Brooks et al 1

Jacksonville Jaguars Media Plan

by

Daniel Brooks

Heather Catron

Christy Goodman

Ashton Jones

Brian Tuohey

Jack Potter

ADV3300

April 12, 2012

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Executive Summary

This media buying plan for the Jacksonville Jaguars seeks to exploit the strengths of the

team, the team’s unique fan base, the team’s unique buying schedule, and its location

advantage. It also seeks to take advantage of the Jaguars new birth in its new management

particularly Shahid Khan. Specifically, the plan recommends the Jaguars:

Reach out to demographics in the 18-35 range. These younger fans are needed to

ensure future ticket sales.

Use social media to reach the above demographic.

Reach heavily to females. They make up 52% of the Jaguars’ ticket buyers. This is unique

in the NFL.

Advertise in accordance to the market’s seasonal buying patterns.

Advertise in ways that the competition cannot or cannot do as well. The Jaguars will

have better success using outdoor advertising than the Florida Gators.

Emphasize the great potential for the team to win games. Jaguars history shows a clear

relationship between ticket purchases and a winning record.

Build off of team news (draft picks, new management, wins).

Company Overview

Jacksonville, Florida was awarded the NFL team, the Jacksonville Jaguars on November

30, 1993. The Jaguars were the 29th team to enter the league. The team was owned by J.

Wayne Weaver from 1993 to 2011. Within the first week of announcing that the team would be

in Jacksonville, the city sold over 55,000 seats for the games. The Jacksonville jaguars began

their first season in 1995 with Tom Coughlin as their first coach. Coughlin remained with the

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team for nine years from 1994 to 2002. The team’s second coach, Jack Del Rio, began in 2003

and remained with the team until 2011. On January 4, 2012, the team was sold to Shahid Khan

for $760 million. Khan hired Mike Mularkey as the new head coach.

Product Overview

The Sales history for the Jaguars has had its ups and downs. From 1993 to 1999, the

frequency of buying tickets for multiple years was very high. From 2000-2004, there was a large

slump in overall ticket sales. In 2005, tickets were revised to boost sales. Prices were lowered,

special incentives were added, and payment installment plans were made available. In 2008,

the team had the highest amount of ticket sales in its lifespan. In 2009, the team was affected

by the economic depression and lost 15,000 seats. In 2010, the team began the “Team Teal” ad

campaign and generated 17,000 new ticket sales. In the 2011, they remained steady. The team

is currently at a 87% ticket renewal rate and is trying to push that up to 90%.

Jaguar sales compete mainly with the University of Florida Gators football team since

the two teams share the same region, play in the same season, and play on the weekend. If the

market consists of Northeast Florida, and the average attendance for the Jaguars and the

average attendance for the Gators are multiplied by their respective number of home games,

the Jaguars would have almost a 50% share of the Northeast Florida football market.

Competitive Review and the Jaguars’ Competitive Advantage

The Jaguars have a main and consistent competitor in the Florida Gators. While technically indirect

competitors because the two teams are not in the same league, the bulk of the Gators’ season coincides

with the Jaguars’ season, they share the same market and their playing times are only a day apart. The

Gators occupy just over 50 percent of the northeast Florida market. The University of Florida is also very

strong financially. In 2009-2010 season Florida managed to increase its Athletic budget by $5.9 million to

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over $89 million. It also raised its projected revenue from $82.6 million to $90.7 million. Its football

budget also grew 2.3% to $6.36 million. In short, the Gators have more money to spend than the Jaguars

do. The university and the team are also strongly associated with the popular sports drink Gatorade as

it was formulated at the university.

The Gators strengths are in its loyal fan base, money and recent successes with national

championship victories in 2006 and in 2008. The team also plays in the Southeastern Conference (SEC)

of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) which has won 6 straight national championships

and, as a result, has large sums of money to divide amongst its 12 teams. Its weaknesses are that it is in

a very niche market and doesn’t have a wide brand recognition in other markets outside of the

southeast. Its sales are also dependent on team performance and general conference performance

which can be unpredictable.

A Jaguars’ advantage over the Gators is that the Jaguars play in the NFL which is a national

league. Since the league is national (and is trying to go international) the Jaguars can spread their brand

into more markets than the Gators can. Another advantage is that the Gators are a part of the University

of Florida. This means that while a Gator fan has to invest in both the school and the team, a Jaguars fan

only has to invest in the team, making it much easier to get involved. Also, while the two teams do

share the basically same market, the Jaguars have a better location as they are located in a city and not

a smallish town such as Gainesville. This means their audience is right at their doorstep and not spread

over the entire market area so they don’t have to travel as far. This also means that their outdoor

advertising is guaranteed to reach a higher amount than the Gators because the population for the

Jaguars’ location is denser.

SWOT Analysis: Strengths

The Jaguars’ greatest strength is the new team owner Shahid Khan. It is highly likely that he

is one of the richest owners in the NFL giving him the necessary finances to push the Jaguars

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foward (Solomon, 2011). Khan also recognizes that the key to profitability (selling tickets) is

winning. He also seeks to expand the Jaguar market by playing some games in Europe. He

hopes to capitalize on that market’s passion for soccer and rugby (Johnson, 2012)

Khan recently hired former MetLife stadium CEO Mark Lamping to be the Jaguars president

and oversee all non-football related activities. Lamping was responsible for turning.

Lamping has unique experience in football since MetLife stadium houses both the Giants

and the Jets. Lamping was also president of the St. Louis Cardinals for 13 years (Ganguli,

2012).

The Jaguars pick 7th in the NFL Draft giving them a good opportunity to get excellent new

playing talent (NFL).

The Jags play in Everbank Field which has a capacity of 76,867 seats (67,164 with the

covers).

Everbank Field also houses the Bud Zone which can be used for events.

Though the Jags do no operate in the largest NFL market they are the only one that

operates in Jacksonville (Oehser, 2012)

The Jags recently hired Mike Mularkey as head coach, replacing the stagnant Jack Del

Rio. Mularkey, previously offensive coordinator of the Atlanta Falcons, is responsible

turning quarterback Matt Ryan into an efficient passer (Ganguli).

The Jaguars have established a great public image as a charitable organization thanks to the

help of former owner Wayne Weaver (Jaguars.com).

SWOT: Weaknesses

The main product for the Jaguars is ticket sales, and the main selling point for ticket sales is

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a winning team. Unfortunately, the Jaguars have gone 5-11, 7-9, 8-8, and 5-11 the past four

years. And the team also had to place about half its squad on injured reserve in the 2011

season. This means that there will be the potential for a lack of stability in the line-up for

the 2012 season (ESPN).

The Jaguars are ineligible for supplemental revenue sharing, meaning that if they have a bad

financial year they can’t borrow money from the league (Sports Business Journal).

SWOT: Opportunities

52% of Jaguar ticket buyers are female. This means the Jaguars can target to a demographic

that represents most of their sales and has most of the buying power (Livingstone

interview).

Since the organization is basically starting anew, the team has the opportunity right now to

reach out to younger generations and hook them onto the brand (Livingstone interview)

SWOT: Threats

Jacksonville is one of the top college football markets meaning the Jaguars have to motivate

fans to buy tickets for Sunday after they have probably already been exposed to football on

Saturday (DiRocco).

Marketing Objectives

Our Marketing Objectives is to increase home game attendance by an average of 23

percent over the course of April 1st, 2012, to December 30, 2012. This will be achieved through

an increase in reach and frequency directed at our targeted audiences and through special

incentives for those audiences. We want to specifically reach young adults in the 18-35 range to

build a strong base for the next generation of Jaguar fans. We also want to specifically target

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females as they represent a 52% majority of ticket buyers which is uncommon among NFL

teams. The goal can be realistically met if 48,515 new seats are bought and the average new

fan attends twice, spending an average of 118 dollars total.

Advertising Objectives

Our objective is to increase the awareness in our Jacksonville-based (and surrounding

local areas) campaign among our target audience which is adults 18-35 and predominantly

white females. If Duval county represents the surrounding area, then our target audience

would represent 66% of the population. Aiming for 198 GRPs seems fitting as to achieve a

frequency of 3 among the target audience.

Creative Strategy

The Dalton Agency located in downtown Jacksonville has created a few ads for the upcoming

2012-2013 season for the Jaguars:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ya6fo8jSVbc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnUelmQ4z_A&feature=plcp&context=C4d58dacVDvjVQa1PpcFNw-

x61eRNBC-7Qe4-zXIq4GT2ndwYIdGs%3D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F_LOSw9U1k&feature=plcp&context=C4576542VDvjVQa1PpcFNw

-x61eRNBC07CcYz6b8cZr37mIZlGhPw%3D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_ZXMbYir_Q&feature=plcp&context=C41e5943VDvjVQa1PpcFNw-

x61eRNBC3R6brQNDKBND96Uk_bACHM%3D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCnTiGueXFI&feature=plcp&context=C48c5b06VDvjVQa1PpcFNw-

x61eRNBC9g5Ca_DcckrooEJ1mLX4P0%3D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvrXYJHG9JE&feature=share

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Along with these commercials, the Jaguars also have outdoor billboards and radio commercials

that add to their current campaign.

Regionality

The Jaguars campaign should be heavily weighted in Jacksonville and the surrounding

areas that are in reasonable driving distance of attending a game. The team already has a

presence in the area and needs to boster the local ticket sales before the team can expand the

brand nationally to sell merchandise as Mr. Khan desires. President Lamping has also expressed

the importance of strengthening the brand regionally as to avoid blackouts. He also said he

want the team to never be in the position were the market size would be used as excuse for

lack of sales (Kritzer 2012).

Seasonality

Many businesses have a seasonality aspect to them. Some obviously have more than

others. As far as the NFL is concerned, it’s a heavy player in focusing its time and money during

specific times of the year. The Jaguars specifically focus their attention to the sale and

advertising of tickets twice a year. When the NFL season is over, about a month after the Super

Bowl, the Jaguars put themselves out there in the hopes that free agency and the annual draft

will excite the fan base. These spring campaigns consist of rallies, TV, radio and print ads. As of

right now the Jaguars are focusing on a slogan/statement made by new owner Shahid Kahn:

“All In”. The spring ticket push usually generates around 30% of the ticket sales.

The bulk of what the Jaguars spend on advertising is during the early to late summer, all

the way up to and throughout the season. This is necessary since this time is the lead up to the

season and when people have historically bought the most tickets. Generally this group takes

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up about 50% of the ticket sales. There is also the percentage of people who buy their tickets

during the season, whether it is for half season package deals or single game tickets. This

percentage generally falls around 20%.

Media Budget

The Jaguars’ budget was found by adding the total attendance for all NFL home games

for 2011 (17,124,639) and multiplying that number by the average NFL ticket price ($113). This

came to $1,935,084,207. Since the league splits its earnings 32 ways, the Jaguars cut would be

$60,471,381. 1% of the Jaguars cut was taken to be the advertising budget, coming to

$3,023,569. 7For convenience, all ticket sales were assumed to be non-premium as the

earnings from those are kept by the individual teams. A breakdown follows:

Total NFL Attendance for 2011 =17,124,639

Average NFL ticket price = $113

17,124,639 X $113 = $1,935,084,207 total NFL ticket price dollars.

$1,935,084,207 / 32 teams =$60,471,381

$60,471,381 * .01 = $604,714 total advertising budget

Ticket Sales

July-Start ofSeason

Draft-June

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Jacksonville Jaguars Consumer Psychographics

The Jacksonville Jaguars have played 17 seasons of football since they were brought into the

NFL. The sales history has had its up and downs mostly due to inconsistent season records. It

seems that the Jaguars may have bandwagon fans because when the team is doing well the

ticket sales are very high but when the team is doing badly the ticket sales are very low. From

1995 to 1999 the ticket sales were very high because the Jaguars had an overall win/loss record

of 50-31 over the course of 5 years. From 2000 to 2004 there was a slump in tickets sales

because their overall win/loss record was 33-47. They had a losing record every season from

2000 to 2003 and a poor record of 9-7 in 2004. From the year 2005 to 2011 the Jaguars have

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

Wins 4 9 11 11 14 7 6 6 5 9 12 8 11 5 7 8 5

Losses 12 7 5 5 2 9 10 10 11 7 4 8 5 11 9 8 11

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Tota

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es

Jacksonville Jaguars Win/Loss History

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Target Selection

Counties Duval Nassau Baker Clay St. Johns Camden Charlton Ware

Total Population 872,388 75,738 27,859 195,881 196,888 52,095 12,835 36,580

Ages 20-64 50.7% 45.8% 49.2% 47.7% 46.1% 49.9% 51.1% 46%

Females 20-64

50.3% 45.3% 46% 47.6% 45.8% 50.9% 57% 42.9%

Males 20-64 51.1% 46.4% 52% 52.4% 54.2% 49% 54.6% 49.4%

Media Vehicles and Pricing

• Average costs:

• T.V commercial Production Cost = $200,000 per commercial (2 different

commercials produced)

• Radio Cost= $110 per week (28 weeks needed)

• Mail Flyers= $1,500 for 1,000 4X6 flyers (5,000 flyers sent out)

• Social Media Coordinator Salary of 2 Coordinators $38,000 each = $76,000

• Billboards= $ 3,000 per design (13 billboard designs)

• Billboard Average Rental Price is $4,800 X 13 billboards= $62,400

• Totaling $560,980

• Television Ads will run on 3 major networks: FOX, ABC and CW

• Times T.V. adds would run:

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• M-F 6am to 7am Morning News Hour30sec. At $35 ($35X3 networks=$105)

• Wed. 8-9:30pm American Idol (FOX) 30 sec. at $2,300

• Saturday 12:00-2pm Saturday Day Movies 30sec. At $100 ($100X3=$300)

• Saturday 7-11pm Nascar Racing (FOX and ABC) 30sec at $1,200

($1,200X2=$2,400)

• Sunday 11am-12pm Sunday News 30sec at $150 ($150X3=$450)

• Sunday 5:30-10:30pm Nascar Racing (FOX and ABC) 30sec at $1,200

($1,200x2=$2,400)

Totaling $5,655

Altogether Totaling $560,980+ $5,655= $566,635

Media Flowchart

Advertising March April May June July August September October November Television X Radio X X X Soc. Media X X X X X X Print X Billboard X X X X X X

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Works Cited

Associated Press. “Florida's 2009-10 athletic budget tops $89 million.” CBS Sports.com.

CBS Sports, 22 June 2009. Web. 12 April 2012.

Brooks, Daniel. Personal interview with Jaguars Head of Ticket Sales Steve Livingstone. 6 March

2012.

DiRocco, Michael. “Jacksonville is One of Country’s Top College Football Markets.”

Jacksonville.com. Florida Times-Union, 16 Sept. 2011. Web. 12 April 2012.

ESPN. ESPN NFL. 2012. Web. 12 April 2012.

Ganguli, Tania. “Jaguars hire Mark Lamping as Team President.” Jacksonville.com. Florida

Times-Union, 13 Feb. 2012. Web. 12 April 2012.

---“Jaguars Hire Mike Mularkey as Head Coach.” Jacksonville.com. Florida Times-Union, 12 Jan.

2012. Web. 12 April 2012.

Jacksonville Jaguars. Jaguars.com. 2012. Web. 12 April 2012.

Johnson, Roy S. “Jacksonville Jaguars: A tale of two kitties.” CNN Money. CNN, Fortune and

Money, 7 Feb 2012. Web. 12 April 2012.

Kritzer, Ashley Gurbal. “New Jaguars President Hopes to Increase Regional Fan Base.”

Bizjournals.com. Jacksonville Business Journal, 17 Feb. 2012. Web. 12 April 2012.

NFL. “2012 NFL Draft Order.” NFL.com. NFL, 10 March 2012. Web. 12 April 2012.

Oesher, John. “A Great Fit.” Jaguars.com. Jacksonville Jaguars, 13 Feb. 2012. Web. 12 April

2012.

Seat Geek. “NFL 2011-12 Season: Average Ticket Prices- Week of 8/1/11.” Seatgeek.com. Seat

Geek, 1 Aug. 2011. Web. 12 April 2012.

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Solomon, Brian. “Jaguars Buyer Is Likely A Billionare.” Forbes.com. Forbes, 5 Dec. 2011. Web. 12

April 2012.

Sports Business Journal. “Khan Targets Next-Gen Jags Fans.” Sportsbusinessdaily.com. Sports

Business Journal, 20 Feb. 2012. Web. 12 April 2012.

Wikipedia. “EverBank Field.” Wikipedia.org. Wikipedia, 24 March 2012. Web. 12 April 2012.