Prince Sports Case Study

This case study explores different marketing techniques utilized by Prince sports. Research is conducted by utilizing marketing concepts retrieved from various publications as well as Prince sports website. Evolution in technology, joint ventures and adoption of different marketing techniques proved to be successful for Prince sports. There was an evolution of marketing all together at the height of Prince sports success with the introduction and adoption of social media in the marketplace. Prince sports ability to adapt and make changes based on consumer feedback

The common public goal of the marketing discourse is to attract attention from targeted audiences, in other words make the consumer buy, buy, and buy. In order to achieve these goals I have to execute different marketing strategies with the help of the staff and company executives. Together we brainstorm different marketing trends, design different kinds of ads; analyze social media for more effective ways of advertising and calculate risks based on customer insight. When all is done right the end goal will result an increase of sales revenue for the company, which will sharpen its image and name.

This new concept became essential after a meticulous work in gathering information about general consumer’s needs. Marketing team has reached out to a younger generation though different channels of social media and social network such as Facebook, be it Twitter, MySpace and then internationally, High Five and Orchid (Video Case 9) to understand what type of technological breakthrough will satisfy potential customers’ need. Prince Sports, Inc Marketing team work directly with R&D team to combine and collaborate marketing knowledge and technological ability. Together these two teams have created an evolutionary O3 technology with a 24 percent faster swing speed than traditional frames. The explanation of why their technology works better than other brands is pretty simple: “The secret is in the holes”. Like all world-changing innovations, O3 technology is based on an ingeniously simple idea. By replacing traditional pin sized string holes with massive O-ports, Prince Sports created a class of racquets that move through the air faster for increase power and greater control. (Tennis Express, Online Store, http://www.tennisexpress.com).

For many companies, sales figures are usually a measure success, tennis is no exception. In North America, tennis can be measured by the annual racket and tennis ball sales (Heitner, 2015). Prince Sports, a sports racquet company, has several different product lines. Their Prince brand serves tennis, squash, and badminton players. Racquet ball players may recognize the Ektelon brand and the Viking product line equips platform or table tennis players. Prince Sport’s tennis line consists of over 150 different racquet models, more than 50 different tennis string variants, footwear, apparel, and countless types of bags. Prince Sports has prided themselves on their history of developing innovative items such as the first oversize long

Golf ball manufacturers would be looking to achieve several key strategic goals, such as increased sales, increased market share and / or increased profitability, to adopt and implement PI’s technology. Accordingly, manufacturers are mainly concerned with the cost and implications on manufacturing, competitor reactions (and customer perception), the forecast growth in the new balls market, the share they could capture and the financial details of agreement.

The U.S. Golf Association (USGA) specified the characteristics of legal balls within tight parameters. These restrictions on size, weight, materials, texture, etc., seemingly left little room for product innovation. In fact, the USGA regulations specified not just what went into a ball, but how it could perform, stipulating to within 10-20 yards how far the ball could travel when hit by a certain type of club traveling at a certain speed, all verified under controlled conditions with robotic testing equipment. Nonetheless, new product introductions were rampant in the industry, with slight changes in surface coatings and dimple patterns, for example, being touted for their ability to add a handful of yards to a golfer’s shots, to give more accuracy, or to create greater control through faster spin on the ball. In addition, ball manufacturers spent millions of dollars on advertising campaigns for their balls. There were three basic types of balls, all conforming to the same general specifications. The oldest technology still in use was the three-piece ball, which consisted of a core, windings, and a cover; this ball was good for spin and overall control. The second, and most popular, type of ball was the twopiece ball, which eliminated the windings of the three-piece ball; this ball produced more distance. The newest technology was the “solid core, multi-layered ball,” which had taken the

This article continues to explain that once a sports marketer creates a product and advertises it on a small scale, “Sports marketers get ahead by gradually representing bigger, more important and more prestigious sports teams, companies, associations, and athletes.” In other words, sports marketers need to have a plan of action to promote their product on a larger scale over time. Also, sports marketers spend much of their planning on the aspect of promotion. Mihai verifies that the category of promotion serves to prove that the product is desirable through advertising, sales, sponsorship and public relations. If a sports marketer follows these planning steps, his/her work will lead to a successful product with a large margin of profit.

If this technology were universally adopted by all manufacturers, there may be benefit to the industry as a whole. However, value brand manufacturers feel that brand image might be tarnished by concern about consumer’s “infringement on their access to cheap used balls.” Additionally, high-end manufacturers’ sales, which represent 67% of total new balls market, will be reluctant to adopt the technology due the belief that the consumers may buy new value brand golf balls rather than their own premium brand golf balls.

Main Idea: This article discusses the transformations of strategic marketing. Marketing is not what one initially assumes it is, and with the technological changes and innovations coming about, marketing has faced several barriers and future impact.

Nike’s main strategy revolves around product branding. Their brand compromises of a swoosh logo which is accompanied by a message of “just do it”. The logo was imprinted on all of their products with the message developed to express the individuality of their target group. The branding was further promoted by Nike’s relentless approach on the quality of their product as demonstrated when considering overseas business opportunities, quality must not be compromised in order to do so. This ensures consumer satisfaction and loyalty towards Nike.

Nike must cater to a large portion of the new generation that demands the latest trends and styles. Nike should take into account the changing US demographics due to the rising proportion of Hispanics, Asians, and African Americans. These groups have different preferences that Nike should be able to satisfy. Nike should identify the next generation of loyal customers and provide for their needs.

Repositioning the product into new markets is another way in which a company is able to increase brand equity. The market which the company has positioned their product typically will not represent all possible segments that make up the entire market (Keller, 1998). This means that there are opportunities available to target the markets that the product has not been present in. To target these new markets requires the alteration of the current marketing program to appeal more to the consumers within the market that the company is trying to capture. Reaching out to these new market segments will provide growth to the brand equity as new consumers begin to purchase the product. However it may be the case that a company will decide to exit from the market segment that has been supporting the brand in the past, in favour of targeting another more lucrative market segment (Cravens, 1997). It may be that in order to target the new market, the marketing could alienate those consumers who have traditionally purchased the product. However if the benefit of gaining a share in the new market is greater than the cost of losing the existing market

Marketing activities do not take place in a vacuum, and in developing the marketing mix the marketing environment must be taken into account. There may be legal/morale restrictions on advertising, for example cigarette companies are governed by huge restrictions on advertising their product, so they must find legal and morale ways of gaining consumer awareness. Also certain products have to pass health and safety standards, especially children's toys. In order to do this the design may have to be changed slightly, possibly moving away from the aim of consumer satisfaction. This suggests that it may be difficult and sometimes impossible to maintain the aim of consumer satisfaction, as there may be external factors prohibiting it. However it is the consumer who will inevitably decide the fate of a company, so a firm would do well to conduct its marketing activities as best it can with the consumer central and maintain a close and watchful eye on the dynamic nature of the macroenviroment and microenviroment.

By marketing environment, we mean both the macro-environment surrounding the industry and the task environment in which the organisation intimately operates. The macro-environment consists of the large scale forces and factors influencing the company’s future over which the company has very little control. These forces are normally divided into economic-demographic factors, technological factors, political-legal factors, and social-cultural factors. The marketing auditor’s task is to assess the key trends and their implications for company marketing action.

Marketing environment is in relation to the marketing organization, its internal environment, microenvironment, and macro-environment. In the macro- environment, we identified several forces at play – political, economic, sociocultural, technological and legal (commonly referred to as the PESTL model).