Research on the Problems with the Eurovision Dance Contest Marketing

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND

In most, if not in all the cases, a business success mainly relies on its marketing strategy. Most aspects of a business rely on successful marketing. When talking about marketing it deals with various concepts such as advertising, public relations, organizing various promotions and sales. The reason as to why marketing is an important concept for a business is because it is the process through which a certain product or service is introduced to the target customers (Cavusgil & Knight, 2015). A business can have the ability to produce the best products or services in a certain industry and at an affordable price but get low sale volumes because its potential customers are not aware of the existence of this product. Additionally, they may be aware of the existence of the product but, because they are not constantly reminded of its existence due to a lack of marketing strategy, the business may not enjoy the profit levels it deserves (Kumar, 2015).

It is important to point out that for a business to become successful, the product or the services that are being offered should be recognized by potential customers. Through the use of effective marketing strategies, it will ensure that the consumers are aware of the products or services that are being offered. It will increase the chances of the consumer regarding purchasing a certain product, increasing both the sale volumes and profit levels of the organization (Tantalo & Priem, 2014). If a business is not able to push sales regarding its goods or services, it will not be able to succeed. Marketing is also instrumental in helping a company or organization build its brand reputation, and this will have a positive effect on increasing the profit levels of an organization (Tiago & Verissimo, 2014). Through marketing, it can also help in building a healthy competitive advantage of a certain business over its business rivals about its consumer market. In the 21st century, companies are learning to make their marketing approach to be focused on the customer. The reasons for this is that customers today are more informed, and demand high-quality products, than the customers of yesteryears who were mainly driven to purchase a product based on its price.

The Eurovision Dance Contest is an international dancing competition that was held in 2007 and 2008 in the United Kingdom before being discontinued in 2009 generally because the targeted audience was not interested in the show. The contest was designed similarly as that of the Eurovision Song Contest that has been held successfully from 1956, but after two years of being aired on BBC, it ended abruptly (Blair, 2017). The focus of this research paper is to look at the marketing plan that has been used for the Eurovision Dance Contest, and why it has never been popular on social media as compared to the Eurovision Song Contest.

1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT

Eurovision Song Context that is referred to as Eurovision is one of the most anticipated shows, especially among the countries that have regularly participated in it since its inception in 1956. These song contests are aired live, and for each country, they have to submit and perform a unique song that has a unique cultural background to their country. Viewers of the show are then expected to submit song performance votes after watching the different songs to determine the winner of the contest. It is important to point out that Eurovision has been stated to be one of the most viewed non-sporting events in the world. It is also categorized as a global event culture because it is designed in such a way that different countries compete and there is the aspect of culture.

The Eurovision Dance Contest took a similar format to the highly successful and long running Eurovision Song Contest. However, unlike the latter contest, the Eurovision Dance Context has been unable to generate the high appeal of European Song Contest, especially on the social media platform. The reason why this show did not elicit the expected reaction was due to using of poor marketing strategies that did not create customer appeal to their targeted audience. It was the latest addition to what is referred to as the Eurovision family of events. Its unique aspect from the Eurovision Song Contest (launched in 1955) and Junior Eurovision Song Contest (launched in 2003) is that there is a combination of glitz and glamor of ballroom dancing, and it also incorporates the cultural aspect uniqueness of each country. The participants (a couple from each country) are supposed to dance a freestyle choreography that was inspired by the country they represent. It uses the song performance votes that are submitted through telephone conversations and texts by the audience.

Therefore, the focus of this study will be to investigate why Eurovision Dance Contest was not an instant hit on the social media platform, despite being designed in a way to appeal the youth who are the frequent users of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Through this investigation, this dissertation will show the existing problem regarding the marketing strategies that are currently being used to popularize this show and show why they have not been successful. It will also recommend successful marketing strategies that can change the current fortunes of this show and make it as popular if not even popular than the Eurovision Song Contest.

1.3 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The aim of this research is to identify the problems with the existing marketing plans that are used to promote the Eurovision Dance Contest, show why they are not working, and provide recommendations on more successful marketing strategies that will popularize this contest. It is important to point out that, using the European media to host the show presents the dance contest with a unique opportunity to improve its popularity with the viewers, just as has been the case for Eurovision Song Contest.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following research questions will be used as a guide for the researcher in respect long-running the focus of the study:

What are the current marketing plans that are being used by the Eurovision Dance to popularize the show?

What led the viewers to be dissatisfied with the show only after two years of being broadcast?

Which marketing strategies can EDC use to improve its overall viewership and subsequent demand in future?

The objectives of this study will be as follows:

Conduct a critical analysis in relation the marketing plan of the Eurovision Dance Contest

To have a better understanding of the marketing strategies that are currently being used by the organizers of the Eurovision Dance Contest

To conduct an investigation of why the Eurovision Dance Contest is not as popular as the other shows that are in the Eurovision family.

To investigate ways in which the organizers of this event can maximize the use of the social media platform to create awareness and the right appeal to the viewers.

Provide the organizers with recommendations that will make the Eurovision Dance Contest in future to be as popular, if not popular than the Eurovision Song Contest.

1.5 METHODOLOGY

The methodology that was applied in this research is marketing research. It was seen as an ideal method for this study due to the following advantages:

When a researcher uses this methodology, he or she can obtain a lot of details in regards to the marketing plan that a certain organization has incorporated.

The researcher will also be in a better position to investigate the marketing strategies that can be used by Eurovision Dance Contest to make the show popular.

Marketing research comprises of a systematic collection, recording, and analysis of both qualitative and quantitative data about marketing a certain product or service. The data collection methods that will be used in this research are open-ended questionnaires and observations. The questionnaires will be provided to eight to ten people who are bloggers and have written articles about a dance contest. The observation was chosen as the method of collecting data because the researcher will be assessing how different marketing strategies that have been used by different organizations for different events have enhanced their awareness and popularity.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

In this review of literature section, it will focus on the concept of marketing, identifying the communication strategies that different businesses and organizations implement to ensure that they can connect a product or service to the target market. It will also focus on the analysis of the needs that customers have on a particular product, and the decisions that the business should make to ensure that it satisfies these needs.

2.1 MARKETING

2.1.1 Understanding and Approaching the Market

Successful marketing is best achieved by organizations that know their market completely and accurately. It is important to be able to define the nature of the markets in which an individual operates in, identify the existing types of markets, conduct product differentiation, and market segmentation.

2.1.2 Definition of the Market

Regarding defining a market, it is important to take into consideration, the different perspectives of the market for one to be able to define it in a precise manner. The basic definition of a market is a group of potential buyers with needs and wants and the purchasing power to satisfy them (Ananda, Hernandez-Garcia, & Lamberti, 2016). In the conduction of business, there is the need to have an exchange of two or more people, and therefore it is natural to assume or define the market to be people, individuals or even groups. It is important to point out that for the concept of marketing to existing, there is the need to have people who are willing to purchase these products for consumption purposes. People will only constitute to become a market if they have latent wants or needs. This means that these individuals (who have been defined as the target market) have to recognize that they have a desire or potential desire for an existing or future product.

Marketing can also be defined as the process of being able to identify, anticipate, and satisfy customers requirements and desires about a product in a profitable manner. It can also be defined as the process of identifying and implementing an effective communication strategy that can connect a product or service to its target market (Alaimo, 2017). According to American Marketing Association (AMA), marketing is considered as, the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives. Peter Drucker had a unique way of defining marketing. He stated the following about marketing, Marketing is not only much broader than selling, it is not a specialized activity at all. It encompasses the entire business. It is the whole business seen from the point of view of its final result, that is, from the customers point of view. Concern and a responsibility for marketing must, therefore, permeate all areas of the enterprise. For most people, they assume the process of marketing only involves advertising and then selling a product. However, an efficient marketing manager can interpret the customers desires and then match or even exceed these desires.

Successful businesses are able to have a marketing management team in place so that they can manage the process in an effective manner. Before determining the marketing process to use as an organization, it is important to take into consideration the stakeholders of the business (Andreasen, 2002). Stakeholders are the people or organizations that have a certain form of relat...