Components
The Disruptive Savannah Bananas – Adding A-Peel to Baseball
Jesse Cole had created a college-level amateur baseball team that sold one season ticket in its first two months of existence. Miraculously, by the end of the first season, Jesse had turned things around as the team began selling out every home game. Within five years, Jesse had transformed the Savannah Bananas from a mundane baseball team into a disruptive entertainment experience that fans could not wait to see. Jesse now faced new challenges for the team, however, such as how to grow the organization despite the team’s physical capacity limitations. The organization had expanded sales of merchandise, developed a strong social media presence, and added a premier team of professional players. The Bananas’ future was full of possibilities, but the team needed concrete plans to grow the brand and the organization.
In analyzing this case, students should be able to:
1. Recognize the characteristics of an organization that is an industry disruptor
2. Analyze the experiential marketing strategies an organization uses to engage with consumers
3. Apply positioning theory to understand how an organization grows in popularity among consumers
4. Evaluate concepts of viral marketing and utilize them to reflect on the communication strategies of an organization
5. Utilize the Ansoff Model of growth strategies to develop suggestions for how an organization could grow
6. Analyze how a team can enhance brand equity using Keller’s (2001) Customer-Based Brand Equity model, despite the sport having lost interest with fans
7. Apply person-brand theory to draw conclusions about the role an owner plays in creating a living brand for an organization