A comparison of spectators' and franchise staffs' perceptions on the effectiveness of the marketing techniques adopted by the Super Basketball League in Taiwan

This study examines and compares the spectators' and franchise staffs' perceived effectiveness of the marketing techniques adopted by the Super Basketball League (SBL). Because many marketing strategies of the National Basketball Association (NBA) have been practised in the SBL, the researchers further modifies and translates Dick and Turner's (2005) questionnaire to assess the Taiwanese spectators' perceptions toward the US marketing strategies. The developed questionnaire contains seven fixed-choice and 24 five-point Likert scale items. The factor analysis groups 17 of the 24 items into five categories: (1) Traditional Mass Media (TM), (2) Direct and Electronic Mailing (DEM), (3) Sales Promotion (SP), (4) Gifts and Hospitality (GH) and (5) Strategic Marketing (SM). The participants include 31 (n = 31) staff members and 703 (n = 703) on-site spectators, who were randomly chosen during three competitions. Females (60.5%) and students (72.8%) are the two major groups that comprise the participants. Descriptive analysis shows that more people obtained information about the games from television commercials (49.6%) or by word of mouth (37.9%). SM (M = 3.96, SD = .77) and TM (M = 3.92, SD = .66) were rated as more effective ways to reach the targets. GH and DEM seemed to be less effective. The results also indicate that significant differences exist in the perceived marketing strategies based on various demographic characteristics (p < .05). In general, females under 20 years old tended to rate TM as a more effective means than their male counterparts did. The younger students without a college degree considered DEM more effective. However, the franchise staffs did not value GH as effective as the students or other working adults did. In the meantime, the franchise staffs perceived SM more effective than the younger students did. A disparity was clearly found in the perceived marketing strategies between the franchise staffs and young students. For certain reasons, the use of technology in advertising and promotion was still not highly appreciated, based on the collected responses. In conclusion, the unique cultural aspects of Taiwanese basketball necessitating suggestions for adjusting the existing strategies, along with the limitations and concerns related to the study, will be discussed.