Further Disgrace in Scottish Football

In the second last game of the season, with the Scottish Premier League still not decided, there was further violence directed toward Celtic manager Neil Lennon. A Hearts fan attempted to assault Lennon at the side of the pitch and was subsequently arrested. A bad tempered encounter led to a 3-0 win for Celtic meaning that this Sunday's games will determine the 2010-2011 champions.

Twitter Reacts to Neil Lennon Assault

Daily Mail - Pictures of Neil Lennon Assault

Ch. 7 - Business Marketing

Perhaps the most visible form of business marketing which Celtic engages in is the sale of “Sponsorship Packages” to businesses interested in advertising their firm on a match day. 

A standard package includes:

·         Advertisement in the bi-weekly team magazine.

·         Advertisement in the match-day magazine.

·         Advertising on the big-screens (jumbo-tron) before and during the game.

·         The opportunity to distribute promotional items and literature to the fans.

This is a useful tool for companies looking to generate interest and awareness for their products amongst Celtic fans. It is also a small source of income for Celtic which could potentially lead to larger business marketing opportunities and partnerships. The companies which choose to invest in these packages offered by Celtic can be quite diverse, from local automotive dealers to multi-national brands such as Powerade, Coca-cola, MBNA and Nike. 

It is interesting to note that when a company advertises to Celtic fans, they often choose to market to Rangers fans also. The rivalry between the teams is so intense that opposition fans will actively avoid or even boycott products deemed to be associated with their rivals. An example of such an instance was the sponsorship of Rangers by the McEwans brand of beers from 1987 to 1999. To this day, McEwans is considered to be a “Rangers beer” meaning popularity in pubs and bars associated with Rangers throughout Scotland and Ireland. Conversely, many Celtic fans will refuse to purchase the McEwans brand and establishments with leanings towards Celtic will simply not stock their products. 

Over the years, many sponsors haven chosen to strike deals with both clubs concurrently to avoid alienating supporters and losing business. Examples of joint jersey sponsorship can be seen below:

Celtic also offer corporate hospitality packages targeted specifically at businesses. The Business Class Lounges at the Celtic Park stadium are advertised as offering “the opportunity to entertain clients in an informal setting”.

These packages cost upwards of $6,500 a person each season and offer executive seating, hospitality and service. Whilst networking and personal selling of these corporate packages is the main source of sales, mail outs, email and internet promotion is also used. 

Celtic team up with Ralph Lauren

New York fashion house Ralph Lauren has become Celtic's first official outfitter in the club's 123 year history:

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/editors-choice/2011/04/11/ralph-lauren-designs-official-celtic-suit-86908-23053525/

http://style.kickette.com/well-suited-celtic-fc-ralph-lauren/

Ch. 8 - Segmenting and Targeting Markets

A market segment is defined as a subgroup of people or organizations sharing one or more characteristic that cause them to have similar product needs.

In my opinion Celtic would use segmentation bases such as general demographic and geographical segmentation. There is, however, one aspect of demographic segmentation which would be of less importance than other organizations offering consumer goods; ethnic segmentation.

There are multiple reasons I believe that ethnicity is of minimal importance to Celtic’s marketing strategy: 

1. Firstly, as established in the first posts of this blog, Celtic was founded as an organization free of discrimination, sectarianism and racism. The Celtic Football Club was founded originally as a charitable organization to help the poor and needy in Glasgow. The beneficiaries of this charitable was almost entirely, but not limited to Irish immigrants and Catholics shunned by society. As a result of these roots, the club positions itself as a sports team “for all”, it is my belief that therefore the general marketing of Celtic related products is “for all”. When marketing a match day ticket or a replica jersey, there is no difference in marketing whether the consumer is black, white, Hispanic, Asian or any variation of these.

2. Secondly, in comparison to other nations, such as England or the United States of America, Scotland is a nation of minimal ethnic diversity. In the last major census study, just 2% of the population of Scotland were from a non-white ethnic group. As Scotland is a country of only 5 million inhabitants, the largest non-white ethnic group (Pakistanis), numbered just 31,000 (Scottish Government, 2001). Whilst these figures have undoubtedly grown since 2001, they do demonstrate quite clearly that ethnicity is not a major factor when marketing products to the residents of Scotland.

3. Lastly, sports themselves are often credited with bringing individuals together from different nations, religion or skin colors based on a common and mutual passion. Whilst a multinational corporation with a wide range of products may see benefit from targeting ethnic groups separately, the brand, products and image of a sports team and specifically Celtic is generally not open to multiple interpretations. The club’s players, values and identity are either attractive to an individual, or they are not. 

When considering the above points, it should be noted that Celtic is attractive to sports fans globally due to its proud history, traditions and passion. Any attempt to tailor this to specific audiences may be seen as diluting what makes the club great and potentially lessen its appeal.

Despite this lack of focus on ethnic segmentation, there is the opportunity to market products to audiences outside of Scotland. These segments would fall under geographic segmentation as opposed to ethnic segmentation. As discussed over previous weeks a player of a particular nationality can generate considerable demand for Celtic products tied to that player in his home nation. Examples include current players such as Emilio Izaguirre (Honduras), Ki Sung Yung (Korea) and Biram Kayal (Israel). Ex-players such as Shunsuke Nakamura (Japan) or Henrik Larsson (Sweden) are excellent examples of how a popular foreign player can generate huge merchandising demand in their home nations and beyond.

Sources:

Analysis of Ethnicity in the 2001 Census - Summary Report

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2004/02/18876/32939

Ch. 11 - Developing and Managing Products

Developing and managing products in the traditional sense is not something which Celtic typically engages in solely. There is a limited amount of product development which can be implemented with products such as match day tickets, and products such as merchandise are designed and developed largely by the club’s partners. That said, new products in these areas would undoubtedly go through the seven step new-product development process.

One area where it may be easier to appreciate how the business develops and manages new products is that of the Celtic playing staff. Each player could be considered individually as a product however, the entire playing staff and the ‘on-pitch’ performance is the single greatest product which the company has to offer. As discussed in previous blog posts, without a talented and winning squad of players, sales of all other product lines will suffer. There are some aspects of the new-product development process which could be directly applied to the acquisition of a new player and the development of the Celtic playing product:

New Product Strategy

When considering the addition of a player to the club’s squad, development of a new-product strategy is essential. Considerable thought must be given to the strengths and weaknesses of the current product offering (the players) and determine areas of improvement. The contribution a new signing may make to merchandise and ticket sales will also be an important factor (a high profile player may increase these substantially). Lastly, it must be determined whether the player is of sufficient quality to meet the goals of the business, and whether or not a particular player is available for a reasonable investment.

Brainstorming

The manager of the playing squad (Neil Lennon) is responsible for much of the clubs transfer activities. There is, however, considerable brainstorming internally before any purchase is made. Celtic have an extensive scouting network around the world which is constantly making suggestions as to which players may be interesting products to add to the team’s roster. Often club directors will have their own ideas regarding what would make a good new product for Celtic, these individuals often wish to buy players from potentially lucrative markets for the club’s merchandise (e.g. Recent signings of Korean, Mexican and Israeli players).

Screening

Upon closer inspection potentially attractive players may lack the desired quality, purchase fees and salary demands may be too high, or perhaps the player has a history of lengthy injuries which only becomes apparent after a detailed inspection.

Concept Test

Often players are invited to train and play in practice games with the current members of the Celtic team prior to any contract offer. These ‘trial’ period can last a number of weeks and give the Celtic management the opportunity to evaluate their new-product idea.

Business Analysis

With the purchase of any player there is extensive negotiation with the player’s current club to determine the cost of releasing him from his contract. Following this a satisfactory salary agreement must be reached with the player and his agent. When these figures are closely analyzed, a transfer may or may not be considered a worthwhile investment.

Disturbing and Unprecedented Developments in Scottish Football

This is supposed to be "only a game", and yet, Scottish football is descending into chaos due to the unbelievable actions of narrow minded terrorists:

Parcel bombs sent to Celtic manager Neil Lennon and others associated with the club

Ch. 16 - Integrated Marketing Communications

Despite the large number of products Celtic offers, as previously discussed in previous weeks, it is my belief that the organization has a considerably easier time maintaining integrated marketing communications (IMC) than those in other industries.

IMC is defined as the careful coordination of all promotional messages for a product or a service to assure the consistency of messages at every contact point where the company meets the consumer. Celtic’s two main products, match tickets and merchandise are offered hugely from the club itself and from limited sources within the organizations.

Tickets

Match day tickets, season tickets and corporate hospitality packages may be purchased with by calling the club directly or by purchasing through the Celtic website. Information regarding prices and product features comes directly from the headquarters of Celtic allowing all aspects of advertising and sales promotion to be consistent and clear.

A promotional video for Celtic's hospitality packages can be seen by clicking here.

Merchandise

The majority of merchandising sales are through Celtic’s stores within Scotland & Ireland or through the online superstore. The products offered from both channels are identical and any changes in product offering or price is adjusted quickly and efficiently. Perhaps one aspect where IMC may become cloudy is with merchandise offered through external retail partnerships; often prices in a non-affiliated sports store can differ considerably from prices offered by the club itself.

Public relations and publicity

 These are extremely important for the business as they attempt to grow the Celtic brand globally. Often these aspects of the promotional mix are of added importance as sports teams must regularly handle the controversy and media hype that surrounds popular sports. Over recent years Celtic has been involved in a number of public disputes with both rivals Rangers and the governing body of Scottish football, the SFA. The following link displays Celtic’s PR in response to an attempted ban of manager Neil Lennon:

http://www.scotzine.com/2011/04/sfa-cannot-legally-enforce-lennon-ban-and-back-down/