Journal of Sport and Applied Science

Korean Sports Science Association (한국스포츠과학회)
권호 표지
DOI QR코드

DOI QR Code

Managing Relationship Marketing between Football Club Organization, Players, and the Fans Club Community

  • Hidayat, Z. (Communication Department, BINUS Graduate Program, Bina Nusantara University) ;
  • Bagastara, Ian (Communication Department, BINUS Graduate Program, Bina Nusantara University) ;
  • Irawan, Rahmat Edi (Communication Department, BINUS Graduate Program, Bina Nusantara University)
  • Received : 2021.09.25
  • Accepted : 2022.06.30
  • Published : 2022.06.30
Download PDF
⟨ Previous Next ⟩

Abstract

Purpose: This research aims to analyze the relationship marketing between football club organizations, players, and the fans club community. Research design, data, and methodology: An ethnographic approach was used to observe for eight months in the community, interviews, and documents analysis in Bonek Mania community fans club and Persebaya, a football club management in Surabaya, Indonesia. Results: The results show that the management of the football club has maintained the football high-end brand image in the national league. Stakeholders have endeavored to build the values and shared meaning with the public and cohesively with Bonek Mania. The struggles and achievements are intended to maintain the local collective memory of Surabaya's patriotism as the "city of heroes." Sustainable relationships were built by professional football club managers, players, and the fans club to foster the spirit, economic resources, and sustainable development. Conclusions: This research implies that it can provide direction for the management of football clubs by paying attention to relationship marketing, developing unique local values to build the customers' loyalty. Further implications were discussed.

Keywords

References

  1. Aaker, D. A., & Joachimsthaler, E. (2000). The brand relationship spectrum: The key to the brand architecture challenge. California Management Review, 42(4), 8-23. https://doi.org/10.1108/10610420810856468.
  2. Abosag, I., Roper, S., & Hind, D. (2012). Examining the relationship between brand emotion and brand extension among supporters of professional football clubs. European Journal of Marketing, 46(9), 1233-1251. https://doi.org/10.1108/030905612112-47810.
  3. Al-Zyoud, M. F. (2018). Social media marketing, functional branding strategy and intentional branding. Problems and Perspectives in Management, 16(3), 102-116. https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=681413. https://doi.org/10.21511/ppm.16(3).2018.09
  4. Alonso-Dos-Santos, M., Moreno, F. C., & Alguacil, M. (2019). Brand image transfer from team to sponsor: how effective is it to sponsor a football team with little success? International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 19(5-6), 371-388. DOI: 10.1504/IJSMM.2019.104158
  5. Arai, A., Ko, Y. J., & Ross, S. (2014). Branding athletes: Exploration and conceptualization of athlete brand image. Sport Management Review, 17(2), 97-106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smr.2013.04.003.
  6. Berry, L. L., & Seltman, K. D. (2007). Building a strong services brand: Lessons from Mayo Clinic. Business Horizons, 50(3), 199-209. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2007.01.005.
  7. Bodet, G., & Chanavat, N. (2010). Building global football brand equity: Lessons from the Chinese market. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 22(1), 55-66. https://doi.org/10.1108/13555851011013155.
  8. Buil, I., Catalan, S., & Martinez, E. (2016). The importance of corporate brand identity in business management: An application to the UK banking sector. BRQ Business Research Quarterly, 19(1), 3-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brq.2014.11.001.
  9. Carling, C., Wright, C., Nelson, L. J., & Bradley, P. S. (2014). Comment on 'Performance analysis in football: A critical review and implications for future research'. Journal of Sports Sciences, 32(1), 2-7. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2013.807352.
  10. Cayolla, R., & Loureiro, S. M. C. (2014). Fans club brand relationship: football passion. International Journal of Business and Globalisation 10, 12(1), 82-97. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJBG.2014.058032.
  11. Conejo, F. J. (2021). What is brand personality? A historical and prescriptive account. Journal of Brand Strategy, 9(4), 466-477. https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/hsp/jbs/2021/
  12. Defrianto, B., Rahayu, T., & Hidayah, T. (2021). Characteristics of Bobotoh Football Supporters in Providing Militant Support to PERSIB. Journal of Physical Education and Sports, 10(2), 165-170. https://doi.org/10.15294/JPES.V10I2.45759.
  13. Delia, E. B., & Katz, M. (2019). Becoming fans abroad: a qualitative study of soccer fan socialisation. International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 19(5-6), 313-329. DOI: 10.1504/IJSMM.2019.104144
  14. Ferrari, S. (2019). Traditional and mediatized soccer fanship: the case of Indonesian Juventus' supporters. Soccer & Society, 20(3), 528-542. https://doi.org/10.1080/14660970.2017.1357032.
  15. Fillis, I., & Mackay, C. (2014). Moving beyond fan typologies: The impact of social integration on team loyalty in football. Journal of Marketing Management, 30(3-4), 334-363. https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257X.2013.813575.
  16. Fournier, S., Dobscha, S., & Mick, D. G. (1998). The premature death of relationship marketing. Harvard Business Review, 76(1), 42-51. https://hbr.org/1998/01/preventing-the-premature-death-of-relationship-marketing
  17. Gladden, J. M., & Funk, D. C. (2002). Developing an understanding of brand associations in team sport: Empirical evidence from consumers of professional sport. Journal of Sport management, 16(1), 54-81. https://doi.org/10.1123/ jsm.16.1.54
  18. Gaurav, K. (2008). Impact of relationship marketing strategy on customer loyalty. The Icfaian Journal of Management Research, 7(11), 7-21. https://ssrn.com/abstract=1303347.
  19. Gobo, G., & Marciniak, L. T. (2011). Ethnography. Qualitative research, 3(1), 15-36.
  20. Hammersley, M. (2006). Ethnography: problems and prospects. Ethnography and education, 1(1), 3-14. https://doi.org/10.1080/174578205-00512697.
  21. Hedlund, D. P. (2014). Creating value through membership and participation in sport fan consumption communities. European Sport Management Quarterly, 14(1), 50-71. https://doi.org/10.1080/16184742.2013.865775.
  22. Jensen, J. A., & Head, D. (2020). An advancement in the study of marketing partnership longevity: analysing sport sponsorship survival. International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 20(1-2), 64-91. DOI: 10.1504/IJSMM.2020.109761
  23. Kapareliotis, I., & Voutsina, K. (2020). The role of patriotism in the city-brand-sport-event relationship. International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 20(1-2), 118-130. DOI: 10.1504/IJSMM.2020.109766
  24. Keshtidar, M., Sahebkaran, M., Talebpour, M., & Kalashi, M. (2018). Investigating the effect of brand identity and character on brand loyalty of football team fans. International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 18(1-2), 105-115. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJSMM.2018.091344.
  25. Kim, Y. D., Kim, Y., Magnusen, M. J., & Kim, D. (2020). Relationships as strategic assets: a sport fan equity approach. International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 20(1-2), 47-63. DOI: 10.1504/IJSMM.2020.109764
  26. Knox, S., & Gruar, C. (2007). The application of stakeholder theory to relationship marketing strategy development in a nonprofit organization. Journal of Business Ethics, 75(2), 115-135. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9258-3
  27. Leitao, J., & Baptista, J. (2019). Intellectual capital assets and brand value of English football clubs. International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 19(1-2), 8-34. DOI: 10.1504/IJSMM.2019.097002
  28. Lillis, T. (2008). Ethnography as method, methodology, and "Deep Theorizing" closing the gap between text and context in academic writing research. Written communication, 25(3), 353-388. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741088308-319229.
  29. Linsner, A., Sotiriadou, P., Hill, B., & Hallmann, K. (2021). Athlete brand identity, image and congruence: a systematic literature review. International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 21(1-2), 103-133. DOI:10.1504/IJSMM.2021.114166
  30. Maderer, D., & Holtbrugge, D. (2019). International activities of football clubs, fan attitudes, and brand loyalty. Journal of Brand Management, 26(4), 410-425. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41262-018-0136-y.
  31. Mastromartino, B., Zhang, J. J., & Wann, D. L. (2020). Managerial perspectives of fan socialisation strategies for marketing to new NHL fans. Journal of Brand Strategy, 8(4), 359-367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2012.04.016.
  32. Mazzei, L. C., Moraes, I. F., Carlassara, E. D. O. C., & Jr, A. J. R. (2020). Football in Brazil: what brings fans/consumers to stadiums and arenas in the city of Sao Paulo. International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 20(3-4), 193-210. DOI: 10.1504/IJSMM.2020.110834
  33. McAlexander, J. H., Schouten, J. W., & Koenig, H. F. (2002). Building brand community. Journal of Marketing, 66(1), 38-54. https://doi.org/10.1509/ jmkg.66.1.38.18451
  34. Muniz, A. M., & O'guinn, T. C. (2001). Brand community. Journal of Consumer Research, 27(4), 412-432. https://doi.org/10.1086/319618.
  35. Naidenova, I., Parshakov, P., & Chmykhov, A. (2016). Does football sponsorship improve company performance? European Sport Management Quarterly, 16(2), 129-147. https://doi.org/10.1080/16184742.2015.1124900.
  36. Nocker, M. (2015). An ethnography of English football fans. Cans, cops and carnivals. Series: New Ethnographies. Journal of Organizational Ethnography, 4(1), 132-133. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOE-12-2014-0042.
  37. Numerato, D. (2016). Behind the digital curtain: Ethnography, football fan activism and social change. Qualitative Research, 16(5), 575-591. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794115611207.
  38. Payne, A., & Frow, P. (2017). Relationship marketing: looking backwards towards the future. Journal of Services Marketing, 31(1), 11-15. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-11-2016-0380
  39. Rice, J. A., Hambrick, M. E., & Greenwell, T. C. (2019). Mass participant sport event brand associations: An analysis of two event categories. International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 19(5-6), 330-351. DOI: 10.1504/IJSMM.2019.104146
  40. Rohman, F. (2019). Enhancing loyalty: Improving the experience quality of Indonesian football club fans. Journal Aplikasi Manajement, 17(3), 464-470. http://dx.doi.org/10.21776/ub.jam.2019.017.03.10.
  41. Scelles, N., & Andreff, W. (2019). Determinants of national men's football team performance: a focus on goal difference between teams. International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 19(5-6), 407-424. DOI: 10.1504/IJSMM.2019.104168.
  42. Sorce, G. (2019). Institutional ethnography for communication and media research. The Communication Review, 22(4), 296-308. https://doi.org/10.1080/10714421.2019.1659703
  43. Srivastava, R. K. (2019). Rebuilding a global brand under crisis-case of a global brand Maggi. International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing, 13(2), 118-139. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPHM-02-2018-0008.
  44. Stander, F. W., & De Beer, L. T. (2016). Engagement as a source of positive consumer behaviour: A study amongst South African football fans. South African Journal for Research in Sport, Physical Education and Recreation, 38(2), 187-200. https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC192938.
  45. Steinhoff, L., Arli, D., Weaven, S., & Kozlenkova, I. V. (2019). Online relationship marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 47(3), 369-393. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-018-0621-6
  46. Tan, C. C., & Apisit-Isariyah, P. (2018). Towards a community-based theory of brand community engagement. Advanced Science Letters, 24(7), 5167-5170. https://doi.org/10.1166/asl.2018.11296.
  47. Tsiotsou, R. H. (2013). Sport team loyalty: integrating relationship marketing and a hierarchy of effects. Journal of Services Marketing, 27(6), 458-471. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-01-2012-0002.
  48. Vallerand, R. J., Ntoumanis, N., Philippe, F. L., Lavigne, G. L., Carbonneau, N., Bonneville, A., Lagace-Labonte, C., & Maliha, G. (2008). On passion and sports fans: A look at football. Journal of Sports Sciences, 26(12), 1279-1293. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640410802123185.
  49. Wright, C., Carling, C., Lawlor, C., & Collins, D. (2016). Elite football player engagement with performance analysis. International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport, 16(3), 1007-1032. https://doi.org/10.1080/24748668.2016.11868945.
  50. Zhang, J. Z., Watson Iv, G. F., Palmatier, R. W., & Dant, R. P. (2016). Dynamic relationship marketing. Journal of Marketing, 80(5), 53-75. https://doi.org/10.1509/jm.15.0066.