The Ontario Soccer Association (OSA) oversees regional soccer associations, soccer leagues, and clubs, with over 500,000 registered participants. They wanted to gain more sponsorship and win more advertisers.
The OSA wanted Manifold to do a data-mining exercise on the OSA’s registration database. The goal was to determine the purchasing power of the OSA membership and to develop a detailed profile of families with soccer players to attract corporate partners for the Ontario Soccer Association.
We linked the OSA registration data to our Lifestyle Clusters and demographic data and found that the blue-collar soccer mom stereotype was off-base. The fact is that the OSA’s membership and the soccer demographic has greater than average disposable income, home ownership, family size, higher education levels, and is overrepresented in senior executive positions and the technology profession.
The following variables in Manifold’s data products played a significant role in OSA’s analysis
Manifold’s data mining flipped the assumption of blue-collar soccer players on its head. The soccer market can be classified into the “Affluents” CanaCode lifestyle cluster, which combined with the predictability and reachability (club locations, practice and game schedules), is a corporate partner’s dream. With insight into their members’ purchasing power, geographic concentration, demographics, and lifestyles, the OSA was able to develop a Marketing Vehicle involving affinity programs (discounts, prizes, and points cards), product placement & sampling, and advertising (field signage, jerseys, web sites, CSA web radio broadcasts, facility naming rights, merchandising, and a national soccer raffle/lottery).