Abstract

Outdoor small scale sport events like trail or local city running races are on a rise. Several event managers pivot their promotional strategies by developing unique brand personality characteristics to support their products from competition. This study aimed to develop a brand personality scale for outdoor small scale running events with the usage of mixed methods approach. First, 24 semi-structured interviews were conducted within event managers and trail runners to conceptualize the brand personality in small scale sport event settings. Then, an exploratory factor analysis was performed in 216 runners to identify the underlying construct. A third study with 396 respondents was carried out to validate the hypothesized scale. The results indicated a five factor model with seventeen characteristics: Safe, Local-oriented, Authentic, Competitive and Excited. This study has theoretical and practical significant contribution for both brand personality literature and sport event marketers as it strengths the promotional actions and provides a better event personality conceptualization for outdoor small scale events. Finally, several managerial implications are discussed in the later sections.

摘要

越野跑或当地城市跑步比赛等户外小型体育赛事正在增加。一些活动经理通过开发独特的品牌个性特征来调整他们的促销策略，以支持他们的产品免受竞争。本研究旨在采用混合方法开发户外小型跑步赛事的品牌个性量表。首先，对赛事经理和越野跑运动员进行了 24 次半结构化访谈，以概念化小型体育赛事环境中的品牌个性。然后，对 216 名跑步者进行探索性因素分析，以确定潜在的构建。第三项研究涉及 396 名受访者，以验证假设的规模。结果显示了一个具有十七个特征的五因素模型：安全、面向本地、真实、竞争和兴奋。这项研究对品牌个性文献和体育赛事营销人员都具有理论和实践上的重大贡献，因为它加强了促销行动，并为户外小型活动提供了更好的赛事个性概念化。最后，后面几节将讨论一些管理意义。