The Toronto Ultimate ClubThe Toronto Ultimate Club is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the growth and advancement of the sport of Ultimate Frisbee in Toronto, Ontario. The general manager of the not-for-profit Ultimate Frisbee club seeks a marketing strategy to increase membership. For-profit clubs had claimed an ever-growing portion of the market, and the general manager has been asked to review current offerings in the marketplace and to develop a formal marketing plan that would ensure the clubs viability in the coming years.
The general manager of the TUC faced several major and minor issues that threatened the future of his business. One of the major issues that are directly apparent is the high level of turnover in his customer base. Having a loyal customer base can provide a competitive advantage and is basically required if your goal is to stimulate growth. Another major issue faced by TUC, which also may be contributing to the severity of the first one, is the increased amount of direct competition that has recently entered the market. TUCs past success and the growing popularity of the sport has increased the attractiveness of the market and spurred new entrants. Many of these competitors are for-profit organizations with different product offerings that span across multiple sports. The chance for turnover is even greater in disloyal consumers that have a passion to play many sports.
The organization faced a number of more minor issues as well. Two of the most evident and also inter-connected issues include the economic downturn of the time and the abundant amount of health and fitness alternatives available, as well as all the free public resources such as parks, pools, and bike routes. One last minor issue is the decentralization of the sport. With many leagues organizing the game under their own set of rules, the social and spirit side of the sport, which TUC emphasizes on so much, would be at risk.
The TUC has several different alternatives it can consider to help their business grow and remain sustainable. The general manager has been maintaining a company website for the past few years and should expand upon this concept by creating a Facebook group for the organization. The unparalleled popularity of social media makes it an ideal place to raise awareness for the organization at no additional cost. The TUC should continue to push to get into secondary and even elementary schools. Reaching students at an earlier age and emphasizing their “spirit of the game” philosophy will increase the chances of them retaining both the love and spirit for the sport by the time they become
The NGEA’s annual meeting was held at the Ritz Arena this past year.
At this year’s meeting, the majority (51 percent) of the membership wanted the game of golf to be held at a private facility that could be easily rented without incurring taxes. (It was decided to hold it at a special facility). Our NGA vice president has been involved in this effort since the beginning.
TUC also hopes to have a ‘Tucatán Golf Club’ at all of our facilities this year. This facility will provide a venue for golf and a means of making contributions to the local economy. This would also be a good venue to launch an open source program and, if we were lucky, the company might want to launch a “Brianna’s Tucatán” course to raise funds. The golf club, which we are considering today, would bring a lot to the table for us to consider
Our general manager wants us to create a new, sustainable company, not as a traditional company that runs away from any of the money we donate annually and never pays $50 at the tournament. For those of us who make as much as our fair share, a $20 tournament at a $100 cost could be a great way to fund a community golf experience. For golfers coming to the Ritz Arena, that is certainly something we should take a look at.
Our current director of marketing, J.M. Lattanz, said there were many different questions and opportunities on our end that required further investigation. We still have some time left in the planning process to address the issues of future financial challenges. Also, we wanted to let all of the stakeholders know it’s important we continue to have a good golf community in the future and that our players can participate in the TUC’s development.
To be honest, we didn’t want it to happen now. Our financial difficulties led us to postpone the decision to build a golf club. We were really hoping it would be a long term project that we could live on while we did all the things we had to in order to create more good golf games that would support the community.
Our board was told that we needed to work with the development and it took many months to get that to reality.
Our development team didn’t want the golf club at an all inclusive meeting. So, they told us if the event wasn’t successful, then we would move on.
We still want to participate in the TUC’s development and continue to build positive local impact at affordable cost. We hope that