Marketing Group Assignment: Tennis Canada – Rogers Cup (Rogers Cup, 2015) RECL 217-ONB Submitted by: Abdi Aden, Salvatore DeLucia,
Welcome message from author
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Marketing Group Assignment:
Tennis Canada – Rogers Cup
(Rogers Cup, 2015)
RECL 217-ONBSubmitted by: Abdi Aden, Salvatore DeLucia,
Kat Johnstone & Andrew PatitucciSubmitted to: Ron Caughlin
Due Date: December 4, 2015
Table of Contents
Section Page
Number
Part 1: Tennis Canada Overview...............................................................................................................1
3 Cs............................................................................................................................................................1
Company................................................................................................................................................1
Consumer...............................................................................................................................................4
Competition............................................................................................................................................5
Marketing Mix...........................................................................................................................................6
Product...................................................................................................................................................6
Price.......................................................................................................................................................7
Promotion...............................................................................................................................................8
Place.......................................................................................................................................................9
Part 2: Market Research.............................................................................................................................9
Methodology..............................................................................................................................................9
Results......................................................................................................................................................10
Part 3: SWOT Summary...........................................................................................................................10
Strengths..................................................................................................................................................10
Weaknesses..............................................................................................................................................10
Opportunities............................................................................................................................................11
Threats......................................................................................................................................................11
Part 4: Segmenting, Targeting, Positioning.............................................................................................12
Segmenting..............................................................................................................................................12
Targeting..................................................................................................................................................13
Positioning...............................................................................................................................................14
Part 5: Application.....................................................................................................................................15
Tennis Canada/Rogers Cup connecting and engaging.............................................................................15
Invest more in students and young children........................................................................................15
More homegrown tennis athletes.........................................................................................................16
More coverage of the sport..................................................................................................................16
More tennis courts available to the public...........................................................................................16
Methods of Communication....................................................................................................................17
Direct response.....................................................................................................................................17
Personal selling....................................................................................................................................17
Awareness and Sustainability..................................................................................................................18
More Sponsors.....................................................................................................................................18
Engaging in social media post event....................................................................................................18
Promotional merchandise.....................................................................................................................19
Partnering up with other businesses.....................................................................................................19
Annual Marketing Campaign...................................................................................................................19
Social Media............................................................................................................................................20
Works Cited................................................................................................................................................22
Appendix.....................................................................................................................................................26
1
Part 1: Tennis Canada Overview
3 Cs
Company
Business overview. Tennis Canada is the national sport organization (NSO) for the sport of
tennis in Canada. There are two offices, one located in Toronto at the Aviva Centre and the other
in Montreal at Uniprix Stadium, both of which play host to Tennis Canada’s marquis event: the
Rogers Cup presented by National Bank (Tennis Canada, 2015). Tennis Canada’s structure is as
follows:
Board of Directors (President and Chief Executive Officer, present and past Chairs,
Directors, and a Vice Chair);
Senior management (Senior Vice-Presidents, Vice-Presidents, Chief Marketing Officer,
etc.); and
Sport leaders (convenors, officials, coaches, clinic programmers, etc).
Tennis Canada is responsible for speaking to all 12 of its provincial/territorial sport organizations
(Nunavut is the only territory without a provincial governing body) and communicating its goals
for Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) and high performance initiatives to ensure that all
levels are working together to grow tennis in Canada (Tennis Canada, 2015). Their market varies
from children as young as five to adults of all ages and includes development programs and
tournaments for all ages/stages of play and special events for professional players (Tennis
Canada, 2015).
Tennis Canada’s vision is “to become a world-leading tennis nation”, while their mission
involves leading “the growth of tennis in Canada”. Both of these are accomplished using the
values of “teamwork, passion, integrity, innovation, excellence and accountability” (Tennis
Canada, 2015).
While the organization has been in existence for 125 years, it has recently undergone a
rebranding and refocusing of its efforts. This has meant more focus on the core business of
growth of the sport of tennis, mainly through promotion. They have gone as far as redesigning
2
the logo and website and creating a hashtag that is in the new website’s name: #LiveTheMoment.
This is all part of increasing the sport’s reach throughout Canada with their fans and players, but
also to create new relationships with new fans/players (Tennis Canada, 2015). The other area of
core business as related to growth is the commitment to alignment with the Canadian Sport
Policy (CSP) 2012 and Canadian Sport for Life’s (CS4L) LTAD model. Programs such as Kids
Tennis and Rogers Rookie Tour have been put in place to ensure that players are developing
properly and that all goals of CSP 2012 – introduction to sport, recreational sport, competitive
sport, high performance sport and sport for development – are being considered (Federal,
Provincial and Territorial Ministers for sport, physical activity and recreation, 2012; Tennis
Canada, 2015).
In terms of the product ownership structure, Tennis Canada owns the Rogers Cup men’s
and women’s events as well as the other eight professional International Tennis Federation-
sanctioned (ITF) tournaments. However, they do not own either the Fed Cup or the Davis Cup,
which are both owned by the ITF as international competitions. While Tennis Canada has
partnered with Sporting Life on tennis clothing, Sporting Life owns the apparel. Another area
that Tennis Canada owns is the multitude of programs that they offer, such as the Rogers Rookie
Tour, Kids Tennis and Tennis for Schools. Within the Rogers Cup, the sponsors own and operate
their own lounges, restaurants and concession stands (Tennis Canada, 2015).
Tennis Canada has a differential advantage in that it is recognized by the Government of
Canada as the NSO for its sport and has ownership over the largest and most financially lucrative
events (87% of revenue generated by Canadian Open events like the Rogers Cup presented by
National Bank; Tennis Canada, 2015, p. 66). The Rogers Cup presented by National Bank
(Rogers Cup) is one of the most popular sport events in Canada with the Toronto event
consistently drawing upwards of 100,000 spectators and 494,000 viewers tuning into the 2013
final between Canadian Milos Raonic and Rafael Nadal (Mudhar, 2013, p.2; Tennis Canada,
2015). This popularity, the uniqueness and the fact that it is a special event (i.e., only happening
once every year) all contributes to Tennis Canada’s differential advantage.
Identification of product/service. Tennis Canada’s core product is the professional
tournaments that it either owns/organizes or is associated with (e.g., Rogers Cup, Fed Cup, Davis
Cup, etc). These tournaments generate the most revenue for the organization and provide the
3
most amount of exposure to the sport of tennis for young generations watching their favourite
stars, as well as long-term fans of the sport (Tennis Canada, 2015, p. 66). Additional
products/services that Tennis Canada offers include:
Merchandise (both from the website and onsite at the Rogers Cup);
Kids Tennis;
Other International Tennis Federation (ITF) events across the country;
Rogers Rookie Tour;
Tennis for Schools program;
Resources/Publications on how to get involved in tennis or how to get children playing
the sport;
Partnership with Sporting Life for equipment for kids or young players;
Resources for parents, teachers, wheelchair players and their families;
Building Tennis Communities (BTC) program to promote community champions and
partners, as well as the tennis pathway;
Tennis leagues (university, club, school, etc.);
Facility Advocacy Program to develop more tennis communities by building new
facilities;
Seniors programs and tournaments; and
National training centres.
(Tennis Canada, 2015)
The value that Tennis Canada brings to its consumers and target market involves the:
Opportunities to connect with athletes, the organization and the tournament organizers
through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube;
Multiple levels of support for communities, schools, athletes, teachers and parents;
Affiliations with and programs for colleges/universities both in Canada and the US;
News from all over the tennis world with a focus on Canadian athletes; and
Links to all the tournaments that Tennis Canada is associated with.
(Tennis Canada, 2015)
4
Consumer
Membership/consumers. The members involved with Tennis Canada include:
Young players in their development programs and training at their national centres and
their parents;
Coaches;
Umpires (lines and chair);
Provincial and national level players; and
Professional players.
While some of the membership overlaps with the consumers of Tennis Canada and the Rogers
Cup, these are the targets unique to the consumer market:
Corporations and their business partners/contacts;
Tennis clubs;
School teams;
Young sports fans;
Long-term fans of tennis and sport in general; and
Tennis camps.
Target market. Tennis Canada targets a number of different markets to include the most people
in the growth of tennis as possible:
Everyone already involved in tennis:
o Club/league members;
o Tennis pros;
o Young players who are on the path to high performance;
o Players of all ages; and
New fans:
o Other sports fans that can be converted to tennis by the passion involved in the
sport; and
o Corporate businesses/partners.
5
Demographics. Tennis, unlike gender-skewed sports like volleyball, is a relatively well-
balanced sport with 52% male participants and 48% female (Charlton Strategic Research Inc.,
2015). Players like Eugenie Bouchard and Milos Raonic are good role models and examples of
hard work for both genders, which probably contributes to the near-equal participation rates. The
sport of tennis also has a good range of different age groups and recently experienced an 18.5%
increase in participation within 3 years and a 6% increase just from 2009 to 2010 (Charlton
Strategic Research Inc., 2015).
Decision makers. The decision makers in tennis are generally the parents of children because
tennis is an early-specialization sport. The parents are either players of the sport already or want
their children to experience sport and tennis is one of the more popular and easily accessible.
Tennis’s fundamental skills are learned at an early age and children who begin playing at a
young age generally stay in the sport through their youth and into adulthood, since tennis is a
sport that can be played for life. However, there are also those children or youth who join tennis
at a later age and they make the decision for various reasons (e.g., socially, to be with their
friends). In addition, there are more children who are inspired by young Canadian tennis stars
and ask their parents to enrol them in clubs or leagues to develop their skills.
Competition
At the national level of sport, competition for athletes is far less than it is at the provincial
level. Provincial/territorial athletes are potentially still deciding on which sport to specialize in
and can be poached based on where their greatest potential will be realized. While this happens
far more infrequently at the national level, it does still occur; Clara Hughes famously split her
time between Cycling Canada and Speed Skating Canada to compete in both the summer and
winter Olympic Games (Bell Canada, 2015).
In terms of competition for Tennis Canada’s Rogers Cup, there is no real direct
competition most years. The tournament is one of the Masters 1000 events on the Association of
Tennis Professionals (ATP) World Tour on the men’s side and a Premier 5 event by the
Women’s Tennis Association (WTA; Singapore Tennis Lessons, 2015; Tennis Canada, 2015).
However, with the summer Olympics occuring every four years at the same time as the
tournament, popular players that draw a crowd (e.g., Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Maria
Sharapova, Serena Williams, etc.) are drafted by their nation’s Olympic committees to compete
6
for their respective countries (Olympic.org, 2015; Pollard, 2015). In order to avoid the
withdrawal of top talent from the Canadian tournament, organizers opted to move the
competition to July and make it the last stop on the tour for men’s and women’s tennis ahead of
the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics (Tennis Canada, 2015). This meant the elimination of direct
competition for the 2016 tournament and a near guarantee of top talent being in Toronto and
Montreal.
Indirectly, the Rogers Cup presented by National Bank is in competition with other
sporting events that occur at the same time, not just in Toronto and Montreal, but also abroad.
The Toronto Blue Jays are one of the more significant competitors for media and viewer
attention, but there are also Canadian Football League (CFL) games, Professional Golf
Association (PGA) tournaments, auto racing, soccer games and recently the Parapan Am Games
hosted in Toronto to contend with (Zelkovich, 2015).
Future competition for the Rogers Cup presented by National Bank will always involve
the summer Olympics, especially if Toronto wins a bid for the Games as they attempted to do for
1996 and 2008 (Games Bids Inc., 2015). Likewise, the Toronto Blue Jays, CFL games, PGA
tournaments, etc. will more often than not be competitors for both media coverage and
viewership/spectatorship. Toronto and Montreal are both sports cities with strong teams in
multiple sports, so the competition for viewers will be constant. Competition for Tennis Canada
will also involve other NSOs for high-performing athletes. Due to the high interest in the sport of
tennis in Canada, other nationally-organized tournaments are not likely to pose a threat even if
they are occurring simultaneously.
Marketing Mix
Product
The Rogers Cup is an event that occurs on a yearly basis and is owned and organized by
Tennis Canada. As mentioned previously, it is considered by the tennis world to be a prestigious
professional tournament on both the ATP and WTA Tours. Tennis Canada also uses it to
promote tennis across Canada and to help the sport grow in popularity.
The event not only boasts hosting the world’s tennis stars, but also has different activities
and products to connect with the fans and other attendees; these include:
7
Merchandise – tennis gear and Rogers Cup commodities/novelties;
On-site activities such as the “Kid’s Tennis Zone” to learn about Tennis Canada’s Kids
Tennis program and play fun games;
Concessions/restaurants that provide a wide variety of food and beverages;
VIP lounges and opportunities to meet the stars of the tournament for specific ticket
holders; and
Musical entertainment located on-site.
Price
Tennis Canada’s Rogers Cup has four different types of ticket sales: individual tickets,
suites, groups and Premium Series Club (Tennis Canada, 2015). All four types target different
groups of people with very different price points:
Individual tickets for the 2015 tournament - $15 to as high as $275 for a single session
(Tennis Canada, 2015);
Private suites for corporate clients – pricing available through Rogers Cup ticketing;
Groups larger than 20 attending one session - 20% discount;
Groups larger than 50 attending one session 50% discount; and
Groups of 20 over multiple sessions - 20% discount on Platinum or Gold tickets and 15%
on Silver or Bronze tickets (Rogers Cup presented by National Bank, 2015).
Premium Series Club ticket holders receive many benefits (e.g., courtside box seats on the
grandstand court, access to VIP clubs and players, etc.) and can save up to 50% on list prices of
tickets with certain packages. There are 5 different packages:
Front Row – valued at $4,988 and sold for $3,495;
Platinum – valued at $3,656 and sold for $2,445;
Gold – valued at $2,893 and sold for $1,845;
Silver – valued at $2,325 and sold for $1,395; and
Bronze – valued at $1,856 and sold for $995.
(Rogers Cup presented by National Bank, 2015)
8
In addition to these packages, there are three additional ones: the Mid Week, Weekender and
Platinum Plus Weekender. The Mid Week one offers savings of up to 35% on four sessions
occurring between Monday to Thursday, depending on the level of tickets purchased (i.e.,
platinum, gold, silver, bronze). The Weekender, on the other hand, gives spectators the
opportunity to choose between gold, silver and bronze level seats during the finals and two other
sessions (semis or quarters) on Friday or Saturday with prices ranging from $350 to $625. The
more prestigious Premium Plus Weekender allows viewers to see the evening quarter-final, both
semi-finals and the final in the best available seats and with access to the VIP lounge, all for
$1,250 and regularly priced at $1,490 (Tennis Canada, 2015).
Promotion
The Rogers Cup does a great job of connecting with their fans in multiple ways, while
also promoting to new fans or fans of other sports. In terms of digital media, they have a very
strong social media presence and a good reach to interact with fans of tennis. In addition, their
website displays news for international stars like Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams, but also
promotes human interest pieces featuring hometown heroes Eugenie Bouchard and Milos
Raonic. Below are the platforms that both Tennis Canada and Rogers Cup use to promote their
brands:
Websites:
o www.rogerscup.com
o www.tenniscanada.com
Twitter: @rogerscup #RogersCup
Facebook: facebook.com/rogerscup
Instagram: @rogerscupto #RogersCup
YouTube: TCtenniscanada
Applications: Rogers Cup presented by National Bank Official 2015 App
(Tennis Canada, 2015)
In addition to the digital media world, which generally targets the younger generations or those
who are savvy with technology, Rogers Cup also uses traditional media outlets such as television
commercials, newspapers and radio to promote their event. The media plays a big part in
promoting through coverage of the tournament, so the newspapers (with their pages dedicated
solely to tournament news and results) and radio (Sportsnet and Réseau des sports [RDS] in
9
Montreal) are especially important to expanding the reach of the Rogers Cup brand
(TCtenniscanada, 2013).
Place
In previous years, the Rogers Cup has taken place in August, but with the Rio Olympics
occurring in August of 2016, the tournament elected to move to July 23-31 to eliminate conflicts
for the high-profile tennis stars that are a main attraction for the event. The tournament occurs in
two locations each year with one venue in Toronto at the Aviva Centre at York University and
the other in Montreal at Uniprix Stadium. Both cities share hosting responsibilities for the
biggest athletes in the sport and alternate the men’s and women’s tournaments each year to
ensure that fans in both areas get to see their idols from both tours. The Aviva Centre in Toronto
and the Uniprix Stadium in Montreal are also home to Tennis Canada’s main offices, so the
organizers are on hand in both locations (Tennis Canada, 2015).
Part 2: Market Research
Methodology
Market research is about determining what the consumers want or need and using that
research to fill a hole in the market or separate a company’s brand from all the rest of its
competition. In order to further inform the Rogers Cup marketing team on what the market is
looking for, market research needs to be undertaken. Therefore, the recommendation for them
would be a short survey to ask some of the key questions about what the market is looking for. A
hardcopy survey (rather than online) was chosen with the belief that people would be more
inclined to concentrate when having to write or circle answers themselves and to give honest
answers. Also, people tend to click through surveys online even if an incentive is offered, so
soliciting people in person to participate in the survey was easier.
As per the Appendix, a 6-question survey was created to determine if people had ever
attended a tennis tournament in the past and to see what price point students in particular were
looking for at such an event. The reason that students were chosen as the target market to
complete the survey was that there are far more of them than there are of faculty and staff
members at colleges and universities. With that in mind, the potential revenue they could bring
to the tournament would be larger than the faculty/staff purely due to sheer numbers.
10
Results
The survey responses indicated that another major city in Canada should be included or
rotated into a hosting schedule and the majority of people believed that the Rogers Cup would be
a good fit in Vancouver. The other concrete result demonstrated by the survey was that most of
the respondents were more likely to be responsive to advertising through the school and
television. The last finding was that students were more willing to attend the event when tickets
were offered at a discounted rate or for tickets under $40.00.
Part 3: SWOT SummaryThe next two-page table describes the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats as
they pertain to the Tennis Canada organization and Rogers Cup tournament:
Strengths
o Tennis Canada has two offices in major
metropolitan cities in Canada. This
gives them a great way to market their
product to the people living in these
cities, but also in the surrounding areas;
o By having offices in Montreal and in
Toronto they offer diversity and the
men’s and women’s tournaments
alternate locations every year;
o Tennis Canada’s fantastic development
programs such as the National
Association of Intercollegiate Athletes
(NAIA), where they team up with
schools to help players develop their
skills and the scholarship programs to
excelling tennis players within Canada
(NAIA, 2015; Tennis Canada, 2015);
o They monopolize a lot of the market
Weaknesses
o The rankings of Canadian tennis
players has fallen off over the last
couple of years, which can lead to a
decreased lack of interest from
Canadian fans (Cox, 2015);
o There are obstacles for entering tennis
as a sport because it is expensive,
especially to play through the winter
(when one considers needing to belong
to a club or gym that offers tennis
courts). This creates a smaller player
base to pull talent from;
o Lower interest in the women’s event as
opposed to the men’s tournament,
which creates less revenue for the Cup
overall;
o Lower sponsorship opportunity and
11
share because there are no other large
scale tennis tournaments in Canada;
o Strong partnership with Sporting Life
as the official retailer and distributor
(Tennis Canada, 2015);
o Rogers Cup maintains excellent
relationships with the media, leading to
primetime TV and great viewership;
and
o Great social media presence to connect
with the fans.
media coverage for the women’s
tournament (Toronto Sun, 2014); and
o The male tennis players get more
viewership than the women. As a
result, the tournament is losing out on
revenue and sport tourism in whichever
city that women are playing in (Rogers
Cup, 2015).
Opportunities
o Tennis is a growing sport with more
children and youth interested in playing
it or getting involved in some way. This
can lead to more players, officials and
coaches in the Canadian system for
years to come;
o Connecting to a brand’s digital
audience is key in being competitive.
Marketing the Rogers Cup App to
students will help increase the student
audience;
o Opportunity to partner with a more
diverse portfolio of Canadian
companies to help develop more brand
recognition and market share;
o Offering ticket packages to
students/alumni/faculty at a discounted
group rate, with added incentives. Ex-
Threats
o Other competitions that happen around
the world (Rio 2016) or even in the
same city (Pan/Parapan Am) can affect
the viewership, attendance and event
execution of the Rogers Cup, which all
hurt the event;
o Key players can suffer injuries in
previous tournaments and have to
withdraw, which can dramatically
affect viewership (Toronto Sun, 2014);
o All of the Rogers Cup matches take
place outside. Weather can play a factor
because the events are weather
dependant, which affects attendance
rates and concession revenues;
o With the increased threat of terrorism,
the event must take place under high
security, which can lead to increased
12
Bring five friends and get a free beer
(Referral program);
o “Piggy-back” on the hype generated by
Rio 2016 by advertising that the future
stars of the Olympics will be at the
tournament;
o Two of the world’s biggest tennis stars
are Milos Raonic and Eugenie
Bouchard, so using them more often
and in person to promote the brand
during the off-season would increase
excitement surrounding the tournament;
and
o Early-bird deals for students to pay less
and get more “bang for their buck”.
cost;
o Since the Rogers Cup is in the
entertainment category of most
people’s spending, it is more
susceptible to fluctuations in attendance
and sales due to worries about the
economy; and
o The women’s side of the event is not
mandatory attendance, meaning that
high-profile athletes (ones that generate
the most interest and sponsorship
opportunities) can sometimes skip the
tournament (Toronto Sun, 2014).
Part 4: Segmenting, Targeting, PositioningThese 3 steps build upon each other to reduce a full market to manageable, reachable and
profitable chunks (O’Reilly & Seguin, 2009).
SegmentingThis step involves considering every potential consumer who might purchase a company’s product
and determining how best to divide the total market into segments of individuals with similar needs and
wants (O’Reilly & Seguin, 2009). Splitting customers into different segments involves analyzing three
critical elements:
1. Identification of total market: This is a very broad category of consumers, from young
players/fans, to youth who participate in tennis and those who do not, to fans of the sport, to long-
term fans and even new fans of the sport. The main goal is to segment the data into different
people of interest or potential consumers of the product.
13
2. Bases of segmentation: Characteristics such as age, gender and income must be analyzed in this
stage. Business-to-Consumer (B2C) marketing is undertaken to reach those segments that should
be considered for positioning, while Business-to-Business (B2B) marketing is used to market
directly to other organizations who might be interested in sponsoring the event. For the Rogers
Cup, both of these bases are appropriate and relevant to creating a successful marketing campaign
to encourage sponsorship opportunities and gaining new fans.
3. Segment-by-segment analysis: Importance is placed on analyzing factors such as income
(high/low), age (young/old), personality and geography (urban/rural). The 6 questions of
marketing (what, where, why, when, how, why) need to be asked to determine the needs and
wants of those segments, which will ultimately assist in fully understanding each segment before
targeting them.
TargetingTargeting involves assessing the work done in the segmentation stage to determine which
market(s) will be pursued in the marketing strategy (O’Reilly & Seguin, 2009). The targeting strategy
used for the Rogers Cup would use multi-segment targeting or differentiated targeting; assess the size,
reach, profitability and measurability of each target market; and select the target(s) that would return the
most profit.
As stated previously, Tennis Canada targets a number of different markets to attract as many
people into growing the sport of tennis as much as possible. This target market includes people already
involved in the game of tennis such as the professionals and younger players, but also just fans of the
game in general. The other target area would be “new fans”: other sport fans that can be converted to
tennis and potentially corporate businesses/partners that have never been involved with sponsoring the
Rogers Cup.
Targeting analyzes each segment and selects the one(s) that will enable the marketer to achieve
their goals (O'Reilly & Seguin, 2009). The available resources in the company are important to consider
when analyzing these new segments because that will ultimately decide whether they are a desirable
sponsor (i.e., one that will help with reaching previously unreachable targets).
Additionally, questions will need to be asked in conjunction with these steps:
Is the segment size too large?
Can the segment be communicated with effectively and will the brand’s reach be large enough?
Do we have the necessary resources to follow this segment?
14
How can we access this segment? Etc.
Once those questions have been answered, it will be easier to determine which segment(s) would generate
the most benefits after positioning.
Positioning
Positioning a product consists of finding where a company’s product is placed in the
minds of the target market(s) in relation to its competitors, or identifying the current holes or
gaps left in the market for a product (O’Reilly & Seguin, 2009).
An effective tool that can be used to analyze the market and where a product is positioned
against the competition is called the “perceptual map”. The main reason behind using this
method is to determine the perceptions that consumers have about the Rogers Cup and where
consumer interests lie. Based on the market research already undertaken, a hypothetical map was
created to demonstrate how the Rogers Cup might compare to other sports events in consumer
minds:
International Attention
High Performance Low Performance
Regional/Local Attention
Using levels of attention and performance, four events were chosen to demonstrate where the
Rogers Cup might fall in the minds of consumers. While it does not attain the level of infamy
that the Rio Olympics likely will, the Rogers Cup does have the biggest stars in the sport of
15
tennis (high performance). The Grey Cup has a lot of local media coverage, while the Rogers
Cup is balanced between local and international attention.
Part 5: ApplicationThis section explores the different avenues to connect with the target markets that the
Rogers Cup wants to reach with their brand. Five separate requests were made to improve
community engagement, methods of communication, awareness and sustainability, the annual
marketing campaign and using social media to drive ticket sales.
Tennis Canada/Rogers Cup connecting and engaging
When it comes to the demographics of university and college students, the world of
tennis is not their go-to sport. The average age of attendees at the Rogers Cup is 41 years old
(Rogers Cup, 2015). The question that needs to be answered is why tennis attracts an older
crowd when sports like basketball and hockey have a young demographic that watch every game
and know where the next free agent is going to sign. With that young demographic in mind, here
are ideas that Tennis Canada/Rogers Cup can use to engage with students, staff, alumni, and
faculty:
Invest more in students and young children;
More homegrown tennis athletes;
More coverage of the sport; and
More tennis courts available to public.
Invest more in students and young children
Tennis Canada and the Rogers Cup team up to host an under-12 tennis tournament that is
held across Ontario and Québec. In order to get students more engaged in the sport, Canada as a
country has to start at the grassroots level to teach the youth how to play. Tennis is a more
difficult sport to grasp because of the multitude of skills required and rules, resulting in post-
secondary students shying away from the game due to lack of knowledge and competency in the
sport. This tournament allows kids to develop their skills while learning the game at a younger
age and to build those skills up as they grow older. The Mini Rogers cup tournament is a great
way to market the sport and to build the next great athlete that will participate in the Rogers Cup.
16
Eugenie Lapierre is the tournament director of the Rogers Cup Montreal and has said that this
tournament will reach more kids as it grows and see more of them continuing to play tennis for
life (Rogers Cup, 2015; Tennis Canada, 2015). This method will not work overnight but will be a
process that will take years to see the advantages to the tennis development program. This will
hopefully decrease the average attendee’s age at the Rogers Cup to less than 41 in the near
future.
More homegrown tennis athletes
The article “Why isn't tennis as popular as it was in the '70s, '80s and '90s?” talks about
how the game of tennis has changed over time. Even though this article is geared towards the
grand slam events, the content can relate to the Rogers Cup and why students are not engaged in
the sport. With less Canadian athletes being competitive, the motivation to watch tennis has
declined. This connects with introducing children to tennis at a young age because if there were
more tennis players that were Canadian born and were competing at a high level (with the likes
of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic or Serena Williams), more people would watch. Students
especially tend to watch what is trending (with good social media promotion), so if a Canadian
athlete was creating a buzz at the Rogers Cup, viewers in that demographic would increase.
More coverage of the sport
The Rogers Cup is no Wimbledon, but Tennis Canada did a great job with this event
because it generated about 12 to 14 million dollars in revenue in 2014 (Robertson, 2014).
Students and even faculty are so engaged in their phones these days that Tennis Canada needs to
hit their social media outlets even more to spread awareness of the brand and their marquis
event. The problem with having their event in late August is that students are getting ready to go
back to school and other events might be going on at the same time, such as the CNE. Tennis
Canada has to find a way to get engage in that specific demographic because it is vital for their
future.
More tennis courts available to the public
In Toronto, there is a big debate about tennis courts being either public or private. In the
area in Markham, a lot of the courts are privately owned. This may cause frustration because
people in the community feel as though they’re paying a lot of money in property taxes they
should be able to walk to the park and play tennis on decent courts (Jackson, 2012). The problem
17
with having all tennis courts made public is that it might create some chaos within some
communities (Jackson, 2012). A disadvantage of this is that it is stopping people from even
trying to learn the game, as finding courts to play on is tough. This leads to less participation in
the sport and lack of basic knowledge of the game, making students uninterested in the overall
sport itself. Tennis Canada should secure partnerships with the cities so that anyone, children
especially, can go to their local park and try to learn the game without tennis courts being locked
up.
Methods of Communication
Finding the right mode of communications to keep the stakeholders engaged on a yearly
basis is important for revenue now and in the future. “Coordinating the various components of
communications so that all of the components work together to achieve common objectives” is a
concept that the Rogers Cup and Tennis Canada should be examining further (Tuckwell, 2013).
This is relevant because organizations and companies have to find ways to communicate with
their targets with consistent information to ensure that awareness and reach are high. Two
methods that will keep stakeholders engaged are:
Direct response; and
Personal selling.
Direct response
This can include things such as phone texts and emails. Direct response marketing is a good way
to target specific audiences (Tuckwell, 2013). By having a partnership with a phone company for
example, they can send out a mass text to all their customers about the Rogers Cup. This is
perfect because students, staff, alumni and faculty all carry cell phones and are almost constantly
checking them. Rogers, for example, can send out surveys and choose a randomly selected
winner to receive tickets to the final game at the Rogers Cup. The same thing can be done for
emails. This will keep the target more engaged for events related to the Rogers Cup.
Personal selling
Personal selling is the best marketing method to engage with the customers in this case because it
involves communicating and selling face-to-face (Tuckwell, 2013). The Rogers Cup does an
excellent job in getting the youth to volunteer to help run this event. In order to keep
18
stakeholders engaged on a yearly basis, start promoting the event several weeks prior to the start
of the event at post-secondary institutions. Holding promotional events for the Rogers Cup at
colleges and universities will help spread the word and generate excitement for the upcoming
tournament.
Awareness and Sustainability
Finding the right tools to brand an event effectively is very important in running a
successful event. The Rogers Cup is not a new event that is being introduced to the market, but
there is still a lot of room for growth. There are several ways to build the Rogers Cup event
awareness so that it could create a sustainable relationship with its stakeholders:
More sponsors;
Engaging in social media post event;
Promotional merchandise; and
Partnering up with another business.
More Sponsors
Having more sponsors builds a brand’s image and credibility and also helps a company
reach a broader audience. Corporate sponsorships have actually become the quickest way of
marketing to the consumer. Having sponsors that will appeal to the student demographic could
be a way of engaging them and encouraging them to either attend or watch the Rogers Cup on
their television at home. Those sponsors that are used could also benefit the event from the
standpoint that the sponsoring company could hold an event to attract potential consumers (Kim,
2010).
Engaging in social media post event
Social media outlets such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are essentially free
platforms that companies can use to promote their events and products/services. Just because the
event has finished, does not mean that digital interaction should halt with the online fan base.
Sending follow up emails and debriefs of the event could be one way to continue the relationship
with the consumers. Staying engaged and communicating with followers is an important job and
one that companies need to employ to prolong customer relationships with the brand as well as
the life cycle of the brand.
19
Promotional merchandise
Small corporate gifts can be an effective way to promote a brand, with items such as pens
being used as thank you gifts for attending/sponsoring (Booker, 2015). For example, providing a
customer with a quality pen that says Rogers Cup on it will hopefully mean that the recipient will
have the event logo in hand and will carry it wherever they go. Booker (2015) states that giving
corporations involved in an event a quality pen that lasts will mean that the event brand is
present. Items of poor quality will reflect badly on the company that is advertising.
Partnering up with other businesses
Having multiple parties targeting the same audience without being direct competition is a
good way to promote an event (Booker, 2015). For example, joining forces with the CNE when
it opens could help promote each other since a lot of the people that do attend the CNE are from
the younger demographic. The partnership could be in the form of winning tickets to see a match
at the Rogers Cup with multiple wins in one of the games. This will create an awareness of the
event as potential customers will see the Rogers Cup logo at the CNE.
Annual Marketing Campaign
An annual ticket marketing campaign includes anything that is done by an organizer to
help promote the event. A more direct approach should have no problem engaging with the
students directly or even through social media. The most effective method would be to get a
hometown star such as Eugenie Bouchard to travel to different campuses outside of her tennis
commitments to spread awareness of the event to the student/faculty/staff demographic. Having
a young Canadian tennis star like Eugenie Bouchard traveling to campuses and holding meet and
greets would be another great marketing tool to help engage the younger audience. Not only
would it help the image of the Rogers Cup, it would also boost Bouchard’s image in the public
eye as generous with her time despite being busy with her professional career. She has had a
tough year in tennis and going back to the basics may also have the added benefit of improving
her play.
As mentioned previously, direct marketing is the best solution because businesses come
face-to-face with their consumers and should receive better responses to the brand/product.
Incorporating other promotional methods, such as campus television, radio or the school’s
20
website would be beneficial to increasing awareness and would ensure that the most people on
the campuses are reached.
Tailoring a campaign to university and college students makes the most sense because
they are the largest demographic in comparison to the staff and faculty and that is where the
largest potential for profit and new fans rests. Tennis has been viewed in the past as a sport
where showing emotion is discouraged, but promoting the “new tennis” with emotionally driven
stars like Nick Kyrgios and Novak Djokovic would attract the younger target market. One
possible method of marketing to them would be to add in a food or beverage voucher with the
purchase of a Rogers Cup ticket. Students, as a whole, want and need cheaper ways to entertain
themselves and this would most certainly appeal to them. This situation is a win-win because
seats could be filled by more students who may learn to enjoy the game at a professional level
and the students are being entertained and saving some money.
Social Media
Social media hasn’t only revolutionized sports fans’ experience at the game – it has also
changed how they get there in the first place (Laird, 2012). Social media plays a key role in the
distribution of ticket sales. There are multiple digital platforms available to promote sport
organizations – Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc. Through these sites, fans can
access third party sites that will help them get to the Rogers Cup.
For example, 70% of professional teams consistently promote tickets via their Twitter
profiles (Bennett, 2012). Some potential ways that the Rogers Cup could drive awareness and
ticket sales using this method are:
Create a second hashtag for the event that will inspire excitement and market the brand
and image that Rogers Cup wants to portray;
Ensure that all of the social networks are being utilized in unison and that there is brand
consistency across the board – use all sites to promote ticket sales to students, faculty and
staff or promote a “college/university” day for the event;
Use promotional giveaways for discounted offers on additional tickets, merchandise, etc.
using the social media tools available; and
21
Ensure that ticket information is easily accessible to the public by sharing the links to the webpage on all social media sites.
Works Cited
22
Bell Canada. (2015). Clara Hughes, O.C., O.M. Retrieved from Bell Let's Talk: http://letstalk.bell.ca/en/our-initiatives/spokespersons/clara-hughes/
Bennett, S. (2012, June 5). How Sports Teams Are Using Social Media To Drive Ticket Sales. Retrieved from SocialTimes: http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/social-sports-ticket-sales/465094
Booker, B. (2015, January 15). 8 Ways to Increase Your Brand Awareness in 2015. Retrieved from Eventbrite: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/blog/8-ways-to-increase-brand-awareness/
Charlton Strategic Research Inc. (2015). New statistics about tennis in Canada and Atlantic Canada. Retrieved from Courtside Canada: http://www.courtsidecanada.ca/club/capital-region-tennis-association/cms/crta/new-statistics-about-tennis-in-canada-and-atlantic-canada
Federal, Provincial and Territorial Ministers for sport, physical activity and recreation. (2012, June 27). Canadian Sport Policy 2012. Retrieved from Canadian Sport Tourism: http://canadiansporttourism.com/sites/default/files/docs/csp2012_en_lr.pdf
Games Bids Inc. (2015). Past Olympic Host City Election Results. Retrieved from GamesBids.com: http://gamesbids.com/eng/past-bid-results/
Jackson, E. (2012, July 16). Toronto tennis courts: Should they be public or private? Retrieved from The Toronto Star: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2012/07/16/toronto_tennis_courts_should_they_be_public_or_private.html
Kim, J. W. (2010, January 15). The worth of sport event sponsorship: an event study. Journal of Management and Marketing Research, 2-10. Retrieved from http://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/09382.pdf
Laird, S. (. (2012, June 4). How Social Media Is Changing the Sports Ticketing Market. Retrieved from Mashable: http://mashable.com/2012/06/04/social-media-sports-tickets-infographic/#KE2PslO3xmqB
Mudhar, R. (2013, August 14). Raonic-Pospisil clash a bonanza for CBC; All-Canadian semi at Rogers Cup sends ratings through the roof. Retrieved from The Toronto Star: http://www.lexisnexis.com.eztest.ocls.ca/hottopics/lnacademic/
Olympic.org. (2015). London Tennis. Retrieved from Olympic.org - Official Website of the Olympic Movement: http://www.olympic.org/olympic-results/london-2012/tennis
O'Reilly, N., & Seguin, B. (2009). Sport Marketing A Canadian Perspective. (A. Williams, Ed.) Nelson Education Ltd.
Pollard, D. (2015, August 13). Snapshots: New schedule date won't conflict with Rio Olympics. Retrieved from Ottawa Sun: http://www.ottawasun.com/2015/08/13/snapshots-new-schedule-date-wont-conflict-with-rio-olympics
23
Robertson, G. (2014, July 14). How Canada turned itself into a tennis contender. Retrieved from The Globe and Mail: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/more-sports/how-canada-turned-itself-into-a-tennis-contender/article19476578/
Rogers Cup. (n.d.). Retrieved from FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/RogersCup
Rogers Cup. (2015). Rogers Cup Home. Retrieved from Rogers Cup: http://www.rogerscup.com/
Rogers Cup presented by National Bank. (2015). Bronze. Retrieved from Rogers Cup presented by National Bank: https://tickets.rogerscup.com/TorontoPremiumSeries/info/?id=Bronze
Rogers Cup presented by National Bank. (2015). Front Row. Retrieved from Rogers Cup presented by National Bank: https://tickets.rogerscup.com/TorontoPremiumSeries/info/?id=FrontRow
Rogers Cup presented by National Bank. (2015). Gold. Retrieved from Rogers Cup presented by National Bank: https://tickets.rogerscup.com/TorontoPremiumSeries/info/?id=Gold
Rogers Cup presented by National Bank. (2015). Groups. Retrieved from Rogers Cup presented by National Bank: https://tickets.rogerscup.com/Toronto/groups/index.html
Rogers Cup presented by National Bank. (2015). Platinum. Retrieved from Rogers Cup presented by National Bank: https://tickets.rogerscup.com/TorontoPremiumSeries/info/?id=Platinum
Rogers Cup presented by National Bank. (2015). Receive Significant Savings and Exclusive Benefits. Retrieved from Rogers Cup presented by National Bank: https://tickets.rogerscup.com/TorontoPremiumSeries/info/
Rogers Cup presented by National Bank. (2015). Silver. Retrieved from Rogers Cup presented by National Bank: https://tickets.rogerscup.com/TorontoPremiumSeries/info/?id=Silver
Rogers Cup presented by National Bank. (2015). Special Offer. Retrieved from Rogers Cup presented by National Bank: https://tickets.rogerscup.com/Toronto/groups/index.html?id=special#main_content
rogerscupto. (2015). Retrieved from Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rogerscupTO/
Singapore Tennis Lessons. (2015). WTA Major Tournaments. Retrieved from Oncourt Advantage: http://www.oncourtadvantage.com/current-tennis-world-rankings/fast-info-finder/wta-major-tournaments/
TCtenniscanada. (n.d.). Retrieved from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TCtenniscanada/featured
TCtenniscanada. (2013, June 21). 2013 Rogers Cup WTA Commercial. Retrieved from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0gobefna-g
Tennis Canada. (2012). Kids Tennis. Retrieved from Sporting Life: http://www.sportinglife.ca/sportinglife/category/KIDS_TENNIS/SL
24
Tennis Canada. (2015). 2014 Tennis Canada Annual Report. Retrieved from Tennis Canada - #LiveTheMoment: file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/2014_AnnualReport_FINAL.pdf
Tennis Canada. (2015). A Sport for Life: Long Term Athlete Development Program for the Sport of Tennis in Canada. Retrieved from Tennis Canada: http://www.tenniscanada.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/LTADallenglish.pdf
Tennis Canada. (2015). About the Brand. Retrieved from Tennis Canada - #LiveTheMoment: http://www.tenniscanada.com/more-info/about-us/about-the-brand/
Tennis Canada. (2015). About Us. Retrieved from Tennis Canada - #LiveTheMoment: http://www.tenniscanada.com/more-info/about-us/
Tennis Canada. (2015). Building Tennis Communities. Retrieved from Tennis Canada - #LiveTheMoment: http://www.tenniscanada.com/community/building-tennis-communities/
Tennis Canada. (2015). Buy Tickets. Retrieved from Rogers Cup presented by National Bank: https://tickets.rogerscup.com/Toronto/
Tennis Canada. (2015). Contact Us. Retrieved from Tennis Canada - #LiveTheMoment: http://www.tenniscanada.com/more-info/contact-us/
Tennis Canada. (2015). Facility Advocacy Program. Retrieved from Tennis Canada - #LiveTheMoment: http://www.tenniscanada.com/community/facility-advocacy-program/
Tennis Canada. (2015). Fact Sheet 2016. Retrieved from Rogers Cup presented by National Bank: http://www.rogerscup.com/tournament-info/fact-sheet/
Tennis Canada. (2015). Leagues. Retrieved from Tennis Canada - #LiveTheMoment: http://www.tenniscanada.com/community/leagues/
Tennis Canada. (2015). Mid Week Package. Retrieved from Rogers Cup presented by National Bank: https://tickets.rogerscup.com/Toronto/midweek.html
Tennis Canada. (2015). Platinum Plus Weekender Package. Retrieved from Rogers Cup presented by National Bank: https://tickets.rogerscup.com/TorontoPlatinumPlus/
Tennis Canada. (2015). Price List. Retrieved from Rogers Cup presented by National Bank: http://www.rogerscup.com/price-list/
Tennis Canada. (2015). Stars of the ATP World Tour return to Toronto in July 2016. Retrieved from Rogers Cup presented by National Bank: http://www.rogerscup.com/stars-of-the-atp-world-tour-return-to-toronto-in-july-2016/
Tennis Canada. (2015). Tennis for Schools. Retrieved from Tennis Canada - #LiveTheMoment: http://www.tenniscanada.com/community/tennis-for-schools/
Tennis Canada. (2015). Tips for your first time here. Retrieved from Rogers Cup presented by National Bank: http://www.rogerscup.com/tournament-info/tips-for-your-first-time-here/
25
Tennis Canada. (2015). Weekender Package. Retrieved from Rogers Cup presented by National Bank: https://tickets.rogerscup.com/Toronto/weekender.html
Tennis Canada. (2015). What is Kids Tennis? Retrieved from Tennis Canada - #LiveTheMoment: http://www.tenniscanada.com/kids/what-is-kids-tennis/
Tennis Canada. (2015). Wheelchair. Retrieved from Tennis Canada - #LiveTheMoment: http://www.tenniscanada.com/competitive/wheelchair/
Tuckwell, K. J. (2013). Pearson Canada. Retrieved from Integrated Marketing Communications: http://www.johnstockmyer.com/enmu/452ch1.pdf
Zelkovich, C. (2015, August 18). The Great Canadian Ratings Report: Blue Jays (yawn) continue to set ratings record. Retrieved from Yahoo Canada Sports: https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/eh-game/the-great-canadian-ratings-report--183038229.html
Appendix
26
Rogers Cup Survey
1. Have you ever been to the Rogers Cup?
a. Yes
b. No
2. If you wanted to see live tennis but never have, what was the reason?
a. Ticket prices
b. Not enough knowledge of the game
c. Lack of available tickets
d. Other
3. Tennis is a growing sport, what other city in Canada besides Montreal and Toronto would be able
to host a major tennis tournament?
____________________________________________________________________
4. How much would you be willing to pay (per seat) for a Rogers Cup match?
a. $5.00-$20.00
b. $20.00-$40.00
c. $40.00-$50.00
d. $50.00 or more
5. What would be the main reason you would attend a Rogers Cup match?
a. Atmosphere
b. The tennis
c. Experience itself
6. As a student/faculty/staff member, what do you think the most effective method of advertising
would be?
a. Television
b. Radio
c. Through the school
d. Other
If you chose “Other” please tell us how: ___________________________________________________
Related Documents
