ATHLETES AS A BRAND

Sportaši su pored svojih profesionalnih karijera i osobe od utjecaja, a zahvaljujući društvenim mrežama omogućili su pristup svomu svakodnevnom životu svima koji ih žele pratiti. Sportski marketing predstavlja proces dizajniranja aktivnosti pri formiranju cijena, proizvodnji, promociji i distribuciji sportskoga proizvoda. Sportski obožavatelji imaju svoje potrebe, ali i pogodnosti kao što su uzbuđenje, pripadnost grupi, ispunjavanje slobodnoga vremena, želja za prijateljskom ili obiteljskom aktivnošću, ugođaj utakmice, prijateljstvo s drugim obožavateljima, suparništvo protivničkih obožavatelja, gledanje tehničkih vještina sportaša ili sadržaji arene. Sportaši utječu na ispunjenje velika broja marketinških ciljeva od bavljenja tim istim sportom do kupovine onoga što određene ličnosti promoviraju kao brend. Sportski marketing utječe na stvaranje brenda, ali i kult ličnosti sportaša. Osobni, a naposljetku i brend marketing može biti pozitivan i negativan. Utjecaj sportaša u današnjemu dobu proširio se izvan sportskih terena i natjecanja. Sportaši diktiraju modu, trend, stavove o životnim pitanjima i stvaraju kult ličnosti. Cilj je ovoga rada da se kvantitativnom metodom i analizom sadržaja utvrde pozitivni i negativni aspekti osobnoga marketinga kroz analizu članaka i teorije. Posebno će se obratiti pažnja na primjere svjetski poznatih sportaša koji su postali hodajući brend kao što su David Beckham, Novak Đoković, Conor McGregor i Tiger Woods.Besides their professional careers, athletes are also persons of great influence. Social networks brought another dimension and provided fans with the possibility to be „closer” to the ones they admire and follow. Sports marketing represents the process of designing activities within forming prices, production, promotion, and distribution of sports products. Sports fans have their needs, but also have benefits such as excitement, affiliation with the group, fulfilling their free time, will for making friendships or family activity, drive for competition and achievement, match atmosphere, friendship with other fans, rivalry with other fans, watching technical skills of athletes or content of the arena. Athletes do affect the accomplishment of a great number of marketing goals, which spread from the sport as it is to specific products which are promoted by some of the greatest athletes. Sports marketing aims to raise the value of athletes, but also to create a brand or even a cult of personality. Sports marketing, personal and brand marketing can be positive and negative. Today, the influence of athletes is not limited only to sports competitions and sports fields. Athletes dictate fashion, trends, and attitudes on life issues and create a cult of personality. This paper aims to detect positive and negative personal marketing through article analysis, using qualitative methods and content analysis. Particular attention will be paid to examples of world-famous athletes who have become walking brands such as David Beckham, Novak Djokovic, Conor McGregor, and Tiger Woods