Welcome to the segment Fan Marketing. This will be the agenda. I'll start off by defining what is a fan. I'll talk about the fan identification model. I'll talk about how fan loyalty is created. And finally finish it off with a checklist on fan motivation. So let's get started. Okay, what is a fan? A fan, according to Sutton et al., is a customer of a team or a player with personal commitment or an emotional involvement. Think about that, that is a fan. Someone who has something at stake, he is vested. Not just at a rational level but, more importantly, at a very emotional level. We have that famous line about the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Meaning that you live and die with your team or your player. So talk about dying, you have so called die-hard sports fans. So some key examples would be these teams. The Chicago Cubs and the Boston Red Sox in the Major League of baseball. And of course, the Red Sox, they have been winning recently, World Series but it was a long time in coming. Whereas the Chicago Cubs, they haven't won in I don't know, over 100 years. But they're still very loyal and that is why they are called die-hard. And you have it this incredible rivalry between Real Madrid and F.C. Barcelona. And so their annual matches, El Clasico, they may be winning the league but if they still lose to their rival they may die emotionally. And the same is true for the teams in the EPL Their rivalry as between Man U and Liverpool and Arsenal and Chelsea. And it could be at the national level as we see with the Indian Cricket Team. And the rugby team from New Zealand called the All Blacks. Okay, so part of being a fan is this fandom, it's like a kingdom of fans. And again, you have this personal identification. And this is, I think, a very good model to think of. Because it talks about what the correlates, or the antecedents are, which promotes fan identification. So, for some teams, some players, it can be very high. As we just saw the so-called die hard fans But in other cases it could be actually quite low. But if it does become very high, we can see that there are many, many benefits such as decreased price sensitivity. And so there's a lot of controversy about ticket prices being raised, but for some fans, die-hard fans, maybe it matters less. And also, maybe it could desensitize them to the need to always win. So we saw with the Chicago Cubs, their loyalty is so strong. They have performing better of late, but still regardless of whether they get to the World Series or not, they're still very loyal. Okay so we talked about the correlates or the antecedents. And as we can see, there are many to speak of. And so first and foremost, it's what happens on the pitch and so I think it's easy nowadays to be a fan of F.C. Barcelona. Because they've been so successful based on what the team does, especially performance wise. It can be based on the organization of who the owner is who the manager is. In the case of the EPL, some fans maybe mind who the owner is, especially when they're not winning. [LAUGH] Especially maybe if they're interfering in terms of how the team is managed. So, I say the double sided facet that managers have to be, especially owners have to be aware of. It can cut certainly both ways. It could be based on where the team is from, and I think a lot of loyalty stems from your sense of affiliation. Such as is true with the Boston Red Sox, such as is true of course with sports being played at the national level. And it's also associated with the kinds of for profit and maybe even nonprofit activities conducted by sports teams. Such as what we see with the PGA, of course, they make a lot of money, but they give back through Pro Ams. So CSR, which stands for Corporate Social Responsibility is actually a very important marketing tool in sports marketing because of precisely that reason. Okay, fan loyalty, it's very important. And this is something that I think non sport industries can benchmark. Because you too want loyal fans, you want fandom. So it's not just one thing that instills the sense of loyalty. Of course it has to be entertaining it also has to be authentic and meaning not fake. And it also has to nurture this bonding between fans and maybe between even family members. And it can't be just achieved overnight. So I think a lot of this loyalty is based on the storied tradition or history of the team. And so, many of the die-hard fans that we spoke of before, they follow these very long established teams. Because there's history to them, history which they may be sharing with their fathers and even maybe grandfathers. Okay, some examples of fan loyalty, and I'll keep this short. This is a recent list so there are outfits that measure fan loyalty. And what's surprising about the top two teams, Chicago Bulls and the LA Clippers is that in that season, they didn't win. So maybe that loyalty is based on many of the facets such as entertainment, such as history, and less so on performance. Okay, finally how you do motivate the fans? And again, this is something I think non sports industries can benchmark. So there are many things that have to be managed. It's based on self esteem and it talks about the kind of personal connection that people have. And so I'll tell you later what BIRGing and CORFing stand for. It has to create diversion from the drudgery of your daily life. And then a related vein, it has to be be entertaining. It also has to arouse people, and that's why eustress means. For some people, I hope a minority section of sports fans, maybe it's related to the fact that they can gamble on sports and make money. In some countries that's considered illegal. There's also this aesthetic value related to some sports, especially sports like figure skating. It stems from the sense of belonging, which we dwelled on before. And it also forges, fosters greater bonding ties between family members. Again, these are all facets that I think, even just non sports industries and companies can consider, and their creation of fandom. Okay so what is BIRGing and what is CORFing? They have opposite meanings and BIRGing stands for Basking in reflected glory. It's a notion that if your team wins you bask in similar glory. You become elated, you have this elation about your team having won. Were as cutting off related failure, CORFing, is exactly the opposite. So that is something to think about, whether your team only has BIRGing, which is great. But once they fail, whether your fans cut you off, whether it's just what have you done for me lately kind of dynamic. So again, with a team like the Chicago Cubs and maybe for some, even corporate brands. Maybe they too may have mostly BIRGing. And even when they fail, produce maybe a bad product, you still have BIRGing, and less of CORFing. Okay so to wrap up we saw in the segment that fandom is a big part of sports. Fandom can be not completely managed but certainly partly managed. So you have to be very proactive in promoting fandom. Fandom is what I consistently argue other industries should try to emulate. And lastly, the source of the fan loyalty and motivation are varied. And therefore, we have a lot ofwiggle room in how it can be managed.
