Marketing Plan Project

Greensboro Swarm

Michael Richardson / Andrew Gosselin

Executive Summary

The Greensboro Swarm are still in their infancy as the NBA Developmental League

affiliate of the Charlotte Hornets. The Swarm face unique challenges such as inconvenient game

times for fans, lack of roster continuity, and lack of tv time. They also face threats from cheap

family shows in the same region as well elite college basketball programs. However we believe

that passion for college basketball that runs so deep in North Carolina can be leveraged by the

Swarm. In this Marketing Plan we’ll take a look at how exactly the Swarm can

strategically garner attention, ticket sales, and acceptance into the Greensboro community over

this coming year.

Table of Contents Introduction / Mission Statement………………………………………………………………………..4

Background / Situational Analysis……………………………………………………………………....5

Internal Analysis………………………………………………………………………………………..6/7

Weaknesses………………………………………………………………………………………………7

External Environmental Analysis…………………………………………………….……………….8/9

Product Portfolio and Description……………………………………………………………………..10

Competitive Analysis…………………………………………………………………………………....11

Customer Analysis……………………………………………………………………..……………12/13

Target Market……………………………...…………………………………………………………….14

Marketing Goals / Marketing Strategy………………………………………………………………...15

Marketing Strategy / Marketing Tactics……………………………………………………………….16

Marketing Tactics……………………….…………………………………………………..……….17/18

Gantt Chart / Budget / Evaluation…..………………………………………………………………....19

Sources…………………………………………………………………………………………………..20

Introduction

The Greensboro Swarm is an NBA Development league or D league basketball team in

the Greensboro, NC area. They are the newest member of the Development League having their

first season a year ago during the 2015-2016 season. The Swarm is intended to develop talented

basketball players who have a contract with the Charlotte Hornets that are not quite skilled

enough to currently play with the NBA affiliate Charlotte Hornets. As discussed a bit later in the

marketing plan, the NBA Development league has been growing at an incredible rate. The

Development League was created during the 2000-2001 basketball season. Originally there were

only 8 teams which served as an opportunity for NBA teams to send some promising prospects

that were not skilled or seasoned enough to help out their NBA affiliated teams. Early on with

the D-League two or three NBA teams would all have the same D-League affiliate creating a

rather interesting dynamic between players having to learn to play together at the D-League level

only to compete against one another if they got called up to their respective NBA teams. Many

NBA teams began to see a benefit and a luxury to having their own D-League affiliate and so the

number of development teams began to increase slowly but surely and that trend is even still

continuing today.

After just 16 seasons, there are now twenty two NBA D-League teams with another five

teams that have announced they are interested and have plans to create their own teams. The

Greensboro Swarm were one of the many recent teams formed, bringing not only an opportunity

for player development within the organization, but also a new sports organization to the

Greensboro, NC area which has and will continue to make an impact economically as well as

socially to increase interest in the game of basketball within the area.

Mission Statement

There was no given mission statement identified on the Greensboro Swarm website or

identified through the interaction with Mr. Tony Furr who is the director of ticket sales for the

Swarm and so we decided to create what we feel would be an entirely realistic and appropriate

mission statement for the Swarm. To develop the skills, abilities, and professional growth of

contracted players while providing an entertaining and customer oriented environment for

community and fans to enjoy.

Background

Tony Furr, says that he can’t give us specific details about their marketing plan because

they are privately owned. However he did say that due to a limited budget the Swarm focus on

marketing efforts that are low cost or free for them to put together. Examples he included were

carnivals, days in the park, and little league fields. Mr. Furr also explained how they focus much

of their limited time and resources associated with marketing on attempting to reach families,

particularly those families who include children who participate in youth basketball

already. Other than only focusing on families Mr. Furr also explained how college students are

also a desired target for marketing for the Greensboro Swarm’s marketing efforts. For both of

these target markets the Swarm try to appeal with their strengths of fun, cheap, but quality

basketball entertainment that offers a variety of ways in which consumer engagement

occurs. Both families, who often have many financial commitments, and college students, who

often have extremely limited discretionary funds, both are expected to be more receptive and

appreciative of the relatively inexpensive cost of the tickets to view a Swarm game. But outside

of just bringing in fans to the ballgames another main focus of the Swarm’s marketing efforts,

according to Mr. Furr, is to increase the awareness of Greensboro Swarm within the Greensboro

area.

Situational Analysis

Strengths Opportunities

Location, Roster, MJ, Interactive

Nature

D-League expanding, TV

Weaknesses Threats

Game times, TV, Roster

continuity

Direct- Other Family Events, UNCG

Basketball.

Indirect- College Basketball

Internal Analysis

Strengths

• The location of Greensboro itself be a strength. It is in the top five of population growth

among North Carolina Cities and being currently the third largest city in North Carolina

as it is there is tremendous ability to pull fans from nearby. As stated in lecture and

research approximately 80% of spectators come from a 20 minute radius. For the

Greensboro Swarm this should be very much a strength.

• It seems those in charge of putting the team together must be well aware of North

Carolina's passion for collegiate athletics. With Wake Forest University, University of

North Carolina, Duke University, and North Carolina State University all relatively

nearby and all major basketball school in the best basketball conference in the country,

the Atlantic Coast Conference. It is no coincidence that in creating the team roster so

many of the players are former players at the colleges mentioned. For example just now

the Swarm can boast about having former NC State basketball standout Cat Barber,

former Duke ballplayer Rasheed Sulaimon, and another former NC State guard Ralston

Turner. While it is probably unreasonable to assume that those in charge of formulating

team roster intentionally seek out former North Carolina college stars, it is reasonable to

suggest that if there is a demand at a certain position and one of the most qualified

players to fill that position happens to have played at one of the four colleges mentioned

prior, that they pursue the North Carolina college player over another potential candidate

as it would be a sound business decision.

• Another strength is that Michael Jordan owns the team. Not many teams may have an

owner as a strength but the Jordan brand has taken on an image and representation of

being hip and successful. Just now we are starting to see major colleges such as the

University of Michigan and University of North Carolina jump onto the Jordan branding

train. Having Mr. Jordan associated with the Greensboro Swarm is certainly a positive

for the organization. For example if families know ahead of time that Jordan will be in

attendance or maybe even give a talk before or after the game that could be a major

drawing point for attendance. In these ways Michael Jordan is certainly a strength for the

organization.

• The Greensboro Swarm pride themselves on providing an interactive experience for those

who make a commitment both financially and through their time spent at Swarm

games. The Swarm have various opportunities for interaction and engagement other than

just watching the game itself. The Swarm offer opportunities such as a chance to sit on

the bench with the players, anthem buddies, court of dreams, and various in game

promotions to provide an exciting experience when watching the game that goes far

beyond just viewership.

Weaknesses

• While not every game is inconveniently played, there are several instances where the

Swarm may play games starting late morning or early afternoon on weekdays. Having a

large percentage of spectators being families who often work during weekday business

hours and of course their children who are often involved in traditional schooling which

wouldn’t allow them to attend games during late morning or early weekday

afternoons. With the target market of families and game start times that occasionally

make family attendance difficult, for this reason game times can occasionally be a

weakness for the Swarm.

• With so many individuals consuming their choice of sport entertainment through

television viewership the lack of available channels and options for Swarm fans or

potential fans to view the games proves to be a weakness for the Swarm overall

viewership and interest in the team.

• Roster continuity is an issue not only for the Greensboro Swarm but really for all NBA

Developmental League teams. The nature of the “D” league is to develop players to the

point where they can contribute positively to their respective NBA affiliates. Because of

this league wide objective the rosters are constantly being manipulated. Loyal fans can

be frustrated that their favorite players are constantly being traded, brought up, etc. and

are not playing for the Swarm. The constant shifting of rosters makes it more difficult for

fans to build loyalty to their teams.

External Environmental Analysis

Opportunities

The NBA Development “D” League expanding is a huge opportunity for the Greensboro

Swarm. As more cities find themselves host to their own D League team it will help legitimize

and build credibility within the D League as a legitimate professional league with highly

entertaining and talented players and coaches. According to USA Today’s article concerning the

growth of D League Basketball in recent years “In 2010-11, 24% of players on NBA season-

ending rosters had D-League experience, and last season, 38% of NBA players on season-ending

rosters had played in the D-League. That number is expected to grow closer to 50% in future

seasons.” (Zillgitt 2016) The plans for future expansion in the NBA D league and the trend in

recent years has created reasonable optimism that in recent years each NBA team will have their

own individual D League affiliate which will again build credibility to the D-League brand and

should undoubtedly provide a boost in viewership, attendance, and excitement around the

Greensboro Swarm.

Another opportunity to increase attendance, viewership, and excitement for the

Greensboro Swarm would be the increasing television coverage. As the D-League expands and

gains in credibility and notoriety it isn’t unlikely to assume that televised coverage will as result

also increase. Increasing television reachability and convenience will surely increase the overall

viewership of Swarm games. This will also make it easier to reach communities and build

excitement for games especially within the Greensboro community. The idea taught in class

lectures that 80% of consumers of the product come from within a 20 minute drive would be less

concerning with the implementation of increased television coverage. While it’d still be a

concern and important to have physical seat spectators increased television coverage would open

the opportunity to increase a following outside of the twenty minute commute range.

Threats

Direct threats are other family events in the area. Mr. Furr, a full-time employee with the

Greensboro Swarm, indicated that often times other family events are able to offer children free

or drastically reduced admission into events. Some of these events include the circus,

globetrotters. Since the Swarm are targeting a similar market of children and families these

family events are directly competing for the same target market within the same geographical

region. The Swarm are greatly worried about this competition because economically they are

not able to drop prices when other events compete and they struggle to maintain their same level

of attendance during times of direct competition. Another direct competitor group is the

University of North Carolina at Greensboro basketball team. Because they have been around

much longer than the Swarm they have already captured much of the college basketball watching

consumer group in and around Greensboro. The Swarm are finding it difficult to initially break

into this demographic. While the Greensboro Swarm are still new to Greensboro they can’t even

use that as a marketing tactic to get more interest and consumers of their product even within the

Greensboro area. The Winston Salem minor league hockey team was just created this past years

and have the rights to call themselves the new team in the area and can benefit from the newness

factor.

An indirect competitor that is a real burden for the Greensboro Swarm is college

basketball as a whole. Mr. Furr explained that a majority of college basketball fans in and

around the Greensboro already have a strong affiliation to one of the four major colleges in NC

or are affiliated with one of the local universities. He explained that attendance is dramatically

affected when there are similar game times between the Swarm and one of the major Universities

basketball games.

Product Portfolio and Description

The unique strategic positioning the Swarm are able to provide to their customers can

generally be summed up with the following “Slam dunk entertainment at layup prices.” Being

the Development League Affiliate of the Charlotte Hornets the Greensboro Swarm provide the

opportunity for spectators to see the raising stars of the Charlotte Hornets and the NBA at

typically very affordable, family friendly pricing. The Greensboro Swarm through their roster

selection allows spectators to watch the college stars of recent, including many from North

Carolina Schools, to work their way to developing and becoming NBA ready players. The

current market the Greensboro Swar have are mostly families including current youth basketball

players. The value proposition and positioning statement would be “Greensboro Swarm, where

the college stars of yesterday play today.” With high quality entertainment at low prices it's the

perfect place for family entertainment. Being a brand new team the Swarm take extreme

measures in order to create a fun and exciting environment to grab and keep the attention of fans

and leave them wanting more. The Swarm offers more than just a chance to watch the action but

also to become a part of the action. With various opportunities for fan interactions such as being

able to sit on the bench with the players, anthem buddies (standing on court with players during

national anthem), court of dreams (two teams play before the game starts), various in-game

promotions, and much more the Swarm allows for an interactive and engaging fan experience

unlike any other. The Greensboro Swarm offer a high value product with low costs and still

quality entertainment. Being a brand new team the Swarm staff is highly motivated to create an

entertaining environment engaging and interacting with spectators providing them an experience

far beyond just viewing the game.

Competitive Analysis

Direct Competitors - Director of Ticket Sales for the Swarm, Tony Furr, says that the

direct competitors the Swarm are most concerned with are the one’s that allow kids in free. This

includes basically any coliseum show in the area that’s designed for families (the circus, the

Harlem Globetrotters, etc.)

The only college basketball team the Swarm consider a direct competitor is UNC

Greensboro because of it’s low ticket prices and proximity.

The new minor league hockey team in Winston Salem is also a direct competitor due not only to

it’s proximity and low ticket prices, but also due to the fact that it is now the new team in town.

The Swarm assumed they would have the attention of the news media and residents in

Greensboro/Winston Salem for at least a couple years. Unfortunately a new minor league hockey

team announced they would start playing in Winston Salem shortly after the Swarm started

playing in Greensboro. Therefore the Swarm aren’t really given the amount of attention one may

expect a new team in town would get. This minor league hockey team also offers cheap deals for

families.

Indirect Competitors - Tony Furr also said that families who attend Swarm games almost

always have an affinity to one of the big four of college basketball in this state (NC State, UNC,

Dake, and Wake Forest). He says that any time one of those schools is playing basketball it takes

a toll on attendance for the Swarm, even if one of those big four is playing out of state and

people are just watching it on tv. Tony says that while the Greensboro Grasshoppers are the

closest minor league team to the Swarm, they aren’t a direct competitor due to the fact that they

play during a different time of the year, offer much cheaper tickets, offer more opportunities to

attend, and a product that is known by everyone in Greensboro.

Tony added that he’s not sure exactly what impact the repeal/modification of HB2 will

have on the Swarm. It may seem logical to assume that since sporting events are coming back to

NC/Greensboro that they’ll have more competition and therefore sell less tickets.. However they

can’t know if this will actually hurt their attendance numbers because they haven’t been around

long enough to really analyze pre and post HB2 data.

Customer Analysis

Demographics

Unfortunately the Greensboro Swarm have a limited amount of demographic

information. They were able to provide us with the results of voluntary response data they

acquired from fans who attended their games. Below are the results of that voluntary response

survey.

Total number of accounts – 254

Respondents – 68

Average age – 45.36

Average household income - $139,351.51

Obviously the demographic information for NBA teams and NBA Developmental

League teams are not the same but NBA team demographic data is the next closest thing we

could find. Below is the NBA attendance percentage by age group and household income

(SBRNet).

The gist of what Tony told us was that the majority of Swarm fans who attend games are

families with ties to NC State, Duke, UNC, and/or Wake Forest. These families are accustomed

to attending basketball games given the strong college basketball culture in North Carolina. They

choose to support the Swarm for a few reasons...

1. They have the opportunity to see some of their favorite players (Players they watched in

college) play at the next level.

2. They get to see players who have played in NBA games or will soon play in NBA games.

3. They don’t have to leave the Greensboro/Winston Salem area.

4. They get more access to players and unique fan engagement experiences than they would

at an NBA game for a fraction of the price. Below are examples of fan experiences that

could be purchased last season from the team website.

Target Market

According to Mr. Furr, director of ticket sales for the Greensboro Swarm, a constant

target market within the minor league / semi professional basketball industry is that families,

ideally including young basketball playing children, utilize the opportunities and spend their

resources to attend games at a higher frequency than other potential demographic

segments. Another segment that makes sense that the Swarm should target are college

students. Being in Greensboro and having a large university that is the University of North

Carolina at Greensboro and having Wake Forest nearby as well as other smaller secondary

education institutions such as community colleges it clearly show there is the potential of a large

segment to be captured and brought into the consumer group already existing for the

Swarm. Also having cheaper tickets than most college games and far cheaper than professional

NBA games this gives a typically more financially stringent segment that college students are a

chance to watch fairly high quality basketball without the high costs that you would get for

similar or better product elsewhere. While families and college students are currently the

Swarms focused target market currently, for our upcoming suggestions through tactics it would

be wise to continue trying to capture the same two segments. While Mr. Furr didn’t specifically

say he wanted to also increase awareness within the community as a whole it can be implied that

any tactic that also increases brand awareness within the surrounding area could be considered a

great use of resources. In all our tactics relate to spreading awareness of the Greensboro Swarm

within Greensboro and the surrounding area, college students specifically at UNCG and Wake

Forest University, and families. Especially those that include young children involved in

basketball themselves.

Marketing Goals

Value Proposition: Greensboro Swarm, where the college stars of yesterday play today.

Goal #1 - Increase brand awareness: The Swarm do not have a well established brand yet.

This is our most vital goal as our next two goals are impossible if we fail to increase our brand

awareness.

Goal #2 - Increase ticket sales: We’re likely not going to sell out every single game given the

fact that some games are played at 11am on weekdays. However we need to make sure we’re

maximizing the return on our marketing efforts. This means selling out the games we have a

possibility of selling out and selling as many tickets as we can for games in which attendance

numbers are impacted by external factors.

Goal #3 - Establish a positive brand identity: The Swarm do not have a brand that is looked at

overwhelmingly positively or overwhelmingly negatively. Many in the Greensboro area are

indifferent at this point. Once people are aware of the brand we need to make sure they look at it

as a valuable asset to the Greensboro community.

Marketing Strategy

1. Increase brand awareness among families in Greensboro/Winston Salem: Families make

up the largest portion of our target market and given the 80/20 rule it makes sense to

target families in this area.

2. Increase brand awareness among college students in Greensboro/Winston Salem:

3. Pull low cost stunts to attract the attention of local media and use local media as a free

marketing tool

The success of these strategies can be measured multiple ways. One easy way to see if

the strategies and tactics are successful would be through looking at ticket sale data before and

after the strategies and tactics have been executed or over time. It would not be unreasonable to

believe that an increase in sales could be attributed to the execution of the strategies and

tactics. Especially if comparisons are done within a reasonable amount of time after the tactics

have been executed and if there is no other major factor to increase or decrease ticket sales

during that simultaneous period in time. Another way to measure successes or failure is similar

to the first but would measure and compare attendance and physical bodies in the seats before

compared to after the tactics are used. An increase in attendance shortly after the

implementation of the tactics over a short period of time with nothing new or unexpected coming

into play would reasonable suggest the effectiveness of the tactics. Another way to measure the

success of tactics could be through the individual actions that the tactics call for individuals to

do. For example during the cookout promotion, the success could be measured based on the

number of students that actually mention or take advantage of the free milkshake with purchase

of a tray deal. For the viral marketing campaign the analytics of how many and what type of

users took advantage of using the Greensboro Swarm Snapchat filters would be a terrific way to

measure the success of the viral marketing campaign tactic. Examples such as the couple just

explained could be done with all the individual tactics mentioned and are an effective way to

determine success or failure of the tactics suggested.

Marketing Tactics

• College Campuses in Greensboro - If the swarm win, then UNC Greensboro, Wake

Forest, Community Colleges within the local community can show college ID card and

can get free milkshake with the purchase of a cookout tray. As mentioned previously

during the identification of threats and weaknesses the Swarm have been struggling early

on to capture a portion of the college basketball fans. The thought is that by encouraging

local sponsorships and partnership with companies that college students utilize heavily it

will through brand partnership and recognition unconsciously improve the brand image

of the Swarm in college students’ minds. This tactic very much aligns with the strategy

of increasing awareness among college students within the Greensboro area.

• Swarm Flash Mob- At high traffic areas and events such as malls, have flash mob

coordinated routine with the Swarm mascot, dance team, and maybe some players

perform dance/basketball trick routine to entertain those in the area. Have a promotion

that those who share video of the performance on social media with a specific hashtag get

free or reduced price for tickets to upcoming game. Hopefully this will, through price

promotion, encourage attendance but also bring goodwill and pleasant imagery in the

minds of community members. This tactic falls in line with the identified strategy of

pulling low/no cost stunts in order to attract local media and even to use local media as

free marketing tool. In this case the local media being attracted would be done through

social media efforts. If the routines were to go viral it would be terrific exposure and

certainly be a cost effective form of marketing.

• Viral marketing campaign- Implement Greensboro Swarm snapchat filters in various

high volume areas throughout the greater greensboro area to increase interest and

hopefully promote desire. Again this would fall under strategy three identified

previously. It would make use of local social media accounts and new word of mouth

that social media has become. There are certain filters that display the current score. It

would show to the target marketed youth who primarily use Snapchat that the Swarm are

playing and it would help with exposure of the brand. • College night- 2 for 1 ticket admission through showing college ID’s. College students

tend to be the among the most sensitive about prices among the age

demographics. College students may be more positively receptive to a price

promotion. College night would as likely assumed attempt to execute the strategy that

attempt to increase increase brand awareness to college students. Allowing a night of

entertainment for a low price may encourage attendance. Also once a group of friends or

date night happens at the game once, they are more likely to return in the future.

• Open Practice- Have the Greensboro Swarm players put on a clinic or practice and

invite local parks & rec and community youth teams come and attend. This should

provide an interesting interaction among players and youth and community

members. Having this type of open interaction with the youth in the community would

attempt to execute the strategy identified as increasing brand awareness among families

within the Greensboro area. It would undoubtedly increase awareness and excitement for

the Swarm team. Especially if at the end of the clinic members were given a coupon for

discounted tickets in the future.

• Community Outreach- Marketing and goodwill through creation of hornet themed

playground. Will hopefully Swarm the family market which shows an attempt work on

the strategy associated with increasing awareness among families within the Greensboro

area. The idea is through use of and viewing the Swarm themed playground parents will

appreciate the goodwill and financial contribution of the Greensboro Swarm organization

and the kids will associate the fun and entertainment received through use of the

playground with the potential fun and entertainment they would receive by going to a

Swarm game.

Gantt Chart

Budget

$50,000

Playground: $43,000

Snapchat: $5,000

Flash Mob: $2,000

Ticket Promotions: Free

Open Practice: Free

Cook Out Milkshake deal: Free

Evaluation

We’ll know how effective our plan was based on the percent change in ticket sales, the social

media attention (Likes, retweets, replies, etc..), and how many times our milkshake deal with

cookout is redeemed. We fully expect the playground to pay dividends for year to come even

though we may not be able to directly measure it’s impact.

SOURCES

Sports, J. Z. (2016, January 18). NBA D-League growing by the year with 22 teams in play for 2016-17.

Retrieved April 20, 2017, from https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2015/11/12/nba-d-league-growth-

30-teams-within-five-years/75665740/ Tony Furr. Full time employee for the Greensboro Swarm. Below is the information he provided us for the

project.

SMA - Sport Marketing Analytics. (2016). Market Research / Demographics. Retrieved April 20, 2017, from

http://www.sportsmarketanalytics.com/research.aspx?subrid=526 Greensboro Swarm Staff. (n.d.). Home. Retrieved April 24, 2017, from http://greensboro.dleague.nba.com/ NBA Development League. (n.d.). NBA Development League Expansion. Retrieved May 04, 2017, from

http://dleague.nba.com/expansion/