Full Chapter Sport Branding Insights 1St Edition Stavros PDF

Sport Branding Insights 1st Edition
Stavros
Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://textbookfull.com/product/sport-branding-insights-1st-edition-stavros/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...
Digital Branding Fever 1st Edition Nasos Poulis
https://textbookfull.com/product/digital-branding-fever-1st-
edition-nasos-poulis/
New Technologies and Branding 1st Edition Philippe

Sachetti
https://textbookfull.com/product/new-technologies-and-
branding-1st-edition-philippe-sachetti/
Architectural Technicities A Foray Into Larval Space

1st Edition Stavros Kousoulas
https://textbookfull.com/product/architectural-technicities-a-
foray-into-larval-space-1st-edition-stavros-kousoulas/
Advances in Corporate Branding 1st Edition John M. T.

Balmer
https://textbookfull.com/product/advances-in-corporate-
branding-1st-edition-john-m-t-balmer/
Advanced Methods and Technologies in Metallurgy in
Russia 1st Edition Stavros Syngellakis
https://textbookfull.com/product/advanced-methods-and-
technologies-in-metallurgy-in-russia-1st-edition-stavros-
syngellakis/
Branding the Nation the Place the Product 1st Edition

Ulrich Ermann
https://textbookfull.com/product/branding-the-nation-the-place-
the-product-1st-edition-ulrich-ermann/
Sport Policy Systems and Sport Federations: A Cross-

National Perspective 1st Edition Jeroen Scheerder
https://textbookfull.com/product/sport-policy-systems-and-sport-
federations-a-cross-national-perspective-1st-edition-jeroen-
scheerder/
China Branding Cases from Zhejiang Martin J. Liu
https://textbookfull.com/product/china-branding-cases-from-
zhejiang-martin-j-liu/
International Sport Marketing Routledge Research in

Sport Business and Management 1st Edition Taylor &
Francis Group
https://textbookfull.com/product/international-sport-marketing-
routledge-research-in-sport-business-and-management-1st-edition-
taylor-francis-group/
Sport Branding Insights
In a sporting world dominated by media and money, an understanding

of sport branding is an essential skill for any sport manager. Success
means being able to ‘brand’ – and therefore differentiate – a sport club,
player, code, or event in a highly competitive entertainment market.
For anyone seeking to understand or manage sport, this book offers an
immediate and salient insight into the complex and dynamic process
of creating a powerful sport brand.
The book explains how a sport brand goes beyond just an identi-
fying badge, reinforced by a name or a logo that helps sport consum-
ers recognise a product or an organisation. It reveals how a brand
becomes linked with consumers’ opinions and perceptions of a sport
product and the organisation that owns it. Readers will learn how
to create a powerful brand that has both recognition in the market
and strong associated imagery, by imbuing it with a spirit of the past
through appeals to tradition, by endowing it with human qualities of
emotionality, thought, and volition, and through the use of characters,
colours, texts, and symbols. It also provides a brief guide to the new
domains of digital sport branding and social media.
Concise, informative, and entertaining, this is an essential resource
for anyone exploring or practising the business of sport.
Constantino Stavros is Associate Professor of Marketing at RMIT

University, Australia. He is one of Australia’s leading media commen-
tators on marketing and branding matters. His research interests lie
predominantly at the intersection of consumption and communication.
Aaron C.T. Smith is Professor of Sport Business at the Institute for

Sport Business, Loughborough University London. His research
investigates psychological, organisational, and policy change in sport,
business, health, religion, technology, and society.
Sport Business Insights
Series Editors:
Aaron C.T. Smith, Loughborough University London, UK
Constantino Stavros, RMIT University, Australia
Sport Business Insights is a series that aims to cut through the clutter,
providing concise and relevant introductions to an array of contem-
porary topics related to the business of sport. Readers – including
passionate practitioners, curious consumers, and sport students alike -
will discover direct and succinct volumes, carefully curated to present
a useful blend of practice and theory. In a highly readable format, and
prepared by leading experts, this series shines a spotlight on subjects
of currency in sport business, offering a systematic guide to critical
concepts and their practical application.
Available in this series:

Constantino Stavros and Aaron C.T. Smith
Constantino Stavros
and Aaron C.T. Smith
First published 2020
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2020 Constantino Stavros and Aaron C.T. Smith
The right of Constantino Stavros and Aaron C.T. Smith to be
identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in
accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-0-367-33164-1 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-429-31824-5 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by codeMantra
Contents
The sport of branding 1
1 Understanding sport brands 8
2 Building sport brands 16
3 Mobilising sport brands 34
4 Leveraging sport brands 58
5 Reinventing sport brands 76
Index 93
The sport of branding
Athletes and coaches often refer to the way their team performs as
a ‘brand’ of play. They note that their brand is about entertainment,
physical pressure, attacking flair, or similar descriptors. The co-opting
of the term brand is purposeful in that the athletes and coaches are
seeking to identify something that goes beyond simpler terms like
style, tactics, or function. They are attempting to capture an ethos, a
belief system, and a conglomeration of thinking that connects them to
their fans on a level beyond what is just visible.
This book, however, is not about that sort of branding. While the
brand of the team in a playing sense is fundamental to the entertain-
ment that sport provides billions around the world, the recipe for
sporting success is being forged not on the whiteboards of coaches, but
on those of marketers and sport managers, who understand that in the
high-stakes ‘game of games,’ a long-term brand that remains resilient
and respected is a winner year after year.
This book is also not just about the look, slogan, colours, or name
of a sporting team, league, product, or entity. While those prosaic el-
ements are often regarded as representations of the brand, and often
thought to be the brand, as this book will show branding goes beyond
symbols and logos. A brand is multifaceted and, surprisingly to many,
entirely fluid and enigmatic when it comes to control and ownership.
You can trademark a brand element, but a brand’s value lies not in
the legal paperwork, but in the hearts and minds of the consumers
who interact with its learned and shared meanings, both tangible and
intangible.
In a sporting world dominated by media and money, an understand-
ing of sport branding constitutes an increasingly essential component
in a sport manager’s suite of professional capacities. Success means
being able to ‘brand’ – and therefore differentiate – a sport club, player,
2 The sport of branding
code, product, or event in a highly competitive entertainment market.
Failure means struggling with commercial anonymity and fan disdain.
This book aims to provide an immediate and intuitive insight into the
complex and dynamic process of creating a powerful sport brand.
All brands begin with a complex set of tangible and intangible as-
sociations that exist in the minds of consumers long before they be-
come household icons and shopping centre gridlocks. As such, they
are formed through a combination of various elements and the sub-
sequent associations ascribed to these by sport consumers, or, as they
are more commonly known, fans. These fans, a term literally derived
from the concept of fanaticism, resonate the linkages and associations
that can confer a sporting brand with considerable power.1 Associa-
tions become actionable beliefs about a sport brand, which means that
a brand’s meaning is a measure of its muscle.
There are many ways a brand (and its elements) can be communi-
cated to sport consumers. However, this communication typically falls
under a programme of integrated marketing communications activi-
ties, whereby brand elements are nurtured and developed in order to
bring about desirable and valuable associations between a sport brand
and its target audience. To put it another way, the stuff that makes up
a brand – like its products, attributes, and packaging – does not just
accidentally assemble into cohesive representations that become sym-
bols for sport enterprises. They are painstakingly crafted into signals,
markers, and beacons for the kinds of ideas that the brand owners
would like to exemplify. This book concerns such an endeavour – the
process of branding sport. Getting this right is arguably the best in-
vestment a sport enterprise and its leaders can make.
A range of benefits can accrue to a sport, or its constituent elements,
when its branding works well. These include improved perceptions of
performance, greater customer loyalty, larger margins, increased mar-
keting communications effectiveness, and additional brand extension
opportunities. Such benefits can be measured by the concept of brand
equity, or the goodwill attributable to a brand over and above its tan-
gible assets.2 When the mere mention of brand names of sporting ti-
tans such as Manchester United, Nike, the New York Yankees, or the
Olympic Games can make the whole world sit up and take notice, you
quickly grasp that a brand is far more than just the sum of its parts. In
fact, you can begin to understand sport branding just by asking what
those parts constitute – and realise that it is not that much! – at least
relative to what some other corporate behemoths in the fast-moving
consumer goods world or Silicon Valley can offer. There are no Los
Angeles Lakers factories, nor guarded special recipes of FIFA World
Cups, nor powerful patents at FC Barcelona. What they all have, how-
ever, are unique, strong, and favourable connections to a multitude of
fans whose life spirit is enmeshed with the characters of their sporting
club and the brand it exudes. Those brands knit themselves with star
athletes, iconic playing arenas, and an unnerving ability to shape a
narrative of hope, ambition, and cultural significance that become en-
viable to all those other forms of business around them, itching for a
share of the same sort of passion.3
Not only do sports and sport enterprises attempt to shape their own
brands’ symbolic characters, but they also try to leverage other brands
to amplify the associations most desired. A sport may therefore benefit
by using a brand or brand element associated with another organisation
as a result of a commercial relationship with the other property, often
in the form of a partnership or sponsorship. Naturally, the brands that
flock to sponsor sport, or produce products associated with sport, stand
to benefit also, provided they too get their branding right.
Strategically managing brand components in order to transform el-
ements into a cohesive brand exemplifies the challenge of branding
sport. Brand managers must be psychologists, curators, advertisers,
and accountants all at once. When it all goes right, a sport brand, such
as Real Madrid FC, the Dallas Cowboys, the Tour de France, and the
New Zealand All Blacks can exhibit some of the most recognisable
elements in the world, having moved towards an iconic status within
business and popular culture. This is due to a combination of factors
such as their longevity, global presence, resource investment, extensive
integrated marketing communications efforts, sponsorship activities,
and visibility. Consider, for example, how one of the world’s leading
sport footwear brands, adidas, has used stripe markings on their
shoes and clothing for over 60 years. In so doing, they have reinforced
awareness of this element and its placement on sportswear through
extensive efforts over a sustained period, including the widespread
sponsorship of athletes, teams, and events. The result is an intractable
mark – stripes as it were – in the minds of sport consumers.
Why branding?
Let us proceed with the convention that in the broadest and simplest
sense, a brand comprises a distinguishing name and symbol/s like
logos, colours, and designs that serve to construct an identity that can
be recognised amongst other offerings (themselves brands) in a com-
petitive marketplace. As a result, a carefully constructed brand can
signal to consumers that it stands for something more than the sum
of its functional properties. And, when achieved, the signals stimu-
late consumers to retrieve powerful, often emotional, associations that
they have embedded in their minds as a consequence of experience and
repetition. But, why bother with all of this?
From a competitive perspective, sport enterprises are well advised
to invest heavily in their branding strategy. In an increasingly compet-
itive climate built around entertainment and disposable consumerism,
sport enterprises must find ways to establish long-term connections
with consumers that maintain value beyond a fleeting transaction.
Branding offers the most effective method for cultivating sustainable
relationships between brands and their users. In such ferocious envi-
ronments where performances can ebb and flow on and off the field,
the value inherent in a sport brand is the most resilient and long-lasting
form of asset a sport enterprise can possess. A strong brand gives its
owner a stable foundation of value that can weather poor seasons, new
challenges, athletes that come and go, and rough markets.
At a more immediate level, successful branding demonstrably bol-
sters sales, profits, and reputation. In this respect, brand value pro-
vides a measurable indicator of consumer attraction to a brand, as
well as loyalty and repeated purchases over time. It is also a proxy for
consumer resilience when things go wrong. Finally, in environments
like sport infused by tremendous competition, strong brand loyalty
offers some insight into the likelihood that a consumer will defect to
another brand. All brands seek a resistance to brand change in their
consumers, especially because it can be expensive to keep up with new
offerings from predatory competitors.
In the beginning
As early as the middle of the last century, the idea that a brand name
could be more than just an identifying label was gaining popularity.4
In fact, the key principle was already in motion, that a brand is a com-
plex symbol with an essential character communicated by its words,
imagery, and, most importantly, by an intangible suite of associations
that build up over time as a result of being a public object. Although
still nascent, even 65 years ago, the notion of a brand as a ‘personality’
was in play. Far more recently, it has become a foundation of con-
temporary marketing wherein elusive associations can be even more
important than a product’s functional performance.5
More elaborate interpretations of branding flourished in the post-war
period heading into the socially looser 1960s. One pivotal work pushed
the boundaries, declaring that in the new era of prosperity and growth,
there was less concern with the concrete satisfactions of products based
exclusively on function and utility, thereby opening the door to the sym-
bolic significance of goods.6 Increasingly, wealthy and bored buyers
who had once been solely preoccupied with the practical value of prod-
ucts were gradually succumbing to a new motivation for consumption.
Instead of just what things could do, it was also about what they
could evoke. The new way of looking at the world of consumption in-
troduced the central idea that the experience of all products and ser-
vices is indirect, mediated through associative objects, words, ideas,
actions, and emotions. This suite of associations was also held within
symbolic representations – the brands themselves – and was liberated
when consumers came into contact with the symbolic forms that a
brand expressed. That idea transformed branding and, doubtless, the
entire world’s experience of consumption. Brands represented products
that were now psychological packages as much as physical ones. Sym-
bols were more important than substances, as brands had wiggled their
way into the minds and personal identities of consumers. People were
becoming enamoured with brands far beyond the functional capabili-
ties that a product or service could offer. A brand was a friend, a con-
nection to a broader community, a reason to relate that went beyond
the rational. For marketers and managers around the world, the result
was a magical doorway into the hopes and dreams of consumers, a
pathway that offered vast potential and redefined the concept of value.
Brands as value systems

In the 1980s and 1990s, the symbolic stocks of brands were fast on the rise.
Accommodating the radical influence of brands as more than bundles
of useful products and services, marketing commentators and research-
ers started to think about brand symbols from a value p erspective.7
Accordingly, textbooks moved to define a brand as a c ollection of
symbols including names, designs, marks, and colours that enhanced
the value of a product or service beyond their functional value.8
Over the course of another decade or so as organisations of all
kinds, including sport, were hiring their first ‘brand managers,’
there was a marked upshift in granularity. From symbolic rep-
resentation beyond function, the brand concept moved into more
elaborate t erritory.9 Symbols represented a brand, but they did not
necessarily fully capture a brand’s essence. Rather than the symbols,
marketers were contemplating more about thinking and feeling.10 It
was less about what the symbols comprised and more about how
they formed a meaning deep in the (relatively) inaccessible minds
and memories of consumers.11 The meanings consumers ascribed to
brands became known as the brand image or brand attitude. While
the terms image and attitude are relatively interchangeable in the
branding world, they both capture the power of the brand. Image
represents how a brand is viewed and the associations it is connected
to. A brand’s attitude is a more direct feeling of how those associ-
ations are combined and synergised. While for the purposes of an
introduction to branding it is acceptable to think of brand image
or brand attitude, the meaning that both terms convey should be
melded to demonstrate the powerful force of value that is capable
of being created through the associations that are both built and
ascribed to by brands.
Symbols not only forge cognitive meanings, but also emotional
ones. As an addition to the conceptual repertoire of brand managers,
the leap into an emotional as well as cognitive domain proved decisive.
There had been a shift from function to symbols to meaning, which
meant that brands were understood as personal, virtually human, and
were deeply engrained in consumers’ psyches. It is from this founda-
tion that we begin our sport branding insights.
Overview of the book

Sport Branding Insights explains how a sport brand goes beyond just
an identifying badge, reinforced by a name or a logo that helps sport
fans and consumers recognise a product or an organisation. It reveals
how a brand becomes intrinsically linked with consumers’ opinions
and perceptions of a sport product and the organisation that owns it.
Further, this book shows how the added value that a sport product
possesses because of its brand name and identity heightens brand eq-
uity, or value. Readers will therefore come to understand how a pow-
erful brand with high levels of equity that has both recognition in the
market and strong associated imagery, can be created. Throughout, it
demonstrates how the equity of a sporting brand can be enhanced by
imbuing it with a spirit of the past through appeals to tradition, and
by endowing it with human qualities of emotion, thought, and volition
through the use of brand characters, colours, texts, and symbols. In
short, this book offers a unique, concise, and easy-to-understand pre-
cis of a powerful, growing domain.
Section 1. Understanding Sport Brands introduces the key concepts
of sport brands and branding in order to provide the reader with a
foundational understanding of the domain. Section 2. Building Sport
Brands works with the foundational concepts to explain how sport
brands are constructed and what elements make up their constitution.
Section 3. Mobilising Sport Brands reveals how the elements of sport
brands can be associated with consumer awareness, recognition, and,
ultimately, a mental correlate. Section 4. Leveraging Sport Brands
shows how consumer associations are transformed into equity and
value with the aid of carefully fabricated and well-positioned market-
ing, advertising, and sponsorship. Finally, Section 5. Reinventing Sport
Brands considers how branding translates into the contemporary re-
shaping of consumer approaches and brand value creation, as well as
the auxiliary services available in the branding process that can prove
useful in navigating the complexity of messaging. Next, we introduce
some key concepts and definitions in order to locate the branding pro-
cess within the wider schema of marketing.
Notes
1 Stewart, B., Smith, A., & Nicholson, M. (2003). Sport consumer typo
logies: A critical review. Sport Marketing Quarterly, 12(4), 206–216.
2 Lassar, W., Mittal, B., & Sharma, A. (1995). Measuring customer‐based
brand equity. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 12(4), 11–19.
3 Smith, A.C.T., Stavros, C., & Westberg, K. (2017). Brand Fans. Cham:
Springer.
4 Gardner, B.G., & Levy, S.J. (1955). The product and the brand. Harvard
Business Review, 33 (March–April), 33–39.
5 Aaker, J.L. (1997). Dimensions of brand personality. Journal of Marketing
Research, 34(3), 347–356.
6 Levy, S.J. (1959). Symbols for sale. Harvard Business Review, 37 (March–
April), 117–124.
7 de Chernatony, L., & Dall’Olmo R.F. (1998). Defining a brand: Beyond the
literature with expert interpretations. Journal of Marketing Management,
14, 417–443.
8 Farquhar, P. (1989). Managing brand equity. Marketing Research, 1
(September), 24–33.
9 Keller, K.L. (2003). Brand synthesis: The multidimensionality of brand
knowledge. Journal of Consumer Research, 29, 596–600.
10 Stern, B.B. (2006). What does brand mean? Historical-analysis method
and construct definition. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science,
34(2), 216–233.
11 Aaker, D. (1996). Building Strong Brands. New York: Free Press.
1 Understanding sport brands
Introduction – key concepts

When the renowned professional English football club, Leeds United,
announced a change to their club crest in early 2018, it was met with
such uproar – including over 77,000 signatures on a petition – that
they abandoned the idea within hours of announcing it. The badge,
which featured what was termed a ‘Leeds Salute’ (an image of a person
placing a clenched fist across their chest), carried associated wording
that read ‘celebrating fans at the heart of our community.’ Unfortu-
nately, many of those fans who were being celebrated viewed the new
design as ‘awful,’ ‘shocking,’ and ‘horrendous.’1 What was ostensibly
a well-intentioned ‘image’ for the club was met with disdain when
revealed, despite the club launching the design in a tweet that boasted
of ‘6 months of research’ with ‘10,000 people consulted.’ The image was
emotionally visceral to many fans who attach themselves to the club
from cradle to grave, and see every branding touchpoint as something
sacred. Leeds United subsequently launched a campaign to fan-source
a new crest, and quickly received over 1,200 submissions as a result.
A brand, in its simplest form, can be seen as an identifying badge –
reinforced, leveraged, amplified, and mobilised by device marks, or
the suite of images, words, or logos that help consumers recognise a
product or an organisation. As a result, a sport brand becomes intrac-
tably linked with consumers’ opinions and perceptions – something
that Leeds’ well-meaning management discovered.
A carefully constructed and curated sport brand will do much more
than merely provide ready identification. It will urge sport consumers to
think of the brand in terms of its relationship to other sport brands, usu-
ally competitors, in a marketing process known as positioning. Because
branding and positioning are connected, we will later explain how the
entire enactment of sport branding must be reflective of a thoughtful
Understanding sport brands 9
positioning strategy. For example, it would be counterproductive to
brand a new product as a luxury item when it is positioned in a low-cost
category.
Another factor that we need to introduce now is that sport product
sales can be affected by how easily a consumer can tell different products
apart. Branding takes on a particular importance towards what mar-
keter’s call ‘differentiation,’ or the related concept of ‘distinctiveness,’
because it offers a potent way for products and other brand elements to
stand out from all the rest.2 Standing out goes well beyond just having
a different name, colour scheme, or logo. Branding sport gives consum-
ers a reason to create associations with the brand, which become rein-
forced over time. Branding is therefore a way of augmenting a product
by helping to create associated ideas that make it different in powerful,
enduring ways. The added value that a product possesses because of its
brand name and identity is called brand equity.3 The concept of equity
is critical in branding as it ultimately provides a barometer of success.
All the previous leads to our following definitions. A sport brand
is the symbolic representation of everything that a sport enterprise or
organisation seeks to stand for, leading to expectations about its value
and performance. A brand can be portrayed as an identifying badge
that triggers consumers to remember a product or an organisation. It
can be a name, a design, a symbol (or logo), an image, or a combina-
tion of these things. By extension, sport branding is the process used
to help elements and products stand out from the crowd by positioning
them through associated ideas and concepts.
Sport marketing
Branding falls under the broader activities of sport marketing, which
encompasses all the planning and implementing activities designed to
meet the needs or desires of customers. Sport marketing pays attention
to the development of a product and to its pricing, promotion, and
distribution. It aims to create an exchange, where the customer gives
up something (usually money) for a product or service they believe is
of equal or greater value. Although the term ‘product’ directly refers
to tangible items, it is quite common to use it to represent the entire
offering to consumers, including services. Thus, it is conventional to
speak of the ‘sport product’ in a global sense as a representative term
for all offerings associated with sport, whether in physical form like
sport equipment, or as a service such as entertainment. Sport market-
ing aims to not only entice people to try products or services but also
keep them as long-term customers.4
For reference, the American Marketing Association defines mar-
keting as ‘… 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.’5 That is, every m
arketer
is required to focus on the strategic processes an organisation under-
takes, or could undertake, to allow it to successfully satisfy the identi-
fied wants and/or needs of its target audiences. The motivations, desires,
perceptions, and actions of these audiences are critical, as the central
tenet of marketing is an exchange. A marketer attempts to bring about a
profitable exchange by managing a ‘mix’ of product, promotion, pricing,
and distribution elements, which collectively comprise the basic tools of
marketing. The concept of ‘mix’ is critically important as it highlights
the interconnected and synergistic approach marketing seeks.
Since we are all relentlessly exposed to its effects, the term ‘market-
ing’ has universal currency, although it may be used in different ways.
Marketing is seen by some as the use of advertising, publicity, and per-
sonal selling techniques to make consumers aware of a product, or to
attract more consumers to buy it. For some, it is all about making a sale.
In reality, sport marketing’s influence has far greater reach than this
narrow and mechanistic interpretation suggests. However, we can start
with an uncontroversial point in that marketing, in general, is all about
satisfying the needs of consumers. Sport marketing, therefore, revolves
around meeting the needs of sport consumers, including: people who
watch and play sport; download and stream programmes; buy merchan-
dise; collect memorabilia; purchase sports goods such as clothing and
shoes; ‘surf’ sport-related websites to find out the latest gossip surround-
ing their favourite team, player, or event; or even participate in esports.
Sport marketing can be applied across two dimensions. First, it
involves the application of marketing concepts to sport products
and services, and second, it involves the marketing of non-sport, or
tangentially related products, through an association to sport. The
first dimension involves the application of general marketing prac-
tices to sport-related products and services. The second dimension
encompasses the marketing of other consumer and industrial products
or services through sport. Sport is therefore first a marketable com-
modity, and second a platform for other brands to connect to, given its
power as a cultural and social medium. This juxtaposition of sport as
object and medium is a complicating factor in its marketing, bringing
both enormous opportunities and challenges as sporting brands try
and offer pure experiences that are inevitably commercialised through
a desire to remain competitive and to maximise revenues.
In summary, sport marketing involves the marketing of sport,
and marketing through sport. The marketing of sport products and
services directly to sport consumers can include sporting equipment,
professional competitions, sport events, local club or team advertising,
designing publicity stunts to promote athletes, selling season tickets,
and developing licensed apparel for sale. Marketing through sport
occurs when a non-sport, or tangentially related product, is marketed
through an association to sport, like a professional athlete endorsing
a breakfast cereal, a financial-services business sponsoring a tennis
tournament, or a beer company securing exclusive rights to provide its
products at a sporting venue.
Sport marketing to sport branding

Like any form of marketing, sport marketing seeks to fulfil the needs and
wants of consumers through the provision of sport services and sport-
related products. However, sport marketing deviates from conventional
marketing in that it also has the ability to encourage the consumption
of non-sport products and services by association. As we noted earlier,
sport marketing means both the marketing of sport itself, and the use
of sport as a tool to market other products and services. These twin as-
pects of sport marketing have a material effect on sport brands because
branding relies on the successful cultivation of associations.
Well before anything can be sold to a sport consumer, a sport prod-
uct must secure a place in the mind of that consumer in a favourable
way. The process of cultivating such a response lies at the heart of
branding, and when a sport brand has grasped a firm place in consum-
ers’ minds, then it may be considered ‘positioned,’ a concept we shall
describe in detail shortly. The consequence of successful branding
and the acquisition of strong market positioning is not merely a sin-
gle transaction. Rather, sport marketing reflects the establishment of
an ongoing relationship between a sport brand and its users. Such a
relationship is an essential part of all branding, allowing communi-
ties to form around brands, bringing a multitude of benefits, including
loyalty, along with it.6
For our purposes, we shall consider sport marketing to be the pro-
cess of planning how a sport brand is positioned and how the delivery
of its products or services is to be implemented in order to establish a
relationship between a sport brand and its consumers.
The marketing of sport may appear at first to be similar to general
marketing, but the two can diverge. For example, the sport product is
often highly inconsistent and unpredictable because it is not possible
to predict the outcome of a sporting match or control the quality of
play. In many other industries, the failure to guarantee the quality of a
product would be disastrous. Another significant difference is that few
products can evoke the emotional attachment and personal identifica-
tion that sport commands. Although such nuances do not necessarily
make sport marketing categorically different from general marketing,
in order to create a potent sport brand, the unique circumstances of
the sport marketplace and its consumers must remain the sovereign
concern.7 For the most part, a customised sport branding response
builds upon the foundation established by what marketers call inte-
grated marketing communications.
Integrated marketing communications

Marketing communication comprises a broad process through which
sport brands form shared meanings with their target audiences. Inte-
gration is achieved through an array of measures like public relations,
sales promotions, personal selling, and advertising, each of which
seeks to form part of a ‘jigsaw puzzle’ in the minds of consumers as
they put together experiences and knowledge to develop both aware-
ness of a brand and then a specific image of it (or attitude towards it).
Every action a brand takes – whether planned or not – sends a message
that a potential consumer may use to deduce information.8 As a result,
the ‘integration’ of messages to consumers proves essential to ensure
a synergy in the form of uniformity, consistency, and positive reso-
nance. In order to achieve a branding strategy based on integrated
marketing communications, brand managers need to start with an
understanding of consumer and fan behaviour.
Consumer and fan behaviour

As we have previously explained, brand associations form the critical
core of sport branding as they relate directly to the identification and
evaluation process used by fans and consumers. Through experience,
sport consumers identify ‘cues’ and formulate learning behaviours to
assist in making purchasing decisions. Cues provide a stimulus, which
may be thought of as heuristics, or approaches to problem-solving that
seek acceptable solutions through a kind of ‘short-cut.’9
Heuristics do not need to provide ‘correct’ results, but merely a
decision-making process or solution that seems plausible and help-
ful to a sport consumer. For example, in a blind taste-test of an
energy drink, a researcher may place the identical product into two
containers but differentiate them with labels suggesting that one is a
premium, well-known ‘brand’ associated with an active sport such as
snowboarding, while the other is a cheaper unbranded version with no
external connections. A consumer in this situation may expect – and
then confirm after tasting – that the container with the well-known
brand name is superior based on a well-worn heuristic that reminds
them that premium brands are usually better quality than cheaper al-
ternatives, or even that the association to snowboarding suggests a
positive element, raising it above the other brand.
When moving through a (relatively) rational decision-making pro-
cess, a consumer typically moves through five stages towards an esca-
lating level of purchasing urgency.10 These stages will be revisited in
more detail later in this book.
1 Category need – this stage of the buying process involves acknowl-

edgement of a discrepancy between an actual and a desired state.
2 Information search – consumers aware of a discrepancy search
for solutions, and this may involve mental and/or physical search
processes.
3 Evaluation of alternatives – having searched for options, a con-
sumer will then evaluate the alternatives, seeking to prioritise
those most suitable based upon their needs.
4 Purchase decision – having evaluated, a consumer then makes
a choice, which may include the product and also where it is
purchased from.
5 Post-purchase behaviour – the period following purchase is im-
portant as it provides consumers with an opportunity to consider
their purchase relative to their goals and expectations, and will
form the basis for future decisions in the category.
Advertising
Another concept worth exploring at this early stage should be f amiliar
to most readers, and as noted, entails a key element of integrated mar-
keting communications. Advertising contributes to marketing and
sport branding in that it represents a planned and directed form of
message exposure between a brand and its target audience(s). It there-
fore offers a key bridge between a brand and its potential purchas-
ers given the meaning transfer that can occur as a purposeful result
of its transmission.11 Advertising works to persuade, inform, and
remind sport consumers about the key features of brand elements, on
the assumption that repeated exposure leads to strong associations.
Advertising can take numerous forms and retains a preeminent role in
integrated marketing communications, especially with the emergence
of new media platforms that provide novel avenues for r eaching
and influencing target audiences. While people may question the
traditional platforms, such as television, upon which the concept of
advertising achieved worldwide significance, the newer and emerging
platforms do nothing to dissipate the value and power of advertising
as a tool for marketers. Indeed, with metrics ramping up in precision
as consumers leave digital footprints wherever they traverse, the con-
cept of advertising is more nuanced, more impactful, more surgical,
and more diverse than ever before.
Target audiences
A keen reader might have already observed that this book speaks of
‘target audiences’ rather than ‘target markets.’ This is a critical distinc-
tion in the world of branding. The concept of target markets is long asso-
ciated with a sales and selling mentality that looks upon the market as a
relatively inanimate ‘thing.’ A market in our terms is a category or space
where exchanges can occur. While that market-space is important, what
matters more is the audience within it and how each grouping that may
exist is addressed to form the correct levels of communication that will
permit brand knowledge to grow. In many sport markets, the audiences
are vast and complex, ranging from rusted-on fans to grant-giving gov-
ernments, stakeholders such as sponsors, and even other teams within a
league. For a sport brand to thrive, it needs to be able to connect with all
of these audiences. While a strong, resilient brand can appear as one to
all of them, the level of connection and communication that will occur
at each audience level will need fine-tuning and careful consideration.
A brand can mean something similar to many types of people; just
look at the broad success of A pple, McDonald’s, and Toyota. Yet, the
micro-management required to form a relationship to all the different
audiences goes well beyond a single, unifying message.
Conclusion – from elements to associations

To recap, a sport brand can be many things, including a name, a design,
a symbol, an image, or even a combination of these. A brand name and
a brand mark (or logo) are two of the most common representations
of a brand. A brand name is a word, a written label, or even group of
letters and/or numbers; it is usually something that can be verbalised
rather than merely an image. The choice of brand name will commu-
nicate (or symbolise) a unique idea. For example, some brand names
might suggest strength and confidence, like the Titans – the American
football team based in the state of Tennessee – while others might sug-
gest boldness, like Nike, the goddess of victory in Greek mythology.
If you do not agree with these connotations, it means that you hold a
different brand identity in your mind. The correct meaning is always
the one in the mind of the consumer, as they never arrange the puzzle
pieces of marketing incorrectly. It can only be the marketer who has
erred if the sum of their efforts fails to make the desired impact on a
consumer or the target audience to which they belong. Therefore, the
importance of branding is paramount. It is a game within a game, in
the world of sport.
Brands can help consumers to remember sport enterprises and their
product offerings and can stimulate resonant images in their minds. A
powerful brand has both a high level of awareness in the market and
a strong associated imagery. It can literally be the difference between
failing indifference and spectacular success.
Notes
1 BBC (2018). Leeds United: Club delays introduction of new crest until
2019–20 season. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/
43157773.
2 Romaniuk, J., Sharp, B., & Ehrenberg, A. (2007). Evidence concerning
the importance of perceived brand differentiation. Australasian Market-
ing Journal, 15(2), 42–54.
3 Aaker, D. (1996). Building Strong Brands. New York: Free Press.
4 Smith. A.C.T. (2008). Introduction to Sport Marketing. Burlington, NJ:
Butterworth-Heinemann.
5 American Marketing Association (n.d.). Definitions of marketing. Retri
eved from https://www.ama.org/AboutAMA/Pages/Definition-of-Marketing.
aspx.
6 Muniz Jr., A.M., & O’Guinn, T.C. (2001). Brand community. Journal of
Consumer Research, 27(4), 412–432.
7 Smith, A.C.T., & Stewart, B. (2010). The special features of sport: A criti-
cal revisit. Sport Management Review, 13(1), 1–13.
8 Schultz, D.E., & Schultz, H.F. (1998). Transitioning marketing commu-
nication into the twenty-first century. Journal of Marketing Communica-
tions, 4(1), 9–26.
9 Gigerenzer, G., & Gaissmaier, W. (2011). Heuristic decision making.
Annual Review of Psychology, 62, 451–482.
10 Engel, J.F., Blackwell, R.D., & Kollat, D.T. (1978). Consumer Behavior.
Hinsdale, IL: Dryden Press.
11 Meenaghan, T. (1995). The role of advertising in brand image develop-
ment. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 4(4), 23–34.
2 Building sport brands
Introduction – What is a sport brand?

It is not uncommon for a goal-scoring footballer or century-making
cricketer to kiss the nearest sporting emblem that resides on their
clothing. This literal affection towards the sports brand they represent
is emblematic of a display of love and pride for the ‘tribe’ – a symbol-
ism of unity and passion that extends beyond the rational and into the
emotional.
The time has come to venture into more depth about what a sport
brand comprises, keeping in mind a broader aim of laying the foun-
dations essential to building such a brand. To answer this deceptively
simple question we will outline a basic definition of a sport brand,
discuss a variety of brand elements which can constitute (separately or
together) a brand, and expand on the concept of a brand with a more
detailed analysis of how brand elements are ascribed value by sport
consumers.
Recall that we started at a relatively superficial level by describ-
ing a brand as a name, term, symbol, sign, design, or combination
of these elements. The collective of these elements identifies a prod-
uct to consumers by differentiating it from the product offerings of
competitors. Irrespective of this identification role, a brand derives its
relevance, and therefore its impact, from the relationship between the
elements and associations formed by consumers.
A brand should not be confused with a product. A product can be
seen as a functional offering, be it a good or a service. A product sat-
isfies the basic needs and wants of consumers. For example, a desire
for rehydration may be delivered by a number of products such as
water, juice, or energy drinks. Many brands compete in these product
categories, and while they may offer similar, or in some cases, identical
forms of need/want satisfaction to each other, they do so under the
Building sport brands 17
auspices of a brand and the inferences that accompany it. A ‘brand is
therefore a product, but one that adds other dimensions that differen-
tiate it in some way from other products designed to satisfy the same
need.’1 For example, sporting footwear can be viewed as the product,
but Reebok is viewed as the branded product, and thus will carry with
it any elements that the company has been able to instil in the shared
meaning of its brand over years of consumer use, marketing commu-
nication, and other interactions.
Taking a further step, sport branding goes beyond mere identification
and involves a complex set of relationships between organisations and
their audiences. In this way, sport brands are not ‘owned’ (in the mar-
keting sense, not the legal sense) by organisations, but by consumers. It
is the meaning in consumers’ minds that has evolved through learning
and experience that creates brand value. For example, leading scholars
such as Keller speak of a brand as a product plus a collection of rational,
emotional, tangible, and intangible elements,2 Aaker d escribes a brand
as a ‘mental box’ in the consumer’s head,3 and Kapferer indicates that
a brand is ‘…a summary of unique values and benefits.’4 The value of
a brand is determined by the degree to which consumers recognise it
and consequently experience an emotional response. Together, these
elements are often called brand knowledge,5 which consists of two im-
portant concepts: brand awareness and brand attitude.
Brand awareness is typically measured by the ability of a sport
consumer to identify a brand in sufficient detail to make a purchase.
Brand attitude, which will logically come as a consequence of brand
awareness, may be thought of as a sport consumer’s thoughts and
feelings, or overall evaluation of a brand in relation to its ability to
meet the motivations that exist for purchase. A consumer’s attitude
to a brand may vary over time and will be influenced by a range of
factors, including previous experiences with the brand, such as word-
of-mouth, advertising, and point-of-sale promotional material.
The ‘branding’ concept

As we have suggested, most theorists and practitioners define a brand as
a set of complex offerings and associations that take shape in the minds
of consumers, and subsequently play out through market economics.
To repeat the important foundational premise, at its most basic level, a
brand is a name, symbol, or design, or combination of these elements,
which identifies a product to consumers by differentiating it from the
product offerings of competitors. As we have foreshadowed, however,
sport branding has come to mean much more than this.
The true value of a brand to the sport organisation that owns or
controls it resides in its collective psychological and behavioural ef-
fects. Associative effects tied up in a brand’s meaning and symbols
influence how and why sport consumers make decisions, especially
with regard to perceived value, product identification, risk reduction,
and buying process evaluation. Consumers infer such associations –
that evolve over time and after sustained, strategic, and integrated
efforts – by brands to manage the brand-to-consumer relationship.
Strong, resilient brands may take many years to acquire positive
associations and do not come about through fortune or accident.
Rather, positive brand associations take form through a learning
process that consumers experience as a result of exposure to inte-
grated marketing communications programmes, which transpire
over a sustained period.
Sporting brands are some of the oldest brands in existence. The
Melbourne Football Club plays in the Australian Football League,
and is one of the world’s oldest professional clubs of any football code,
dating back to 1858. The ‘modern’ Olympic Games began in 1896, and
even relative newcomers like the New York Giants of the National
Football League (NFL) in the USA date back to 1925. That is not to
say that longevity is a key to branding success, but it certainly plays
a part. Even relatively new and highly successful brands in the world
of fast-moving technology, like Apple and Microsoft, took decades to
really thrive and catapult themselves to sustained success.
A central tenet of branding holds that consumers forge relationships
with the more intangible brand image rather than with the more mate-
rial products or services that those brands represent.6 Kevin Roberts,
a renowned advertising executive, wrote a book entitled Lovemarks,
triumphing the strong emotional attachments fashioned between con-
sumers and some exclusive luxury brands.7 Roberts’ concept of ‘love-
marks’ resiles from the more common contemporary phenomenon
where most products in a category offer basically identical core benefits.
Sport brands seem to exemplify the ‘lovemarks’ factor, forming strong
and passionate connections with fans that are often visibly displayed,
aggressively defended, and passed on from generation to generation.
Curiously, despite the fact that two teams in the same sporting compe-
tition offer exactly the same product benefits, no fans of either would
consider switching, as the value proposition for each brand remains
steadfastly independent. As a result, in sport branding, the difference
between products and their custodian brands can be immense. There
are few product brands that can impart such loyalty. While a fan of the
English Premier League’s Arsenal FC is likely to change everything,
from toothpaste brands to car brands, and possibly even spouses in their
lifetime, it is unlikely that they will cease being a fan of the ‘Gunners’ for
any reason, even if they left London and moved overseas.
A brand encompasses much more than just an exchange around a
product. Brands include other dimensions that have been added to
the core product in order to differentiate them from other products
designed to satisfy the same needs. Differences may be intangible or
tangible.8 When sport consumers buy a brand, they purchase more
than just the physical product. Consumers also purchase all the asso-
ciations that a brand embodies, such as entertainment, social success,
hope, distraction, identification, meaning, and vicarious experience.
Building a strong sport brand can be a complicated and difficult
task due to factors like a crowded competitive arena, fragmentation
of markets, complex brand strategies including dynamic digital and
social media channels, and the unrelenting pressure to compete on
price.9 Consider, for example, that the congested football (soccer) mar-
ket in Greater London comprises 11 professional teams, of which six
compete in the English Premier League and five in the Football League.
At the same time, around 200 amateur clubs play in various local and
regional leagues. Given the difficulty in building a sport brand at all,
the achievement of a strong brand constitutes a rich and valuable asset
to sport enterprises that have been able to convert favourable associa-
tions into value. This value from a branding perspective is referred to
as brand equity.
Brand equity
Brand associations have value because they materially influence
consumer purchasing behaviour, and, of course, more sales mean
greater economic value.10 Beyond the immediate economic return,
however, brand equity reflects a stock of capital of as yet unrealised
future sales. As such, brand equity may be the most valuable asset that
a sporting enterprise might possess. It has, as a consequence, emerged
as a highly popular bottom-line measure of marketing success.11
Brand equity can be thought of as a proxy for a brand’s value because
it provides ‘…marketers with a vital strategic bridge from their past to
their future.’12 It also has the advantage of describing the marketing
effects uniquely attributable to a brand as it materialises as ‘a set of as-
sets (and liabilities)… that add to (or subtract from) the value provided
by a product or service to a firm and/or to that firm’s customers.’13 Just
as your bank account depicts the status of your personal equity, so
does brand equity signal the health of a brand.
Brand equity can be revealed in numerous ways, but perhaps the most
important is demonstrated in the way consumers respond to a brand’s
marketing and communication efforts. Positive equity suggests that
sport consumers react more favourably to a product and its marketing
when it is identified rather than when it remains anonymous. For ex-
ample, when faced with a choice of bottled water from a leading brand,
such as Evian, and with a brand from an unknown manufacturer, a
thirsty gym exerciser who chooses the Evian brand is also expressing a
positive appreciation for the brand. Its value to them is therefore more
than the sum of the bottle’s contents. A consumer’s feelings may stem
from experience, advertising messages, or symbolic associations with
the brand elements, including, for example, the classy French-sounding
name, imagery invoking the pristine freshness of pure alpine waters, or
a combination as illustrated by the distinctive label. If another water
brand were to come along, however, it could analyse the gym exerciser
market and note that Evian’s broader appeal as a premium water might
not be optimised to such a segment. A product such as ‘Pump,’ a brand
in Australia and New Zealand offered by Coca-Cola Amatil, might then
appear, featuring not only an apt gym name, but with features such as
a push-out lid for easy consumption when moving, and a sturdy shape
that appeals to those users who are keen to associate all their products
with their health-enriching lifestyle. For Coca-Cola Amatil, perhaps
better known for its sugary products, a brand like Pump allows it to
build its broader equity by targeting specific brands to specific markets
in ways that create positive outcomes.
Going another step, it is possible to distinguish between corporate
brand equity and brand-item equity. Corporate equity relates to the
overall value of a corporate brand at the macro level. Although sport
organisations might not be traditionally viewed as ‘corporations,’
the reality remains that corporate entities dominate any list of the
world’s most prominent sporting brands, notable companies includ-
ing Nike, Manchester United, ESPN, Formula 1 Motor Racing, the
Indian Premier League Twenty20 cricket, and the Red Bull energy
drink manufacturer. It should be remembered that brand equity is
of concern to sport organisations at both the macro and the micro
levels.
Prominent sport sponsor, Coca-Cola, presents an apt depiction of
brand-item and corporate equity. On its own, Coca-Cola as one of
the world’s most valuable brands, can establish brand-item equity that
confers the brand with a valuation of US$73 billion, simply based on
the goodwill the brand has gathered as one of the most recognisable
14
and desired products on the planet. This impacts consumer choice,
and the strength the brand commands to set premium prices for its
products. A company like Coca-Cola, moving to the corporate equity
level, also comprises in its various markets and divisions around the
world a series of brands (e.g., Sprite, Dasani, Minute Maid, Powerade)
that compete within different sub-markets or categories. The brand-
item equity of these brands can also be measured at an individual or
micro level based on their performance within a given sub-market
or category of goods, and is of more direct relevance and impact to
marketing managers because it relates directly to their day-to-day
activities, including sales, competitors, and budgets. As of 2019, The
Coca-Cola Company has a market capitalisation of around US$200
billion. This number reflects the total value of its public shares and
reflects its corporate equity and strength.
Positive brand equity implies that consumers are familiar with
a brand and that favourable, strong, and unique associations are
stored in their memories; associations drive perceptions and prefer-
ences in ways that are of value to the brand owner. A brand’s equity
is thus determined by whether sport consumers know a brand, and,
as a result, by what consumers know or perceive about the brand
in terms of its elements. An understanding of a brand’s elements
culminates in what we have termed ‘brand knowledge,’ or the combi-
nation of brand awareness and brand attitude. We shall return to the
i mportant concept of brand knowledge in more detail later, follow-
ing further explanation about brand elements.
Brand elements
Towards the objective of building a brand, marketers must evaluate
numerous options in the selection and combination of brand elements
that work to best display, identify, and differentiate their products.
Elements can be evaluated on the basis of several key criteria, cen-
tral amongst which are memorability, meaningfulness, transferability,
likeability, adaptability, and protectability.15
Individual brand elements, or a combination of a suite of elements,
comprise the building blocks of a brand’s identity, its image, and ul-
timately its equity. Without brand elements, products become com-
modities; the value associated with any uniqueness dissipates without
a cohesive and identifying symbolic marker to signal to consumers
that consumption has greater meaning than a simple exchange. For
example, sport fans rarely seek nothing more than to just watch a
game and go home. In fact, often it is more a matter of supporting a
articular team – a brand – than merely paying for the opportunity
p
to be entertained for an afternoon. The key point to remember is that
brand elements will only prove valuable to a brand owner if they estab-
lish positive associations with consumers and contribute to the equity,
or overall value, of a brand. As a result, brand associations can occur
individually with brand elements or as some combination or permuta-
tion of these elements.
Creating brand associations

Brand associations are critical in sport branding as they relate directly
to the identification and evaluation process used by consumers. For
example, a shopper in a retail environment will more likely choose
products for which they can recognise some positive characteristic,
like a symbol indicating that it was made in the country of sale, or one
specifying a particularly attractive constituent or ingredient. Thus,
brand elements are critical to the success of sport brands as they swiftly
and reliably capture and reproduce the key associations of a product.
A flash of a logo, part of a jingle, a colour, the shape of a package, and
so forth may instantly convey characteristics of the brand to consum-
ers. We shall now go through a series of ways in which brand associa-
tions can be wielded to link with brand elements.
First, associations may be formed on the basis of a product’s name.
For example, apparel and sport fashion brand ‘Billabong,’ a uniquely
Australian term for a body of water, was founded on Australia’s
Gold Coast, and has maintained a strong connotation with Australian
beach culture and imagery, despite being absorbed into the ownership
of bigger organisations with global headquarters as well as ambitions.
These associations positively affect the perceptions of products that
are worn by individuals for whom they resonate in terms of personal
identity, suggesting that the associated benefits are transferred from
the beach lifestyle to the products.
Second, associations may be linked to a distinctive logo, such as
that of Ralph Lauren (polo player on horseback), that appears on an
otherwise plain shirt, and thus instils that piece of clothing with a
sense of style, and ultimately the wearer with a sense of confidence or
achievement. In this case, the sophistication and exclusivity of a sport
that is associated with wealthy audiences.
Third, associations may be established through a character or
spokesperson who appears in the advertising or on the packaging of
the product. Examples include cartoon characters who may be seen
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
going out of the gate. Makes me fairly crazy to wait,
fearful I am missing it in not going. This lottery way of
living is painful on the nerves. There are all kinds of
rumors. Even have the story afloat that now the raid
is over that drove us away from Andersonville, we
are going back there to stay during the war. That
would be a joke. However, I stick to my resolution
that the rebels don’t really know themselves where
we are going. They move us because we are not
safe here. They are bewildered. Believing this am in
a comparatively easy state of mind. Still I worry.
Haven’t said a word in a week about my health. Well,
I am convalescing all the time. Still lame, and always
expect to be; can walk very well though, and feeling
lively for an old man.
Nov. 18.—None being taken away to-day, I believe
on account of not getting transportation. Notice that
rebel troops are passing through on the railroad and
immense activity among them. Am now well satisfied
of the correctness of my views as regards this
movement. Have decided now to stay here until the
last. Am getting ready for action however. Believe we
are going to have a warm time of it in the next few
months. Thank fortune I am as well as I am. Can
stand considerable now. Food given us in smaller
quantities, and hurriedly so too. All appears to be in a
hurry. Cloudy, and rather wet weather, and getting
decidedly cooler. My noble old coverlid is kept rolled
up and ready to accompany me on my travels at any
moment. Have my lame and stiff leg in training. Walk
all over the prison until tired out so as to strengthen
myself. Recruiting officers among us trying to induce
prisoners to enter their army. Say it is no exchange
for during the war, and half a dozen desert and go
with them. Even if we are not exchanged during the
war, don’t think we will remain prisoners long.
Nov. 19.—A car load went at about noon, and are
pretty well thinned out. Over half gone—no one
believes to our lines now; all hands afraid of going to
Charleston. Believe I shall try and escape on the
journey, although in no condition to rough it. Am
going to engineer this thing to suit myself and have a
little fun. Would like to be out from under rebel guard
once more. When I can look around and not see a
prison wall and a gun ready to shoot me, I shall
rejoice. Have edged up to another comrade and we
bunk together. Said comrade is Corporal Smith,
belonging to an Indiana regiment. While he is no
great guns, seems quite a sensible chap and a
decided improvement on many here to mess with.
The nights are cool, and a covering of great benefit.
My being the owner of a good blanket makes me a
very desirable comrade to mess with. Two or three
together can keep much warmer than one alone. It is
said that a number of outsiders have escaped and
taken to the woods. Another load goes to-night or
early in the morning. My turn will come pretty soon.
Nothing new in our situation or the prospects ahead.
Food scarce, but of good quality. More go and I go
to-morrow.
Nov. 20.—None as yet gone to-day and it is
already most night. My turn would not come until to-
morrow, and if none go at all to-day I will probably not
get away until about day after to-morrow. Shan’t flank
out, but await my turn and go where fate decrees.
Had a falling out with my companion Smith, and am
again alone walking about the prison with my coverlid
on my shoulders. Am determined that this covering
protects none but thoroughly good and square
fellows. Later.—Going to be a decidedly cold night,
and have “made up” with two fellows to sleep
together. The going away is the all absorbing topic of
conversation. Received for rations this day a very
good allowance of hard-tack and bacon. This is the
first hard-tack received since the trip to
Andersonville, and is quite a luxury. It is so hard that I
have to tack around and soak mine up before I am
able to eat it. There is a joke to this. Will again go to
bed as I have done the last week, thinking every
night would be the last at Camp Lawton.
Nov. 21.—Got up bright and early, went to the
creek and had a good wash, came back, after a good
walk over the prison, and ate my two large crackers
and small piece of bacon left over from yesterday,
and again ready for whatever may turn up. Lost my
diminutive cake of soap in the water and must again
take to sand to scrub with, until fortune again favors
me. Men are very restless and reckless, uncertainty
making them so. Try my very best not to have any
words or trouble with them, but occasionally get
drawn into it, as I did this morning. Came out solid
however. Is pretty well understood that I can take
care of myself. Noon.—Five hundred getting ready
to go; my turn comes to-morrow, and then we will see
what we will see. Decided rumors that Sherman has
taken Atlanta and is marching toward Savannah, the
heart of the Confederacy. All in good spirits for the
first time in a week.
ESCAPE BUT NOT ESCAPE.
MOVED FROM CAMP LAWTON AFTER A SOJOURN OF TWENTY

DAYS—DESTINATION BLACKSHEAR, GA.—JUMP OFF THE
CARS AND OUT FROM REBEL GUARD FOR SIX DAYS—A
HUNGRY TIME BUT A GOOD ONE—CAPTURED AND MAKE THE
ACQUAINTANCE OF TWO OTHER RUNAWAYS WITH WHOM I
CAST MY FORTUNES, ETC., ETC.
Nov. 22.—And now my turn has come, and I get off

with the next load going to-day. My trunk is packed
and baggage duly checked; shall try and get a “lay
over” ticket, and rusticate on the road. Will see the
conductor about it. A nice cool day with sun shining
brightly—a fit one for an adventure and I am just the
boy to have one. Coverlid folded up and thrown
across my shoulder, lower end tied as only a soldier
knows how. My three large books of written matter on
the inside of my thick rebel jacket, and fastened in.
Have a small book which I keep at hand to write in
now. My old hat has been exchanged for a red
zouave cap, and I look like a red headed
woodpecker. Leg behaving beautifully. My latest
comrades are James Ready and Bill Somebody. We
have decided to go and keep together on the cars.
One of them has an apology for a blanket, and the
two acting in conjunction keep all three warm nights.
Later.—On the cars, in vicinity of Savannah en-
route for Blackshear, which is pretty well south and
not far from the Florida line. Are very crowded in a
close box car and fearfully warm. Try to get away to-
night.
In the Woods near Doctortown Station, No.
5, Ga., Nov. 23.—A change has come over the spirit
of my dreams. During the night the cars ran very
slow, and sometimes stopped for hours on side
tracks. A very long, tedious night, and all suffered a
great deal with just about standing room only.
Impossible to get any sleep. Two guards at each side
door, which were open about a foot. Guards were
passably decent, although strict. Managed to get
near the door, and during the night talked
considerable with the two guards on the south side of
the car. At about three o’clock this a. m., and after
going over a long bridge which spanned the
Altamaha River and in sight of Doctortown, I went
through the open door like a flash and rolled down a
high embankment. Almost broke my neck, but not
quite. Guard fired a shot at me, but as the cars were
going, though not very fast, did not hit me. Expected
the cars to stop but they did not, and I had the
inexpressible joy of seeing them move off out of
sight. Then crossed the railroad track going north,
went through a large open field and gained the
woods, and am now sitting on the ground leaning up
against a big pine tree and out from under rebel
guard! The sun is beginning to show itself in the east
and it promises to be a fine day. Hardly know what to
do with myself. If those on the train notified
Doctortown people of my escape they will be after
me. Think it was at so early an hour that they might
have gone right through without telling any one of the
jump off. Am happy and hungry and considerably
bruised and scratched up from the escape. The
happiness of being here, however, overbalances
everything else. If I had George Hendryx with me
now would have a jolly time, and mean to have as it
is. Sun is now up and it is warmer; birds chippering
around, and chipmunks looking at me with curiosity.
Can hear hallooing off a mile or so, which sounds like
farmers calling cattle or hogs or something. All nature
smiles—why should not I?—and I do. Keep my eyes
peeled, however, and look all ways for Sunday. Must
work farther back toward what I take to be a swamp
a mile or so away. Am in a rather low country
although apparently a pretty thickly settled one; most
too thickly populated for me, judging from the signs
of the times. It’s now about dinner time, and I have
traveled two or three miles from the railroad track,
should judge and am in the edge of a swampy forest,
although the piece of ground on which I have made
my bed is dry and nice. Something to eat wouldn’t be
a bad thing. Not over sixty rods from where I lay is a
path evidently travelled more or less by negroes
going from one plantation to another. My hope of
food lays by that road. Am watching for passers by.
Later.—A negro boy too young to trust has gone by
singing and whistling, and carrying a bundle and a tin
pail evidently filled with somebody’s dinner. In as
much as I want to enjoy this out-door Gypsy life, I will
not catch and take the dinner away from him. That
would be the height of foolishness. Will lay for the
next one traveling this way. The next one is a dog
and he comes up and looks at me, gives a bark and
scuds off. Can’t eat a dog. Don’t know how it will be
to-morrow though. Might be well enough for him to
come around later. Well, it is most dark and will get
ready to try and sleep. Have broken off spruce
boughs and made a soft bed. Have heard my father
tell of sleeping on a bed of spruce, and it is healthy.
Will try it. Not a crust to eat since yesterday
forenoon. Am educated to this way of living though,
and have been hungryer. Hope the pesky alligators
will let me alone. If they only knew it, I would make a
poor meal for them. Thus closes my first day of
freedom and it is grand. Only hope they may be
many, although I can hardly hope to escape to our
lines, not being in a condition to travel.
Nov. 24.—Another beautiful morning, a repetition
of yesterday, opens up to me. It is particularly
necessary that I procure sustenance wherewith life is
prolonged, and will change my head-quarters to a
little nearer civilization. Can hear some one chopping
not a mile away. Here goes. Later.—Found an old
negro fixing up a dilapidated post and rail fence.
Approached him and enquired the time of day. (My
own watch having run down.) He didn’t happen to
have his gold watch with him, but reckoned it was
nigh time for the horn. Seemed scared at the
apparition that appeared to him, and no wonder.
Forgave him on the spot. Thought it policy to tell him
all about who and what I was, and did so. Was very
timid and afraid, but finally said he would divide his
dinner as soon as it should be sent to him, and for an
hour I lay off a distance of twenty rods or so, waiting
for that dinner. It finally came, brought by the same
boy I saw go along yesterday. Boy sat down the pail
and the old darkey told him to scamper off home—
which he did. Then we had dinner of rice, cold yams
and fried bacon. It was a glorious repast, and I
succeeded in getting quite well acquainted with him.
We are on the Bowden plantation and he belongs to
a family of that name. Is very fearful of helping me as
his master is a strong Secesh., and he says would
whip him within an inch of his life if it was known.
Promise him not to be seen by any one and he has
promised to get me something more to eat after it
gets dark. Later.—After my noonday meal went
back toward the low ground and waited for my
supper, which came half an hour ago and it is not yet
dark. Had a good supper of boiled seasoned turnips,
corn bread and sour milk, the first milk I have had in
about a year. Begs me to go off in the morning, which
I have promised to do. Says for me to go two or three
miles on to another plantation owned by LeCleye,
where there are good negroes who will feed me.
Thanked the old fellow for his kindness. Says the war
is about over and the Yanks expected to free them all
soon. It’s getting pretty dark now, and I go to bed
filled to overflowing; in fact, most too much so.
Nov. 25.—This morning got up cold and stiff; not
enough covering. Pushed off in the direction pointed
out by the darkey of yesterday. Have come in the
vicinity of negro shanties and laying in wait for some
good benevolent colored brother. Most too many
dogs yelping around to suit a runaway Yankee. Little
nigs and the canines run together. If I can only attract
their attention without scaring them to death, shall be
all right. However, there is plenty of time, and won’t
rush things. Time is not valuable with me. Will go
sure and careful. Don’t appear to be any men folks
around; more or less women of all shades of color.
This is evidently a large plantation; has thirty or forty
negro huts in three or four rows. They are all neat
and clean to outward appearances. In the far
distance and toward what I take to be the main road
is the master’s residence. Can just see a part of it.
Has a cupola on top and is an ancient structure.
Evidently a nice plantation. Lots of cactus grows wild
all over, and is bad to tramp through. There is also
worlds of palm leaves, such as five cent fans are
made of. Hold on there, two or three negro men are
coming from the direction of the big house to the
huts. Don’t look very inviting to trust your welfare
with. Will still wait, McCawber like, for something to
turn up. If they only knew the designs I have on
them, they would turn pale. Shall be ravenous by
night and go for them. I am near a spring of water,
and lay down flat and drink. The “Astor House Mess”
is moving around for a change; hope I won’t make a
mess of it. Lot of goats looking at me now,
wondering, I suppose, what it is. Wonder if they butt?
Shoo! Going to rain, and if so I must sleep in one of
those shanties. Negroes all washing up and getting
ready to eat, with doors open. No, thank you; dined
yesterday. Am reminded of the song: “What shall we
do, when the war breaks the country up, and scatters
us poor darkys all around.” This getting away
business is about the best investment I ever made.
Just the friendliest fellow ever was. More than like a
colored man, and will stick closer than a brother if
they will only let me. Laugh when I think of the old
darky of yesterday’s experience, who liked me first
rate only wanted me to go away. Have an eye on an
isolated hut that looks friendly. Shall approach it at
dark. People at the hut are a woman and two or three
children, and a jolly looking and acting negro man.
Being obliged to lay low in the shade feel the cold, as
it is rather damp and moist. Later.—Am in the hut
and have eaten a good supper. Shall sleep here to-
night. The negro man goes early in the morning,
together with all the male darky population, to work
on fortifications at Fort McAllister. Says the whole
country is wild at the news of approaching Yankee
army. Negro man named “Sam” and woman “Sady.”
Two or three negroes living here in these huts are not
trustworthy, and I must keep very quiet and not be
seen. Children perfectly awe struck at the sight of a
Yankee. Negroes very kind but afraid. Criminal to
assist me. Am five miles from Doctortown. Plenty of
“gubers” and yams. Tell them all about my
imprisonment. Regard the Yankees as their friends.
Half a dozen neighbors come in by invitation, shake
hands with me, scrape the floor with their feet, and
rejoice most to death at the good times coming.
“Bress de Lord,” has been repeated hundreds of
times in the two or three hours I have been here.
Surely I have fallen among friends. All the visitors
donate of their eatables, and although enough is
before me to feed a dozen men, I give it a tussle.
Thus ends the second day of my freedom, and it is
glorious.
Nov. 26.—An hour before daylight “Sam” awoke
me and said I must go with him off a ways to stay
through the day. Got up, and we started. Came about
a mile to a safe hiding place, and here I am. Have
plenty to eat and near good water. Sam will tell
another trusty negro of my whereabouts, who will
look after me, as he has to go away to work. The
negroes are very kind, and I evidently am in good
hands. Many of those who will not fight in the
Confederate army are hid in these woods and
swamps, and there are many small squads looking
them up with dogs and guns to force them into the
rebel ranks. All able-bodied men are conscripted into
the army in the South. It is possible I may be
captured by some of these hunting parties. It is again
most night and have eaten the last of my food. Can
hear the baying of hounds and am skeery. Shall take
in all the food that comes this way in the meantime.
Sam gave me an old jack knife and I shall make a
good bed to sleep on, and I also have an additional
part of a blanket to keep me warm. In fine spirits and
have hopes for the future. Expect an ambassador
from my colored friends a little later. Later.—The
ambassador has come and gone in the shape of a
woman. Brought food; a man told her to tell me to go
off a distance of two miles or so, to the locality
pointed out, before daylight, and wait there until
called upon to-morrow. Rebel guards occupy the
main roads, and very unsafe.
Nov. 27.—Before daylight came where I now am.
Saw alligators—small ones. This out in the woods life
is doing me good. Main road three miles away, but
there are paths running everywhere. Saw a white
man an hour ago. Think he was a skulker hiding to
keep out of the army, but afraid to hail him. Many of
these stay in the woods day-times, and at night go to
their homes, getting food. Am now away quite a
distance from any habitation, and am afraid those
who will look for me cannot find me. Occasionally
hear shots fired; this is a dangerous locality. Have
now been out four days and fared splendidly. Have
hurt one of my ankles getting through the brush; sort
of sprain, and difficult to travel at all. No water near
by and must move as soon as possible. Wild hogs
roam around through the woods, and can run like a
deer. Palm leaves grow in great abundance, and are
handsome to look at. Some of them very large.
Occasionally see lizards and other reptiles, and am
afraid of them. If I was a good traveler I could get
along through the country and possibly to our lines.
Must wander around and do the best I can however.
Am armed with my good stout cane and the knife
given me by the negro; have also some matches, but
dare not make a fire lest it attract attention. Nights
have to get up occasionally and stamp around to get
warm. Clear, cool nights and pleasant. Most too light,
however, for me to travel. The remnants of
yesterday’s food, have just eaten. Will now go off in
an easterly direction in hopes of seeing the
messenger.
Nov. 28.—No one has come to me since day
before yesterday. Watched and moved until most
night of yesterday but could see or hear no one.
Afraid I have lost communication. In the distance can
see a habitation and will mog along that way. Most
noon. Later.—As I was poking along through some
light timber, almost ran into four Confederates with
guns. Lay down close to the ground and they passed
by me not more than twenty rods away. Think they
have heard of my being in the vicinity and looking me
up. This probably accounts for not receiving any
visitor from the negroes. Getting very hungry, and no
water fit to drink. Must get out of this community as
fast as I can. Wish to gracious I had two good legs.
Later.—It is now nearly dark and I have worked my
way as near direct north as I know how. Am at least
four miles from where I lay last night. Have seen
negroes, and white men, but did not approach them.
Am completely tired out and hungry, but on the edge
of a nice little stream of water. The closing of the fifth
day of my escape. Must speak to somebody to-
morrow, or starve to death. Good deal of yelling in
the woods. Am now in the rear of a hovel which is
evidently a negro hut, but off quite a ways from it.
Cleared ground all around the house so I can’t
approach it without being too much in sight. Small
negro boy playing around the house. Too dark to
write more.
Nov. 29.—The sixth day of freedom, and a hungry
one. Still where I wrote last night, and watching the
house. A woman goes out and in but cannot tell
much about her from this distance. No men folks
around. Two or three negro boys playing about. Must
approach the house, but hate to. Noon.—Still right
here. Hold my position. More than hungry. Three
days since I have eaten anything, with the exception
of a small potatoe and piece of bread eaten two days
ago and left from the day before. That length of time
would have been nothing in Andersonville, but now
being in better health demand eatables, and it takes
right hold of this wandering sinner. Shall go to the
house towards night. A solitary woman lives there
with some children. My ankle from the sprain and
yesterday’s walking is swollen and painful. Bathe it in
water, which does it good. Chickens running around.
Have serious meditations of getting hold of one or
two of them after they go to roost, then go farther
back into the wilderness, build a fire with my matches
and cook them. That would be a royal feast. But if
caught at it, it would go harder with me than if caught
legitimately. Presume this is the habitation of some of
the skulkers who return and stay home nights.
Believe that chickens squawk when being taken from
the roost. Will give that up and walk boldly up to the
house.
RE-CAPTURED.
HOME GUARDS GOBBLE ME UP—WELL TREATED AND WELL

FED—TAKEN TO DOCTORTOWN AND FROM THENCE TO
BLACKSHEAR—THE TWO BUCK BOYS AS RUNAWAYS—RIDE
ON A PASSENGER TRAIN—PROSPECTS AHEAD, ETC.
Doctortown Station, No. 5, Nov. 30.—Ha! Ha!

My boy, you are a prisoner of war again. Once more
with a blasted rebel standing guard over me, and it
all happened in this wise: Just before dark I went up
to that house I spoke of in my writings yesterday.
Walked boldly up and rapped at the door; and what
was my complete astonishment when a white woman
answered my rapping. Asked me what I wanted, and
I told her something to eat. Told me to come in and
set down. She was a dark looking woman and could
easily be mistaken from my hiding place of the day
for a negro. Began asking me questions. Told her I
was a rebel soldier, had been in the hospital sick and
was trying to reach home in the adjoining county.
Was very talkative; told how her husband had been
killed at Atlanta, &c. She would go out and in from a
shanty kitchen in her preparation of my supper. I
looked out through a window and saw a little darky
riding away from the house, a few minutes after I
went inside. Thought I had walked into a trap, and
was very uneasy. Still the woman talked and worked,
and I talked, telling as smoothe lies as I knew how.
For a full hour and a half sat there, and she all the
time getting supper. Made up my mind that I was the
same as captured, and so put on a bold face and
made the best of it. Was very well satisfied with my
escapade anyway, if I could only get a whack at that
supper before the circus commenced. Well, after a
while heard some hounds coming through the woods
and towards the house. Looked at the woman and
her face pleaded guilty, just as if she had done
something very mean. The back door of the house
was open and pretty soon half a dozen large blood
hounds bounded into the room and began snuffing
me over; about this time the woman began to cry.
Told her I understood the whole thing and she need
not make a scene over it. Said she knew I was a
yankee and had sent for some men at Doctortown.
Then five horsemen surrounded the house,
dismounted and four of them came in with guns
cocked prepared for a desperate encounter. I said:
“good evening, gentlemen.” “Good evening,” said the
foremost, “we are looking for a runaway yankee
prowling around here.” “Well,” says I, “you needn’t
look any farther, you have found him.” “Yes, I see,”
was the answer. They all sat down, and just then the
woman said “supper is ready and to draw nigh.”
Drawed as nigh as I could to that supper and
proceeded to take vengeance on the woman. The
fellows proved to be home guards stationed here at
Doctortown. The woman had mounted the negro boy
on a horse just as soon as I made my appearance at
the house and sent for them. They proved to be good
fellows. Talked there at the house a full hour on the
fortunes of war, &c. Told them of my long
imprisonment and escape and all about myself. After
a while we got ready to start for this place. One rebel
rode in front, one on each side and two in the rear of
me. Was informed that if I tried to run they would
shoot me. Told them no danger of my running, as I
could hardly walk. They soon saw that such was the
case after going a little way, and sent back one of the
men to borrow the woman’s horse. Was put on the
animal’s back and we reached Doctortown not far
from midnight. As we were leaving the house the
woman gave me a bundle; said in it was a shirt and
stockings. Told her she had injured me enough and I
would take them. No false delicy will prevent my
taking a shirt. And so my adventure has ended and
have enjoyed it hugely. Had plenty to eat with the
exception of the two days, and at the last had a

Full Chapter Sport Branding Insights 1St Edition Stavros PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Full Chapter Sport Branding Insights 1St Edition Stavros PDF

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Full Chapter Sport Branding Insights 1St Edition Stavros PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Sport Branding Insights 1st Edition

Digital Branding Fever 1st Edition Nasos Poulis

New Technologies and Branding 1st Edition Philippe

Architectural Technicities A Foray Into Larval Space

Advances in Corporate Branding 1st Edition John M. T.

Branding the Nation the Place the Product 1st Edition

Sport Policy Systems and Sport Federations: A Cross-

China Branding Cases from Zhejiang Martin J. Liu

International Sport Marketing Routledge Research in

In a sporting world dominated by media and money, an understanding

Constantino Stavros is Associate Professor of Marketing at RMIT

Aaron C.T. Smith is Professor of Sport Business at the Institute for

Available in this series:

Sport Branding Insights

ISBN: 978-0-367-33164-1 (hbk)

The sport of branding 1

1 Understanding sport brands 8

2 Building sport brands 16

3 Mobilising sport brands 34

4 Leveraging sport brands 58

5 Reinventing sport brands 76

Brands as value systems

Overview of the book

Introduction – key concepts

Sport marketing to sport branding

Integrated marketing communications

Consumer and fan behaviour

1 Category need – this stage of the buying process involves acknowl-

Conclusion – from elements to associations

Introduction – What is a sport brand?

The ‘branding’ concept

Creating brand associations

MOVED FROM CAMP LAWTON AFTER A SOJOURN OF TWENTY

Nov. 22.—And now my turn has come, and I get off

HOME GUARDS GOBBLE ME UP—WELL TREATED AND WELL

Doctortown Station, No. 5, Nov. 30.—Ha! Ha!

You might also like