Table of Contents Executive Summary Introduction Situational Analysis Competitive Analysis Customer Analysis Marketing Goals

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2 Executive Summary The Durham Bulls are the Triple-A Affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, and are located in the heart of downtown Durham, NC. The Bulls became famous with the release of the 1988 movie, Bull Durham. They have a devoted fan base that comes out in flocks almost each and every time the Bulls host a game. Our goal is to continue to reach and connect with the current fan base that the Bulls have built, but also look to expand and tap into other segments of the market. The Durham Bulls Athletic Park has developed into one of the best modern ballparks in the country. With the Tobacco Road Sports Bar, and the connected concourse behind center field, the DBAP offers more than just the product on the field, it offers entertainment value as well. Prior to the 2014 season, the Durham Bulls decided to begin managing their concessions in house, as opposed to contracting a company to do this for them. The benefits have proven to be extensive, as they have begun brewing their own beers with Bull Durham Beer Co., and beginning Bull City Hospitality to run their food services. The DBAP was originally built in 1995 for $16 Million and in 2014, the ballpark underwent $19 Million in renovations. The stadium will hold around 10,000 fans, not counting standing room only. The Bulls are one of the few minor league organizations that have ever had standing room only crowds, which proves that with the great product on the field and a great venue to show them off in is a formula for success. This marketing plan was designed with the intent to continue the wonderful success that our organization has enjoyed over the years, but also to try and extend our market and see if we can t reach more of the great city of Durham by targeting a new market segment. In looking at new opportunities for a greater market share, this plan outlines several of them. The plan was created with the intent of showing the goals, strategies and tactics that the Durham Bulls will implement in order to create more revenue streams and allow the organization to reach its full financial potential. By completing a Customer Analysis, Competitive Analysis, and Situational Analysis, the Durham Bulls should have a great understanding of where they are positioned in the market and in the mind of their consumers, which will allow for better marketing strategies to be implemented by the organization in order to continue to fill the needs of their current fan base, while also expanding into the untapped local market as well. 2

3 Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Introduction 4 Mission Statement 4 Background 4 Situational Analysis 5 Competitive Analysis 8 Customer Analysis 10 Demographics 10 Psychographics 10 Product Usage 10 Benefits 11 Target Market 11 Marketing Goals 12 Value Proposition 12 Marketing Strategies/Tactics 13 STRATEGY 1: INCREASE FAN ATTENDANCE BY 10% 13 STRATEGY 2: INCREASE REVENUE ON CONCESSIONS BY 15% 15 STRATEGY 3: INCREASE TECH COMPANIES ATTENDANCE BY 5% 16 Implementation 18 Budget 19 Evaluation 21 Appendix 22 Appendix A 22 Appendix B 22 Appendix C 23 Appendix D 24 Appendix E 25 References 26 3

4 Introduction Mission Statement Our mission is to present baseball, The Great American Pastime, as affordable family entertainment with a commitment to customer and community service, ethical business practices and the professional growth of our employees. Background In 1902, Durham introduced the Tobacconists as the North Carolina League Baseball team. The team played a variety of collegiate teams until becoming part of the North Carolina State League and forming the Durham Bulls in December of By the year 1932, the Durham team started their first major league affiliation with the Philadelphia Phillies. Throughout events such as the Great Depression, World War I, and the Raleigh-Durham baseball work stoppage, the Bulls managed to promote communal and educational positivity within the Durham community. The Durham Bulls became the most well-known minor league baseball team after the release of Bull Durham, in After almost a decade of the formation of the team, the Bulls opened a new ballpark, the Durham Bulls Athletic Park (DBAP). Today, the Bulls offer fans entertainment through games, ways to stay connected through social media, youth baseball leagues, and community engagement for causes such as antibullying and scholarship programs. The team uses a variety of promotional events throughout each season. Throughout the game, fans are encouraged to participate in promotions that the staff runs between innings. These promotions include kids racing to put on Bulls athletic gear, racing Wool E. Bull around the bases, and the Durham Police Department participating in the running man challenge. Spectators are also encouraged to come to events through promotional nights in the ballpark. The Bulls have promotional nights such as Bark-in-the- Park, StarWars night, Pokemon-Go events, Firework Fridays, dollar concessions on Thursdays, and allow children to run the bases after Sunday games. Promotional events are marketed on the Durham Bulls website, during breaks in the gameplay, and on the Bulls Instagram page. The Bulls tend to market through social media websites to connect with families and organizations. They continue to greatly promote the games to groups, organizations/companies, and youth groups, with a main focus on keeping a family friendly outlook. Through the various groups the Bulls target, they maintain a focus on a community-based image. The team is committed to positively enhancing the Durham community through projects such as The Durham Bulls Youth Athletic League, Explorer Post 50, and Bully Busters Anti-Bullying School Program. Each of these programs allows the team and staff to work closely and educate kids in the city of Durham. 4

5 Situational Analysis Internal Analysis Strengths o The Durham Bulls focus on an affordable fan experience for a variety of ages. Pricing from tickets, merchandise, and concessions aim to be affordable for all. On two special nights during the season, fans are encouraged to come to the game with furry friends for a small ticket price. This is to allow fans to enjoy the ballpark experience without leaving furry friends at home. o The Durham Bulls provide affordable tickets to spectators who come to the games. The tickets range from $9.00 to $14.00 a person depending on the area in which spectators choose to sit. The Bulls also provide season ticket plans, mini plans, and free military tickets to those serving active duty. o Durham Bulls Athletic Park is located in the heart of downtown Durham. Parking opportunities and restaurants for before or after game fun surrounds the DBAP. Restaurants such as Mellow Mushroom, Tyler s Taproom, Only Burger, Angus Barn, and Tobacco Road are in walking distance from the stadium. The stadium is visible off of Highway 147, a great way to bring out of town guest or those passing by to the ballpark on game night. o AAA level baseball allows for a more family friendly atmosphere then the major leagues. The atmosphere and ticket pricing of a AAA League game allows for family s to enjoy The Great American Pastime without breaking the bank for the experience. Weaknesses o The day of the week of a game can play a big role in attendance. Weeknight games are tough to get spectators at because of work and other activities held throughout the week. Weekend games typically have a higher attendance because fans have a slower schedule. o The Durham Bulls are a AAA team and affiliate to the Tampa Bay Rays. With that being said some fans look down on the team because it s Only Minor League Baseball. o While the location of the DBAP, home of the Durham Bulls, is a great advantage to the team, the team also sees challenges with competing for other events and sporting events on game days. The team directly competes with the Carolina Mudcats in the sport of baseball for attendance and affordability. The team also has big competition with performances held at the Durham Performing Arts Center (DPAC) and a upcoming, growing area of downtown Durham. 5

6 o The Bulls games are not visible to the public who are not available to attend the games. The team is not involved in any contract that allows them television coverage. Therefore, spectators must attend the game to enjoy the experience and keep up with the team on game day. External Analysis Opportunities o Great weather gives the Bulls an opportunity to gain more spectators in the ballpark. Warm weather typically brings people outside and what better way to spend a day then at the ballpark with friends and family. o The Durham Bulls targeted markets range from youth leagues and families to companies within the triangle area. The Bulls have targeted baseball lovers, dog lovers, Star Wars fanatics, families, and companies of all sizes. Although the target market is already a wide range, there are many who are not reached within the marketing efforts. This allows the Bulls to expand into previously untapped markets, such as millennials. o The Durham Bulls are a AAA League team, in which the MLB pulls players up when they are in need. The Bulls will also receive MLB players who will play in Durham with the Bulls on rehab assignments. MLB players participating in games on the Bulls roster enhances the chance of an increase in attendance. o Technology is constantly changing day-to-day from new applications or quicker ways to get things done. The Durham Bulls have the opportunity through new innovations to maintain attractiveness to fans. By participating in social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. the Bulls can reach a wider variety of people in order to expand their target market and fan base. Threats o Other weeknight activities and sporting events have the potential to decrease fan attendance in the ballpark. From the events held at the DPAC to collegiate sporting events, the Durham Bulls battle to maintain attendance with opposing activities. o Inclement weather can have a huge impact on the choice to enjoy a game of baseball. Cold or wet weather typically draws spectators to indoor activities, drawing them away from the DBAP. o Sporting events tend to have a close relationship with alcoholic beverages. The game of baseball can take anywhere from hours. Each sporting event can struggle with inebriated patrons in the stadium. The longer the game the longer spectators have to buy alcoholic beverages. While most spectators will limit themselves and control the intake of alcohol, others may have a hard time and become a problem for the family atmosphere that has been shaped in the DBAP. 6

7 o Spectators are at risk for injuries when in the ballpark due to foul balls, bats, and other objects that may fly into the stands. Small children, elderly, or fans with disabilities may be at risk to these objects if they are not able to act quickly. Although this is not typically a huge issue, it can be a threat to spectators and a worry as they enter the ballpark. Positioning The Durham Bulls have maintained a great fan base and success in the Raleigh-Durham area. They are able to provide fans with entertainment, a family friendly environment, and an affordable experience each game. The Durham Bulls are prepared for any threats that affect their games or fan base and are constantly innovating new ideas to improve on the weaknesses that stand in the way of growth. There are a number of internal and external opportunities that the team cannot control such as weather, other weeknight events, and other local sporting events. Over all, our product is positioned at a premium. Positioning Statement The Durham Bulls provide a fun and affordable atmosphere for spectators of all ages located in the Raleigh-Durham area. Through providing affordable ticket and concession pricing, accessible parking near the DBAP, and the opportunity for patrons to enjoy a AAA league game at an affordable price allows the Durham Bulls to maintain their popularity within Durham and Minor League Baseball. Unique Selling Proposition Minor League Baseball. Big League Fun. 7

8 Competitive Analysis The Bulls biggest direct competitor would be the Carolina Mudcats, located in Zebulon, which sits just 50 miles East of Durham. The Mudcats are the High-A Minor League affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers and are the closest minor league team besides the Bulls in relation to the Triangle region. The Mudcats tend to do typical MiLB promotions, such as giveaways and reduced price concession nights, similar to the Bulls. Where the Bulls differentiate themselves is in the price and product offered to fans. While the Bulls are a slightly more expensive entertainment experience, it is warranted because not only is the product on the field of higher quality, but also DBAP is much nicer than the facilities the Mudcats are offering. The Bulls are offering baseball that is just a step below the Major Leagues, primarily composed of players who have played a bit of baseball in the MLB, while the Mudcats are primarily composed of young prospects so the baseball is very raw and not of as high of quality. Both the Bulls and Mudcats target market is primarily families and younger adults, and they each do a positive job of attracting this clientele to their games. Since the Mudcats have to try a bit harder to gain fans and attract a crowd, they tend to do more promotions during the season, especially during the weeknight games where attendance may lag behind. Based on their 2016 promotion schedule, they have a recurring promotional event every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday night. These range from an interactive social media where a hash tag is promoted, a $1 hotdog night, and a night where beer and Coca-Cola products are sold at an extremely discounted price. While the Bulls do stuff similar to this, it is far less frequent for many reasons. The main reason is due to the fact that the Bulls typically have two or three times more fans at their games compared to the Mudcats, so discounting this amount of concessions could be detrimental to the Bulls bottom line each game. Also, the Bulls don t have to promote quite as hard as the Mudcats because they are located in a more central area with an estimated population of a quarter million, while the Mudcats are located in a suburb of Raleigh and they possess far less nearby supporters. While the Mudcats offer great promotions, they are not on par with the events offered by the Bulls. The Bulls have sumo wrestling between innings at every game, which attracts many fans and entertains the entire crowd. They also do a Field of Dreams event where a local school or travel team takes the field with the Bulls for the playing of the National Anthem. Small, low cost events like these are what allow the Bulls to constantly draw a large crowd and garner community support. The Bulls also have a team dog, Lucky, who is present and performs at every game throughout the season. He is trained to deliver balls and scorecards to the umpires, and demonstrate tricks that keep the crowd entertained and coming back. Another direct competitor could potentially be the Charlotte Knights, even though they are located a little more than 2 hours from Durham. They are the only other Triple-A Minor League team in the state, and offer a product on the field that is extremely similar to what the Bulls offer. The Knights also possess the same target market as the Bulls, which is primarily families and people who have at least some interest in baseball. They are in the 8

9 same division as Durham, and the two meet for numerous contests per year. While the Knights may not be in the same market as the Bulls or Mudcats, they could potentially take fans away from the Winston-Salem/Greensboro area that may have a high interest in competitive baseball and want to see MLB like quality in the minor leagues. While many people would consider the Carolina Hurricanes of the NHL a direct competitor, I don t believe this is the case because during the Hurricanes season, from October to early April, the Bulls are pretty much inactive. This means that fans don t have to choose their allegiance between the Bulls and Hurricanes, meaning they can attend both teams games without either team being a competitor against the other. If the Bulls and the Hurricanes played during the same period of the year, this could greatly influence the Bulls attendance because having a premier major sports team in the same market could hurt their fan turnout significantly. The biggest indirect competitor to the Durham Bulls would be any show or concert hosted at the Durham Performing Arts Center. The DPAC is located less than a block away from the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, and they host Broadway shows, concerts, and plays on a year round basis, with some form of entertainment occurring weekly. The Durham Performing Arts Center was voted #2 on the Things to Do in Durham list compiled by Trip Advisor this past year, so they obviously have a massive following by people in and around the community. The DPAC is a competitor because they could attract people who would potentially come to see the Bulls play and instead take them away. Since many people who attend Bulls games are more interested in the social interaction aspect of attending a baseball game, it s not hard for the DPAC to pull these people away from a baseball game and convincing them to attend a play or show. The Bulls need to make it a point, especially on the weeknights, to offer promotions and events that convince people to choose their product over others offered in the direct area. While the DPAC doesn t necessarily offer any promotions or special events, the limited availability of the shows makes them a hot commodity and people are eager to see them. The last indirect competitor that can take away from the Bulls is the overall growth in the downtown area of Durham. Durham is taking great steps in improving their city; lowering crime rates and creating many local hangouts around the stadium and downtown area that appeal to millennials and a younger generation. Many younger people could be more convinced to go to a local bar or restaurant to socialize, and not be bothered to spend money on tickets or concessions to attend a baseball game. The job of the Durham Bulls marketing department is to undercut these other locations and make their product more appealing and affordable. 9

10 Customer Analysis Demographics Primarily local families represent our current market demographics with young children that live in the area. We believe our potential consumer demographic goes beyond that with young professionals in the area. That is our largest potential demographic market that we can grow in. We believe this because RTP is not far at all from the ballpark and many of those young professionals that we can reach as our new fans work there. Thanks to the Durham Bulls developing their own brewery line called Durham Bull Beer Co. and beginning their own concessions company, Bull City Hospitality, they have already begun to shift their market towards younger folks. Psychographics The Durham Bulls broke the all-time single season attendance record for MiLB in 2014, and went on to break their own record in This goes to show the brand that they have built and why their consumers act the way they do. Their consumers come to the ballpark in flocks because of the entertainment factor, the good product on the field that wins games, and the beautiful ballpark with all of the amenities you could imagine. Our consumers lifestyles and values and beliefs make them want to come to the ballpark to enjoy all of those things, especially since we are in a very heavy baseball frenzied area, in which the consumer market segment of lifelong baseball fans has been dying to see a MLB team here. This is the closest thing that market segment can receive, and we have done a wonderful job of presenting it in that manner. Product Usage The Durham Bulls would prefer to have as many season ticket holders as we can, but there are still value in the mini packs and the single game ticket holders as well. The larger market of people that we can appeal to, the more single game tickets we will be able to sell, which will lead to more sellouts, especially on weeknight games. Our season ticket sales to the certain consumer market is beneficial to our staff because it gives us a minimum baseline figure so we can know exactly how much we need to make off our mini packs and single game tickets in order to turn a profit on gate receipts. 10

11 Benefits The pure baseball fan segment of middle aged men may expect a totally different value from our product than, say a husband and wife with three kids at the ballpark. The segment of baseball fans will just expect to eat their hot dog, buy a bag of peanuts and watch the game. The family with the three children may expect cheaper concession options, and much more entertainment value around the stadium because the children may not be nearly as interested in the actual on field product than they may be with the overall atmosphere that they are involved in. Target Market In the past, the Bulls have mainly targeted families with children. However, recently we have decided to shift that idea a little bit and try and reach the younger market that may be considered young professionals, especially the ones that work at RTP. We as a company have typically targeted organizations, and companies for group outings. We have chosen this target market to go after because we feel there is a huge amount of untapped potential in that market in order to expand our fan base by a wide margin. Geographically, this makes wonderful sense for our organization because DBAP is only a short drive from RTP. Also, psychographically it makes sense as well because of the lifestyle that a lot of these young professionals have that enjoy food trucks and craft beers, and outdoor activities, even if they don t necessarily love baseball games. If we can get them to come to a game, they may enjoy the atmosphere/food/drink enough to want to come back, especially with the convenience of it being near their office. 11

12 Marketing Goals The Durham Bulls have a variety of goals in which they focus on a family friendly environment and affordable pricing. Games are typically in high attendance on weekends and relatively lower attendance on games held Monday through Thursday. We would like to focus on increasing attendance of these games, along with the revenue that is made at these games. Overall, we are focusing on increasing and spreading out the variety of attendees on weeknight games. We are targeting young professionals working in companies primarily within the Raleigh- Durham area. With that being said, we would like to increase the number of tech companies that attend the games for group outings, rent the group seating in the right outfield area, as well as their frequent attendance to the weeknight games. Although we would like to focus more on the organization/company outing side of our target market, we are still hoping to keep the family friendly environment that we have built within the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. With an increase of attendance in weeknight games, we intend on increasing the amount of revenue that is made between concessions and merchandise. By increasing our attendance figures on Monday through Thursday games, we expect the ability to continue to provide attendees with an affordable experience with the Durham Bulls. Value Proposition We are dedicated to providing our fans an inclusive atmosphere that offers fun for all ages. We are committed to connecting in the community through special events and promotions. In order to connect with our fans on weeknight games, we will offer great discounts on food/beverage sales, free parking, and new promotional experiences for all ages. 12

13 Marketing Strategies/Tactics STRATEGY 1: INCREASE FAN ATTENDANCE BY 10% We want to shoot for at least a 10% increase in fan attendance on weeknight games. This would mean we would need to increase the attendance of games on Monday through Thursday by an additional 760 spectators. If we could achieve this desired mark, it would prove that our efforts were effective and weeknight fan attendance is rising at the rate we would like to see. Tactic 1A: Frequent Attendance Program The Durham Bulls provide a mini plan for multiple tickets within a season. This mini plan serves as a smaller season ticket at an affordable price. We would like to innovate a new program that incorporates the idea of a mini plan, while promoting weeknight games. We plan to create a Frequent Attendance Program. This program will allow fans to purchase a mini plan for 6 games and enjoy one game free. Each of the games on the plan will only include games on Mondays through Thursdays. We anticipate that the bundle of tickets, along with one free ticket per plan will increase the number of attendees at our weeknight games. We hope that the plans do not only pertain to families but to companies and young professionals as well. Tactic 1B: Birthday Club The Durham Bulls already provide the ability to have birthday parties at the stadium during games. In order to increase overall attendance figures, we plan on implementing a Bull s Birthday Club. The birthday club will be available for spectators ages Through a membership in the birthday club, you will receive information on promotional nights throughout the season. During the week of your birthday you will receive 3-4 free tickets in addition to a free shirt or hat. Those who have birthdays in off-season will be invited to celebrate their birthday through a voucher that gives them until a certain date to pick up their free tickets and enjoy a game. These free tickets will only be available for games Monday-Thursday. The birthday club will aim to maintain the family friendly environment that has been created in the DBAP, as well as increase attendance throughout the season. We give the birthday boy/girl tickets to bring friends and share the Bull s Experience. We hope that those who attend enjoy their experience and beg to come back to another game in the near future. When we create a fan base at an early age we hope they will attend more games throughout the season and in years following. 13

14 Tactic 1C: 50/50 Raffles In an effort to increase attendance, we will host a one time 50/50 raffle to support a local charity on April 18th. This is a great idea because it is extremely low cost, with the only expense being the actual ticket prices, and we could advertise it to the public. With people having the chance to win half of a pot worth up to 15,00-20,000, it would make more people more likely to purchase tickets at $5/each with the hopes of winning. We could potentially partner with a local charity that supports cancer research, such as the Jimmy V Foundation or St. Baldricks, and publish signage that associates them with the 50/50 raffle. Tactic 1D: Pre-game Block Party To reach our goal of a 10% increase in attendance on games Monday through Thursday, we are implementing a tailgate like block party to start off the Minor League Season. This event will be located at Diamond View Park for the Durham community. The event will begin 3 hours before gates open to the DBAP. The block party will include music from inside the stadium, in which will play family friendly music from today to appeal to both families and millennials. Food and beverages will be provided at this event from local restaurants. Attendees will be given the opportunity to participate in promotional games such as sumo wrestling, jersey races, and wiffle ball in order to win merchandise and concession coupons. We decided to host an event such as the Pre-game Block Party to bring in millennials, who enjoy sociable events with food and beverages. This event will give the feel of a tailgate for young professionals, while maintaining a family atmosphere as stated in our mission statement. We hope by hosting such event that we will not only increase the number of spectators at weeknight games from previous years, but have a chance to engage with our previous fan base we have gained in our decade of service. 14

15 STRATEGY 2: INCREASE REVENUE ON CONCESSIONS BY 15% We would like to increase our revenue on concessions by 15%. We believe that with the increase of attendance this will be an achievable goal for the Durham Bulls. We also believe that through each of our tactics we will meet the needs of a variety of markets within our fan base. Tactic 2A: Buy one, Get one We will offer buy one, get one free concessions from July 31-August 3 during a Bulls home stand. The concessions included in the promotion will be hotdogs, cheeseburgers, nachos, popcorn, and any non-alcoholic beverage. While this tactic doesn t necessarily relate directly to attracting young people to games, it can entice them to come at the chance to save a bit of money while enjoying a game for an entire week. This tactic appeals mostly to the family market, since it would be extremely beneficial to offer a BOGO to families that may have more than one kid and can feed the entire family for around half the price they would originally spend. While a buy one, get one concession night wouldn t necessarily bring in a ton of money on the concessions bottom line, it would promote people to buy other items, such as alcoholic beverages for the parents or freeing up more money for them to spend at the team store. The BOGO promotion lasting a week allows people to spread the news by word of mouth and tell their friends, which would boost attendance and the response to the promotion. Tactic 2B: Pint Night The last of our major food and beverage promotions on site will consist of a Pint Night running from May 1-4. We noticed that the local beer event, Raleigh Beer fest, attracted a record crowd this year and we will attempt to incorporate this idea at the ballpark. We will reach out and contact Fullsteam Brewery and Bull City Burgers and Brewery to cater/attend the event, and bring along all of the beers they brew on site and provide them on tap. The key to this promotion is that the beer will be extremely affordable, ideally $3 for a 16-ounce pint, which is an unusually low price for beer at a baseball game. With this promotion, revenue will be achieved by bringing in more fans than usual who want to take advantage of exploring local beers and watching the Durham Bulls play. This tactic will hit on two of our strategies, those being increasing attendance and the concession bottom line, because people will undoubtedly spend more money on food if they are given a steep discount on beer prices. 15

16 STRATEGY 3: INCREASE TECH COMPANIES ATTENDANCE BY 5% We would like to increase tech company attendance at our games by nearly 5%. We hope to gain 1-2 tech company events per season and anticipate that the experience brings them back to more games throughout the season. We plan on implementing this strategy through the following tactics. Tactic 3A: Offer more local food options While there is nothing wrong with ballpark food, when attempting to attract millennials and younger people, offering food local to Durham and Research Triangle would be extremely beneficial. If we could secure 2-3 restaurants to possibly bring a traveling food truck or set up at a concession booth, it would bring in more people who want to enjoy good food and social interaction. The restaurants to target would be The Pit BBQ Restaurant, Gonza Tacos y Tequila, and potentially one more restaurant offering seafood or something similar. In an effort to ease the strain of bringing these restaurants into the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, we decided to make it a weeklong activity as opposed to contracting them on a weekly or monthly basis. This week of local food could potentially bring in major corporations from around the RTP area to host networking nights or employee outings since they can enjoy premium food and also have the opportunity to communicate in an open environment. Tactic 3B: Partner with local breweries We chose to partner with local breweries such as Bull City Brewery to appeal to young professionals, tech companies, and millennials. We have found that the millennial generation enjoys local. We would like to secure partner ships with 2-3 breweries in the Raleigh-Durham area including Bull City Brewery to sell their products at our games. They will have their own booth set up throughout the stadium to sell and promote their product. We hope that creating partnerships with 2-3 local breweries in the area will bring more young professionals into our stadium. If we bring in these breweries, along with local foods that were discussed in Tactic 3A, we will appeal to young professionals who tend to enjoy local foods, beverages, and a social interaction. The Durham Bulls aim less to sell the game and more to sell the experience. Through the addition of local breweries, the Bulls can reach a market they have not yet targeted directly and increase the overall attendance within the ballpark. 16

17 Tactic 3C: Food Truck Friday Events Each Friday, the Research Triangle Park host Food Truck Friday for business throughout RTP. With the park being so big, here are multiple locations of Food Truck Friday each week. The event typically last 3 hours, 11AM to 2 PM and includes food trucks from various restaurants located around the Raleigh-Durham area. We will participate in Food Truck Friday by visiting a different site each week. During these events, we will set up a booth in which we will have flyers, ticket information and a chance to win tickets, merchandise, or concession coupons for an upcoming weeknight game. Those who visit the table will have a chance to participate in a Wiffle Ball Home Run Derby, wiffle ball game, or some of the promotional events such as sumo wrestling in order to win free tickets. The tickets we provide participants will only be for a game during the week. Through this event we hope to gain more company s to participate in our company outing programs. We choose to do this event in RTP because of the number of technology companies that are located in this area. With that being said, we hope through free tickets we can form a relationship with tech companies and increase the overall attendance of these companies. Tactic 3D: Call of Duty Game Night Many young professionals, teenagers, and some children enjoy playing video games such as Call of Duty. On June 14, 2017 we will hold a promotional Call of Duty Night. This promotion will include a specialized jersey, like jerseys worn on StarWars night, for the team to wear in honor of the promotional night. During this promotion fans will have the chance to participate in a contest to win a new Call of Duty game. Spectators will post Instagram photos from inside the stadium throughout the game. They will be asked to use the hash tag, #bullscodnight, to enter the contest. The contest will run until the bottom of the 6 th inning. There will be a winner announced at the end of each inning. Overall, there will be 7 winners of the free videogame. In the last inning an overall winner will be selected. The overall winner will receive one of the promotional night jerseys in addition to the free giveaway game. 17

18 Implementation 18

19 Budget Tactic 1A: Frequent Attendance Program The Frequent Attendance Program will not require any additional costs. We anticipate that the sale of this program will make up for the loss of possible single ticket game giveaways to the people in the frequent attendance club. Tactic 1B: Birthday Club This tactic will mainly bring in revenue for the Bulls. The only expense the team will have to cover is the cost of extra t-shirts and hats for birthday gifts. We expect around 175 people to join the birthday club in which the estimated cost of these items would be about $1,750. Tactic 1C: 50/50 Raffle The 50/50 raffle event should not bring a great expense to the Bulls to host. The cost of raffle tickets in order to hold the event will cost nearly $300. This will be the only expense for this event. Tactic 1D: Pre-game Block Party The block party will cost about $8 for each person who attends to cover the food and beverage cost per plate. We anticipate that 2,000 people will attend the event. With that being said, the cost to cover attendees of the block party will be nearly $16,000. In order to maintain a good control on our expenses, we plan on playing music from our system in the stadium to eliminate the need for a DJ at this event. Tactic 2A: Buy One, Get One This promotion should not affix additional expenses to the Bulls team. We already have the supplies needed in order to run this tactic, so we should not incur any extra costs that we need to build into a budget for this promotion. Tactic 2B: Pint Night Pint Night will not tack on additional expenses to the Durham Bulls. We will be using pint night as a promotional event and will be using kegs that we typically order within our inventory counts. Tactic 3A: Offer local food options We anticipate that in order to provide local food options such as The Pitt and Gonza, Tacos Y Tequila, we will need to estimate cost to be about $10 per head. With the average attendance of 7,600 people and hope to increase attendance by another 760 people, we anticipate that half of the attendees will eat local food options. This brings our cost to about $41,800 to feed the estimated target crowd for this tactic. 19

20 Tactic 3B: Partner with local breweries Through partnering with local breweries we do not expect to have an initial cost to partner. We do estimate that we will pay about $40 per keg. As stated before we anticipate 2-3 partnerships with breweries and each to bring 4 selections for spectators. With that being said our cost for the local brewery partnerships will amount to nearly $480. Tactic 3C: Food Truck Friday Event In this event, we will be promoting weeknight games and giving away merchandise, discounted concession tickets, and free tickets for participation at our booth. The expenses within this event will amount to the merchandise and tickets that we give away. We anticipate that out of the estimated 500 employees in RTP, 175 employees will participate in our games. With this estimate and tickets pricing averaging at $11 a ticket, we can conclude that tickets will expense to $1,925. Winners of games will receive a free t-shirt. Each t-shirt will cost $10 and we anticipate having 25 winners during the Food Truck Friday time period. The cost of winners will total $250. The total cost for the Food Truck Friday Events will amount to $2,175. Tactic 3D: Call of Duty Game Night The Call of Duty promotional night will include an expense for 7 Call of Duty videogames at $60 a game, totaling to $420. The overall winner will also win a limited edition Call of Duty night jersey with their game. The jersey will not have an additional expense on the Bulls because they will already be buying jerseys for the team. These additional jerseys will be auctioned off after the game, so the Bulls will earn profit from this event. Total Budget: The overall budget will cost $62,925 for all of the events we plan to implement at weeknight games within the season. 20

21 Evaluation The basis of this marketing plan is to be implemented in the following season, as well as seasons to come. The overall hope is that the Durham Bulls remain the popular and wellknown team from Durham, not only for the movie Bull Durham, but also for the atmosphere and promotions provided to the Bulls community. The cost of the overall plan will amount close to $63,000 for the upcoming season. Although these events are costly, we believe that through implementing them we will be able to obtain our goals to gain 760 attendees for weeknight games and increase the attendance of tech companies attendance by 1-2 companies a season. Each of these goals is attainable with the tactics mentioned in this marketing plan. Through the goals of increasing the variety of markets attending games and overall attendance, we will be able to greatly increase the revenue we make on concessions. Each of these tactics will be measured throughout the season in order to convey if each was effective and find any changes that should be made for the next season. Tactics such as Buy One, Get One and Pint Night will be measured by comparing the revenue made on concessions last season and those made during the upcoming season. We will be able to use the balance sheet and income statement to see weather revenue is coming in from food or beverages. We will also be able to determine what local breweries and local restaurants our fan base enjoyed the most throughout the season. In this we can ensure that we have these breweries and restaurants back for the next season. Attendance tactics will be measured through the numbers that come through the gates. We will compare the overall attendance on games that occur Monday through Thursday from the previous season to the weeknight games of this upcoming season. We will be able to tell which promotions were affective through the numbers for each individual game on the nights that promotional events occur. As far as evaluating the number of tech companies that join us during a season, we will keep track of the companies who hold company events within our stadium. When we give out tickets during Food Truck Friday events, these tickets will have a serial number that records how many come into the ballpark. The figures will be evaluated and recorded into a database for further evaluations at the end of the season. Overall, we should be able to personally evaluate the success of goals, strategies, and tactics for attendance through the fullness of the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. We hope to see an increase in weeknight attendance throughout our fan base and look forward to bringing in new markets through the tactics we have written in this plan. The success of this plan is extremely important to the Durham Bulls and seeing a small jump in weeknight attendance and revenue from concessions will amount to a successful plan. 21

22 Appendix Appendix A This is the first of our major food and beverage promotions and will hopefully bring in the biggest amount of the young adult population. Flyers like this will be mailed out to the Durham Bulls mailing list, posted at local businesses/restaurants, and made visible on social media outlets. Even going as far as renting out a billboard for this event would be productive because the cost of the billboard would be negated by the huge response we plan on receiving in attendance. Appendix B Another visual flyer we would publish around the Durham area, specifically at the participating restaurants so guests can notice the organization's participation and likely come to the game themselves. We could also potentially acquire a title sponsor for this, such as Lowe s Home Improvement, calling the event the Lowe s Local Food Truck Event, which would be beneficial to both parties because Lowes would pay for their name to be published and they would also be seen as a community partner. 22

23 Appendix C Since this is more of a family oriented event, we will post it on Facebook and other news outlets frequented by families and parents, i.e. newspapers. Having animated graphic art on this will bring attention to it and make it seem family friendly, in the hopes of attracting that market. 23

24 Appendix D These are both current promotions run by the Bulls in an attempt to draw crowds and bring in more concession revenue. While they are very successful in their own right, I feel the Bark in the Park excludes a large amount of your fans who don t own animals and the $1 concession night isn t intriguing enough and the marketing/signage behind it isn t extremely intriguing. 24

25 Appendix E Above is a conversation with Morgan Webber, the Manager of Corporate Partnerships in the Marketing Department at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. 25

26 References Durham Bulls Marketing Questions [ to M. Webber]. (2016, November) vkey=news_t234 =isch&sa=x&ved=0ahukewi3u_n68thqahxk6ymkhx- DB7IQ_AUICSgE#tbm=isch&q=durham+bulls+game&imgrc=_027zLNyf4aJdM%3A key=team