Marketing Project Fall 2015

Restoring EnthusiasmA University of Northern Colorado Athletic Experience

Bears UnitedBaile Winslow-Team

[email protected].

edu

Table of ContentsI. Transmittal Letter...........................................................2II. Executive Summary.........................................................2III. Background: Athletic Department....................................2

Mission StatementVision StatementCurrent WeaknessesCurrent Strategies

IV. Current Issues: Student Body...........................................4Focus Group FindingsSurvey Analysis

V. Marketing.......................................................................7Market SegmentationShort Term Strategy and Implementation (Opportunities)Long Term StrategyIn Conclusion

Transmittal Letter

Bears United800 17th StreetGreeley, CO 80631

Dear Leslie Masterpaul,

Attached is the Fall 2015 report regarding analysis related to student involvement and attendance at the University of Northern Colorado (UNC).

The purpose of our research was to identify what the underlying issues are in terms of attracting students to athletic events and comprehending the marketing methodologies that are used by UNC. Our research has exemplified the strengths that the university has successfully capitalized on when marketing athletic events in recent years and how the university could bridge gaps for more efficient marketing presence among the student population.

We have gathered extensive information about UNC’s student attendance at sporting events in comparison to other NCAA Division I collegiate athletics and furthermore the differences of their sporting events in contrast to ours. With our findings, we have formulated recommendations that would increase student attendance.

It should be considered that the marketing efforts put forth by UNC have been noted, and with repositioning will likely be effective in the future. However, we have identified several issues that need to be addressed:

Advertising and Promotions Financial Support and Donor Relations Culture revitalization

Bears United has researched various marketing strategies that other Division I schools use in order to get students to attend athletic events. In addition research was conducted through student surveys and the use of a focus group.

We would like to acknowledge the assistance from University athletic departments of Northern Colorado, Colorado State, the University of Colorado, Northern Arizona University, and Montana State. These universities were considered because they share membership in the Big Sky Conference or relative geographical location with the University of Northern Colorado.

Best Regards,

Baile WinslowTeam Lead

12 November 2015

RESTORING ENTHUSIASM - NOVEMBER 2015BEARS UNITED [email protected] 2

mailto:[email protected]

Executive SummaryBears United was asked by the University of Northern Colorado to target the student body and create recommendations that would encourage them to attend and enjoy athletic events. We used primary and secondary forms of research as well as qualitative and quantitative data and information to determine our suggestions. We first focused on current strategies that athletic department is using to target students. Next, we used secondary quantitative data from the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administration, a nationwide survey conducted in 2014. We set up a focus group to ask students specific questions about their experience at athletic events. Finally, after taking all of our research into careful consideration, we developed short term strategies that can be implemented immediately as well as long term strategies for the future involvement of the student body in athletic events. Our belief is that with the careful consideration of the suggestions provided, the culture of the university will be embraced to its fullest potential.

Background: Athletic DepartmentThe athletic department at the University of Northern Colorado is currently experiencing difficulty persuading the student body to attend athletic events. As a NCAA Division I university, it is discouraging to student athletes that there are limited numbers of students supporting the events.

Mission Statement

The University of Northern Colorado Department of Athletics embraces the Universities mission and exemplifies BEAR PRIDE by acting with integrity and displaying accountability while passionately striving for excellence and inclusivity in the classroom, on the playing field and in the community.

Vision Statement

Building Champions for life through the creation of the student-athlete experience.

Current Weaknesses

The lack of tradition campus wide has created an issue with students wanting to participate in the UNC athletic community.



The Homecoming Court was dropped in 2015 and was replaced with the High Bridge Society, many students were not aware of this change. The bonfire Friday before the football game, is one Homecoming tradition that has never been developed, because students in charge of the event graduate. According to Leslie Masterpaul, Director of Marketing at UNC, the event has the potential to be an exciting part of Homecoming tradition.Another issue the athletic department is currently struggling with is Scanner data. It is hard for the athletic department to access this valuable information which contains who is going to games and how to contact these students. This is important because the athletic department is not given any contact information for the student body, except for this scanner data. At the end of the 2014-2015 season there was a decrease in donor support. In an interview done with Jenny Shoop, Director of Development at UNC, she noted that people who donate to specific sports receive different treatment than other donors. This is because the Blue and Gold Club is divided into separate departments segmented by sport. Some of the relationships between the athletic department and supporters have been broken over the years, leading to UNC being the lowest funded Division I program in Colorado and one of the lowest within the Big Sky Conference. The graph below compares where UNC stands with Northern Arizona University, Montana State, Colorado State, and the University of Colorado.

UNC NAU Montana St. CSU CU$0

$10,000,000 $20,000,000 $30,000,000 $40,000,000 $50,000,000 $60,000,000 $70,000,000

13,000,000 15,200,000 18,700,000

38,700,000

64,200,000

Financial Overview

Revenue

Current Strategies

Advertisement (Promotion)RESTORING ENTHUSIASM - NOVEMBER 2015BEARS UNITED [email protected] 4


West Campus targeting all types of students Free Food Flyers

Free Student Tailgate before football games Student Tailgate Sponsor of the Game brings food Some encouragement for student groups to attend

Giveaways during game Soccer: season long drawing, winners chosen at each game

and are entered into the drawing for TV Drawing for prizes at basketball and football games Free t-shirts donated by sponsors

Current Issues: Student BodyFocus Group Findings

On Thursday, November 5, 2015, Bears United conducted a focus group consisting of twelve people to discuss issues of attendance at UNC athletic events. The students gathered in Kepner Hall from 7:00 – 7:30 pm and the conversation was recorded with participant permission. The following information consists of the main

takeaways from the discussion. 8/12 participants said that they had attended less than two athletic events over the course of their college career. Most students furthermore agreed that the student population as a whole seems generally uninterested in supporting athletics.

According to focus group participants, “lack of awareness” is to blame for low attendance.

One student expressed that he felt like there was an

“absence of school spirit and overall



PRIDE for collegiate athletics.” Other students added onto that comment by saying that some sporting events have better student sections than others. For example, it was stated that the basketball games have a better student section compared to the football games. The group said that building a better student section would attract more students and help to get everyone more engaged with the game.

Another student explained that “the LARGER the fan base, the more the team is going to want to perform better for their fan base.” A large student section that seems excited about what’s going on in the game and supportive of the players on the team could lead to a more successful record.One hundred percent of the focus group members agreed that they would be more willing to go to a sporting event if the team had a winning record. The students explained that most of the people that do attend the games at UNC leave after a time span of 20 to 30 minutes because they don’t have confidence that the team will win. Consequently, they don’t feel the need to stay and support the team.

The last issue that was discussed was the belief that the fields and stadiums need to be updated in order provide more comfortable and cosmetically attractive amenities for students. In addition, they also need to update their technology in order to accept Bear Bucks or credit/debit cards for concessions at the games.

Survey Analysis

In our meeting with Leslie Masterpaul on Wednesday, October 28, 2015 we discussed the student body’s attendance at athletic events and discussed the 2014 nationwide survey that was conducted by The University of Oregon, Warsaw Sports Marketing Center regarding student body attendance at sporting events. We



were able to review the results and see what had been concluded from the survey. There were 18,876 responses from the completed survey.

Participants

20%

20%20%

20%

10%

Freshmen SophomoresJuniors SeniorsGraduate

The survey focused mostly on football and men’s basketball games. Football was concluded to be the favored sport and just under half of overall respondents attended more than five home games. Men’s basketball had the second highest attendance rate with one fourth of respondents attending more than half of the home games. These figures were not in line with the findings of our focus group who attended less than two sporting events. It was concluded that 81% of students attended at least ONE live game at UNC.


54%46%

Female Male


*graphs provided by the University of Oregon, Warsaw Sports Marketing Program

Keeping in line with the results of our focus group, data showed that 24% of students say they leave BEFORE 75% of the game is COMPLETE. The best incentives that encouraged people to stay for the entire game were free t-shirts at the end of the game and post-game parties. Little support from donors and sponsors currently hinders UNC from being able to fund these incentives.



MarketingMarket SegmentationThere are 12,084 students who attend UNC (see “Student Population”). Current marketing efforts made by the athletic department are aimed to target each type of student on campus. Part of the campus wide mission statement is that UNC will be “Engaging in efforts designed to recruit diverse faculty and students; enhance [their] cultural competence and infuse diversity into the curriculum.” For a university which actively promotes diversity, these current strategies are not in line with the mission statement. Current strategies do not target any student, let alone, the entire student body. With the primary and secondary research done by Bears United, we have come up with both long term and short term solutions to reach many different areas of the potential market segment. These solutions not


23%

16%

16%24%

1%

20%

Student Population

Freshman SophomoresJuniors SeniorsNon-Degree Graduate


only are aimed to students, but are also aimed at financial supporters of the university. Without strong donor relationships, the athletic department cannot create a dynamic athletic experience for both athletes and the community as a whole.

Short Term Strategy and Implementation (Opportunities)

Advertising on campus (Place & Promotion) There must be a greater presence on central campus to target upperclassmen, especially business students who spend the majority of their time on the north-east side of campus. This will allow for current advertising promotions to be more diversified than they currently are. Notifying upperclassmen and business students in addition to the current promotional efforts taking place on west campus will allow for a greater range of awareness.Game Experience (Product)Targeting student groups as a developing market segment is something that can be done before greater donor support is acquired. During athletic games a “Featured Student Group of the Game” could be recognized. This would encourage clubs to come to the game as a social experience. This type of targeting could also be done to encourage on campus clubs and activities to participate in the student tailgate. Another more individualized approach is to have a “Fan of the Game.” Coming directly from the student section, this fan will receive a prize for he or she being the most spirited student. This will incentivize students to come to games because a prize is able to be earned. The current approach the athletic department requires students to be lucky in order to receive an incentive. Bears United recommends the “Fan of the Game” approach to encourage students to participate fully in the game in order to be incentivized. Finally, college students get excited over any kind of promotional events but they are especially excited when they involve anything free and anything with beer. At the University of Northern Arizona students receive drawstring backpacks, water bottles, snapbacks, and sunglasses for going to games. Instead of always handing out free t-shirts, UNC could hand out any one of these items, making sure they are limited to students only. Because there is no current agreement with a particular beer distributor, students could pay $5 to drink a designated amount of the “beer of the game” from a local microbrewery in Greeley. Not only would this excite the fan base to attend games, but it would also promote the brewery of



the game.

Long Term Strategy

Donor Relationship ManagementThe first long term goal we would recommend is to unite the Blue and Gold Club. This would allow for donors to be treated equally because there would be one pool for donations. The athletic department would ultimately decide where the money is needed, but donors could still be specific with their donation.In order to continue rebuilding the relationship with donors, we propose the first annual “Bear Down Brunch.” This is where student athletes would personally interact with donors and develop a relationship with them during a breakfast atmosphere. Creating a positive relationship with supporters, will lead to a more loyal donor community.A growing relationship with donors will help for future funding of facilities. As we discovered conducting our focus group, students would be more apt to go to athletic events if every facility was more ascetically attractive as well as technology being more up to date. By emphasizing donor relations now, the university can prepare financially for the future and growth of student support of athletic programs.Undergraduate “Bear Den” Fifteen undergraduate students promote “the dynamic student athlete experience” by engaging the student body and participating in events that encourage a university wide fan base.The University of Minnesota Duluth started this program after students saw a need for greater attendance at athletic events. The “Dawg House” was organized by the president and was run entirely independently of the athletic department. The student group worked alongside the marketing team and received promotional schedules for what was planned at each game. This way the “Dawg House” could coordinate participants in the events. The committee also created game themes and provided valuable ideas to the marketing department. Because the group was student lead, they could be a good representation of what the target market’s needs were. At UNC this group would be named the “Bear Den”. This would group would be able to target the



students who become uninterested in the game after 20-30 minutes and would help encourage them to stay for the duration of the game. The “Bear Den” would also pick the Fan of the Game, as well as interacting with the Featured Student Group. This group would re-establish UNC tradition and work to develop new traditions centered on university wide culture.

In ConclusionOverall, our research showed us that there is a disconnect between current marketing efforts of the athletic department and student body response. Students would like to see changes made to facilities, more awareness of athletic events, better incentives, and a more connected student fan base. Finally, we developed short and long term strategies. The short term suggested solutions will give the university immediate strategies to start the engagement of students in athletic events. The long term solutions that were suggested will create a more desirable donor environment and game atmosphere. With the implementation of these recommendations, Bears United is optimistic that the university will be able to develop an impactful and lasting culture.





Documents

Marketing Project Fall 2015