Everybody's Green Right...?

Everyone is going green! Green t-shirts. Green water bottles. Green cars. Green Houses. Green Everything. Recently, the trendy thing to do is go green. Therefore, marketers have aimed to capture this green market by investing millions of dollars in green marketing. While this investment may be worth while in some segments, it may not work for all segments. In particular, the rising Hispanic population in America may not be quite ready to embrace the green frenzy.

In Miguel Gomez Winebrenner’s blog titled “Man vs. Naturaleza: How “green” are Hispanics?” he argues that Hispanics lifestyle and cultural origins may not be ready for the green movement. To prove his point, the author cites numerous examples as to why Hispanics may not go green. Through these examples, the author shows that Hispanics are already subconsciously green due to their spending habits and historical origins.

When I read the author’s blog, I could immediately relate to the author’s examples through personal experiences. For instance, Gomez discusses the tendency of Hispanics to have grown up in a home where economic thriftiness forced families to saved pennies wherever possible. These money saving techniques include washing dishes by hand, always turning off the lights, and conserving hot water. As a child, my family constantly raised me to do all these things because we were always watching our spending. Consequently, I have grown up partaking in green living without really even intending to do so. These tendencies make me a less profitable target for marketers aiming to sell me the latest green product. While I do care about going green, I do not see it necessary to always buy the latest energy saving dish washer because I have always been conservative in my electricity and water usage.

This blog made me realize the importance of gaining proper customer insights about the entire population before developing a marketing program. In particular, as a marketer, you must take into account race and ethnic origins to best fit the needs of consumers. While I may be classified in the same Millennial groups as my Asian, Indian, and white friends, I still possess many different needs than these other Millennials. Therefore, it is important for marketers to discover the diverse needs of a group that is largely considered homogeneous (i.e. different ethnic groups within generation y).

Another point made in Gomez’s blog that I could relate to involved how pragmatic Hispanic consumers are in their purchase decisions. The author cites an example that a Hispanic may purchase a hybrid not because “it says that they are sophisticated, compassionate, smart etc. (which is what hybrid cars seem to have embodied for many in the general market);” rather, they would buy it because it saves money in gas in the long-run. This pragmatic tendency completely relates to how my family and I make purchase decisions. We often tend to stick to the necessities we need rather than opting for the more expensive, trendy items.

Based on the insight gained from Hispanic practicality, markets should aim to target products to Hispanics that have functionality. These basic tools will attract the Hispanic population who is looking for something simple and efficient in getting the job done. The important learning point comes from the fact that ethnographic research must be done to gather insight. Without going beyond surveys, marketers would miss the little details that make a certain population unique. Therefore, as future marketers, we must encourage our companies to not make decisions based solely on a few data collection methods. Instead, marketing programs should be developed from a conglomerate of many research methods that discover new customer insight.

Despite the blogs impact on customer insight, I felt like its scope was too small. The author tended to make gross generalizations about the Hispanic race. He even goes as far as to say that most of the Hispanic population is uneducated so they do not see the value in recycling. While I’m unsure if this is true, I would like to have received more support to his reasoning behind his conclusions. This additional information would have helped me gain more insight into the social problems occurring amongst the Hispanic population. Based on this insight, I would better understand how to create more suitable marketing programs for the Hispanic population.

Extensive NBA Outline

Hey Professor Walls,

Thanks for taking the time to read my rather extensive outline. Please pay special attention to the following:
1. Whether thesis is broad enough to include all information
2. Applicability to customer insights topics
3. Potential organization problems from current outline design
4. Suggestions to keep paper concise and on point
5. Page length estimations/Too Much information in outline

Any other feedback you have would be great. Also, I would be more than happy to explain anything that doesn’t quite make sense.


I. Introduction (1-2 paragraphs)
a. Thesis: The National Basketball Association utilizes a deep understanding of consumers’ subconscious needs to sustain its global appeal to the sport consumer.
i. SubThesis: NBA uses it resources well to develop marketing programs that impact its goals: (1) Revenue (2)Growth

Relevant Articles: “Stern wants to renew IV rights early with incumbent partners” by John Consoli; “The Business of Basketball” by Forbes.com; “Fitch Rates NBA's $1.6B Revolving Facility & Senior Notes 'BBB+'; Outlook Stable” by Business Wire


II. Current Marketing Programs (1 page)
a. State of the NBA
i. Current Business Success
1. Ticket Revenues, Merchandise, TV Contracts, etc.
ii. Identify Key Competitors
1. Sports
2. Non-Sports
Transition:

Relevant Articles : ESPN Article “How Stern Showed the NBA Money” by Darren Rovell; NBA Case from Consumer Behavior: A Framework by John Mowen & Michael Minor

III. David Stern Effect (2 pages)
a. Before Stern
i. NBA hitting Downfall
b. Stern Approach
i. Broad Perspective
1. Sterns Compares NBA to Disney
a. Analyze Comparison
2. Leads to Longevity
ii. Sharing Marketing Research
1. Team Access to league Data
2. League Control = Monopoly
a. Exclusivity of Product
b. Higher Brand Value
c. Consistent Message
Transition:

Relevant Articles: Section A: “Walk That Way: For Amare, Nelly and the NBA, hip-hop is nothing more than business as usual” By Chris Broussard; “NBA clubs see new opening to market globally” by John Lombardo; “By Adding Yi, Nets Hope to Expand Their Market” by Joshua Robinson; “NBA Announces Noche Latina 2009” by NBA.com; “A Slam Dunk for the NBA in China” by Frederik Balfour; “Welcome to the Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA Program!” by NBA.com


Section C: “The NBA’s Maestro of Marketing” by Ohm Youngmisuk; “Wrigley Nets NBA Sponsorship Deal” by Food Business Review; “NBA All-Star Committee unveils corporate packages” by Austin Business Chronicle


IV. Marketing Strategy
a. Target Market Selection (3 pages)
i. Gradual Adaption to Changing Market
1. Understand New Needs
2. Scope Broad to Avoid Train Problem
3. Example of marketing programs
a. Hispanic Week
b. Green Week
ii. Youth Sports
1. Draft Camps at Disney World
2. AAU Camps
iii. Expanding Market
1. International NBA
a. Specific Marketing Programs
i. Basketball W/O Borders
b. Foreign Players
2. NBA Games in Europe
b. Experiential Marketing (3 pages)
i. Fan Experience
1. “Where Amazing Happens Campaign”
2. Nostalgic Value
a. Living out American Dream
i. Glory
ii. Pride
3. Escape from reality
a. Forget Current Troubles
b. Sense of Obligation to leisure time
ii. In-Game Experience
1. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
a. Social Acceptance
i. Cheering for Hometown Team
ii. Uniting 1000s for Common Goals
b. Belonging
i. Beijing Olympics
ii. 2008 Basketball Gold Medal
2. Fan Identification
a. Merchandise
b. Relating to Player/Team Traits
i. Pittsburg Steelers
3. Connection to Past History
a. BaseballAmerica’s Past Time
b. Dallas Cowboys America’s Team
c. Player Glorification (2 pages)
i. Selling the Players
1. Michael Jordan/Lebron James Effect
a. Nostalgic Value
i. Living out American Dream
1. Glory
2. Pride
b. Next MJ (like Mike Gatorade Commercial)
2. Sponsorship Reliance
a. Aid NBA in marketing Players
i. Nike and Lebron James
ii. Local player sponsorships
b. Strategic Partnerships
i. Creating Goodwill through non-profits
ii. Selling Access to New Markets
1. FundingDrives Revenue
2. Tickets as Part of Package
3. Additional Product Mentions
a. Ads in Company literature
b. Goodwill with large corporations
Transition:

Relevant Articles: “XFL Known As Extreme Failure” by Vincent DeFruscio; “XFL Doomed to Failure” by Barry Wilner; “Gold standard NFL: Marketing challenges at Super Bowl XXXIX” by Rick Horrow; “World Cup Marketing: It’s Not Just Football Results That Are Hard to Predict” by Experian Consumer Research


V. Comparison To Other Sports Leagues (2 pages)
a. Other League Failures
i. NBA Examples
1. CBA, IBL
2. Lack Same Core Product
a. Prestige
b. Value as Entertainment
ii. XFL Failure
1. Loss Touch With Primal Urges
2. Failed to Understand Deeper Value of Sports
a. Social Needs
b. Belonging
b. Successful Leagues
i. Very similar to NFL
ii. World Cup Soccer
Transition:

Relevant Articles: “NBA, NHL budgets stressed by flat ticket revenue outlook” by John Lombardo and Tripp Mickle; “NBA Development Team Ties Ticket Sales To Dow 10,000” by Darren Rovell; “As economy flounders, selling sports will only get harder” by Frank Deford; “A Dying Breed” by Melissa Isaacson


VI. Current Challenges (1 page)
a. Economic Crisis
i. Less Discretionary Income
ii. Adapt Strategy to Changing Needs
1. Examples
a. Price Freezes on Tickets
b. Increased Promotion of D-League
Transition:
VII. Conclusion (1 page)
a. Restate Thesis: The National Basketball Association uses deep customer insights to exploit the experiential and social factors consumers desire in entertainment.
b. Impact to Future Sports Marketers
c. Connection to Customer Insights
i. Listening to Customers Needs
ii. Create product/experience Aimed at Satisfying Needs

Major Points:
1) Current Marketing Programs
2) David Stern Effect
3) Adapting Target market
4) Experiential Marketing
5) Lebron James Effect
6) Sponsorship
7) Impact of Economic Crisis
8) Other Sports Leagues
9) Global Expansion