THE NATIONAL SCHOOL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AND

ADMINISTRATION

FACULTY OF COMMUNICATION AND PUBLIC

RELATIONSHIP

A communication strategy for the Romanian

rugby federation

Scientific coordinator:
Professor PhD Denisa Oprea

Graduate:
Relea Alexandru

Bucharest
2019
Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 2
Chapter 1................................................................................................................................................. 3
Communication and marketing in sports ............................................................................................... 3
1.1 Marketing Strategy ................................................................................................................. 3
1.2 Communication Strategy ........................................................................................................ 4
1.3 Promotional mix: Advertising, public relations, sponsorships, direct marketing, press, social
media 4
Chapter 2................................................................................................................................................. 6
S.W.O.T. Analysis ................................................................................................................................ 6
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................... 7
Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................ 8

1
 Introduction

The American Marketing Association offers the following formal definition:

“Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating,
delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and
society at large.”
Specialists appreciate that the marketing mix is one of the oldest and most useful
marketing concepts in its simplicity attributed to Niel Borden, who admits to borrowing the
idea from another Harvard Business School professor James Cullinton. He initially identifies
12 elements of the marketing mix that act on the market in a coherent and unitary way: product,
price, brand, distribution, personal sales, advertising, promotion, packaging, display, services,
physical handling or logistics and marketing research. Also, he talks about the forces which the
marketer has to research and analyze in order to have a good and successful marketing mix
which are: consumer behavior, trade behavior, competition positioning and governmental
behavior. (Borden,1984)
According to Philip Kotler (2008):” The marketing mix is the set of controllable
variables that the firm can use to influence the buyer’s response.”

2
 Chapter 1

Communication and marketing in sports

1.1 Marketing Strategy

“Marketing mix is the set of marketing tools that the firm uses to pursue its marketing
objectives in the target market.” (Kotler,2008).
The first thing someone should do either if it is for the short-run or in the long-run is to
have a plan, a strategy. This is also the case for marketing and communication, where you
need a marketing strategy which is a logic system of marketing activities where a company
through the marketing function organizes its activities to achieve a profitable growth in sales
at a marketing mix level, but also, a communication strategy
Segmentation involves an analysis of the nature and composition of a market to identify
groups of potential buyers who have similar needs or characteristics, or display similar
behavior. These groups are known as market segments.
In order to do a segmentation a good marketer should consider the consumer attitude and
lifestyle. According to the VALS framework, there are two groups of people that are arranged
by dimensions. The horizontal dimension represents primary motivations and includes three
distinct types of driving factors. The first one is represented by the drive for knowledge and it
is motivated by ideals, the second factor is success is driven by achievement and the third
driving factor is desire and is motivated by self-expression. The vertical dimension segments
people based on resources such as income, education, self-confidence, intelligence and energy.
(Peter and Olson 2005)
Positioning is how you provide your product or service brand identification as you go
to market. It is the next step after you have determined how to differentiate your product or
service. The belt manufacturer can market itself on the premise that it does not miss delivery
times and that its products are free of flaws. The product is positioned against those of
competitors on the basis of timely delivery and excellence in manufacturing. All of the belt
manufacturer's major marketing efforts should emphasize this positioning in the marketplace.
The implementation of the marketing strategy depends of the company power of
adaptation to the marketing environment, because of its dynamicity and interactivity, this
adaptation could have positive or negative effects on the company. So, the marketing
environment can lead to opportunities to gain new clients or to increase the satisfaction of
existing one or the threat to lose clients not being able to adapt to the market. It is not only

3
enough to have good strategies and to know the market it is very important to adapt to the
environment and satisfy as better as a company can the needs of the customers. (Burnet,2008)

1.2 Communication Strategy

In order to develop a healthy and profitable communication strategy

1.3 Promotional mix: Advertising, public relations, sponsorships, direct

marketing, press, social media

Promotion policy is another key factor of the marketing mix, as defined by the business
dictionary promotion as: “the set of rules and guidelines set forth by a company or organization
that outlines how employees are to interact with potential customers in the promotion of a good
or service. The promotion policy helps the company keep control of the message it is sending
about the good or service, as well as to dictate appropriate actions that employees can take
when dealing with outside personnel.”
Marketing communication is the exchange of information between individuals involved
in the marketing process. These individuals are not only marketers but also clients or people
that heard about the product or service. It is represented by all form of messages which involves
the buying or selling process. Promotion usually involves a one way about goods and services
that marketers want to inform the public and make them buy. For this purpose, marketers use
the following marketing tools: personal selling, public relations, advertising, sales promotion
and direct marketing.
According to American Marketing Association: "advertising is any paid form of
nonpersonal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods and services by an identified sponsor”.
Advertising is used for communicating business information to the present and prospective
customers. It usually provides information about the advertising firm, its product qualities,
place of availability of its products. The best way to get your message across and to reach the
public are television advertisement, online advertising, mobile advertising, outdoor
advertising, radio advertisement newspaper and magazines advertisement.
Public relations are planned and sustained efforts to establish and maintain goodwill
and mutual understanding between an organization and the public. Good relations are
developed with companies' various public audiences by obtaining favorable publicity, building
up corporate image and handling of unfavorable rumors, stories and events (Kotler and
Armstrong, 2011). Also, public relations are the effort directed towards motivating and
influencing customers primarily through the media, to make them think twice about an

4
organization, to respect and to support during difficult periods of time.
Sales promotion are short-term incentive in order to encourage the purchase a product
or a service. Marketers devise sales promotions to produce immediate sales increases. (Kotler
and Armstrong, 2011). Sales promotion have the role to offer an extra value or incentive for
the product to the sales force, distributors, or the ultimate consumer with the primary objective
of creating an immediate sale. Sales promotion techniques are a tool for marketers to attract
clients the best known are: price-off deals, bonus packs, couponing, premiums, sampling, event
marketing, contest and sweepstakes.
Personal selling is the process of informing customers and persuading them to purchase
products through personal communication. The sales force of a company has the purpose of
making sales and to build customer relationship. Personal selling uses: presentations, trade
shows, and incentive programs in order to sell the products. (Kotler and Armstrong, 2011)
Direct Marketing is the undertaking marketing activity through various advertising
media that interact directly with consumers, generally calling for a consumer to make a direct
response is known as direct marketing. Direct Marketing Channels: direct mail, catalog
marketing, telemarketing, home shopping TV channels. (Kotler and Armstrong, 2011)
Sponsorship represents an investment made by a company for an event, a person or
another company offering support in exchange of using their brand and logos for promotional
purposes. Sponsorship is usually used in sports either by sponsoring a team, a player or an
event. It is used to increase credibility, build awareness and increase the reach of the company.
To achieve a good and efficient effect of the sponsorship, a company must first find someone
who can represent the values and deliver the message of the company in a positive way and
clear way, it also requires exposer to a mass audience. (Learn marketing)
“Branding is the process involved in creating a unique name and image for a product in
the consumers' mind, mainly through advertising campaigns with a consistent theme. Branding
aims to establish a significant and differentiated presence in the market that attracts and retains
loyal customers.” (Business Dictionary)

5
 Chapter 2

Case study: A communication strategy for the Romanian rugby federation.

S.W.O.T. Analysis

Strength
Weakness
Opportunity
Threat

6
Conclusion

7
 Bibliography

American Marketing Association, 2013. Definition of Marketing. AMA. [online] Available at

https://www.ama.org/AboutAMA/Pages/Definition-of-Marketing.aspx , [accessed 10
January 2019].
BussinessDcitionary, [online], Available at: http://www.businessdictionary.com/, [accessed
10 January 2019].
Borden, N., H.,1964, The concept of the marketing mix, Slideshare . Available at:
https://www.slideshare.net/tzoy_eu/borden-1984-the-concept-of-marketing, [accessed 10
January 2019].
Kotler, P 2008. Principles of Marketing. 5th edition. United States of America, Prentice Hall.
Kotler, P., Armstrong, G., 2011. Introduction to Marketing. 12th edition. New Jersey,
Pearson Education.
Learn marketing, The marketing mix, [online] Available at:
http://www.learnmarketing.net/promotion.htm, [accessed 10 January 2019].
Peter, J. P, Olson, J., C.,2005, Consumer behavior and marketing strategy, 7th edition,
McGraw-Hill Irwin.