10 Theme 10: END NOTES & FUTURE MARKETING TRENDS
Learning Objectives
*Identify and outline the future trends and challenges facing collegiate sport marketers.
*Identify and understand the key legal issues and concerns associated with the sport marketing industry
*Identify the skills and opportunities for entry and advancement in sport marketing industry
Introduction
At the end of textbook, the authors wish to emphasize three different topics that would enhance the readers’ understanding of future trends, challenges, and legal issues that are associated with collegiate sport marketing. In addition, tips and suggestions will be offered to those individuals who would like to seek employment opportunities (for both entry and advancement) in the business of collegiate athletics.
Legal Issues and Concerns Associated with the Sport Marketing Industry
In Theme 5, the authors briefly discussed the legal protection of trademarks and logos. The authors will address a few legal concepts and cases that are centered in the marketing of collegiate athletics. The Lanham Act of 1946 (and amended in 1996) is the most extensive federal statute for protecting marks and online counterparts (Parkhouse et al., 2012). In general, there are four specific categories that are applied to determine the distinctiveness of a mark (i.e., logos, names, symbols, etc.): (1) arbitrary or fanciful, (2) suggestive, (3) descriptive, and (4) generic. A brief definition of each category is listed in Table 1.
Table 1. General Categories for Determining Distinctiveness of a Mark
| Category | Definition and Example |
| Arbitrary/Fanciful | A mark bears no logical relationship to the underlying product (Reebok, Nike, Apple, etc.) |
| Suggestive | Suggests a characteristics of the underlying good (Icy pain reliever) |
| Descriptive | Describe a characteristics of the underlying product and may need to acquire secondary meaning (Comfort Inn, & Sleep Inn) |
| Generic | Describe the general category to which the underlying product belongs (baseball bats, computers, etc.) |
Copyright law was originated in 1976 based on the Copyright Act. Its aim is to protect the original or fixed works of authorship that covers at least 42 types of works. Decorative logos, sport teams or league themed sports apparel and equipment can all fall into the realm of design copyrights. A copyright owner has five exclusive rights to (1) reproduce the work, (2) modify the work, (3) distribute the work, (4) publicly perform the work, and (5) publicly display the work. Anyone who violates any of the aforementioned exclusive rights of the owner is an infringer and can be sued for statutory damages (up to $150,000 per act of infringement).
| DYK?
Watching sports highlight is such a thrill. It is a common activity that people do every day in their daily life. However, reproducing highlight contents on our own directly from media can be a direct violation of the laws. All major sports license their online game highlights under various rights structures. This is why Yahoo Sports’ Loops app has created much controversial (Ourand & Fisher, 2014) |
Anti-cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) of 1999 was established to protect consumers and American businesses from bad-faith and abusive registration of distinctive trademarks as Internet domain names with the intent to profit from the goodwill associated with trademarks (Senate Report No. 106 106-140, at 4).
All the aforementioned legislations are common legislations for protecting college programs from logo infringements, copyright violations, and licensing fraud. In Theme 7, the authors addressed the issues of ambush marketing and freeloading, these issues may also be associated with the violations of intellectual properties. One unique legal issue the authors would like to further point out is related to the representation of sports agents in collegiate athletics. We really wonder if the NCAA is so worried about these intrusive abuses by sports agents may hurt its student-athletes. Then, why not establish its own consulting division and collaborate with professional leagues to guide student-athletes on drafting, signing future contracts, and planning for professional athletic careers?
(Q1) _________________ was established to protect consumers and American business from bad-faith and abusive registration of distinctive marks as Internet domain name. (Answer: Anti-cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act)
(Q2) A copyright owners may have which of the following rights?
(a) Public performance rights
(b) Public display rights
(c) Reproduction rights
(d) All of the above
(Q3) Coppertone can be viewed as a suggestive of sun-tan location. True/False
The authors would like to highlight the significance of the Supreme Court’s denial regarding the case of O’Bannon vs. NCAA. The issues of whether the college institutions can financially compensate their student-athletes or can schools continuously profit through the use of former student-athletes’ images remain highly controversial. The Supreme Court also refused to provide any guidance on how compensation rules might interact with Title IX for gender-equity treatment. In the meantime, the Ninth Circuit’s decision in O’Bannon vs. NCAA can still be used as a favorable precedent for antitrust challenges to NCAA amateurism rules (McCann, 2016). According to the District Court’s decision in 2014, colleges must award men’s basketball and football players up to $5,000 per year while they are in school for the use of their names, images and likenesses, with payment made after they graduate (McCann, 2016). Thanks to the Supreme Court, the ill-financed schools do not have to worry about paying their student-athletes at this point. The O’Bannon case did not bankrupt the NCAA or college sports as some had anticipated. One thing for sure is that certain powerhouse programs will keep racking up their revenues by aggressively partnering with gigantic marketing agencies such as IMG, Learfield, ISP or JMI, etc. The financial success of a selected few schools will keep inspiring the unbalanced armed races in collegiate athletics. Ironically, these successful cases are the reasons that many believe there are prominent marketing jobs in collegiate sports for people to pursue. They are deemed as unrealistic mirages and the “root of all evils” for making college sports excessively commercialized.
| Video clip: Should student athletes get paid??
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o87p4Li4SI4 |
| FYI: me Image Likeness in College Sports
After decades of NCAA rule against college athletes’ openly capitalizing on their name, image and likeness, NIL has been the law of the land in college athletics since 2021 and turned the college sports landscape upside down. Many coaches have complained about challenges in roster management under the new NIL era. Maryland football coach, Mike Locksley even claimed a third-string running back threatened to transfer if he wasn’t given a $100,000 deal (Lyons, 2024). The NCAA recently launched the public “NIL Assist” data dashboard allowing users to filter for NIL data by date, transaction type, playing level (Power 4, Group of 5 and FCS/D-I schools without football), sport and athletic position. In general, college football players make an average of $39,944 per year in NIL revenue, though the median total is much smaller, coming in at $928. The numbers are significantly larger when limited to Power 4 schools — those in the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC. Power 4 athletes make an average of $75,390 with a median number of $3,180. The “average disclosure value,” or amount paid per NIL deal, is $10,477, with the median at $500. Here is the breakdown of the average earning of football players’ NIL deal based on their playing positions. 5. Wide receivers — $89,800 average total earnings per player 4. Linebackers — $107,084 average total earnings 3. Cornerbacks — $124,080 average total earnings 2. Quarterbacks — $151,275 average total earnings 1. Defensive ends — $167,687 average total earnings Reference Lyons, D. (2024, August 7). College football’s 5 highest-paid positions, Lyons, D. (2024, August 7). College football’s 5 highest-paid positions, According to NCAA’s Official NIL Data. https://athlonsports.com/college-football/college-football-nil-data-highest-paid-positions-ncaa-official-dashboard |
In the international stage, corruption and bribery are critical risks for companies investing in high-profile international sports events, such as Olympics Games and FIFA Championships. Business can no longer afford to be willfully blind about the corruption (Bonime-Blanc, 2014). Brazil and Russia both had adopted international anti-corruption laws similar to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The following ten practices were provided to educate global companies on how to mitigate major risks and design bells and whistles to against corruptions and crimes (Bonime-Blanc, 2014):
(1) Develop commitment from the top;
(2) Develop global code of conduct program and lead;
(3) Assess risks among countries;
(4) Conduct ethics and compliance risk assessment;
(5) Perform 3rd party assessments;
(6) Properly equip employees and third party;
(7) Have an anonymous resources;
(8) Improve continuously;
(9) Hire the best and brightest local management; and
(10) Customize your program.
Finally, it was shocking that the Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 on May 14, 2018. The court ruled 6-3 lifting the barring of state-authorized sports gambling (expect in Nevada) (Maese, 2018). The court ruled in favor of New Jersey and against the NCAA and the major four professional sports in America. Apparently, the state of New Jersey will soon lead the way to legalize sport gaming followed by Delaware, Mississippi, New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia (Purdum, 2018). This ruling could likely have impact on the student-athletes’ legal status for participating in betting in college sports and potential risk of damaging the integrity of college sports with more game fixers influencing athletes in point shaving. The authors anticipate there will be a lot more discussions addressing the concerns raised in upcoming NCAA Conventions. Interestingly, some owners of the professional teams have already thought about taking advantage of legalizing sports gambling for more profit gains. The Capital One Arena in Washington D.C is set to become the first professional U.S. sports facility to have sports-betting operation inside the building (Steinberg, 2020). Can you imagine that wagering on player performance during the game could quickly become a common habit as buying hot dogs?
Photo 1. Sport Gambling for March Madness
Future Trends and Challenges in Collegiate Sports Marketing
Most sport marketing textbooks end with a section that addresses the future trends and upcoming challenges faced by the industry. Dees et al. (2022) recognize the difficulties of seeing the future through the “crystal ball.” To further limit the discussion in the marketing of college sports, the diminishing of scope can make this task even more difficult. A few years ago, many urged to see the fruition of the national college football championship. After going through a lot of obstacles, the BCS conferences and media finally got the deal done and created a three-game championship series with a title sponsor, Dr. Pepper (Hinnen, 2014). So what else can be so vital and urgent? Are we going to see schools using direct payment methods for their faculty and staff when paying for the events? Will the budget constraints happening in many states gradually stop the trend of building new venues? Will all schools engage in resales of unused tickets? David Brown, a college marketing consultant, indicates athletic departments had already started focusing on filling empty seats in their arenas or stadiums. Brown also predicted there would be more consolidation of services from outsourced companies. IMG College’s influence will get bigger and bigger by starting to acquire ISP.
The renowned sport marketer, Bill Sutton (the founding director of the Sport and Entertainment business management MBA at the University of South Florida) had given numerous advices to sport marketers about reaching the millennial young fans (age 25 and under) (Sutton, 2016). First, it was found younger fans did not really have favorite teams in their mind. Video games and fantasy sports could have blurred the lines and importance of the actual games. Young fans also consumed a lot of contents through the internet; this meant they spent less time watching or participating in sports. Believe it or not, since 2015, soccer has become the second favorite overall sports for all Americans age 12-45 (Sutton, 2016). The fact must shock a lot of marketers of the traditional four major professional sports.
One of the most recent and effective marketing strategies used by the companies and agencies is having women being the face of a new campaign (Mulcahy, 2019). This practice has started to get more popular in 2019 (perhaps inspired by the Me Too Movement). According to the Nielsen Sports report, 84% of general sports fans find women’s sport more “inspiring” and “progressive” than the male version. Companies begin to think more creative ways to make the sports, products and advertisement more appealing to women. Nike was one of the first to test this marketing strategy with its ‘Dream Crazier’ campaign by featuring tennis legend Serena Williams. We’ve witnessed companies featuring female sport coaches (i.e., Becky Hammon and Katie Stower) in their commercial to fight against gender bias and stereotyping.
The recent growth of female sporting events is a trending phenomenon and an encouraging sign. Since the rise of the Me-Too movement (Darvin, 2020), the growth of female sports in attendance and sales has become evident. In 2023, we witnessed a collegiate volleyball event in University of Nebraska broke the all-time attendance record of a single female sporting event (NCAA, 2023). In 2024, the brilliant performance of Caitlin Clark, the undefeated South Carolina Team, and several renown basketball players (i.e., Angie Reese and more) help the women’s collegiate basketball reached a new high. These stars not only helped the women’s NCAA Tournament surpassed the men’s tournament in viewership, but also made the struggling WNBA increase its ticket sales by nearly 100% (Bohannon, 2023; Treisman, 2023). Experts have been quite optimistic about the potential growth of the female sports. It is believed that the value of the women’s sports could grow triple in the United Kingdom (Rogers, 2022). The most popular female sport league, WNBA had recently revamped its business model by aggressively livestreaming its contents and signed a new deal with Ion Television (Hartzog, 2022; Hirsch & Lowe, 2023). Sport marketers may want to seriously recognize this moment and invest on potential female stars as the brand endorsers and spokespersons to secure profits (Liddell, 2024).
It is important for sports teams and athletes to recognize the importance of social channels in building their fan bases and capitalizing on brand opportunities. Social channels like Instagram and Twitter present spaces for cultivating fans and communities. Advertising spaces on these social platforms can also be used to present a humanized version of athletes and round-the-clock access to the sport. Instagram stories and livestreams allow athletes and teams to offer exclusive, and behind-the-scenes stories and information to their fans and audiences. These platforms truly offer the opportunity to host impromptu Q&As and bring fans closer to their idols. Sports teams can utilize the social accounts of their popular athletes to boost engagement with their brand. For example, FC Barcelona’s official Instagram had 70 million followers. The team’s biggest star, Lionel Messi, with 118 million followers, is the most authentic influencer for the club.
The authors suggest the use of social media and the creation of a social media coordinator at the college athletic programs should grow quickly. The small colleges and universities should realize that they have come to the crossroads for improving their use of digital marketing technology to target student fans. Thus, the tasks for enhancing fan experience and promotion to students and community fans will be more critical. Despites the ticket demand being small, the schools usually choose to adopt the Personal Seat Licenses to increase ticket revenues (Chen, Henderson, Worrell, & Salazar, 2012). This practice will at least make some individuals feel special and privileged in showing their loyalty for their school.
Social media has stormed the web platforms and world. Numerous popular social media sites have over billion users (i.e., Facebook alone has 2.47 billion users). Adults ranging from 18 to 34 years old are most likely to use social media to follow the brands that they support and love. If the brands (or the company sites) receive good customer service via social media, customers will tend to spend 21% more to purchase the products. Sport teams primarily use social media to connect with fans and promote their services and product through this innovative communication platform. Today most people turn to social media for everything, from news to the hottest plays from last night’s game. Making information available on social media really lets fans connect with the team and interact with each other. More importantly, the exchange of information on social media goes both ways. The information of the teams’ target market is revealing as the teams can observe the types of content that their fans are browsing and types of brands they are following online. Sports social media pages give fans a place to interact with each other, celebrate the team’s victories, and seek comfort during defeats. Allowing players to take control over a social media platform as a sport marketing strategy is a great way to inspire loyalty from the fans. Using social media for marketing does not mean one should abandon its traditional advertising strategy. Rather, it is used to improve the visibility of existing promotions. Teams can use social media to complement existing ticket discounts and event promotions in a timely fashion without stressing on the advertising budget. When sport fans share the event information with their friends, it maximizes the effect of “the words of mouths” (Gwinner, Janda, Larson, & Swanson, 2003).
FYI. Use of Social Media in College Sports: An Vital Tool and Lesson
https://creatitive.com/role-social-media-sports-marketing/
- Attendance has been on the decline for college sports for the last several years. As the Coach for Northwestern Pat Fitzgerald said in a press conference “phones and technology in the hands of young people are causing a decline in attendance.” I would agree as we have seen the advances of sports network. I can remember having season tickets to UK basketball games and the attendance was great and the only way to see the game was being at the game. Now with the SEC Network every UK game is on TV. So we can watch them through the ESPN app. And with the younger generation that’s what they would rather do. For Example I like watching/going to any basketball game. Now with ESPN+ I can do that from my phone. Most of the Morehead games are on there so I can watch them. And I think that has a lot effect on attendance here in Morehead.
- “student attendance rates at the FBS level have seen a 7.1% drop since 2009” – The Effects of Beer Sales on Attendance at Collegiate Football Games. Once again technology being able to watch any game from home and on a phone has some effect on that percentage. But for the most part not selling alcohol at any games is going to drop the attendance rate. I know for me it would be more enjoyable if I could go to a college football game and be able to drink a few during the game.
- “The University of Louisiana-Lafayette, which began selling beer in its stadium in 2013, reported a 34.1% rise in student attendance in the first year.”- The Effects of Beer Sales on Attendance at Collegiate Football Games. Plus the University is making a lot off the sales of alcohol.
- A lot more University should follow this. They would get their attendance up and make money off the alcohol.
- SEC changed the policy on Alcohol sales this past season. “Seven schools — Arkansas, LSU, Missouri, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt” Of the seven only a few of the schools attendance went up this past football season. “Three of those schools (LSU, Missouri and Texas A&M) saw their attendance go up” Of the three I am not really surprised that these are the three that went up. As LSU had the Heisman winner in Joe Burrow on the team and winning the National Championship this past season. “LSU senior associate athletic director Robert J. Munson said in a thread posted to Twitter that the athletics department generated more than $2.259 million in net revenue from the sale of more than 280,000 alcoholic beverages during the 2019 season, and that doesn’t include what was sold in premium seating areas.”
- https://www.offtackleempire.com/2019/7/24/20707199/millennials-terrible-phones-pat-fitzgerald-college-football-attendance-decline-big-ten-media-days
- https://oaks.kent.edu/_flysystem/ojs/journals/4/articles/172/submission/172-37-596-1-2-20200103.pdf
- https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/sports/college/auburn/2019/12/22/2019-sec-home-football-attendance-drops-lowest-average-since-2001-stadium-alcohol-sales-greg-sankey/2712365001/
Photo 2. Enhancing student fans’ game experience (Pregame mobile tailgate grill station)
| Video Clip: Most eminent issues in college sports marketing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7MjXCVin6o (Oregon Full-Access; Video courtesy from GoDucks.com) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK8PP1QZ1yc (Important legal issues of collegiate athletics) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiJY8qp3akQ (NCAA Football unethical marketing plan; Video courtesy from Jared Williams) |
| FYI: 10 Sports Marketing Trends That You Should Know and Use
According to the founder and managing director of the Brandwave, Daniel Macaulay, digitalization has revolutionized the sports industry and sports marketing. The result is trends that nobody had even predicted or thought about just a few years ago. Although it is almost impossible for those responsible for marketing in sports companies to be perfectly familiar with all the facets of digital practices and concepts. Mr. Macaulay gave ten exciting examples for all readers to learn about today biggest sports marketing trends. Let us all be creative by using technology to offer cross-sector and completely new solutions. 1. OTT (Over the Top) Content Netflix, Amazon Prime or Facebook are the classic examples of OTT offers. These contents can ultimately be received independently from the terminal device. People don’t need to watch the games or highlights strictly through television. The competition from the Internet is causing problems for traditional media companies. And the platforms have another big advantage: “They create profiles of their users, so they know exactly who sees their content and when – and can then play targeted advertising,” This database takes sports marketing to a whole new level. 2. AI Artificial Intelligence is changing the world. But three things are needed for this: Data, data and data and of course a fast Internet connection! Chatbots are an exciting form of artificial intelligence for sports marketing. “FC Arsenal has developed a chatbot called Robot Pires with the specialists from GameOn, which communicates with fans via Facebook Messenger, Skype, Slack, Kik and Telegram”. And that’s very entertaining. Robot Pires – the name is derived from Arsenal legend Robert Pires – provides users with results, statistics, news and partly exclusive videos of the Premier League Club in humorous and simple language. The use of chatbots in sports marketing offers several advantages: An entertaining and clever chatbot can reach new target groups and strengthen fan loyalty because it offers extraordinary content. The sports company or the club present themselves as innovative thought leaders and thus also strengthen their brand in the B2B segment. Chatbots collect data that can give important hints on fan or customer wishes. Whether the investment in AI is worthwhile for sports marketing, however, is still questionable. And so the chatbot of FC Arsenal should be understood more as an experiment. 3. Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality The developments in VR (Virtual Reality), AR (Augmented Reality) and MR (Mixed Reality) are impressive, reported Daniel Macauly. “In the past, VR and AR were expensive and uncomfortable, but now the focus is on benefits,” the sports marketing specialist said.
Online shops have to struggle with high CPAs (cost per acquisition) because the free delivery conditions have resulted in an unpleasant pattern of behavior: “Customers order each product in three different sizes and colors, try everything on at home and in the end – if at all – keep only one. The rest go back.” With the help of AR, for example, sports shoes can be tried on virtually beforehand. Through glasses or a smartphone, the customer can see what the shoe looks like on his own foot – and hopefully selects more precisely. 4. Wearables The wearables market has emerged from its niche and has long since become one of the most important fields of the entire sports industry. Or as Daniel Macaulay put it, “wearables are mainstream.” According to a study, global wearables sales are expected to exceed 95 billion US dollars in 2021. With his self-lacing shoes Hyperadapt Nike has created an exciting example of a product from the future, Macaulay said. But the sports marketing expert was also impressed by intelligent soles such as Digitsole presented at ISPO Munich 2019. 5. eSports No sports marketer can afford not to take eSports seriously. By 2021, the number of eSports enthusiasts worldwide is expected to rise to over 250 million, with a further 300 million occasionally consuming eSports. “That eSports have their place at the ISPO Munich 2019 is therefore only consistent,” Daniel Macaulay said. But the Brandwave CEO has noticed another development: “It’s exciting that there are now also sports areas at tech conferences.” Fallback-50-years ISPO Editorial Letter – Crucial Insights for Free One topic – many perspectives: This is the new monthly newsletter “Perspectives of Sports and Outdoor” from ISPO. REGISTER NOW! 6. Dark Social With his remarks on Dark Social, Daniel Macaulay provided many thought-provoking faces, as most listeners had not yet dealt with this phenomenon. “Dark Social refers to all website traffic that cannot be accurately attributed,” Macaulay explained. “Over 80 percent of global traffic comes from Dark Social.” Such traffic occurs when users send each other links via whatsapp, instagram or e-mail. Then the analysis tools are overwhelmed, because one does not understand “why the user suddenly stands in front of the door and how he got there”. And what you can’t analyze, you can’t (well) use for marketing.
Adidas understood the phenomenon as an opportunity and initiated an exciting Dark Social campaign with Adidas Tango Squads. “Selected influencers were provided with exclusive products and invited to events,” Macaulay explained. The dissemination of information then took place mainly via messenger services and social groups. 7. Sustainability Sustainability and sport are now closely linked. “80 percent of the products are purchased for emotional reasons – and 20 percent for functional reasons,” Daniel Macaulay said. Sports marketing is therefore increasingly about giving customers the feeling that they are doing something good. Good examples of sustainable sports products are outdoor jackets or sports shoes made from recycled plastic. The trend towards environmental protection even goes so far that plogging, collecting rubbish during jogging, has become a serious movement. “Good gym has spread in Great Britain,” Macaulay reported. The point is to do good while jogging, for example by shopping for the old neighbor on the way back. But “ethical consumerism” also knows limits, the sports marketing expert said. It is essential to ensure that a campaign also fits the brand. As a negative example, Macaulay cited Gillette’s #MeToo advertising, for which the company had massively lost brand popularity: “The tone was completely wrong.” 8. Women in Sport For decades, the sports business was a male domain. But with the changes in society, the sports industry is also being strongly mixed up. This is also due to the fact that women are an increasing financially strong group of buyers. “Like many other industries, the sports business is experiencing increasing target group segmentation,” Macaulay said. ISPO recognized this trend at an early stage and with “Connecting Women” offers a top-class program for committed women. But companies such as North Face, which are also attracting attention with their “She Moves Mountains” campaign, are specifically campaigning for women in sport, reported Macaulay, who brought another example from the British Isles with him: With “This Girl Can” the Government of England addresses the female population. ISPO Surfer for Newsletter Sign up now: The ISPO.com News Ticker Sign up for the ISPO.com News Ticker now and subscribe to all News and Top-Stories from ISPO.com. REGISTER HERE 9. Children in Sports In times when eSports are booming and news about overweight children and adolescents are being spread daily, a counter-movement is all the more important. Not only for noble goals, but also because digitalization offers completely new distribution opportunities. Manufacturers of niche products, such as e-mountainbikes or climbing shoes in children’s sizes, can advertise and sell their products specifically on the Internet. According to Daniel Macaulay, it is important that children are introduced to sport as early as possible because “it will be much more difficult later to motivate people to take part in sport”. With „The Daily Mile“ the sports marketing expert presented a campaign involving almost two million children in the UK. The principle is simple: the children jog at their own pace for 15 minutes every day during their visit to school. 10. Seniors in Sport If you look at the large public advertising campaigns of sports companies, it should quickly become apparent that they use pictures of extremely sporty and active people who are full of life. But here, too, rethinking is taking place: More and more sports products for older people are coming onto the market. On the one hand, because the target group of senior citizens is growing from year to year, on the other hand, because this target group is extremely financially strong and is becoming much more demanding. Many Western societies are aging – “this creates enormous costs for the public health system,” Macaulay said. He cites “Make Health Last” from Canada as a particularly successful example of a campaign for active seniors. “What will your last ten years look like?” is the motto of this campaign – and offers a variant with and without sport for illustration purposes. Summary of Sports Marketing Trends Digitalization, individualization and sustainability are certainly three of the most important trends in the sports industry – and they also require a fundamental change in sports marketing. “The world is undergoing extreme change and digitalization is accelerating it,” said Daniel Macaulay, summarizing the situation. To be successful in sports marketing, you should always know what is going on left and right. Not all the possibilities that are opening up are becoming mainstream. However, it is advisable to keep an eye on the ten sports marketing trends listed here.
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In recent years the popularity of eSports has seen exponential growth, a fact which could not be ignored sports teams. Marketing sports through eSports has proven popular with football teams witnessing many millions of their fan base regularly playing FIFA video games (Leeuw, 2018; Singer & Chi, 2019; Taylor, 2018). Spanish football team, Real Madrid recently released plans for its updated, high-tech new home stadium, which included an eSports arena for fans. When Tottenham Hotspur completed its new stadium, one of the designed early events was to host eSports tournaments (Leeuw, 2018). In the United States, the San Antonio Spurs was one of 20 Premier League teams that launched a competition among their fans, offering winners the opportunity to compete for and represent their favorite team in the ePremier League, a competitive video gaming event (Singer & Chi, 2019; Taylor, 2018). With millions of sports fans playing video games and eSports gaming being a relatively new idea, who knows how much potential it has. In just a couple years, sports marketing and competitive gaming could be closely intertwined. Thirty percent of males 12-17 were identified as avid fans of eSports already. No wonder Sutton had predicted “the future is all about E (Sutton, 2016)!!
| FYI: More information about eSports
Willingham, A. J. (2018, August 27). What is eSports? A look at an explosive billion-dollar industry. https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/27/us/esports-what-is-video-game-professional-league-madden-trnd/index.html CBS News. (2019, October 1). Colleges are starting degrees in eSports, with $36,000 programs. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/college-esports-universities-launch-degrees-in-esports/ Game Designing (2020, February 8). Twenty colleges with varsity eSports programs. https://www.gamedesigning.org/schools/varsity-esports |
| FYI: Special Curriculum Development for Sport Marketing
Chen, K., & Zhang, J. J. (2011). Designing an academic course on international sport marketing. A paper presented at 2011 Annual Sport Marketing Association Conference. Easter, B. A. (2011). Focus group market research project. A paper presented at 2011 Annual Sport Marketing Association Conference. Brownlee, D. A., & Shreffler, M. (n.d.). Ten tips for designing an effective sport sales project. A paper presented at the Annual Sport Marketing Association Conference. Weight, E. A., & Cooper, C. G. (n.d.). An authentic approach to group formation. A paper presented at the Annual Sport Marketing Association Conference. |
| FYI. More Information About NIL in College Sports
The issue of paying student-athletes for their athletic services has been an everlasting controversial topic revolving the intercollegiate athletics (Sullivan, 2014; Weaver, 2015). Although the essence of college sports and the spirit of amateurism still be viewed as the key rationales for not compensating athletes for athletic service (Murphy, 2021). However, the tide has turned toward to rendering athletes with a fair monetary compensation from a fair-play and an ethical standpoint (Poyfair, 2022; Strauss, 2017). The lawsuit of O’Bannon v. NCAA (2015) opened the possibility of monetarily compensating student-athletes for their athletic services. Subsequent legislations and case ruling such as College Athletes Bill of Rights in 2020, The California SB 206, and the Supreme Court’s ruling on NCAA v. Alston (2021) eventually paved the way for student-athletes to receive monetary benefits using their name, image, and likeness (NIL) (Poyfair, 2022; The Drake Group, 2021).
The adoption of the NIL practices may still be at the early stage, however, this policy changes already had made significant impact to the existing programs and their operation. It is obvious that the NCAA must face the reality that paying student-athletes will be a normal practice among its member institution (Associated Press, 2021). Many people are excited about the current people because opportunities have finally arrived in supporting student-athletes with monetary compensations. Scholars have warned the public about not to lose the focus and essence for why we need to support student-athletes financially. Regardless the methods and amount of money for paying the athletes, the fundamental core and most important principle should be related to the well-being and development of our student-athletes, (Lopiano et al., 2020).
NIL has transformed the landscape by allowing student-athletes to manage their personal brands. With the ability to profit from endorsements, sponsorships, and social media presence, athletes now have greater control over their financial futures and can capitalize on their talents while still in school. NIL deals particularly benefit those in high-profile sports like football and basketball (Newberry, 2024). Now athletes become more financially literate by learning to seek guidance, investing wisely, and preparing for their post-college careers (The Lane Report, 2021). It has brought more equity to the system by allowing athletes to profit from their talents and hard work. In authors’ state, many basketball players of University of Kentucky have received endorsement deals with university NIL collectives and private businesses (Lane Report, 2021). Club 15 and Blue Club are well-known institution’s NIL collectives for both its football and basketball players. Local-wise, there are organizations (i.e., Rise Up Sports Media) and law firms (i.e., Porter, Wright, Morris & Authur LLP). that provide consulting services to student-athletes for managing NIL deals in Lexington, KY. Other examples of the NIL managing companies: Opendorse: A Name, Image and Likeness hub that help navigate athletes’ NIL process. Alumni Pros Global Sports: It has its own NIL valuation system (IP score) to help their clients. myNILpay: Available in Apple Apps that makes direct payments to athletes. NIL has fundamentally altered the recruiting landscape in college athletics. It has prompted changes in recruiting dynamics, with universities now able to leverage NIL opportunities as a recruiting tool, while also raising questions about compliance, and the long-term implications for collegiate sports. The ability for athletes to profit from their Name, Image, and Likeness has intensified competition among schools looking for top talent. High school athletes now can build their personal brands earlier, with brands and businesses playing a more influential role in the recruitment process. This shift has also led to increased early exposure for recruits, influencing their decisions on where to play. Experts suggest student-athletes may want to learn about their fair market value after Supreme Court decision against the NCAA surrounding antitrust. They should be familiarized with their state’s NIL laws that may allow them to profit from their intellectual property. States such as Florida, Georgia, Texas, Alabama, and New Mexico have approved student-athletes to profit from their intellectual property outside of educational institutions. This means players can accept money to make appearances, sign autographs, do local car dealership commercials and even profit from an NFT sale (Berg, 2023). Depending on the size of the sponsors and market, a local car dealership in a college town may pay an athlete $50,000 to sign autographs. However, elite athletes may earn more than $10 million if they leverage their NIL correctly (Vannini et al., 2024). For athletic programs, NIL opened new fundraising opportunities but also introduced challenges. Programs can leverage the marketability of their athletes to attract sponsorships and partnerships, generating additional revenue. However, this requires adjustments in how athletic departments allocate their budgets. Schools may need to reallocate funds to support athletes in navigating their NIL opportunities or investing in compliance and marketing initiatives. Additionally, the need to navigate the complexities of NIL regulations has led to increased compliance and regulation costs, requiring programs to adapt their operations and strategies to this evolving landscape. We have witnessed schools hiring full-time NIL managing director to assist athletes for dealing the NIL affairs (examples of those schools include Texas A&M, Western Kentucky University, and University of Missouri). Some scholars and leaders of business schools even believe that their program should take this advantage to create marketing/business plans and educational programs to train athletes and business students landing NIL deals (i.e., Old Dominion University). Several articles reiterated how sport organizations and sponsors can capitalize on the promotional and advertising opportunities created by the NIL policy (Ditota, 2021; Thompson, 2021). However, Doran and Chen (2002) found two unique perspectives on why organizations should be cautious about aggressively in engaging in NIL campaigns. First, some elderly traditional sport fans may not favor the idea of excessive commercialism in collegiate athletics despite NIL deals could help athletes gain extra incomes. Secondly, there seems to be little influence on fan’s trust and loyalty to the endorsed products or brands regarding student-athletes’ endorsement. Future scholars may want to delve into these findings and further examine the effectiveness of the student-athletes’ marketing influence. A New Twist: The New Development of NCAA’s Position on its Antitrust Lawsuits On May 22, 2024, Power-5 Conferences’ presidents and chancellors voted to approve proposals of $ 3 billion settlement (in the House v. NCAA class-action lawsuit) for sharing with their student-athletes (Vannini et al., 2024). These leaders understood the NCAA could possibly go bankrupt without agreeing to this settlement, because according to the plaintiff, Grant House’s request, the NCAA owed as much as $20 billion in damage by denying athletes to claim any financial benefit through NIL and other broadcasting rights dating back to 2016 (Viaanni et al, 2024). The announcement of this news indicated the end of amateurism in college sports. From 2021 to 2024, we all witness how lawsuits and policy changes have created cracks in the foundation of the collegiate model. Although the settlement has been agreed, there’s still a lot of work to be done there. For example, the schools may make significant budgetary adjustment for sharing the conferences’ lucrative TV contacts and ticket sales along with school-affiliated NIL collectives. It is logical to assume that sharing of the settlement will further widen the gap between high-major revenue sports — particularly power-conference football — and the rest of college athletics. In the meantime, many issues remain undetermined such as whether athletes will ultimately unionize and/or be deemed employees, or if the NCAA can secure antitrust exemptions from Congress. In addition to sharing nearly $3 billion in back-pay damages over a 10-year period and (or opt into the annual $20 million revenue-sharing starting with the 2025-26 season), this settlement also would eliminate existing caps on scholarships on certain sports, such as a baseball team’s 11.7 scholarships that get divvied up among 30-plus players. If a typical Power-5 school decides to share $20 million annually with its students, this means it shares about 22% of its annual revenues. Athletic director of Iowa State, Jamie Pollard worries that many schools may not be able to pay even remotely close to ($20 million) without eliminating some portion of what they currently spend. This hints certain sports or employees’ job could be on the chopping block. NIL Related References Auerbach, N., & Williams, J. (May 20, 2024). How the House v. NCAA settlement could reshape college sports: What you need to know. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5506457/2024/05/20/ncaa-settlement-house-lawsuit-college-sports/ Associated Press (2021). NCAA President Mark Emmert tells schools act NIL will. https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/31661417/ncaa-president-mark-emmert-tells-schools-act-nil-will Baker, K. (2022, August 10). SMU boosters revive “Pony Express” for the NIL era. Axios Sports. https://www.axios.com/2022/08/10/pony-express-smu-college-football-nil Berg, A. (2023, June 9). New apps allow fans to make direct payments to student-athletes. Athletic Business. http://www.athleticbusiness.com/operations/governing-bodies/article/15540253/new-app-allows-fans-to-make-direct-apyments-to-studentathletes Ditota, D. (2021, September 1). How nil is working for SU student-athletes so far, who is profiting, how more can get in Game. https://www.syracuse.com/orangebasketball/2021/09/how-nil-is-working-for-syracuse-student-athletes-so-far-who-is-profiting-how-more-can-get-in-game.html Doran, K. F., & Chen, S. (2022). College sport fans’ perceptions within the impact of name, image and likeness policy. KY Shape Journal, 60(1), 41-52. Economou, P. J. & Gamble, A. (2024, April 29). Navigating an intercollegiate athletes’ transition related to the name, image, and likeness (NIL) interim policy, Journal of Sport Psychology in Action, DOI: 10.1080/21520704.2024.2348153 Edelman, M. (2021, July 01). 7 best practices for college athletics departments in the era of name, image and likeness rights. |
| FYI: AI and Sport Business
Integrating gigantic and robust datasets, learning algorithms, software programs, and hardware infrastructure, artificial intelligence (AI) has been exponentially elevating human society’s problem-solving capacity and reshaping the landscape of sport industry. According to Stuart and Norvig (2009), AI is the system that acts and thinks as rationally as humans, which has been witnessed in daily sport business operations. Today, the sport industry is also embracing AI at an unprecedented rate. Salient impacts of AI on sport industry include: •Collecting and using large capacity for processing sport data: in marketing and performance analytics; •Developing robust learning algorithms in mining sport data and modeling sport phenomena. •Fostering exceptional human-computer interaction: Reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF) such as ChatGPT by OpenAI •Developing ich product provision and high-caliber product design: AI-enabled referee systems, virtual reality training systems (e.g., STRIVR), and wearable technology. Impacts of AI are even more significant on tech-heavy esports, especially first-person shooter games, real-time strategy games, and sport video games, in which AI systems directly determine the quality of product design and user experience. Despite numerous positive advantages, critical issues and challenges have also been raised in the process of integrating AI into the sport industry, including but are not limited to data privacy, technology diffusion, consumer autonomy induced by algorithm bias, talent training, legal regulations, and broad social impacts.
A wide spectrum of qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-method research efforts are proposed to study the impact of AI. Three specific research approaches are listed below: 1. Being theoretically and/or practically relevant to AI in sport business, preferably with empirical evidence. 2. Being innovative in terms of new theoretical perspectives, concepts, technologies, procedures, and/or research approaches. Innovations in other aspects are also welcome. 3. Focusing on sport entities that include but are not limited to consumers, event organizers, athletes, teams, governing bodies, agency companies, and other sport goods/services providers. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following: • AI, service quality, and service innovation • Fan behavior under AI settings • AI and sponsorship activation • Sportscape and AI • Data management in sport business • Data privacy and security in sport business • Analytics and decision making • AI for optimizing sports marketing strategies • Sustainability and AI • Human-computer interaction in sport • Gamification and esports design • Personalized marketing communications in sport business • AI diffusion in sport business • Legal and regulatory issues • AI talent training for sport business • Social impacts of integrating AI into sport business • Industry insights
Useful References Barlow, A., & Sriskandarajah, S. (2019). Artificial intelligence: Application to the sports industry. PricewaterhouseCoopers. https://www.pwc.com.au/industry/sports/artificial-intelligence-application-to-the-sports-industry.pdf Kunz, R. E., & Santomier, J. P. (2019). Sport content and virtual reality technology acceptance. Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal, 10(1), 83-103. Mao, L. L. (2021). Understanding retail quality of sporting goods stores: a text mining approach. International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, 22(2), 330-352. Naraine, M. L., & Wanless, L. (2020). Going all in on AI: Examining the value proposition of and integration challenges with one branch of artificial intelligence in sport management. Sports Innovation Journal, 1, 49-61. Stuart, R. J., & Norvig, P. (2009). Artificial intelligence: A modern approach. Hoboken, NJ: Prentice Hall. Watanabe, N. M., Shapiro, S., & Drayer, J. (2021). Big data and analytics in sport management. Journal of Sport Management, 35(3), 197-202. |
A Special Era of Time: Sports under the COVID-19 Pandemic
The global sport industries completely changed their landscape and form of operation after the NBA decided to shut down its rest of the 2020 season due to the confirmation of Jazz Center, Rudy Gobert’s positive COVID test. The NCAA followed the NBA’s footstep to cancel all its spring sports. The global sports started a serious of draconic lock downs. The reports had shown sport industries, along with the travel and hospitality industries were the most adversely affected businesses under the COVID pandemic (Bryne 2020). Due to the huge economic and financial pressure and demands, various types of professional sports began to reinstate their activities and games, by operating under the limited capacities and keeping the fans safe with proper social distancing, mask wearing, and other safety measure.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the sport marketing industry is using the year, 2020, as a learning process to test new ideas and evaluate the effectiveness of certain traditional trends. Some may involve in reducing the production of merchandises and gears, monitoring audience behaviors, finding alternative ways to deliver food and beverages, and minimizing the impact of attendance losses. We also witnessed remarkable growth of some sport businesses in 2020. For examples, while one in six health clubs and gyms were closed during the lockdown, Peloton’s quarterly revenue ending June 30, 2020 jumped 172% (Barone, 2021). The eSports also had grown its popularity and expanded the number of competitive leagues. Most projections put the eSports ecosystem on track to surpass $1 billion in revenue for the first time in 2021 (Carp, 2020).
Although the Big Four professional sports in America resumed their play soon after a short lockdown, due to the limited capacity allowed for the events and the excessive costs for keeping the players and fans safe, all leagues experienced a huge amount of revenue loss. Please see Table 1 for the revenue losses of key major professional sports in 2020.
Table 1. Revenue Losses of Major Professional Sports in 2020 (Cwik, 2020; Johnson, 2021; Weatherly, 2020; Yellon, 2020)
| League | Revenue Loss and Notes |
| MLB | $3B; huge differences among big- and small-market teams (NY Yankees lost $438M vs. Florida Marlins $37M) |
| NBA | $1.5B; cost for operating the Bubble is about $150M |
| NFL | $4B; lost about 25% of total revenues |
When fans cannot attend the live sporting events physically, we may assume they would love to watch the games on the television. Surprisingly, the reports have shown TV ratings decreased drastically for many major sporting events in 2020 (see Table 2). On the other hands, ESPN+ has grown moderatly in subscriptions during the second quarter of 2020 (the quarter in which COVID-19 spread and significantly impacted the sport landscape) (Watson, 2020). The primary factor for this growth was due to the bundle option offered by Disney (including subscriptions to Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN+), but not necessarily about more fans subscribing for sporting events (Bucholtz, 2020) .
Table 2：Change of TV raging of major sport events in 2020 (Houston, 2020; Reimer, 2020)
| Sporting Events | Change of TV rating |
| MLB World Series | -32% |
| NBA Finals | -49% |
| NHL Stanley Cup Finals | -61% |
| NFL Regular Season (first five weeks) | -13% |
| Kentucky Derby | -43% |
| US Open Tennis | -45% |
| US Open Golf | -42% |
Career Preparation and Development for Collegiate Sport Marketing
There is no specific formula or clear path to one’s successful career. There is no short cut or instant magic to guarantee successful employment after one’s immediate graduation. However, the authors would like to recommend a good philosophy (yes, it is again another acronym!!) for future applicants and young professionals to keep in mind. If you are serious about practicing these five principles of this philosophy, we believe that the combination of these things will get you HIRED. Let’s briefly go over these five principles.
Homework
It is imperative that you must do your homework. Start right now and keep working hard at it every day. Prepare your resume and cover letter, manage and organize your portfolio, obtain strong references, and practice the job interviews (all different versions of them: phone interview, face-to-face format, and videoconference). Most of the collegiate marketers may have a bachelor’s degree (or even master’s degree) in marketing, general business, communications, sport management, kinesiology, and sports sciences. It is not the degree that will get one hired. More importantly, the applicant must develop his/her oral and writing communication skills. It would be extremely beneficial investing time to take additional courses and training, such as time management, sales training (i.e., courses offered by minor league baseball franchises), accounting and finance classes, and leadership development (Clapp, 2017). Don’t get discouraged or lazy searching for job opportunities. They are indeed time-consuming, tedious, and frustrating tasks. Be sure to apply for accounts such as LinkedIn, TeamWork Online, Work In Sports, Bluefish, the Chronicle of Higher Education, HigherEdJobs.com to search for positions in collegiate athletics and marketing.
| FYI: Valuable information shared by a NHL marketing director (Lauren Hindman)
While attempting to apply for a sport marketing job, as yourself the following questions. (a) What are your career goals? (b) Do you have leadership abilities? And, (c) Do you have problem-solving skills? Video Clip: Preparation for Searching for a Sport Marketing Job https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApB0E4-wmm0 (How to prepare a marketing job?? Video courtesy from American Marketing Association) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3WbTlBjy1E (Five things to do before a job search; Video courtesy from Career Opportunities) |
Getting “In”
The authors cannot stress enough about the importance of internships (practicums) and volunteering. When employers try to hire entry level employees, the first thing they look for is the employees’ internship experience. It is often no longer enough to just have one internship experience (Clapp 2013). Although a lot of the internship positions are unpaid, many people can testify that their hard work, sacrifice and persistence paid off. It is quite tempting to take any job that comes your way. This is probably not the best mentality because it may force one to make a commitment difficult to get out of for both personal and professional reasons (Parkhouse et al., 2012).
The Right Place at the Right Time, Experience and Dedication
The rest of the three principles are quite self-explanatory. Some people may have luck finding an entry level job quickly and enjoying it very much. For most majority of marketing professionals, they would need to network heartily to give themselves a good chance to land interviews and job offers. In reality, job hopping is not uncommon and may not be wrong, either if the first job is not ideal or expected. You need to ensure that you have a lot of enjoyment and passion for the job or career that you wish to engage in for a long period. Recommendation by network contacts often increase the influence in a job search, since they offer greater creditability. Another way to expand the networking chances and job search opportunities is to join professional organizations and/or attend conferences.
The National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA) is an organization that serves to bring all individuals working in the collegiate sport marketing field together. NACMA strives to develop, evaluate, and promote the collegiate athletics marketing profession and its effectiveness, while upholding the ideals of higher education. As a subdivision of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletic (NACDA), NACMA holds its annual workshop at the NACDA’s annual Convention. Individuals who are interested in applying for a position in collegiate athletics can enroll in educational and professional development courses for career advancement in marketing, revenue generation and communication during the conference. There are also internship positions (with stipends) positions for students to apply. In addition to the networking opportunities, the interns may enhance and learn several skills including internal & external communications, social media strategies, design, writing, customer service, attention to detail and many other skills. It is a useful organization that students and young professionals can join for its membership benefits. There is also another subdivision of NACDA, called the College Athletic Business Management Association (CABMA). This organization also holds its annual convention and trainings to fulfill specific needs of athletics business managers.
As sports continue to gain stature as a marketing platform, numerous entities will offer their effort and support to train students and potential employees to fulfill the needs of employers. Students are encouraged to explore the TeamWork Online website (www.teamworkonline.com) to learn job and internship opportunities. For international students can also find the similar information at the SportBusiness International website (www.sportbusiness.com) (Fullerton, 2022). Readers can gain some insights about what qualifications and skills that sport marketers are looking for by reviewing the job announcements, job descriptions, and training programs posted by organizations. Future applicants can develop a realistic expectation about whether they have adequate experience to handle the job.
Examples of Job descriptions and Interns’ qualification
http://www.nba.com/magic/intern-ticketsales (Orlando Magic ticket sales intern job description)
https://www.mlb.com/braves/team/trainee-program (Atlanta Braves Sales Training Program)
In terms of dedication, we want to encourage the future applicants to never stop learning, to follow one’s heart and passion, and get to work early and leave late. Marketing in collegiate athletics is an extremely demanding job that requires long hours, working with a lot of people, and serving a ton of young “not so mature” student-athletes. “Putting one’s best foot forward” may just be the basic expectation but one may need to go “beyond the call of duty.” Be a team player that helps others in need. You can really find gratification and joy in working at a friendly collegiate environment as well as the salary compensation (around $35,000-$40,000 at the entry level).
| FYI: Common Marketing Sales Positions among Professional Leagues (Kros et al., 2021)
These positions are commonly found in the Big Four professional sports in North America. College athletics may have both inbound and outbound those sales agents depending on size of the department. (a) Ticket Sales Representative (TSR): also known as inside sales employees, these employees are tasked with selling tickets to customers. (b) Account Executive (AE): TSRs who show promise and initial success as salespeople will have opportunities for promotion to account executives. (c) Group Sales: focused on selling tickets to groups of customers. (d) Season Ticket Sales: focused on the sale of season ticket. (e) Premiere Sales: sales of the franchise’s premium inventory. (f) Corporate Sales Team: focused on the sale and service of corporate sponsorships. (g) Ticket Operation: sometimes called box office management, is a support function to the sales force of a professional sport franchise |
| FYI: Career Opportunities in the Field of Sport Marketing (Fullerton, 2022)
*Sales: Organizations hires sales professionals to tickets, advertisements and sponsorships *Advertising: In-house staff for handling advertising tasks *Website manager: *Social Media Coordinator: Individuals with the specific skills set to handle communication via social media platforms *Marketing Research/Analytics: Individuals may be hired to collect, report, and analyze data available on the internet *Hospitality *Facility Management and Venue Operation *Public Relations *Retailing *Brand Activation *Sponsorship Purchasing and Evaluation *Participation Center Management *Sports agents *Interns |
(Q4) Please name two usual professional websites that will assist students search for a sport marketing job.
(Answers may include but not limit to: Linked in, Teamwork online, Work in Sports, Big Blue (??), Chronicle of Higher Education, Higheredjobs.com)
(Q5) What are the homework that the authors suggest students to prepare before search for a job?
(a) Preparing for all forms of interviews
(b) Complete the resume
(c) Taking proper educational training
(d) All of the above
(Q6) Joining professional organizations is a great way to meet and network with individuals in a specific field. True/False
(Q7) “Putting one’s best foot forward” is the best thing that one can do in his/her job field. True/False
Conclusions
It is apparent that mobile, on-demand, and digital technologies will continue to impact how students learn and consumers gather information. While encouraging students and future professionals to strive for excellence and pursue their dream jobs, it is also important for faculty and practitioners to work closely with students sharing best practices, communicating for needs, and building pipelines to provide students with more internships, learning and employment opportunities. Wish we all learn and grow together to keep pushing our industry forward.
(Q8) Mobile, on-demand, and digital technologies will likely continue to impact how students learn and consumers gather information. True/False
Brainstorming Activities
Consider tracking your media usage and consumption for 48 hours. Focus on how you communicate and acquire information (sports, news, and all other features). Record the results or data based on the following instructions.
*Write down the primary means of gathering the information
*Report the primary purpose of your communication
*Report the frequency for using communication devices via mobile and social media
Based on the findings of your data, please suggest strategies that you would like to develop and utilize to disseminate messages about a specific product or service targeting young college adults.
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