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MARKETING PLAN FOR FC ZELJEZNICAR INTERNATIONAL PROJECT Course: Marketing Management Mentor: prof. VesnaBabić-Hodović, PhD Students: DizdarMuhamed Index #: 69461 Kahrimanović Amar Index #: 69578 MešićAzra Index #: 69573 Pidro Adnan Index #: 67837
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Marketing Plan Draft Zeljeznicar

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Marketing Plan for FC Zeljeznicar
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Page 1: Marketing Plan Draft Zeljeznicar

MARKETING PLAN FOR FC

ZELJEZNICAR

INTERNATIONAL PROJECT

Course: Marketing Management

Mentor: prof. VesnaBabić-Hodović, PhD

Students: DizdarMuhamed Index #: 69461

Kahrimanović Amar Index #: 69578

MešićAzra Index #: 69573

Pidro Adnan Index #: 67837

Sarajevo, December 2012

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ContentsIntroduction............................................................................................................................................3

Overview................................................................................................................................................4

History................................................................................................................................................5

Current marketing activities...................................................................................................................6

Public Relations..................................................................................................................................6

Web page............................................................................................................................................7

Fan shop.............................................................................................................................................8

Other activities...................................................................................................................................8

SWOT analysis.......................................................................................................................................8

Strenghts.............................................................................................................................................8

Weaknesses........................................................................................................................................9

Opportunities......................................................................................................................................9

Threats................................................................................................................................................9

PESTLE analysis....................................................................................................................................9

Political factors...................................................................................................................................9

Economic factors..............................................................................................................................10

Social factors....................................................................................................................................10

Technological factors.......................................................................................................................10

Legislative factors............................................................................................................................10

Analysis of the competition..................................................................................................................10

Domestic competition.......................................................................................................................10

International competition..................................................................................................................12

Marketing objectives............................................................................................................................15

MARKETING MIX 7P........................................................................................................................16

Proactive service/product.................................................................................................................17

Place.................................................................................................................................................17

Price.................................................................................................................................................17

Promotion.........................................................................................................................................17

People...............................................................................................................................................17

Physical evidence.............................................................................................................................18

Process.............................................................................................................................................18

NEW MARKETING MIX...................................................................................................................18

Proactive Service..............................................................................................................................18

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Place.................................................................................................................................................19

Price.................................................................................................................................................19

Promotion/Service communication...................................................................................................19

People...............................................................................................................................................19

Physical evidence.............................................................................................................................19

IMPLEMENTATION..........................................................................................................................19

Creating database of supporters - members......................................................................................19

Marketing communication mix.........................................................................................................20

Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................23

Literature..............................................................................................................................................24

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Introduction

Why are stadiums empty? Why do fans keep away from a stadium and spend even more

money in say bars and restaurants while watching the same match on TV? Is it possible to fill

that stadium all the time through the season? How do fans think? What should come first,

playing good football or filling the stadium? Is bad football and an empty stadium related?

Why do some teams that play very good football play on empty stadiums and opposite is also

true?

Football without fans is nothing, it can't exist. They create atmosphere, spectacle at the game.

They improve the quality of service (watching football game). It is not the same to watch a

football match with and without fans. Sometimes, when the game on the pitch is weak, good

atmosphere, full stands can motivate players to play better and to win. A lot of football clubs

are almost unbeatable at home matches because of the atmosphere created by their fans. If

club has no supporters, every match will be away match for it.

With a full stadium, you have an assured sustainable source of resources to run the club. Fans

pay to watch the game. Full stadium attract more sponsors, more media. All of this brings

funs to the club, and club can easily buy better players.

So, football fans are the most important thing in football. They bring money to the club, they

improve service with the atmosphere they create. And club should treat fans like family

because they are so important.

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Overview

Football club Željezničar Sarajevo is most prominent, most popular and most

successfulprofessional football club in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The club was founded in

1921 by railway workers. It has 7 Championship trophies, 5 Cup titles and it won Super cup

three times. According to the IFFHS list of the Top 200 European clubs of the 20th century,

an organization recognized by FIFA, Željezničar is the highest ranked Bosnian club, sharing

the 110th position on the list with AZ Alkmaar and Vitória F.C.1The club plays its matches on

stadium Grbavica (owned by club) in the same-named part of the Sarajevo. Current President

is Mr.SabahudinŽujo, and current head coach is Amar Osim. Željezničar has its own football

school in all categories.

History

Football clubŽeljezničar was established in September 1921, by railway workers. In that time

there were several football clubs in Sarajevo, mostly based on ethnical principles (Serbs,

Bosnian Croats, Bosnian Jews). Željezničar was different. It was a club for common people,

people interested in football, not politics. The founders and first players were ordinary people,

workers from almost all ethnic groups in Sarajevo. In the beginning, Željezničar was a poor

club, mostly because of his multiethnic and nonpolitical attitude. Despite all of that, the club

survived and beat stronger and wealthier clubs.

In 1941, because of WWII, football in Sarajevo stopped. After 5 years, in 1946, Željezničar

won its first trophy, the Bosnian Championship. Soon after, citizens and Government of

Sarajevo founded Football club Torpedo (todays FC Sarajevo), as a club that will represent

and promote the city and the regime (communism). That was devastating for Željezničar,

because the Government ordered that the best players have to transfer to Sarajevo. One of

them, JoškoDomorocki, refused that, and finished in jail.

For the most of time, Željezničar played in the top level. The biggest success came in the

season 1971/72 when it won the championship title. The biggest European success was in the

season 1984/85, when Željezničar played UEFA Cup semi-finals against Videoton.

1Europe's Club of the Century retrieved from www.iffhs.de, 13 September 2009, http://www.iffhs.de/?a413f0e03790c443e0f40390b41be8b01905fdcdc3bfcdc0aec70aeedb883ccb05ff1d

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After the collapse of Yugoslavia, Željezničar survived another war. The stadium Grbavica

was destroyed. The club had to start again from the beginning. There was no infrastructure,

nothing. There was new competition, new championship. Željezničar won the title 5 times in

seasons 1997/98, 2000/01, 2001/02, 2009/10, 2011/12, and Cup in 1999/00, 2000/01,

2002/03, 2010/11, 2011/12. Biggest European success in this period came in 2002 when

Željezničar reached the third qualifying round of UEFA Champions League. Newcastle

United was too strong, so the group stage will have to wait for some other time.

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Current marketing activities

Public RelationsPublic relations are really important thing in every organization, every company today. The

same is with sport clubs. Having person which has a task to represent club in situations when

fast and good answer to public is needed, is an essential issue for today's professional sport

clubs. President of the club, Sports Director, or Head Coach shouldn’t be the only persons in

club who answer questions and give information about the club. Our opinion is that every

professional sport club should have PR person if it wants to be successful.

Football Club Željezničar have recently employed staff in this marketing area. Until that, PR

function didn't exist in club. That job mostly was done by Sports Director or President. And

that was hardly functioned. Sometimes the President and Sports Director gave different,

opposite information about situation in club. That was annoying for supporters, journalists

and people who care about Željezničar. After an interview with President of the club,

supporter organization proposed a person that will do the PR job for the club. President

agreed, and after few weeks, Željezničar got his first PR ever. Some real measures of the

successfulness of employing the PR can't be yet clearly defined, because club has PR only for

two months. We can recognize some shifts in availability and reliability of club information,

but still it is to early to discuss about real impacts of PR.

Web pageWhen we talk about online presentation of the club, Željezničar, as all clubs in Bosnia and

Herzegovina, didn't have official web page for years. There were only few unofficial blogs. In

2009, when President, mr.SabahudinŽujo was elected, thing about online presentation

changed. The group of IT professionals made web page for Željezničar and in very short

period of time, it has become the best official web page of some sport club in Bosnia and

Herzegovina. Firstly it was positioned on the domain .com, but after three years, the club

decided to change that. In November 2012, new web page has been created on domain .ba.

The reason why they changed the domain is that they wanted that people around the World

immediately know that Željezničarcomes from Bosnia and Herzegovina when they type in

their browser: „FK Željezničar“.

The new web page fkzeljeznicar.ba, continued the tradition of the previous one. It is timely

updated with all important informations about the club. You can easily find when and where

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is the next match, information about players and coaches. There is also a good history part,

where every phase from the founding the club till today is descripted. Web page has video and

picture gallery, and of course basic contact information and there are links to official

Facebook, twitter and YouTube channel.

Fan shopThe club opened fan shop in cooperation with the company „GONG“ Sarajevo last year. The

shop is located in the north stand of Grbavica stadium. It is mostly good equipped through the

whole year with over 200 products like different souvenirs, T- shirts, scarves, actual jerseys,

old school jerseys etc. The online fan shop is still in construction phase. There is official fan

shopFacebook page, where you can see pictures and some information about products in the

shop.

Other activitiesFC Željezničar constantly takes part in humanitarian actions. One of the last was „My heart is

blue“ („Plavo je srce u meni“), when head coach Amar Osim with few players visited several

small towns in Bosnia and Herzegovina and hand out donations and gifts. In Konjic, they

deliver donation to the local Red cross after devastating fire.2In Srebrenik, delegation of the

club visited local primary school and hand out gifts for children and school.3

When Željezničar won the double title last season, management decided to make a contract

with city transport company „GRAS“ to brand a tram with club colors and signs.4 It was a

campaign of promoting the club and inviting fans to the Champions League Qualification

matches.

2Humanitarnaakcija FK Željezničara „Plavo je srce u meni“, source.ba, 14.9.2012.http://www.source.ba/clanak/3669373/vijesti/Humanitarna-akcija-FK-%C5%BDeljeznicara-%E2%80%9EPlavo-je-srce-u-meni%E2%80%9C/?ref=ostali3Humanitarnaakcijanastavljena u Srebreniku, sutra.ba 19.10.2012.http://www.sutra.ba/novost/72719/Humanitarna-akcija-Plavo-je-srce-u-meni-nastavljena-u-Srebreniku , 4TramvajzvaniŽeljo, 12.7.2012.http://sportsport.ba/bh_fudbal/tramvaj-zvani-zeljo/83936

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SWOT analysis

Strenghts

Tradition and history Most popular club in Bosnia and Herzegovina Great number of fans Football school in all categories Coaches are former players

Weaknesses

Infrastructure (pitch quality low; stadium doesn’t have proper toilets for fans, proper VIP and media parts; small capacity)

Financial situation (lack of funds)

Opportunities

Attracting fans from small towns which have no local football clubs

Threats

New competition (FC Olimpic)

Premier League less watched from season to season

Players transfer to foreign clubs for smaller amount of money than their real value is

Željezničar should concentrate on promotion of his strengths like 90 years old tradition and

history. The club has its own football school in all categories, so a good database of talented

future players can be established. The most important issue is infrastructure, and the club

should as soon as possible find funds to reconstruct the stadium. The club should be also

aware of new competition and unpopularity of Premier League (fans rather watch popular

European clubs than go to stadiums in B&H).

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PESTLE analysis

Political factorsPolitical environment, unfortunately, is important in Bosnian football. Different political

parties and leaders influence almost every citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina. For Željezničar

is important which political party reign the local community and Ministry of Sports because

government of the city, municipal and local Ministry of Sports decide how much funds will

the club get. Also, club have to manage with tax rules given by Government.

Economic factorsEconomic environment have also great influence on the club. If companies are doing well,

make profit, they will easier decide to sponsor the club, giving more money. Also existing

sponsors will extend contracts if the economic situation is good. Higher employment, regular

salaries will influence on people's free time and they will easier decide to spend their money

and time on watching football match or buying club's products. Bosnia and Herzegovina is a

country in transition, so it was, and is still today, almost impossible to invest in infrastructure

and in sport as a whole.

Social factorsWorking people were always a good supporter/fans base. Social problems impact on the

attendance and atmosphere. When social environment is turbulent there is more chance for

violence on stands because supporters perceive stadiums as places where they can get rid of

negative energy. Also, the society has recently came out of war and the ethnic tensions are

still high and have great impact on sport, specially football. The change from one social

system to another (communism>capitalism) had great impact on social behavior. Like in other

former communist countries, in B&H there is higher rate of violence and political messages

on stadiums than in Western Europe.

Technological factorsTechnological changes have a certain influence on club. It is important to have website and

online selling ticket service up to date with last technological changes. HD live broadcasting

is still just a dream for Željezničar because of economic situation.

Legislative factorsThe most important factors here are the Law on Sports, which hasn't been yet defined,

Employment Law and rules of the National Football Association.

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Analysis of the competition

Domestic competition

Željezničar's domestic competitors are all clubs in Premier League, but definitely the most

important are city rival FC Sarajevo, FC BoracBanja Luka and FC ŠirokiBrijeg. All other can

be treated like small competitors.

FC Sarajevo (founded in 1946, firstly named Torpedo) is the biggest, direct competitor of

Željezničar. It comes from the same city, it is almost popular as the club from Grbavica. It is

known that FC Sarajevo has larger number of fans in the city, especially in the old town. But,

when we observe the whole country, Željezničar has fans in almost every part of Bosnia and

Herzegovina. That is not a case when we talk about younger club in the capital city.

Željezničar is more popular in the region than FC Sarajevo, because Željezničar is known as a

„worker club“ and Sarajevo as a „regime, city club“. In a sitcom from '80s called „Top

listanadrealista“ is mentioned that „being a fan of Sarajevo is a thing of geography, while

being a fan of Željezničar is a philosophy.“

Other important thing why FC Sarajevo is serious competitor is that it is the second most

successful football club in the country. It plays constantly in Europa League Qualifications or

Champions League Qualifications. That means, that every season FC Sarajevo attract new

fans.

FC Sarajevo, unlike Željezničar, don't have his own stadium, in his own property. It plays its

matches on Olimpic Stadium which is in the property of the city and Olimpic Association of

Bosnia and Herzegovina. So, it is obliged to pay to play and to have training.

This younger capital city football club has fan shops on several location what is not the case

with Željezničar. It has also well designed web page, PR Officer which was employed earlier

than in Željezničar, management with young marketing professionals, actions like „Bordo

day“ when fans can meet players and buy products at lower prices. Fans and supporters of FC

Sarajevo can became member of the club5and buy LoyalityBordo Card6 with which they can

get season tickets, free pass to some matches and other benefits.

5Jasam Sarajevo!, fcsarajevo.ba , November 2012, http://www.fcsarajevo.ba/ja-sam-sarajevo6LoyalityBordo Card, fcsarajevo.ba, November 2012, http://www.fcsarajevo.ba/loyalty-bordo-card

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Table 1. Comparison of social networks

Facebook Twitter YouTube

Sarajevo 33400 1000 41100

Željezničar 23300 1400 34000

Note: Facebook – number of likes, Twitter – number of followers, YouTube – number of video views; Numbers

are rounded; Last updated on 23.12.2012.

BoracBanja Luka and ŠirokiBrijeg can be considered as most important smaller competitors.

Borac is the most successful football club from the entity of Republic of Srpska and has a

large number of fans in that part of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It constantly competes for places

which lead to European competitions. It has played Qualifications for European League few

times. It has better infrastructure (has License for European competitions) and it has better

support from local community than Željezničar. Borac has a web page (Cyrillic, Latinic and

English version) with solid informations, no PR, no Fanshops.

ŠirokiBrijeg can be considered as one of the important domestic competitors because of

constantly playing at good level, and every year playing in European competitions. It has, like

Borac, better infrastructure than Željezničar, and it is one of a few clubs in Bosnia and

Herzegovina which have no old liabilities (taxes) towards state. It has a great support from

companies in Herzegovina, and never had financial problems. But, Široki has a constant

problem with small number of fans, ŠirokiBrijeg is a small town with low population so there

is really small number of people on stadium Pecara. Their website is up to date with all

information about the club, players, football school etc. Široki has no PR, no fan shops.

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International competition

GNK Dinamo Zagreb, commonly referred to as Dinamo Zagreb, or by their nickname

Modri("The Blues") are a Croatian football club based in Zagreb. They play their home

matches at StadionMaksimir. They are the most successful club in Croatian football, having

won thirteen Croatian championship titles, ten Croatian Cups and four Croatian Supercups.

The club has spent its entire existence in top flight, having been members of the Yugoslav

First League from 1946 to 1991, and then the Prva HNL since its foundation in 1992.

Dinamo Zagreb engages various marketing activities, both online and offline. Dinamo Zagreb

has exceptional quality online activities, which includes website, social networks integration

as well as services such as web shop and online ticket service. Website provides wide

spectrum of club information, as well as rich multimedia content. Social networks integration

includes most popular social network websites, including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter as

well as RSS integration. Website also provides web shop service and online ticket service.

Both of these services provide different means of payment, as well as two-language option

(Croatian and English). Web shop provides various merchandises, and also provides free

shipping in Croatia. Online ticket service enables online ticket booking. Website also provides

options for online membership registration and newsletter subscription.

Table 2. Comparison of social networks

Facebook Twitter YouTube

Dinamo Zagreb 95000 2250 17000

Zeljeznicar 23300 1400 34000

Note: Facebook – number of likes, Twitter – number of followers, YouTube – number of video views; Numbers

are rounded; Last updated on 23.12.2012.

Dinamo Zagreb website is also voted for 8th best website in online analysis of the websites of

the teams participating in the UEFA Champions League7.

Dinamo Zagreb is engaged in various offline activities, and club's players and staff are often

engaged. Players often take part in humanitarian actions, such as visit to home for orphaned

children; they also collaborate with other clubs, such as with Medvescak hockey club in

fundraising activities. Dinamo Zagreb occasionalyorganises events for supporters, where

players and staff interact with supporters; most recent one is "Navijač od milijunkuna"

7http://www.championsleaguewebsites.com/ last visited in December 2012

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campaign (One million kuna's fan), where supporters could compete for one million kuna's

reward. Dinamo Zagreb recenty introduced club mascot pLAVko (blue lion), which will be

present on matches and events, and interact with people.

It is also important to notice that, despite positive activities which are undertaken, Dinamo

Zagreb has issues regarding negative publicity. Executive director of the Dinamo Zagreb

ZdravkoMamic is well known for his hostile b ehavior towards (some) journalists,

threatening with violence and/or making vulgar comments about them and their profession.

While in function as the chairman of Dinamo, Mamić has been detained by police.Since his

reign at Dinamo Zagreb began in 2003, 15 different head coaches have been in charge.

Fußball-Club Bayern Münchene.V., commonly known as FC Bayern München or FC

Bayern Munich, is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its

professional football team, which plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football

league system, and is the most successful football club in Germany, having won 22 national

titles and 15 cups. The club had its period of greatest success in the middle of the 1970s when,

under the leadership of Franz Beckenbauer, it won the European Cup three times in a row

(1974–76). In recent years Bayern Munich has been the most successful club in German

football, winning five of the last ten Bundesliga titles. The club's last international title was

the Intercontinental Cup in 2001, after they won their fourth European Cup the same year.

Bayern is a membership-based club with more than 185,000 members. There are also 2,764

officially-registered fan clubs with 192,160 members. The club has other departments for

chess, handball, basketball, gymnastics, bowling, table tennis, referees, and senior football

with more than 1,100 active members.

Professional football at Bayern is run by the spin-off organization FC Bayern München AG.

Bayern is run like a joint stock company, a company whose stock are not listed on the public

stock exchange, but is privately owned. Bayern's main advertising partner and current holder

of the jersey rights is Deutsche Telekom. The main supplier of the club is Adidas. The

premium partners include Paulaner Brewery, Audi, Coca-Cola, Lufthansa, Samsung and

Yingli Solar. Classic sponsors include Siemens, Burger King, Ebel, Fitness First, The LEGO

Group, Schaeffler Group, s.Oliver, Continental, Viagogo, Trentino, Thomas Sabo and

Sheraton Hotels and Resorts.

Bayern has been known to be involved with charitable ventures for a long time, helping other

football clubs in financial disarray as well as ordinary people in misery. In the wake of the

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2004 Tsunami the "FC Bayern – Hilfee.V." was founded, a foundation that aims to

concentrate the social engagements of the club. At its inception this venture was funded with

600,000€, raised by officials and players of the club. The money was amongst other things

used to build a school in Marathenkerny, Sri Lanka and to rebuild the area of Trincomalee, Sri

Lanka. In April 2007 it was decided that the focus of the foundation would shift towards

supporting people in need locally. The club has also time and again shown to have a soft spot

for clubs in financial disarray. Repeatedly the club has supported its local rival 1860 Munich

with gratuitous friendlies, transfers at favorable rates, and direct money transfers. Also when

St. Pauli threatened to lose its license for professional football due to financial problems,

Bayern met the club for a friendly game free of any charge, giving all revenues to St. Pauli. In

2003, Bayern provided a 2 Million Euro loan without collateral to the nearly bankrupt

Borussia Dortmund which has since been repaid.

Bayern is engaged in other various activities, and most of those are aimed towards two market

- domestic and Asian. Bayern has well established fan-base in Germany, and in recent years

they focused on Asian market, especially after China's rapid economic growth. Bayern also

has high fan-friendly reputation, thus helping them in expansion. Besides standard services,

Bayern also provides unique services - myFCB, which is fan/member service and provides

exclusive information and multimedia; mobile application which includes various multimedia

content - extension of this service is SMART TV, which is mobile tv, created in collaboration

with Samsung; FCB Banking - special banking service created in collaboration with

HypoVereinsbank; FCB Tours - special touristic offer which includes sports travel, leisure

travel and business travel.

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Marketing objectives

- Increase of membership for 1500 members in 3 years By forming database, tracking number of members is easy, as well as measuring. Fact is, most of match attendees are not actually club’s members –formal membership will provide benefits for both fans and club.

- Raise brand awarenessIt is important for club that has national and international recognition. Despite being hard to measure, we could examine certain trends – for example, comparing number of kids who joined in youth academy. Taking in consideration that social network involvement is increasing, increasing social network members could prove essential for increasing brand awareness. Various social networks have global reach and large membership base, which helps raising global brand awareness.

- Increase sales for 15% in 2 yearsMost successful clubs, besides sports success, enjoy also financial success. Also, trends show that merchandise revenue has considerable percentage in total club revenues. Based on reports, this can be easily tracked and measured.

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MARKETING MIX 7P

Based on interview with President of the club, SabahudinŽujo, management of the club considered only 4P marketing approach. By them, product is Željezničar, place/distribution is stadium Grbavica, price is price of tickets (5 KM, 8 KM, 10 KM, 15KM), and promotion was based mostly on advertising. So, we can conclude that management of the club didn't know almost nothing about marketing approach.

We will discuss bellow 7P marketing mix.

Proactive service/product

Football club, firstly, offers service of watching football match. That is the core service for every football club.

Second service is football school for all categories.

Products are tangible things. Those are all products in fan shop, from souvenirs, supporter's clothes to team jerseys.

Place

Place was maybe the only thing that was well defined previously. It is the stadium Grbavica. Stadium is the place of providing core service – watching football game, and also the place where fan shop is located.

Price

- Regular tickets: 5 KM south stand, 8 KM north stand, 15 KM west stand- Half-season tickets: 35 KM south, 65 KM north- Season tickets: 50 KM south, 80 KM north, 200 KM west

Promotion

Advertising, sales promotion, PR, „Blue Days/Nights“, social networks

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People

People are the most important thing for the club. Players, coaches, even supporters can improve the quality of service. Players are the front line, they are the distributors of the service (game). Employees in fan shop are also the front line. Players should be well trained and prepared for matches to deliver better service. They also should live „sportsman life“ to impact on consumer perception of a professional football club.

Physical evidence

Tribunes, pitch, fan shop interior, jerseys

Process

Process is an element of service that sees the customer experiencing an organization’s offering. In a football club point of view, it is the participation and presence of supporter on the stadium, from the beginning of a match to the end. The basic service in process is watching the two half game, but there should be also considered services in half-time and before start of the game, like using toilets, buying drinks and snacks or even visiting fan shop which is on stadium. There is also a free Wi-Fi internet on north stand, so supporters can use this service while watching football match.

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NEW MARKETING MIX

Proactive ServiceCore service, watching a football game could and should be improved by playing every match in the best squad with best players. Sometimes, when the club have enough points and plays against some unpopular weaker club, the club doesn’t play on top level. So, the service is not on quality level as it should be, and fans sometimes left stadium with disappointment.

Good core service should be supported with secondary service. In case of Željezničar different services can be upgraded to improve the core service. Things like reconstruction of toilets, faster and more professional raid on entranceand opening bars with snacks and drinks can significantly impact on experience of watching football game.

PlaceStadium Grbavica is probably the most important issue of Željezničar. From entrances to VIP area, nothing is in accordance with standards of UEFA and FIFA. The mentioned football associations have funds that are intended for reconstruction of stadiums. Grbavica can be reconstructed with help of Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina (in cooperation with UEFA) and local community. For the beginning, west tribune should be built. There will be positioned club premises, changing rooms for players, VIP and media part. All of this should be done in accordance with UEFA and FIFA standards.

PriceMost of price levels should stay the same for a while, because club has increased some prices couple years ago, so further increasing is not desirable. Half season ticket for south stand should be decreased to 30 KM, and for north to 60 KM. Season tickets (50 KM, 80 KM, 200 KM) should remain at this level but with including cup matches.

Promotion/Service communicationNew Advertising campaign, sales promotion, gifts for loyal fans, Željo TV, promotional events (Blue Days/Nights), social network, PR, English version of web page, development of better internal communication

PeopleMain players should come from club own football school. Coaches in all categories including the first team should be all with professional license. Head coach on matches will wear suit designed in club colors and emblem of the club.

Physical evidenceAs already discussed, reconstruction of stadium and pitch to improve physical ambience.

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IMPLEMENTATION

Creating database of supporters - membersThis activity is very important. It will provide base for all further activities – database will contain demographic data, as well as specific data regarding club – date when they joined, which type of tickets do they prefer, etc. Every member of club will pay club membership fee (5 KM) and get membership card. With that card, member of club could get different benefits like discounts in fan shop and discounts when buying season ticket.

The club would reward 10 members, randomly chosen from database every month, with gifts from fan shop. The club should also send birthday cards to its members, so building relationship.

Marketing communication mix

Advertising campaign

Advertising campaign will impact broad audience using mass media. TV advertisement will include two kinds of commercials:

First one will be commercial that will promote club and give information about next match. It should last approximately 15 to 20 seconds. First 5 seconds will be a short video of full south stand (fans singing, great atmosphere). Second part will show a slogan “Be part of the atmosphere” (“Budi dioatmosfere”). Then there will be a short clip with players in action, after that slogan ”Be Željo” (“Budi Željo”. The last part will provide information about next match (opponent, time, price of tickets). At the end – “Be Željo – Be the first one”. The commercial will be emitted on FTV and BHT, Fridays in the end of sports part of “Dnevnik 2”.

Second scenario will promote season tickets. It will also include clip with great atmosphere at stadium with slogan “Be part of the atmosphere” and clip with players in action with slogan “Be Željo”. After that: “Buy season ticket. Be the first one- Be Željo.“

TV as media will be used for project ŽeljoTV. It will be 20 to 30 minutes program which will include videos from press conferences, match reports, information about next match, players as guests and other content. It will be made in cooperation with TVSA.

Radio commercials will provide basic information about next match (opponent, match day and hour, price of tickets). In the end will be fans shouting with slogan “Be Željo” or “MismoŽeljini - Željo je naš”. Radio Stari Grad and Radio Sarajevo will be used for this commercial.

Online advertising is of high importance today, so this kind of advertising should also be used for advertising campaign of Željezničar. Banners will be made for web portal Klix.ba and sportsport.ba with link to official web page of the club.

Examples of newspaper advertising can be seen in the next page.

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Example of newspaper ad for season tickets

Example of newspaper ad for next match

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Sales promotion

Sales promotion should be used to attract more fans and to reward loyal fans. Here are some examples of sales promotion tools that should be used:

Price bundling can be used to attract families to stadium. If, for example father and son come together to buy season tickets, they will get 10% discount.

Discounts of 10% on season tickets for members of club Discounts for students and retired people- all they have to do is to bring index or

pension check and they get 10% discount on season ticket Loyal fans (members of club longer than 5 years) should get special discounts (5

years, 10% + 2% discount, 6 years, 10% + 4% discount and so on)

Blue Days/Nights

“Blue Day of Football club Željezničar” will be an promotional event that will include meeting players, visiting of clubs facilities, taking photos with trophies, etc. It is intended for fans to create special relationship with the club and it will be organized once in two months.

“Blue Night” is an event for sponsors and partners. The main purpose of this event is attracting new sponsors and generating fund for the club.

Creating promotional video about stadium

As we have already concluded, the stadium is important issue for the club. Our idea is to make promotional video that will be sent to UEFA with proper letter signed by legends of the club as Ivica Osim, Mehmed Baždarević, HarisŠkoro, Enver Hadžiabdić, Refik Šabanadžović, Mišo Smajlović. The video will show some historical matches at Grbavica stadium (UEFA Cup Semi-finals against Videoton). Then it will be a story about how the stadium was at the frontline with tanks and mines in the war with scenes of Grbavica in flame. After that, narrator and legends of the club speaking of how the Sarajevo as a capital city needs modern stadium where FC Željezničar (and FC Sarajevo) could play European matches and where National team could play its Qualifications for World and European Cup. The same video should be shown to local authorities and foreign investitors to attract them to give funds for reconstruction.

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ConclusionFootball in Bosnia and Herzegovina is struggling. Football club Željezničar, as all clubs in the country has problems with infrastructure, financial situation, exodus of every good player to foreign clubs for smaller amount money than player’s real value is and the perception of Premier League is very bad. Most of people think that there is no quality even if they didn’t watch any match.

Željezničar should focus on promotion of his key values like history and tradition, and to create database of loyal fans. Promoting its matches as events for whole family and so making special relationship with fans should increase the number of club members. It is important for a club to build that relationship and to make unity with fans.

Club should often organize events for potential sponsors and partners if it wants to survive. It should also award fans for their loyalty, but in a profitable way. Today, unfortunately, money plays football.

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Literature Babić-HodovićVesna, “Marketing usluga: concept, strategije i implementacija”,

Ekonomskifakultet Sarajevo, (2010) Fullerton Sam and Merz Russell. “The Four Domains of Sports Marketing: A

Conceptual Framework”. Sport Marketing Quarterly.No.17 (2008), pp. 90-108. Goldman Michael. “Post-Crisis Sports Marketing - Business Model Shifts”. Managing

Global Transitions: International Research Journal.Vol. 9, No. 2 (Summer 2011) Larson Brian, Jensen Ric, Bowman Nicolas. “Developing international sports markets:

professional sports - Selling to new segments with new promotions”. Journal of International Business Disciplines. Vol. 6, No. 2 (November 2011), pp. 9-24.

FC Željezničar official website, http://fkzeljeznicar.ba/ FC Sarajevo official website, http://www.fcsarajevo.ba/ FC ŠirokiBrijegofficieal website, http://www.nk-sirokibrijeg.com/ GNK Dinamo Zagreb official website, http://gnkdinamo.hr/ FC Bayern Munchen official website, http://www.fcbayern.telekom.de

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