The first module of this Sports Marketing course showcases sports specific marketing. Now, module two will look at the difference between service and product marketing and why sports marketing has some overlap with both of these areas. In module two, we also look at the world of event marketing. One of the interesting things about sports marketing, is that it has the attributes of both traditional service marketing, and traditional product marketing. Let's look at the central tenets of marketing, service and product. Product marketing is a tangible good, like selling a soda. It's a can, you buy it, the next can that you buy it's the same. But you can also have a hybrid over product with a service. Think of a car or computer where you can have it serviced later. Sometimes at service represents a profit margin, so a new car has a very little margin attached to it, but the continuous service represents value. Or you can buy a new refrigerator and the warranty represents additional value for the manufacturer. Service marketing consists of an idea, usually, such as an interest bearing checking account, which by itself is not tangible. But of course there are checks which are tangible and a building, a bank that is real estate. An airline or a health care provider can be a service, yet there is a physical plane or a structure such as a hospital or a doctor's office. There are three different attributes to think about with service marketing, intangibility, inseparability, and variability. Intangibility can be summed up through one of the major cornerstones of marketing, logos. It's very hard to imagine service marketing without logos. When there isn't an actual product, we have logos to stand in. They become metaphors for the service. When you take a look at insurance logos, the umbrella, the hands or the rocks they stand in for the fact that the insurance is not a product that you can touch or feel. Now let's look at the second attribute, inseparability. When you go to have your hair cut the cut you have today isn't the same cut you had the last time. And you can't separate the cut from the actual process and the time that it's actually consumed. In product marketing the product can be bought and used at different times. For many cases you don't actually take use of the service by the time it expires, we call that expiring inventory. So if an airplane takes off and the seat hasn't been sold, then there is no value for that seat, it's expiring inventory. Similarly, if the hotel does not sell the room then it has no value that night. However, think of the soda can that stays on the shelf. It still has value the following day. So product and service marketing have a difference based on their availability over time. Variability is also true. The haircut is different each time, the visit to the lawyer is different each time, the visit to the doctor is different, whereas a soda can stays the same. When you think about how this works for sports marketing, think about the venue. Each time you go to the venue, the venue remains the same, but the game is different. The players and their actions change and you can depend on the outcome. So the service marketing attributes and product marketing attributes coexist in the world of sports marketing. And we have to think about how both characteristics apply. The team logos matter and stand in for the attributes of the team. The game varies every time and the consumption is inseparable from play. Usually you can watch the game on tape delay, then it is available later. In the event you have subscription seats, your seats are the same each time. Perhaps your favorite concession pours the same drink and serves the same food, perhaps you park in the same place. So a game can have attributes of both product and service marketing. It is good to be aware of these traditional marketing crossovers that sports marketing has.
