This master's thesis analyzes the sports and ski resort Špičák. It examines not only the economic factors of the resort, but also describes its history, marketing activities and evaluates the SWOT and financial analysis. At the end there is a comparison with selected competitive resorts using a variety of tools such as Ski Cost Index or special categorization of ski resorts. The aim was primarily to evaluate the complex as a stand-alone unit and to make a comparison with its closest competitors.

This study investigated the relationship between motives of sports fans, and affinity for television, Internet, radio, and newspapers. Specifically economic, aesthetic, eustress, self-esteem, group affiliation, entertainment, and family motives all were expected to influence affinity for television, Internet, radio and newspapers.

The external shock of COVID-19 forced many professional sport organizations to cancel live sporting events, requiring sport organizations to engage consumers primarily through social media. This research uses the Sports Experience Design (SX) framework to explore how social media influenced the WNBA fan experiences in the 2020 season. In addition, principles of a relationship marketing approach were integrated into the SX to guide this investigation. To understand how the WNBA’s social media content fits into the SX framework the research examined engagement rates and how that impacts the user’s experience and organization’s strategy and off-season opportunities for the organization or players to remain relevant to their consumer base. / Business Administration/Marketing

According to conventional wisdom, football fans exhibit perpetual loyalty to the clubs that they choose to support. These prevailing beliefs are largely the product of the fanaticism and intense partisanship that fans display. However, in South Africa, the reality is that the majority of the football teams are either failing to harness this loyalty, or that the loyalty levels that their fans display, contradict conventional wisdom. Due to the important role that these fans play in revenue generation, there is a need for leadership at these clubs to better understand this lucrative market. The objective of this study was to establish whether the loyalty levels displayed by fans in South Africa correspond with, or contradict, conventional wisdom. The limited understanding of the matter within a South African context means that clubs lack the required understanding of their respective fan bases. This creates a situation, which stifles the efficacy of management to implement positive changes. This study was anchored in the model of Stewart and Smith (2007) of sport fans' motivations. There are three core dimensions distinguished by the model. These relate to psychological, socio-cultural and social motives, all of which facilitate the process of an individual becoming a fan; and then subsequently remaining loyal. A qualitative research approach was used to collect the data for this study. An interview guide was used to collect the information from the fans and the top management of Cape Town City Football Club through face-to-face interviews. Each interview was recorded with the aid of a voice recorder and all the data collected were then transcribed. The findings from the study show that fans demonstrate more support to Cape Town City Football Club when the team is winning, as opposed to when it is going through a rough patch. Conclusively, the lack of understanding of fans in football clubs means that it is difficult to communicate in an all-inclusive way, considering that not all fans are the same. Based on the findings, the study suggests that leadership at South African football clubs should allow for open dialogues to be created, in which the issues can be discussed; so that practices implemented would better serve the target population.

Accessing and exploiting organizational resources plays an integral role in not only a firm’s propensity to achieve a competitive advantage, but also its mere survival in a competitive environment (Ulrich & Barney, 1984). One of the most common means of resource acquisition for both large administrative firms and smaller entrepreneurial enterprises is interorganizational alliances (Ireland, Hitt, & Vaidyanath, 2002). Utilizing the resource-based view of the firm within a strategic alliance framework, this dissertation examines a particular type of interorganizational exchange relationship permeating the marketing discipline. The promotional alliance is defined within this research as a strategic alliance based on resource exchange between a promoting enterprise and a firm seeking to fulfill promotion-based objectives through an ongoing collaboration with the enterprise. Each of the two sides of the promotional alliance relationship served as a focus for one of the two studies presented within this work. In the first study, a longitudinal survival model was employed to investigate the dependency of a promotional enterprise on external resource acquisition via alliances with promotion-seeking firms. Also at issue were the heterogeneity of resources accessed and the dynamics of the institutional forces regulating such alliances. Alliances with sponsoring firms offering financial and performance-based resources, as opposed to operational resources, were found to have a significant influence on the survival of sponsored enterprises. However, these dependencies were subject to changes in institutional support and the potential for diminishing returns. The second study approached promotional alliances from the perspective of the firms seeking promotion. Relying on the theory of efficient capital markets (Fama, 1970), an event study analysis was undertaken to determine the impact of internationally prominent promotional alliance announcements on the equity value of the sponsoring firms, which theoretically reflects investors’ expectations of future cash flows. Contrary to prior research, the initiation of these alliances demonstrated a negative impact on shareholder value. Several alliance, firm, and promoting partner characteristics were hypothesized to influence alliance outcomes to varying degrees within the cross-sectional sample of promotion-seeking firms. Surprisingly, only the magnitude of the sponsoring firm’s alliance investment and the nationality congruence within the alliance were influential in predicting investors’ reaction to such alliances. Each study was embedded within the institutional context of Formula One (F1) motor racing and focused on the promotional alliances involving corporate partners (sponsoring firms) and their affiliated racing teams. In this context, the racing teams acted as the promoting enterprises charged with providing the marketing platform to meet their sponsoring firms’ objectives. With annual races on four or more continents; a global television audience rivaled only by the Olympics’ opening ceremony, FIFA World Cup finals, and the NFL’s Super Bowl; direct competition between promoting teams; and sponsoring firms hailing from fifteen different nations and over twenty diverse industry sectors; F1 provided an ideal setting for the evaluation of interorganizational alliances’ impact on the survival of promoting enterprises and a promotion-seeking firm’s value implications. To compliment and strengthen the applied contribution of both studies, the analyzed results were subjected to a discussion with industry experts representing both sides of the promotional alliance relationship (Lane & Jacobson, 1995). Not only did this closing analysis reinforce the relevance of the research offered here, but it also presented a practitioner-focused examination of the industry challenges inherent in the theoretical tenets underlying such research.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate and reflect about the different sponsorship relations between a Swedish sports retailer and their sponsored events. My case for this thesis is the brand Intersport and I am investigating the phenomena sponsorship and their different sponsorship relations and in this case in relation to sport events. A qualitative study has been conducted by doing interviews with representatives from three different events that Intersport are sponsoring, two interviews with Intersport and also observations during two of the events. Furthermore, a theoretical framework within sponsorship has developed through this process. The result of this study showed that there are different kinds of sponsorship relations between Intersport and their sponsored events. Moreover, there are differences in terms of how they are ranking sports and how much money and time they are investing in the specific events. This study showed that Intersport has different levels of professionalism and business relationships. Partille Cup has the highest position on that scale, Stockholm Marathon Group has the second place and Gothenburg Youth Games is in the bottom. The interviews resulted in a clear picture of how these sponsorship relations look like, the underlying reasons for cooperating with Intersport and this means that they are seeing the sports retailer as a large player, a good channel in terms of being connected to them and increase their awareness but also as a partner who can offer relevant products for their events. Lastly, meaningful relations is a key factor here and my result showed that it goes both ways.

Background: Nowadays, football is much more than just a sport. In fact, football is a global industry contributing to many countries’ economic and social wealth. Football leagues are deeply involved in globalization processes and follow international marketing strategies while aiming for growth in foreign markets. In that context, it is essential for any football league to know its brand equity and the interest in the league in the desired market, to be able to make strategic decisions which lead to internationalization and marketing management success. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the Brand Equity of the Bundesliga including Brand Interest. The current research extends Shuv-Ami's (2016a) market brand equity model within sport organizations with Machleit et al.'s (1990) concept of brand interest and is applied to the Bundesliga in the Swedish market. Research Question: What is the perceived Brand Equity including Brand Interest of the Bundesliga in Sweden? Methodology: The chosen approach for this study was a deductive approach with a theory and context extension of Shuv-Ami's (2016a) market brand equity model. A quantitative data collection through online survey was conducted and collected 805 survey answers from Swedish football fans which were used for the analysis. Conclusion: The findings showed that the perceived Brand Equity including the brand interest of the Bundesliga in Sweden was very positive. The Bundesliga was especially highly ranked in terms of Brand Knowledge, Brand Image, Brand Personality, Brand Satisfaction, and Brand Interest. Further, the proposed Brand Equity model including Brand Interest as a new variable has been successfully confirmed by this study as Brand Interest had been identified as a significant contributor to Brand Equity. Keywords: Brand Equity, Brand Interest, Bundesliga, Sports Marketing, Football, Brand Equity of a Football League, Football Marketing.

Title: Ice Hockey Match as a Means of Marketing Communication Objective: Analyse of individual sports advertisement types realized through hockey match from sponzor's perspective. Methods: Qualitative research, case study, personal questionnaire, observation Results: Analysis evaluation of individual sports advertisement types. Keywords: Sports marketing, marketing communication, advertisement in sport, sponsorship, ice hockey

É notório o crescimento da utilização do patrocínio esportivo como ferramenta de comunicação de marketing pelas empresas. Este crescimento tem despertado o interesse por uma maior e melhor compreensão acerca dos atributos desta ferramenta, especialmente no que se refere à sua eficácia e aos processos pelos quais ela é adotada e desenvolvida pelas organizações. Esta pesquisa se propôs a estudar o processo decisório e os critérios de seleção que caracterizam a tomada de decisão para ações desta natureza nas empresas. As principais contribuições deste estudo residem na tentativa de promover uma reflexão acerca de uma utilização mais estratégica e eficaz do patrocínio esportivo ? elevando assim sua credibilidade enquanto ferramenta de comunicação de marketing ? e permitir um ajustamento entre as ofertas de projetos esportivos ao perfil das potenciais empresas patrocinadoras. O desenvolvimento do estudo teve por base teórica os fundamentos de patrocínio e sua contextualização nas atividades de marketing, incluindo conceitos relacionados ao composto de marketing, ao composto de comunicação de marketing, e às modalidades, objetivos e eficácia do patrocínio. O método utilizado para a realização da pesquisa de campo foi o de estudo de campo, por meio de uma pesquisa conclusiva descritiva realizada junto a uma amostra não-probabilística de 59 empresas nacionais e multinacionais atuantes no Brasil que utilizam a ferramenta patrocínio esportivo dentre suas atividades de comunicação de marketing. Os dados foram obtidos por meio da aplicação de um questionário eletrônico com perguntas fechadas, e sua análise baseou-se, prioritariamente, na interpretação descritivo-quantitativa das freqüências obtidas nas variáveis estudadas. Cruzamentos entre variáveis também foram promovidos para verificar relações entre elas. Como conclusão do estudo obteve-se que o processo decisório para ações de patrocínio esportivo nas empresas revela-se ainda incipiente ou inexistente, resultando, consequentemente, em uma ineficácia de sua utilização; outra conclusão, referente aos critérios de seleção utilizados para a adoção destas ações, é que os principais são a pertinência, a adequação, a repercussão, e a avaliação do custo da ação a ser patrocinada. Também se verificou que certas variáveis, tais como porte e abrangência de atuação da empresa influenciam na composição dos membros participantes do processo decisório para ações de patrocínio esportivo e nos critérios de seleção que compõem este processo. Com base nas conclusões, o trabalho sugere uma maior atenção e profundidade por parte das empresas às discussões relacionadas aos processos que compõem à tomada de decisão relacionada às ações de patrocínio esportivo. / The growth of the use of sports sponsorship by companies as a marketing communication tool is notorious. This growth has raised the interest for a better and higher understanding of this tool?s attributes, especially concerning its efficacy and the processes by which it is adopted and promoted by organizations. The main purpose of this research was to study the decision making process and the selection criteria adopted by companies during the occasion of a sports sponsorship activity. The main contributions of this study lay on the attempt to promote a reflection about a more strategic and efficacious use of sports sponsorship activities ? raising its credibility while a marketing communication tool ? and to allow an adjustment between the offer of sports projects to potential sponsors and the profile of this companies. The development of the study had the sponsorship concepts and its contextualization on marketing activities as its theoretical base, including concepts related to the marketing mix, the marketing communication mix, and sponsorship kinds, efficacy and objectives. The method used for the execution of the field research was the field study, through a conclusive descriptive research applied among a non-randomized sample of 59 national and international companies acting in Brazil that adopt sports sponsorship among its marketing communication activities. The data was obtained through the application of an electronic questionnaire composed by closed questions, and its analysis relied mainly on the descriptive and quantitative interpretation of the frequency obtained for the study variables. Crossovers between variables were also promoted to verify any relationships existing between them. As a conclusion of the study it was found that the decision making process for sports sponsorship activities at companies reveals itself incipient or inexistent, resulting as a consequence, on a decrease of efficacy during its use. Another conclusion, referring to the selection criteria adopted by companies, is that the most used are pertinence, adequacy, repercussion, and cost evaluation of the action to be sponsored. It was also verified that certain variables, such as size (in revenue) and range of the company have influence over the composition of the members that take part of the decision making process and over the selection criteria that compose this process. Based on this conclusions, this study suggests a higher attention and deepness by companies on discussions concerning the decision making process related to sports sponsorship activities.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2017-09-28T12:41:24Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Sergio Ricardo Siani.pdf: 7044998 bytes, checksum: e120d7062b2b4b12844db4afacf01331 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-28T12:41:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Sergio Ricardo Siani.pdf: 7044998 bytes, checksum: e120d7062b2b4b12844db4afacf01331 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-09-14 / The fight sport known as MMA – Mixed Martial Arts, which in Portuguese corresponds to Artes Marciais Mistas, has lived in the last decade a very successful trajectory of increase and sustained, since the beginning, a singular relationship with Brazil – country that originated in the 20th century a kind of fight known as “Vale Tudo”, “Anything goes”, in English – being such modality the start of what is worldwide conceived as MMA. In the field of marketing management, the interest of sports marketing on such modality of sport is focused not only in the aspects provided by events related to that, but mainly in the increase potential of its globalized market. Defining a marketing strategy for such modality is still a challenge, since not all brands are willing to sponsor a fight event. The present study, which aims to investigate with attributes of MMA sport can establish a synergy with potential brands of interest of event organizers, with the intent to contribute to the theory of sports marketing and also contribute to the MMA event’s organizers may have sponsorship for their events, is not an easy task, because apart from being a good product to offer (event, athlete, location and so on) the promotor company “must define its own action strategy”. In both qualitative and quantitative nature, this research was carried out in three different phases: first, it was searched among MMA event’s organizers, by semi-structured interviews, to understand which brands or sponsors would be present in the dreamed events. The second phase, with was quantitative, applied a survey questionnaire, along with the audience of three MMA events and the motives behind the intention to watch such events. The results obtained in the first phase of the study, that is, the identification of the favorite brands of the event’s organizers were: Nike, Coke, Reebok, Banco do Brasil and Honda; the data obtained in the second phase consisted of getting the MMA attributes which were: adrenaline, emotion, joy, pleasure and aggressiveness, propelled the third and last phase of this study, in which, again, by the application of survey questionnaires, there were associations between brands and attributes. After carrying out four statistical tests, this researchwork reaches the conclusion that the atribute most linked to MMA was adrenaline and as for brand Nike was chosen. The aggressiveness was pointed out as a kind of attribute in which the audience related to this kind of sport, what generated the hypothesis of considering such modality as an aggressive one both in a view that only people who had never had any connection with MMA at all / O esporte de lutas MMA - Mixed Martial Arts, em português, Artes Marciais Mistas tem vivenciado na última década uma bem sucedida trajetória de crescimento e mantém desde a sua origem uma relação singular com o Brasil - país que deu origem, no século XX, a um tipo de luta conhecida como “Vale Tudo” – sendo esta modalidade a precursora do que hoje é mundialmente conhecido como MMA. No campo da gestão de marketing, o interesse do marketing esportivo sobre este esporte está focalizado não apenas nos aspectos decorrentes dos eventos que ele propicia, mas principalmente, no potencial de crescimento do seu mercado globalizado. Definir uma estratégia de marketing para essa modalidade ainda éum desafio, pois nem todas as marcas querem patrocinar um evento de lutas. O presente estudo tem o objetivo de investigar quais são os atributos do esporte MMA capazes de estabelecer sinergia com potenciais marcas de interesse dos organizadores de eventos. Com a intenção de contribuir para a teoria do marketing esportivo, mas também de auxiliar os organizadores de eventos de MMA a obter patrocínio para seus eventos; tarefa fácil, pois, além de um bom produto a oferecer (evento, atleta, local, etc), a empresa promotora “deve definir para si uma estratégia de ação”. De natureza qualitativa e quantitativa (quali-quanti), a pesquisa foi realizada em três fases distintas: na primeira buscou-se, junto a organziadores de eventos de MMA, por meio de entrevistas semi-estruturadas, entender quais marcas e/ou patrocinadores estariam presentes, no evento dos seus sonhos. Na segunda fase, quantitativa, usando questionario survey, buscou-se compreender junto à platéia de três eventos de MMA, a motivação para assistir presencialmente tais eventos. Ao apurar os dados da primeira fase do estudo, conclui-se que as marcas favoritas dos organizadores de eventos foram: Nike, Coca Cola, Reebok, Banco do Brasil e Honda. Os dados da segunda fase que apuraram os atributos do MMA, destacaram-se: adrenalina, emoção, alegria, prazer e agressividade. Após as apurações, deu-se inicio à terceira e última fase do estudo, onde, novamente com base em questionários survey, buscou-se associações entre marcas e atributos. Após realizar quatro testes estatísticos, conclui-se que o atributo mais associado com o MMA foi a adrenalina e a marca foi a Nike. A agressividade foi apontada como o atributo que a platéia menos associou a este esporte, o que gerou a hipótese de que considerar este esporte agressivo configure-se com uma visão que apenas de pessoas que nunca tiveram ligaçao com o MMA tem sobre ele