An analysis of the marketing management of Stade Français Paris rugby club

This paper analyses the marketing strategy, mix marketing and brand development of SF Paris rugby union club which has succeeded in attracting huge crowds (around 75 000 spectators) for several regular season games and building a strong brand equity. Parallels with American professional sports are drawn whereas differences with European clubs are highlighted. Finally, planning, consistency and especially innovation are identified as key factors of success in the implementation of the club’s marketing strategy

Loyalty in sports participation services: an examination of the mediating role of psychological commitment

This study aimed to increase the understanding of loyalty’s formative processes in fitness organizations. Building upon recent conceptualizations, the purpose of this study was to test the mediating role of psychological commitment in the relationships between consumers’ satisfaction, perceived value, involvement, identification, informational, and volitional processes and their attitudinal and behavioral loyalty toward a fitness organization. We conducted a questionnaire-based study in a French health and fitness club context with a sample of 252 club members, of which we were able to collect data in regard to repurchasing behavior for 110. This allowed us to confirm the relevance of the research model in regard to behavioral intentions, although including the behavioral-loyalty dimensions of the length of the relationship, frequency of participation, and repurchasing behavior failed to validate it. These findings have managerial implications for sustaining club membership levels

Experiential marketing and sporting events: a spectator perspective

How extra-ordinary experiences provided in sporting events are lived by spectators and what are their consequences in terms of consumer behaviour

A pre-evaluation of British public opinion on the London 2012 Olympics based on sport participation types

As recalled by Girginov and Hills (2008), one ambitious aim in staging the London 2010 Olympics concerns sports development and participation legacy. According to them, this objective comes from both the IOC‟s will to create positive legacies from the Games and the promotion of sports-for-all in the host country, and the bid committee and the UK government‟s will to “use the games to inspire the country‟s people to become more physically active” (p.2092). However, as observed by Coalter (2004), the positive impact of major events on sports participation is not automatic and moreover Olympic “legacies are constructed and not given” (Girginov & Hills, 2008, p.2092). The aim of this study is to provide a pre-evaluation of the London Olympics in relation to sport participation patterns in order to first identify the critical issues influencing British people‟s engagement into the Games and second to create the basis for a longitudinal analysis of their impact. In order to evaluate people‟s perceptions of London 2012, we used Social Representation Theory (Moscovici, 1984), as social representations characterise a form of socially elaborated and shared knowledge, with practical consequences which contribute to the construction of a common reality among social groups

A pre-games evaluation of the image impact of the 2012 London Olympics

Along with the World Cup, the Olympics is widely considered to be the most lucrative and sought-after megaevent for governments worldwide, and have thus been described as the ‘the ultimate accolade that a city can earn on the world stage’ (Gold & Gold, 2007: p. 320). For the host, they represent an opportunity to achieve urban and environmental renewal, to boost local and national economies and attract investment, to increase tourism, to present or reinforce local culture and identity, and, to achieve international prominence and/or national prestige through place marketing or even sporting success. A major strategic component in achieving what can be considered a successful Olympics is the image of host-city, in which mega-events provide an ideal opportunity to present the character and culture of the host and work to enhance its domestic and global reputation. There are, however, relatively few studies that deal specifically with the effects of mega-events and the image impact of host countries and cities (Florek et al., 2008)

An evaluation of the image impact of the 2012 Olympic Games: domestic pre-Games perceptions

An evaluation of the image impact of the 2012 Olympic Games: domestic pre-Games perception

International place branding through sporting events: a British perspective of the 2008 Beijing Olympics

The goal of this study is to examine if hosting major sporting events represents a relevant strategy to brand a place ‘internationally’ through brand association transfer and to identify whether or not it should be seen as co-branding process. Based on social representation theory and an abductive research strategy, a survey was carried out among British citizens to identify their opinions about the Olympic Games and the city of Beijing following the organisation of the Games in August 2008. The content and the structure of the social representations were analysed and then compared to determine whether or not a double transfer of associations occurred between the place and the sporting event. The analysis concludes that although there was a transfer of elements from the sporting event to the place, few clearly positive elements were transferred and several negative associations remain. The results do not explicitly corroborate the transfer of associations from the place to the sporting event. The paper confirms the value of sporting events in place branding strategies but highlights some limitations such as the transfer of negative elements and the lack of media control. It also highlights the importance of the place selection process to protect the sporting brand

Exploring the domestic relationship between mega-events and destination image: The image impact of hosting the 2012 Olympic Games for the city of London

Contemporarily, the hosting of mega-sport-events (MSEs) is one of several strategies used by cities and governments to bring about improvements in a place’s image and recognition. With that in mind, the overall aim of this study, underpinned by theoretical-methodological social representation theory, was to evaluate the domestic image impact of hosting the 2012 Summer Olympic Games for the city of London, and in doing so, whether any image-transfer (or co-branding) processes occurred between the place and event. In addition to adding to the emergent body of work aimed at using social representation theory to measure place image, the authors are among the first to employ a matched-sample research approach to measuring the impact of an MSE on the domestic perceptions of the host. Employing an abductive research strategy, a survey was carried out among the domestic English population (n=156) to identify cognitive and affective image components, in the form of social representations, of London as a city (or its place brand), the Olympics as a MSE, and the 2012 Games as a one-off event. The content and the structure of the pre-and post-event social representations were established (using image elements cited by at least 15% of the respondents), analysed (using hierarchical cluster analysis) and then compared (within- and between items) to determine whether any changes or image transfer occurred. The findings of this research reveal that the pre-event concerns regarding the hosting of the London 2012 Olympics and the potential of the event to negatively impact the city’s pre-established image, were, to a degree, fulfilled. Conversely, from an event perspective, respondents perceived the Olympics as a somewhat successful enterprise

Supporter engagement through social media: a case study of Liverpool Football Club

Supporter engagement through social media: a case study of Liverpool Football Clu

Segmenting NBA's Chinese viewers based on their searched experiences

What do Chinese viewers look for when watching NBA games