Monday, September 30, 2019

Black People and Samuel L. Jackson Essay

Who is she today and what is her occupation? President of brown university Where was she born? When? Grapeland TX1940 What did her parents do?How many people were in her family? They were share croppers14 What was her life like as a little girl? Explain in several sentences. Also, include the specific details of sensory imagery she uses to enhance her description. She was a step out of slavery There were hundreds of people living in it A bucket with syrup a biscuit and bacon grease in it When did Ruth’s life shift, or change? How did this shift change her life? Be specific, and include details. 1950s they joined the vast migrations of African Americans to big cities She moved to Huston TX Explain the term sharecropping. Use a section of Ruth’s own words to complete your description. Where in turn for slavery they got a little amount of money from the slave holder Explain the term Jim Crow South. Use a section of Ruth’s own words to complete your description. â€Å"don’t ever talk back to a white person, if your on the sidewalk and you encounter a white person step off the side walk and let them pass and we dare not break the rules for fear of what would happen† Interview with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Samuel L. Jackson Web address: http://video.pbs.org/video/2227535116 HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR. Where did he live as a child? Explain his early life in a few sentences. They lived in three segregated neighborhoods. The color of their skin determined what they could do and what schools they could attend where they could work and with whom they could socialize. It bonded them together culturally. SAMUEL L. JACKSON Where did he live as a child? Down town Chattanooga Tennessee When did he leave, and why? By his 18th birthday, and to attend moorhouse collage Describe his childhood home? Embed a quote into your answer. Include sensory imagery for your answer. The black community was very small. Describe his family, and explain how he felt about them. Who said, â€Å"Segregation could impose many limits, but it couldn’t completely crush all of our dreams†? *Remember: when you use exact words and phrases, use proper documentation.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

The Passage “America Needs Its Nerds” by Leonid Fridman

G  compares athletes to nerds and geeks. Fridman made an analysis suggesting that society rewards the athletically apt for their skill while the â€Å"intellectually curious† as Fridaman puts it, are put down. Fridman’s passage was fluent and well written because of his range of writing techniques such as logos, tone, and his use of rhetorical questions to finish off the strong passage.Throughout the passage Fridman uses logos to appeal to the readers logic and attempt to persuade the audience academically serious individuals deserve to be awarded with much more respect than they are given. One example of Fridman’s use of logos is â€Å"In most industrialized nations, not least of all our economic rivals in East Asia, a kid who studies hard is lauded and held up as an example to other students.†This particular statement uses logos by loosely stating that East Asia is our â€Å"economic rival†; proceeding to say that individuals who take academics seriously are put on a pedistol, loosely suggesting this is the reason their economy is doing better than ours. This use of logos was successful because it makes you wonder if we did the same, maybe our economy would be better.Fridman’s tone throughout the passage added to the overall strength of the paper by keeping a serious, valid, and respectable tone which made you take him seriously. He didn’t joke or use emotion without information to back up his opinion. The very first paragraph of the passage starts out â€Å"There is something very wrong with the system of values in a society that has only derogatory terms like nerd and geek for the intellectually curious and academically serious.† Fridman starts out with emotion and opinion by stating there is something wrong with the system of values.However, he follows by explaining up why that is his opinion, i.e. the derogatory terms, then backs up what the derogatory term geek’s true definition is accordin g to Webster’s New World Dictionary. His serious, valid and respectable tone makes the reader truly listen to what he has to say and sincerely consider the way society treats geeks an important issue.Fridman’s use of rhetorical questions to finish the passage is vital to the persuasion of this passage. He begins the last paragraph in the passage by asking â€Å" How can a country where typical parents are ashamed of their daughter studying mathematics instead of going dancing, or of their son reading Weber while his friends play baseball, be expected to compete in the technology race with Japan or remain a leading political and cultural force in Europe?† This rhetorical question is a crucial part of the passage.It uses one of the world’s most technologically advanced countries, Japan, to make the reader consider if we don’t pushed our children academically rather than athletically and socially, how can we compete in the technology race with them?Th e rhetorical question makes the reader take into account that if around the globe children are being pushed academically while we are concentrated on social and physical skill, they will keep moving up and us, down.All in all, Fridman’s range of writing techniques such as logos, tone, and the use of rhetorical questions to finish off passage are what made the passage fluent and stong.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Argumentative Synthesis

In Mr. Siemiesz’s chapter he explained about the National Security Consequences of U. S Oil Dependence and how it could be fixed and changed for the best interest of the country; Mr. Siemiesz outlined specific points or steps the country could take to make those changes he outlined in the chapter. â€Å"Those major energy suppliers from Russia to Iraq to Venezuela have been increasingly able and willing to use their resources to pressure their strategic and political objectives.That these country’s are consuming less oil less then all of the other countries especially the United States. The Fact is that the U. S. makes up to 4. 6% of the world’s population but uses 25% of the world’s oil. So the challenge of this is over the next several years the U. S. needs to slow down and stop consuming a lot of Oil and hopefully find new ways to find energy†. In Mr. Franco’s chapter â€Å"205 ways to save the Earth† explains several ways to save t he planet; the author of the chapter Thomas L. Friedman speaks in his article about the word â€Å"Green† and how that term is used, he continued in the article to say that people need to find ways to improve the environment and recommended that it is in the best interest of the world to preserve the world he goes into ways for example like citizens of the world should being recycling and to help beautify the planet.Mr. Franco’s chapter concludes that the countries of the world have to learn better ways to improve the environment for everyone. The basic proposition behind the science of climate change is so firmly rooted in the laws of physics that no reasonable person can dispute it. All other things being equal, adding carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere—by, for example, burning millions of tons of oil, coal and natural gas—will make it warm up. That, as the Nobel Prize–winning chemist Svante Arrhenius first explained in 1896, is because CO2 i s relatively transparent to visible light from the sun, which heats the planet during the day.But it is relatively opaque to infrared, which the earth tries to reradiate back into space at night. If the planet were a featureless, monochromatic billiard ball without mountains, oceans, vegetation and polar ice caps, a steadily rising concentration of CO2 would mean a steadily warming earth†. The earth’s temperature can go up and destroy the polar ice caps and kills a lot of fish and raise the water and flood states. Crops are going to dry out so we can’t eat anything.People are taking advantage of it and destroying our planet. â€Å"The Greenhouse Effect is also comparing to global warming that it is a process by which thermal radiation from a planetary surface is absorbed by atmospheric greenhouse gases and is re-radiated in all directions. Since part of this re-radiation is back towards the surface, energy is transferred to the surface and the lower atmosphereâ € . As a result, the temperature there is higher than it would be if direct heating by solar radiation were the only warming mechanism.Global warming of the Earth's surface and lower atmosphere is believed to be the result of a strengthening of the greenhouse effect mostly due to human-produced increases in atmospheric greenhouse gases by which thermal radiation from a planetary surface is absorbed by atmospheric greenhouse gases and is re-radiated in all directions. Since part of this re-radiation is back towards the surface, energy is transferred to the surface and the lower atmosphere. In Mr. Anderson’s chapter explains to the reader how Oil is critical to the U. S. Economy and how their aren’t any viable alternatives that the author believes will set the United States on the path to energy independence; The Author Price continued to say that â€Å"politicians and environmentalist misled Americans about the realities of energy which lead to legislation that hurt s America in the global marketplace† Price believes that they truly don’t understand what is going on when it comes to the environment and he continued saying that is why the United States is so dependable on foreign oil.Mr. Anderson’s chapter concludes with the following â€Å"price admits American imports of crude are high but sees no feasible alternative. The demand for energy in America is simply great and oil is simply to important for the economy†.

Friday, September 27, 2019

PharmaSim Report OCM Group Allstar Brands Lab Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

PharmaSim OCM Group Allstar Brands - Lab Report Example Marketing plan or strategy must describe the key or augmented product characteristics and the kind of benefits they provide to the customer, the pivotal price that bounds company profitability yet providing value for money for the customer, tempting promotions that wil attract people to buy the product and a sound distribution and placement strategy to create access for the customers. Our target market segments was basically the retired segment where Allround had the most penetration and the largest (30%) market share. The prime reason for the selection of this market was the fact that they are most prone to body aches due to ageing. Since Allround product had the most amount of Analgesic, it was more suitable for aches and fever than cold symptoms. The brand is the clear market leader in this market segment. Most consumers use this product for nighttime relief because of the strength of the medication and because the alcohol and antihistamine help the patient rest. How you adjusted your pricing, channel, and promotions in response to the changes in: a) Macroenvironment of the Industry: Macro-economic environment changes such as change in government regulations; taxes, demographic changes and political environment highly affect the performance of the brand. For example, decline in industry growth and rise in infaltion negatively affected all the companies (including Allround brands) in the market. The cost of goods sold became higher than the previous period and hence our bottom line took a hit. After a consistent decline in the industry profits and growth, because of the competitive nature of the industry or changes in government policies for OTC, the macroeconomic environment changed in Period 8 when it increased by almost 12% period-over-period growth. Due to anticipatory high growth, the prices of the product were marginally increased ($1) in the respective period in order to leverage the benefits of market boom. b) Consumer Behaviors: Generally speaking, m arketing revolves around people. In the words of Peter Drucker, â€Å"Marketing is the entirety of the business from the perspective of the customer.† Hence, it is imperative to understand consumer behavior in order to gain customer insights and apply it to one’s brand strategy. In PharmaSim, consumer behavior was studies through market research reports and analysing shopping trends of the customers. The following insights were gained about our target market segments: Majority of the customer bought their over-the-counter medicines from grocery stores Majority of the physicians and pharmacists recommended brands Coughcure and End c) Competitors’ moves: Similar to the real world, one cannot play in insolation in PharmaSim, hence competitors’ reactive and aggressive moves affect your Dripstopperformances and strategies. For example, Besthelp, Coughcure and End

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Microeconomics Term Paper. Monopoly or oligopoly Essay

Microeconomics Term Paper. Monopoly or oligopoly - Essay Example An oligopoly is an imperfect competition among the few firms and it applies to an industry that has a few competing firms. Each firm competing in this imperfect market has enough power just like the other firms to prevent it becoming a price taker. However, each firm that competes in an oligopoly is subject to inter-firm rivalry to prevent it from viewing the market demand curve as its own. In the modern economies, oligopolies are the dominant market structures that characterize the production of capital and consumer goods and other industrial materials such as steel and aluminum. The U.S. steel industry, for example, experienced the emergence of mini-mills that had lower capital costs in the 1980s. The mini-mills came up as a new industry segment that developed when the US steel industry had declined because of the Japanese competition. Nippon Steel Company, a Japanese firm was created to match the size of steel companies in US and acted as a key factor in the growth of the Japanese steel industry. The Japanese steel industry invested heavily in modern technology that served to increase the steel production by a percentage of 2216 in a period of 30 years between 1950 to 1980. As such, the mini-mills and imports had gained a quarter of the US market each by 1980 forcing many previous steel-based companies diversifying into new markets (Collard-Wexler & De Loecker, 2013). This situation led to several changes in the market. The US government restricted imports to a quarter of the total internal market to save the US steel industry. Other changes that occurred include the investment of $ 9 billion in the increase of technological competitiveness, weakening of stringent pollution control laws and increasing labor productivity by cutting workers wages. The value of the dollar failed and increased import prices discouraging foreign competition. This stabilized the mini-mills to increase their market

Financial Management for Small Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Financial Management for Small Business - Essay Example In this case, it is critical to form a business plan to assist the agency’s long term objectives. This is especially if it is the first time trying to make it in this entrepreneurial venture (BARRINGER, 2008). Some of the aspects that surround this business need addressing so as to make it simpler to deal with the hurdles that these businesses face. This paper will examine such a plan in the car hire service, and how it may impact the growth and development of the business, in the long run. The name of the car hire service company will be Delta. The chosen business needs explaining because not everyone might comprehend the concepts being introduced in the car hire service. It must, therefore, articulate and explain these details to everyone so as to find out what might be needed to make the agency a success. The business plans formulated ought to look at all factors surrounding the business; the good, the bad, and the ugly. It must acknowledge the presence of all factors present in the environment that might enable it to grow, decline, or remain stagnant (FINCH, 2006). In order to attract a wide variety of customers, it is vital to have an image of the cars that are to be hired. In this fast globalising environment, the cars that need hiring are personal that are capable of running for many miles. These include personal cars that can accommodate a fairly large amount of individuals. Nowadays, individuals are keen on having the fun day out while visiting different areas. Having a car hire service that can address these needs is fundamental in the business’s growth. It is vital to understand their needs so as to have the right car to provide the customer (HOSMER, 1976).). Many young couples are interested in cars that are out for their interests. This means that; they want cars that are trendy and lavish to match the new lifestyle (JACKSACK, 1998). The common vehicle models from popular vehicle industries are the

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Corporate Social Responsibility Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Corporate Social Responsibility - Assignment Example Therefore there is a need for good corporate social responsibility toward the customer given the fact that the organization products or services are made for the consumption of the customers/public and in the even whereby the customer fails to consume the products, there is the danger of the organization becoming irrelevant or redundant because it would no longer need to carry out any more production. Another interesting contribution that speakers raised in the seminar concerning customers as stakeholders which the organization must address when it comes to social responsibility were whether for public offices especially government and not for profit organizations have customers as stakeholders. 1.2 It also emerged that the process of winning customers is quite an expensive one and therefore losing the customers by failing to adhere to corporate social responsibility requirements is a major undoing for the organizations considering the fact that organizations must need to be genuinely concerned about the well being and the wellness of the customers. Indeed organizations must also be able t,o rise above short-term focus and foresee the situation in a long-term sense. 1.3 Speaker after speaker supported this view of thinking but some of the speakers opposed this contention arguing that the organization risks spending a lot...This, opponents argued, is in contravention of the reason why organizations exist. The opponents of corporates social responsibility argued that organizations and customer relations are modeled on a consumerism principle whereby each side tries to gain the most out of the other and therefore the customer is less concerned about the well being and wellness of the organization. The opponents wondered why therefore the organization should spend thousands or millions of dollars trying to please the customers.  

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Technology Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Technology Management - Essay Example The company analyzed in this case study is an existing company Asia Odyssey. It is a UK travel agency offering a tailor-made holidays and honeymoons to the Far East and India (Asiaodyssey.com,2014). This company is operating in the Internet-based industry as a tour operator. For the information-intensive firm, operating in the tourism sector, the main sources of technology are systems departments, in-house software departments, suppliers of IT hardware and software (applications) (Tidd, Bessant, Pavitt K, 2005). As this type of business involves significant amount of information, it is important to process the information flow in most effective and rational way. There should exist systems for processing information. As Tidd, Bessant, and Pavitt, (2005:193), information –intensive firms should focus on the â€Å"development of complex information-processing systems, and the development of related and often radically new services†.The development of a new serviceNew produ ct/service development is often recognized to be a new source for profit development. Companies can generate significant returns if the right new product/service is successfully introduced at the right location and time, for right price and for the right consumer (Fojt, 1996). However, in order to implement this strategy, companies have to take a close look at the industry in which it operates, examine market competition and market position, and a number of other external factors. Use of technology enables the companies.

Monday, September 23, 2019

Clinical reflection paper exploring competencies in the transition to Essay

Clinical reflection paper exploring competencies in the transition to professional practice clinical block experience - Essay Example on gives scope for better understanding of oneself so that existing strengths can be used to build-up for future actions "(Somerville and Keeling, 2004). Every nurse registered under the Australian Nursing and Midwives Council or the ANMC needs to exhibit a certain degree of competency guided by the standard frameworks of competency standards designed by the ANMC (ANMC, 2005). High standards of competence can be maintained by the nurses through appropriate evaluation and examinations of ones own activities and performance, through clinical reflection. There are basically four domains of competency standards in nursing practice. They are professional practice, critical thinking and analysis, provision and coordination of care and collaborative and therapeutic practice (ANMC, 2005). In this essay, clinical reflection pertaining to critical thinking and analysis and provision and coordination of care will be discussed with reference to care of a a patient with diabetic ketoacidosis in a n emergency setting. While the domain of critical analysis and thinking refers to "self – appraisal, professional development, and the value of evidence and research for practice" (ANMC, 2005), the domain pertaining to coordination of care deals with "the coordination, organisation and provision of nursing care" (ANMC, 2005). Gibbs model of reflection will be used because the framework is straight forward and includes a cycle of clear description of the clinical situation, analysis of the feelings of the practitioner, evaluation of the actions during the situation, analysis of the various activities and experiences during the situation and a conclusion for lessons in future (Online learning, 2006). During my postings in the accident and emergency department, a 35 year old woman Mrs. X was brought to the emergency unit by her husband Mr.Y with history of fever since 2 days and abdominal pain and vomiting since few hours. The patient complained of easy fatiguibility and tiredness

Sunday, September 22, 2019

The Evolution Of International Environmental Law (IEL) Essay Example for Free

The Evolution Of International Environmental Law (IEL) Essay Trace the evolution of International Environmental Law (IEL). What does the rise of IEL signify in terms of community interests versus the egoistic interests of nation states? The term ‘International Environmental Law’ can be used as a term to encompass the entire corpus of international law, public and private relevant to environmental issues or problems.[1] The modern rules of international environmental law can be traced back to a ‘spat’ between the United States and Britain. The first ever reported environmental dispute dates back to 1742. [2] In the early 1970s environmental issues started to appear on the agenda of various United Nations and non United Nations agencies and this was, in part, due to the amount of publicity that was being devoted to the problems of environmental degradation. In 1972, due to pressure from NGOs especially in the United States, the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment was convened. Preparations for this conference necessitated a thorough examination of activities that had any impact on the environment.[3] Under United Nations General Assembly Resolutions in 1968 and 1969 which gave rise to the Conference, the assembly agreed that there was an urgent need for intensified action at national and international levels to limit and if possible, eliminate the impairment of the human environment and that this was necessary for sound economic and social development.[4] The 1987 World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) Report and the resultant 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development expressed the already existing concern for sustainable development. Meanwhile, the dynamics of negotiations within these conferences changed with time. With decolonisation and the attainment of independence of more developing countries, more of these countries were joining the United Nations and other international Organisations. During negotiations, developing countries were insisting on radical changes to international economics relations that would bring about a situation that would be more conducive to the realization of their developmental goals.[5] Financial Institutions such as the World Bank now structured and conditioned loans in such a way that development should always be ecologically sound.[6] By the 1990s, environmentalists were opposing strongly, the trade regime under the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT). This was inflamed by two decisions of the Dispute Resolution Mechanism. In the Tuna Dolphin case, GATT ruled against the U.S ban on tuna that was caught using mechanisms that killed dolphins as well. In the Shrimp Turtle case, the GATT ruled against an American law that was put in place to protect turtles that were sometimes killed in the process of catching shrimps.[7] Now, the WTO rules are to be applied in such a way as to ensure the promotion of sustainable development so do the rules of many other international organisations. Under the various international environmental laws, companies are bound to respect environmental laws, they are bound for instance to conduct impact assessments on any project they wish to undertake.[8] States are also bound to respect the environmental integrity not only of their state but also that of all other states. In the world of today, it is doubtful that the GATT Dispute Resolution Mechanism would give similar rulings as those that they gave in the Tuna Dolphin and Shrimp Turtle cases. The rise of International Environmental Law has meant that states can no longer pursue their own personal interests without having consideration for the environmental integrity of other states. [1] Birnie and Boyle (2002) International Law and the Environment (2nd Edition) Pg. 2-3 [2] Sands (2005) Lawless World: America and the Making and Breaking of Global Rules Pg 71 [3] Ibid Pg. 38 [4] United Nations General Assembly Resolutions XXIII of 1968 and XXIV of 1969 [5] Dadzie, in Roberts and Kingsbury (1993) United Nations, Divided World: The Un’s Role In International Relations (2ND Edition) Oxford: Oxford University Press Pg. 300 [6] Birnie and Boyle (2002) International Law and the Environment (2nd Edition) Oxford: Oxford University Press Pg. 60 [7] Giplin (2001) Global Political Economy: Understanding The International Economic Order. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Pg. 226 [8] Article 4 Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in Transboundary Context

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Le sport comme support marketing

Le sport comme support marketing THESE: LE MARKETING SPORTIF Comment les marques utilisent-elles le sport comme support marketing? I. Champ de la recherche De nos jours, une entreprise a pour objectif premier de se positionner sur un marchà © en tentant de rà ©pondre au plus juste à   la demande de ses clients, qui sont de plus en plus exigeants. Le marketing est une fonction essentielle dans une organisation, il crà ©e de la valeur grà ¢ce à   de multiples techniques et stratà ©gies. Il permet dinfluencer le consommateur pour que celui-ci choisisse un produit ou un service plutà ´t quun autre. Le marketing constitue un outil indispensable à   lentreprise qui a vu son champ daction sà ©tendre considà ©rablement depuis ces dernià ¨res annà ©es. Jai choisi daxer mon choix sur le marketing appliquà © au secteur sportif. En effet, dans la socià ©tà © du XXIà ¨ sià ¨cle, le sport prend une place importante car il và ©hicule de nombreuses valeurs et gà ©nà ¨re, pour les entreprises, une forte puissance de communication. Depuis la moitià © du XIXà ¨me sià ¨cle, lapparition du sport moderne a permis de faire comprendre aux entreprises limportance de ce phà ©nomà ¨ne. Le sport occupe une place considà ©rable depuis larrivà ©e des lois sur larà ©duction du temps de travail. Les individus jouissent dà ¨s lors dun temps libre plus importante et peuvent pratiquer de nouveaux loisirs. Le mot  «sport », qui signifie  «divertissement » en anglais, fait prà ©cisà ©ment partie de ces loisirs. Le sport peut à ªtre pratiquà © individuellement ou collectivement et il sadresse à   tous, quel que soit là ¢ge, la catà ©gorie socioprofessionnelle, ou mà ªme, en quelque sorte, là ©tat de santà © de lindividu. En effet, il existe des sports pour les handicapà ©s. Selon la Charte Olympique,  «la pratique du sport est un droit de lhomme. Tout individu doit avoir la possibilità © de pratiquer le sport selon ses besoins ». Comment les marques utilisent-elles le sport comme support marketing? Il existe un à ©ventail trà ¨s large dactività ©s physiques, permettant à   beaucoup de personnes dexercer un sport. Aujourdhui,le sport fait intà ©gralement partie de notre socià ©tà ©et il và ©hicule de nombreuses valeurs positives. Cest pourquoi il reprà ©sente un moteur à ©conomique important. Eichberg (1979) parle à ©galement de  «marchandisation  » du sport en ce sens que le commerce des articles de sport se dà ©veloppe de plus en plus. Face à   cette ampleur du sport dans notre socià ©tà ©, le marketing sest dà ©veloppà © progressivement. Cest le football qui fut le premier sport à   utiliser le marketing sportif avec larrivà ©e des joueurs professionnels. Ainsi, le sport est devenu un business à   part entià ¨re. Diffà ©rents acteurs utilisent le sport comme support marketing: Ø Les organismes sportifs: les ligues, les fà ©dà ©rations, les clubs peuvent à ªtre inclus. Ils mettent en place des stratà ©gies de marque qui permettent daugmenter leur notorià ©tà © et de vendre des produits dà ©rivà ©s. Les exemples les plus significatifs sont ceux des clubs de football comme lOlympique Lyonnais, le Paris Saint Germain†¦ Ø Les à ©quipementiers sportifs: ils sappuient sur le sport et les sportifs dans le but damà ©liorer leur image de marque et daugmenter les ventes. Les marques telles que Nike, Adidas et Reebok sont les plus connues du grand public. Ø Les mà ©dias sportifs: ils diffusentles à ©và ©nements sportifs et transmettent de linformation en relation directe avec le sport. Le quotidien lEquipe en est un exemple. Comment les marques utilisent-elles le sport comme support marketing? Aujourdhui, certaines marques nayant aucun lien direct avec le sport, utilisent pourtant celui-ci pour accroà ®tre leur image. En effet, les grands champions sont une valeur ajoutà ©e pour lentreprise car les consommateurs peuvent sidentifier en eux. Laure Manaudou, par exemple, est là ©gà ©rie de la marque Lancel, dans le secteur du luxe. II. Justification de la problà ©matique Le phà ©nomà ¨ne du sport a vu son image se transformer au cours de ses dernià ¨res annà ©es en passant de loisir à   business. Les entreprises ont compris que le sport pouvait les aider à   accroà ®tre leur notorià ©tà ©, à   modifier leur image, à   booster leurs ventes et donc à   augmenter leur chiffre daffaire. Le marketing sportif à ©tant un sujet trà ¨s large, je me suis intà ©ressà © à   la faà §on dont les marques pouvaient lutiliser. Les entreprises peuvent tout dabord utiliser le marketing sportif comme outil de communication, cest-à  -dire, tout ce qui constitue informations, messages ou signaux à ©mis par lentreprise en direction de ses publics. De multiples canaux de communication sont empruntà ©s dans le but de faire passer les messages : les mass mà ©dias, le packaging de lemballage des produits, les opà ©rations promotionnelles, les relations publiques, les à ©và ©nements, etc. Restà ©e longtemps marginale, la communication constitue dà ©sormais une des plus grosses parts du budget de la plupart des entreprises et elle occupe ainsi une place trà ¨s importante au sein des socià ©tà ©s. Considà ©rà ©e comme un investissement à   long terme, les techniques de communication ont beaucoup à ©voluà © au cours du XXà ¨ sià ¨cle pour devenir finalement irremplaà §ables. Comment les marques utilisent-elles le sport comme support marketing? Les marques utilisent gà ©nà ©ralement le sponsoring pour crà ©er un lien direct avec le consommateur. Le parrainage peut à ªtre soit tà ©là ©visà ©, soit directement avec le sportif ou une à ©quipe sportive. Le sponsoring sportif a plusieurs objectifs: Ø Tout dabord, le sponsoring permet de rendre une marque crà ©dible. Il contribue à   dà ©montrer la performance technique dun service ou dun produit qui intervient directement ou indirectement à   un à ©và ©nement. Par exemple, si un champion porte des baskets Nike lors de ces victoires, les spectateurs en dà ©duisent que les baskets sont de bonne qualità ©. Ø Une entreprise utilise le sponsoring pour augmenter sa notorià ©tà © aux yeux des consommateurs, voire pour modifier son image si celle-ci est dà ©tà ©riorà ©e. Ø Enfin, le sponsoring permet de dynamiser le rà ©seau de distribution dune entreprise en dà ©veloppant des partenariats dans le but daugmenter les ventes. Comment les marques utilisent-elles le sport comme support marketing? III. Concepts: mots clà ©s Ø Le marketing Les premià ¨res notions arrivent au XVIIà ¨ et XVIIIà ¨ sià ¨cles en France et en Grande-Bretagne mais cette discipline reste rà ©cente. Elle fait son apparition au milieu du XXà ¨ sià ¨cle lors de la dà ©couverte de la socià ©tà © de consommation: les entreprises se multiplient et la concurrence sintensifie. Daprà ¨s le Mercator, le marketing peut se dà ©finir comme à ©tant  «leffort dadaptation des organisations à   des marchà ©s concurrentiels, pour influencer en leur faveur le comportement des publics dont elles dà ©pendent, par une offre dont la valeur perà §ue est durablement supà ©rieure à   celle des concurrents ». Le marketing se dà ©compose en quatre composantes (le marketing-mix): la politique de produit: consiste à   concevoir, organiser et renouveler ce que lentreprise vend à   ses clients. la politique de prix: lobjectif est de rà ©duire le prix pour à ªtre le plus attractif possible. la politique de communication: permet dinfluencer les attitudes et les comportements du consommateur. la politique de distribution: proposer le produit au bon endroit, en bonne quantità © et au bon moment. Le marketing constitue donc un effort dadaptation pour influencer les consommateurs dans leur acte dachat. Il est à ©galement ce qui permet de crà ©er de la valeur sur le long terme Comment les marques utilisent-elles le sport comme support marketing? Ø Le sport Cette notion est apparue au cours du XVIIIà ¨ sià ¨cle, le mot dorigine anglaise signifiant divertissement, plaisir physique et ou de lesprit. Le sport est dà ©fini comme à ©tant une actività © physique codifià ©e et rà ©glementà ©e pouvant à ªtre individuelle ou collective. Il peut soit impliquer de participer à   des compà ©titions, soit de le pratiquer sous forme de loisir comme la randonnà ©e, le và ©lo, etc. Une multitude de sports pouvant convenir à   tous, le sport est donc inscrit comme un phà ©nomà ¨ne majeur dans nos socià ©tà ©s. Si certains sports (football, basket-ball, rugby, tennis, cyclisme†¦) sont davantage mà ©diatisà ©s que certains autres (curling, escrime, pà ªche, badminton, waterpolo†¦), le sport dans son ensemble est aujourdhui devenu une  « industrie  » à   part entià ¨re. La structure sur laquelle repose cette nouvelle industrie ainsi que les opportunità ©s de consommation quelle gà ©nà ¨re là ©gitiment lapproche marketing. Enfin, grà ¢ce aux valeurs positives quil và ©hicule naturellement, le sport peut rapidement devenir un trà ¨s bon vecteur de communication institutionnelle. Ø Le marketing sportif Il sagit dune dà ©clinaison du marketing ayant pour objectif dutiliser le sport, son image et ses acteurs au profit des produits et/ou de lentreprise. Daprà ¨s Michel DESBORDES le marketing sportif peut se dà ©finir comme à ©tant  «lensemble des outils et des mà ©thodes qui utilisent de faà §on directe ou indirecte le sport, son image et ses acteurs dans le but de susciter un besoin, de commercialiser un produit/servicequi rà ©ponde à   ce besoin et de le vendre ». Comment les marques utilisent-elles le sport comme support marketing? Le marketing sportif est de plus en plus utilisà © par les entreprises pour augmenter leur notorià ©tà © et/ou modifier leur image.  « Si le marketing sportif peut permettre de crà ©er de nouvelles opportunità ©s dinnovation, soit en dà ©veloppant de nouveaux usages, soit en fiabilisant de nouvelles technologies, il permet aussi une meilleure diffusion de nouveaux produits dont linnovation est de nature plus incrà ©mentale  » observent Thierry Lardinoit et Emmanuelle Le Nagard. Ø Le sponsoring En trente ans, le sponsoring a beaucoup à ©voluà © tant au niveau de sa conception, que du point de vue opà ©rationnel et stratà ©gique. Il occupe donc aujourdhui une place prà ©pondà ©rante. On peut le dà ©finir comme à ©tant une technique de communication qui consiste pour une entreprise à   contribuer financià ¨rement, matà ©riellement et/ou techniquement à   une action sociale, culturelle ou sportive, à   lentraà ®nement dun sportif, etc. Il permet ainsi daccroà ®tre la notorià ©tà © des entreprises, damà ©liorer leur image dans loptique de retirer des bà ©nà ©fices mais aussi de rendre ses produits crà ©dibles. Le sponsoring sportif consiste pour une entreprise/marque à   apporter un soutien financier ou matà ©riel à   un à ©và ©nement, une fà ©dà ©ration ou une à ©quipe sportive. Comment les marques utilisent-elles le sport comme support marketing? Le sponsoring sportif vise à   persuader les publics assistant à   là ©và ©nement sportif dun lien existant entre cet à ©và ¨nement (ou sportif) et lentreprise qui communique. (Gary Tribou  «Sponsoring sportif » Ø Le produit sportif Bien que celui-ci reste difficile à   dà ©finir parce quil reprà ©sente une large produit, on peut le caractà ©riser comme ayant un lien sà ©mantique fort avec la pratique sportive. On peut donc inclure les và ªtements spà ©cifiques (baskets, joggings†¦), les matà ©riaux spà ©cifiques (perche, ski, manique†¦), les boissons et les aliments à ©nergisants. Comment les marques utilisent-elles le sport comme support marketing? Ø La marque Elle permet au consommateur de distinguer le produit ou service dune entreprise de ceux proposà ©s par la concurrence. La marque peut à ªtre matà ©rialisà ©e par un nom propre, un mot, une expression ou un symbole visuel. Grà ¢ce à   limage qui lui est associà ©e, la marque peut aider le consommateur à   justifier ses choix et ainsi à   à ªtre valorisà ©. De plus, la marque favorise la reconnaissance sociale des produits et simplifie lacte dachat rà ©pà ©titif. Tout un ensemble de signes permettent de reconnaà ®treune marque : Comment les marques utilisent-elles le sport comme support marketing? Ø Notorià ©tà © Cest un facteur pour une marque, un produit ou une entreprise qui dà ©pend de la connaissance et de son degrà © de prà ©sence dans lesprit des individus. Les deux unità ©s de mesure sont la notorià ©tà © spontanà ©e (exemple :  «Citez une marque de và ªtement de sport ») et la notorià ©tà © assistà ©e (exemple dune liste de marques de và ªtements de sport: «lesquelles connaissez-vous? ») Ø Image de marque Limage dune entreprise, dune marque ou dun produit, correspond à   la faà §on dont celles-ci sont perà §ues par les consommateurs. Cette impression peut se dà ©terminer par des crità ¨res subjectifs (exemple : un produit de jeunes) ou par des crità ¨res objectifs (exemple : limage dun produit haut de gamme à   prix à ©levà ©). Selon Aaker (1994) limage de marque  «Ãƒ ©tant un ensemble dassociations, pouvant à ªtre affectives et cognitives, et quun individu va associer à   une marque. Une image de marque va alors se construire à   travers lexpà ©rience du consommateur face à   cette marque et/ou à   travers lexposition rà ©pà ©tà ©e à   la communication de la marque. » Comment les marques utilisent-elles le sport comme support marketing? IV. Synthà ¨se provisoire de littà ©rature Daprà ¨s les articles que jai lu, traitant du marketing sportif, trois hypothà ¨ses mont paru intà ©ressant à   dà ©gager afin de dà ©limiter les contours du sujet de cette thà ¨se et afin, par la suite, daboutir à   un rà ©sultat. Hypothà ¨se 1: Le sport est populaire. Le sport a toujours existà © : sauter, courir, nager sont des actività ©s qui existent depuis le dà ©but de lhumanità ©. Puis il sest dà ©veloppà © grà ¢ce aux Jeux-Olympique dans la Grà ¨ce antique. Cest, depuis quelques annà ©es, un phà ©nomà ¨ne majeur de nos socià ©tà ©s dans les domaines à ©conomiques, culturels et sociaux. Il est important de connaà ®tre sa nature et en particulier les aspects qui peuvent justifier un tel engouement de la part des individus. En effet, le sport apparaà ®t comme populaire et joue un rà ´le important dans la mondialisation. Souvent le pays ou la ville sont connus par les exploits de son à ©quipe de sport. Selon le sociologue du sport Jacques Defrance (1997),  « le sport remplit des fonctions symboliques et produit des figures de la communautà © dappartenance, de lexcellence individuelle et de la rà ©ussite  ». C. Bromberger (1995) va jusquà   parler de socià ©tà ©  « footballisà ©e  » pour suggà ©rer que les grands à ©và ©nements sportifs tendent à   devenir des rites communautaires. Le sport et là ©ducation partagent de nombreuses valeurs communes, comme lacquisition des savoirs, savoir-à ªtre et savoir-faire. Plus prà ©cisà ©ment, le sport contribue au dà ©veloppement des compà ©tences et à   la dà ©couverte de la tolà ©rance et de lesprit dà ©quipe. Il incite à ©galement au respect des lois et des rà ¨glements. Comment les marques utilisent-elles le sport comme support marketing? Pour rà ©sumer, le sport contribue, tout simplement, à   lapprentissage de la vie citoyenne. Ce constat rà ©sulte dun rà ©el dà ©veloppement des actività ©s sportives, notamment pour les plus jeunes. Au-delà   de la dimension citoyenne quil incarne à   là ©cole ou encore dans les salles de sports des quartiers populaires, le sport và ©hicule des valeurs traditionnelles et morales telles que le goà »t de leffort, la loyautà © et le respect de lautre. Le sport enseigne le savoir-vivre ensemble à   toutes les personnes qui sy adonnent. Les pratiques sportives favorisent aussi les relations intergà ©nà ©rationnelles, linsertion sociale et lintà ©gration dans une socià ©tà © donnà ©e. Quil sagisse de la pratique de haut niveau ou de la pratique damateur, lenjeu sportif est majeur. Le sport amà ¨ne au dà ©passement de soi et à   là ©panouissement personnel lors des compà ©titions ou dentrainements. Les valeurs apportà ©es par le sport sont la fraternità ©, lesprit de solidarità ©, laltruisme et la gà ©nà ©rosità ©. Lesprit dà ©quipe est souvent perà §u positivement en sport : lorsque là ©quipe gagne, lindividu gagne aussi. Les individus pratiquent un sport plus quun autre selon là ¢ge et le niveau de vie. Il y a 78% des Franà §ais pratiquent une actività © physique et les taux de sportifs ne cessent daugmenter. Comment les marques utilisent-elles le sport comme support marketing? Tableau à ©volution des effectifs des fà ©dà ©rations (Desbordes M., Ohl F., Tribou G.  «Le marketing du sport », 2eme à ©dition, 2001). Discipline Licences en 1995 Licences en 1997 Evolution en % Canoà «-kayak Sports de glace Badminton Equitation Gymnastique Judo Golf Volley-ball Natation Athlà ©tisme Football Boxe 26 068 39 106 36 879 325 452 162 225 489074 236864 91029 167929 147932 2055610 15 488 86 072 63265 51 646 367323 182390 543016 261058 100545 179578 152769 2056684 15 484 + 233% + 62% + 40 % + 13% + 12% + 11% + 10% + 10% + 7% + 3% 0% 0% De plus, le sport est populaire par le spectacle quil offre : les individus vont regarder un match de football comme ils vont voir un chanteur sur scà ¨ne. Je ne suis pas sà »re que ce soit vraiment comparable. Comment les marques utilisent-elles le sport comme support marketing? Le sport est passà © de loisir à   business en quelques annà ©es, et son marchà © global en France est de 28,6 milliards dEuros. Aujourdhui, les consommateurs dà ©tournent les produits sportifs et font souvent des usages non sportifs de ces biens. Ils achà ¨tent des joggings et des baskets pour les porter tous les jours et non uniquement pour faire du sport. Seulement 46% des baskets et 34% des và ªtements sportifs sont rà ©ellement utilisà ©s pour faire du sport. Le sport nest donc plus seulement une pratique mais un à ©tat desprit et de nos jours à   une vraie  «sportisation » se met en place au sein de la socià ©tà ©. Par exemple, les hommes prà ©fà ¨rent porter des polos plutà ´t que des chemises. Quelle influence les valeurs và ©hiculà ©es par le sport ont-elles sur les consommateurs? Le sport diffuse ses valeurs propres mais il devient de plus en plus violent et dà ©passe certaines limites. Les matchs de football, par exemple, ressemblent à   un affrontement entre les supporters. Il serait donc intà ©ressant de savoir si les dà ©rives du sport nauront pas dinfluence sur le marchà ©. Comment les marques utilisent-elles le sport comme support marketing? Hypothà ¨se 2: Le sponsoring sportif est un support marketing pertinent. Le sponsoring sportif remonte aux temps de la Grà ¨ce et de la Rome antiques. A cette à ©poque, les individus exploitaient dà ©jà   les Jeux romains comme outil de commerce. Cà ©sar lui-mà ªme avait fait sa propre publicità © / campagne dans le but de gagner des votes en finanà §ant des combats de gladiateurs en 65 av. J.-C. Il à ©tait totalement conscient des retombà ©es que ce financement pouvait lui procurer. Les entreprises utilisent le sport comme support marketing et surtout comme outil de communication. Depuis la moitià © du XIXà ¨me, lapparition du sport moderne a permis de faire comprendre aux entreprises la puissance de communication de ce phà ©nomà ¨ne. En effet, lassociation dunemarqueou dune entreprise à   une compà ©tition, un à ©và ¨nement sportif, un club voire un sportif professionnel, permet davoir des retombà ©es mà ©diatiques importantes et donc dattirer le consommateur. Si le sponsoring existe dans le sport, cest parce quil và ©hicule des valeurs qui permettent aux marques de mettre en place des stratà ©gies pour augmenter leur notorià ©tà © et modifier ainsi leurimagede marque. Comment les marques utilisent-elles le sport comme support marketing? Le sport arrive en premià ¨re position à   la question  «Que parrainent les entreprises ? »: (Tableau de Westphalen M.-H. (2003), Le Communicator, Paris, Bordas, p. 347) Dans quel domaine pratiquez-vous le parrainage? Dans quel domaine envisager-vous de le pratiquer dans lavenir? Sport Culture Social-humanitaire Programmes audiovisuels Education formation Environnement Patrimoine Sciences et techniques Exploit-aventure 55% 44% 37% 30% 26% 19% 17% 13% 10% 58% 47% 40% 21% 31% 37% 17% 17% 13% Le sponsor utilise la communication par le sport pour poursuivre diffà ©rents objectifs: augmenter sa notorià ©tà © et se faire connaà ®tre du grand public en informant sur sa marque, son nom, son produit ; avoir un objectif conatif, cest-à  -dire à ªtre apprà ©cià © du public, và ©hiculer une image positive du produit, de la marque ou de lorganisation ; Comment les marques utilisent-elles le sport comme support marketing? avoir une influence sur le comportement du consommateur, linciter à   acheter, le faire venir dans le magasin ; motiver son personnel, lamener à   se rassembler autour dun mà ªme projet et donc favoriser un esprit dà ©quipe ou une culture dentreprise. Le sport est aussi un moyen datteindre un public mondial et il est adaptà © à   la rà ©alisation de divers objectifs de marketing, tels que: populariser davantage la marque et sensibiliser le public; changer le profil de la marque; ce qui veut dire? renforcer la marque / produit ; crà ©er une reconnaissance mondiale des produits ; attirer des nouveaux segments de marchà ©; dà ©velopper le rà ©seau de distribution; Le sponsoring est donc un outil marketing au service de la marque et il permet un aux consommateurs ciblà ©s de sen rapprocher. Les sponsors veulent montrer que leurs produits sont de bonne qualità © grà ¢ce à   la preuve produit: à ªtre là ©quipementier dune à ©quipe qui gagne ou le fournisseur officiel dun à ©và ©nement qui rà ©ussit prouve que le produit est crà ©dible. Par exemple, dà ¨s 1981, Michelin, offre des pneus aux coureurs cyclistes et aux pilotes dautomobiles ou encore, Festina qui assure le chronomà ©trage du Tour de France. Les sponsors doivent veiller à   revoir leurs stratà ©gies avant chaque à ©và ©nement parce quen cas de contre-performance du sportif ou de là ©quipe de sport, les ventes de la marque peuvent diminuer. Comment les marques utilisent-elles le sport comme support marketing? Linvestissement dans le sponsoring sportif est devenu un levier stratà ©gique de croissance pour les entreprises. Les athlà ¨tes eux-mà ªmes sont devenus, surtout depuis la  « Zidanemania  » post 1998, des icà ´nes de socià ©tà © et des porte-paroles efficaces pour les marques. Maintenant, il est difficile pour un consommateur de retenir les nombreuses marques qui sponsorisent les à ©và ©nements sportifs. Comment une marque peut-elle faire pour attirer plus encore lattention du consommateur et rester concurrentielle ? Cette question se pose aussi en ce qui concerne les marques nagissant pas dans le mà ªme secteur. Existe-il plusieurs types de sponsoring sportif? Il serait intà ©ressant, à ©galement, de savoir quels sont les retours sur investissement de natureà ©conomique mais aussi symbolique. Sur le plan à ©conomique, le sponsoring permet de faire augmenter lechiffre daffaireou la part demarchà ©de lentreprise à   plus ou moins long terme. Les indicateurs pour rà ©aliser ces calculs sont assez faciles à   mettre en place. Nà ©anmoins, la part que joue le sponsoring dans les rà ©sultats à ©conomiques est plus difficile à   dà ©terminer. Le sport và ©hicule un certain nombre de valeurs et est devenu un à ©là ©ment important dans lacte dachat du consommateur. Ainsi, sassocier à   un à ©và ¨nement sportif qui và ©hicule des valeurs positives, cest donner à   sa marque une valeur affective. Afin de calculer le rà ©el impact dun sponsor, il faut effectuer des sondages avant et aprà ¨s là ©và ¨nement. Comment les marques utilisent-elles le sport comme support marketing? Hypothà ¨se 3: Limage de marque est primordiale pour lentreprise. Limage permet de crà ©er de la valeur pour la marque pour diffà ©rentes raisons: aider le consommateur dans son acte dachat à   traiter linformation quil reà §oit.En effet, une image ou un logo synthà ©tise un ensemble de caractà ©ristiques. Ceci facilite la communication de lentreprise; fournir aux entreprises un avantage commercial compà ©titif et permettre à   celles-ci de se diffà ©rencier de leurs concurrents ; donner au consommateur des raisons dacheter; -dà ©velopper des attitudes positivesen associant des personnages, des symboles à   la communication de la marque ; permettre daider à   la crà ©ation dextension de marques(des traits dimage, peuvent aider une extension par la cohà ©rence existante entre la marque et le nouveau produit). Les marques utilisent les sportifs comme des leaders dopinion car ce sont les personnalità ©s les plus apprà ©cià ©es du grand public notamment pour leurs valeurs / qualità ©s humaines. Le choix de lactività © sportive par le sponsor sopà ¨re en fonction du coà »t, du temps imparti et de la concurrence. Le choix du sportif en lui-mà ªme relà ¨ve de la stratà ©gie retenue par lentreprise. On peut prendre lexemple de Lacoste et dAdidas qui sponsorisent tous les deux des tennismen. Lacoste choisit des athlà ¨tes dont la rà ©putation est dà ªtre  «sages » pour correspondre à   limage de la marque alors quAdidas va plutà ´t choisir des athlà ¨tes plus turbulents mais cosmopolites. Pour les sponsors, il est important de choisir un sportif qui và ©hicule limage de la marque. Comment les marques utilisent-elles le sport comme support marketing? La popularità © des sportifs est un atout dont les publicitaires ne peuvent se passer. Les diffà ©rentes marques sponsorisent les plus grands sportifs de la planà ¨te pour vanter les mà ©rites de leurs produits. Cependant, le pouvoir mà ©diatique des sportifs est tellement important, que certaines marques utilisent leur image pour vendre des produits qui nont pas de relation directe avec le sport. Les publicitaires utilisent alors certaines des valeurs và ©hiculà ©es par le sport : courage et dà ©passement de soi, esprit collectif, dynamisme, performance et esprit de compà ©tition, etc Tony Estanguet, champion Olympique de kayac, vente alors les mà ©rites du fournisseur en à ©lectricità ©. La relation entre celui-ci et les centrales hydrauliques est pourtant loin dà ªtre à ©vidente. Nà ©anmoins, il existe un bà ©nà ©fice pour les deux parties: pour le kayakiste qui na pas les retombà ©es financià ¨res et mà ©diatiques dun footballeur et pour lannonceur qui se sert de leffet post Jeux-Olympiques. Cela apparaà ®t comme contradictoire lorsque les sportifs vantent les mà ©rites de produits qui sont dà ©conseillà ©s aux sportifs de haut niveau. Ce ne sont sà »rement pas les bonbons Haribo, Macdonald (fournisseur officiel des Jeux-Olympiques), les boissons sucrà ©es qui permettent aux sportifs dà ªtre plus forts. On peut se demander si avec la montà ©e de lobà ©sità ©, ces sponsors sont une solution. Autrefois, mà ªme les marques de tabac et dalcool à ©taient des sponsors pour des à ©quipes de sport ou des sportifs. Il est parfois hypocrite pour une marque dutiliser un produit qui est dangereux pour la santà © tout en promouvant une actività © qui donne un exemple de vie saine et convenable. Les marques dà ©jà   connues se permettent de sponsoriser un à ©và ©nement sportif, une à ©quipe de sport ou un sportif alors quelles nont rien à   voir avec le sport. En revanche, il est apparu que les marques peu connues devaient avoir un lien avec le sport. Tout dà ©pend donc de la là ©gitimità © de la marque dans lunivers du sport. Il serait intà ©ressant de savoir comment les sponsors choisissent les sportifs pour và ©hiculer les valeurs de leur marque et quels sont les facteurs clà ©s de succà ¨s. Comment les marques utilisent-elles le sport comme support marketing? V. Plan provisoire I. Du sport au Marketing 1.Evolution du sport 2. Evolution du marketing 3. Le marketing sportif II. Le sponsoring sportif 1. Outil de communication 2. Les objectifs 3. Limites III. Le sponsoring sportif dans le milieu du luxe 1. Marchà © du luxe 2. Les marques de luxe et le sponsoring sportif IV. Conclusion (Pour la partie III, jaimerais lorienter en fonction de mon stage en alternance) Comment les marques utilisent-elles le sport comme support marketing? VI. Mà ©thodologie danalyse terrain Aprà ¨s avoir và ©rifià © mes hypothà ¨ses grà ¢ce à   mes lectures, je dois, à   travers des analyses quantitatives et qualitatives, les tester sur le terrain, cest-à  -dire en milieu concret. Tout dabord, avant dexpliquer la mà ©thodologie retenue, voici les dà ©finitions dune analyse qualitative, puis dune analyse quantitative. Analyse qualitative:  «Etude destinà ©e à   comprendre des attitudes ou comportement dutilisateurs, de prospects ou de clients face à   un produit, un service ou une marque, menà ©e par le biais dentretiens individuels ou collectifs en petit nombre, en rà ©coltant des informations et à ©là ©ments qualitatifs, gà ©nà ©ralement non chiffrables. » Source: http://www.marketing-etudiant.fr/definitions/e/etude-qualitative.php Analyse quantitative:  «Collecte dinformations permettant là ©tude des comportements, attentes ou opinions rà ©alisà ©e auprà ¨s dun à ©chantillon de la population et dont les rà ©sultats chiffrà ©s sont ensuite extrapolà ©s à   lensemble de la population à ©tudià ©e. » Source: http://www.marketing-etudiant.fr/definitions/e/etude-quantitative.php Dans le but de và ©rifier les trois hypothà ¨ses formulà ©es prà ©cà ©demment, jaimerais interviewer des spà ©cialistes du marketing sportif, des sponsors, des sportifs de haut-niveau et des consommateurs. Comment les marques utilisent-elles le sport comme support marketing? Pour lhypothà ¨se 1: il serait intà ©ressant de questionner une trentaine de personnes (par le biais dun questionnaire), pratiquant le sport, et qui sont à ¢gà ©es de 10 à   60 ans. Ceci me permettrait de mieux connaà ®tre leurs reprà ©sentations sur le monde du sport (savoir, par exemple, quelles sont les valeurs và ©hiculà ©es par le sport selon eux) ainsi que leurs pratiques (pourquoi ils pratiquent le sport, quel sport, à   quel frà ©quence). Les non sportifs aussi pourront à ªtre interrogà ©s afin de savoir pourquoi ils ne pratiquent pas de sport, sils regardent quand mà ªme le sport à   la tà ©là ©vision†¦ Pour lhypothà ¨se 2: Jaimerais interviewer Thierry Lardinoit, spà ©cialiste du marketing sportif. De plus, jaimerais faire des à ©tudes avant et aprà ¨s un à ©và ©nement sportif pour calculer le rà ©el retour sur investissement dune marque qui le sponsorise. Je pense quil serait aussi intà ©ressant davoir lavi

Friday, September 20, 2019

Tracking Developments in Media Industry

Tracking Developments in Media Industry Abstract These days the media business is witnessing the next structural transformation in its business model. Due to the reduction of revenues[1] from printed media and advertisements, industry giants are looking for other ways for penetrating additional revenues. The traditional strategy of cost reduction that was previously widely applied does not seem to be sustainable. On the contrary, most key players in the media world see the biggest opportunity in the invention of new models which will contribute to the boost of revenues. To a large extent media executives agree that monetization of online content is the decision they should go for more insistently[2]. One of the reasons why online monetization is a financially attractive way of growth is that, it has zero marginal cost, and as opposed to print media, revenue increase will not induce proportional increase in costs[3]. Another advantage which online news have compared to the traditional printed media is that they can provide news in r eal time regime which is extremely important in this particular industry as â€Å"news is very costly and at the same time highly perishable product†[4]. So far there have been some attempts of online monetization like the Kindle and micropayments but these strategies cant balance the all the losses that the industry bears because of the before mentioned reasons. Up to date, unfortunately for the industrys decision makers, choosing the right model for online monetization was not the only challenge they had to face. Challenges like search engines, which are generating their content and giving it out to customers for free, are not easy to overcome. In fact, bloggers and social networks like Facebook and Tweeter could be considered as posing similar risks for traditional media companies. However in chapter 4 we will see that the attempts of transforming these risk bearing factors into opportunity and getting some kind of revenues from them has started, which logically should lead us to some type of â€Å"business to business† model which will become beneficial for both parts. In this thesis, because of different reasons[5] I will not claim to have found the ideal model for content monetization, but rather will present several alternative models for monetizing online media content, and whats more important, will discuss the most successful models employed thus far which are applied by leading players in the industry. I will compare their features to each other, analyze their advantages and disadvantages. I will also look empirical data of results of each model to give the reader a better sense of each models financial success and the importance of online content in their business, to have better understanding what role content monetization might mean for these news providers. Besides I will help the reader to have knowledge about the obstacles which should be taken in consideration by stakeholders, if they want to find the best match pay model for their news web-site. 1. Introduction Throughout its history the media business, which is one of the most dynamic and fast-developing industries, has passed through many development cycles, each prone to tremendous changes in terms of strategy, structure and model it operated with. The reasons of these changes in different times were different processes taking place in parallel, e.g. advances of post-delivery system, facilitating transportation and logistics around the world, various technological innovations etc. However, without any doubt, the emergence of the Internet and the subsequent development of digital media is the greatest change of at least last two decades. It has once again revolutionized the whole industry dramatically, more than any previous development. Currently we are witnessing a transformation process which might become a ground for the conceptual change of the whole media industry. â€Å"Due to the reduction of revenues[6] from print media[7] (one of the reasons of this is decreased circulation of print newspapers, Exhibit 1) and online advertisements, industry giants have started to explore new ways to restructure their portfolios of income, and how to make their readers pay for the information they get online†[8]. The latest financial crisis played a role in accelerating this process. The downturn of revenues pushed the media companies to sharpen cost cuttings first of all indicated by the massive layoffs of the staff. However as many industry experts like freelance photojournalist Mike Fox believes, massive layoffs itself is not a sustainable strategy for the future[9]. The same view is shared by management consulting firm Booz Company in their research about the media industry. They admit that cost cutting is an imp ortant tool for managers, but in order to stay capable of growing in the long run, companies cant focus only on the expenditures side of their income statement.[10] Media executives are still optimistic about the future. As the survey in the same research from Booz Company shows, â€Å"most of the respondents (nearly 70%) believe that their companies are financially healthy. The which even higher to 80 percent when it comes to the opinion of integrated players (Exhibits 2), and surprisingly just one forth of the surveyed executives expected they would meet the end of recession with a deteriorated situation (Exhibit 3). Moreover, more than half of media executives (57%) believe that they still hold the wheels to control situation despite financial crisis and think that with structural trends developing in the industry they can outperform the negative results of economic downturn. Print executives are even more optimistic, this opinion is shared by 67 percent of them†. Booz Co sees the future of media companies in their ability to identify the markets where they can compete successfully and the business models which will help them to do s o. In the June of 2009, at the Cable Show[11] in Washington D.C, American News Corps owner Rupert Murdoch gave a speech, which also covered the current challenges of media industry, where he specifically underlined the inevitable need of content monetization. He underlined that times when people where reading news online for free should be over, and thus gave a hint to the whole industry that the process of â€Å"online content monetization† is not only non-reversible process, but indeed it should accelerate whether somebody likes it or not. Murdoch mentioned that only online ads cannot cover media companies costs and named New York Times, as a vivid example of that. NYT has one of the most popular U.S newspaper websites, but still their online ad revenues are not sufficient for cost coverage[12]. The signal form the industry guru was correctly understood by other giant players of media world and many of them like Axel Springer and New York Times[13] already second time, started thinking how to charge their readers for online news in the way not to harm online traffic and ad revenues. Finding the balance among these two will be the biggest challenge for the â€Å"followers of the trend†. In the process of monetizing online media choosing the right type of model which will fit to one or another news providers overall strategy and values is a big deal of question. Currently most news online is free, but there are some existing newspapers successfully charging their readers at least for the part of the information they provide to them. 1 shows the increased consumer spending (black curve) and penetration (grey curve) in online content. The research conducted by Online Publishers Association shows the same trend, that the money spent by consumers on online content in United States increase from 1.31 billion USD in 2002 to 1.78 billion USD in 2004, which meant annual growth rate of 17%. However this growth occurred in the entertainment area such as adult material, music, gaming and sports[14]. Currently, among them most successful in terms of revenues generated from online media content, are American The Wall Street Journal and the British Financial Times. Both of these newspapers are providing financial news and are most direct competitors of each other. Finance is one of those few areas which experts consider possible to monetize. The Booz Co research mentioned before makes focus on prior experiments of publishers who tried to monetize content and boost sales with which such an innovative tools as Kindle (Exhibit 4) sales, multi-title subscriptions and micropayments are, but as the results show these methods cant regain all the revenues lost which the media industry faced in the last two years. It also shows that inevitable steps are needed from the whole industry to look for new business models and as the survey in the same research shows, media executives expect most increase of revenues from the innovations in the digital media, from the new innovative models. (Exhibit 5). Expectations towards online monetization is a great, at least from the side of news providers, however the way on which they will have to go does not seem smooth and easy. There are various challenges monetizing volunteers will have to deal with; on the one hand there is a problem of search engines and bloggers â€Å"stealing† news from their web sites and offering them to readers on aggregate web-sites, and on the other hand there is a psychology of people and understanding their personal motivations, what would make them to pay money in online news. Furthermore, it will not be easy to make people pay for the information which they were used to get for free previously[15]. However despite all challenges and obstacles which is expected for industry players, Booz Co concludes that process of media digitization is on its way and nothing can stop it. Mathias Dà ¶phner comes up with same opinion: â€Å"I do not share this kind of pessimism that content business is dying. The opposite is right. Thats the tremendous opportunity through the digitization.†[16] One more factor which theoretically should give more hope to media magnates is psychological: as various studies about personality drivers during online purchase show, the experience of using internet and reading news online are positively correlated with purchase intention. Once the usage of internet and reading news online is a growing tendency in current reality, and the age of internet usage is also shifting fast, we can say that time works on media companies. In this research I will analyse existing online paying models which successfully operate and give the hope to industry players for the â€Å"brighter† future in that prospect. 2. Review of search methodology The aim of this thesis is to find out the features of existing paid models in online news which are already operating successfully. I will also try to measure their effectiveness/importance by various criteria, both objective such as existing financial and quantitative data, and also more partly-objective, such as different expert opinions[17]. The research will be developed in three main parts: Review of types of content which can be monetized, where people show some willingness to pay money (or are already paying) As related to the previous chapter, analysis of the personality drivers and its importance while consumers conduct online purchase Analysis of existing successful models, their features and their effectiveness in terms of empirical results For the sake of development of this three-pillar structure, the information will be obtained through various sources such as existing literature researches, articles, blogs, expert opinions and the consulting project ran by me and my classmates during our practice project[18]. 2.1. Sources for identifying online-chargeable content and consumers personality drivers The biggest contribution for the author in understanding of this issue were insights from consulting project workshop conducted by the ESMT Practice Project of which the author was a team member[19] in the late 2009. During this project, besides analyzing already available literature regarding topic, the team interviewed different kind of experts and also ran a representative survey among 300 German online readers to understand the areas where customers showed some willingness to pay. According to the results, there are not many areas which can be monetized, but only: Deeper analysis of specific articles as an addition to the more general one Old archives; plus specific interest areas of some readers Local news Online sports events The point is almost completely shared by Mathias Dà ¶phner, the CEO of German media company Axel Springer, who held a discussion around the topic at Monaco Media Forum 2009: â€Å"There are not many areas where people are willing to pay money: 1) This is finance, which is related to power; 2) Plus sports or games 3) Regional environments, people around you; 4) And then we are coming to two existential areas: sex and crime, or love and death. â€Å" â€Å"These are areas where people are generally interested in and why should that change in digital business?† asks Dà ¶phner rhetoric question. The CEO of Axel Springer also commented the fact that currently most news online is free and called this fact a â€Å"structural mistake† which has to be corrected step by step. According to Dà ¶phner there is not need of revolution, once most appropriate rules and procedures in legislation already exist. They just need some moderation and then execution. Continuing on the issue Dà ¶phner summed up with the hope that in the long run, for hundreds of years, people are willing to pay for things they are interested in. â€Å"Commodity news will be for free, but special information, added value services, exclusive information should be charged†. Currently, there are already obvious movements in the industry towards fixing the â€Å"structural mistakes† Mr Dà ¶phner talked about. This will be discussed more detailed in chapter 3.2, named â€Å"challenges†. 2.2. Personality drivers of consumers to purchase online Understanding and analyzing consumer drivers while conducting online purchase, is critical for building prominent, profitable business model. However until today there is no perfect study in the area which could claim on being perfect in identifying and analyzing of all motivators which make consumers to pay money online, and whats more important, all researchers would agree on that claim of this study. One of the best researches in this field conducted by Wang et al claims that the main factors which affect consumers willingness to pay money online and are positively correlated with the one, are consumers perceived convenience, essentiality, added-value and service quality. However another research on the same topic e.g. from Choi, Lee and Soriano focuses on following factors: perceived consequences after purchase of product, easiness of use of internet, social factors such as environment around person, satisfaction of the reader after purchase and existing alternative sources to get the same particular information. As we see on this example two group academics have completely different approach and beliefs towards one topic. These two researches are clear evidence how diverse is different researchers approaches to the issue. To all of these factors I looked also form the prospective of researches which are dedicated to analyzing a bit broader field consumers purchasing drivers in whole online market rather than only in online media. In these researches, some of above mentioned factors are considered to be important but others are doubted. Its hard for someone to persist himself not to criticize some of the factors mentioned above, e.g. the word â€Å"perceived† is already very dubious and at the same time very subjective, however very important one. As Barkhi, Belanger and Hocks claim in their â€Å"model of the determinants of purchasing from virtual stores†, the notion perceived/perception has already enormous importance itself, as it defines consumers later attitude towards whole online purchase procedure. To continue analysis, factor such as social community is neglected in Bosnjiaks research, where he referring to Senecals 2005 research claims that recommendations made from close community make decision making process more complex but it does not affect final choice of consumer. Regarding service-quality we can say that, the word quality itself already induces some confusion because its pretty subjective notion. For different people quality might mean different things. For some people service-quality might mean the urgent delivery of hottest news and the exclusivity of this information, whereas for another person the quality of service might be associated with deeper analysis of the article or the easiness of ways to pay money online. Such an arguing can continue further, but what is more important, arguable are not only factors on which researchers build their different models, but also some general statements which are made by them. For example, the work of Wang et al claim the business model is sustainable if revenue-generating method is accepted by majority of the potential customers. However despite all the respect towards the authors and research itself, such a claim can easily become a reason of discussions, because still, the success of any model depends on the ideal proportion of ad revenues and online subscription revenues and for different newspapers the ideal conversion rate of readers to paid customers might be different. Even this research itself contradicts to its statement when brings an example of Wall Street Journal Online and Hoovers Online telling that they managed to make e-content portal profitable by only 10% of conversion rate. While conducting our consulting project, we also got results th at some high circulated newspapers would make their portals profitable even by 3% conversion ratio. Further more, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, has only 0,8% conversion rate of subscribers on its niche site for hardcore Green Bay Packers fans, making revenues of 600,000 USD annually. In other words, depending on the content offered by particular newspaper, and the number and type of readers they have, the effective proportion of online content and ad revenues should be found. More analysis should be conducted to understand the price of lost customers amount versus converted ones and the ideal balance of subscription revenues versus lost ad revenues. To this issue has dedicated his discussion Jeff Jarvis, on the blog-web BuzzMachine. Jeff Jarvis is an American Journalist, former television critic, editor, publisher and columnist. Among the companies he has been working are: New York Daily News, San Francisco Examiner, New York Times Company, MediaGuardian a supplement of British newspaper The Guardian. Besides he is an associate professor at the City University of New Yorks Graduate School of Journalism directing its new media program. He is also creator of weblog BuzzMachine[20]. Jeff Jarvis in his article about paid content published on Weblog BuzzMachine is more persuasive about the complexity of the issue[21] and based on his vast experience highlights for the readers how many different factors should be taken in consideration for identifying one or another model for particular newspaper. For those who will catch in Jeff Jarvis approach some â€Å"sense and consciousness† will become clear that based only on the analysis of psychological traits of people and their purchasing drivers, it will not be easy to find an ideal model, and that the issue needs rather practical approach. Findings of Jeff Jarvis will be discussed more detailed in the 5.1 chapter named â€Å"Expert opinions and Conclusions†. Before moving to the following chapter, we should conclude the started topic and mention that there is still needed some research in the area of personal motivators for online purchase, in order we could claim by 100% confidence that we are using the best model for identifying the online paid model. 2.3. Discussed models and criteria for their comparison Once we are analyzing the existing models, the criteria for assessment of one or another method is the time of their existence and their results shown throughout their lifetime. Besides looking at the thematic differences in the features of the models both in Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Consumer (B2C) models, we will look at their financial results, their generated income through online sales and he dynamics in online subscription amount. The biggest attention the author paid was to the models of Financial Times and Wall Street Journal as the most successful financial players in B2C business. In addition, the author took a look at Bloomberg and Reuters as successful players of B2B model. New York Times was an interesting case for the author because it is a case, when after first unsuccessful trial, they are going to try monetizing online content already second time. Taking in consideration their prior experience it should be important to track which model they will choose for the second attempt. Finally, the author took a quick look at some other examples of successful and unsuccessful attempts of monetizing online content so far. Information was gathered from reviews of their websites as well as from articles about these news-providers, and various expert opinions about their models. 3. Possible models which can help to monetize online content Technological advancement has made most news content widely available for free online, which pushed most newspapers to give up subscription fees in the hope of getting more readers and hence by increasing traffic, get more advertisement revenues. However such movements contribute even more to the availability of free content in the web and hence induce decrease in print media circulation and advertisement revenues[22]. Charging for online news is very hard. The biggest risk that media companies face is loosing the visitors, because reduced traffic will induce less interest of advertisement providers on the particular site. Ads are still major source of revenues for most media companies and it will remain so in the nearest future. As Rupert Murdoch commented previously on the example of Wall Street Journal, â€Å"charging online content is not bad but still its not a gold mine†[23]. However, recently after presenting the idea at WSJ to impose premium paid model, Murdoch Justified their decision with telling that, in their case, ad revenues are no any more critical part in revenues and they pay more attention to subscription based revenues[24]. The high risk of loosing switching is easily explainable for SearchDNA founder John Straw, who admits that he himself would never pay for online content if he could get it somewhere else[25]. 3.1. Findings from consulting project While working on our consulting project[26], our group consisting from four MBA participants, I and my three classmates, identified four different types of models which could imposed during presenting the pay wall. The consulting project itself and its results is based on the basis of numerous articles and literature about previous experience, industry expert interviews and representative survey conducted among 299 German media readers. In column 1, table 1 explains four different pay-wall models which are possible to impose on online content in different situation, and column 2 explains the situations in which these different models would have chance to work â€Å"keeping other conditions constant†. Table 1: Types of models applicable in monetized online media[27] Types of Possible Models Situation explaining the feasibility of model Locking down the whole content Really unique content Locking down selected articles Unique content should be part of broader content Limiting the number of customers Very high overall quality, breadth of content offering Locking down the niche articles Want to monetize only highly specific â€Å"hidden† articles Source: consulting PP final draft Its upon news providers which type of model they will choose to match with the content they want to lock down. As we already discussed, there are few things which would motivate people to pay money online for, in other words online readers show at least some willingness to pay in following areas: * Deeper analysis of specific articles as an addition to the more general one * Old archives; plus specific interest areas of some readers * Local news * Online sports events Here we can provide some examples of successfully using some of these methods of pay-wall. The method of locking down selected articles is used by Wall Street Journal. In this case most daily news including political are considered as commodity information and they are given out for free, however if some specific interest area, e.g. finance, have deeper expert analysis, which you cant meet in other newspapers, the articles are locked down in this case. The method of limiting the number f articles is successfully used by Financial Times. New York Times decided to go on the same way from 2011. A good example of locking down niche content is Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and its Packer Insider: The journal locks down specific information, deep content about football club Green Bay Packers, for its fans. In deep content in this case is counted e.g. chat sessions with players. As the same Practice project showed, locking down whole content, â€Å"keeping other conditions equal†, is p ossible if the whole content is really unique. Here we have also to mention that during consulting project about online content monetization, we had some more interesting insights about the factors which increase readers willingness to pay: To our surprise content is not always the thing which might make readers to pay online: 35% of surveyed 299 German readers named following three factors as the possible motivators in increasing willingness to pay: Promotions/ Give-aways Customization Specific additional content As a conclusion of this chapter we should say many experts predict for the future that, free content will be used primarily as a marketing ploy: a complementary trial period is strictly used for purposes of enticing customers to subscribe to a service or buy a product online. (Wang et al). Alternatively some sites attract customers by offering a limited amount of free content. They then hope to convince their customers to shift to a variety of â€Å"premium†, fee-based content (Outing 2002). (Wang et al) 3.2. Challenges Innovative online ways of distributing news like news aggregate sites, blogs, social networks (Facebook, Tweeter, etc.) which are free to access, become more and more of a threat for media companies, because news is a costly product to produce, as well as it its distribution in traditional way. But distribution of news in online has zero marginal cost, as it takes nothing to the person to copy and paste a particular article or link it to the other page (Exhibit 6). Traditional media companies demand from these innovative producers of news â€Å"fair ways of playing†, which means either they should produce their own information or they should pay to original producers some fees for utilizing their articles. In his interview, Mathias Dà ¶phner mentioned that they are not demanding banning of these alternative sources. â€Å"We understand that future is mixed model, mutual existence of both of us declared Dà ¶phner. We also do not request something new and innovative. We just need fairness, respecting each other, respecting copyright rules, paying royalties as it is supposed to be done and for of all this playing rules are already there, we just need to make them better and then follow to†. Rupert Murdoch went even further and called search engine Google stealers, as they take others information without permission and put it on their pages. Regarding this phenomenon, Axel Springer CEO Dà ¶phner told very appropriate example to the Huffington Post co-founder. â€Å"If you want to give others your beer for free, please brew your own beer and then you are welcomed to do so, but please stop taking my costly beer and then giving it to others for free†. Recently there is a clear evidence of starting changes in this regard: Google agreed with several news-provider companies to restrict their articles readerships through Google to maximum amount of five. Another web-site YouTube started removing from their site unlicensed videos. In other words, Mathias Dà ¶phners prediction that the current reality would start changing step by step has obviously started to become true. Thus in nearest future we should anticipate emergence of new pay-models, when media companies will have to think, how to share the cake with news aggregate web-sites, social networks and bloggers. We are witnessing enormous changes not only because of monetization, but because of establishment new type of relationships between industry participants, which ideally should bring in new opportunities. (Exhibit 9) 4. Existing paying models, analysis Studies claim[28] that in order managers found ideal subscription business model for online monetization they need to understand their subscribers personality drivers, their perceptions and attitudes, what makes them purchase news online? In fact there is not breadth of information about consumers personality drivers, indeed the researchers actively continue investigating this area and thus provide us with new and new models. Non-existence of ideal model in this area is one of the reasons why we cant predict ideal online pay model. The other reasons are â€Å"closer† to business. Referring to Jeff Jarvis argumentation in his article about paid content models, there are plenty of criteria which determine the success of one or another model. Once these criteria are individual and very specific for each newspaper, no one can/should claim yet, on identifying one general ideal model which will fit to all news-providers. As director of Association of online publishers, Lee Baker commented in News Media, half of their members already charge for online content and another 19% is going to do so in the nearest 12 months. â€Å"Paid content modelling is important to our members†, continues Mr. Baker. â€Å"Our members are trying to penetrate new areas such as mobile apps. More than half of them express desire to create paid-for apps†. Despite we cant claim on building the ideal model as a proxy for the future, we can cover the most successful news providers and their models which are currently successfully used, both in B2C and B2B business. 4.1. Financial Times VS The Wall Street Journal Currently the most distributed B2C pay models in online media are two: one is Financial Times way restricting the definite amount of free articles for subscribers and then charge the readers if they exceed this amount, and another is Wall Street Journals way offering readers only one or two paragraph for reading and making available the rest only for subscribers[29]. To compare these two models in more details lets take a more detailed look at the ways which they are used by their most successful implementers. Of course there is some room for deviations and different news providers can apply to some minor changes, e.g. in the amount of text which should be given out for free, but the concept remains the same. Table 2 below shows clear distinctions between the features of these two models in the case of FT and WSJ. The essence of difference of these two models is the amount of information provided for free and the ways how it is done: The Wall Street Journal makes clear distinction between commodity and high-value content. The so ca Tracking Developments in Media Industry Tracking Developments in Media Industry Abstract These days the media business is witnessing the next structural transformation in its business model. Due to the reduction of revenues[1] from printed media and advertisements, industry giants are looking for other ways for penetrating additional revenues. The traditional strategy of cost reduction that was previously widely applied does not seem to be sustainable. On the contrary, most key players in the media world see the biggest opportunity in the invention of new models which will contribute to the boost of revenues. To a large extent media executives agree that monetization of online content is the decision they should go for more insistently[2]. One of the reasons why online monetization is a financially attractive way of growth is that, it has zero marginal cost, and as opposed to print media, revenue increase will not induce proportional increase in costs[3]. Another advantage which online news have compared to the traditional printed media is that they can provide news in r eal time regime which is extremely important in this particular industry as â€Å"news is very costly and at the same time highly perishable product†[4]. So far there have been some attempts of online monetization like the Kindle and micropayments but these strategies cant balance the all the losses that the industry bears because of the before mentioned reasons. Up to date, unfortunately for the industrys decision makers, choosing the right model for online monetization was not the only challenge they had to face. Challenges like search engines, which are generating their content and giving it out to customers for free, are not easy to overcome. In fact, bloggers and social networks like Facebook and Tweeter could be considered as posing similar risks for traditional media companies. However in chapter 4 we will see that the attempts of transforming these risk bearing factors into opportunity and getting some kind of revenues from them has started, which logically should lead us to some type of â€Å"business to business† model which will become beneficial for both parts. In this thesis, because of different reasons[5] I will not claim to have found the ideal model for content monetization, but rather will present several alternative models for monetizing online media content, and whats more important, will discuss the most successful models employed thus far which are applied by leading players in the industry. I will compare their features to each other, analyze their advantages and disadvantages. I will also look empirical data of results of each model to give the reader a better sense of each models financial success and the importance of online content in their business, to have better understanding what role content monetization might mean for these news providers. Besides I will help the reader to have knowledge about the obstacles which should be taken in consideration by stakeholders, if they want to find the best match pay model for their news web-site. 1. Introduction Throughout its history the media business, which is one of the most dynamic and fast-developing industries, has passed through many development cycles, each prone to tremendous changes in terms of strategy, structure and model it operated with. The reasons of these changes in different times were different processes taking place in parallel, e.g. advances of post-delivery system, facilitating transportation and logistics around the world, various technological innovations etc. However, without any doubt, the emergence of the Internet and the subsequent development of digital media is the greatest change of at least last two decades. It has once again revolutionized the whole industry dramatically, more than any previous development. Currently we are witnessing a transformation process which might become a ground for the conceptual change of the whole media industry. â€Å"Due to the reduction of revenues[6] from print media[7] (one of the reasons of this is decreased circulation of print newspapers, Exhibit 1) and online advertisements, industry giants have started to explore new ways to restructure their portfolios of income, and how to make their readers pay for the information they get online†[8]. The latest financial crisis played a role in accelerating this process. The downturn of revenues pushed the media companies to sharpen cost cuttings first of all indicated by the massive layoffs of the staff. However as many industry experts like freelance photojournalist Mike Fox believes, massive layoffs itself is not a sustainable strategy for the future[9]. The same view is shared by management consulting firm Booz Company in their research about the media industry. They admit that cost cutting is an imp ortant tool for managers, but in order to stay capable of growing in the long run, companies cant focus only on the expenditures side of their income statement.[10] Media executives are still optimistic about the future. As the survey in the same research from Booz Company shows, â€Å"most of the respondents (nearly 70%) believe that their companies are financially healthy. The which even higher to 80 percent when it comes to the opinion of integrated players (Exhibits 2), and surprisingly just one forth of the surveyed executives expected they would meet the end of recession with a deteriorated situation (Exhibit 3). Moreover, more than half of media executives (57%) believe that they still hold the wheels to control situation despite financial crisis and think that with structural trends developing in the industry they can outperform the negative results of economic downturn. Print executives are even more optimistic, this opinion is shared by 67 percent of them†. Booz Co sees the future of media companies in their ability to identify the markets where they can compete successfully and the business models which will help them to do s o. In the June of 2009, at the Cable Show[11] in Washington D.C, American News Corps owner Rupert Murdoch gave a speech, which also covered the current challenges of media industry, where he specifically underlined the inevitable need of content monetization. He underlined that times when people where reading news online for free should be over, and thus gave a hint to the whole industry that the process of â€Å"online content monetization† is not only non-reversible process, but indeed it should accelerate whether somebody likes it or not. Murdoch mentioned that only online ads cannot cover media companies costs and named New York Times, as a vivid example of that. NYT has one of the most popular U.S newspaper websites, but still their online ad revenues are not sufficient for cost coverage[12]. The signal form the industry guru was correctly understood by other giant players of media world and many of them like Axel Springer and New York Times[13] already second time, started thinking how to charge their readers for online news in the way not to harm online traffic and ad revenues. Finding the balance among these two will be the biggest challenge for the â€Å"followers of the trend†. In the process of monetizing online media choosing the right type of model which will fit to one or another news providers overall strategy and values is a big deal of question. Currently most news online is free, but there are some existing newspapers successfully charging their readers at least for the part of the information they provide to them. 1 shows the increased consumer spending (black curve) and penetration (grey curve) in online content. The research conducted by Online Publishers Association shows the same trend, that the money spent by consumers on online content in United States increase from 1.31 billion USD in 2002 to 1.78 billion USD in 2004, which meant annual growth rate of 17%. However this growth occurred in the entertainment area such as adult material, music, gaming and sports[14]. Currently, among them most successful in terms of revenues generated from online media content, are American The Wall Street Journal and the British Financial Times. Both of these newspapers are providing financial news and are most direct competitors of each other. Finance is one of those few areas which experts consider possible to monetize. The Booz Co research mentioned before makes focus on prior experiments of publishers who tried to monetize content and boost sales with which such an innovative tools as Kindle (Exhibit 4) sales, multi-title subscriptions and micropayments are, but as the results show these methods cant regain all the revenues lost which the media industry faced in the last two years. It also shows that inevitable steps are needed from the whole industry to look for new business models and as the survey in the same research shows, media executives expect most increase of revenues from the innovations in the digital media, from the new innovative models. (Exhibit 5). Expectations towards online monetization is a great, at least from the side of news providers, however the way on which they will have to go does not seem smooth and easy. There are various challenges monetizing volunteers will have to deal with; on the one hand there is a problem of search engines and bloggers â€Å"stealing† news from their web sites and offering them to readers on aggregate web-sites, and on the other hand there is a psychology of people and understanding their personal motivations, what would make them to pay money in online news. Furthermore, it will not be easy to make people pay for the information which they were used to get for free previously[15]. However despite all challenges and obstacles which is expected for industry players, Booz Co concludes that process of media digitization is on its way and nothing can stop it. Mathias Dà ¶phner comes up with same opinion: â€Å"I do not share this kind of pessimism that content business is dying. The opposite is right. Thats the tremendous opportunity through the digitization.†[16] One more factor which theoretically should give more hope to media magnates is psychological: as various studies about personality drivers during online purchase show, the experience of using internet and reading news online are positively correlated with purchase intention. Once the usage of internet and reading news online is a growing tendency in current reality, and the age of internet usage is also shifting fast, we can say that time works on media companies. In this research I will analyse existing online paying models which successfully operate and give the hope to industry players for the â€Å"brighter† future in that prospect. 2. Review of search methodology The aim of this thesis is to find out the features of existing paid models in online news which are already operating successfully. I will also try to measure their effectiveness/importance by various criteria, both objective such as existing financial and quantitative data, and also more partly-objective, such as different expert opinions[17]. The research will be developed in three main parts: Review of types of content which can be monetized, where people show some willingness to pay money (or are already paying) As related to the previous chapter, analysis of the personality drivers and its importance while consumers conduct online purchase Analysis of existing successful models, their features and their effectiveness in terms of empirical results For the sake of development of this three-pillar structure, the information will be obtained through various sources such as existing literature researches, articles, blogs, expert opinions and the consulting project ran by me and my classmates during our practice project[18]. 2.1. Sources for identifying online-chargeable content and consumers personality drivers The biggest contribution for the author in understanding of this issue were insights from consulting project workshop conducted by the ESMT Practice Project of which the author was a team member[19] in the late 2009. During this project, besides analyzing already available literature regarding topic, the team interviewed different kind of experts and also ran a representative survey among 300 German online readers to understand the areas where customers showed some willingness to pay. According to the results, there are not many areas which can be monetized, but only: Deeper analysis of specific articles as an addition to the more general one Old archives; plus specific interest areas of some readers Local news Online sports events The point is almost completely shared by Mathias Dà ¶phner, the CEO of German media company Axel Springer, who held a discussion around the topic at Monaco Media Forum 2009: â€Å"There are not many areas where people are willing to pay money: 1) This is finance, which is related to power; 2) Plus sports or games 3) Regional environments, people around you; 4) And then we are coming to two existential areas: sex and crime, or love and death. â€Å" â€Å"These are areas where people are generally interested in and why should that change in digital business?† asks Dà ¶phner rhetoric question. The CEO of Axel Springer also commented the fact that currently most news online is free and called this fact a â€Å"structural mistake† which has to be corrected step by step. According to Dà ¶phner there is not need of revolution, once most appropriate rules and procedures in legislation already exist. They just need some moderation and then execution. Continuing on the issue Dà ¶phner summed up with the hope that in the long run, for hundreds of years, people are willing to pay for things they are interested in. â€Å"Commodity news will be for free, but special information, added value services, exclusive information should be charged†. Currently, there are already obvious movements in the industry towards fixing the â€Å"structural mistakes† Mr Dà ¶phner talked about. This will be discussed more detailed in chapter 3.2, named â€Å"challenges†. 2.2. Personality drivers of consumers to purchase online Understanding and analyzing consumer drivers while conducting online purchase, is critical for building prominent, profitable business model. However until today there is no perfect study in the area which could claim on being perfect in identifying and analyzing of all motivators which make consumers to pay money online, and whats more important, all researchers would agree on that claim of this study. One of the best researches in this field conducted by Wang et al claims that the main factors which affect consumers willingness to pay money online and are positively correlated with the one, are consumers perceived convenience, essentiality, added-value and service quality. However another research on the same topic e.g. from Choi, Lee and Soriano focuses on following factors: perceived consequences after purchase of product, easiness of use of internet, social factors such as environment around person, satisfaction of the reader after purchase and existing alternative sources to get the same particular information. As we see on this example two group academics have completely different approach and beliefs towards one topic. These two researches are clear evidence how diverse is different researchers approaches to the issue. To all of these factors I looked also form the prospective of researches which are dedicated to analyzing a bit broader field consumers purchasing drivers in whole online market rather than only in online media. In these researches, some of above mentioned factors are considered to be important but others are doubted. Its hard for someone to persist himself not to criticize some of the factors mentioned above, e.g. the word â€Å"perceived† is already very dubious and at the same time very subjective, however very important one. As Barkhi, Belanger and Hocks claim in their â€Å"model of the determinants of purchasing from virtual stores†, the notion perceived/perception has already enormous importance itself, as it defines consumers later attitude towards whole online purchase procedure. To continue analysis, factor such as social community is neglected in Bosnjiaks research, where he referring to Senecals 2005 research claims that recommendations made from close community make decision making process more complex but it does not affect final choice of consumer. Regarding service-quality we can say that, the word quality itself already induces some confusion because its pretty subjective notion. For different people quality might mean different things. For some people service-quality might mean the urgent delivery of hottest news and the exclusivity of this information, whereas for another person the quality of service might be associated with deeper analysis of the article or the easiness of ways to pay money online. Such an arguing can continue further, but what is more important, arguable are not only factors on which researchers build their different models, but also some general statements which are made by them. For example, the work of Wang et al claim the business model is sustainable if revenue-generating method is accepted by majority of the potential customers. However despite all the respect towards the authors and research itself, such a claim can easily become a reason of discussions, because still, the success of any model depends on the ideal proportion of ad revenues and online subscription revenues and for different newspapers the ideal conversion rate of readers to paid customers might be different. Even this research itself contradicts to its statement when brings an example of Wall Street Journal Online and Hoovers Online telling that they managed to make e-content portal profitable by only 10% of conversion rate. While conducting our consulting project, we also got results th at some high circulated newspapers would make their portals profitable even by 3% conversion ratio. Further more, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, has only 0,8% conversion rate of subscribers on its niche site for hardcore Green Bay Packers fans, making revenues of 600,000 USD annually. In other words, depending on the content offered by particular newspaper, and the number and type of readers they have, the effective proportion of online content and ad revenues should be found. More analysis should be conducted to understand the price of lost customers amount versus converted ones and the ideal balance of subscription revenues versus lost ad revenues. To this issue has dedicated his discussion Jeff Jarvis, on the blog-web BuzzMachine. Jeff Jarvis is an American Journalist, former television critic, editor, publisher and columnist. Among the companies he has been working are: New York Daily News, San Francisco Examiner, New York Times Company, MediaGuardian a supplement of British newspaper The Guardian. Besides he is an associate professor at the City University of New Yorks Graduate School of Journalism directing its new media program. He is also creator of weblog BuzzMachine[20]. Jeff Jarvis in his article about paid content published on Weblog BuzzMachine is more persuasive about the complexity of the issue[21] and based on his vast experience highlights for the readers how many different factors should be taken in consideration for identifying one or another model for particular newspaper. For those who will catch in Jeff Jarvis approach some â€Å"sense and consciousness† will become clear that based only on the analysis of psychological traits of people and their purchasing drivers, it will not be easy to find an ideal model, and that the issue needs rather practical approach. Findings of Jeff Jarvis will be discussed more detailed in the 5.1 chapter named â€Å"Expert opinions and Conclusions†. Before moving to the following chapter, we should conclude the started topic and mention that there is still needed some research in the area of personal motivators for online purchase, in order we could claim by 100% confidence that we are using the best model for identifying the online paid model. 2.3. Discussed models and criteria for their comparison Once we are analyzing the existing models, the criteria for assessment of one or another method is the time of their existence and their results shown throughout their lifetime. Besides looking at the thematic differences in the features of the models both in Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Consumer (B2C) models, we will look at their financial results, their generated income through online sales and he dynamics in online subscription amount. The biggest attention the author paid was to the models of Financial Times and Wall Street Journal as the most successful financial players in B2C business. In addition, the author took a look at Bloomberg and Reuters as successful players of B2B model. New York Times was an interesting case for the author because it is a case, when after first unsuccessful trial, they are going to try monetizing online content already second time. Taking in consideration their prior experience it should be important to track which model they will choose for the second attempt. Finally, the author took a quick look at some other examples of successful and unsuccessful attempts of monetizing online content so far. Information was gathered from reviews of their websites as well as from articles about these news-providers, and various expert opinions about their models. 3. Possible models which can help to monetize online content Technological advancement has made most news content widely available for free online, which pushed most newspapers to give up subscription fees in the hope of getting more readers and hence by increasing traffic, get more advertisement revenues. However such movements contribute even more to the availability of free content in the web and hence induce decrease in print media circulation and advertisement revenues[22]. Charging for online news is very hard. The biggest risk that media companies face is loosing the visitors, because reduced traffic will induce less interest of advertisement providers on the particular site. Ads are still major source of revenues for most media companies and it will remain so in the nearest future. As Rupert Murdoch commented previously on the example of Wall Street Journal, â€Å"charging online content is not bad but still its not a gold mine†[23]. However, recently after presenting the idea at WSJ to impose premium paid model, Murdoch Justified their decision with telling that, in their case, ad revenues are no any more critical part in revenues and they pay more attention to subscription based revenues[24]. The high risk of loosing switching is easily explainable for SearchDNA founder John Straw, who admits that he himself would never pay for online content if he could get it somewhere else[25]. 3.1. Findings from consulting project While working on our consulting project[26], our group consisting from four MBA participants, I and my three classmates, identified four different types of models which could imposed during presenting the pay wall. The consulting project itself and its results is based on the basis of numerous articles and literature about previous experience, industry expert interviews and representative survey conducted among 299 German media readers. In column 1, table 1 explains four different pay-wall models which are possible to impose on online content in different situation, and column 2 explains the situations in which these different models would have chance to work â€Å"keeping other conditions constant†. Table 1: Types of models applicable in monetized online media[27] Types of Possible Models Situation explaining the feasibility of model Locking down the whole content Really unique content Locking down selected articles Unique content should be part of broader content Limiting the number of customers Very high overall quality, breadth of content offering Locking down the niche articles Want to monetize only highly specific â€Å"hidden† articles Source: consulting PP final draft Its upon news providers which type of model they will choose to match with the content they want to lock down. As we already discussed, there are few things which would motivate people to pay money online for, in other words online readers show at least some willingness to pay in following areas: * Deeper analysis of specific articles as an addition to the more general one * Old archives; plus specific interest areas of some readers * Local news * Online sports events Here we can provide some examples of successfully using some of these methods of pay-wall. The method of locking down selected articles is used by Wall Street Journal. In this case most daily news including political are considered as commodity information and they are given out for free, however if some specific interest area, e.g. finance, have deeper expert analysis, which you cant meet in other newspapers, the articles are locked down in this case. The method of limiting the number f articles is successfully used by Financial Times. New York Times decided to go on the same way from 2011. A good example of locking down niche content is Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and its Packer Insider: The journal locks down specific information, deep content about football club Green Bay Packers, for its fans. In deep content in this case is counted e.g. chat sessions with players. As the same Practice project showed, locking down whole content, â€Å"keeping other conditions equal†, is p ossible if the whole content is really unique. Here we have also to mention that during consulting project about online content monetization, we had some more interesting insights about the factors which increase readers willingness to pay: To our surprise content is not always the thing which might make readers to pay online: 35% of surveyed 299 German readers named following three factors as the possible motivators in increasing willingness to pay: Promotions/ Give-aways Customization Specific additional content As a conclusion of this chapter we should say many experts predict for the future that, free content will be used primarily as a marketing ploy: a complementary trial period is strictly used for purposes of enticing customers to subscribe to a service or buy a product online. (Wang et al). Alternatively some sites attract customers by offering a limited amount of free content. They then hope to convince their customers to shift to a variety of â€Å"premium†, fee-based content (Outing 2002). (Wang et al) 3.2. Challenges Innovative online ways of distributing news like news aggregate sites, blogs, social networks (Facebook, Tweeter, etc.) which are free to access, become more and more of a threat for media companies, because news is a costly product to produce, as well as it its distribution in traditional way. But distribution of news in online has zero marginal cost, as it takes nothing to the person to copy and paste a particular article or link it to the other page (Exhibit 6). Traditional media companies demand from these innovative producers of news â€Å"fair ways of playing†, which means either they should produce their own information or they should pay to original producers some fees for utilizing their articles. In his interview, Mathias Dà ¶phner mentioned that they are not demanding banning of these alternative sources. â€Å"We understand that future is mixed model, mutual existence of both of us declared Dà ¶phner. We also do not request something new and innovative. We just need fairness, respecting each other, respecting copyright rules, paying royalties as it is supposed to be done and for of all this playing rules are already there, we just need to make them better and then follow to†. Rupert Murdoch went even further and called search engine Google stealers, as they take others information without permission and put it on their pages. Regarding this phenomenon, Axel Springer CEO Dà ¶phner told very appropriate example to the Huffington Post co-founder. â€Å"If you want to give others your beer for free, please brew your own beer and then you are welcomed to do so, but please stop taking my costly beer and then giving it to others for free†. Recently there is a clear evidence of starting changes in this regard: Google agreed with several news-provider companies to restrict their articles readerships through Google to maximum amount of five. Another web-site YouTube started removing from their site unlicensed videos. In other words, Mathias Dà ¶phners prediction that the current reality would start changing step by step has obviously started to become true. Thus in nearest future we should anticipate emergence of new pay-models, when media companies will have to think, how to share the cake with news aggregate web-sites, social networks and bloggers. We are witnessing enormous changes not only because of monetization, but because of establishment new type of relationships between industry participants, which ideally should bring in new opportunities. (Exhibit 9) 4. Existing paying models, analysis Studies claim[28] that in order managers found ideal subscription business model for online monetization they need to understand their subscribers personality drivers, their perceptions and attitudes, what makes them purchase news online? In fact there is not breadth of information about consumers personality drivers, indeed the researchers actively continue investigating this area and thus provide us with new and new models. Non-existence of ideal model in this area is one of the reasons why we cant predict ideal online pay model. The other reasons are â€Å"closer† to business. Referring to Jeff Jarvis argumentation in his article about paid content models, there are plenty of criteria which determine the success of one or another model. Once these criteria are individual and very specific for each newspaper, no one can/should claim yet, on identifying one general ideal model which will fit to all news-providers. As director of Association of online publishers, Lee Baker commented in News Media, half of their members already charge for online content and another 19% is going to do so in the nearest 12 months. â€Å"Paid content modelling is important to our members†, continues Mr. Baker. â€Å"Our members are trying to penetrate new areas such as mobile apps. More than half of them express desire to create paid-for apps†. Despite we cant claim on building the ideal model as a proxy for the future, we can cover the most successful news providers and their models which are currently successfully used, both in B2C and B2B business. 4.1. Financial Times VS The Wall Street Journal Currently the most distributed B2C pay models in online media are two: one is Financial Times way restricting the definite amount of free articles for subscribers and then charge the readers if they exceed this amount, and another is Wall Street Journals way offering readers only one or two paragraph for reading and making available the rest only for subscribers[29]. To compare these two models in more details lets take a more detailed look at the ways which they are used by their most successful implementers. Of course there is some room for deviations and different news providers can apply to some minor changes, e.g. in the amount of text which should be given out for free, but the concept remains the same. Table 2 below shows clear distinctions between the features of these two models in the case of FT and WSJ. The essence of difference of these two models is the amount of information provided for free and the ways how it is done: The Wall Street Journal makes clear distinction between commodity and high-value content. The so ca