It is both opportune and apt that this edition of the Journal is a soccer marketing special edition. Soccer is the world’s favourite sport, often referred to as ‘the global game’, and this sporting summer will be dominated by the FIFA World Cup in Germany. At the same time, soccer is beginning to acknowledge the importance of effective sports marketing. The quality and variety of work included here reflects that growing acceptance, not just in soccer but in sport generally. However, there are still obstacles to be overcome, in understanding the product and in differentiating sports marketing from other marketing. It is therefore equally opportune and apt that we address these issues as an introduction to this special edition.

Sports organisations remain product-led, which means that the focus and success of the marketing effort off the field is largely determined by what happens on the field. Typically this results in the players and the ‘team’ dominating the organisation, while fans and customers have a lesser influence on marketing.

Each weekend, across the world, many thousands, if not millions, of sporting contests are watched by small numbers of fans in under-utilised stadia. It seems obvious to suggest that to sell more tickets and generate more revenue, sports organisations should market themselves more effectively. Many do not even reduce ticket prices, target particular groups or advertise on television to promote sales. And while a strong sales mentality persists in sport, this may do nothing to sustain revenue or improve relationships with partners. Instead of working with the corporate market to understand needs and deliver appealing products, sports organisations are still selling space in boxes on the basis that it is there and has to be filled.

Sports products are socially and culturally embedded and they generate a degree of fervour unmatched by any other types of products. This presents distinct challenges which marketers of other products do not face: the unswerving loyalty of fans; parental and peer influences on consumption; and the role of geographic identity in influencing consumption behaviour. Unlike other products, sport is often consumed in an irrational way. Logic tells us that if a product continually fails to live up to expectations, people will stop buying it. In sport, this logic does not always hold.

Clearly sports organisations have limited control over their products. With the uncertainty of outcome that is at the heart of sport, the principle focus for sports marketers becomes how to preserve and develop their product. This limits how much marketers can adapt and change the sporting contest. Then there is the raft of externally imposed rules that apply – inevitably – to all sports organisations and regulate their appeal, including criteria relating to promotion and relegation, player acquisition and the format of a game or match. When a side is relegated, overnight that team’s marketing effort is likely to be influenced in ways to which other businesses are not routinely exposed.

Then there are the fans themselves, who are unlikely to purchase products from a rival organisation. This implies that there are strongly constrained and geographically defined market places for many sports organisations. For some, this is likely to restrict development; for others, it may mean the marketing effort needs to adopt an international focus or use a brand name and image completely different to that of the parent. With the possible exception of consumers with strong national motives for purchase, this again sets sport apart from the marketing models associated with most other products.

Simon Chadwick