Purpose – While brand extensions and licensing are two distinct brand strategies, recent literature suggests that licensing be treated as an “external” brand extension. As both of these strategies have the ability to have positive and negative effects on the team's brand it is important to understand if consumers are aware if they are purchasing licensed products or extensions. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine if consumers are aware when a brand extension or licensing situation is present. Design/methodology/approach – This research involved exposing participants to a total of 16 products (eight brand extensions and eight licensed products) and asking participants to indicate who developed the products they were exposed to. Findings – The results suggest that participants had a difficult time correctly identifying team licensed products, while in general they were able to successfully identify team brand extensions. Research limitations/implications – This study provides empirical evidence suggesting that licensed product should not be classified as brand extensions as has been previously suggested. As such, research on brand extensions may not be applicable to licensing and vice versa. Practical implications – As there is some confusion in regards to who is manufacturing team licensed product, it is important that sport properties choose licensees that produce high quality products to limit potential negative effects on their brand. Originality/value – This was the first known study to examine differences in consumer awareness of team brand extensions and licensed products.
The purpose of this study was to empirically examine antecedents of sport consumerbased brand equity in the fitness segment of the sport industry (i.e., participatory sport).The proposed framework consisted of market-induced (e.g. word-of-mouth, electronic word-of-mouth) and organization-induced antecedents (e.g. price, place) that have been theoretically proposed, but not tested. An 18-item paper-based survey was administered to a convenience sample of health club prospects (N= 213). The questionnaire consisted of items measuring price (three items), brand awareness (two items), brand association (three items), electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) (three items), word-of-mouth (WOM) (three items), and place (four items). The relationship between independent (i.e., price, place, WOM, eWOM) and dependent variables (i.e., brand awareness, brand association) within the proposed model were tested using a multiple linear regression analysis (MLR). The results of the proposed model indicated that the four proposed antecedents accounted for a total of 30% of the variance in brand awareness and 14% of the variance in brand association. Specifically, price and WOM were significant predictors of brand awareness as well as brand association. The findings suggest that organization controlled brand strategies such as price, and organic brand communications such as WOM, help shape the perceptions potential health club members have with the health club brand.
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to arrive at a better understanding of the experiences of the women who comprise a distinct National Football League (NFL) women’s only fan club. Design/methodology/approach – A semi-structured focus group interview was conducted and analyzed using margin coding for a NFL fan club. The focus group data were triangulated with secondary sources such as participant observation, field notes, and documents (e.g. web site and written documents from fan club). Findings – The data analysis revealed the following eight themes: philanthropy, team affiliation, events, social media, brand elements, fan identity, apparel, perks. Research limitations/implications – The paper examines the experiences of women fan club members, which could potentially provide the franchise with insights on how to enhance the member experience. While the present study represents only one case, the researchers believe there are key factors to call attention to for NFL marketers considering a brand extension aimed at women. Practical implications – The results provide marketers with useful information to enhance the experience of current women only fan club brand extension and potential future women only fan club brand extensions. Given the increase in NFL fandom among this segment of the population, it will be crucial for NFL marketers to increase their efforts to leverage their respective sport team brands with female fans. Originality/value – The paper is the first to explore the experiences of women fan club members in professional sports.
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