ISMB
GROWING THE SOUTH CHINA TIGERS IN
HONG KONG
Name: Robert Tobias Pratt
Graduation Number: 1920-013
Student Number: 500760673
HvA Email Address: toby.pratt@hva.nl
Name of Lecturers: Pachena Madokwenyu, Claire Powell
Name of Supervisor: Jane Bond, Robin Rowbottom
Client: Hong Kong Rugby Union and the South China Tigers
i Table of Contents
Table of Contents i
List of Figures iii
List of Plates iv
List of Tables v
Acknowledgements vi
Executive Summary vii
1. Introduction 1
2. Methodology 3
3. The Organisation 6
3.1 The Hong Kong Rugby Union 6
3.2 The South China Tigers and Global Rapid Rugby 6
4. Literature Review 11
5. Results 20
5.1 South China Tigers Sponsorship Interview Results 20
5.2 South China Tigers Fan Loyalty Survey Results 22
5.3 Case Studies of Sports Presentation 25
6. Discussion 30
6.1 Sponsorship 30
6.2 Fan Loyalty 31
6.3 Sports Presentation 33
7. Recommendations 35
7.1 Start a membership programme for Round One of Season Two 35
7.2 Ensure that sponsor goals are exceeded for the coming season 36
7.3 Guarantee the stadium has a quality activation area 37
8. Implementation 39
ii
8.2 Sponsorship Communication 41
8.3 The Stadium activation area 42
9. Limitations and Further Research 44
10. References 45
11. Appendix 50
11.1 Appendix 1: Transcript of Rocky Chow interview regarding the South China
Tigers current contributions to the HKRU 50
11.2 Appendix 2: Transcript of Robbie McRobbie interview 55
11.3 Appendix 3: Transcript of Stuart Gunn interview 61
11.4 Appendix 4: Transcription of Rhys Blumberg Interview 65
11.5 Appendix 5: Transcription of Bryan Rennie Interview 71
11.6 Appendix 6: Transcription of Rocky Chow interview regarding Sponsorship 76
11.7 Appendix 7: Transcription of Interview with Annika Payn 80
11.8 Appendix 8: Transcription of Interview with George Watkins 84
iii List of Figures
Figure 1: A figure to show a visual of the Global Rapid Rugby rule variations from the
Asia Showcase Series 8
Figure 2: A figure to show the reasons a company sponsors a team. 18
Figure 3: A graph to show what method was used to watch Manuma Samoa v South
China Tigers 23
Figure 4: A graph to show what would be important for a membership programme 23 Figure 5: A graph to show the prices people would expect to pay for a membership
iv List of Plates
Plate 1: A picture of the South China Tigers home kit (left) from 2019 and away kit
(right) from 2020 9
Plate 2: A picture outlining the Greater Bay Area 10
Plate 3: A picture to show what Eutaw Street looks like at Orioles Park 27
Plate 4: A picture to show the Centerfield Plaza at Dodger Stadium 28
Plate 5: A picture to show the membership area at Siu Sai Wan Sports Ground 39
Plate 6: A picture to show what the membership card could look like 40
v List of Tables
Table 1: A table to show the services at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium 25
Table 2: A table to show the services at Oriole Park Camden Yards 26
vi Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the Hong Kong Rugby Union for taking me on as an intern and allowing me to complete this project. Thank you to Jane Bond, Andrew Brown and Robin Rowbottom for their guidance during the internship and help during the writing of this paper. A thanks to who were interviewed: Robbie McRobbie, Rocky Chow, Stuart Gunn, Rhys Blumberg, Bryan Rennie, Annika Payn and George Watkins for their insight and time.
vii Executive Summary
The South China Tigers are the first professional club team in Hong Kong, playing in the new tournament Global Rapid Rugby. The Asia Pacific tournament is contested home and away against six teams from Australia, Fiji, Samoa, Malaysia, China and Hong Kong.
The South China Tigers were set up as a subsidiary to the Hong Kong Rugby Union (HKRU) to take part in the new tournament and hosted a Showcase Series in 2019, with the idea of Season One taking place in 2020. However, after the first round the tournament was cancelled and the team are now working towards season two.
This research is to understand how the South China Tigers can contribute more to the Hong Kong Rugby Union. This is not only about contributing to the Hong Kong Rugby Union financially, but also making sure the rugby community in Hong Kong can benefit a lot from having the South China Tigers play their home games in Hong Kong and having a professional club in an international competition. This can allow the South China Tigers to build towards becoming a sustainable club in the future, that can be separate from the Hong Kong Rugby Union.
The main findings from the survey were the need for more information to the public surrounding the team, the demand for a membership programme and the lack of demand currently for away game tickets. The case study found that the activation area in the stadiums was vital, having a single entrance for the stadium was important and good public transport links help customer experience. The interviews outlined the significance of aligning values of the South China Tigers with sponsors and ensuring that there is clear communication between sponsors and South China Tigers. The literature review revealed the need for relationship marketing, fan loyalty, the value of understanding sponsor needs and the difference a facility can make to the event.
As a result, three recommendations are made for the South China Tigers to implement for the start of Season Two of Global Rapid Rugby. These recommendations are as follows:
1. Start a membership programme for Round One of Season Two. 2. Ensure that sponsor goals are exceeded for the coming season. 3. Guarantee the stadium has a quality activation area.
1 1. Introduction
The South China Tigers are a new rugby team, based within Hong Kong. They will be competing within a new tournament called Global Rapid Rugby. The rules have been altered with the idea to make it more exciting to watch and attract new people to watch. The South China Tigers are the Hong Kong based team and will be made up of the best players from the Hong Kong Premiership, many of whom are in the national team, however those who do not qualify for the national team can also play.
The South China Tigers played in an Asia Showcase Series last year which gave a little preview into what Global Rapid Rugby will be like. This meant that there is a small fan base from last year, however this is the first full season of Global Rapid Rugby and the fan base needs to grow and people need to be more aware of the South China Tigers. After the first game, Global Rapid Rugby made the decision to cancel the first season due to the travel restrictions caused by the coronavirus, so the process is in place to work towards season two.
It is important that the South China Tigers are commercially successful because it is the first time in Hong Kong that the players will be able to experience high quality international club rugby. It will allow the players to develop and will provide the national team players with quality experience which they have not been able to get enough of just using the national team. As a result, it can improve the quality of rugby within Hong Kong as well as raising the profile of rugby in Hong Kong and potentially attract more people to take up the game. Furthermore, with Global Rapid Rugby wanting to rival the big leagues around the world and potentially expand, it is important that Hong Kong establish themselves as a vital part of the set up, they may not be one of the strongest teams within the competition from a playing point of view, but they can be one of the strongest commercially.
The South China Tigers will help to diversify the Hong Kong Rugby Union. Currently, the HKRU is very reliant on the Hong Kong 7s for income, as it makes up 95% of the income they receive. If the South China Tigers can become sustainable, it can start to bring in money for the Union and ease the pressure on the Hong Kong 7s (Chow, 2020).
2 Currently, the HKRU has an Elite Rugby Program (ERP); these are the best players eligible for Hong Kong national team. They are paid professionals on full time contracts and are the highest cost to the HKRU. The players play for local clubs during the domestic season and have two months in the year playing championship against other nations, this means that for 4 or 5 months in the year they are not playing rugby. From a financial point of view, this is not good and with the new Global Rapid Rugby season, they will be now playing for 3 of those months. This will improve them as rugby players because they are getting more match time and more experience against high class opposition. This can in-turn, improve the quality of the Hong Kong national team, as they are very closely linked.
Should the South China Tigers become a commercially successful club, they will be able to start employing the players as full-time professionals. These players are currently employed by the Hong Kong Rugby Union as part of the Elite Rugby Programme and are the highest cost to the Union. Having these players paid by a club will reduce that cost to the HKRU and some of this money can then be channelled back into grass roots and further improves the standard of rugby in Hong Kong. The first full season of Global Rapid Rugby will be important to creating a foundation that a good commercial base can grow from.
The purpose of this report is to provide research and ways in which the South China Tigers can start to contribute towards the Hong Kong Rugby Union and build towards becoming a sustainable club.
3 2. Methodology
This study is a cross sectional design of the South China Tigers fans, as results will be based on one set of collected data at a certain period of time. Four data collection methods were used; survey, interviews, case study and desk research (Gratton & Jones, 2010).
The survey was designed to research fan loyalty. It was displayed on social media and a reward was to be redeemed for the 100th person who filled it out, to offer an incentive. It was also displayed on the HKRUs bi-weekly email and passed around specific rugby WhatsApp groups to target the rugby community. These methods were used to specifically target the rugby community within Hong Kong. The questions were aimed at understanding more about how the community were connected to the club, how interested they were in the games and a potential membership programme, and about how loyal they were to the team and being interested in an away game. This would give the researcher more understanding about the fans of the club and how those fans could start to contribute to the club. It would also allow for the fans to pick which parts would attract them most to membership and give them a sense of involvement with the club. This was picked up from the literature review that was important for getting new clubs loyal fans. The survey was piloted and reviewed by members of the HKRU commercial department before being. There were 87 respondents to the survey.
For this paper 8 interviews were conducted, three of those were regarding the South China Tigers current contributions to the HKRU. The interviewees were with Robbie McRobbie, CEO at the HKRU, Rocky Chow, Chief Commercial Officer at the HKRU and Stuart Gunn, Community Inclusive Participation Manager at the HKRU. This would give an insight into the current contribution from the head, and person responsible for the commercial part of the HKRU and insight from the Community Foundation of the HKRU. These were semi-structured interviews, that lasted between 19-28 minutes and were piloted before the interviews to ensure validity and reliability for the research.
Five interviews were conducted with regard to sponsorship of the South China Tigers, also semi-structure and piloted. Three were based on people to have worked within the Hong Kong Rugby Union. Rocky Chow and Rhys Blumberg were involved with the South China Tigers original sponsorship deals. Bryan Rennie is the Commercial Manager at the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens. Two were with current
4 sponsors of the South China Tigers; Annika Payn, of FWD Insurance, and George Watkins of Samurai. This would allow the researcher to get a better idea of why the sponsors decided to get involved with the South China Tigers, what they wanted out of the arrangement and to see the sponsorship arrangements from the other side. There needs to be an understanding of what is currently happening for sponsors and for the South China Tigers, as well as how sponsor relationships are and how both the club and the sponsors can get the most out of the sponsorship. The literature highlighted how important sponsors were for small clubs and that the sponsor goals needed to be understood as it is not always about exposure, especially when dealing with a team that may not be in the media that much. For the South China Tigers it is also important that these sponsors sign on at the end of their deals as this can be a good way to ensure that club can contribute more to the Hong Kong Rugby Union. These interviews lasted between 18 and 30 minutes.
A case study was designed to understand sports presentation. Sports Presentation is about engaging fans in the event outside of the sport that is taking place. It gives fans a feeling of attending an event and not just a game, creating a thrill, being creative and making the day memorable (Sport Presentation Co, 2020). To add to this, the rugby is the main event taking place and the sports presentation is going to make it an event so that it is not just going to watch a rugby match. This will involve any extra activities at the games other than the rugby, for example a live band, children’s zone, sponsor games and activations. From the literature it was clear that games are starting to be treated more like events for people to enjoy and it is not just about watching a match but enjoying the whole occasion. Clubs are now starting to focus of fan engagements and sports presentation at the games. A case study was used for this to look at specific places or clubs that have done particularly well in that area and to see if it is possible to use their ideas (Shuttleworth, 2008). For this case study three clubs were selected based off their reputation for good sports presentation. Firstly, Tottenham Hotspur of the English Premier League and using their brand-new stadium the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Secondly, the Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball, with a slightly older stadium called Oriole Park Camden Yards. Finally, the LA Dodgers of Major League Baseball and their stadium called Dodger Stadium, which has just gone through major renovations in order get a great fan orientated experience.
5 The desk research conducted was split into various categories to ensure research was valid, reliable and covered all areas. These categories were marketing, fan loyalty, sponsorship and fan engagement (Gratton & Jones, 2010). This was done to try and understand what other club in various sports do that can be used by the South China Tigers to allow them to contribute more commercially to the HKRU. This would look at best practices, methods and also what clubs have potentially done wrong to ensure those mistakes are not made. From this, an understanding can be made about adding more from a commercial aspect to different areas of the club. These can be recommended for the South China Tigers to adopt in the future. It is not just looking at sports teams but also events, marketing and acquiring loyal customers to a business that can potentially lead the South China Tigers to become a bigger contributor to the Hong Kong Rugby Union. Once the literature review was complete, the other research methods were then used to add to the literature review, to ensure the information said was relevant and to then further relate it to the case of the South China Tigers.
6 3. The Organisation
The South China Tigers were set up in 2019 as a subsidiary of the Hong Kong Rugby Union. Therefore, understanding of both organisations is needed to ensure clear recommendations can be given for the South China Tigers so they will benefit the Hong Kong Rugby Union more from a commercial point of view
3.1 The Hong Kong Rugby Union
The Hong Kong Rugby Union (HKRU) is the national governing body, responsible for all rugby related activities in Hong Kong, from the mini rugby to the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens. It was founded in 1952 and has been an affiliate of World Rugby since 1988 (HKRU, 2020). The vision of the HKRU is “a game for all” and has four core values; Inclusivity, Respect, Integrity and Excellence (HKRU, 2020). The strategic plan, finalised in 2020 outlines the themes for the next four years: Engage, Retain, Perform and Sustain.
“Engaging” is about building the HKRU brand through involvement and retention of rugby enthusiasts, whether that be; through playing, coaching, spectating or officiating. From a commercial perspective, this covers engagement of key stake holders and development of partnerships. “Retaining” is about ensuring people keep rugby as part of their lives and also to retain the physical facilities used to play rugby across Hong Kong. This also links to the elite rugby players and ensuring that players are retained in Hong Kong and want to be part of Hong Kong rugby. “Performing” links to monitoring and evaluating each aspect of the Union to ensure standards are met. Finally, “Sustain” is to ensure that rugby within Hong Kong can be played for years to come and the HKRU can continue to support rugby to expand further. (HKRU, 2020).
3.2 The South China Tigers and Global Rapid Rugby
The South China Tigers is the first professional rugby team to be set up in Hong Kong and is part of the new tournament Global Rapid Rugby (South China Tigers, 2019). Run by the Hong Kong Rugby Union, the team makes use of the Elite Rugby Programme (ERP) players that are already employed by the HKRU and some of the stand out players from the domestic premiership (South China Tigers, 2019).
Global Rapid Rugby is a new tournament designed to give a renowned rugby region more exposure and a better chance to improve both professionally and at grass roots level. This is achieved by giving the professional teams in the Asia-Pacific region
7 regular and quality matches, bring exciting rugby for fans to watch, resulting in more media exposure to these areas. In order to bring the game to the Asia-Pacific region, six teams have combined to create a new tournament and the rules have been adapted to create a higher scoring game (Global Rapid Rugby, 2018).
The teams competing in Global Rapid Rugby are spread across six countries. The Western Force, from Perth in Australia are the most notorious. They first played in Super Rugby, the main Australia-New Zealand Rugby Competition, in 2006 and came out of Super Rugby in 2017, since then they have been looking for a new competition to play in (Western Force, n.d). They have been influential in setting up Global Rapid Rugby and are seen as the team to beat for the tournament.
Other teams of Global Rapid Rugby include Manuma Samoa and Fijian Latui, both teams are set up in collaboration with the governing bodies in Samoa and Fiji. Fijian Latui is compromised of the best talent from Fiji and are seen as a junior team for the Fijian National team (Fiji Rugby, 2020). Manuma Samoa is similar, as the team is a development squad, giving players international match day experience. Some of these players will go on to play for the national team in the future.
Both Malaysia Valke and China Lions are comprised of players of the country they are based in and some players from a top tier rugby nation. Malaysia Valke are based in Kuala Lumpur and feature talented players from Malaysia combined with players from South African side The Valke (Global Rapid Rugby, 2020). Similarly, China Lions are predominantly made up from a New Zealand based team, The Bay of Plenty and have an association with China Rugby, to include players from both organisations (Global Rapid Rugby, 2020).
With new teams set up, Global Rapid Rugby has introduced a range of innovative new rules, designed to create a faster game which is more attractive to watch and is aimed at bringing more fans to the game. Figure 1 is a visual representation of the rules brought in for the 2019 Showcase Series, yet some of the rules have been changed for the 2020 Season One. There have been five new rules introduced to liven up the game. Firstly, each half has been reduced by 5 minutes, this is aimed at creating more urgency in the play. Secondly, there are now rolling substitutions, there are a total of 12 substitutions each team can make in a game (changed from 10 from the Asia Showcase series in 2019). Third, the ball cannot be kicked out of play on the full. In
8 regular rugby, if a player is inside their own 22m area, they can kick the ball out of the playing area to gain territory and the line out is taken where the ball went out of play. In Global Rapid Rugby, the ball cannot be kicked over the line on the full, if it is the line out is taken from where the player kicked it. These rules are adaptions of current rules that are in place in regular rugby union (Global Rapid Rugby, 2018).
The next two rules are new to the game. Firstly, a power try can now be scored. If a team starts their play inside their own 22m area and they score, without possession being clearly turned over, then the team is awarded nine points and no conversion is needed, instead of the usual 5 points and potential 2-point conversion. Secondly, the 50:22 rule; this ensures that the skill of kicking is still a key part of the game. These rules say that if a player kicks the ball inside their own half, the ball bounces and then goes out of player between the opponents 22m line and their try line, the team who kicked the ball, throws the ball in at the line out. There is also a bonus point system in place to celebrate high scoring teams and close scoring matches (Global Rapid Rugby, 2018).
9 Currently the South China Tigers do not contribute financially to the HKRU, but they do add value to the rugby community in Hong Kong. They bring unity between the six Premiership clubs that the national team does not provide. The clubs are very passionate, but small and the South China Tigers are unifying that passion into one team that represents all six clubs. This provides a different landscape for the HKRU to work from. In the future the team will always be looking to use the domestic league for players. There may be an option to bring in names from outside Hong Kong, but the majority of the squad will be from domestic clubs (Chow, 2020).
All of the clubs within Hong Kong were consulted in the development of the South China Tigers, especially when it comes to the playing kit. There is also a sense that the team are
vibrant, popular and
attractive to watch
compared to the Hong Kong National team. All of the clubs in Hong Kong feature on the shirt, with
their names on the sides and under the arms. Whereas the national team is about pride for Hong Kong, the South China Tigers can be embraced by all in Hong Kong irrespective of nationality. Within Hong Kong that can be important and especially within Rugby as many of the players and people involved in Rugby are not from Hong Kong (McRobbie, 2020). The South China Tigers are also involved with The Hong Kong Rugby Union Community Foundation. This is a charity that runs outreach programmes through rugby. The South China Tigers have been part of a few programmes teaching rugby in PE, teaching rugby to the deaf community and more. The roles they do are usually once every two month or so, and there is no allocated programme that the players and the South China Tigers take responsibility for (Gunn, 2020). There may be a good opportunity to get them involved in the Greater Bay Project (Chow, 2020) however this will involve the South China Tigers games and
Plate 1: A picture of the South China Tigers home kit (left) from 2019 and away kit (right) from 2020
10 programmes being run as a result of the South China Tigers expanding outside of Hong Kong. The grass roots are done using the community foundation and the South China Tigers will potentially be involved later, depending on how the grass roots project develops (Gunn, 2020).
For many professional rugby clubs, broadcast is a very large part of their income. However, with Global Rapid Rugby, broadcast is free to all, in order to allow more people to watch and become fans. This means that revenue streams are based around the event and not broadcast. In order to do this the South China Tigers, need people to watch the games live at the venue and for sponsors to be involved with the Tigers. A big focus for the games is the entertainment value. The rugby has been affected by the rule changes, but the
whole match day
experience can still add to the entertainment, if the whole experience, not
just the match is
enjoyable, then people will be drawn back for
more games (Chow,
2020).
One way this can be done is through sponsorship. The South China Tigers principle sponsor is FWD Insurance, who signed on at the start due to a clear alignment of values – FWD Insurance are looking to ‘change the way people feel about insurance’, and Rapid Rugby aims to ‘change the way people feel/consume rugby’ (Blumberg, 2020). Activations from FWD at the game can bring more entertainment to fans and increase the value of the sponsorship deal, if other sponsors sign on then their own activations can increase value for the sponsor and the public.
11 4. Literature Review
The following chapter discusses sports marketing both on and off season, fan loyalty, and sponsorship of sport. The first aspect of the literature review is marketing. As there is a lack of broadcasting money, the number of fans at the game will be important for revenue. Furthermore, the more attention and awareness for a sports team the more attractive it is for fans, sponsors and media. Therefore, the marketing for sports teams is important for its success. The second aspect that is reviewed, addresses the loyalty of fans. If fans can remain loyal, the revenue of the team can be further increased through repeat business and other sales such as merchandise. Thus, the research will look into developing and maintain a loyal fan base not only in rugby but in Sport. The final aspect is sponsorship, as many sports organisations use sponsorship as a large revenue stream. Securing and maintaining a long-term sponsor can ensure sustainability for clubs so understanding how this can be put in place can be of huge benefit.
The sport industry is estimated to be worth US$75 Billion in the USA alone, this is almost a 50% growth in a decade (Gough, 2019). This has led to some clubs growing to new heights, for example the Golden State Warriors have hyper-commercialised, mixing an excellent marketing strategy with great on court success (Arena, 2019).
For sports clubs, the fans are vital to the survival of the club, without the fans there are no ticket sales or media attention, without the media attention there will not be interest from sponsors and there will be no broadcasting. All of these are essential for the revenue and profits of the club, so fans are the foundation of the club (da Silver & Las Casas, 2017). Large numbers of game attendance are marketing related and recently lots of the marketing has been social media based (Saari & Tuominen, 2016).
An interesting distinction between a sports fan and a spectator is that a spectator just watches the game and then chooses to move on, they may have enjoyed a lot of the aspects of the game, but they do not choose to follow the team in the same way a fan will. If the fan is integrated in the club they tend to have an interest in how well the club is run as a business and a fan who is highly integrated will not see the purchases for tickets and merchandise as a cost, but it will be helping support the club (Grant, Heere, & Dickson, 2011). A sports fan will put financial resources towards the team they follow by buying tickets and merchandise (Mastromartino, Chou, & Zhang, 2017). This will
12 enhance the club and will see an increased revenue stream. Furthermore, da Silver and Las Casas go on to say that if a fan is fully immersed within the club they support. Not only do they buy tickets and merchandise but also follow the team on social media, sign up for emails and interact with the club (2017).
In order to start building a fan base, people need to see the team and the games, which involves attracting people to watch them live at the stadium. Understanding why people attend live sports events is important, as it can be a focus point for the marketing. There are a number of different motivators to attend live sports events, these include; economic, escape, excitement, enhancing self-esteem, family time, group affiliation, entertainment and aesthetics (da Silver & Las Casas, 2017). These are all areas of focus for marketing, however Maxton (2019) took this further saying the best motivation for attending a live sporting event is the entertainment factor. He also claims that although aesthetics and escape are factors, there is very little correlation between attending a sports event and money, family and group affiliation (Maxton, 2019).
Attracting fans has changed over recent years. Broadcasting used to be seen as the best way to attract fans. This would involve broadcasting games on television, fans wanting to see the team play live and then watching the game. This has changed in recent years, with the need for a more personal connection between the prospective fans and the team in order to attract people to become fans (Yoon, Petrick J, & Backman, 2017). The need for relationship marketing has increased dramatically over the last decade and now teams need to have a two-way relationship with consumers (Maxton, 2019). Relationship marketing focuses on retaining customers and is used heavily in the service industry to ensure repeat purchasing (Grönroos, 1994). Within a sports environment, ensuring that people grow from spectators to fans will lead to repeat purchases and as stated before allows for further benefits and increased revenue. Limiting the engagement that fans have with the team can be detrimental and can cause for a poor relationship to develop between fans and the team (Vale & Fernandes, 2018).
Building a fan base around entertainment is important, however it is not the only factor that facilitates the transition from spectator to fans. Initially, entertainment means spectators come back, however to convert those spectators to fans further elements
13 need to be added. These elements include: group experience, history and traditions, facility and player pride (da Silver & Las Casas, 2017) (Grant, Heere, & Dickson, 2011) (Anagnostopoloulos, Parganas, Chadwick, & Fenton, 2018) (Arena, 2019). Group experience links to the interaction’s fans have while watching the game and the social aspects of watching live sports. This can include seeing people at the game, talking about the game with friends and a sense of belonging when supporting a team together. The history of a club allows fans to connect to the past and remember the good times they have had with the club. For a new team, having a lack of history can be overcome by linking to the history of the city or wider community (Grant, Heere, & Dickson, 2011). Having a physical facility can also encourage spectators to graduate to fans. Firstly, it creates a specific fan experience that can be re-created at the same venue, therefore people become accustomed with what to expect and where everything is. This creates a feeling of security that will encourage them to return. Player pride is seen by supporters and show that the players value the team they play for and the community they represent. If fans see the players give their all for the team then the fans will get behind them (Arena, 2019).
One of the ways to display and celebrate these four aspects of a club is through social media. The popularity of social media combined with the popularity of sports teams has led to professional teams increasing investment across social media platforms (Vale & Fernandes, 2018). Social media has, to some extent, been pioneered by professional sports club and other industries have started to follow as a consequence of the success the sports industry has had (Anagnostopoloulos, Parganas, Chadwick, & Fenton, 2018).
There is large audience spectrum on social media which makes it a great channel for clubs to reach a lot of people at the same time. Furthermore, the low-cost means that marketing is very efficient financially (Belfiore, Rosa, & Tafuri, 2019). However, targeting a specific audience can only be done through the purchasing of adverts, otherwise the attraction of the message will go out to everyone. Purchasing adverts on social media has a significant effect on the reach of a post. For the South China Tigers, a paid advert on 13th March, the day before the first game of Season One, reached over 14,000 impressions to Instagram accounts (displays to a user account). Whereas, a regular, unpaid post a day later only had 1,000 impressions (Meltwater, 2020). One of the ways to ensure the correct audience is targeted is to develop a clear
14 strategy for the different social media channels and specifically targeting an audience through each form of social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter…) (Saari & Tuominen, 2016). The strategy for each channel should not differ too far from one another and a best practice guideline should be used across all platforms to ensure that they are all on brand (O'Hallarn, Morehead, & Pribesh, 2016).
Through having a good strategy on social media; clubs can engage fans with their content and keep fans interested even when the club is in the off season. Giving fans a chance to engage with the team is important and a good part of marketing, and if they can interact with the team, then fan engagement will increase (Saari & Tuominen, 2016). There are three ways a person can engage with a team on social media. Firstly, they can view posts that the team puts up, this is the lowest form of engagement. Second, they can like or comment on the posts, this is a medium form of engagement. Finally, they can share or create their own content based around the team, this is the highest form of engagement on social media and shows that the fans are very involved with the club (Vale & Fernandes, 2018). User generated content allows for the best reach for sports clubs and is similar to word of mouth marketing, especially when the content is focused on the product – i.e. based around the team. Fans sharing their experience of the game shows the enjoyment they had and are passing the experience on to their network (Anagnostopoloulos, Parganas, Chadwick, & Fenton, 2018).
Research into social media shows that clubs do not make enough effort to know their fan bases on social media. This results in it not being as effective as it could be for marketing purposes (Vale & Fernandes, 2018). By using data provided by social media channels and also companies that provide data on social media platforms, clubs can have much more effective social media channels and produce better targeted posts, aimed at their specific target group (O'Hallarn, Morehead, & Pribesh, 2016).
Social media is a good platform to promote the team to current and potential fans all year round. However, it is not the only type of off-season work that a club can do in order to raise its profile. Seeing the team in the community and helping in some aspects, gives the feeling of being part of a bigger picture. It is no longer about just the best sports people on the pitch but about enriching the lives of the community through sports (Doyle, Filo, Lcok, Funk, & McDonald, 2016). Being seen to help the community builds the feeling that fans have towards the brand. The fans see a larger
15 goal that just winning games and they start to gain a shared experience of the brand, not just at the games but outside the sport. They feel that supporting the team they are also supporting the community (Grant, Heere, & Dickson, 2011).
This enhanced feeling towards the brand makes it much more attractive for people to support and get behind. Fans start to become attached to the team and loyalty starts to grow. When a team has an identity with society, people show more loyalty to that team (Özgen & Argan, 2017). Seeing the team more within society will lead to more attachment to the team, more attachment leads to more identity with the team. This is where the values of the team link to the values of the individual. More identity, leads to more loyalty (Yoon, Petrick J, & Backman, 2017). The increased identity with the team can lead to fans being more involved in different ways, they may start to create social media content, they may pass on their involvement to others with word of mouth, all in turn promoting the club. This increased involvement and commitment leads to more fan loyalty (Stevens & Rosenbeger, 2012).
Another factor that can increase loyalty is relationship marketing. This has been touched on earlier, but by customising marketing strategies and developing a relationship with the customers loyalty will start to increase. Using this strategy, customers will start to feel empowered and involved with the club, increasing their loyalty towards the club (Yoon, Petrick J, & Backman, 2017). Furthermore, Maxton (2019) suggested the use of relationship marketing was vital for rugby clubs in South Africa to start building loyalty for fans in order to increase revenue and improve ticket sales. For example, directing emails specifically at fans to encourage them to return with offers that are tailored to their experience. Understanding what each customer wants and offering those deals for each individual.
Initially, loyalty was gained through broadcasting and making the team attractive to watch, people would then watch that team more and loyalty would grow. However, this has changed recently with the need for a more personal connection (Yoon, Petrick J, & Backman, 2017) Clubs on social media allow for people to understand and get to know the players more, the players can also attract people to the club and to enhance their relationships with their fans. The better the relationship, the more loyalty is established. Fans start to get more involved with the day to day goings on of the club
16 and the personal lives of the players, and this involvement starts to increase loyalty and gives the chance for fans to become loyal (Bennett, 2016).
In order to enhance the relationship with fans, the experience outside of the sport can have a significant impact. This will involve hosting side events where fans can grow the relationship with the club. This can be through the players, management or a club representative (Bennett, 2016). This is also enhanced by social events and humanisation of the players. For fans to be able to meet the players and see them as people it can allow them to develop more of a relationship with the players and increase their loyalty. Having a meet and greet session or a chance for fans to get to know the players better through social media allows for loyalty to increase (Doyle, Filo, Lcok, Funk, & McDonald, 2016). Furthermore, the satisfaction at the event itself will increase loyalty as people will look fondly on the event and want to return. This will be based around the main event but side events will further increase loyalty towards the team. A whole round experience for fans will have a good effect on the fans and encourage them to return. Exceeding expectation for the event will pull the fans to come back and start to generate loyalty with the fans (Maxton, 2019)
Global Rapid Rugby has enhanced the rules in an attempt to allow for more enjoyment on the pitch. Nevertheless, there is more that can be done to ensure that the event exceeds expectation. Fan engagement at live games can have an impact on the game as well, and when the fans can see that they have had an impact, for example they have cheered their team on and scored points, then they will feel more involved with the team (Hüttermann, Uhrich, & Königstorfer, 2017). This involvement with the result or the success of the club can lead to more enjoyment and potential loyalty, due to entertainment being one of the best motivators for fans to attend live events (da Silver & Las Casas, 2017).
Fans can help the team at the live event by cheering them on but also simply by being there: sponsors want to be able to reach a specific set of people at the same time. This will in turn help the team more, as they will benefit from more potential sponsorship (Hüttermann, Uhrich, & Königstorfer, 2017). Without these fans at the game and then returning to watch future games the club will struggle with sustainability and sponsors retention (Özgen & Argan, 2017)
17 Fans will have a real sense of accomplishment if they see the team become successful or do well, especially if they feel they have been part of that by cheering them on in some way or being involved with the club (Doyle, Filo, Lcok, Funk, & McDonald, 2016). The feeling of accomplishment can also help with improving the brand community and giving people a sense of belonging to the club if they feel they are involved in assisting the team (Grant, Heere, & Dickson, 2011).
To facilitate the sense of involvement and adding to the entertainment value of the games, a good stadium experience can help lead to fan loyalty (Doyle, Filo, Lcok, Funk, & McDonald, 2016). This will comprise of clubs investigating how they can get the most out of their venue and ensuring that the fan experience is good as it can be. This will encompass a variety of entertainment to cater for different fans. Good examples of entertainment at venues would involve a half-time show, pyrotechnics and cheerleaders. This entertainment attracts people to the live event as more people will enjoy what is on offer, it adds to the aesthetics of the event, giving it a bit more of a “wow-factor” and it helps to give people a feeling of escape. All of which are key to the overall enjoyment of live sports events (Maxton, 2019). Additionally, the stadium can play a big role in the enjoyment of events and the loyalty of fans. If the events are enjoyed, the stadium will bring back good memories and people will want to revisit for the same feeling they felt previously, this can lead to loyalty and is certainly a factor that can help attract fans back for repeat business (Anagnostopoloulos, Parganas, Chadwick, & Fenton, 2018).
One of the ways that clubs can get more entertainment than just live sport is for sponsors to showcase their company or product around the venue. Sponsorship of events is a powerful marketing tool as it shows people what a company stands for and what it does, instead of adverts which tell people what a company does (Slåtten, Svensson, Connolley, Bexrud, & Lægreid, 2017). The sponsoring company often want to align their values with the values of the club or sport that they are sponsoring, which allows consumers to understand the company more. The customer may have similar values to the club and can therefore relate to the company (Konstantoulaki, Rizomyliotis, Giovanis, Conti, & Kallandranis, 2017). As Rugby holds certain values and is played in a specific way, Rugby is seen as a good sport to align a company with in order to promote the correct values to a target audience (Kelly, Irealnd, Mangan, & Williamson, 2016).
18 Sponsorship is a way of communicating a message with a specific target group and allows companies to connect with customers. Sports sponsorship allows companies to be viewed by many people within the target audience. Traditional channels, such as TV and radio are seen as less effective communicators than sponsorship by companies now, as the connection to the target market is much clearer with sponsorship (Slåtten, Svensson, Connolley, Bexrud, & Lægreid, 2017). Sponsorship is especially effective if a team or player is seen to use the product and has a clear benefit to the team (Konstantoulaki, Rizomyliotis, Giovanis, Conti, & Kallandranis, 2017). Ideally, the sponsor would be embedded in the club or product and not just a name on the shirt. A great example would be of a drinks manufacture being used as the half time drinks and not just being a logo around the venue (da Silver & Las Casas, 2017). Furthermore, if the sponsorship has not link to the team it can potentially be seen as negative in the eyes of the consumer and will harm both the team and the sponsor (Kelly, Irealnd, Mangan, & Williamson, 2016).
When a company is looking to sponsor a team, they will have a focus for the sponsorship and although the end goal is to make more revenue, they will use this sponsorship in a different way. The focus of the sponsorship can be set on two scales; internal or external focus and opportunistic or altruistic. An internal focus is based around current stakeholders in the company, for example workers, current partners and collaborators. An external focus is about projecting the company to potential stakeholder, for example potential customers. An opportunistic focus will move the company towards one of its strategic goals, whereas an altruistic focus will look to benefit people outside of the company.
Opportunistic
External
Altruistic
Internal Figure 2: A figure to show the reasons a company sponsors a team.
A company’s motive for sponsorship will then fall into one of these categories: Market, Society, Bond or Clan. Market is where the focus for the sponsorship is on enhancing sales to current and potential customers who may attend the event. Bond is where a
Market Society
19 company will focus on building a relationship with its current partners and collaborators in order to reach their goals. A Society focus will mean a company would like to show the community that they care by taking responsibility and promoting the importance of wellbeing. Finally, a Clan focus is based on care of employees and in turn, employee satisfaction. Understanding which area a sponsor is wanting to focus on will lead to a better relationship and more chance of satisfaction with the agreement for both the company sponsoring and the team (Slåtten, Svensson, Connolley, Bexrud, & Lægreid, 2017).
Overall, the literature review has revealed; the increase importance of relationship marketing in the last decade, the positive effect fan loyalty can have on sports teams, the significance of the facility for the fans and the value of understanding the needs of the sponsors to ensure the sponsorship can continue beyond the current agreement so the club can benefit in the long run.
20 5. Results
This section will look at the results of the interviews conducted regarding the sponsorship of the South China Tigers, the survey for fans regarding fan loyalty and case studies into sports presentation.
5.1 South China Tigers Sponsorship Interview Results
Much of the sponsorship of rugby in Hong Kong is based around the Sevens. This is due to the demand for a hospitality suite at the Sevens. There are two ways to get a suit at the Hong Kong Sevens, as stated by Rennie. One way is to go through the government stadium, which puts you at the bottom of a long list of companies wanting suit. The other way is to go through the Hong Kong Rugby Union, this can tie in sponsorship nicely. Companies can then sponsor a part of rugby within Hong Kong, for example the domestic premiership, and included in that sponsorship is access to a hospitality box at the Sevens.
Rennie also noted that companies are interested in the Sevens because tickets for the event are like gold dust for general admission and for companies. So, to get a box for hospitality is hugely prestigious for companies, especially those who are operating in Hong Kong. Hosting people at the Sevens is seen as a great chance to build good relationships with clients and is a way to stimulate business.
Chow emphasised, FWDs Chief Marketing Officer, Tim Oliver, was interesting in getting involved with Rugby in Hong Kong. When the South China Tigers were explained and Global Rapid Rugby was explained, it was clear the values of Global Rapid Rugby and FWD aligned; both were doing something different in their field and are a disrupter brand, who are looking at launching in Asia and the clear alignment brought about the sponsorship. Furthermore, both companies are trying to change the landscape they are working in and to offer something new for their clients, which Blumberg stated. This was further backed up by Payn who said it was a “challenger sport” very similar to FWD in insurance. Another factor was the values of rugby that are good for any company to be aligned with. She also added that FWD wanted to be part of something they could own and not share with another company, for example football in Hong Kong is synonymous with AIA as they have flooded the marketing with their sponsorship. FWD do not want to enter an area already crowded by another sponsor.
21 According to Rennie, the main aim of sponsoring the Sevens is Hospitality of clients. Payn revealed, this is similar for FWD and their involvement in the South China Tigers as they want to use this as a platform for entertaining stakeholders such as brokers and agents. Blumberg expressed there are other reasons why a sponsor would get involved with sport. These are; Return on Investment, aligning values and an emotional connection. Return on Investment is hard to prove within sponsorship but is the best seller if proof can be found that it is beneficial to the company. Aligning values is a sending a good message and can be proved with testimonials and examples of how the values aligned. An emotional purchase is when they have a specific interest to the team emotionally, for example they are a fan. Blumberg added that this is the easiest to sell as they already are prepared to part with the money. FWD were also wanting to get their staff involved with the South China Tigers and were putting a mentor program for their graduates in place with the South China Tigers players. Payn revealed, brand awareness was also something FWD want to gain, but it was not the headline of the sponsorship. For Samurai, the objective of the sponsorship was to build the brand by developing new contacts, which Watkins emphasised. This was to be done through meeting people within Hong Kong that could bring potential sales further down the line. Samurai are looking to expand within Asia and Hong Kong and saw the sponsorship of the South China Tigers as a gateway to that expansion.
As stated by Chow, adding value to the sponsorship can be done with activations, it is important for sponsors to be part of the organisation now “they want to see synergy” and not to just be a name on the shirt. At South China Tigers games there are a lot of opportunities for sponsors to activate as for example gate opening, event, pre-match show, in game, HT show, post-pre-match opportunities. For sponsor activations it is important to tailor the activation to the game and the sponsor, allowing for both parties to benefit from the activation. This will help to align values better and for the public to understand the sponsor as they are creating a two-way communication and not just being told what the sponsor can do. Tailoring the activations to the game audience will allow the sponsors resonate with the audience better; an evening game will be a different audience to an afternoon game so the sponsors and activations should reflect that, Blumberg explained. For FWD, Payn stated, they want to get across their promise of “celebrate living” so the experience of the event and the atmosphere at the event is very important to their brand. They want to give people an
22 experience to remember at South China Tigers games. They have a partnership with musicians so they would like to involve them but also ensure they make an occasion for all. It is vital that people feel that they have had an experience at the game are “not just there to watch one game of rugby” but have had a holistic experience. Samurai have a different approach to the activations, as stated by Watkins, they may not want to have a clear activation in place, but would want to supply any of the sponsors who what to activate using rugby equipment. This way they can get their brand well known with other companies and can potentially lead on to other business in the future.
After two years and only three games taking place, ensuring that the sponsors get what they needed out of the sponsorship, without the game exposure could lead to a better relationship between the sponsors. Blumberg expressed, this can be done by talk to sponsors to come up with their own ideas and for the HKRU to work with sponsors in order to get the best outcome for both organisations. This way there can be a good two-way relationship for both parties and there can be an understanding of what each sponsor requires. If those requirements are met then the sponsors will be happy and interested about continuing their sponsorship (Blumberg, 2020).
5.2 South China Tigers Fan Loyalty Survey Results
The survey offered an insight into the fans and their feeling at the time, towards the South China Tigers and to see how loyalty could be built amongst fans. It was also aimed at understanding the fans more and what they would like from the club.
To understand the degree of interest and commitment to the South China Tigers fans were asked if they would like to receive more information on the players and team. 85% of respondents said they would like more information on both areas. They were also asked how well they knew the current players and management with 58% says they knew less that half of the players and 77% saying they knew less than half of the management.
73% of respondents agreed that the South China Tigers are a good representation of the Hong Kong rugby community and only 3% of respondents believed the South China Tigers were not an accumulation of the best rugby players in Hong Kong.
23 49% of respondents to the
survey watched the South China Tigers play Manuma Samoa on the 14th March. There was a spread of methods to watch the game
with the RugbyPass
YouTube Channel being the most popular method. All those that watched the game went on to say they enjoyed
the experience, rating it at least 3 stars out of a possible 5, 42% said it was a 5/5.The most popular reason for not watching the game was not knowing the game was on, with other answers including they were busy and they could not get the stream to work. In order to get these people to watch the game, they would need more information on how to watch the game and where they could view the broadcast.
All the respondents answered the question regarding an interest in membership of
the South China Tigers and 72% said they would be interested in being a member. The most important factor in the membership is a merchandise discount, which attracted 38 votes in the three most important parts of membership, with the lowest being a season pass for the entire season. There was a big split over the price people would expect to pay for a season ticket. This may be due to the expectation of what a membership program would involve.
What method was used to watch the Manuma Samoa v South China Tigers?
RapidRugby RugbyPass YouTube At HBF Park, Perth Sky TV NZ
Figure 3: A graph to show what method was used to watch Manuma Samoa v South China Tigers
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Merchendise Discount Discounted ticket Premium Seating Membership Events Free Programme Membership Card F & B Voucher Extra Free Child Season pass
What would be important for your membership?
24 As can be seen in the graph, there
is no pattern to the price people
are willing to pay for a
membership. For those, that were not interested in a membership program, the main reason was that there was not enough connection to the team to want to be a member (7). The other options that people wrote were that they were not in Hong Kong (6), they did not want to pay (4) and they did not feel it was needed
for the South China Tigers (4). However, when asked what would persuade them to sign up, 9 out of 14 respondents said money, or not having to pay, as a reason they would not sign up.
For South China Tigers away games, the response was very even with 48% of respondents saying they were interested in going to an away game, with 52% saying they were not. The Western Force were the team most of those people wanted to go and see as they were the best team or it seemed like a good place to go travel too. The least popular team were Malaysia Valke and China Lions. Of the people that were interested in going to an away game, 67% said they would like to have a package deal in order to help them to go to the game. The main reason for not wanting to go to an away game was because it was too far to travel for a rugby match.
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 $1-$100 $101-$200 $201-$300 $301-$400 $400+
Prices people would expect to pay
Figure 5: A graph to show the prices people would expect to pay for a membership programme
25 5.3 Case Studies of Sports Presentation
Using cases studies for the sports presentation will allow the research to cherry pick the best parts of different organisations to recommend the South China Tigers to use when having their matches. The three organisations and their stadiums that were used for this case study were Tottenham Hotspur, Orioles Park and Dodger Stadium. These organisations and stadiums were selected due to their reputation and current developments that are designed to improve the stadium experience and give fans the best experience when being at the stadium.
The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was opened on 3rd April 2019. It is the most modern stadium in the Premier League and has the ability to host multiple sports and events including having an NFL pitch under the football pitch to ensure that both sports can be played on the best surface. With it having only been open one year, it is set up to make the fan experience as good as possible on match day and to give people a full experience and great enjoyment while at the stadium if it is for a game or not. The table below outlines services, facilities and entertainment that is done at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium to ensure the fan experience is as good as it can be (Tottenham Hotspur, 2020).
Transport - 4 tube stops
- 3 bus routes - Taxi rank
Entrance One entrance for all
Restaurants/Bars 60 food and drink outlets
Opening Times Fans invited 2 hours before the game
Concourse Activities Pop up exercises, promotions,
competitions
Other Entertainment Museum. Shop, fun facts and history
walk
Other Great sound, free Wi-Fi, specific meals
for kids
None Game Day - Conference rooms
- Skywalk - Stadium Tour - Museum - Shop
- Restaurants are 7 days a week Table 1: A table to show the services at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
26 Oriole Park Camden Yards is home to the Baltimore Orioles, of the MLB. It was opened in April 1992. The stadium was built for baseball and has had 18 renovations done regularly to ensure that the fans have the best experience. It has a well known area called Eutaw Street where fans can enjoy a good atmosphere before the game and creates a better experience for people attending the game (MLB, 2020).
Transport - Bus
- Underground - Light rail - Parking
- Fares and Schedules on website
Entrance One entrance for all
Restaurants/Bars 45 food and drinks stands
Opening Times 90 minutes before 1st Pitch
Concourse Activities Ewtaw Street – “festival area” between
entrance and playing field. Can go anywhere in it with a ticket. Has; “pub”, BBQ, Garden, Restaurants, Hall of Fame, carnival type attractions, kids’ zone
Other Entertainment Museum. Shop, Specific promotions
Other Specific street so fans can feel attraction
None Game Day - Stadium Tour
- Museum - Shop
- Conference Rooms Table 2: A table to show the services at Oriole Park Camden Yards
27 Plate 3: A picture to show what Eutaw Street looks like at Orioles Park
The Dodger Stadium in LA has just gone through big improvements for the 2020 season. Home of the Dodgers in now has a large area on entrance for fans to soak in the atmosphere and enjoy a real fan experience both pre- and post-game. The LA Dodgers have their own app for fans to understand and follow the team which has a part dedicated to the stadium to allow fans to access the information easily. Opened in 1962, it has seen lots of renovations in the last few seasons aimed to allow fans to watch the best baseball in the world but also have a brilliant experience on game day and when a game is not on (MLB, 2020).
Transport - Bus
- Metro
- Bike parking - Taxi
- Parking
Entrance One entrance for all
Restaurants/Bars 32 types of food and drink stands, each
type with multiple options – e.g. Hot Dogs has 16 different companies with different stands around the stadium
28
Opening Times 90 minutes before 1st Pitch
Concourse Activities “Centerfield Plaza” – the front door, food,
entertainment, kids’ area, legends walk – right next to bleaches and field of play
Other Entertainment Giveaways for different games
Other Happy to announce birthday,
anniversaries, other ‘big’ news over the sound system for people
None Game Day - Stadium Tour
- Museum - Shop
- Conference Rooms Table 3: A table to show the services at Dodger Stadium
Plate 4: A picture to show the Centerfield Plaza at Dodger Stadium
These case studies have offered great insight into how clubs and stadiums are re-thinking the fan experience at sports games and are looking to make it more of an event instead of just going to watch the game. Three main points from this have been:
1. The single entrance to the stadium used by fans.
2. An area inside the stadium for fans to enjoy the atmosphere, activations and give it and event feel and not just the feel of a game
29 3. Multiple public transport connections to the venue which are displayed on the
30 6. Discussion
This section will discuss the results of the literature review, interviews, survey and case studies with regard to sponsorship, fan loyalty and sports presentation.
6.1 Sponsorship
From the interviews, it was evident that within rugby in Hong Kong the main pull for sponsors is the Hong Kong Sevens. This is because tickets are very hard to come by and the event is world renowned and known for being the best Sevens tournament in the world. Having a box at this event is get for hospitality. One way of getting a box is to sponsor a part of Rugby within Hong Kong and within that sponsorship there is a hospitality box.
For the South China Tigers, this is slightly different, as there is not the same prestige with Global Rapid Rugby as there is with Hong Kong Sevens, however, there is still key selling points. The game has been altered to be faster and get it more attractive for people to watch than regular rugby. Also, as mentioned in a number of interviews the way FWD were attracted to become sponsors of the South China Tigers was through having values that aligned very well. Both Rugby and Global Rapid Rugby have very clear and good values that companies want to be seen to have as well. This will be the most attractive part of the sponsorship deal for companies. They can align with a sport that has values such as integrity, sportsmanship, hard work and many other values, as well as being seen as a new and innovative company through the alignment of Global Rapid Rugby.
The interview results mentioned return on investment in some context, but it was also important to understand what return the companies were looking for and what the South China Tigers could deliver. For FWD, it was noted that they eventually want to increase their sales of insurance in the future but it was not the reason for the sponsorship and more the long-term aim of all of their sponsorship agreements. For Samurai, the Return on Investment would be the number of contacts and additional business they got as a result of the initial deal with the South China Tigers. This would come through networking and getting contacts from the South China Tigers network. This was the main reason for the sponsorship and Samurai have not seen the returns that have come from the sponsorship yet.
31 Activations at games for the South China Tigers provide further entertainment and sponsors can link more to the public. These activations can allow sponsors to interact with everyone at the game and to increase their brand awareness. Watkins mentioned for Samurai, they would not want to have their own single activation, but would want to be supplying all the kit for other sponsors who want to active with a rugby related them. FWD want to be able to use their other branches of entertainment in order to produce a good event that “celebrates living.” Putting sponsors in contact with each other can allow for this to be done well and for each of the sponsors to get what they need out of the arrangement. The literature review further backs up this as understanding the sponsors and getting to the bottom of their needs was key to the success of the agreement with sponsors and also that it can improve the chances of the sponsorship continuing beyond the current agreement.
Outside of the South China Tigers matches, there is a need for more communication with the sponsors. Interviewees specified that it was more communication between the sponsors which the HKRU should be responsible for. A regular meeting can allow for a good relationship to occur with each company and gives a great chance of the sponsorship being a success for both parties. For Samurai, the main objective was for more contacts to be made within Hong Kong for the brand to grow. The easiest way of this occurring is for regular communication of what Samurai could get involved with in at the HKRU and possible leads that could come from this. A regular form of communication would also be a way of attracting sponsors in the future as they can see the immediate results of their agreement.
6.2 Fan Loyalty
What is clear from the survey is that there needs to be more information that is easily accessible to the rugby community within Hong Kong. 85% of people said they would like to see more information on the South China Tigers. Currently, the website and social media channels are regularly updated with posts and information, however there is a clear variance in the social media channels of the HKRU and the South China Tigers.
Another important point from the survey on fan loyalty was the potential introduction of a membership programme and what this would involve. With 72% of people
32 interested in a membership programme there is potential for this to be a good way to keep fans loyal and involved with the club.
From the survey it is clear that a merchandise discount is the most important aspect of membership and would be the most attractive part for people to want to sign up. Across many of the English Premiership clubs, such as Saracens, Leicester Tigers, Gloucester and Bristol, to name a few, membership offers include discount on merchandise.
The respondents to the survey selected discounted game tickets and premium seating as the next most popular option for a membership programme with 16% of the votes each. However, offering both discounted merchandise and discounted tickets could drop income and with people signing up to be members, this suggests they are interested in going to a South China Tigers game.
A membership card could also give a feeling of importance to the members and again would allow them to feel part of the club. It would also give a chance to display sponsors directly to the members and be kept in someone wallet or purse as a constant reminder of their membership to the South China Tigers. It would also be a good way to help identify members from none members. Food and Beverage Voucher, Free extra child and season pass were the lowest options to be chosen.
A membership programme would also allow for relationship marketing to be put into place in order to tailor each point of contact with the specific member, as the literature review revealed it was important for fan loyalty.
The price of the membership programme would need to reflect what is offered. If it is just a card and free match day programme, the price could reflect that. However, if the membership involves discounted merchandise, discounted game ticket and premium seating then the price could be higher.
With the membership programme and people needing to sign up, it would also allow for the HKRU to understand more about the people who are signing up by getting them to give away more information about themselves. This data capture can allow for a better fan experience, good relationship marketing and could help attracting sponsors as they would have a better idea of who would be attending games and be able to really play to the target audience.
