Market Segmentation

Client Challenge

A sports property wished to increase the effectiveness of marketing and sponsorship sales efforts by gaining a better understanding of how Canadians engage with its brand/sport. The property wanted to have a clearer picture of both current and potential fans, in terms of how and, more importantly, why they engage with the sport. These insights would be used to help their corporate partners develop relevant sponsorship platforms and activations to maximize their return on investment by targeting key fan subgroups.

Charlton’s Approach

To help the client gain a better understanding of their current and potential fans, Charlton designed an in-depth, quantitative segmentation study. As part of survey design, several in-house workshops were conducted with key internal stakeholders in order to define potential corporate partner objectives as well as brainstorm activations to be tested. Multiple variables were included in the segmentation analysis, such as sport interest and engagement, emotional connection, life-stage, demographics, and behavioural and psychographic factors.

The Result

Using factor analysis, Charlton identified six unique fan segments for the sports property. An expansive profile of each segment was developed, which the client was able to use in negotiations with potential corporate partners. The activations brainstormed during the in-house workshops were also quantified and linked with the appropriate fan segments. Furthermore, the insights generated revelations among the senior management and marketing teams about how to target potential fans, resulting in a ground-breaking new campaign and significant revenue generation.