DEVELOPING AN INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS PLAN FOR AFRICAN POLISTAS.

0
587

Table of Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY……………………………………………………………………………………………… 4

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………… 7

  1. INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 7
    1. Overview of Chapter………………………………………………………………………………………………. 8
    1. Company Profile…………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 9
    1. Rationale for Selecting African Polistas…………………………………………………………………… 10
    1. Industry Analysis………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 10
      1. SWOT analysis………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 11
      1. PESTLE Analysis…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 12
      1. Porter’s Five Forces……………………………………………………………………………………………. 15

CHAPTER TWO: NEEDS ASSESSMENT……………………………………………………………………. 18

  • CHAPTER OVERVIEW…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 18
    • NEEDS ASSESSMENT………………………………………………………………………………………….. 18
      • Real Life Narrative………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 19
    • Methodology…………………………………………………………………………………………………… 21
      • Observations………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 23
      • Interviews………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 25
      • Internet research……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 26
    • Justification…………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 29

CHAPTER THREE: MASTERY OF SUBJECT MATTER…………………………………………….. 31

  • CHAPTER OVERVIEW……………………………………………………………………………………….. 31
    • Customer acquisition……………………………………………………………………………………….. 33
    • Marketing…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 33
    • Marketing Plan……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 34
    • Frameworks and Models………………………………………………………………………………………… 36
      • The marketing mix…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 36
      • RABOSTIC MODEL…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 41
      • PASTA MODEL…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 43

CHAPTER FOUR: SOLUTION……………………………………………………………………………………. 44

  • Physical Evidence………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 44
    • Process…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 46
    • People………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 46
    • Promotions…………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 47
      • Direct marketing……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 49
      • Personal Selling……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 49
      • Word of mouth……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 50
    • Sample of Action Plan……………………………………………………………………………………………. 52

CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSIONS, LIMITATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS……. 54

  • OVERVIEW OF CHAPTER………………………………………………………………………………….. 54
    • Recommendations…………………………………………………………………………………………………. 54

References…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 56

Appendix……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 61

  1. Interview Guide…………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 61
    1. Pictures from observations…………………………………………………………………………………….. 61

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

             INTRODUCTION

Ghana as a country offers a large array of sports activities for both the young and the young at heart. It would be unfair to acknowledge the fact that the art of boxing and football has had great influence and dominance from individual glory, Olympic medals as well as international cups. Certain sports activities though such as polo, horseback riding, hockey, rugby just to mention a few, remain almost unnoticeable in the industry although highly recognized and profitable on an international level. (Danquah, 2019)

This project is mainly centered on polo and horseback riding as a sport. Subsequent chapters lay emphasis on its level of appreciation in the international and Ghanaian sport community as well as the cultivation of better marketing strategies to reach horse lovers. Polo as most people know is commonly described as a ‘gentleman’s sport’ mainly appreciated among the elite in society. It is a game played worldwide and involves the participation of over 50 countries in the world. Dominant countries or nations which seem to be invested in polo include Argentina, the USA and Britain. (Davis, 2019) This sport goes further than improving the riding skills of players to inculcating the values of teamwork and strategy in its players. Polo has a brief history in Ghana although it is by no means a sport that dominates the industry. Due to the fact that polo is not so popular in Ghana as in an international setting, a polo team known as the African Polistas was introduced with a mission to create a world class equestrian facility that serves as a hub to teach and nurture generation of horse lovers and the vision to be an incubator for all equestrian sports in Ghana. African Polistas is a decade old pan-African polo team with a network of more than fifty (50) polo members in England, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa,

Argentina and the USA. It has managed to participate in various tournaments internationally which has enabled the organization to forge a great network. With its resilient and dedicated team members, African Polistas participated in a tournament which earned them their first African cup in 2008, making it the first all-black team in the tournament’s 14-year history to lift the cup. To an audience of over 2000 people in the year 2014, history repeated itself again when African Polistas lifted the trophy. Games hosted and played by the African Polistas in Ghana are mainly at the Accra Polo Club. It is however wrong to conclude that African Polistas the polo team of the Accra Polo Club since they only rent the Accra Polo club for most of their games and riding lessons. Despite their great success and achievements, African Polistas seems to be dissatisfied with their clientele base and are hoping to increase their customer base with a well- defined marketing strategy.

  •              Overview of Chapter

This chapter will begin with the profile of African Polistas, as well as the purpose for choosing to work on this project. It further goes on to analyze the industry from external and internal angles using both a SWOT and PESTLE analysis. Under the SWOT analysis, focus will be laid on the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of the firm in the business environment. The PESTLE analysis will be used as a tool in the latter part of this chapter to evaluate and track certain macro-economic factors which can directly affect the business currently and in the future. Porter’s Five forces will however be mentioned at the latter part of this chapter although not a major tool used for the industry analysis.

  •             Company Profile

Although African Polistas was introduced in an earlier paragraph, this section will solely focus on the company profile of African Polistas, its success and glory over the years as well as certain challenges faced. African Polistas was a team formed a decade ago with less members than currently. This club boasts of being a pan-African polo club deeply rooted in the Ghanaian and South African community. This team is currently chaired by Harold Awuah -Darko and with a number of approximately 50 players in the team. The logo of the team is represented by the head of a lion conveying the message of courage, strength and excellence, with the colours red, yellow and green better appreciating the African community. The pan-African polo team has actively participated in a number of tournaments which never goes unrecognized by the polo industry since their hard work led them to lift the African cup in the year 2008 and 2014 bringing glory to the team and a better brand image for the team.

With their knowledge of polo and with the aim of teaching and nurturing generations of horse lovers, the team recently introduced its riding school which targets not only the elite but horse lovers including children and all others willing to learn and play polo at a fee. Currently, the team hosts approximately 20 students including children between the ages of 5 and 7, horse lovers with ages from above 21, as well as all others interested in learning the sport. African Polistas although victorious in certain tournaments they have competed in, does not fail to embrace challenges that have come their way such as a lower clientele base, problems with customer service and relations as well as logistics and planning which they hope to surely improve upon in the coming years to strengthen their brand.

  • Mission Statement: To create a world class equestrian facility that serves as a hub to teach and nurture generations of horse lovers
    • Vision: To be an incubator for all equestrian sports in Ghana.