Strategic Media Plan by beschaefer

THE ISLAND

Interactive and Integrative Strategic Media Plan Association of Surfing Professionals Spring 2014

Taylor Laabs, Brady Loomis, Elise Otten, Brienne Schaefer and Abby Wuestenberg

Table of Contents Section I: Research and Analysis, Media Planning and Sports/Event Marketing Situation Summary ......................................................................................1 SWOT...........................................................................................................9 Target Audiences........................................................................................10 Media Objectives.........................................................................................11 Social Media Budget...................................................................................14 Creative Brief..............................................................................................16 The Big Event..............................................................................................17 Charities.....................................................................................................22 Publics Relations Alliances..........................................................................23

Section II: Media Buying Online Advertising Media Analysis and Buy.................................................24

Online Advertising Creative Recommendations..........................................29 Online Advertising Targeting.......................................................................30 Online Advertising Media Buy.....................................................................32 Online Advertising Samples........................................................................38 Search Engine Marketing............................................................................40 Search Engine Optimization.......................................................................45 Landing Pages............................................................................................49

Section III: Media Plan Streaming Video.........................................................................................51 Streaming Audio.........................................................................................54 Social Media...............................................................................................59 ASP Application..........................................................................................77 Conclusion..................................................................................................81

Appendix........................................................................................................82

Research and Analysis, Media Planning and Sports/Event Marketing

Situation Summary Corporate review

Through extensive research of Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP), our agency has created a Situation Analysis evaluating the company’s current industry, consumers and competitors. Based on our findings, we have formed a SWOT analysis as well as identified key issues and opportunities to be addressed. ASP is the governing body in professional surfing and the most recognizable association among surfers. With regional offices in Africa, Australasia, Europe, Hawaii, Japan, North America and South America, this international organization is the leader in following “around the world’s best surfers and the world’s best waves.”[1] There are just over 7,000 ASP members, both male and female, across the entire world.[2] Dating back to its inception in 1976, ASP has and continues to be an integral player in the world of surfing as evidence by its various sponsored surfing events.[3] ASP surfing competitions take place in various areas around the world such as Hawaii, California, Portugal, Australia, Fiji, Polynesia and France. In recent years, drug use among the surfing community has been brought to the public’s attention. ASP has their members and participants take a drug test at random throughout the various competitions throughout the year. However, there still remains much speculation on whether or not ASP fully-follows their anti-drug policy. Though ASP has had financial impediments in the past, its current CEO Paul Speaker plans to make major changes in 2014 in efforts to make surfing a more mainstream sport.[4] These changes include signed landmark agreements with ESPN, YouTube and Facebook.[5] Aside from the media outlets listed above, ASP is also actively engaged with its audience through Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Tumblr accounts. Showcasing mostly photos of individuals surfing in the ocean or updates from competitions, these social media platforms serve as a strategic tool to maintain ASP members and surfing fans alike. ASP even offers “Fantasy Surfing” to its online audience, allowing viewers to become more involved with ASP by playing this online surfing game. According to Sysomos, the majority of people who mention ASP online are from the USA, Australia or Brazil. ASP is mentioned most often on Twitter, which are written predominantly by men, followed by forums, news and blogs. ASP has over a 90% favorable sentiment from users who mention this organization online.

Situation Summary Category review

1779

Joseph Banks

1960s

Film: Gidget

1990s

today

mainstream competitions professional sponsors tours Kelly Slater organizations judges worldwide live streaming

Surfing originated in Polynesia and was first observed by Joseph Banks in 1779; however, it surfing existed

long before then. At the beginning of the 20th century surfing started to take the shape we recognize today. Many surfing historians credit the 1960s film Gidget for bringing the sport into mainstream culture. In the 1990â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s surfing started to professionalize, a movement often associated with Kelly Slater who is a professional surfer himself. Today the sport continues to evolve because it is becoming more competitive and mainstream.[6] Some people are hesitant about surfing becoming more mainstream because they fear it will lose its authentic, subculture feel. Major surfers within the industry include: Kelly Slater, a longtime professional surfing veteran;[7] Kolohe Andio, a young surfer who qualified for the ASP World Tour on his first try;[8] Carissa Moore, a leader in womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s professional surfing;[9] and Adriano de Souza, a talented, competitive surfer.[10]

Situation Summary Competitive Review

Sponsors invitational that was broadcasted on NBC for the first time in January 2014[18] Sponsors the Mavericks Invitational [18] succeeds in airing a major surfing competition on primetime television[18]

ISA

International Surfing Association

Body Glove Wetsuits

50 years old Memberships from 79 diferent countries[15] Recognized by the International Olympic Committee Solely hosts Hainan Wanning Riyue Bay International Surfing Festival[12]

Situation Summary Competitive Review

Outside of the surfing industry, ASP’s competitors include the National Basketball Association (NBA) and Major League Baseball (MLB). The reasoning for this is that the NBA’s and MLB’s schedules coincide with ASP’s competitions and are all nearly all on television. [19] Basketball and baseball are not extreme sports, giving ASP an edge as a new market in “Middle America.” In terms of TV airtime, ASP will have difficulty because both these sports play more than once a week, reducing the amount of airtime available during the season.

NBA The NBA, founded in 1946,[20] has dedicated fans and a schedule that spans about eight months. Those who tweet about “surfing” and “ocean” come from (in order of most tweets): California, New York, Florida, Hawaii and Texas.[21] In the 2014 season, the following teams had the best attendance by fans: Bulls (Chicago), Mavericks (Dallas), Knicks (New York), Heat (Miami).[22] There is overlap in regions where there are both surfing fans and dedicated basketball fans, meaning that ASP will have to compete with the NBA for viewers and interest in their sports. Lower on this attendance list are the Bucks (Milwaukee) and Pistons (Detroit), both part of Middle America and possibly easier targets since they do not show the same dedication to their teams.

MLB The MLB season starts in April and goes until October, playing more than once a week and having no time limits for games. This makes it difficult to buy airtime around the games and on days when there are no games. In late September of 2013, there was a spike in Twitter action on the topic of “surfing” and “ocean.”16 In the baseball season, this is the time when teams fight for post-season spots and fans are more invested because playoffs for the World Series are approaching. The states that tweeted the most about “surfing” and “ocean” that match up with teams with the most dedicated fans include (in order of favorite team) Yankees (New York), Red Sox (Boston), Braves (Atlanta), Dodgers (Los Angeles), Rangers (Texas).[23] California, Texas and the east coast region show interest in both the MLB and surfing.

Situation Summary Current Publics review

Demographic unmarried, college males between the ages of 18 and 24 who are adventurous, part time workers (less than $25,000/year), and enjoy water activities

Behavioral likely current surfers who exercise regularly and partaking in activities that include jet skiing, wave running and biking Attitude dare-devils who enjoy thrill by taking risks and prefer to travel the â&#x20AC;&#x153;unbeaten pathâ&#x20AC;?

[24]

Potential Publics review Demographic Midwest males in college between the ages of 18 and 24 who enjoy snow/extreme sports Behavioral already partake in water activities such as jet/water skiing with an inter est in surfing and windsurfing. Attitude trendy individuals who are often times are part of subculture fads [25] **Sharing similar interests in outdoor activities as well as attitudinal behaviors suggests this type of audience could potentially be ASP event viewers. Geographic barriers, however, may make it somewhat difficult to introduce these potential viewers to watch surfing.**

Situation Summary

Key Influencers: Brands “An individual, organization or brand that influences purchasing decisions of others because of their reputation, fan-base and power”[The Island]

Key influencers include companies such as Patagonia and GoPro. According to Sysomos, Ventura-based Patagonia is one of ASP’s top influencers, receiving a 10/10. Patagonia is dedicated to their surfing customers and makes products based on their needs, including an environmentally friendly wetsuit specifically for surfing.[11]

The camera company GoPro has also proven to be a strong influencer for ASP. This past year, GoPro attached one of their cameras to a drone, raised it hundreds of feet into the air and caught incredible aerial footage of surfers along the Santa Cruz coastline.[12] By doing this, GoPro not only provided an aesthetically pleasing video, but they offered a positive image of surfing. Sysomos also shows GoPro to be one of the top hashtags used with tweets regarding “surfing” and “ocean.” GoPro’s young and active audience is very similar to ASP’s. Being technologically inclined and social media driven, GoPro’s audience could be an effective way to further engagement of ASP’s digital content.

Situation Summary Key Influencers

Core X-Game Viewers

Local Communities

Core X-Game viewers are a potential influencer. This audience is already interested in extreme and fringe sports and may be more inclined to discover a new sport that is equally adventurous. They also coincide with the current surferâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s active and adventurous lifestyle.[25]

The local surrounding communities of the American cities in which ASP competitions are held could also be key influencers. People living within these communities are already aware of the sport and may be interested in becoming more engaged with surfing.[25]

Magazines

Surfing magazines such as surfertoday. com, surfline.com and surfnewsnetwork.com remain influencers for ASP. ASP can share stories, news and events with its audience members who read these online magazines by sending press releases.[25]

Situation Summary

Key Influencers: Companies and Individuals

In the past, ESPN has partnered with ASP and YouTube to bring events to viewers in a faster manner through live Internet streaming. ESPN is now the exclusive broadcaster “for professional surfing in 2014 as part of a three-year agreement to showcase the sport’s elite events. [34] Live streaming on online ESPN channels as well as broadcasting major highlights of surfing events will potentially encourage general sports fans to discover surfing.

Kelly Slater, an American male surfer, is a major individual influencer for ASP. His name is included in the most recurring of ASP’s social media content, according to Sysomos, and is an 11-time ASP World Tour Champion.[13] An ASP member himself, Slater sponsors several surf-related brands, including Quiksilver Wetsuits, Clothing and Eyewear, FCS Fins and Kommunity Project Accessories and Channel Islands Surfboards.

Megan Abubo is another individual influencer. The Connecticut-born femaleAmerican surfer is an ASP member and was rated number 3 in the Top Ten Female Surfers by askmen. com, a globally read men’s lifestyle magazine.[14]

SWOT Strengths

Opportunities

* Membership feeds community

* Existing extreme sports fan base

* Most recognizable association among surfers

* Tech advancements allow for future standardization

* ASP offers “Fantasy Surfing”

* Trendy to be part of a subculture

* Give people a reason to consistently follow the sport

* Social media platforms support a fan-base that

* Easy way to gain entry into the sport, learn lingo, etc.

otherwise wouldn’t be exposed to the sport

* Utilize Snapchat to engage viewers daily * Tech advancements allow for future standardization * Existing extreme sports fan-base

Weakness * Community currently limited to surfers * ISP is recognized by Olympics, ASP is not * Compared to NBA and MLB, ASP is not a household name * Limited opportunity to participate due to location * Social media platforms support a fan- base that otherwise wouldn’t be exposed to the sport

Threats * High barriers to entry * Need specific knowledge to understand the sport * Limited air time during season * Competing with NBA and MLB * Homogeneity among current users discourages entry * Surfers don’t want the sport to become “mainstream” * Geographic barriers * No surfer equivalent to a “home team” for fans to root for * Tarnished reputation * Media attention primarily when things go wrong (Ex: Someone gets attacked by a shark, drug abuse, etc.) * Subjective judging/hard to understand scoring scales

Key Issues and Opportunities Key issues for ASP are that there is a lack of awareness for their organization and surfing. Sixty-one percent of respondents said they didn’t watch surfing competitions because they didn’t know when or what channeled they aired on [31]. There is also a general lack of knowledge. Twenty-five percent of respondents said they didn’t watch surfing competitions because the didn’t understand what is happening. Similar to other board sports, the subjective judging makes it difficult for viewers to understand the scoring. ASP will need to compete with already established sports organizations, NFL, NBA and MLB. These organizations also allow fans to cheer for their home team where ASP surfers are individuals who lack that “home town” appeal and the personal connection to their town or city. Opportunities for ASP are leveraging the trendiness of being part of a subculture. The primary target is part of the “hipster” demographic, which is all about differentiating through subcultures. Since surfing is a subculture, ASP will benefit from this connection. Some potential consumers are extreme sports fans since they are already interested in sports that are not considered mainstream. ASP should emphasize the unique and beauty of surfing’s scenery. Watching athletes compete on a beach, in the ocean is relaxing and appealing to watch. ASP events transport viewers from their urban or rural environments to the warm waves of a surfing event.

Target Audiences

Primary and Secondary

Meet Jake

“Jake” is 21 years old and lives in Minnesota. He took to snowboarding at a young age and has since tried skiing and wakeboarding. His family takes a trip to Colorado to ski once a year and during the summer they spend many weekends at the lake where Jake learned to wakeboard. He comes from a blue-collar family who could afford to send him to a public university in the Midwest. “Jake” follows his school’s football and basketball teams closely; he makes sure to watch every one of their games. He has no problem being the first one of his friends to try a new activity or take a risk that his peers are not sure about. He uses his bike or skateboard to get to class so that he doesn’t have to rely on buses or a friend to drive him. “Jake” represents our target of college males, ages 18-24 that grew up within the Great Lakes region, who currently watch or participate in land-locked extreme sports once a month (skiing, snowboarding waterskiing). They are opinion leaders who have an aptitude to try something new and adventurous that differentiates themselves from their peers. They prefer to work independently and consider themselves outgoing, physically active and environmentally conscious. This group of people is most likely to have surfed in the last year and enjoy water sports while on vacation [25]. These active consumers who are interested in learning new things and already have an interest in board-sports make them an ideal SVC.

“Robert” is 48 years old and lives outside of Detroit with his wife and two children. He grew up around boats but for lack of a dock tries to take the family canoeing or kayaking at least twice a year. A Michigan native, he watches the Michigan State, University of Michigan and Detroit Lions games when he can, which ends up being over the weekend. Robert works in sales and typically makes calls on his own, depending on only his skills and knowledge to successfully maintain his clients. Since he drives around the Detroit area every week for work, he purchased a hybrid car a few years ago to minimize his carbon footprint. Robert represents our secondary target of 25-55 year old men living in the Great Lakes region who watch broadcast sports at least once each week, currently engage in water sports (kayaking, paddle boarding, boating, or sailing) regularly at least once per year. They prefer to work independently and consider themselves outgoing, physically active and environmentally conscious. [26] These individuals make a worthy secondary audience because they are interested in water sports and since they are heading towards retirement, may be more invested on watching televised extreme sports. The Island sent a survey to non-surfing individuals and results revealed: potential surfer fans prefer to work independently, be in control of situations, prefer to be outside, prefer to engage in relaxing activities, and participate in sports. These people also consider themselves to be environmentally conscious, outgoing, physically active and moderately healthy eaters. They regularly engage in water activities. [36]

Meet Robert 10

Media Objectives Target The SVC of ASP are college males ages 18-24 who grew up within the Great Lakes region, who currently watch or participate in land-locked extreme sports once a month (skiing, snowboarding or waterskiing). [25] They are opinion leaders who have an aptitude to try something new and adventurous that differentiates themselves from their peers.[25] They prefer to work independently and consider themselves outgoing, physically active and environmentally conscious.[25]

Geography The advertising campaign is nation-wide with specific concentration in the Great Lakes region in order to increase awareness of ASP. The Island believes it is strategic to push advertisements in the Great Lakes region because it is an untapped area with many potential individuals interested in watching surfing.[25]

Seasonality Light advertising begins in November to generate interest. It will increase in January and February in conjunction with competition season. Heavy advertising begins in March and continues through October because surfing competitions occur frequently during these months. In general the amount of advertising reflects the quantity of surfing competitions at any given time.

Media objectives

Objectives and Strategies Business Objective: Increase awareness of ASP by 50%

Marketing Objectives 1. Get 10% of NBA, NHL, NFL and MLB sports enthusiasts to identify ASP as a surfing organization 2. Increase ASP social media presence by 35% by the end of 2014 3. Get extreme sports watchers to tune into at least 2 broadcasted ASP surfing competitions by the end of 2014

Marketing Strategies 1. Reposition ASP as the foremost professional surfing association among NBA, NHL, NFL and MLB sports enthusiasts 2. Promote ASP competitions as an easy-to-follow and highly entertaining event that is accessible and appealing to the average sports viewer 3. Repackage surfing events as a product that is accessible across several mediums, easy to find and view and can be viewed on the audiences own, time-specific schedule 4. Position surfing as a healthier and cheaper alternative to skiing and snowboarding 5. ASP will be “distributed” through live-streaming on ESPN.com, the ESPN live score ticker and ads aired on ESPN television channels as well as network television stations (ABC, NBC)

Advertising Objectives 1. Convince SVC that competition judging standards are east to understand and comparable to other extreme sports judging standards 2. Increase online viewership of ASP’s live competitions by 20% while encouraging viewers to interact with ASP’s social media feeds during and post events 3. Highlight 10 surfing celebrities that sports enthusiasts can identify with, engage with and follow their performances during competition 4. Create surfing event highlight shows that appeal to the highly visual, easy-to-process and entertaining content consumed by the average sports viewer

Advertising Strategies 1. Create an online interactive campaign/tutorial that explains the basic objectivies, scoring scales, and terminology of a surfing run-through videos explained by recognizable 2. Promote unique hashtags for viewers to engage in the broadcasting (#sundaysurfers #saturdaysurfday) 3. Place ads on YouTube extreme-sports related videos to direct viewers to ASP’s web channel 4. Create Interactive profiles for viewers to learn about surfing celebrities through social media

Media Objectives Scheduling Online Advertising Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

11am - 2pm

2pm - 6pm

11am - 4pm

9pm - 11pm

Online advertising will run throughout the year, decreasing and growing in conjunction to the seasonality parameters outlined above. The chart above includes the times of the week that online advertising will be utilized. Since the SVC are current college students, the Island asked the focus group about times of the day that they are online. The Focus Group reveals that during lunch time hours as well as before bed (but after studying for the night) are the times that the SVC is most likely to be online.[25]

TV Advertising Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

11am - 2pm

2pm - 6pm

11am - 4pm

9pm - 11pm

TV advertising will run the week prior to ASP surfing competitions. TV ads will not air outside of this parameter (i.e. if there is not a surfing competition in the coming week, no ads will air on TV regardless of the outlined schedule). [25]

Yearly Advertising Summary Online TV

Jan. Med

Feb. Med

Mar. High Yes

Apr. High Yes

May High Yes

Jun. High Yes

Jul. High Yes

Aug. High Yes

Sept. High Yes

Oct. High Yes

Nov. Low

Dec. Low

Social Media Overall Budget

ASP Interac,ve Media Plan 2%

Streaming Video Streamig Audio

15%

37%

Blogs Social Media-‐Paid

App

1% 5%

Social Media-‐Unpaid

27%

Online Ads SEM

Social Media: Overall Budget Jan. Facebook

The total cost of the social media manager (used for Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat & Blogs) and on-site video editor will be placed in the first month

Twitter

The social media manager and on-site video editor already accounted for. Money spent is for #ASPXtreme promotions

Pandora

Estimates based on $15/cpm for audio-everwhere ads in March and April and $10/cpm for audio-only for the rest.

Spotify

Estimates based on $10/cpm for tile/audio ads

Youtube

Feb.

March

Yearly Budget Total: $2,691,297

April

May

June

July

Aug.

Sept.

Oct.

Nov.

Dec.

Total

$90,000

$5,000

$30,000

$25,000

$150,000

$25,000

$400,000

$24,000

$120,000

$24,000

$336,000

Estimates based on $0.04 CPC $50,000

$50,000

$400,000

$50,000

$1,000,000

Blogs

Accounts for targeted bloggers & sponsored blogs

$25,000

Snapchat

Extra work for social media manager, so extra money spent in January

$10,000

Paid Social

The total cost of the promoted Tweets to run in late April/ early May

App

The one-time fee for the development of the app

SEM

Search Engine Marketing

$4,167

$50,000

SEO

Search Engine Optimization

$4,167

$50,000

The website the user lands on after click an ad

$4,167

$50,000

$56,589

$93,753

$47,753

$37,515

$17,655

$49,770

$41,250

$390,285

$293,090

$210,254

$781,254

$735,016

$300,016 $30,156

$152,751

$2,691,297

Landing Pages

Online Ads This includes all rich media, takeover and video ads Total/ Month

The combined cost of all digital advertisements

$10,000

$250,000

$17,501 $12,501

$17,501 $12,501 $166,271

Media Flowchart: The green cells indicate months when specific mediums will be utilized. All mediums will be active November through April. Select mediums will be active in May, June, July and September. Media Budget: The cost of utilizing each medium is displayed per-month and per-year. The cumulative cost sits in bottom right corner.

Creative Brief Surf to Turf

The role of advertising is to create and promote awareness around surfing and the ASP brand while also highlighting the sport’s entertainment value, accessibility and unique sub-culture. The “Surf to Turf” campaign (#Surf2Turf) will be aimed at educating potential fans about the sport, encouraging engagement with athletes and celebrities and cross- promoting with other popular sports in Middle America.

Surf to Turf

Surf to Turf message: to bring surfing to the land-locked states and inform the target audience that ASP and surfing are relevant to people who do not live on the coast or participate in surfing. The tone of Surf to Turf is trendy, innovative, educative, adventurous, competitive and should feel inviting, like you have the hook up into this exclusive club and inviting culture. The manner that Surf to Turf will use is to illustrate surfing as a challenging, competitive and athletic activity while also encouraging fans to join this community by learning about surfers and following them in their competitions. Surf to Turf will use beach, earthy-blue colors to imitate the natural environment associated with surfing.

The BIG Event Surf to Turf

When: Sunday, May 4th 2015 Time: 12pm - 4pm Where: Malibu Beach, CA Benefits: well-known and respected surfing location, popular destination for general water enthusiasts, easy to market/promote, large enough area to host a large event, located in a dense surfing spot. [32] Drawbacks: runs the risk of being overcrowded, the large waves may be too much for amateur surf ers to handle, there may be unknown undercurrent/riptides that could be potentially dangerous for surfing. The spot may be over-used/old news to surfing professionls. Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Happening at Surf to Turf Partner with Paul Rudd and Jason Segel (actors from the surfing scene from the movie, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and popular Midwest football players- Aaron Rodgers, Adrian Peterson, Calvin Johnson, Matt Forte and have pro-surfers teach them how to surf for a day. The event would bring these athletes to California for an all-day surfing tutorial with some surfer pros, including Kelly Slater and some of our rising stars. The event is also open to the public and would be a free event that involves two parts. All of the filming for the event will be done on our co-sponsor Samsung Galaxy S5. Part 1: Kelly Slater teaches the celebrities and athletes how to surf. The lesson is telecasted to a live TV feed that can be viewed on a big-screen on the beach and on our YouTube channel. The highlights of the show will be formatted into a special Sunday sports segment that will air on ABC and ESPN. Part 2: Local surf instructors and ASP surfing professionals personally tutor new surfing enthusiasts on how to surf and the benefits that surfing incorporates.

The BIG Event

Material Needed

Volunteers for all event functions

Samsung Galaxy S5 And Go Pro

Multiple air conditioned tents to entertain and cool down our participants

Beach Towels

Beach chairs and umbrellas

Set-up and clean-up crews

Promotional materials such as social media; flyers; local newspaper ads; etc.

Medical kits and staff on site

Gatorade and water

BWW’s chicken wings, potato wedges and salads (with Tidal Wave Habanero)

Disclosure forms for all surfing participants

Wash station for people to shower off in once they’re done surfing

Police/security and EMT on site for any potential problems

Buoys to designate the predetermined swimming and surfing areas

Outdoor walls Local and national and gates with news media reporters our sponsors’ logos

Surfing flags with our sponsors’ logos

Grand- stand for audience to watch the event

Production Crew

Surf boards, Vans surfing booties, hats, dry suits, swim trunks

Lifeguards

Surfing Instructors

Port-A-Potties

ASP merchandise tent (that also sells our sponsors’ merchandise)

registration and welcome booth

Beach toys and inflatable swimming aids for children

Life vests

Refreshments

The BIG Event Lead Sponsor

Buffalo Wild Wings (BWW)

BWW is the perfect partner for our sports fan-based campaign as it brings together the perfect audience. Along with this, BWW is a popular destination in many college towns, which means that our potential SVC will encounter our advertisements. Along with this, BWW offers a great sporting culture atmosphere for major sporting events, and to get recognized as a legitimate and entertaining sport, it is important that ASP positions itself alongside the main-4 sports prominently featured at BWW.

Pre-Event

ASP should advertise the “Surf to Turf” event at BWW starting 6- months before the event. The menu item is called the #Surf2Turf and is basically 8 boneless wings, served with our ASP Tidal Wave Habanero wing sauce. The meal is served on a mini ASP-branded surfboard paper plate. It is also a special item because if you order it, you get entered into to a sweepstakes to win a trip to California to participate in the event. Also, 10% of the funds from the order go to ASP-sponsored charities. The featured wing sauce called “Tidal Wave Habanero” that is ASP branded can be ordered separately from the “Surf to Turf” meal.

During Event

The live feed of the four hour event will be streamed to a select number of TVS in Midwest-based BWWs. This gives us yet another avenue for content distribution that should reach a large amount of our target SVC. The BWW patrons who are watching the event will have the opportunity to tweet a picture of their meal, along withthe #surf2turf hashtag for a chance to be entered into a contest that will give-a-way 10 ASP surfboards signed by all the celebrity participants of the event, along with a grand prize of $10,000 and a chance to attend the ASP world championship event.

Post-Event

The Post-Event will have tailgates that bring a surfing-demo module to NFL stadiums in the Great Lakes region (Minnesota, Green Bay, Detroit, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Indianapolis) and have people experience “riding a wave”. This would take place on the first two NFL Sundays and would happen before the game starts, during thetailgate time. People can register at the tailgate to be entered into a drawing to go to California for the “Surf to Turf” event. The on-site booth will have TV’s showing both ASP events, along with the previous year’s “Surf to Turf” event.

The BIG Event Secondary Sponsors • Since Gatorade is the official sports drink for the NFL and NBA, it makes perfect sense from a brand positioning stand point to partner with such a recognizable sporting brand • The Gatorade logo would occupy a prominent place on all of ASP merchandise and advertisements, along with being given away during the even

• Along with being the soon-to-be official phone of ASP, the new visually stunning and waterproof Samsung Galaxy S5 would be the official phone of the event [31] • Surfers would use the phone to send Snapchats of themselves during the event, along with live-tweeting the event • All of the content recorded from the event will come from the outstanding video capabilities of the Galaxy S5, which would also highlight its new water-proof function as the majority of the filming would take place in the water [31] • Samsung is a great brand representative for ASP as the trendy and tech-savvy products they create are perfect for our SVC [25]

• The camera company has a young, tech-savvy audience similar to ASP’s [25] • Sysomos shows GoPro to be one of the top hashtags used with tweets referring to surfing or the ocean so it makes sense to use a company that the audience is familiar with [21] • GoPro would sponsor a photo shoot at the event in which participants can have their photo taken and share it via Twitter by using #Surf2Turf • The photo-shoot would provide a great opportunity to promote engagement with our current audience and also stimulate engagement with a prospective audience through social media sharing

The BIG Event

Media Sponsorship ASP should absolutely have media sponsorships as it gives us reliable and consistent platforms to distribute our content to an audience that will potentially include our SVC. The Island plans on having both ESPN and Youtube as the primary media sponsorships. Benefits include giving us an avenue to a large range of our core targets, along with providing us with the opportunity to live stream our event content to our Youtube channel and the ESPN3 platform.[37] Five potential radio stations for event advertisement: Pandora Stations: 1. Jimmy Buffet 2. Bon Iver 3. Jack Johnson Other stations: 4. Big 10 College Student Radio Stations 5. Main radio stations for major Midwest urban cities including Chicago (101.9 the Mix), Detroit, Milwaukee (102.1) , Twin Cities

Primary Radio Stations The primary radio station will be Pandora, as our SVC uses this station more than traditional outlets Along with this, the selected artist channels we will advertise on are tailored perfectly to our brand image and the overall surfing culture as a whole. In return for promotion on these stations, we will give the stations a specified amount of money per each target SVC impression.

Charities Operation Amped

Mission: “To give back to those who’ve been wounded in service to our country by teaching them to surf and sharing our love of the ocean.” [26] Why it makes sense: Giving back to our nation’s veterans has been a prominent PR mission of many recognizable brands, including most recently, Budweiser. Budweiser ran anextremely successful veteran-based commercial during the Super Bowl, which received great reviews from the casual sports audience, and ideal target we also want to aim at. [27] Along with this, it is no surprise that people respond positively to these charitable pursuits, which would be awesome for repairing and promoting our new brand image. [27]

Sustainable Surf

Mission: “Sustainable Surf seeks to help transform the surf industry and community from its current unsustainable operating model to a global model of sustainability in action.” [28] Why it makes sense: Going along with ASP’s new brand image which is promoting the trendy community of surfing, it is important that we partner with an organization that promotes a positive sustainable lifestyle that many surfers engage in and respond to positively. [24] This would also be a great way to rebuild ASP’s brand image

Michael Phelps Foundation

Mission: “To focus on growing the sport of swimming and promoting healthy and active lives, especially for children.” [29] Why it makes sense: Besides from partnering with one of the the most recognizable names in aquatic sports, sponsoring the Michael Phelps Foundation will be a great way to get more kids comfortable and confident in their swimming abilities. This makes sense from an ASP standpoint because obviously swimming is a huge part of surfing and training young kids early on to have fun in the water should lead to a new generation of water enthusiasts, which will in return hopefully lead to new surfers.

PR Alliances Van’s Surfing Booties Vans branded booties are popular amongst ASP surfers and worn during competitions. During the “Surf to Turf” event everyone will receive a free pair of these booties. The NFL players will promote their usage on their social media (side-by-side picture of a football cleat and surfing bootie) to position the ASP brand next to “Turf” sports. In select boxes, 10 lucky attendees will find a golden ticket to attend a future ASP competition.This promotional opportunity will begin 6 months prior to “Surf to Turf” and will promote on all of our social media feeds. We will incorporate Snapchat by sending pictures to our followers of the current location of one of the golden tickets. Vans represents the trendy culture that is a very relevant brand to our SVC and the cross promotion could lead to heightened awareness of ASP. [25] These booties will be the official surfing bootie of our competitions and especially during the promotional event. Samsung Galaxy S5 The S5’s big screen, great picture quality is perfect for capturing the instantaneous moments of surfing. As the official phone of ASP it will appeal to the visual nature of the sport and its new water-proof frame fits into the aquatic lifestyle the brand represents. The S5 connects to our primary target who are tech savvy and up to date with new gadgets. [24] All photography and video recorded (Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, etc.) at the “Surf to Turf” event will be taken and distributed on the S5. Surfers will also get a chance to use it in the water during both the event and all ASP competitions. Nike Fuel-band ASP surfers will debut the usage of the Fuel-band at the “Surf to Turf” event. The band tracks the activity of its users and encourages a healthy lifestyle, which is relevant to the primary target. ASP surfers will wear these bands during their competitions so people can track how much energy they are expending, calories burned, etc. This could be done either via a new mobile application or ASP Twitter feed. During the events, the calories burned by the surfers will validate the athleticism needed for Fuel-band users and professional surfers. Especially appealing to the primary target who live an adventurous and active lifestyle and want to find new and engaging ways to be physically fit.

Media Buying

Online Advertising Media Anaylsis and Buy Role of Online advertising

The primary target are males between the ages of 18 and 24, a demographic that spends much of their time on a daily basis online. Online advertising is the best way to reach and interact with our primary target because online advertising opens a two-way communication between ASP and the consumer. Relative to other advertising forms, online ads are more cost effective. This achieves our objective of brand awareness through and social media presence by reaching and connecting to the consumer.

Data Analysis Simmons

1. ESPN (Index Number: 209 ) 2. NFL.com (Index Number: 260) 3. MTV.com (Index Number: 256) Using Simmons, The Island ran a search for media habits of the target market, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Jake.â&#x20AC;? Without duplicating websites mentioned in either the Simmons or Quantcast data based on reach or composition, the three websites above are popular with the target market and selected because they have high indexes. Based on the Simmons results above, it is clear that our target demographic visits these sites frequently. This means that placing advertising consistently on these sites will get our message across to the people we want seeing it. Along with this, the sites listed above are perfect for the type of messaging strategy for this campaign, one based around connecting the brand to the larger core-4 sporting brands, along with targeting on a more mainstream site like MTV. Also, being that these sites receive heavy traffic, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reasonable to think that our large amount of target demographic will be exposed to our advertising on a consistent. In regards to the Surf to Turf, advertising on a site like NFL.com makes perfect sense as people who are interested enough in the sport to visit the website should be very interested in an event that showcases big name NFL stars.[25]

Data Analysis Simmons

Simmons Data Based on Reach: Website Rank Website Name 1 itunes.com 2 wikipedia.com 3 ebay.com 4 bestbuy.com 5 craigslist.com 6 mapquest.com 7 paypal.com 8 myspace.com 9 cnn.com 10 att.com 11 bing.com 12 gamespot.com 13 autotrader.com 14 foxsports.com 15 barnsandnoble.com 16 fandango.com 17 ticketmaster.com 18 cheaptickets.com 19 bizrate.com 20 movies.com

Reach 38% 28% 26% 25% 24% 21% 20% 16% 15% 14% 13% 11% 9% 9% 8% 7% 7% 7% 6% 6%

Simmons Data Based on Composition: Index 296 180 129 190 122 98 191 264 185 173 116 458 223 262 116 183 136 124 398 204

Website Rank Website Name Composition 1 gamespot.com 7% 2 bizrate.com 6% 3 shopzilla.com 6% 4 itunes.com 5% 5 myspace.com 4% 6 foxsports.com 4% 7 autotrader.com 4% 8 download.com 4% 9 movies.com 3% 10 bestbuy.com 3% 11 paypal.com 3% 12 fandango.com 3% 13 wikipedia.com 3% 14 blockbuster.com 3% 15 att.com 3% 16 sprint.com 3% 17 earthlink.com 3% 18 cnn.com 3% 19 fox.com 2% 20 movietickets.com 2%

Index 458 398 385 296 264 262 223 223 204 190 191 183 180 179 173 173 172 165 154 151

Explanation Similar to the Quantcast data, these sites listed in the Composition chart are not heavily used by the target and The Island would not recommend advertising on these sites. The top seven sites listed in the Reach chart, however, make more sense to advertise on since the target makes up at least 20% of the audience. The Island recommends that ASP should focus online advertisements on these sites to optimize dollars.[25]

Data Analysis Quantcast

Quantcast Data Based on Composition: Website Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Website Name iransong.com abandonia.com lazygirls.info solecollector.com wowpedia.org justpushstart.com guyism.com emulator-zone.com penny-arcade.com coolrom.com somethingawful.com questionablecontent.net gsmarena.com battledawn.com gamecopyworld.com curse.com the-magicbox.com comicsalliance.com animenewsnetwork.com allhiphop.com

Composition Composition Index 7% 369 5% 278 5% 243 5% 243 5% 235 4% 216 4% 214 4% 214 4% 206 4% 197 4% 185 4% 178 4% 178 3% 176 3% 175 3% 174 3% 174 3% 169 3% 166 3% 165

Quantcast Data Based on Reach: Website Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Website Name

Reach/ Coverage

google.com msn.com yahoo.com amazon.com answers.com ebay.com live.com wikia.com about.com aol.com yelp.com reddit.com ask.com imdb.com weather.com urbandictionary.com photobucket.com apple.com wellsfargo.com nydailynews.com

65% 31% 26% 20% 19% 16% 15% 14% 12% 12% 12% 12% 10% 7% 7% 6% 6% 5% 5% 4%

Explanation: These sites listed in the Composition chart are not commonly used by the target, as evidence by the percentage of the target that visits these sites. ASPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s target makes up at most 7% of the audience of these sites. Since they are not very popular with the target, we would not consider advertising on them. These are the top 20 sites, based on Reach, most likely to be visited by the SVC. The Island recommends that ASP should focus online advertisements on these sites to optimize dollars.[38]

Specific Targeted Websites Websites our target is likely to visit include: 1. EAsports.com 2. MLB.com 3. NHL.com 4. NBA.com 5. MTV.com 6. NFL.com 7. Marketwatch.com 8. Bleacherreport.com 9. WSJ.com 10. Time.com A lot of this comes from basic intuition and extensive knowledge of our target demographic. The target is college educated; it makes sense that they would frequent large news aggregator sites like WSJ and Time. This also implies that they are getting their news online as opposed to newspapers. This also goes for MarketWatch, a site dedicated to investors with quality insights into the stock market, a website that interests young professionals. It would be beneficial for ASP to advertise on these sites since the target is at a stage in life where they want to learn about investing and savings and would visit sites like this for information on how to become successful financially.[25] Sites like MLB, NHL, NBA and NFL are also very likely to be visited by our target, as â&#x20AC;&#x153;Jakeâ&#x20AC;? is an avid sports fan. Sports fans visit these sites for their information. Also, advertising on these sites is important from a branding standpoint as our target market may see ads for ASP in conjunction with these more popular sports and begin to associate our brand with theirs. Sites like Bleacherreport and EA are great choices as they fulfill two different functions related to sports. Bleacherreport is a well-known sports aggregator that many fans go to for further information and opinion on their favorite team. EA is a good choice because many sports fans consequently play sports videogames and EA is one of the biggest publishers of sports videogames. Advertising on these sports sites is a great way to surround our sport enthusiastic target with our advertisements, instead of narrowing ourselves into one specific category.[25]

Online Advertising Creative Recommendations Online Advertisement Selections

1. High Impact; Custom

2. Rich Media; Rollover

What: • Custom integration is a program made by the site to integrate advertising into content • This will make the ads look like they are part of the articles and pictures already on the website Why: • The SVC is likely to block ads [37] • Using custom integration, they would be more drawn to an ad that looks like content or something already part of the page they chose to look • Results from a focus group study showed that a majority of college students use ad blockers online whenever possible; they prefer just not to see or be bothered with ads Timing: • April: one month before the Buffalo Wild Wings Surf to Turf • Promote to generating buzz about the ASP event

What: • Rich media ads are banners that contain interactive elements that are more elaborate than a usual static ads • Users choose to interact with them by scrolling over or “rolling over” the image or text and the ad appears and enlarges Why: • Interactive ads will get the attention of our SVC, Jake, better than a • stationary ad because it engages the SVC • ASP could use a rich media, rollover ad to promote an event. Once the user engages with the ad and the animation begins, the surfer starts their descent down the wave and after they reach the bottom, the user is promoted with a web address for more information about the event and ASP Timing: • Sunday through Thursday at 11am2pm and 9pm-11pm because these are periods of the day when the SVC uses the Internet the most [37].

Integration

Animation

3. Video

What: • Video ads can range from 30 seconds to 30 minutes and saw a 205% increase over the last year • In response to shorter attention spans and increase in popularity of video, TV show and movie watching online Why: • Creating a video full of action and fun surfing videos would capture the SVC’s attention • The Millennial generation also tends to be more technically savvy making this type of ad popular with the primary target • ASP could use footage from surfing competitions in their ads to attract users to watch the whole ad of warm weather and action packed events Timing: • The SVC often returns home after class or the library and can watch videos with volume comfortably around 8pm until 2am. Here there are no volume restrictions for the viewer and they are more likely to engage more with the ad

Online Advertising Targeting Composition-based targeting is exclusively running advertisements on websites that the SVC is most likely to visit. Websites are chosen when the editorial content is inline with the SVC’s interests and preferences. The Island first chose websites that had similar brand and content messages to ASP’s and then used Quantcast to analyze the audience composition and reach of each website. Finally, The Island chose the ten most optimal websites to run advertisements on. Composition-based targeting is the first step for online advertising. Once websites are chosen other online advertising targeting strategies can be implemented to better reach the SVC.[37] Day of Week and “Day-Parting” targeting is running advertisements on strategic days or times of day that the target audience is most likely to be online. This strategy is easy to execute, relatively cheap, and has very low premiums. The outline of what times on what days ASP will run advertisements is outlined in the scheduling section of the media objectives. These slots were chosen based on online behavior of the strategic value consumer. They tend to use the Internet more heavily around lunch and again at night.[37] Geo-targeting is running advertisements in specific geographic regions. For example, the SVC ‘Jake’ is from the Great Lakes area of the United States. Geo-targeting is exclusively running advertisements to users in this area. Because ASP’s SVC is specified by region, Geo-targeting allows ASP to optimize advertising dollars by limiting advertisements to areas we know the SVC lives.[37]

Online Advertising Targeting Sequential targeting utilizes ad servers that detect when consumers have viewed one message and then delivers them the next message in a predetermined cue. Sequential targeting is utilized to explain complex messages or tell a story. Primary research shows a large reason consumers are not interested in surfing is because they do not understand the rules of the sport. Sequential targeting allows ASP to promote competitions while explaining how they work. The first time a user encounters an ASP advertisement they will be served a basic message. Each time thereafter they will be served a more detailed message explaining a different feature of surfing competitions. [37] Weather-triggered targeting runs advertisements when the weather matches predetermined characteristics. ASP then crafts specific, weather-related messages to target consumers’ mindsets during stormy, cold and warm periods. Stormy weather messages will talk about large waves ideal for surfing. Cold weather messages will remind users that it’s always warm with ASP; watching a competition or engaging in social media can serve as an escape from the bad weather typical in the Great Lakes region. Warm weather messages will remind users that surfing, and thus ASP, is the perfect warm day activity.[37] Data model targeting identifies a target group based off of user engagement with a brand or activity similar to ASP and then uses that group to find others displaying similar online behavior. For example, users who actively participate in online fantasy football leagues are likely to also enjoy ASP’s online fantasy tournament. Data model targeting identifies other uses displaying behavior similar to fantasy football players and serves them ASP advertisements.[37] Behavioral targeting aggregates Internet activity data such as search queries and browser history to identify individuals who’ve engaged in online activity consistent with behaviors of the SVC. ASP can then specifically serve advertisements to these individuals on multiple sites opposed to targeting one audience on one site.[37]

Online Advertising Media Buy Explanation

The reason behind the media placements comes from where the SVC would most likely visit. The Island chose to place heightened media buys, using much richer forms of online ads like takeovers and targeted rich media, as a way of generating as much buzz as possible leading up to the Surf to Turf event. The Island sees this event as the best opportunity ASP has to crossover and take audiences from mainstream sports so placing a lot of rich media on sites like NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL. Along with that, by placing media buys on specialized interest sites like blecherreport and EA, The Island hopes the users see the ads and will begin to relate ASP with these brands, hopefully leading to heightened ASP brand trust and engagement. As for the media buys on WSJ, Time and MarketWatch, these ads are intended to generate more general awareness of the ASP brand as these sites receive heavy traffic from a wider user base. The Island hopes that this combination through the selective media buying periods will both generates solid awareness for the overall ASP brand and generate heightened user engagement and buzz among the SVC in regards to the Surf to Turf event.[25]

Online Advertising Media Buy

Online Advertisement month Insertions Top 10 Sites 1

Name of Site

000’s Reached by site

Creative Unit For Sale

CPM Per Creative Unit

36 36

Takeover

$15 $12

Jan. Feb. March April May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Total

EA.com Targeted Rich Media

2 1

$9 $15

5 5 0 0

36 36

Non-targeted Rich Media

84 84 84

Takeover Non-targeted Rich Media

$15 $12 $9

Video Ads

$15

97 97

Takeover Targeted Rich Media

$15 $12

Non-targeted Rich Media

Video Ads

$15

102 102 102 102

Takeover

$15 $12 $9 $15

Video Ads

NHL.com Targeted Rich Media

5 0 0 0

MLB.com 1

5 0

NBA.com Targeted Rich Media Non-targeted Rich Media Video Ads

5 0 0 0

NFL.com 240

Takeover

240

Targeted Rich Media

240

Non-targeted Rich Media

240

Video Ads

$15 $12 $9 $15

5 2

10 10 0 0

Ads will run on these 10 specific sites because they target our SVC’s interests and draw on their needs at this stage in their lives. The sports sites, EAsports, MLB, NHL, NBA, NFL and Bleacherreport, are all sites that the primary target engages with on an weekly basis.[24] Marketwatch and WSJ.com are the top sites that “Jake” goes to for economic and news information. It would behoove ASP to place integrated, rollover and video ads on these sites according certain times of day and days of the week.

Online Advertising Media Buy

Online Advertisement month Insertions Top Name of 000â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 10 Site Reached Sites by site 6 MTV.com 331 331

Creative Unit For Sale

CPM Per Creative Unit

Takeover

$15 $12

Targeted Rich Media

0 15

$9 $15

331 331

Non-targeted Rich Media

84 84 84

Takeover Non-targeted Rich Media

$15 $12 $9

Video Ads

$15

97 97

Takeover

$15 $12

Video Ads

Jan. Feb. March April May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Total

0 0

marketwatch. com Targeted Rich Media

5 0 0 0

bleacherreport. com Targeted Rich Media

97 97

Non-targeted Rich Media

151 151 151 151

Takeover

Video Ads

2 2

2 4

$9 $15

10 10 0 0

WSJ.com Targeted Rich Media Non-targeted Rich Media Video Ads

$15 $12 $9 $15

5 5 0 0

NFL.com 227

Takeover

227

Targeted Rich Media

227

Non-targeted Rich Media

227

Video Ads

Grand Totals

5 0 0 0

100

Online Advertising Media Buy

Online Advertisement monthly Media Costs Top 10 Sites 1

Name of Site

000â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Reached by site

Creative Unit For Sale

CPM Per Creative Unit

36 36

Takeover

$15 $12

Jan.

Feb.

March

April

May

June July Aug. Sept. Oct.

Nov.

Dec.

Total

$1080

$1620

$2700 $2160

EA.com Targeted Rich Media

$432

$9 $15

0 0

36 36

Non-targeted Rich Media

84 84 84

Takeover Non-targeted Rich Media

$15 $12 $9

Video Ads

$15

97 97

Takeover Targeted Rich Media

$15 $12

Non-targeted Rich Media

Video Ads

$15

102 102 102 102

Takeover

$15 $12 $9 $15

Video Ads

NHL.com Targeted Rich Media

$1260 $1260 $1260 $1260 $1260 $1008 $1008 $1008 $1008 $1008

$6300 $5040 0 0

MLB.com $1455 $1455 $1455 $1455 $1455

$7275 0

NBA.com Targeted Rich Media Non-targeted Rich Media Video Ads

$1530 $1530 $1530 $1530 $1530

$7675 0 0 0

NFL.com 240

Takeover

240

Targeted Rich Media

240

Non-targeted Rich Media

240

Video Ads

$15 $12 $9 $15

$18000 $18000 $36000 $5760 $5760 $5760 $5760 $5760

$28800 0 0

Online Advertising Media Buy

Online Advertisement monthly Media Costs Top 10 Sites

Name of Site

MTV.com

000â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Reached by site

Creative Unit For Sale

CPM Per Creative Unit

331 331

Takeover

$15 $12

Targeted Rich Media

Feb.

March

April

May

June

July Aug. Sept. Oct.

Nov.

Dec.

Total

0 $59580

$19860 $19860 $19860

$9 $15

331 331

Non-targeted Rich Media

84 84 84

Takeover Non-targeted Rich Media

$15 $12 $9

Video Ads

$15

97 97

Takeover

$15 $12

Video Ads

Jan.

0 0

marketwatch. com Targeted Rich Media

$540

$2700 0 0 0

bleacherreport. com Targeted Rich Media

97 97

Non-targeted Rich Media

151 151 151 151

Takeover

Video Ads

$21630 $21630 $21630 $34608 $34608 $34608

$21630 $21630

$ 108150 $86520

$9 $15

0 0

WSJ.com Targeted Rich Media Non-targeted Rich Media Video Ads

$15 $12 $9 $15

$2265

$15 $12 $9 $15

$3405

$2265

$11325 $9060 0 0

$9060

NFL.com 227

Takeover

227

Targeted Rich Media

227

Non-targeted Rich Media

227

Video Ads

Grand Totals

$3405

$17025 0 0 0

$56589 $93753

$93753

$37515

$17655 0

$49770 $41250 $390285

Online Advertising Media Buy Recommendations

The media buying strategy is to gradually build up advertisement in the months before the event, in the hope that the audience will become more engaged the more they see the advertisement- culminating in a large amount of ad buys occurring at the end of April and the beginning of May, pre-event. The takeover ads will be placed on MTV, NFL and EA, as these are sites that are very visual in nature due to the content they promote, meaning that placing a takeover ad will coordinate well with the rest of the site. Also, because the demographics of these sites skew younger, it is safe to assume that they are more likely to engage in entertaining and appealing media, regardless of if it is sponsored or not. As far as timing goes, the ads will be placed at the beginning of our advertising period (November) and then at the very end (March and April). This is because we want to spark excitement within the SVC to start the campaign, hold that excitement with other media rich ads, and then build on that excitement in the immediate months leading up to the event.[37]

To supplement the takeover ads, the target rich media will occur on the same sites, but will occur in a consistent pattern leading up to the event. Because these ads are interactive in nature, it makes sense for them to appear more than once on a site as the SVC may be unkowing of the ad at first, but when he sees it a second, we hope he will interact with it further. Along with this, the takeover ads and target rich ads act in unison to create a cohesive advertising message across these three sites, so that the SVC is consistently aware of the event and of ASP in the months leading up to the event.[37] The goal of our non-targeted ad places, on other major sports websites and news sites is to get the message out to a wide variety of people, displaying a consistent message that promotes ASP. We will consistently place media across these 5 websites (WSJ, marketwatch, NHL, MLB, NBA) in the months leading up to the event in the hopes that The Island can find the SVC at different times, on different sites, so that they are surrounded by the media message when they engage with sites that we want to associate with. The video ads will act as a final post of sorts to help give the message the concluding push it needs to get in front of the SVC for the last time. Because the majority of these placements will occur in April, the visual nature of the advertisements, which will depict surfing competitions mashed up with NFL highlights, will be perfect in reaching the SVC as they will not only be excited for summer and nice weather, but also the coming of the NFL season. This will also be the last time to promote the NFL celebrities we will showcase at the event, in the hopes that the SVC realizes just how awesome the event will be.[37]

Online Advertising

Rich media Adverisement: Habanero Tidal Wave In order to help get the target excited about Surf to Turf, The Island combined a few elements from the event. Buffalo Wild Wings is the main sponsor so the advertisement has Kelly Slater riding down the wave on a bottle of Habanero Tidal Waveâ&#x20AC;? sauce, the sauce created for this event. By the end of the ad, the consumer has read a short story about the surfing experience and Slater has made it to the bottom of the wave. We feel that our target would get excited about the idea of riding a wave on a bottle of Buffalo Wild Wings sauce.

Online Advertising

Rich media Adverisement: ASP Welcomes Aaron Rodgers Â

This banner ad uses a celebrity-based approach to connect ASP with the SVCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s favorite football athletes and teams. The Island is targeting a primarily Mid-west demographic. The ad will switch between Aaron Rodgers (current), Adrian Peterson, Calvin Johnson and Matt Forte, based on where the immediate consumer lies (Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and Illinois). Along with this, the four-panel frame builds suspense and engagement as each frame leads into each other, with the final payoff being the reveal of our Surf to Turf event. It also includes a hyperlink at the end that takes the viewer to the event-landing page. The total cost of the online advertising media buy, for both advertisements, is $248,655.

Search Engine Marketing Advertisers on search engines use Search Engine Marketing (SEM). SEM is paid advertising that allows for the advertised brand or company to appear at or near the top of a customers’ search depending how much the brand or company pays. The company is not charged until the customer clicks on the link. ASP can use SEM to ensure that their website and name is always at the top of the search result page for surf related searches. This will also help with brand awareness because even if the user does not click on ASP’s link, they will still see ASP as the first result associated with their surfing search.[37] SEM will allow ASP to get their brand to the top of the search result for certain keywords that the company or brand pays for. Customers don’t always click on the ads, but the company still benefits from being the first name the consumers sees and associates it to their search word. This is much more effective than placing an ad on a website or in an area where the customer might look. On a Google search, users tend to look at the top third, specifically the top left hand corner, of the search result. As a top search result, this is where users will see ASP’s name and website link (36, J445 April 3rd lecture). This way when they are searching for surfing, beaches, or warm weather sports ASP will be the first brand that comes to mind.[37] When searching “surfing companies”, “Rip Curl” came up first and “Reef” came up fourth in organic results. There were no paid search results for the key words “surfing companies, surfing, surfing associations or surf.” ASP came up second behind “International Surfing Association” in the search “surfing associations.” Since other surfing companies and brands are not buying SEM, ASP could buy their brand names so that whenever customers are searching for anything related to surfing ASP comes up. Although this could raise ethical concerns, it could also be a bold, competitive move for ASP.

Search Engine Marketing 100 Keywords

Offensive (35) 1. Best surfing 2. Wave(s) 3. Surfer 4. World tour 5. Surf Instagrams 6. Reef 7. International competition 8. Beach 9. Best beach spots 10. Extreme sports 11. Australia 12. Hawaii 13. Brazil 14. Exotic warm places 15. Surf board 16. Surfing booties 17. Surfing spots 18. How to surf 19. Surfing tutorial 20. Surfing classes 21. Snowboards 22. Best places to ski 23. Best places to snowboard 24. Surf and Turf 25. Benefits of surfing 26. Fun ways to exercise 27. Tidal wave 28. Things to do outdoors

29. Things to do at the beach 30. What do you need to surf? 31. Places to buy surfing gear 32. Best place for wings 33. Best surfers 34. Surfing videos 35. Riding the wave Defensive (11) 1. Surfing associations 2. Best surfing event ever 3. What is surfing 4. Where can I learn to surf 5. Surfing organizations 6. Top surfers 7. Surfing and social media 8. What do surfing and snowboarding have in common 9. Surfing professionals 10. Coolest surfers 11. Hottest surfers Branded (15) 1. Association of Surfing Professionals 2. aspworldtour 3. Buffalo Wild Wings 4. Paul Speaker 5. Go Pro 6. ESPN 7. YouTube 8. Quicksilver

9. Surfers who wear Vans 10. Surfers who wear Converse 11. Rocky 12. Reef 13. Bodyglove 14. Gatorade 15. Samsung Competition (15) 1. Competition 2. Surfing channels 3. Where to watch surfing online 4. International tournaments 5. Surfing commentators 6. Surfing judges 7. Surf rankings 8. Rip Curl Pro Bellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Beach 9. Quicksilver Pro Gold Coast 10. Drug Aware Margaret River Pro 11. Billabong Rio Pro 12. Fiji Pro 13. J Bay Open 14. Billabong Pro 15. Mavericks Surfing Competition Celebrities (10) 1. Aaron Rodgers surfing 2. Kelly Slater 3. Calvin Johnson surfing 4. Matt Forte surfing 5. Paul Rudd surfing

6. Jason Segel surfing 7. Kolohe Andino 8. Carissa Moore 9. Adrian Peterson surfing 10. Adriano De Souza Misspellings (14) 1. Surfing assocation 2. Adrieno De Suza 3. Keyo Andino 4. Serfing 5. X-treme sports 6. Hawie 7. Habanero 8. Surfar 9. Beech 10. Aulstralia 11. Utube 12. Fegee Pro 13. World Toure 14. Mavaricks Surfing Competition

Search Engine Marketing Google Adwords List #1 1. World Tour 2. Best beach sports 3. Adrian Peterson surfing 4. Aaron Rodgers surfing 5. Kelly Slater 6. Mavericks Surfing Competition 7. Quicksilver Pro Gold Coast 8. Where to watch surfing online 9. Association of Surfing Professionals 10. aspworldtour

List #2 1. Surf Instagrams 2. Best surfing 3. Surfing spots 4. Fun ways to exercise 5. Surfing the Web 6. Best surfing event ever 7. What is surfing 8. Association of Surfing Professionals 9. aspworldtour 10. Go Pro

11. Buffalo Wild Wings 12. Paul Speaker 13. Go Pro 14. Surfing the web 15. Where can i learn to surf 16. Surfing spots 17. Best beach spots 18. Surfing videos 19. Surf and Turf 20. How to surf

11. Where to watch surfing online 12. Mavericks Surfing Competition 13. Kelly Slater 14. Aaron Rodgers surfing 15. Paul Rudd surfing 16. Jason Segel surfing 17. YouTube 18. Quicksilver 19. Surf to Turf 20. Surfing Association

Analysis

The top keywords, as selected by The Island, from the master 100 keyword list were put into two lists. Both lists pull words about the Surf to Turf event and learning about surfing in general. The purpose of two lists is to compare results on Google Adword, which generates estimates for clicks and cost of purchasing keywords. The results are as follows: List #1 of keywords is estimated to get between 0 and 427,000 clicks per day, between 381,000 and 143,000 impressions per day and cost between $0.00 and $792,000 per day. These words also brought ASP to the 1st or 2nd ad position in the search. After about $4 CPC the click rate stays around 4,000 so it wouldn’t make sense to invest more money in this set of keywords after that. List #2 of keywords for that same $4 CPC, the click rate is between 122,000 and 149,000 clicks per day, between 234,000 and 286,000 impressions per day and costs between $198,000 and $241,000 per day. This list of words gets ASP to the 2nd ad position.[39]

Competitors’ Keywords

As mentioned earlier, ASP’s competitors are not purchasing keywords, however, in Google Adword the keywords: “Mavericks Surfing Competition” “Buffalo Wild Wings” (Surf to Turf’s sponsor) and “surfing videos” came up with the highest numbers. This suggests these words came up in searches for ASP’s competition too. The keywords “where to watch surfing online”, “Association of Surfing Professionals” and “aspworldtour” showed that none of ASP’s competitors came up with these searches. This is an advantage that ASP should play to, especially since surfing competitions are mainly shown online, buying the keyword “where to watch surfing online” would bring fans to ASP’s website.

Search Engine Marketing Search Ads

Seasonally this SEM ad could be used near the middle/ end of winter (JanuaryMarch). This gives consumers a chance to book plane tickets to California for the event or plan more in advance for being able to go. This ad features Aaron Rodgers and would be placed in Wisconsin, but Surf to Turf will have Adrian Peterson, Calvin Johnson, Matt Forte, which we can substitute in for each appropriate region/state.[39]

Seasonally this SEM ad could run around Spring Break time, (late February - April). Our target market will be searching for cheaper or free events/ activities while they are on vacation. This will bring more awareness of the event and attract our target market, Jake and his friends, to come to California for Surf to Turf. Geographically this ad will run in the Midwest, where consumers are looking for something new to do in a place that doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have snow.[39]

Seasonally this SEM ad could also be placed near the middle or end of the winter (January- March) so that consumers who are interested in learning how to surf are drawn to the event through this promotion. This ad could be placed throughout the Midwest as well as California where the event is taking place. This way it reaches our target market but also local people to draw more people to the event.[39]

Search Engine Marketing Search Ads

Seasonally this SEM ad could run closer to the time of the event (April -May). This ad will create new hype for the event as consumers search for new workouts to do in the warmer weather, since snow will be melting. Geographically this ad will run in the Midwest and California. It will draw active Midwesterners looking to enjoy activities outside and Californians who are looking to try or get better at surfing before summer.[39] Seasonally this SEM ad could run the weeks leading up to the event (end of April - May). The purpose of this ad is to get people that already plan on being or live in California to come to Surf to Turf. By this point the target market in the Midwest will have already purchased their plane tickets and are making their arrangements. Geographically this ad will run in the Midwest, California and any areas where planes might layover for travelers coming from the Midwest (ex. Dallas, Denver, Las Vegas etc). The total cost for SEM will be $50,000.[39]

Search Engine Optimization Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a search engine strategy that businesses utilize to drive online users to their website when searching on search engines, like Google. As a natural or organic, unpaid search, SEO can “generate awareness, generate traffic to your website and even sell products.”[37] Companies analyze what words and phrases people use when searching and make sure to embed those keywords into their site. That way, their site will appear at the top of the search engines’ results page after a user searches for something. In order for a website to appear at the top of a search result page, it must be considered “relevant” by a search engine’s algorithm. An algorithm searches the entire web and finds the most relevant and worthy websites to appear on a search results page after a person searches for something. SEO tries to satisfy a search engine’s algorithm in hopes that its website will be a top result.

SEO can definitely play a significant role in the media plan. SEO can deliver and raise awareness because it can direct people searching about topics related to surfing to ASP’s webpage. The Island can also utilize SEO in efforts to reposition ASP as the foremost professional surfing association by getting ASP’s website to be the top result when people are searching on topics about surfing. SEO can also increase online viewership of ASP’s live competitions by, again, getting ASP’s livestream to be the top result when people search on topics about surf competitions. The current ASP website does a fairly good job at presenting great content for its audience to read and understand. For example, there is an organized set of buttons at the top of their site that directs users to different pages. The homepage includes lots of photos and videos, which are visually appealing; however, descriptive content lacks on the homepage. One would have to click on different links or pages to get to actual, rich text. Also, if someone wanted to learn about the history/etc. about ASP, he or she has to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the ASP homepage to click on the various pages. Though ASP does have good content, it requires users to navigate through several click-throughs before finding the great content.

Search Engine Optimization ASP’s overall site structure is decent because it has one overarching, master site with various links to other pages about their surfing competitions, surfing celebrities/contestants, etc. ASP’s main site does a good job at directing its users to different parts of this organization. The URL for ASP’s website is aspworldtour.com. This URL is simple and easy to retain; however, it hones in too directly with one of ASP’s surfing competitions. People may not travel to ASP’s website if they’re searching more broadly on just surfing or water sports. The clarity of communication on ASP’s website is clear and easy to read. But again, it is somewhat difficult to navigate to the pages where there is content and communication. The layout requires the user to click on different pages to find the content and communication that they are looking for. The design of ASP’s website is extremely visual with various photos and videos that document and portray the ocean, surfers, competitions and other surfing related experiences. ASP’s accent colors are different shades of blue, which is a strategic choice because it invokes water, outdoors, nautical activities, etc. to its viewers. ASP’s website does deliver some of the elements from the message strategy. For example, it highlights influential surfers who have a strong fan base as well as listing all of their surfing events that fans can attend. There are also a plethora of videos embedded into the ASP website that users can watch to become avid surf enthusiasts. On the other hand though, ASP’s website lacks information that an average American could read to understand the sport of surfing. ASP assumed that its viewers already understand surfing. Also, besides icons of different social media outlets, ASP’s website lacks interactivity and two-way communication with its readers.

Search Engine Optimization On a natural search, ASP is the top result when searching for “surfing competitions” or “surfing events”. However, when someone just searches for “surfing”, ASP does not appear on the first ten search result pages. If someone searches “ASP”, the top four results all direct to the official ASP website. A person is more likely to be directed to the ASP website if he or she uses specific words, like “world tour”, when searching versus typing in vague, broad, surfing-related words in a search engine. Based off of these findings, ASP should work on improving their SEO strategies to appear at the top of search result pages when people are searching broader surfing terms, phrases, etc. Keywords that had ASP as the top search result ASP Surfing competitions Surfing professionals World tour Surf events

Keywords that did not have ASP as the top search result Surf Extreme water sports Surfing organizations Surfing locations Water sports events

Though ASP does not appear in the search results pages for all surf-related keywords, its website always appears before its competitors, like the International Surfing Association and the Body Glove company. ASP’s possible sponsors perform extremely well with SEO strategies. For example, Buffalo Wild Wings appears as the top search results if the keyword is just “buffalo wings”. If a search includes anything related to wings, one can guarantee that Buffalo Wild Wings’ website will appear as a search result. ASP’s other possible sponsor is Gatorade, which also appears at the top of search results when searching “sports drinks” and other related keywords. GoPro, another possible ASP sponsor, does not appear when people search for “outdoor cameras” or “cameras for adventure”. Other cameras appear on the results page.

Search Engine Optimization Top 20 Keywords for SEO: After analyzing the possible sponsors, it can be concluded that Buffalo Wild Wings and Gatorade, both well-known brands, are top results when people search for keywords relating to the two products. It is smart for ASP to join alliances with these companies because they are recognizable brands that people are apt to click-on when searching. Even though GoPro cameras are not the top search results, it is still important to form a relationship with them because this company is growing and its target audience matches ASPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s SVC. It will cost $50,000 for an employee to manage SEO.[37]

1. Surf 2. Surfing 3. Surf competitions 4. Surf to Turf 5. Surfing competitions 6. Extreme sports 7. Extreme water sports 8. ASP 9. Association of Surfing Professionals 10. ASP World Tour

11. Surfing world tour 12. Surf world tour 13. ASP surfing 14. ASP surf 15. Surfing locations 16. Surfing events 17. Water sport events 18. Popular water sports 19. Popular extreme sports 20. ASP Surf to Turf

Landing Page The landing page is the main page that a URL links to. The main goal of landing pages is to convert through encouraging users to enter the site, provide their contact information and then purchase the product. Effective landing pages are relevant to the ad from which the user clicked. The message of the ad should apply to the message of the landing page.[37] ASP, their competitors and their sponsors do not use landing pages. This is most likely a reflection of the sportâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lack of popularity and mainstream attention. In order to increase attention and interest among the target audience, The Island created a landing page for ASP. The consumer will be directed to this landing page after clicking on our ad showcasing the Surf to Turf event. The landing page is the event page for Surf to Turf to stay relevant to the ad.

The main event sponsor, Buffalo Wild Wings, is represented with a large banner ad to keep with the theme of the surfing using the bottle of the featured wing sauce, Tidal Wave Habanero, as a surfboard. The three other sponsors, Samsung, Gatorade and GoPro are also featured at the top of the page.

Landing Page Upon reaching the landing page, the consumer has the opportunity to register for the event without having to dig. The page is simple and allows the consumer to obtain necessary information about the event with minimal clicks. A featured video of Paul Rudd and Jason Segel, right below the event name, is a spinoff of their roles in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. In the video, Rudd and Segel provide information about the event in a humorous way that will resonate with the young male audience. Below the video are two articles providing more information about the event. The cost of landing pages is $50,000.

Media Plan

Streaming Video Strategic Summary

Streaming video is, “Content sent in compressed form over the internet and streamed by the user in real time”.[40] Streaming video is becoming increasingly popular for advertisers due to media consumers general shift towards viewing videos through digital or streaming formats. In 2008, 38% of the U.S. population reported watching some form of video online, as compared to in 2013, where 58% report viewing videos digitally.[41] The three major players in the market are Youtube, Amazon and Hulu, with Youtube holding the majority market share. It is worth it to advertise with streaming video because has seen a large influx in ad dollars in the past five year, and it’s not only because they command a large portion of the public- they drive user engagement as well. An Adweek study found that people are viewing digital video ads longer than traditional TV commercials, with the average view time online being 21.8 seconds, as compared to only 13.6 seconds on regular TV. Along with this, the average completion rate of a digital ad is 88%, as compared to only 79% on TV.[42] Another great reason why The Island suggests advertising on streaming video is due to the demographic it reaches and the impact it has on those viewers. The 18-34 age demographic streams 35 minutes of online video per day, meaning that if The Island were to get the ads on this medium, there is a high likelihood that the message will be consumed by the SVC. It’s also important to note that the message will have a higher impact when viewed online as compared to on TV, as viewers have a 20% better recall of a brand’s message and a 23% better recall of a brand when viewing an ad on streaming video as compared to on TV3. All of this means that online video has the target, the impact and the recall rate The Island wants when conducting our general awareness campaign for ASP.[42]

Streaming Video Advertising

The most conventional form of streaming video ads come in the form of pre-roll advertisements, which occur before the viewer is able to see their selected streaming content. Youtube, being the biggest player in the streaming video market currently, sets the standard with a multitude of pre-roll options, ranging from non-skippable ads, standard In-Stream ads (ranging from 15 seconds to 60 seconds long) and In-Stream bumper promotional ads.[46] Along with this, Youtube also offers a more limited variety of mid-roll and post-roll ads, but the effectiveness of those ads are yet to be determined as presumably, the user’s highest engagement rate occurs before they stream their online video.[46] Although Youtube holds the standard for traditional video streaming ads, newcomers Hulu and Amazon are creating video advertisements that differentiate themselves. Amazon is rumored to be coming out with an instant “buy button” in their ads, that when clicked on, link directly to their e-commerce site.[47] Hulu is coming up to new video ads for its mobile platform [45] and will also be launching its own in-stream purchase unit later in the year-two ad forms that Youtube does not have. All of these new ad forms are based on the CPC, with the exception of the non-skippable ad that Youtube offers, which has an initial fee incorporated in as well (to pay for “guaranteed engagement)7. Overall, the most common advertisement being used by advertisers currently is the non-skippable 15-30 pre-roll video ad.[48]

The Three Big Players

Youtube

Premium Content Surfing Content on Platform No Yes

Amazon

Yes

Hulu

Yes

New Advertising Innovations Expandable video ads, non-skippable In-Stream ads, mid-roll video ads [46] Instant purchase button on long video ads [47] Instream purchase unit, Hulu 360 mobile ad, multi-platform interactive a [45]

Market Share (Downstream Internet Traffic) 18.69% [43]

Total Viewerbase More than 1 Billion [44]

1.61% [43]

TBD

1.21% [43]

400 Million [45]

Streaming Video

Medium Recommendations The Island recommends that ASP use Youtube because it can reach personalized audiences and has the largest user base. It is also the de-facto platform for viewing and sharing surfing video.[49] People that view other high action sporting content on Youtube may be more likely to engage with ASP’s ads and channels. Additionally, ASP is already hosting livestream of tournaments on their Youtube channel which would allow for people to jump from The Island’s ads to the channel. In terms of timing, ASP will launch a series of non-skippable 15-second video ads in the month leading up to the Surf to Turf event, showcasing the star-power and action that the event guarantees to deliver. The Island will also buy the same non-skippable ad but in a 30-second version following the event, which will showcase highlights of the Surf to Turf event, along with providing information on upcoming surfing competitions in the users area. The rationale behind this is that by stationing the ad buys on Youtube in the month leading up to (April) and following (June) the Surf to Turf event, The Island hopes to not only generate awareness for the event, but also excitement and engagement from ASP’s fans and from extreme sports enthusiasts. The ads following the event will attempt to re-capture and maintain this initial excitement, and transfer it into other ASP surfing competitions to follow, along with generating hype for next year’s event. The potential cost for the non-skippable pre-roll ad The Island will, the general CPC is 0.04 for each click/page view.[37] The Island will have two distinct periods for Youtube media buys, March-April and November-February. During March through April, this is the ultimate build up to the Surf to Turf event, so The Island will place the largest amount of money here, with $400,000 being allocated on a CPC basis per month. In November through February-this is a period for more general awareness so The Island will only allocate $50,000 per month. The total cost estimated at $1,000,000.

Streaming Audio Strategic Summary

Streaming audio is music that is digitally streamed from a provider, straight to a consumerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s digital device, whether it be mobile, tablet or laptop. The streaming service is technically, with consumers having to listen to regularly played audio ads to keep the service going- a technique started by Pandora. To disinhibit ads, these providers give users the option to subscribe to the service, which runs at a general fee of $9.99/mont.[50] Streaming audio beneficial to advertise on because it is beneficial to advertisers due to the availability of its users and the engagement it promotes, not only with the music, but with the ads. As of May 2013, it is reported that the average consumer listens to online radio for one hour and 53 minutes, a staggering number when you consider compared to other mediums, like streaming video, print and out of home[37]. Going along with this, researchers believe that the amount of time people spend listening to digital radio will only grow, with listeners projected to listen to almost three hours of online radio per day by 2017.13 Another reason streaming audio is a good choice for advertisers like ASP is because listeners do not encounter an exorbitant amount of ads, with an average of four 15 to 30 second spots played per hour.[51] This means that users will not feel bombarded by advertisements, which will presumably lead to more engagement with the selective ads they hear. Also, because the majority of users use the free version of the online radio platform, they are more likely to respond positively to these ads as they recognize the transactional process occurring.[37] Finally, another benefit of streaming audio is the hyper-specific consumer targeting it allows for. Due to the personalization component of many radio platforms like Pandora and Spotify, advertisers are able to target consumers based on very specific details, like if they snowboard, go to college, enjoy extreme sports, etc.[37] Even better, the average online radio user is young, male, affluent and college-educated, all characteristics described in ASPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s SVC, making it a perfect medium for our ads.[51]

Streaming Audio

Main Players and Advertising The Big Three Players Registered Users

Pandora

Spotify

Song Library

More than 200 Million More than 1 [37] Million (source 16)

15 Million [52]

Beats Music TBD (just launched in January 2014)

Subscription Cost (Monthly)

Destop Compatible

$3.99 [54]

Yes

20 Million [53]

$9.99 [54]

Yes

20 Million [53]

$9.99 [54]Strictly subscription-based, no free service

Mobile Application

Best Quality

75% of all Internet radio Yes users, go-to choice for many in the 18-24 demo [51] Primarily student-user Yes (only base, dedicated listeners, works with customizable playlists, exsubscription) clusive music/artists [51] Superior sound quality, Yes niche and passionate cosumer base, “cool’ factor [55]

Pandora has a variety of advertising options, ranging from banner and tile ads to takeover and audio-only ads. However, the most commonly used (and according to Pandora, the most efficient and effective) is their “Audio Everywhere” ad, which gives advertisers an audio ad, tile ad and 33x250 banner ad.[56] This combo ad allows advertisers to take-over the web-page for either a 15 or 30 second increment, which means that the ad will be received with both the audial and visual senses.[56] The Audio Everywhere ad would be perfect for advertising the Surf to Turf event, as The Island could combine the inherently auditory aesthetic of the sport along with the visuals promoting both the event, the action and the celebrities that will be there. Spotify offers their own version of a takeover ad, but only have an audio ad and a tile ad, their interface can’t fit a banner ad. Their advertisers are limited to only one length: 30 seconds. Tile ads are clickable and lead to the advertiser’s designated landing page.[57] Beats Music’s model is strictly subscription-based, Beats does not offer in-app advertising.[58] However, many celebrities and brands have generated awareness and buzz for their brands by partnering with the music brand through either promotions, endorsements, celebrity cameos.[58] Although placing advertising in this service would happen outside of the audio streaming, it may still be conducive to consider advertising alongside the brand, or by offering ASP fans exclusive access to an ASP-branded channel.

Streaming Audio Recommendations

Pandora • Buy several “audio everywhere” ads in March and April • Audio everywhere ads create an immersive environment, which will help create excitement for the event • Create an “ear-catching” audio ad to immerse in listeners’ stations • Audio ads occur on a CPM basis and will target a large portion of the target due to hyper-targeted tools.[56]

Spotify

• Place ads a month leading up to the Surto Turf event • Use tile and audio ad format together, the audio to urge the listener to click the tile ad which will land them on a • personalized playlist channel created to promote the event

Potential Cost The CPM of a Pandora “audio everywhere” ad will be $15 CPM and a simply audio-only ad will be $10 CPM.[67] For Spotify, The Island will be using combined tile and audio ads, estimated at $12 CPM.[67] The Island will have the same buying periods and intent as The Island did with streaming video. In March and April will see the heaviest amount of media buys and then a more general awareness period happening between November and February. In March and April the budget breakdown will be $150,000 per month using the audio everywhere ad format. On Spotify the budget will be $120,000 per month. The Island is placing a lot of money here to generate buzz for the Surf to Turf, with page takeovers happening on Pandora via the audio everyhwere ad and increased audio and tile ads on Spotify. During the November to February time frame, the budget for Pandora is $25,000 per month for using the audio only ad format and on Spotify the budget is $24,000 per month. This buying period is intented to generate general awareness for ASP, with higher amounts of media buys occurring closer to the annual Surf to Turf event. The total streaming audio budget is $736,000 per year.

Social Media

Its Role, ASP and The Competition To promote the variety of ASP competitions taking place all over the world, showcase ASP’s surfing talent and theirperformances in these competitions, highlight the hip and beautiful lifestyle that surfers live and build interest for upcoming events. ASP’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are primarily focused on highlighting ASP events and giving fans and followers an inside look on how ASP surfers are doing in these competitions. ASP’s Tumblr is dedicated to showcasing the active and appealing lifestyles that their surfers live, including giving followers an inside look into the every-day life of their average surfing competitor. ASP’s involvement in these mediums make perfect sense as all of these platforms are perfect for illustrating the visual aesthetic that surfing is known for. It is important to keep on leveraging this visual component in this new campaign as followers and fans tend to respond to these posts the most. International Surfing Associations’ social media presence is significantly less than ASP’s, but a lot of their objectives align with ASP’s, most noticeably, the promotion of their surfing events and their surfers. ISA also incorporates videos into its social media much more than ASP. Their Twitter feed is also a lot more text-laden, with only about half of their posts having a picture attached. ASP still holds the social media torch for surfing associations, mostly due to its highly visual and engaging content. Also, ASP’s visuals are much better quality than ISA’s, as ISA visuals tend to be pixelated and shot at poor angles. In the upcoming media plan, it is important The Island keep up the already strong social media presence ASP has on its platforms, while continue to differentiate ourselves from the competitors. Improvement from September: The postings across ASP’s social media accounts have stayed relatively consistent over the past couple of months.[21] The quality of the content has also maintained its quality. ASP’s social media accounts seem to be gaining consistent growth, most noticeably Facebook gaining an estimated 1,000 likes per day, while Twitter also steadily increases from day to day.[21] It will be interesting to see how the new promotional campaign The Island implement will affect the amount of social media traffic the sites receive.

Social Media

Themes for Social Media Plan For any social media campaign to be successful, it is important that each medium is directly related to the other, meaning that there should be an underlying brand voice seen behind each social platform. For ASP, this brand voice needs to appeal to both the hardcore surfer enthusiast who follows every went and knows every surfing pro and the casual extreme sports watcher (the SVC) who may be interested in professional surfing but does not know any intrinsic details about the sport. Therefore, throughout the social media campaign, our brand voice and content will look to achieve three things in every action: be approachable, be accessible, and be visible. What this means from a content creation standpoint is that the social media posts will try to articulate the sport of surfing in a way that is approachable for the everyday sporting fan, meaning that we will try to stay away from jargon and rather speak in layman terms to get a point across. A lot of this is due to the goal of trying to grow the awareness of ASP, which means trying to reach as many people as possible. The social media managers will also be very responsive to any questions, concerns or critiques our followers may having and will try to respond to as many comments as possible. This will hopefully build a sense of community and trust within our follower base, and will lead to more open conversations and positive sentiments down the road. Finally, the posts will be highly visual in nature, with the goal of trying to incorporate a visual into at least 75% of all social media posts. This is obviously due to the visual aesthetic of the sport, which is something we want to promote to the hardcore fan base and to new followers. Visuals will be a huge part of the campaign as social media posts that incorporate a visual are 12 times more likely to be shared or retweeted than a text-based one- which is huge from an awareness gaining perspective.[59]

Social Media Facebook

Facebook’s main role will be for engaging with fans in a variety of ways, from promoting our competitions and Surf to Turf event, to showing off surfer profiles and just generally producing quality visuals that are aesthetically pleasing. Along with, Facebook will be the main point for any promotion-based stuff that we do- only then will The Island pay Facebook for extended reach. Also, it’s important that the social media manager is an active community manager, responding to the followers in a timely and branded fashion. Facebook will also be the central hub for video highlight packages from events and competitions, along with directly coordinating with the Youtube page.

Seven Ways to Succeed on Facebook

1.Post regularly: ASP will aim to post daily on Facebook, as this not only greatens our chance of getting seen, but also helps Facebook users to become more comfortable and familiar with our brand

2. Adhere to the 80/20 rule: This means that out of every 10 posts, 8 should be original content that is unique to ASP, with the other 2 posts being used for promotional causes.[61] 3.Have an engaging cover photo: This goes back to the idea of the visual-driven nature of successful online advertising. If ASP’s cover photo is visually arresting, people are more likely to engage with the page as a whole.[59]

4. Use all of Facebook’s (free) page-helping features: For ASP, this will specifically include pinned posts, featured links and custom tabs as these are all great ways to get the word out on the variety of events happening with ASP, and are all relatively free

5. Use Facebook EdgeRank to make our posts as successful as possible[61]: Being that on average, only 16% of our followers will see our posts organically, it is important that we optimize our posting periods so that that number increases; a great way to do that is through EdgeRank, which measures the affinity, weight and time decay of our posts.[61]

6. Respond to all comments: To adhere to two of our social media keys (be approachable and be accessible), we need to strive to answer any responses we get on our Facebook posts, keeping in mind of course our brand voice

7. Have strong call-to-actions: When you ad words like “comment” or share” to your posts, you on average receive a 2% and 4% increase in user engagement, which is a very good ROI.[62]

Social Media Mock Facebook

Advertising on Facebook makes sense because 71% of adults use Facebook.[37] From an awareness standpoint, advertising here makes sense as your posts have the opportunity by a wide arrary of people. 28% of 18-34â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, the SVC, check Facebook right before the go to bed. Considering this fact, advertising content should be focused between 10pm and 1am. The average visit time for users is 18 minutes. This stat means that the content will have a greater chance of being seen as people scroll down their feeds and the impression rates will be higher.

Social Media Facebook

Three Ways to ASP Will Use Facebook

1. Surf to Turf Promotion: In the months leading up to the event, The Island will do weekly posts promoting the Surf to Turf event, with content ranging from video profiles of the NFL players attending, images of the venue, links to the Buffalo Wild Wings promotion, etc. It is important, though, that we still adhere to the 80/20 and don’t post about the event too much.

2.SurferSundays profile: Branded days of the week (Throwback Thursday, Motivation Monday) are widely popular for the target demographic, so we will create one: #SurferSundays.[62]These posts will occur every Sunday and will include a video profile of one of our professional surfers; this should raise awareness not only for ASP, but for the surfers who participate, which should lead to heightened fan engagement.

Weekly Highlight Roundup: Due to the highly visual nature of the SVC and their general proclivity towards extreme sports viewership, having a consistent weekly highlight round up from all of the ASP events occurring that week make sense[25]. Also, because some complaints about the sport come from it being drawn out and not action-packed all the time, having a highlight

Recommendations

The Island’s recommendations for content: Surf to Turf promotion, ASP competition promotion, venue visuals, SurferSundays, weekly highlight roundups, visuals of pro surfers during and post-competitions. This content should be posted daily, with an ultimate goal of having 14 posts per week. Posts will occur more frequently leading up to the Turf2Surf event as promotional content will increase. This content should also be posted during prime times of the SVC’s social media usage (proven though our Simmons data). This includes: in the morning when they wake up and check their phones (8-10am), during peak homework hours (6-9pm) and right before they go to bed (10pm-12am).[25] Some tips to increase engagement are to use powerful visuals in social media posts. Also incorporate strong call-to-actions into your content. Lastly, make content relateable and appealing, showing off the sport of surfing in all its glory. The cost of maintaing social media, being that it is an unpaid social media, are an overall salary of a Social Media Manager, $50,000 and an on-site video editor during competitions, $40,000. This cost is utilized for Twitter, SurferSunday video profiles and weekly highlight videos, $90,000.

Social Media Twitter

ASP should advertise on Twitter because 54% of users say that reading branding tweets make them take action in some type of way. Some of these ways inlude visiting the brand’s site (23%) and searching for the brand online (20%). Brands are becoming an integral part of online conversations. 50% of users mentioned a brand in at least 15 of their tweets during a seven month period. Twitter now allows for geotargeting, which is a perfect way to reach the SVC in a very personalized and specific way. When exposed to branded tweets, 19% of people said they were more likely to consider trying the brand. From a general awareness standpoint, this is one way people are generally more responsive to branded advertisements here, as compared to other offline mediums.[63]

Twitter’s Role

Twitter’s role will be multi-faceted as the medium allows for rapid and instant updates and responses. First off, the ASP twitter handle will be used for promotional purposes regarding any competitions, events, including extensive promotion in the months leading up to the Surf to Turf event. During competitions, the handle will also be in charge of live-tweeting the event, which will include providing updates on who is winning, providing bios of the surfers competing, and detailing the intricacies of the sport that maybe the average consumer won’t understand at first. Much in the way that ESPN handles major sporting events on its Twitter handle, ASP will do the same for its competitions which will include a bevy of visuals and eye-catching headlines to draw in a wider audience. Along with this, the handle will also do Twitter Takeovers with surfing celebrities where users can tweet @ASP with their questions and the surfer will answer the questions via the ASP handle. Many well-known Twitter handles do this, most recently, Roger Goodell via the @NFL twitter handle. These takeovers should make the brand seem more accessible to the everyday user and should lead to heightened user engagement, which are two things that are a definite priority. Finally, the @ASP handle will answer any questions, comments, or concerns tweeted at us from teh followers; answers will come in a timely fashion and will be through the brand voice of ASP.

Social Media Twitter

Seven Ways ASP can use Twitter to Succeed

1.Incorporate Vine into the Tweets: Vine is a new asset to Twitter users

and is something that ASP should begin to specialize, as itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s short but very visually-based video format would work extremely well with providing instant highlights of competitions to the followers. Also, ASP could be one of the early adopters of Vine, as only 2.4% of current brands use it consistently in their tweets.[64]

2.Incorporate branded hashtags into the tweets: This way users know what to tweet about and where to find information on ASP events. 88.7% of brands use branded hashtags on a regular basis as it gives them the ability to control the conversations with their followers, along with providing a unique spin on their branded content.[64] 3. Showcase the personality of the ASP brand: Take a humanistic

approach to our tweets, meaning that humor and sincerity should be something The Island aim for if the context is right. Also, brands that incorporate this style in their tweets receive better interaction with their followers.[63]

4.Tweet at celebrities/incorporate celebrities into content: Celebrity Twitter handles obviously have high reach and any interaction we can

get with well-known people would be great exposure for us; it would also help cement the validity of the brand. However, we need to make sure that any tweets we do direct at celebrities are authentic and meaningful, rather than just asking a celebrity to retweet us for no purpose.

5. Offer Twitter-only promotions: Having Twitter-only promotions will give the handle a feel of exclusivity, along with being a great way to

interact with the fan base and gain wider exposure.[63] These promotional tweets will revolve around getting a change to meet surfers, tickets to ASP competitions, etc. and will include strong call-to-actions to drive heightened user engagement.

6. Incorporate striking visuals into our Tweets: Twitterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new visual-based layout benefits brands who can incorporate great pictures into their tweets as pictures are instantly visible when scrolling through a feed.28 This bodes well for ASP, as again, the visual aesthetic of the sport is one of its greatest components in regards to advertising so it is important that we do a good job of implementing visuals wherever possible. 7. Connect with the surfing culture: It is important that the ASP handle seems authentic to surfing enthusiasts, while also being

accessible enough to the everyday user. This means that along with the other content categories listed above, it Is important that the handle tweets about issues relevant to the surfing community, and not necessarily related to ASP.

Social Media Twitter

Three Ways ASP will Use Twitter

1. Posts instant highlight reels of surfing competitions via Vine: Along with live-tweeting events, incorporating Vines should bolster the amount of attention and excitement surrounding our surfing competitions- it should also boost awareness.

2.Tweet at NFL celebrities leading up to the Surf to Turf event: As mentioned above, in the two month period leading up to the

May Surf to Turf event, The Island will begin to tweet at some of the NFL players attending the event, including Aaron Rodgers and Adrian Peterson. This interaction will not only generate extensive interest for the event, but will also raise general awareness among NFL fans, some of which may include the SVC.

3. Have exclusive ticket giveaways to ASP competitions worldwide: This promotional idea will be a consistent trend on the Twitter handle, as The Island will encourage the followers to tweet at ASP their experiences with not only surfing, but also extreme sports. Using the hashtag #ASPXtreme. Contestants will be entered into a contest to win two tickets to one of the surfing events, occurring worldwide. These promotions will not only draw heightened user engagement, but will also help The Island relate to the base extreme sports enthusiast, along with creating more hype for our surfing events, as each promotion will be specific to the surfing event the winner will attend.

Recommendations

The Island recommends that the Twitter content includes promotions (#ASPXtreme, Turf2surf), competition live-tweeting, surfing culture, surfing pro Twitter takeovers, Vine-formatter highlight reels, competition venue visuals, tweeting at prominent extreme sporting pros and NFL players. These tweets should come down to blocks in the day where the SVC may be the most active and accessible via Twitter. A study found that the best time to post on Twitter is 5pm to 10pm, with 5pm being the period most activity and user engagement occurs.[65] Therefore, the handle will be most active between 5pm and 1-pm where the SVC is most likely to be on and most likely be active. The goal for tweeting around 20 times per day, again adhering to the 80/20 rule.[25] During build-up times leading up to the Surf to Turf event (March and April), the tweets will be more promotional and during the event there will be live-tweeting. A few tips to increase engagement are to have ASP exclusive promotion, incorporate strong call-to-actions and use Vine videos and visuals to stimulate user engagement. The cost of this unpaid social media tool is the overall salary for the Social Media Manager, $50,000 and the on-site video editor during competitions, $40,000. The hashtag #ASPXtreme Promotional Cost: $5,000 per promotion. The total Twitter budget is between $95,000 and $120,000 per year. This depends on how many promotions occur.

Social Media Twitter

Explanation: Twitter continues to be a leading social media site for ASPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s SVC. Incorporating vivid photographs with information about upcoming surfing competitions will be many tweets. Also, utilizing specific hashtags will also welcome a two-way communication between ASP and its consumers. ASP will ultimately continue using Twitter to connect with its consumers as well as maintaining postive brand awareness.

Social Media Snapchat

Snapchat is a useful marketing tool because it has grown in size since July 2013 and has more than 20 million snaps per day. The audience also matches the age of the target audience. The benefits of Snapchat are that it is an innovative way to visually connect with an audience as a cost-effective way to promote brand and communicate messages. These messages are personalized and the limited lifespan of a “Snap” provides urgency and excitement.[67] The role of Snapchat is to serve as the new, innovative social media platform used by ASP. It will be the main platform for instant, personable and interactive media.

Seven Ways to Succeed with Snapchat

1. Add all ASP Twitter followers on Snapchat: Allows followers to feel personally recognized by ASP and continue to add everyone who

follows ASP on Snapchat.

2. Listen to audience feedback by viewing their Snaps: Find out what followers like and dislike from ASP account and this will allow ASP to deliver the most appropriate content to followers.

3. Respond directly to followers: Great way to further the engagement with our audience and allows audience to feel personally recognized and it creates personal connection.

4. Guest Snapchat Sessions: ASP will have a celebrity surfer host the account once a month. Followers can send snaps to ASP account and receive personalized snaps from celebrity surfer. Followers feel as though they have received something special and exclusive and will be likely to screenshot these Snap and share them on other social media platforms for others to see.

5. Brand Snapchat account as the main interactive platform: Frequently send Snaps and encourage followers to respond 6. Utilize Snap Story function: By having an available Snap Story at all times, our followers will always have interactive content to view

even in between personal snaps. It feature highlights of events by using multiple 5 second Snaps and create a new Story every 24 hours to keep account fresh.

7. Immediately utilize new updates when they are created: Most current update is new “Chat” feature[68]. This similar to

text conversation, but messages vanish after being viewed by recipient. Users can also activate live video chat session where ASP would have recipients full attention. It is also convenient for ASP’s Guest Snapchat Sessions. The user can screenshot anything they like. ASP followers can screenshot photos of surfers, news updates and important competition dates to remember.

Social Media Snapchat

Three Ways ASP Could Use Snapchat

1.Buffalo Wild Wings Coupons leading up to Surf to Turf: This would involve sending discount coupon codes to

customers who send Snaps of themselves eating wings with Tidal Wave Habanero sauce. These discounts will range from 5%-100%. Followers can redeem their discount by showing their waitress their code via Snapchat. This will generate business for Buffalo Wild Wings and creates buzz for Surf to Turf through promoting featured sauce.

2. Have featured NFL players send Snaps to their followers regarding Surf to Turf: This would creates interest within

NFL audience. If their followers see snaps of them surfing or being involved with ASP, they may become curious as to why the player is teaming up with ASP.

3. Frequently post Snaps during Surf to Turf event: Such snaps could include, NFL players learning to surf, Pro surfers on the waves and participants enjoying the event.

Specific Snapchat topics include, a string of teaseres leading up to the Surf to Turf and other ASP competitions, highlights of events and competitions, news, guest snapchat sessions, behind the scenes footage of events, snaps reminding followers to tune into live streaming competitions. There should only be one “Snap Story” sent out at one time. Personal snaps will depend on individual engagement with the ASP account, but ASP will send one to two personal snaps to all followers each day. ASP’s current account is fairly similar to the recommendations.[69] The Island suggests that ASP takes advantage of the cost-effectiveness of Snapchat by utilizing promotions and coupon codes easily provided by the social media platform. The particular coupon strategy will generate buzz for the Surf to Turf event while benefiting the main sponsor. Featuring NFL players will generate interest among an audience ASP is currently not reaching. For example, if Aaron Rodgers’ followers see that he is interested in ASP, they may follow his lead and choose to follow ASP’s account. Initially, they’ll be interested in seeing Rodgers but will grow an interest in ASP’s content simultaneously. The overall Snapchat cost is to pay for the overall salary of the Social Media Coordinator, $50,000.

Social Media Snapchat

Below are examples of Snapchats that ASP could send out in the Midwest region, specifically Wisconsin, to promote the Surf to Turf event. One is an example of the promotional coupon for Buffalo Wild Wings and the other is an example of what a Snapchat from a celebrity participating in the Surf to Turf event.

Social Media Blogs

Corporate blogs are used to generate awareness, engagement, involvement, and influence with a target demographic. It is an extremely useful tool to support ASPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s media plan. It can be leveraged to cross promote corporate partners, engage with fans on a personal level, supply a high level of information, and do it all through a unique, relatable voice. Similarly with the general theme for the social media plan, it is important to maintain a consistent brand voice. The ASP corporate blog will adopt a similar voice as that of ASPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s other social media accounts: approachable, accessible, and visible. The ASP corporate blog will add education into the mix. A blogâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s strength is its ability to communicate a large quantity of information. ASP will leverage this strength and use it to teach fans how to understand surfing thus generating interest and creating avid surfing followers.

Social Media Blogs

The Island has come up with seven Principles of Success to guide the ASP corporate blog. These principles function as the core values the blog will operate according to.

1. Transparent: The ASP corporate blog will be open and honest about the organizations activities. 2. Genuine: The ASP corporate blog will have a relaxed, personal tone than articles currently posted under the News

tab. Readers will feel like they are engaging with a friend, not a company, when they are visiting the site.

3. Conversational: The corporate blog will directly facilitate conversation among readers.

The blog will ask for reader opinions.The blog will have a Letter to the Editor section where fansâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; thoughts, complements, and critiques will be posted and then responded to.

4. Emphasis on visuals: There will be an emphasis on visually appealing images in all blog posts. Surfing lends itself to

beautiful images; the corporate blog will leverage this to attract readers. Readers can submit their own photography to be displayed in a digital photo album.

5. Educational: The blog will introduce fans to and help fans learn more about surfers. There will be a Surfer Spotlight

feature aimed to give readers a personal view of ASP surfers. There will be an FAQ tab dedicated to explaining how competitions run and are judged. Readers will be able to reference this page at any time.

6. Passionate: The blog voice will be enthusiastic about all things surfing. At least 25% of content posted will be

purely about the love of surfing and non-promotional.

7. Informative: The ASP corporate blog will run similar features that are currently on the News tab. It will keep readers

informed on upcoming, current, and past competition.[37]

Social Media Blogs

As stated in the Creative Brief, two main priorities of this campaign are to educate potential fans about the sport and encourage engagement with athletes. The ASP corporate blog will emphasize education and engagement. It will teach fans the rules of competitions and how to judge a run. It will allow fans to connect with athletes on a personal level. It will support an online community by facilitating conversation and posting fan-created content. The ASP corporate blog will also be leveraged to co-promote Charitable partners (Operation Amped, Sustainable Surf, and the Michael Phelps Foundation) and PR alliances (Vanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Surfing Booties, Samsung Galaxy S5, and Nike Fuelband). The blog will integrate promotional content for these organizations and in exchange the organizations will promote ASP on their respective media platforms. The ASP corporate blog will post at least three features when no competition is currently happening and post daily when a competition is in full swing. At least 25% of the posts on the ASP corporate blog will not be a direct promotion and instead focus on surfing as a sport in general. ASP will launch the corporate blog in April, one month before the primary promotional event: Buffalo Wild Wings Surf to Turf. This is the same time online advertising will launch. A portion of the online advertisements will run on the corporate blog and a portion will direct readers to the corporate blog. See media budget for total cost spent.

Social Media Blogs

The Island chose to target more male-run blogs than female-run blogs to better align with the male SVC. The Island chose blogs with different types of content to appeal to a spectrum of surf fans. The most visually appealing blogs will be aimed to attract new fans. Readers will be mesmerized by the beautiful images without needing to fully understand surfing as a sport. The specialty surf blogs, those focusing on a specific aspect of the sport, will appeal to the avid surf fans. These blogs use surf lingo that create an in-group of fans who can understand the blog posts. This feeling of exclusivity helps perpetuate the sub-culture mantra of surfing that encourages a lifestyle engagement with and dedicated fans of the sport. Partnerships with a variety of types of bloggers will help ASP appeal to fans of all levels. The following blogs are arranged in order of appeal from beginner to expert. ASP will begin partnerships with bloggers in July 2014, three months after the corporate blog launches. This will allow ASP time to establish a unique blogging voice that sponsored bloggers can understand and utilize. This is at the peak of competition season. Bloggers will be invited to competitions to promote the events. The Island recommends Ryan Lovelace as ASP’s official “blogs-person.” Ryan’s passion for surfing is honest, genuine, and engaging. He lives his life for surfing and is the epitome of a surf enthusiast. His blog is engaging for fans at all levels. His posts combine photography and writing that is simple enough to be understood yet passionate enough to be respected. His skill set gives him credibility, his passion ignites interest among readers, and his international experience makes him appeal to people from all around the globe.

Social Media Blogs Blog

Description

Joe Curren http://www.joecurren.com/blog/

The Inertia http://www.theinertia.com/category/surf/

Liz Clark http://www.swellvoyage.com/

Ryan Lovelace http://rlovelace.com/

Mike Black http://surfapig.blogspot.com/

Surf blog with an emphasis on surfing photography A notable surfer himself, Joe post beautiful and exotic images of beaches, waves, and surfers. Self-described as, “surfing’s definitive online community, featuring news, opinions, photography, videos and art from surfing’s most talented figures,” this blog promotes surfing as a lifestyle. It appeals to men and women, beginners and experts. It covers a wide variety of surf topics without getting too technical. This blog is the most authoritative of the five on this list as it appeals to the widest range of readers. A free spirit who spends her life traveling, exploring new beaches and surfing while promoting a simpler life. Her blog recaps her adventures through pictures and written stories. Liz has experience working with sponsors while maintaining her credibility as a true surfer. Ryan is an expert at building surfboards. He blogs about shaping: the art of crafting surfboards, while traveling internationally and domestically. Ryan’s international experience makes him particularly influential and useful as an ASP sponsored blogger. He is truly passionate about surfing and that clearly comes across in his writing. “If we’re not pushing our personal boundaries we’re becoming stagnant.” A surf blog dedicated to Pig Boards. Mike writes with an extremely relaxed, personable tone. He speaks the language of surfers creating an exclusive feel; only true surf fanatics fully understand what he’s talking about.

Social Media

Paid: Promoted Tweets Promoted tweets can be targeted to search results or specific users.[75] The role of the digital media plan is to have targeted tweets show up in a particular type of userâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Twitter feed. Typically including a landing page within the tweet. The promoted tweet will include the link to the landing page for the Surf to Turf event. The price is determined based on cost-per-engagement model. It only cost ASP something when someone clicks, retweets, replies to or favorites a tweet.[75] ASP should use Twitter because the pricing is based on a cost-per-engagement model, so it creates awareness without necessarily costing ASP anything. This generates 3,000 target prospects at about $37.[75] Twitter also has high conversion rates on landing pages, as high as 14%. It is an excellent way to promote Surf to Turf because it has the ability to target specific audiences and ASP can focus promoted tweets on users similar to the SVC. It will cost $10,000. ASP will run four promoted tweets daily beginning two months prior to the Surf to Turf event.

Fantasy Surfing App Accessible Anyone can participate in fantasy surfing whenever they want, wherever they want Prize per points system Incentive for users to continue using and to learn more about surfers in order to pick a successful team The more points they earn, the greater the prize they can receive Fantasy points tied directly to performance of selected ASP surfer [70] Familiar yet unconventional Fantasy surfing is a new take on fantasy football Target audience already understands the basic idea of fantasy sport games so they will be able to start playing without any instruction The SVC stated that they enjoy things that are unconventional

Users can participate in fantasy surfing to earn points and receive prizes for points earned. Since the target audience are not actual surfers, the virtual aspect of the ASP Fantasy Surfing app is a way for users to engage in surfing without being at the ocean. It provides a way for them to be involved without physically surfing.

Fantasy Surfing App Naming Strategy Since the ‘ASP Fantasy Surfing’ game already exists on ASP’s website, the app will maintain this name to alleviate any possible confusion.

Pricing Strategy It will cost $250,000 to create this app. ASP will sell ad space to Surf2Turf sponsors: BWW, Samsung, Vans, GoPro, Gatorade

Placing Strategy

The ASP app will be available through both iphone and android app stores because this allows any smartphone user the opportunity to engage and become more aware about ASP.

Promotion Strategy/Marketing

ASP’s unique selling proposition will be the following: Download the app to participate in ASP Fantasy Surfing and be the first to receive exclusive alerts on ASP events and news. ASP will brand this app as exciting, fun, accessible, real-tim, competitive and similar to Fantasy Football, yet unconventional

Publicity The ‘ASP Fantasy Surfing’ app will debut at the “Surf to Turf” event by having announcers discuss the app. There will also be a Samsung booth where employees will demonstrate the app on the Samsung Galaxy 4. There will be advertisements on the ESPN app, WatchESPN [71] and ESPN Sports Center [72], which will drive traffic from these sites to the app stores where one can download the free app. This app will also be promoted on ASP’s Fantasy Surfing webpage [73] to inform users that they can now participate in Fantasy Surfing wherever and whenever they want. A press release (see on page 79) will be sent to bloggers, reporters and other media outlets. ASP will have a “pre-launch opportunity” for bloggers/ reporters to test out the app before the official launch to the public. The press release will promote buzz before the “Surf to Turf” event. ASP will integrate the ‘ASP Fantasy Surfing’ app into their social media by allowing participants to share their results on Twitter and Facebook. Users will get served an ad for the app after searching for “ASP” or “Fantasy Surfing” on google or other search engines..

Press Release for New ASP APP FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Bobby Shadley (608) 555-5555 The Association of Surfing Professionals Announces New Fantasy Surfing App ASP transitions Fantasy Surfing from desktop to mobile [Santa Monica, Calif.] – The Association of Surfing Professionals will unveil a new app at their upcoming surfing event, Surf to Turf, on May 4th that the professional surfing organization hopes will transition current Fantasy Surfing participants to mobile and attract new participants. The new app, ASP Fantasy Surfing, allows participants to access their fantasy teams at their convenience via mobile device. “This is an unprecedented effort to engage our ‘Team Managers’ at the digital level, and we’re asking participants to share their picks and results on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook,” said ASP North America Media Contact Bobby Shadley. The app will also present an opportunity for “Team Managers” to receive prizes based on the points they earn that are directly tied to the selected ASP surfers selected. Prizes vary from discounts at Surf to Turf sponsor Buffalo Wild Wings to a paid vacation to one of ASP’s competitions. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re waiting for the bus or passing time over your lunch hour. This app can be easily accessed wherever you go,” said Shadley. “ASP is committed to creating and using the latest technology to engage with our dedicated fans.”

###

Fantasy Surfing App Why It’ll Work

Competitors Luckily, there are few fantasy surfing related apps on the current market. ‘The Surf’ app was the only apparent fantasy surfing app, and it costs $1.30 to download. Since ASP’s app is free, there will be more incentive to download ‘ASP Fantasy Surfing’ than its competitor.

Generate Loyalty The ASP app allows users to play fantasy surfing on the go/anywhere. Players could be waiting in line for coffee and quickly engage with ASP before their latte is ready. Users will become more familiar with surfers and competitions. The prizes also create an incentive to follow more closely. This ongoing online competition and incentive system will keep users coming back for more!

Increase Consumer Engagement The ASP app allows greater accessibility, which creates greater engagement among surf enthusiasts. Also, the more an individual engages with the game, the more points you earn and the better prizes one receives. Prizes include: discount coupons of BWW; free BWW; signed paraphernalia from surfers; a chance to meet surfers/surfing lesson; a chance to attend a surfing competition

New and Fresh ASP will continue to change/alter the app based on consumer input and suggestions. Consumers can tweet comments or feedback t o@ASP using the hashtag, #fantasysurfapp

Conclusion Integration

The Island’s digital media plan will be integrated by delivering a strategy with a sense of consistency throughout the plan. By conducting thorough research, the target audience will be reached at the appropriate times and contexts in order to maximize engagement with and awareness of ASP. It is crucial to have an integrated media plan and to reinforce ASP’s message through multiple forms of media in order to successfully reach the target audience. By using multiple forms of interactive media, including streaming video, streaming audio, unpaid and paid social media, blogs, online ads and the new ASP Fantasy Surfing app, The Island created a digital media plan that is sure to break through the clutter in a seamless manner. Each form of media is tailored in accordance to the platform’s strengths and particular audience. Contradictory to our agency’s name, our media plan will not exist as an island. The Island have integrated our media plan to achieve maximum engagement.

Prioritization

1. Streaming Video: It is the most dominated form of digital media with over 1 billion users just on Youtube. The Island is confident that streaming video is the most reliable platform for spreading ASP’s message to a large audience. 2. Streaming Audio: The average consumer listens to streaming audio for almost two hours at a time. Not many ads are played during this time period, so ASP would not get lost in the clutter and would be tapping into highly personalized outlets like Pandora and Spotify. The average streaming audio listener matches up with The Island’s primary target. 3. Paid Social Media: Not only is paid social media cost-effective, but it also produces high conversion rates to landing pages. ASP would benefit from having users land on their page for the Surf to Turf event. Paid social media also has the ability to target a specific user, regardless if he or she is already following ASP. 4. Unpaid Social Media: ASP currently has a strong social media following, which allows ASP to reach its target audience. These platforms are an effective way to showcase the visual aspects of surfing and its athletes. It opens two way communication between ASP and their fans. 5. Blogs: Since blogs are new to ASP’s digital media plan, there is room for ASP to expand and reach new potential audiences. 6. ASP’s App: This is the “most risky” of the digital media because ASP has never had one before and do not know how their fans will respond. There is also a high upfront cost in creating an app, adding to the risk.

Strategic Summary

ASP is already well-respected by its fans but the digital media plan that The Island put together will elevate ASP’s reputation to new audiences through new mediums. In order to gain the following of people who don’t watch surfing, ASP needs to work with The Island in reaching this goal. The Island is extremely confident in this media plan because of research and knowledge of the target, both primary and secondary, and understanding where ASP wants to be in the future. Increasing brand awareness in “Middle America” will drive surfing to become a nationally, recognized mainstream sport to watch.

The Surf to Turf event will not only generate awareness, but it will also engage extreme sport fans with surfing through familiar celebrities they already know. This event will create such a wave of impressions and curiosity in Middle America that ASP will notice an increase in competition viewership and following. Since ASP’s current and potential audiences are tech-savvy, ASP will need to maintain a strong online presence and stay one-step-ahead of digital trends. The Island has the resources, tools and creativity to exceed these demands in today’s fast-paced media environment.

~ The Island

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Appendix [41] http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Advertisers-Spend-560-Billion-on-YouTube-2013-Worldwide/1010446 [42] http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/online-video-ads-have-higher-impact-tv-ads-148982 [43] http://gigaom.com/2013/11/11/netflix-youtube-sandvine-traffic-data/ [44] http://adage.com/article/digital/youtube-channel-5-6-billion-revenue-year/245624/ [45] http://blog.hulu.com/2014/04/30/today-at-the-hulu-upfront/ [46] https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/187096?hl=en [47] http://adage.com/article/digital/amazon-launches-video-ad-business-geico/291779/ [48] http://www.streamingmedia.com/Articles/Editorial/Featured-Articles/The-State-of-Online-Video-Advertising-2013-88071.aspx [49] http://www.youtube.com/yt/advertise/why-it-works.html [50] http://www.imore.com/on-demand-streaming-music-services-compared-spotify-rdio-beats-music-slacker-google-play-music [51] http://emgonline.com/blog/2013/10/pandora-and-spotify-what-advertisers-need-to-know/ [52] http://bgr.com/2012/07/31/spotify-15-million-users-4-million-subscribers/ [53] http://www.imore.com/on-demand-streaming-music-services-compared-spotify-rdio-beats-music-slacker-google-play-music [54] http://www.techlicious.com/guide/best-music-service-best-for-you/ [55] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/05/business/media/beats-music-streaming-service-says-it-will-begin-in-january.html?_r=2& [56] http://advertising.pandora.com/product/audio-everywhere/ [57] https://www.spotify.com/us/about-us/advertisers/ad-specs/summary/ [58] http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/beats-music-uses-sound-headphone-marketing-strategies-156896 [59] http://www.hashtags.org/events/visualizing-social-media-a-picture-worth-1000-likes/ [60] http://socialmediatoday.com/genevieve-lachance/1454711/successful-facebook-business-page-top-10-must-read-tips [61] http://danzarrella.com/infographic-social-calls-to-action-work.html# [62] http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/where-did-throwbackthusday-come-from/#!LEtfr [63] https://blog.twitter.com/2014/study-exposure-to-brand-tweets-drives-consumers-to-take-action-both-on-and-off-twitter [64] http://www.smmu.com/research/ [65] http://www.bitrebels.com/social/the-best-time-of-day-to-tweet-to-get-the-most-rts/ [66] http://mwpartners.com/snapchat [67]http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/snapchat-for-business/ [68] http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-snapchat--text-messages-video-chatting-20140501-story.html [69] http://mashable.com/2014/02/13/asp-rides-the-snapchat-wave/ [70] http://mct.fantasy.aspworldtour.com/rules [71] http://espn.go.com/watchespn/apps [72] https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/espn-sportscenter/id317469184?mt=8 [73] http://fantasy.aspworldtour.com/ [74] http://enapp.appvv.com/174203.html [75] http://blog.marketo.com/2012/10/the-roi-of-paid-social-media-ads.html