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Segmenting initial fans of a new team: A taxonomy of sport early adopters
Author(s) -
McDonald Heath,
Leckie Civilai,
Karg Adam,
ZubcevicBasic Nives,
Lock Daniel
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of consumer behaviour
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.811
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 1479-1838
pISSN - 1472-0817
DOI - 10.1002/cb.1558
Subject(s) - marketing , advertising , loyalty , context (archaeology) , entertainment , sports marketing , identification (biology) , crowds , fandom , diversity (politics) , market segmentation , business , sociology , relationship marketing , computer science , political science , marketing management , geography , botany , computer security , archaeology , anthropology , law , media studies , biology
Marketers are interested in the first buyers of new products, given their important role in driving wider community adoption. This is especially the case for new entertainment products, like new or relocated sports teams who must quickly build fan connections and loyalty, given the importance of crowds and social networks in adding value to the entertainment experience. Fans choose to connect with sports teams for numerous reasons; however, fan development in the context of a new team has rarely been examined. This paper examines the diversity and similarity among inaugural fans of an expansion team. A large sample ( n = 1724) was classified into five segments revealing how each varies in their brand associations, satisfaction, identification and involvement. By analysing key dimensions (relationship identifiers) that characterise how consumers connect with a new team, the authors provide new insights about the nature of consumers in the context of a new sports team. Furthermore, the five segments were found to be distinct cohorts, with sufficient variation between them to warrant variant marketing approaches to achieve the outcome of committed, long‐term fans. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.