settle in a team because of his absolutely different, “not champion” style of playing. Later it turned out that analysts were right: the trainer was given a nickname of “Как бы чего не вышло” (еру attribute of “Complexity”), he could not win the confidence of the fans and the players’ of a team with champion traditions.
As noted before, the attribute is to correspond with the play of a club as much as possible; the character is to be consistent, and not ‘scrappy’. One should mention the importance of the name of a club: the more it tells of the product made by professional club, the easier it is to remember and understand it for consumer. In this case it is not clear why such names appeared in sport: “Rotor”, “Dinamo”, CSKA, and “Zorkiy” (the latter one resembles the name of an animal). Besides, one will have difficulties in positioning the clubs with such names). Football club “Amkar” (“ammonia and carbonados”) is another example of this kind. It is also well known, that one should avoid abbreviations in the names of products, company etc.
Then an attribute is to be defined on the basis of the history of a club, or it should be charged with so much emotionality that it lasts for decades. Later all the communication politics and positioning strategy are built on the basis of it. All of the moments which blur the attribute perception are to be excluded (like in the example about football club “Spartak”).


5. The “Solidity” of a club character, its history. Image as a starting point for a marketing concept

The task of professional club marketing, and of its PR and publicity departments is to create a solid character. So, for example, an attribute can become a starting point for creation of a sport event atmosphere, for designing the talisman of a team, its dance route, and even the name of a team. For instance, the talisman of BК “Dinamo” (Moscow) is « djadja Stepa» is not accidentally, as the society of it is considered to consist mainly of law enforcement agencies. Everyone knows that ‘djadja Stepa[3]’ was a policeman, and he was of large, basketball stature.
Famous sport marketing manager, Jon Spoelstra once decided to change the name of a team, and it worked. “Las Vegas Stars” hadn’t won for a long time, and there were fewer and fewer spectators. The game of the team wasn’t starry at all, as its name implied. The team was based in Las Vegas, the city associated with entertainments. Then it was decided to give a new “Zone 51” name”. So newspapers wrote about the military base located in that district where the experiments with aliens were supposedly held. This new name and the legend connected to it had an “entertainment” character. This provoked the interest of customers and mass-media in the team[4].
Let's take a notice that having a narrowly-focused attribute by itself do not guarantee stands full with spectators during a sport event. It is important for a kind of sport to be well promoted, as an attribute has the influence and value only in the context (or a 'semantic field') of a specific kind of sport (so, it is not the brand to be promoted in the advertisement of brewer beverages, but the consumption of beer in general, but the consumption is to occur in a particular atmosphere, in a certain conditions so that it has some sense.)
Thus, in order to promote a professional hockey club in a local market, one is to tell a consumer about hockey importance on a national and regional scale. The one should also inform of its role in history, about the social role of hockey in the future as field of activity for fans' children, for instance. Only after the significance of hockey is obvious, then a professional club, its achievements and its mythical character will have more authority. That is, a professional club is to advertise its kind of sport at first. This will be the context to offer an enthralling sight in.
The main reason for it is that the advertisement of a kind of sport expends the area of its consumption. For instance, in case curling isn't highly thought of in a country, all the sport achievements of native sportsmen on a world scale will hardly affect anyone. On the contrary, any international football match regardless of its outcome is reported in the news, because football is not only cultural, but also a polititical phenomenon.


6. Teams’ as a marketing tool Color contrast. Intrigue as a way to attract attention.

Next, in order to choose the most vivid attribute of all the possible for positioning of a professional club, one should choose the qualities opposite to the ones of a champion team. For example,
• Defense and attack
• Experience and experiment model
• Physical strength and dexterity, technical skills
Thus, the quality is always either diametrically opposite to the strongest one of a champion or it is to be the weakest one in the game of champion. It is done in order to attract maximum number of sport event consumers, in case a sport club participates: "they met: the fire and the ice, water and flame..."
Let's take a notice that club PR should tell a fan not only about its positive traits but also about negative ones (of course, it shouldn't be bad organization or poor management etc.). Such an approach makes team perception more volumetric, dramatic; it causes not only the pride of fans, but also their empathy. I.e. one should seek for "positive traits in a negative character and negative ones in a positive character". For instance, having a strong defense, one should tell about the problems in attack, specifying the plan to deal with it (e.g. to enforce the line of defense).
It is possible to present an attribute in a more emotional way in communication strategy - when the names or colors of clubs are opposed. For uninitiated spectators the reds always fight with the blues, the yellows with the greens, and the whites against the blacks in a field.
That is the exact reason why a receiving team always plays in a white uniform. The psychological qualities of the color are inspiration, assistance; it suggests faith (which gives freedom). White color of clothes means a beginning. White wig of a judge is the symbol of justice. "White knight" is the symbol of a rescue. White doctor's smock is also the symbol of rescue and of germfree purity[5].
On the contrary, wearing a uniform of a black color is traditionally associated with evil and death. It is the color of medieval executioners, Dart Veider, and ninja soldiers. It has the effect opposite to the one of a nurse. Mark Frankl and Tomas Jilovich[6] tell that from 1970 till 1986 sport teams in black uniform ("Los Angeles Raiders" and "Phyladelphia Flyers" in the first place) have always been the second in having penalties. The following lab analyses determined that a simple black sweater may cause more aggressive actions of a person.
Contrasting attributes creates intrigue. The intrigue attracts the attention on spectators and mass-media. In case there is an interested spectator, there will be sponsor.
In dramaturgy intrigue is the means of dramatic acts organization with the help of difficult peripeties.
Intrigue is created by deliberate acts of a fighting side or it appears as a result of accidental coincidence. With the help of intrigue a dramatist to reaches the necessary level of action intensity; he makes spectator interested in further developments[7].
Intrigue is the main 'weapon' in the strife for new consumer of a sport event and for consolidation of proven fans.
"What if?", "Will he be able to?", "Will he get through?", "Will he dare to?" - are usual wording of intrigue.
What if they meet to find out the strongest, what if the team with the strongest attack meets the one with the strongest defense? (It is a logical paradox, like the following one: "what will happen in case all overwhelming shot gets into indestructible wall" that creates cognitive dissonance with the help of accenting)
- What if a boxer of in overage weight challenge to a heavyweight? (The fight of Roy Jones Jr. and John Ruis)
- Will the team with no defeat at home be able to hold out against a champion in its motherland?
- Will judge dare dictate 'his' game this time?
- Will team stand out the fight without its leader?


7. Classical event development scheme

To work with spectator's attention one may use the following schemes of screenwriters:
Hockey with puck has 3 periods - it is the number of parts in a classical event development scheme in dramaturgy
Football and hockey with ball meetings lasts for 90 minutes - it is the exact time of an overage movie
Basketball has 4 quarters, so the 2d and the 3d may serve as the 2d act, the 4th quarter is the 3d act and the 1st is the 1st act respectively. It is a classical event development scheme in dramaturgy
That is, on should use undulating peculiarities of human's information perception. Of course, one can define the moment in a match to present statistics for most benefit according to the style of sport event reporting.
Presenting teams, their aims in a championship, presenting the main people today may be an exposition of all sport production. It will enforce sport impression of sport event consumption. Sport commentator ought to remember of this.
Intrigue may be created by the tools close to sport, for example:
- Juliya Bordovskih stood up for "Dinamo", so she could comment women basketball Nation League (such match will be interesting not only of the fans of opposing teams)
- Zemfira became the captain of Russian junior team , so she could comment basketball match
- Oleg Tabakov is an old fan of a football club "Spartak", so he could be a companion of Vasiliy Utkin and Vladimir Goosev
- Dana Borisova could comment football match on April 1st or boxers' fight
Such methods form the interest to a sport event of different target audience introducing the element of attraction, which does not influence sport component of an event.
For instance, Larisa Dolina was invited to the project "King of a Rign" not occasionally - everyone knows that Konstantin Dzju appears listening to her song. Larisa also visited some fights and does know this kind of sport.
In this aspect, for example, it would be very interesting if Nikita Mikhalkov commented hockey match of Russian National team with Viktor Goosev.
Resuming this analogy with movie industry we'll notice that sport event is always a premiere. Also, theatre performance can be repeated, a movie can be repeated in a cinema, and so can a rock star concert. At the same time, sport event cannot be reviewed, and this creates the illusion of being exclusive (advertisement method).
So the strategy of creating a dramatic character of a professional sport club based on attribute let constructing a lot of different news reason artificially for reporting them in mass-media, for analytics, for statistical comparisons, and for dramatizing occasion.


8. The advantages of sport marketing approach

Such an approach is beneficial for everybody:
1. It let spectator and fan support his team more openly. It let make the process maximum emotional, diversify his own and consumers' slang. Specific character is generated, and one can easier associate oneself with it than with an abstract character or team. If we use NLL of R. Dilse and archetypes theories of K.G. Jung during the development and implementation of attribute, the effect may be very strong.
2. Mass-media get exclusive possibility for a more dramatic sport event presenting. It let them attract maximum number of spectators, and readers. This approach let make the newspaper header more intriguing and emotional
For instance,
Instead of "Unexpected victory of "Magnitogorsk" over "Avangard" in play-off there can be "Hawks remained hungry: steel guys turned out to be uneatable"
Let's have a note that in any circumstances, in any tournament professional club is to be a solid newsmaker in press, television, radio or Internet, creating at least one news reason in a week. Also, news is to be connected not only with professional activities of a club.
3. Sponsors gain more emotionally open way to build the communication with fans. Knowing the attribute of one or another team, the process of sponsor object seeking is being reduced many times, as the common values of sponsor brands and professional club brands become vivid.


© Yavlenin Igor


[1] Bandy
[2] http://www.sportmanagement.ru/articles.php?id=22
[3] The character of a Russian cartoon (tall fair policeman)
[4] J. Spoelstra, Marketing Outrageously. How to Increase Your Revenue by Staggering Amounts!
/ translated by A. Bulanova. –St. Petersburg: Piter, 2005, С – 51.
[5] Neljubova M.V., Color psychology. Author’s lecture course / M.V. Neljubova – http://v-montaj.narod.ru/
[6] «Exploring Social Psychology» / David G. Myers – http://psylib.myword.ru/
[7] http://slovari.yandex.ru/