Marketing in sport: the new jobs

The sports market is experiencing a major transformation with new technologies.

"The transformation and digitalization of the economy are shaking up the knowledge acquired and giving rise to new professions in sports management and marketing," said Baptiste Tricoire, head of Kotelo Conseil, Futurist Speaker and professor in various MBAs at a conference at the Eduniversal 2017 exhibition of the Best Masters and MBAs.

With technological change, connected stadiums or "e-stadiums" appear, real marketing, the use and exploitation of Big Data, virtual or augmented reality, the development of "e-sport" with video games around sport, "home watching" with match broadcasts, marketing content... These activities all create new business and new development axes.

"The exponential growth of digital in modern society is hugely impacting the marketing strategy of sports clubs. It also gives rise to a new way of consuming sport with "home watching". It's often easier for a fan to watch a match comfortably seated in his sofa. You should know that 57% of fans prefer to watch the games at home" explains Baptiste TRICOIRE. He also mentions "the emergence of new technologies that allow consumers to have an immersive and stadium-like experience at home while developing a package of associated services with high commercial value, such as changing camera angles, controlling food from the TV, using 3D and sharing content.

The creation of content (videos, websites, applications...) reveals new needs and brings together a large number of specialists such as IT developers, video editors, social media managers, web marketers, data analysts and scientists, network infrastructure managers, security specialists. As for the traditional communication and marketing professions, they are constantly reinventing themselves with digitalisation.

E-sport

With revenue generated by e-sport in France estimated at 22.4 million US dollars in 2016 and a growth rate of 14%, the authors of a study conducted by Paypal and Superdata estimate that e-sport in France will weigh nearly 26 million dollars by 2017 and 28.8 by 2019. Today, football clubs like the PSG hire players who compete in virtual national competitions and thus facilitate the emergence of markets which are secondary to traditional football while generating new revenues which didn't exist 5 years ago.

Stadium experience

Referring to the "fan experience", Baptiste TRICOIRE explains that American stadiums now have new functions: "More than a sports stadium, the stadium is for clubs a real tool where technology radically changes the way the spectator interacts with the sports show that takes place before his eyes. The major challenges are therefore no longer simply to offer the fan a seat but to maintain the attractiveness of the stadiums, by offering a unique and connected experience in the sports arena.

While the men are watching the games, the children can play and the women can go shopping on the grounds. Spectators have the opportunity to buy a digital ticket with an extensive offer: access to the cameras, listening to the coach, possibility of changing seats, targeted discounts.

"The digitalization of stadiums offers clubs the possibility to intelligently use data by targeting each consumer to create a unique customer experience and increase sales while building customer profiles segmented by interests to create new partnerships (luxury brand advertising for VIPs, bar discounts, discount on a jersey, additional personalized content...), comments the expert.

New job opportunities

Whether for "home watching", "stadium experience" or the creation of a mobile application, many professions are involved. Marketing strategists think strategically, developers and UX designers create the interface, CIOs manage the associated IT architecture, Big Data specialists extract and store data and analysts qualify it for better targeting and segmented content creation.

Three types of professions are emerging in this 3.0 sports marketing: content creation (content marketer, developer, Ux designer, programmer), digital marketing (web marketer, digital specialist), and data collection and analysis (Big Data, Data analyst, Data scientist).

In addition to the anticipation of the market, Baptiste TRICOIRE reminds us of the skills necessary to work in sales and sports marketing: mastery of English, flexibility (international mobility), versatility, communication, organisation, understanding of legal environments, permanent development of its network. He advises future graduates not to forget volunteering, which is an excellent networking tool and an opportunity to acquire new skills at an international event.