Retailing of Sport and Entertainment

Introduction

Special issue of the International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management in conjunction with the International Conference on Sport and Entertainment Business; Deadline 15 May 2007

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Date: Tue 20 Feb 2007 17.06 +0100
From: Rodney Runyan <runyanrc@gwm.sc.edu>

Special Issue on the “Retailing of Sport and Entertainment”

The International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management announces the call for papers for a special issue on the Retailing of Sport and Entertainment, in conjunction with The Eleventh Annual International Conference on Sport and Entertainment Business (ICSEB). The deadline for submission is May 15th, 2007.

Guest Editor:

Rodney C. Runyan, The University of South Carolina, runyanrc@sc.edu

Purpose of the special issue:

The importance of the relationships between retailing and sports, and retailing and entertainment have grown tremendously over the past few decades, and not just in the U.S. and Europe. The 2007 U.S. Superbowl drew nearly 100 million television viewers in the U.S. alone, with millions more watching in other countries. According to FIFA, the 2002 World Cup soccer championships drew over 1 billion viewers world-wide. These are examples of events which drive the sales of related products such as team apparel and even electronics (e.g. televisions), which are sold to the public through retail outlets (in different channel forms).  A similar relationship can be seen between the entertainment industry and retailers, as is exemplified by movie and product tie-ins, product placement within movie and television, and celebrity sponsorships of products and brands.

Sports teams (e.g. Manchester United, Dallas Cowboys, New York Yankees, etc.), entertainers (e.g., Madonna, The Beatles, etc.), and even movie “franchises” (e.g., Star Wars, Shrek, Harry Potter, etc.) have become quasi-brands, driving the sales of products bearing their names and images at the retail level.  Yet these relationships between retailing and the sport/entertainment industries have seen little research reported in the extant literature.

We invite manuscripts from researchers on topics which look at these general retailing and marketing topics as they relate to sports and entertainment, including, but not limited to:

  • Sporting teams as brands
  • Entertainers as brands
  • The role of sports/entertainment in consumer buying processes (e.g. effects of endorsement on  intent to shop/purchase)
  • brand extensions and brand lifecycles (e.g., movie sequels, team “dynasties,” etc.)
  • co-branding and brand alliances
  • global and international branding issues (e.g., NBA, World Cup, Yankees, Manchester United)
  • sport/entertainment and e-commerce
  • brand personality and brand-consumer relationships
  • the brand as an experience (e.g., fan attachment, vicarious experiences such as  fan training camps)
  • consumer culture and consumption communities (e.g., fantasy leagues, online gaming)
  • branding and corporate identity (e.g., ties between athletes/entertainers and corporations)
  • branding of different targets (e.g. sporting teams, sport stars, movie stars, singers)
  • retailer performance and sponsorship (e.g., teams, events, stars)
  • retailer loyalty and brand tie-ins (e.g., celebrity endorsements, event advertising)

Processes for the submission of papers

Papers may be theoretical or empirical, using quantitative or qualitative methods. Papers will be double-blind reviewed for Conference consideration and acceptance, and the “Best Papers” will form the Special Issue of the International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management (following any needed revisions). Papers submitted must not have been published, accepted for publication, or presently be under consideration for publication. Submissions should be between 4,000 and 7,000 words in length and should be submitted via email to the guest editor using a Word attachment (in one file including all figures and tables) by May 15th 2007. The first page must contain the title, author/s, and contact information for the contact author. For additional guidelines, please see the "Notes for Contributors" from a recent issue of International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, or home page at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/info/journals/ijrdm/ijrdm.jsp

The Conference website can be accessed at www.icseb.com for registration and other conference information. Those author(s) whose papers are accepted for the conference must agree to have at least one author attend and present their paper during the conference.