Marketing Project 1

Marketing Project Paper

Chris Kerlin

Endicott College

MAA 515

May 5, 2023

Dr. Woo

Marketing Project 2

Analysis of the Market & Organization: SWOT Analysis

Internal Contingencies

Strengths:

1. The University has a strong athletic department mission statement. Part of it states

that part of its main purpose is, “… operating as an integral part of the University’s

educational mission.” It also states that the athletic department is committed to

serving the institution.

2. Based on the past attendance data, the University’s organizational goal of increasing

attendance is attainable.

3. Also based on the past attendance data, the University’s marketing objective of

increasing attendance to an average of 15,000 for home games is attainable (fans in

stands, not tickets sold).

4. Mrs. McLaughlin, the marketing director, has employed a strong functional strategy

of beginning the planning process with gathering all the necessary data. This will help

guide the process in the later stages.

5. There is a past success with increasing attendance using promotional activities. This

is an important factor to use as a benefit when planning a course of action.

6. There is free attendance for students with valid ID. This removes the financial cost

implications for students attending the football games.

7. Another strength is the creation of the Varsity N member and Black & Gold club

member programs. They are beneficial because they help identify the loyal fans of the

University.

Marketing Project 3

8. Mailing brochures to previous season ticket holders, faculty and staff, Varsity N

members, and Black & Gold club members helps the organization keep the lines of

communication open with their possible customer base.

9. The football games have a reasonable individual game ticket price of $10.00 per

game.

10. There is also a reasonable season ticket price of $55.00 and $65.00 for 5 home games

depending on your seat choice.

11. The University has a notable football alumnus, Jack Lambert, who could be an asset

in terms of marketing strategies.

12. The University has a loyal fan base as evidenced by season ticket holders stating they

attend games out of loyalty. Also in support of a loyal fan base is the fact season

ticket holders have been attending games for an average of 9.4 years.

Weaknesses:

1. The University might have a vision statement, but there is no mention of it. Crafting

one would be beneficial to the organization.

2. The ticketing department could offer more ways for fans to buy tickets (i.e. grocery

stores, gas stations). They currently only offer them through locations on campus and

via the phone.

3. Their football program does not have a culture of winning. This impacts the ability to

sell the product of the football game based on the team’s performance.

4. The past marketing department dropped the promotional tactics that led to the highest

average attendance mark in school history.

Marketing Project 4

5. The fact mentioned above shows the organization places a low value on using

marketing strategies for long-term growth.

External Contingencies

Opportunities:

1. As there is no mention of the use of technology, it seems there is an untapped use of it

as a marketing tool (i.e. social networking sites, website development, phone app

development).

2. Prospective customers have easy access to campus from four urban areas and major

cities in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

3. There is an attractive and well-landscaped campus for customers to visit.

4. There is ample space in the stadium to accommodate larger crowds. It has a capacity

of 30,000.

5. There are 6,000 students on campus (25% of the enrolled students). There is an

opportunity to get more of them to go to the games.

6. The undergraduate student population is 19,200 (80% of the enrolled students).

Undergraduates seem to be a population that attends more football games.

7. Most of the commuters are within half hour and one hour to main campus making it

less time consuming for them to attend games.

Threats:

1. There is competition from small and medium collegiate athletic programs and other

entertainment events in the area.

2. There is also competition from four professional level teams.

Marketing Project 5

3. The competition, whether collegiate or professional, may be ahead in terms of the use

of technology to market their products.

4. There have been six schools in the MAC that have failed to reach the 15,000 average

attendance mark. This is not a good pattern for the league.

5. The age of stadium could be an issue. It was built in 1969, which makes it 42 years

old. It could be a stale environment for the fans to experience.

6. There is a great deal of pressure on the University to meet this attendance goal.

Failing to meet the average attendance goal will result in losing Division I-A status.

7. There could be possible ADA compliance issues as the stadium was built in 1969.

The ADA came out in 1990.

8. Statistically, there has been low female and African-American attendance.

9. The overall national economy is in a slight recession.

Setting Goals and Objectives

1. The goal of Northern University’s marketing program is to increase attendance at

home football games to meet the new Division I-A attendance requirements.

2. Objectives to meet the goal:

a. Increase average student attendance to at least 1,800 per home game (9,000

per year).

b. Increase average season ticket sales to at least 3,000 per year.

Development of Marketing Plan

Segmentation of the market, and identification of target markets.

I would segment the market according to the type of attendee that comes to the football

games. There is the student market, season ticket holder market, and game day sale market. This

Marketing Project 6

is a basis of my segmentation because each segment has different needs that could be met by

different strategic marketing strategies. I think it is important to segment the market in this way

because my objectives are to increase two of these three groups.

I could also segment the market by gender. Male attendance at the games is quite strong,

according to the demographic data, but female attendance is low. One could then specifically

target female season ticket holders, female students and female game day ticket sales.

Another way I could segment the market is by ethnicity. Caucasian attendance at the

games is quite strong, according to the demographic data, but African-American attendance is

low. One could then specifically target African-American season ticket holders, African-

American students and African-American game day ticket sales. One could also create another

segment to look at called, “other” to account for other ethnic groups.

I would target the student market and season ticket holder market. Student and season

ticket holder attendance has been low for the past four years (average of 3,341 for students, and

1,481 for season ticket holders). The last year strategic marketing strategies, specifically a

promotional campaign, were used the student and season ticket holder attendance was at an all-

time high of 9,873 and 4,170, respectively. When the promotional campaign was dropped the

next year, average student attendance plummeted to 3,381 and season ticket holder attendance

dropped to 1,441. This tells me that using effective promotional strategies will work with these

two market segments. Another reason I would target these two segments is because they are

easily accessible. The student population can be reached through on-campus efforts and through

other school channels, and the ticketing department database should have the data and

information on the current and past season ticket holder population. The reason I would not

target the game day sales market is because over the past 8 years, when there was no promotional

Marketing Project 7

campaign, average attendance was close to 3,000 (2,758 to be exact). When the promotional

campaign was instituted in 2001, attendance by the public only averaged 3,285 for the year,

which is not significantly higher than without a promotional campaign. I believe with a targeted

approach towards the other two segments, average public sales will maintain an average of 3,000

game day sales for the year, which will enable the university to achieve the overall goal of

meeting the new NCAA Division I-A attendance requirements.

Marketing strategies based on the 4 P’s. (Products, Pricing, Promotion, Place)

The slogan for the campaign is “Putting the Fun back into Falcon Football!” The focus on

the campaign relates to the past success of using promotional strategies to increase attendance.

By putting “fun” back into the football experience, attendance will increase, and since the largest

attendance gains need to be through the student population and season ticket holders we will

focus on improving their experiences before and during the game.

Product:

To help increase season ticket sales we will introduce new season ticket packages to our

possible customers. We will introduce this by contacting current and former season ticket holders

through a direct mail and email campaign.

The Falcon Executive seating package will include the following benefits for $65: (a)

reserved chairback seats between the 40-yard lines for 5 home games, (b) Gold zone priority

parking pass, (c) Falcon club window decal, (d) first 100 Falcon executives to enter the stadium

through Gate A will have pre-game sideline access, (e) football program for each game, (f)

personal invitations to other football related events, (g) weekly email newsletter with information

about the upcoming games and events for members, (h) travel opportunities with the Falcon

Marketing Project 8

Travel Experience group to select away games, and (h) access to the Falcon executive club

before, during, and after the game.

The Falcon Prime seating package will include the following benefits for $55: (a)

reserved seating for 5 home games, (b) Silver zone priority parking pass, (c) Falcon club window

decal, (d) first 50 Falcon Prime members to enter the stadium through Gate B will be able to

welcome the team onto the field as they exit the tunnel, (e) football program for each game, (f)

personal invitations to other selected football related events, and (g) weekly email newsletter

with information about the upcoming games and events for members.

We will create a Travel Experience group that will put together travel opportunities to

select away games for our Falcon Executive members. The trips will include transportation,

lodging, game tickets, and tours of local sites of interests. This option will add value to the

Falcon Executive season ticket package and will make them feel like V.I.P.’s of the program.

Place

To improve the fan and season ticket holder experience, we will be asking the University

to upgrade the stadium video screen, and create a Falcon Executive Club area at the stadium. The

stadium is 42 years old and in need of some improvements to make the experience more

engaging for the fans. A new extra-large video screen will add to that experience. We will also

be asking for a new area called The Falcon Executive Club to be added to the stadium. This will

help promote our season ticket sales by adding an extra benefit for those customers. It will also

add to the overall experience for this customer base at our home games.

To improve our ticket distribution to students, we will partner with FirstMerit Bank and

offer the students the opportunity to get their tickets through ATM machines at all of their

locations. This will help ease the traffic jam that happens right before a game at the ticket

Marketing Project 9

window. We will try to limit the costs of this venture by striking an advertising deal with

FirstMerit. We could either have their bank name printed on the back of the tickets or we could

give them advertising time on the new video screen at the stadium. We will also partner with

CVS Pharmacies and BP gas stations to offer more places for our fans to buy tickets. Currently,

they are only offered at on-campus locations or by the use of the telephone. By providing more

ways to buy the tickets, we are creating easier access for our fans and making the buying

experience less of a hassle.

Promotion

To help increase season ticket sales we will run a promotional campaign towards all

current and past season ticket holders. We will invite them through direct mail and email to two

different weekend opportunities to attend a free luncheon where the coach and star players will

speak. Jack Lambert, a former player and former NFL star, will be the special guest of honor. He

will be sharing stories about his time at Northern University, and as a Pittsburgh Steeler. He will

also be signing autographs of his Northern University senior football picture, and allowing one

photograph opportunity per family. The autograph table will be located next to the sales desk for

season tickets. Attendees at the luncheon will also get a chance to meet the players of next year’s

team. Mrs. McLaughlin, the marketing director, will also announce and explain the benefits of

the new season packages we have created. The direct mail package will also contain a brochure

explaining the new season packages. Inside there will be an additional form that customers can

return for purchasing one of the packages.

To increase sponsorship, we will use a personal selling strategy and approach Goodyear

Tire Company, Summa Health System, and Time Warner Company as possible sponsors. We

will seek their sponsorship for street festivals, Falcon Fan Day, and similar special events. The

Marketing Project 10

reason we will target these companies is because they are three of the top eight employers in the

Akron area. Their role will be to help with the costs of the special events in exchange for

advertising space at the events, at Mix Stadium on the new jumbo video screen, and in the

football programs sold at each game. They will also get recognition on the football program’s

website.

To add to the fun atmosphere for the students, which will increase attendance, we will

create The Time Warner Street Festival. The festival could go by another name depending on

how the sponsorship search turns out. The festival will happen before each home game, and it

will open at least four hours prior to kickoff on game day. For those four hours Falcon Road will

be closed and transformed with the buzz of college football pregame activity. The Time Warner

Street Festival will offer interactive games for the student population, great food, prize

giveaways and a chance for students to register for the halftime field goal contest. There will also

be a V.I.P. tent for Falcon Executive members, which will offer free snacks and beverages. We

will control entry into the event at both ends of the street so we can record attendance data. We

then will be able to use this data at a later time to evaluate the success of it.

Another promotional activity for increasing student attendance is the halftime field goal

kicking contest. Three students will be chosen randomly from the registration drawing at the

street festival. They will have the opportunity to take three field goals from various lengths, and

if they make them, they will win prizes. For making a 25-yard field goal they will win a Falcon

jersey. If they make a 35-yard field goal, they will win two-sideline passes for the next home

game, and if they make a 45-yard field goal, they will win one year of tuition costs from the

University.

Marketing Project 11

To add another fun experience for the students at the game, we will partner with

Domino’s pizza for a promotional activity. At halftime, we will have the Random Pizza Delivery

drawing. We will randomly select three student seats from the student section and then have a

Domino's pizza delivered to them. They will be shown eating their Domino’s pizza on the new

video screen, which will add to the excitement of the moment.

A few other promotional events we will have at the games to enhance the enjoyment of

the experience are: (a) a random video drawing to be the honorary Falcon kickoff captain. This is

when a student is randomly picked from the crowd by showing their image on the new video

screen, (b) “white-out” days where all the students wear white to fill the stadium, and (c) other

various student activities during the game.

To capitalize on the demographic data that stated students and general public fans attend

the games because they “know a player,” we will be offering more opportunities for them to do

so. One strategy will be the creation of an annual Falcon Fan Day before the first home game

each season. The event will not only have Falcon football players, but it will also have Northern

University coaching staff there to sign autographs and pose for pictures. Falcon Fan Day will be

free and open to the public, and will last from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

A huge part of our promotional campaign will be staged through the use of technology.

We will create an informative and engaging website that gives all the information stated in our

marketing plan so students and fans know what is coming up each week. Some of the

information included on the website will be about the players and coaches, inspirational football

videos created by the student video team, information about our sponsors, ticket information, and

links to blogs written by the players. We will also begin to make our presence felt on Facebook

and twitter by creating a Facebook fan page and a twitter hash tag. Another technological

Marketing Project 12

component we will develop and use to communicate with our customers will be the creation of

smart phone apps. We will develop an app for the iPhone and for the android market. Through

this technology we will be able to stay in contact with all segments of our market and keep them

informed of upcoming events and results. Lastly, we will institute a mass student-emailing

program. We will use the students University email accounts to send them information every

Sunday about the events for the upcoming week. We will also be reminding them that attendance

at the games is free for students with a valid ID.

The last component of our promotional efforts is the use of television and newspaper

advertising to get the word out about the events related to the football team and the new website.

Television ads will run Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the 5:00 p.m. hour. We will not

do it every day due to financial reasons. We will also put ads into the local newspapers around

the area to inform more people of upcoming events. More importantly though, we will run ads

every day in the student newspaper to keep our student population informed. We would like to

keep the student population in the information loop for everything, as they are the group that

needs to show the largest growth in average attendance.

Price

At this moment, our goal is to increase attendance at home games so we meet the NCAA

Division I-A requirements for attendance. Our goal is not to increase revenues or profits. We

believe we will not achieve the attendance goal if we raise ticket prices for our customers. We

believe that by keeping the prices where they are at, and offering the added benefits listed above,

we will be sending the message to the public that they are getting good value for their money.

We also feel that by concentrating our efforts towards increasing our fan base this season; we

will be able to incorporate small price increases in the years to come. We also feel we should not

Marketing Project 13

increase ticket prices because of the current economic climate in the country, and the high

competition there is for the entertainment dollar in the area.

Integration into broader, strategic allocation of resources.

The improvements to the stadium will be the most costly strategy to complete. A facility

committee could be useful to act as an entity, which could flush out ideas, issues, and solutions

towards the completion of the tasks. As with any improvements like this, the upfront costs might

seem high, but the costs can be made up with profits generated from the improvements over

time. Over time, prices for the Falcon Executive program can be raised, as well as student fees.

This, in the long run, will raise profits to help pay for the improvements.

With regards to improving our Internet presence and the use of technology, I believe the

University’s computer science program can help make it a success. The project can be

incorporated into real-life learning, as it can be integrated into a web design class or it could

become a class of its own. This would be a low cost solution, and a learning opportunity for our

computer science students.

The ticketing department will have to renew their database system to reflect the new

season ticket options. They would also need to incorporate the new distribution methods of

ticketing into their system so we can track all of the data. This would possibly increase costs for

manpower hours to get the job done.

A sponsorship department or committee would need to be established, as this is a big

component for this plan to succeed. Without sponsors and donations from companies, many of

the promotional strategies would need to be reevaluated, and possibly new ideas would need to

be generated. This component would raise employee costs for the University.

Marketing Project 14

The marketing department would take on the responsibilities of advertising on television

and in the newspapers. They would also be responsible for advertising the new season ticket

program. Costs for these ads will have to be dealt with, but over time, with the increase in

attendance, they will be not be as big of an issue. Also, in the future, a mass marketing email

program could replace the direct mail program to cut costs.

Student volunteers could be used to actually run some of the promotional activities at the

game. You could also look to develop a student-fan support group that would head these efforts.

The more you can get students involved the more the football games will become an important

part of the student body’s University experience.

Lastly, the University security staff will need to increase to cover the additional duties.

With the street festival and having fans come onto the field, extra security will be needed in both

instances.

Control and Evaluate

The final evaluation will be the data that answers the question about our ability to

average over 15,000 people at our football games for the year. An important tool for us to use

will be the game-by-game attendance data so we can have checkpoints along the way. If we see

issues arising as the season progresses, we will need to adjust the plan accordingly.

We will also need to track the season ticket sale campaign as we progress towards the

beginning of the season. We will need to set monthly benchmarks to achieve so we can gauge

our progress towards our goal. If we see issues arising, we will need to adjust this plan as well.

To measure our efforts with regards to attracting more students to the games we could

solicit feedback through a survey. It could be emailed to them, and by responding they could be

Marketing Project 15

entered in a drawing to win a free jersey. We could get feedback on which promotional activities

they liked or did not like, and any suggestions they have for the future.

A survey of season ticket holders could also provide useful data. In the same fashion as

the student survey, data could be collected with regards to the new season ticket programs and

the benefits included, and any suggestions for making the programs better.

Another evaluative measure could be the data on the number of Facebook fans the team

page has, and informal data could be gathered from fans posts on the “wall.” Twitter data could

also be beneficial to look at so we can learn from it, and possibly make better use of this social

technology.

Lastly, it would be wise to analyze attendance figures for the Falcon Fan Day, the

luncheon, and the street festival. This would inform us if our promotional activities were

beneficial towards our goals and objectives. Specifically, it would be useful to know the numbers

of students who attended the street festival and the Falcon Fan Day since they were the target

market for both of these events.