Since then it has been used to describe a variety of activities associated with sport promotion. Marketing Myopia, as a term, makes it very clear the inability of … Examples Of Marketing Myopia. It’s easy and free to post your thinking on any topic. The company has lost sight of what business they are really in. Dangers of R&D; Another big danger to a firm’s continued growth arises when top management is wholly transfixed by the profit possibilities of technical research and development.Shortchanges marketing – changes the focus of the organisation. All effort focuses on production. LA Clippers. However, they only form a small part of the overall marketing strategy once the customers’ needs are first determined. The evidence not only shows that oil has never been a superior product for any purpose for very long but also that the oil industry has never really been a growth indus- try. The Sport Product Sport services cannot be stored and are time dependant Unsold tickets to a sport event is lost revenue The Sport Market Sport Finance Difficult to price like traditional job costing Price of sport product small compared to total cost paid by consumer – hidden Thus, further decreasing the demand for the product. Blackberry Under Armour made its name as a tech-focused sports apparel company. Sport marketing has developed two major thrusts: – the marketing of sport products and services directly to consumers of sport – the marketing of other consumer and industrial products or services using partnerships and promotions with sport … Take technology and gaming for example, children are choosing to stay inside and play video games rather than go outside and play sports. Nokia losing its marketing share to android and IOS. It results in the failure to see and adjust to the rapid changes in their markets. Product vs. Price. Sport Marketing The notion of "marketing myopia" has haunted marketers since Theodore Levitt published his famous article "Marketing Myopia" in Harvard Business Review in 1960. 3) Samsung 4) Apple 5) LG They were also completely preoccupied with a product that lends itself to carefully controlled scientific experimentation, improvement and manufacturing cost reduction. This sample of an academic paper on Examples Of Marketing Myopia Today reveals arguments and important aspects of this topic. In it, Theodore Levitt, a Harvard Business School Professor, introduced the now-famous question, “What business are you really in?”. What is Sports Marketing? The Curry 2 shoes had poor sales because the company flooded the market with the product. The New York Times article also states that Under Armour’s CEO and Founder Kevin Plank and his top lieutenants believed that nothing could stop the company’s rise. Even after the advent of automobiles, trucks, and airplanes, the railroad tycoons remained imperturbably self-confident. You have probably heard the saying, “a rising tide lifts all ships.” That saying applies to Myth 1. Recently, the Founder and Executive Chairman of Under Armour, Kevin Plank told attendees at a conference, “The world did not need another competent apparel footwear manufacturer. Levitt states that business leaders who have Marketing Myopia accept any of the following four myths and, in doing so, put their businesses at risk of obsolescence. Marketing myopia is something that modern CEOs have become much more cognizant of moving forward during the growth of their startups. Marketing Myopia in Sport: Marketing myopia Lack of market research Poor sales training and techniques Marketing Myopia: lack of foresight in marketing ventures A focus on producing and selling goods and services rather than identifying and satisfying the needs and wants of consumers and their markets The belief that winning absolves all other sins process. Population myth; The belief that profits are assured by an expanding and more affluent population is dear to the heart of every industry. Marketing myopia is when a firm goes into decline due to a product-focus as opposed to a customer-focus. Its stock price has fallen to around $21 a share from its all-time high of $51 in 2015. It occurred to me after reading the article that Under Armour is suffering from a case of “Marketing Myopia”. Myth 2: There is no competitive alternative for our industry’s major products. When markets are expanding, business leaders assume they don’t have to think of new or creative ways to do business. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Marketing Myopia refers to the phenomenon of not being able to see a long term and more sustainable goal for an organisation. Get smarter at building your thing. To remain relevant, focus on the true problem you solve. While Under Armour has an advantage over up-and-coming companies with newer visions and disruptive concepts, if they continue to focus on their products and not invest in their customers’ needs, they will miss out on this opportunity to meet the ever-increasing millennial demand. Overseas. No other form of transportation could compete with the railroads in speed, flexibility, durability, economy, and growth potentials’. Under Armour’s revenue growth is relatively stagnant. Consist of all activities designed to meet the needs and wants of sport consumers through exchange processes. Review our Privacy Policy for more information about our privacy practices. Marketing myopia refers to the myopia shrouding the vision of certain companies … ( Log Out /  This myth epitomizes the Under Armour business strategy. Provide an example of a sports organizatino that suffers from marketing myopia and another sports organization that defines its business as entertainment. Our first contender is not promoting a specific team, club or sport but being active in … MARKETING MYOPIA RE-VISITED: WHY EVERY COMPANY NEEDS TO LEARN FROM THE WORLD. For example, let's return to our company that makes hiking boots. As an industry it needs to be aware of the products and industries that are taking away from it. Both Companies saw the need to diversify into other forms of energy alternatives rather than relying solely on oil drilling. Marketing myopia: Is a software company a software company? As an industry it needs to be aware of the products and industries that are taking away from it. History continues to record the failings of managements and organisations that fall prey to the myopia of product supremacy, guaranteed growth and ‘big is beautiful’. Categories: Marketing. Take a look. Get smarter at building your thing. When Sony introduced its digital cameras in the market, Sony’s cameras were a huge success. Change ), The TOTAL Fan Experience – Cathy Long – Working the Spotlight – Review. From there, they branched out into sleepwear that focused on helping athletes recover from workouts. Building an effective customer-oriented company involves far more than good intentions or promotional tricks; it involves profound organisation and leaders. Frequency Escalator. Marketing Myopia – Introduction. Take technology and gaming for example, children are choosing to stay inside and play video games rather than go outside and play sports. Ironically, by focussing on mass production, a company invests in only meeting its goals and fails to understand customer needs and changing trends. The Kodak case. Marketing of Sports Marketing Through Sports 3. The Under Armour strategy focuses on the smaller niche of professional athletes that need the products that they produce instead of the mass consumers’ of the sports apparel industry. In Levitt’s article, what did the oil industry continue to do and what was its consequence? Example: 1- Kodak Kodak film camera: Fall prey to Marketing Myopia Sony Digital Camera invaded the market which was a roaring success 7. / Leave a comment. The industry believed that it was indispensable, or if there is, that it will; be a derivative of crude oil, such as diesel fuel or kerosene jet fuel. It’s based on the idea that when R&D produces breakthrough products, companies are tempted to organize their entire company around the technology rather than the consumer. However, this will not help them with the risk of obsolescence. The barrier to entry into this market is high due to the steep research and development costs that are required. Posted on August 3, 2015 by pommydavis1996. Creswell, J. and Draper, K. (2020) ‘How Under Armour Lost Its Way’, The New York Times, 29 January, p.B1. Get smarter at building your thing. Nonaware nonconsumer Misinformed … infoshelter - I agree with you. by: Jose Santos, Peter J. Williamson, Yves Doz, Peter J. Williamson, Yves Doz Issues: January / February 2004. This idea persists despite all historic evidence against it. Example: II- Sony Now it was the turn of Sony (Sony Walkman) Apple introduced a innovative product which was a huge success 8. … “Marketing Myopia” is a seminal piece published in 1960 by the Harvard Business Review. Marketing Management I Assignment 1 Marketing Myopia Myopia refers to nearsightedness or shortsightedness. Google is such a large and famous corporation that it has … Myth 3: We can protect ourselves through mass production. The most likely cause of their decline is Marketing Myopia. Join The Startup’s +794K followers. Under Armour has shown signs of accepting this myth by ignoring the sports apparel industry’s focus on the consumer that wears athletic wear for everyday activities. ( Log Out /  Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Examples of Marketing Myopia. If you had told them 60 years ago that in 30 years they would be flat on their backs, broke, and pleading for government subsidies, they would have thought you totally demented. There was a time when Kodak’s cameras were at the peak of the market, they kept on producing the same types of cameras over the years. It has become ubiquitous, with billions of people around the world using this search engine to find information online. On May 24th I posted my first ever blog post, and it was because of this subject. Eternal wealth was thought to be the benediction for anybody who could scrape together a few thousand dollars to put into rail stocks. Under Armour has shown signs of accepting this myth by ignoring the sports apparel industry’s focus on the consumer that wears athletic wear … The article stated that three former Under Armour executives said that decisions around products were often driven by instinct, rather than consumer analysis of the market. There is no such thing as a growth industry – there are only companies organised and operated to create and capitalise on growth opportunities.The failure of management causes the downfall of industries. More than 20 years ago, Theodore Levitt penned his well-known marketing manifesto, "Marketing Myopia." Another business and market that has failed to adapt are phone companies such as Blackberry, Nokia and LG. Dropping. Explore, If you have a story to tell, knowledge to share, or a perspective to offer — welcome home. List the reasons Levitt gives for the demise of myopic industries over time. July 27, 2014. By signing up, you will create a Medium account if you don’t already have one. The glut in supply resulted in the shoes ending up on the sales rack. Examples of Marketing Myopia: Marketing Myopia is followed by Very well-known companies. The following are the four myths Levitt discusses in his article: Myth 1: An ever-expanding and affluent population will ensure the company’s growth. Examples of marketing myopia. People were leaving the video rental service behind and instead of making the painful changes needed to survive, they buckled under the pressure. MARKETING MYOPIA. I wanted to add that when I think of marketing myopia examples I always think of companies like Kodak. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. Production Pressures; mass production industries are impelled by a drive to product all they can as fast as they can. What lessons does the article give about SPORT? Attend a high school, college, and professional sporting event and comment on the marketing orientation of the even at each level of competition. Ticket Price. They realized that these items satisfied the need of customers to immortalize images in the moment in a digital way, so they had to adapt their products … They tend to focus on outperforming their rivals by improving on what they’re already doing. The primary product in the sports apparel industry is athletic wear. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Under Armour has clashed with its brand ambassador Steph Curry and has been portrayed in a negative light due to its poor corporate culture. There needs to be a way to continue to commit all people – regardless of age to the industry – this means not limiting itself to those who already thoroughly believe in it. We all know Google, the world’s most popular search engine. The belief that a company’s product has no rival can make them vulnerable to innovations and competition from outside the industry. Kodak’s focus on film instead of digital technology allowed Sony and Nikon to take over the digital technology market. MARKETING MYOPIA 1) PEPSI Pepsi-cola is a good example where Marketing Myopia is absent. The following are illustrative examples of marketing myopia. Result of marketing myopia: The failure of companies to see and adjust to rapid changes in the market. Few companies can resist the idea of increased profits that result from decreasing unit costs through mass production. Here Are Small Business Stats to Know, How This Company Used Anthropology to Understand Its Customers. Surveys and … A marketing tool that examines the attendance levels of fans. Their strategy was not just to make clothes for athletes, but to make clothes that focused on improving their performance. For decades, the term Myopia is being used in human sciences referring to Nearsightedness – the ability to see near objects clearly but the inability to see the far off objects. The only way they can avert becoming obsolete is to resist the urge to focus on their own internal goals and instead focus on the consumers’ needs. In … Sport is unique as its consumers enjoy sport for a multitude of reasons. Example – Google Glass. It stems from three related phenomena: (1) a single-minded focus on the customer to the exclusion of other stakeholders, (2) an overly narrow definition of the customer and his or her needs, … Under Armor exhibited signs of accepting this myth with the mass production of their Curry 2 shoes. For example, Conoco Inc. and Phillips Petroleum merged in 2002 to form Conoco Phillips; Exxon acquired XTO Energy in December2009. "Unpredictability". They lacked the innovativeness to see themselves as anything more than a railroad service. What other examples can you suggest, of industries/corporations failing to adapt new ways to meet old needs? Further evidence that Under Armor is falling for this myth comes from the Times article. Check your inboxMedium sent you an email at to complete your subscription. Electronics are the best way to demonstrate this particular problem of marketing myopia and we have a very good example for you. ( Log Out /  The term ‘sport marketing’ was first used in the United States by the Advertising Age in 1978. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Sports Marketing for Dummies Become an expert with me! The market votes with its wallet and will force anyone out of business who doesn’t meet its needs. Need to ensure that sport remains customer oriented otherwise it may dwindle. Once Apple and Samsung got on top they stopped being innovative and taking risks to ensure sales. For example, railway companies that define their markets in terms of trains, rather than transportation, fail to recognize the challenge of competition from cars, airlines, and buses. Follow to join The Startup’s +8 million monthly readers & +794K followers. There needs to be a way to continue to commit all people – regardless of age to the industry – … Marketing Planning Process. These are only worth something if the product is demanded. Eventually somebody finds a way to serve customer needs better and the product becomes obsolete. The oil industry continued to believe that there was no competitive substitute for their industries major product. The millennial generation has shown a preference for casual sports attire that could increase the demand for sportswear. Kodak only focuses on creating an old camera and camera rolls not to focus on creating the digital camera. 1) Situation Analysis 2) Strategy Development 3) Marketing Program Development 4) Implementation. What the customer needs is a dream.” If Mr. Plank would like to keep the dream of Under Armour alive, he will have to stop telling customers what they need and instead start listening to what consumers want and need from the marketplace. As quoted in Oxford dictionary, marketing myopia is – “A failure to define an organization’s purpose in terms of its function from the consumers’ point of view. Curry 1 shoes had sold out and faced with the possibility of being able to sell the shoes out again; executives decided to overproduce the product. In the article, Levitt goes on to argue that had railroads seen themselves as being in the transportation industry and not just in the railroad industry, they would have continued to grow. Read this essay’s introduction, body paragraphs and the conclusion below. For a long time Pepsi cola continued to be the... 2) NIKE NIKE was originally known as Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS) and it initially operated as a shoe maker distributor. Justify your choices. Downfall in the industry is the result. Over the span of this time I have compiled over 15 blog posts, each of which displays my new found knowledge for the subject. #ThisGirlCan. If he is unable to do this, Under Armour will experience the same fate as the railroad industry and other businesses that suffered from Marketing Myopia. History continues to record the failings of managements and organisations that fall prey to the myopia of product supremacy, guaranteed growth and ‘big is beautiful’. European monarchs invested in them heavily. Nokia losing its marketing share to android and IOS. More important is the ability of individual managers to adapt organisations to remain competitive, innovate and respond beyond their (otherwise) ‘use by date’. Check out his full bio @ https://www.navstella.com. After reviewing the Marketing Myopia piece – I wouldn’t be so comfortable. Shadow of obsolescence; still here but not used. This leads the firm to continually improve a narrowly defined product without inventing new ways to meet customer needs. Write on Medium, 5 Streaming Services Film Buffs Will Love, Airbnb Salvaged Its IPO by Mastering the Pandemic Pivot, Skip the Black Friday Brawl and Shop One of These 21 Women-Owned Businesses Instead, 5 Dumb Words That May Have Cost Mark Zuckerberg $34 Billion — and How Not to Make the Same Mistake, Unlocking Digital Innovation in Public Organizations: Digital Journey of Asian Development Bank, Want a Thriving Business? ( Log Out /  They were reluctant to abandon analog photography, which meant a crisis in the sector. Myth 4: Technical research and development will ensure our growth. Apple and Samsung have far bypassed any other brand of phone, leaving many companies losing massive chunks of money. Subscribe to receive The Startup's top 10 most read stories — delivered straight into your inbox, once a week. There will always be something that competes with sport. There are many other examples of the new marketing myopia, be it Nike’s failure in the 1990s to respond to workplace abuses in the factories of its suppliers that resulted in worldwide protests and boycotts, or Monsanto’s blatant disregard of public opinion about genetically-modified food that was a major contributing factor in its merger with Pharmacia (Smith 2007).