Successful marketing is like following the endless cycles of the moon
ON THE LOOKOUT for opportunities, marketers are always aiming to find out what sport fans are up to by listening to social messages. They make sure their marketing energies align with the way they are connecting with information collectively provided by sport fans.
One needs no evidence that winning or losing affects fans’ moods and behaviour, in and out the game.
Take one sport as an example. Thai boxing, if we still dare to call it a sport, is influenced by opportunities for online betting. It’s not a matter of how or if – everybody knows it is there.
Betting has never been made legal in this country, but the good thing about the Thai sports market is that when it comes to something fans or anyone else feel is over-regulated, or that their passions are prohibited, they will always find a way around it. And that’s how marketers translate so-called passions into an approach by which new audiences grow.
Like the phases of the moon, sport is subject to cyclical changes and sport markets are affected the results of each game. Connecting fans to a particular team whether it wins or loses is one marketing tactic. Without knowing the results, hopes and desires are already hyped up, and many marketers get their messages across and start taking action.
There are plenty of platforms to use in this “4.0 era”. Nevertheless, even if there were no such era, gambling has been with us since the beginning of time. We just need to know where to turn.
KULDEJ SINTHAWANARONG is principal of the Jarken Group of companies.
