We divided CBR into five market segments: riders, stock contractors, older age groups,
younger age groups, and families. We felt that these five segments would have the most potential
in recruiting to become CBR fans.
Fans come to the rodeo for entertainment, and largely this entertainment is based around
the bull riders. If it were not for these riders the quality of bulls would not matter, nor would the
event even exist. Ensuring that CBR has the top riders in the industry is a key for drawing a large
audience, but more so, for capturing the demographic of cowboys and aspiring riders. Every
middle school, high school, or university basketball player has their favorite NBA stars; this is
no different in bull riding. Top riders such as Matt Austin and BJ Schumacher do not only
entertain, they provide CBR with a marketing tool to capture a wider range of loyal fans. In
addition, not only do cowboys and amateur riders look up to these stars, but many aspire to be
them. This in turn provides CBR with a wide array of potential future riders to choose from
ensuring CBR has first choice on emerging talent. Due to this, capturing the demographic of both
professional and amateur riders is a must.
When it comes to bull riding nobody knows bull better than the contractors. The CBR
knows the significance of maintaining status. Status comes from having the best bulls. The CBR
currently works with 12 stock contractors to maintain the superior bucking bulls in their shows.
These breeders range from longtime breeder Lyndal Hurst who owns sires like Houdini, Skat
Kat, and M-17 to breeders like Owen Washburn. This segment of the CBR market is crucial for
the business. The CBR must have a sustainable relationship with contractors. When creating
these relationships the CBR must be very selective. Their goal is to solicit interest from as many
of the best breeders as possible so they can choose the best for their show. The CBR wants a
large selection when it comes to the stock contractors, so making sure their shows are drawing
interest from fans and contractors alike is a top priority for sustaining the status of the champion
bulls. Superior bulls come from a select segment of contractors.
The third segment that the CBR should focus on is the older rodeo fans. Older rodeo fans
are more likely to enjoy the classic aspects of the rodeo, such as the bull riding and historical
parts of the sport. They are probably not going to enjoy other, more contemporary attempts at
entertaining as much. By using age as a basis of demographic segmentation, we can see that the
older fans, or baby boomers, are part of a large and lucrative market. This age groups accounts
for fifty percent of the discretionary income in the United States. So, these older fans have more
money to spend that the younger fans do. In order for the CBR to make more money off of these
older fans, we have to figure out a way to make our shows cater to their needs.
Baby boomers are often nostalgic, so if we were to find a way to make them relate the CBR
shows to their past, they will probably enjoy it more. At the CBR shows, we could play some
older country music in between the different riders and we could also have a segment of the
show where we will play a movie clip of an old, famous bull rider. We can also sell merchandise
that they would like, like belt buckles or hats, with classic rodeo styles. By catering to the needs
of these older fans, we are sure to secure them in our fan base.
The last one of our segmentations for CBR is families. We chose to market families
because CBR offers and environment for all ages to enjoy. There is no age requirement and in
comparison to taking family trips it’s relatively cheap being only $35.00 per person. Considering
today’s economy it’s hard for families to find reasonably priced entertainment, this offers a great
alternative because it’s local, but it’s not something that we have access to on a daily basis.
Generally a family consists of two incomes, so they have a higher disposable income than other
segments, making them more attractive as a target market.
If we can market effectively to these segments CBR will greatly benefit from our
research. We chose these five broad segments because we feel that having fewer segments gives
us the opportunity to focus more closely on each segment but its general enough that we are not
excluding others in the process.