Philadelphia Phillies Case

Summary

Chapters ten and eleven of Marketing: The Core revolves around developing business products and services. The chapters go into specifics as to why and how they are applied in a variety of different business. Chapter ten starts off by illustrating Apple’s innovative products such as the MacBook Air and the iPod line. Then, products and services are brought into play. The chapter differentiates the difference between a product, which is a good or idea, and a service, which are activities and benefits that are provided in order to accompany a customer’s needs. The chapter also explains why products and services succeed or fail, and how this could happen. The end of Chapter ten is wrapped up by explaining the steps of the New-Product Process, broken down into seven key stages. 

Chapter eleven illustrates the product life cycle and the stages a new product must go through in the marketplace. The next few pages explain how the cycle works, how to manage it, and the different stages. Action must be taken in order to keep the product services running. The following paragraphs explain the steps to take in order to modify the market, reposition the product, and how brands come into play in businesses. There are different branding strategies and different ways to start a new one. To wrap up the chapter, marketing services steps are carefully drawn out. Promotion (like adding premium MLB categories), productivity, place, and environment are all parts of why it is so important to make the right choices regarding business and marketing.

Tie to Class

In class, the same sections were reviewed, but more in-depth. I learned about different businesses and how they were run, and how products and services are a very big deal to businesses, and how they affect them. Services, however, are different and are actual actions made in order to help accompany customers. We discussed the product life cycle and how products and brands help affect the marketplace depending on how they are used.

Case Questions & Outside Sources

1. a. The product that the Phillies market is their baseball team and getting people to come to the games.

b. Phillies are careful not to market their losing games.

2. The dimension differs because the people attending Phillies games depends more on their winning streak and how well they may be playing that season. When it isn’t baseball season, money is not being made. For cereal, it is more of a constant, expected amount of consumers because cereal is offered year-round.

3. a. Some likely characteristics of a social networking Phillies fan would be pictures of the Phillies, pictures while with friends and family at the games and status updates about heading to the game. According to Statistic Brain, “fifty-six percent of people in the world have a profile on any social networking site”. That is more than half the people in the world, which proves that social networking is a quick and easy way to advertise and get the word out to the public.

b. The Phillies’ Facebook fan page should include pictures that the mascot has taken with fans, schedules of the when games are being played in the stadium, and promotional events that fans would be interested in. 

4. The Phillies should use public relations during the season because it would help reach out to the public and the fan base more. Off-season, personal selling should be used because it can target fans who want to purchase merchandise that the Phillies may offer but isn’t as widespread considering tickets are not being sold.

5. The Phillies could have Kid’s Days for children fourteen and under, Mother’s and Father’s discount days for children fifteen and older who may want to take their parents or vice versa, and perhaps a promotional event once a month that might sponsor a campaign or a good cause such as curing breast cancer for special fan segments, and events applicable to all fans could be discounts for holidays. According to the Sport Journal, “…promotion and sponsorship strategies, with the practical implementation thereof on the example of one of the most profitable events in the sense of advertising…” Promotional events help spread the word about the company or business, and also offers good deals for sports fans and other fan bases that vary from company to company. People love to get a good discount on events and outings, and when a special holiday or a campaign is being funded, it will become even more attractive to them.

References

Browser Media, Socialnomics, MacWorld. (November 12, 2012). Statistic Brain. Retrieved from: http://www.statisticbrain.com/social-networking-statistics/

Lee, Johnny K. (n.d.) The Sport Journal. Retrieved from: http://www.thesportjournal.org/article/marketing-and-promotion-olympic-games