Título
The impact of brand portfolio management on the identification process of sport consumers
Autor
Hallouin, Manon Marie Margaux
Resumo
en
Nowadays, the function of a brand is first the promise of an experience for the consumer
(Miligan, 2009). Sport has become a business on its own right that following trends and leads to a
“sportainment” of this industry (Richelieu). According to Giannoulakis and Apostolopoulou
(2011), “action sports companies have started to expand to mainstream markets in order to
survive and secure their viability in an extremely competitive sport industry, where brands
emerge and attempt to acquire a share of the action sports pie”. The sport companies also have
developed a lot of brands in order to fit the best with the need of identification of the consumer.
Sports are accessible for everyone through different channels and medias but the business part of
the industry is more and more noticeable. Hold before by sport enthusiasts that wanted to develop
the sports and the performance, companies are now hold by business men that want to make them
profitable.
In realizing some similarities between themselves and the team or athlete, people transfer the
positive traits on themselves and so, are more likely to adopt a buying behavior. That is the
essence and so the main justification of the sponsorship. Some brand portfolio management can
have decisive consequences on the consumers and we can question ourselves on the impact of
brands’ portfolio management on the identification process of sport consumers.
Globalization tends to have as consequences to reduce the number of brands under one name,
getting some economies of scale, communication savings, higher visibility and so on, but what
about the need of identification of the consumer? The fact that sport is one of the only sector
where the origins doesn’t matter, rules are the same for everyone, does this fact also plays on the
sport consumer or does the identification expectations are still different?
Through a qualitative analysis, the main objective of the research was to observe some
phenomenons, which are not really measurable, and to determine hypotheses and theories for
future tests.
The first observation was about what was bringing a positive customer feeling on the brand
identity. The observation was supposing that a positive feeling on the brand identity was helping
the customers to identify. That positive feeling can be driven by sponsorship, as it is a goodIII
mode to lead identification process. Embodying the brand and bringing credibility to the brand
through sport involvement is one of the methods to enhance the identification process. That was
the second observation. The next step into this process was the brand identification which can
leads the customer to become loyal. We finally found out that through great customer
experiences, customers can become involved into the brand and then become loyal. The purpose
of this analysis leads to the fact that loyal customers are more willing to buy and they can go
over the price. That’s why they are a considerable importance for brands.
The main findings about the brand are the role played by the brand identity, the brand
architecture and the consumers. Interviews helped in crossing the knowledge shared in the
literature review. The mix of the observations, the interviews and Literature review helped in
determining the best ways to avoid damaging the identification process while managing the brand
portfolio on a given economical context.