Marketing and Branding of Wales Rugby Union team

It was therefore not easy to build a strong relationship between rugby fans and the team. Consequently, the team did not have any brand which the rugby fans could use it to identify the players from the team (Tybout & Calkins, 2005). Wales National rugby union team did not have any slogan or logo that could distinguish them from the other rugby teams in the country. However, the team has managed to incorporate the principles of marketing and branding in order to build a strong relationship between the fans and them and to distinguish the team from the rest of rugby teams. Adoption of marketing and branding has led to the team being famous and it has risen to be among the best rugby teams in the country.

Brand associations are a combination of different qualities that enable clients and customers to distinguish one company from the other and to develop a positive feeling towards a particular brand (Janiszewski et al. Wales National rugby union team expanded its brands to create a team of under 20 rugby players since the teenagers were also interested in playing rugby. Both the Wales national rugby union team and the Wales national under 20 rugby union team belong to the Welsh rugby union. Therefore, they both use the brand logo of Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) so that fans can be able to differentiate the team from the others since it was the first logo used when launching and marketing Wales National Rugby Union team. The international rugby board (IRB) junior world championship was formed from a combination of under 19, 20 and 21 rugby teams but they still use the logo of WRU to show similarity in the teams and to improve customer loyalty and trust in the brand (Pitts, 2005).

It is a one-stop website for all fans of the team and it provides up to date information regarding places where the team will play its tournament and the name of the competing team. Products sold by the team such as caps, t-shirts, badges, and bags are displayed on the website together with their prices (Balmer et al. Discounts on various items such as tickets are displayed in the website together with other promotions such as free entry for the first fans, free drinks for everyone who will watch the match and other gifts for those who will pay for VIP tickets. The website also provides access to profiles of the team and the players, forthcoming matches, and league boards. Wales Rugby Union also markets Wales national rugby union team through the WRU YouTube channel.

Since Facebook is considered as the largest social network around the world, the information about the team tends to reach a large audience of people. Similarly, Facebook gives the fans an opportunity to interact with the team directly since they can easily chat and reply to texts to any player or to the team leader. Consequently, fans can be able to market the team to other people by sharing the posts to other groups. Wales national rugby union team has been able to gain popularity through marketing of information such as poll results, audio and video messages from different players, videos from the past competitions and videos showing how they prepare for different matches. Wales national rugby union team is made up one specific brand logo that originated from WRU (Tybout and Calkins, 2005).

They sometimes order the rugby fans to pay entrance fee yet they still have more tickets. This is considered as fraud since they do not provide the necessary sponsorship which they offered to give rugby fans. Theory to Practical experience Marketing mix refers to a combination and organization of different marketing instruments such as product, price, place, and promotion in order to achieve the marketing objectives of a specific business and for a particular market (Grewal et al. Different marketing activities enhance the development of brand equity. Consumers believe that price defines the quality of a product or service. Frequent advertisement increases brand awareness and creates an affirmative insight into products which creates a strong brand equity. Rugby updates and events are rarely advertised on televisions but they are rather advertised on other social media platforms.

I will write my comment as a fan to the team requesting for advertisement of the teams on televisions and radios so that brand awareness and brand equity can be increased. Discussions Marketing involves carrying out activities such as getting the product, placing a price on the product, finding a place to sell the products and using various methods to promote the products by selling it to people (Gregg, 2003). Branding, on the other hand, involves providing a brand name such as using uniforms, logo or sign so that clients can easily identify the company using the brand identity. References Aaker, A. Building strong brands. New York: The Free Press. Balmer, J.  M. Foroudi, P. Influence of brand signature, brand awareness, brand attitude, brand reputation on the sports industry’s brand performance.