Economic Utility in
Sports & Entertainment
Marketing
How do we add value?
Written by: Memory Reed
Georgia CTAE Resource Network 2010
Economic Utility

What is it?
 Adding value to goods and
services
 Increasing customer benefits from
their purchases of goods and
services
 Making goods and services more
useful
Economic Utility and Sports &
Entertainment Marketing

How do we add value to sports &
entertainment marketing?


Make the event an “experience”
Do more than just play the game or put on the
show - have contests, have activities for fans
to be involved in, give them more than just the
“show”
Why Should We Add Value?



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Increase Sales to Increase Profit
Why increase profit? The purpose of
business is give the owners a profit.
How does adding value increase profit?
What is the motive to increase value? To
increase profit. The profit motive is what
drives our economy.
Forms of Economic Utility
Form Utility (Production)
 Place Utility (Marketing)
 Time Utility (Marketing)
 Information Utility (Marketing)
 Possession Utility (Marketing)

Form Utility in S&E Marketing

What is form utility in S&E Marketing?
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The production
The sports event (the game)
The entertainment event (the show)
Production process of the memorabilia
Production process of the clothing lines (tshirt, jersey, hat, costume, etc.)
Can you think of any other form utilities in
S&E?
Place Utility in S&E Marketing

What is place utility in S&E Marketing?
 Having the event at a convenient location
for customers to attend
 Having the event at a “cool” location for
customers to attend
 Having the event in a location that is large
enough
 Having the event in a location that is
comfortable
 Can you think of any other place utilities in
S&E?
Time Utility in S&E Marketing

What is time utility in S&E Marketing?

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Having the event available at a convenient time
Having the event at the right time of year for the type
of event
Promoting the event during the right time of year for
the event (ex. light display during the holidays,
haunted house during October, baseball games
during the spring & summer)
Can you think of any other time utilities in S&E?
Information Utility in S&E
Marketing

What is information utility in S&E Marketing?
 Getting information to the customers about the
product or service by advertising and
promotions
 During events give information about
upcoming events
 Make each event so much fun for the
customers that they want to come back
 Can you think of any other information utilities
in S&E?
Possession Utility in S&E
Marketing

What is possession utility in S&E marketing?
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Adding value by making it easy for the customer to
possess the product
Allowing the customer to pay with various types of
payment (PayPal,Credit Cards, Debit Cards, etc.)
Running promotional packages that make it easier to
purchase
Making tickets available a long time in advance so
customers can raise the money
Can you think of any other possession utilities in S&E?
Activity


Turn to your partner and brainstorm 5
ways your favorite sports team or
entertainer (entertainment venue) can or
do use each of the utilities. Write 5 for
each utility as well as the team or
entertainer/venue on a piece of paper to
turn in.
When everyone is done, each team will
stand and give their top use for each
utility.
The End!