GUERILLA MARKETING AND SPORT

In this study, after giving the definition of guerrilla marketing, the relationship between sport and guerilla marketing is examined. The use guerilla marketing methods started to appear around 2000 in Turkey. It is not possible to say that the practices of guerrilla marketing performed through sport have been effectively used in our country. Yet, it is believed that it will be of great importance in near future. Technology has influenced human’s life rapidly. As a result of this, new forms of communications have come to existence with an enormous speed. The term guerrilla marketing is similar to the actions of a guerrilla fighter who tries to draw one’s attention to a different direction. While they are busy with doing this, their strategy can be regarded as different, amazing, authentic and entertaining. It can be considered as one of the marketing tools which has the greatest impact upon public relations and also easy to keep in mind. It is generally used for awakening curiosity during marketing periods and it gives subliminal messages about the brand or the product. A small budget is enough for guerrilla marketing and it is applicable in every kind of market. The sport business is whetting the appetite of brands as the rivalry in sports has peaked nowadays. Consequently brand names are getting more and more popular. The reason why sport has turned into one of the great industries lies behind the “communal power”. The world’s biggest firms have noticed this power long time ago and they have used marketing strategies related with sports. Many big firms and companies have carried on continuing their activities as the most accepted stereotyped marketing point of view. Administrators and executives try to enrich their clients’ lives and looked for new ways to make this process as fast as possible. In this frame sport provides many useful benefits to various sectors even to those ones which have got nothing to do with sport. Both service and manufacturing companies have been using guerrilla marketing efficiently and easily. Guerrilla marketing experts try to achieve their goals by using the communal power of sport. Sport offers multiple benefits to reach the target group directly and in a most efficient way anyone can think of. [h47] Guerrilla marketing not only offers important financial benefits to those who are practising it, but also has the power to make use of opportunities created by others. Supposing that sport has one thing in common which gathers people together regardless of their social and cultural, it will never lose its popularity and there is no doubt that sport will always play an important role in marketing activities in the future.