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Digital Sport Media BSM310 | Assessment 2 |  Critical Analysis Folio | For: Samuel Duncan | By: Paul Sebastiani | Date: 16/10/2019 |

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Sports media internship

Entry One: Preparedness and assimilation 

Transition into professional practice helped enormously in my ability to understand what to expect when entering a professional media environment. 

This subject in semester one taught me how to communicate professionally and understand the values of an organisation prior to applying for our internships.

The foundation I had leading into internships this semester was very strong. The four years spent at the Northern Blues as a media officer coupled with the theoretical component of transition to professional practice had me very confident of my ability to make an immediate impact with SEN and the Herald Sun. 

One aspect I found myself under prepared for well before the first semester this year was my resume and cover letter writing. 

With the guidance of lecturer Robbie Coyle I was able to create a comprehensive resume as well as a cover letter to enhance my prospects of getting the internship I desired. 

Another area I felt I lacked in was how to handle the interview process with prospective employers.

The STAR technique above assisted me in handling my interviews with the internship partners. Here I was able to definitively layout my experiences to prove to the prospective employer I could handle myself in the professional workplace. 

Furthermore, the assimilation into workplace culture with both the Herald Sun and SEN/Croc Media was very smooth. Two of my biggest passions are conversing and writing about AFL and Horse Racing of which both sports are held in high regard at both organisations. 

One of the reasons I decided to choose both these organisations to do my internship at was because prior to commencing the internship I felt the values between them and I were a congruent fit. 

Taylor (2004) contends culture is created from messages received about how people are expected to behave in your organisation.  

At both organisations it was expected that you understood and spoke about to sport in order to assimilate into the workplace environment. 

Taking in the attitude of understanding that workplaces will have a general culture but is made up of different types of people I believed helped me gain popularity in both offices. 

Understanding how people communicate differently was also an important part of assimilating in work place culture. At the Herald Sun there was less communication about the work they wanted to be complete, it was more an expectation that you would understand what needed to be written. 

At SEN there was a little bit more guidance and it felt like a family inside the office. A small team who are very close and love to socialize while doing their work, whereas the Herald Sun was a very professional culture. 

I found I was able to fit into both environments quiet nicely. 

REFERENCES: 

Taylor, C 2004, ‘The Power of culture: turning the soft stuff into business advantage’, The Power of culture: driving today’s organisation, 1st edn., McGraw-Hill, NSW. 

Enterprise 2019, ‘Tips on using the STAR technique to answer job interview questions’, Enterprise, viewed 1 October 2019, https://careersblog.enterprise.co.uk/tips-on-using-the-star-technique-to-answer-job-interview-questions/

Entry Two: Finding my feet 

The initial first few weeks at both SEN and the Herald Sun were full of nervous energy. 

At SEN it was all about understanding the program they use to write their online content with and how they promote the content via their social media strategy. 

At the Herald Sun it was understanding how to frame the most newsworthy articles from AFL club press conferences. 

On my first articles at SEN was an article about Melbourne Storm captain Cameron Smith as seen below. 

This was a great milestone for me to have my work published on a professional media organisation’s website. 

Despite this putting a big grin on my face, it was the first article I ever had published in the Herald Sun that made me feel warm and fuzzy inside. 

On my second day at the biggest circulating newspaper in the country I was assigned the job of heading down to the Essendon Football Club in Tullamarine. The goal was to get a story from their press conference headed by senior coach John Worsfold. 

This was the final product below. 

In my first two days there I was not really sure whether my work would be of a high enough standard to be published for the Herald Sun. 

Thankfully, my doubts quickly turned into jubilation. A good grounding for writing as a result of the learnings undertaken in my course and prior writing experience at the Northern Blues held me in good stead.

One of the more challenging parts at the start of the SEN internship was my ability to hook the audience into clicking on my articles by using social media. 

At first I struggled to not give away the story on the social media post. However, as I progressed through the first handful of weeks I began to understand how the content managers wanted the posts to be formulated. 

One of the better social media posts I published was after I had written the match report for the Western Bulldogs vs Essendon game at Marvel Stadium. The Bulldogs had won comfortably but the story was about Essendon. 

The post gained 404 likes and 130 comments in addition to over 1000 clicks on the actual article. 

Finally, one of the first things I tried to do in the initial stages of both internships was to introduce myself to everyone I saw in the office and tell them what exactly my role there was. I found this helpful because it helped others understand you are new to the office and you may need to ask questions 99% of people working there already know the answer to. 

Being confident to ask questions when I was unsure was something I tried really hard to do upon starting my internships. 

Entry Three: Being an effective team member 

This was an integral part of whether or not my time spent as an intern at both organisations was a success. 

I believe the foundation of becoming an effective team member in a media organisation is effective communication with staff and management. 

One example which helped me be an effective team member at SEN was my level of communication and informing other team members exactly what I was working on. 

There was a morning where a horse racing story broke about a fraud case which I suggested I would work on. As I was publishing the article one of the other team members suggested it might be a good idea to write the article about the fraud case. 

It was at this point where I communicated to the team member that I was already working on the article and was about to publish it. This avoided any double ups and wasted time on an article that had already been written. 

This article was the most clicked/viewed article I wrote for the SEN racing team during my time there. It reached approximately 10,000 clicks on the SEN website. 

Furthermore, my time at Herald Sun involved weekly football meetings in a conference room at the Herald Sun sport offices. 

Here it was expected we would arrive with pen and paper in hand by 10:30am every Tuesday morning to jot down the main issues and areas of focus for the upcoming week of football. 

It was also expected that I contribute in the meeting which I did on all occasions. This is where I suggested I would head out to Alastair Clarkson’s press conference to try and formulate an article about Hawthorn. 

At that point in time they were at the forefront of the news with Clarkson being approached by Carlton and veteran player Shaun Burgoyne being courted by the Gold Coast Suns.

However, given my news sense I wanted to take a different angle and tell a different story to the one most people already knew. 

This is what I eventually contributed to the AFL writing team at the Herald Sun for Saturday’s newspaper. 

Entry Four: Challenges 

Just like any new adventure there are always challenges. 

One of the main challenges during my internships was my ability to always be keeping an eye on attention to detail. 

Whether that be filing stories to write the person/editor, ensuring all my grammar and punctuation is correct, ensuring I spell names correctly, and ensuring all my research and statistical evidence used in my articles is accurate and up to date. 

One of the challenges faced during my time at the Herald Sun and SEN is time management. 

My ability to set out a rigid routine to set up my day is still a work in progress. It is something I am trying to continually getting better at. 

Tracy (2014) contends those who manage their time well are able to confident, positive and in control of their lives. 

Tracy (2014) also highlights how self-esteem can be determined by how you use your life and time in the development of your full potential. Tracy (2014) goes on to state that there is a two-pronged effect here where your self-esteem increases the more efficient you are and decreases the less efficient you are. 

This was definitely clear in my first day out on the field at Tullamarine with the Herald Sun. Although I was excited for the job ahead of writing an article, the pressure of making sure I used my time wisely saw me stumble a bit. I was unsure of the lead for the story. 

Here I remained calm, set aside 15 minutes to listen back to the audio of the press conference and from there finished my first article within an hour of the press conference finishing. 

When my article went to print the following day my confidence levels spiralled upwards. 

One of best pieces of educational content I have listened to about challenges is in the above video from clinical psychologist Dr. Jordan Peterson. 

Using this to motivate me in times of hardship during my internship and especially during a tough year in my personal life has allowed me to face my challenges head on. 

Another specific challenge I faced during my internships was having the confidence to suggest new ideas. 

Being a novice in the industry and relatively inexperienced compared to those employees who have been in the media industry full-time for decades, suggesting new ideas an intern was at times daunting. 

For me, it was purely based on the idea I did not know how the ideas would be received. 

But it was at this point that I rose to the occasion. 

While creating content for SEN Racing, during the Melbourne Cup parade I suggested it would be a good idea to get a quick snap shot of each owner/trainer/connection and compile a video of all of them. 

My content manager Andrew Slevison thought the idea was great and the video ended up reaching over 3,000 views. 

We were then able to use the quick interview I had with Craig Williams and post it as a seperate video after he won the Melbourne Cup on Vow and Declare. 

It was great to see my idea being utilised in more than one way.

References

Tracy, B 2014, Time Management, AMACOM, 20 January, viewed 10 September 2019, https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.holmesglen.edu.au/lib/holmesglen/reader.action?docID=1390903

You need to be challenged in life - Jordan Peterson | Motivational video 2018, online video, 8 August, created by WisdomTalks, viewed 1 June 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mEhrcLYdUA

Entry Five: Achievements 

There were many achievements to list during my time as an intern at both the Herald Sun and SEN. 

The first achievement that comes to mind and will be with me throughout my media career is the first article I ever had published in the Herald Sun. 

To have my work published in the biggest circulating newspaper in the country was a surreal moment and one that I will cherish for a long time. 

It was an article about Essendon Football Club captain Dyson Heppell coming back from a footy injury. 

To have nearly a half page of my work go into the newspaper was a very special moment. 

My family even the cut the article and have kept it as a memento. 

Another huge achievement of mine was again for the Herald Sun. 

This time it was completing a major project in conjunction with the Herald Sun’s graphic designer. 

We were required to complete a comprehensive Brownlow Medal form guide over a double spread of the top 15 players in the betting markets. 

It was a two week project which required me to research and punch in all the statistics and my own comments about how each player went in every round they played. 

From here I supplied a tip about whether or not a player would be likely to poll three votes, poll two or one or not poll at all. 

Below is the final product and Gary Lyon off SEN even used it as his form guide for his Monday morning breakfast radio show! 

For my own career development, one of the biggest achievements was a series of events that occurred while working for SEN. 

For the entire spring carnival I worked closely with head of SEN Racing and executive producer Trent Masenhelder. 

It was an absolute joy to immerse myself in the cut and thrust of the spring carnival and understand the work ethic and standard required to be an efficient producer, broadcaster and journalist. 

My week would involve ticking off a racing tips preview where Andrew Slevison and I would run our eyes over the form guide and give the SEN audience our best bets for feature races over the spring carnival. 

It would then see me head to the race track and usually right around two to three articles per race meeting. One of the main feature race and the rest a summation of other races that had occurred on the day. 

Our coverage of the Melbourne Cup parade was also a great achievement of mine. And getting to interview the subsequent winning trainer and jockey of the race that stops a nation was very special. Not too sure how many interns can tick that off their list... 

Entry Six: Career aspirations 

Heading into the internship I had my eyes set on finding a full-time career in one of either the AFL or horse racing industry as a journalist/caller/presenter. 

My passion to work for both industries burns even brighter after my internships. 

Immersing myself so deeply into the spring carnival for three months has swayed me towards heading into the horse racing industry to start my career. 

Being a race caller or an AFL commentator has always been a dream, but the pathway for me at the moment would be to slot into the racing industry through a digital content role. 

Essentially, my short term goal is to quickly become a full-time employee in the horse racing media industry. 

Medium term would be to progress to television or video content as a tipster, form analyst, presenter and or writer. 

Long term I would love to progress to being a commentator full-time as my job. 

At the moment I have applied for two jobs with Racing.com and plan to sit down with them to discuss my career and where I see myself heading in the racing industry. 

I am hellbent on reaching my goals and want to commit 100% to a career I know I will be committed and passionate to. 

There is an understanding from a personal level that I need to chase my career objectives and work extremely hard to achieve them because the sport media industry is very competitive. 

Furthermore, enhancing my presence on social media and displaying my work on this platform will continue to further my career and enhance my prospects of reaching my employment goals. 

Escoffrey et.al (2018) state social media allows a person to share to the public and prospective employees their line of work and examples of their work. Escoffrey et.al (2018) also contend that a social media profile which is based on your career and output allows these sites to suggest job opportunities in your profession. 

A perfect example in this situation are the two roles I have applied for at Racing.com. Here I find one of the roles through Linkedin thanks to the my publicly displayed skill set as well as similar connections to Racing.com. 

Two of my connections at Racing.com stem from SEN and Holmesglen. 

The Senior Production Manager of Racing.com is Tristian Foenander and he worked at SEN for over 10 years. Here he established a great connection with my bosses Simon and Andrew who put me into contact with him. 

Alexie Beovich who is effectively the face of the Bachelor of Sport Media degree is now the digital marketing specialist for Racing.com and has also given me a leg up in the job application process. 

Without my network and career goals these connections and opportunities would not have been possible. 

References: 

Escoffery, C. et al. (2018) ‘Capitalizing on Social Media for Career Development’, Health Promotion Practice, vol. 19, no.1, pp. 11–15 https://journals-sagepub-com.ezproxy.holmesglen.edu.au/doi/pdf/10.1177/1524839917734522

Entry Seven: Supervisor evaluations 

My Herald Sun evaluation was about where I thought I performed in the time I spent there as a sports reporter. 

As the feedback suggested I am still a novice when it comes to writing fully fledged articles to a high professional standard for such a newspaper. 

The fact there were confident in printing numerous articles of my work during my time there showed my writing skill set is definitely good enough to make it in the journalism industry. 

Getting such a high score for my attitude is something I am definitely proud of. 

I also ensured I had a positive outlook on the day ahead and tried my hand at everything I was asked to do by my sport editors Danny Russell and Eliza Sewell. 

Taking the initiative is something I could have done a little bit more of during my time there. However I think I found doing my own little bits of research without hassling anyone worked well for me. 

The quality of my work is something I will continue to strive to get better at. 

I have taken on board the feedback from Danny about reading and writing a lot more than I currently do. 

The second of my internship evaluation’s was my performance at SEN/Croc Media. The mark here speaks volumes my output. 

A near perfect score of 18.5/20 overall showed my how committed I was to achieving great results with the organisation. 

My attitude going was to always be 100% focused on the task at hand when required. Sometimes it can be a bit difficult trying to stay focused when there is so much sport going on and you love to talk about it. 

This is an area I can definitely improve on as suggested in my feedback. 

Scoring in the range of exceptional and very good for all areas of the evaluation shows how well I fit in at SEN and the area of the media industry my current skill set would thrive. 

For me, fitting in and being accepted where I work is a crucial part of motivation it was great to see in the feedback from SEN that I was a joy to have in the office. 

Another area of feedback from SEN where continual improvement is required is my attention to detail. Grammar, spelling and punctuation are all areas that need to be nailed to ensure readers get good flowing articles to read. 

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised at how positive the feedback was from both organisations because I never knew how well my work would stack up until it was put to the test in the professional working environment. 

Entry Eight: Student showcase 

Entry Nine: Quarter Times

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Transition to Professional Practice

ENTRY ONE: ABOUT ME - PAUL SEBASTIANI

The final year of my Bachelor of Sport Media has commenced. 

My interest and love AFL and horse racing has never been stronger. 

This course - has so far- opened up my knowledge into how not only the on-field aspects of my beloved sports are played out, but how the media has influenced and continues to influence the sporting landscape. 

Thanks to the different skills I have learnt from the first two years of my time at Holmesglen my three year tenure as a Media Officer at the Northern Blues will more than likely begin to come to end this year as different opportunities begin to arise. 

This year I intend to finally dip my foot into some AFL commentary with a small team dedicated to broadcasting and audio streaming the VFLW competition. 

I have also continued to build on my network of contacts which I am hopeful will lead to a boundary riding role at K-Rock radio station as well as contributing to a weekly Carlton FC fan organised vodcast. 

With regards to the internship opportunity in this subject, my eyes are beset upon the radio station 1116 SEN. A sport centric radio station with a particular focus on AFL and their extensive coverage of the Spring and Autumn Racing Carnival show that their interests are almost certainly congruent with mine. 

I feel ready to step into an internship at such an influential media organisation. 

My newly created horse racing website containing articles about different results and events occurring within the racing industry, combined with my three years of work at Northern Blues writing match reports, creating online content and managing social media pages is evidence of my ability to be creative while handling the pressure of deadlines. 

Despite having a good skill set to enter such an internship, I need to ensure my marks continue to be of an excellent standard to show prospective employers that my hard work is consistent and not sporadic. 

I also need to continue to build on my punctuality and time management when balancing study and life outside the course. Investing in a diary/planner to assist this has worked well for the first week of semester and hopefully this continues. 

ENTRY TWO: INTERNSHIPS, SKILLS, RESUMES & COVER LETTERS. 

The Week Two class was a great insight into the benefits and pitfalls of internships. Being aware of both during my internship is a critical point to achieving fulfilling my as well as the requirements of the host organisation.

My knowledge of what an internship is prior to class Week Two was quite extensive. 

Having been apart of the Northern Blues Football Club for the last three years as a volunteer media officer I have come to understand that love, meaning and passion for what you do far outweighs any monetary value you may earn when working. 

The internship/role at the Northern Blues have left me with life long relationships and networks that I know I can rely on as well as the club holding a special place in my heart. 

The skills I have developed there and through my studies I know will hold me in good stead when applying for internships with Holmesglen and applying for jobs when I finally complete the course. 

To delve further into my skill development, Northern Blues and participating diligently in my course has helped me enhance my professional communication and punctuality standards. Although I am still working on my time management I have definitely improved this aspect of my skill base. 

My ability to work in a team has also improved. I have become a lot more open minded and conscientious as a result of negotiating and effectively communicating with students in group work. 

Furthermore, the growth of my practical skills for work has seen me become an improved video and audio editor through the use of Adobe software and Audacity. I have also continued to develop my writing skills by becoming a more concise and efficient writer using the inverted pyramid technique as pictured below. 

ENTRY THREE: PERSONAL MARKETING, BRANDING, UNIQUE VALUE PROPOSITION. 

Personal marketing, branding and my unique value proposition (UVP) are aspects of the Transition into Professional Practice unit which have allowed me to better understand what value I will add to an organisation who employs me. 

What I have learnt from these three areas are to really hone in on what positive, immediate impact you will have on the organisation as opposed to how they can help you. Meeting their needs first and matching that up with my practical skills, interpersonal skills and what type of characteristics as a person I embody is an effective way of transitioning into the workplace from study.

What this subject has also taught me is to hone in on your practical skills but to ensure you have a repertoire that shows employees how passionate and driven you are too succeed especially given the competitiveness in the sport media industry. 

I believe my passion, diligence, initiative and an ability to handle high pressure situations as an individual and within group work are what define ‘my brand’. 

The evidence used to validate my brand is shown through my concise but thorough development of my unique value proposition within my resume and tailored cover letters. 

The work I have put together for the Northern Blues, SYN FM, The Daily Football Show and now my own Youtube ventures ‘My Blue Heaven’ and ‘The Drop Punt’ have been used in my resumes and cover letters. 

And this is due to continually understanding and assessing how to market myself and create a brand and reputation others know is part of me when they see my work. 

Areas I am continually looking to improve on are work/study life balance time management and my video editing skills. 

These two areas are very important facets of being able to market yourself in a positive light to prospective employers. 

Given the nature of our public sphere and wanting to have news given them to as quickly as possible, working to deadlines and fast paced environments are almost inevitable working in sport media. 

Investing in a day to day planner has allowed me to effectively manage my time this semester and throughout my own life outside of university helping to improve my work/study life balance and ensuring I have enough time to recuperate energy from a busy work load at university and work outside of class. 

My video editing skills also continue to improve and I want to keep getting more efficient and creative with the way I create video based content. I have attempted to do this by creating my own Youtube shows and implementing different video editing techniques to enhance the quality of the content and draw viewers in. 

ENTRY FOUR: INTERNSHIP APPLICATIONS, PREPARATION & INTERVIEW PERFORMANCE. 

Weeks five through to nine in Transition to Professional Practice involved creating and refining my resume and cover letters for the various internship applications required to be complete. 

I had not created or refined any resume for nearly four years since successfully applying for jobs at Liquorland and the Northern Blues Football Club through 2015-16. 

My understanding of how to be clear and concise with resumes and cover letters is an area I was struggling with prior to the month the subject honed in on effective resume and cover letter writing. 

Learning what type of employee I am assisted me with choosing the organisations I felt best aligned with the values I hold as well as the practical and personal skills in my armoury. 

Furthermore, strict adherence to the organisation’s job description and their selection criteria allowed me to closely target organisations to ensure a greater chance at securing an internship position. 

A review of my internship applications show there are some good areas but definitely areas to improve on. 

I believe the way I highlighted my experiences outside of university as well as my passion and genuine love for sports media was well articulated in my resume and cover letter. 

However, the design aspect of my resume and cover letter could definitely do with some tweaking. 

I will also endeavour to improve my attention to detail on both resume and cover letter due to some spelling and grammatical errors that should have easily been picked up. 

My preparation during class for the internship interview process showed my commitment to the cause given I was one of the first to practice my interview technique during class. 

One of my skills is effective verbal communication. 

I tried to answer questions as naturally as I possibly could to begin with and then began to implement the STAR technique when I felt comfortable enough. 

The STAR response technique in interviews refers to the graph below (Morphy 2008). 

An example of how I implemented this technique into my interview was when I was asked questions about a challenging time where I had to solve a problem either by myself or in a group. 

Here I explained how during my second year of study I was involved in a major group assignment where two of the four group members left the course. 

I highlighted what actions I took in order to achieve finishing the project given the predicament and highlighted the result of what happened as a result of the actions taken. 

During the actual interview process I felt very comfortable given I had this answer technique embedded in my memory. However, I felt during my Fox Footy interview I could have implemented this process more effectively given the nature of the interview. 

My SEN and VAFA interviews went very well. I felt very comfortable and prepared for both interviews given I had done a lot more background research on both organisations compared to Fox Footy. This was shown by the internship offers I received which were both from SEN and the VAFA. 

ENTRY FIVE: ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE & BEING A HIGH PERFORMING INTERN/TEAM PLAYER. 

Organisational culture refers to HOW an organisation does business and completes its day to day operations (van Coller-Peter 2016). 

Being aware of an organisation and their culture is of particular importance when applying for an internship or a job because it has been shown that working within a place where your values do not align with the organisation can be detrimental to your application and motivation as an employee. 

One of the best examples I learnt about organisational culture and ensuring the culture best fits your strengths and values as a person was by an article written in Melbourne University’s ‘Farrago’ (Price 2012). Here an intern struggled to adapt to the environment and culture within the Herald Sun newsroom and as such had a bad experience was demotivated from entering the media industry as a journalist. 

Even though our course my not be as prestigious as those media communication degrees at places such as Melbourne University or Monash, I believe I am more job ready than any student who would be going for the same role as me. 

I believe my ability to adapt to varying types of cultures within organisations is a strength of mine which will definitely ensure I contribute positively to SEN.

The initial interview process as well as the short-list interviews has also taught me how to approach different types of people and how they communicate. 

Outside of my study at university I have also been reading and researching on how to be a high performing intern. 

Below is a video explaining the Pareto Principle which is something I have been trying to implement into my work at university and outside of class. 

The Pareto Principle refers to what is simply known today as the ‘80/20′ rule. What I have been able to do here is become a lot more efficient in my performance. I have applied this principle/rule to my studies and how I approach my work and as such my marks have remained at high level, if not improved during the first semester of my final year and opportunities outside of study have opened up dramatically. 

With regards to group work, this semester it improved exponentially. All the the groups I involved myself with were very productive and it was a pleasure to work with a variety of over the semester. 

We handed in all projects on time and I believe it was the most efficiently I have ever worked for group assignments during my time in the course. 

My peers always enjoy working with me and this is evident from verbal feedback I get as well as formal written feedback which makes up part of various assessments. 

Having had many good, bad or indifferent experiences with group work during the course or even work outside of study has taught me how to better function in a team and autonomously. 

I have also been a lot more adherent to implementing the feedback I get from assessments into future work. 

Finally, all the learnings and developments have been an integral part of finding the internship and organisation which best suits my strengths and what I value as an individual and employee. It is essentially what is the most important part of understanding organisational culture as well as the ability to understand what makes me a more efficient worker and team member. 

ENTRY SIX: CRITICAL REFLECTION ON SHORT LIST INTERVIEWS. 

My short list interviews went extremely well. 

The two out of three applications I was short-listed (SEN & VAFA) both offered me internship positions at their respective organisations. 

I felt very comfortable talking to both Andrew Slevision from SEN and Nick Armistead from the VAFA. 

I believe this was based on common interests and passions as well as my diligence in researching how both organisations operated and what personal attributes the selection criteria from both were after. 

I received a high distinction mark when being assessed which I believe is a testament to my application and dedication to not only this subject but the whole sport media course. 

Meeting new people and networking is something I really enjoy and I see it as a necessary part for me to grow as a sports media employee and a person. 

The feedback I received for my short list interviews was very positive. 

But there are always areas where I can continually improve. 

One area I can definitely focus on is being a little bit more professional and formal with my approach to the interviews as well as selling myself better to prospective employers. 

I have really solid foundation of work experience which spans over four years in the sport media industry which I feel I can use to my advantage a lot more. 

This includes my work at the Northern Blues which definitely is a standout compared to many students about to finish up a university degree and enter the workforce. However, I should also integrate the work I completed for the Old Paradians Amateur Football that I did during the second year of my course at Holmesglen. 

Furthermore, I believe I could have used the STAR technique a lot more than I did, although naturally I believe this technique is already embedded into the way I answer situation based questions. But this goes back to my ability to keep the interview more formal and concise so I can really show how I will contribute to the organisation. 

The only missed opportunity was probably applying for more internships than what I did so I could get out of my comfort zone with interviews that may have tested my interview ability a bit more than what it was. 

Overall, I was particularly pleased with how I performed in my interviews and had my presuppositions confirmed post interviews about which organisations would be the most congruent fit for both parties. 

It definitely helped that both Andrew and Nick were very passionate and committed to their work and were excited to talk about they do which I felt wore off on me as the interviews progressed. 

Having completed this whole process I am very confident that once I finish the course I can head out into the media industry and face prospective employers with confidence and find stable employment. 

ENTRY SEVEN: SUBJECT REFLECTION

One more semester to go. 

Coming into this subject I had a wealth of practical and theoretical knowledge which I had not been able to articulate and conceptualise into the four pages required for a resume and selection criteria. 

The beginning of Transition into Professional Practice was an eye-opening experience. 

Having written my last resume and cover letter over four years ago for Liquorland and the Northern Blues Football Club I did not realise how far behind I was in being able to get full-time work based simply on a short, four paged resume. 

Lecturer Robbie Coyle showed us templates and examples of the best and not so best resume and cover letters from past students and I feel this definitely helped ease the pressure on me. 

The unique value proposition and personal marketing aspects of the subject are definitely areas that I have substantially improved on. 

I have always been a confident speaker and confident in my practical and interpersonal skills, but the deep dive into the two aspects mentioned above really assisted me in honing in on what value I can bring an organisation and how to best align the culture of an organisation with my own strengths and values. 

The knowledge I also gained in understanding what organisations are looking for with resumes and cover letters cannot be understated. 

The idea of selling myself and what value I can add to the organisation by using the selection criteria to my advantage and being very concise and specific in the resume and cover letter is an area I have definitely developed from the start of the subject till the end. 

I have been able to develop a professional tone in communication whether that be verbally, through physical demeanour or how I dress and present myself. Although I am still working on this area of my professional standards I have definitely come a long way since the beginning of the subject till now. 

One of the other areas I learnt to hone in on is researching the organisation prior to job applications and interviews.

It may sound simple but this has gone up in my list of priorities and as such will leave me better prepared when the time comes to officially enter the sport media industry. 

My background knowledge of SEN and VAFA was quite extensive and as such definitely assisted me in being successful with those applications. Where when I compare my knowledge of those two organisations to that of Fox Footy, I think that was part of my downfall in not getting an opportunity to partake in an internship with them. 

Overall, this subject has helped me learn to articulate my strengths, values and areas to grow as an employee and an individual away from work and studies. 

Though some parts of this subject may be a little mundane and tedious, I really enjoyed developing my resume and cover letter. 

I have learnt skills that I will carry with me into the workforce and throughout the rest of my life. 

It has been a pleasure seeing myself and peers flourish into media professionals. 

Bring on the SEN internship! 

 REFERENCE LIST 

French, R 2007, The job winners guide to resumes, Maygog Publishing, Tasmania, Australia.

Lavinsky, D 2014, ‘Pareto Principle: How to use it to dramatically grow your business’, Forbes, 20 January, viewed 1 May 2019, https://www.forbes.com/sites/davelavinsky/2014/01/20/pareto-principle-how-to-use-it-to-dramatically-grow-your-business/#7f6a2d473901

Morphy, T 2008, How to smash any job interview using STAR - how to guide, Stakeholder map, https://www.stakeholdermap.com/business/star-interviews.html 

Price, J 2012, ‘You have to join them to beat them’, ABC, 10 August, viewed 1 May 2019, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-10/price-sun-internship/4190430

Roberts, J 2019, Writing for strategic communication strategies, The Ohio State University, USA, https://ohiostate.pressbooks.pub/stratcommwriting/chapter/inverted-pyramid-style/

The Pareto Principle - 80/20 Rule - Do More by Doing Less (animated) 2018, online video, post 3 July, created by Better Than Yesterday, viewed 25 May 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAynHZE-lK4

van Coller-Peter, S 2016, Coaching leadership teams: getting organisational culture aligned, KR Publishing, 1 November, viewed 2 May, 2019, https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.holmesglen.edu.au/lib/holmesglen/reader.action?docID=4737015

[paulsebastiani-blog]

Sport Sponsorship ePortfolio

Entry One: About Me 

My name is Paul Sebastiani. 

I am currently in my second year and second semester of a Bachelor of Sports Media at the Holmesglen Institute. 

A huge passion for sport, combined with a love for writing and commentary, has so far led me to successfully forge through my second year of a three year degree. 

There have been many experiences and none more so than throughout my time at Holmesglen during Semester 1 2018. 

The Sport Marketing Proposal and Sport Marketing package group projects with Old Paradians AFC were the most challenging but ultimately rewarding assessments. 

During the semester there were some personal circumstances within members of our project group which halved the group from four members to two. 

The work load then grew on myself and remaining group member William Boddington. 

Through effective communication and hard work, Will and I were able to manage our time and it helped me balance out work with other subjects. 

The final mark for the Sport Marketing Proposal was a pass, but marks improved in our final major assessment. 

A credit result for the Sport Marketing Package I thought was a great improvement and achievement considering the circumstances Will and I faced. 

Additionally, time management is something I am continually working on. 

Even though my marks throughout the first semester in 2018 average out to a distinction, I unfortunately lost some assessment marks due to late submission. 

I have set a goal for myself this semester to hand in every project on time. 

The ultimate outcome of this will be to receive the full marks for each assessment. 

Below is a photo of William and I presenting our Sport Marketing Package to our class, lecturers and Old Paradians representative Gerrard Sheehy. 

Entry Two: Importance of Sport Sponsorship 

I believe the first part of Sport Sponsorship is understanding the definition of sponsorship and then applying the sponsorship framework to sport organisations. 

With regards to sport, the definition of sponsorship refers to a business relationship where a cash and/or in-kind fee is paid to a sport organisation or event in return for access to the exploitable commercial potential associated with that organisation or event (Crompton 2014). 

Having now gone through nearly a month of studying sport sponsorship I have realised it is the lifeblood from a financial point of view for many organisations. 

Sponsorship brings in such a large amount of revenue to sports organisations globally. 

As can be seen in the Statista (2018) graph below, global sport sponsorship is exponential and has increased almost two-fold during 2007 to now from $37.9 billion (US) to $65.8 billion (US).

This graph also confirms the increased reliance on sponsorship for sporting organisations around the world. 

Additionally, the sponsorship framework is something I have learnt this semester. It plays an important role within sporting organisations and how they can effectively implement and approach their own sponsorship operations and relationships. 

The framework refers to four main components which are;  1. Foundation 

Here I learnt how the inventory of a sport organisation’s assets and their marketing plan should be the base and beginning for attempting to successfully achieve a sponsorship with another business.  

2. Customisation 

In this part of the framework I learnt how different organisations create sponsorship packages by targeting other organisations through their sponsorship plan. 

I also learnt that a major part of this aspect is finding congruence between both organisations so the alignment can prosper. 

3. Realisation 

The third part of the framework is where the negotiation of a sponsorship occurs. This is then followed by the implementation of the sponsorship plan by means of announcing the sponsorship to important stakeholders as well providing opportunities for each party in the sponsorship to ultimately create, maintain and build relationships with their sponsorship partner as well as the target market. 

4. Co-Activation 

In the final segment of the framework I learnt that this is the area of essentially analysing and evaluating the benefits of the sponsorship. Amazingly, in this section of the framework I found out 51% of organisations who have sponsorship budgets spend one percent or less of this budget on measuring the return of their sponsorship (IEG 2014). This statistic can be seen in the table below. 

This is definitely an area our sport sponsorship project group consisting of Hayley, Will and I to be addressed with the Old Paradians Football Club regarding the measurement of return from the sponsorship. 

Entry Three: Tangible and Intangible benefits 

A big focus in Sport Sponsorship this semester has been the emphasis placed on understanding the benefits reaped by an organisation with regards to tangible and intangible. 

To understand this concept my lecturer for Sport Sponsorship Robbie Coyle gave us insight into the definitions of both tangible and intangible benefits. 

Tangible benefits in sport sponsorship refer to the items of a physical asset and or benefit gained by an organisation (Hoare 2014) who enters a sponsorship agreement. An example of such a benefit in the current Old Paradians sponsorship package is the actual cash dollar amount representing each level of sponsorship agreed upon by the sponsor which is essentially revenue for the football club. 

Intangible benefits in sport sponsorship refer to the non physical assets and or benefits gained by an organisation (Hoare 2014) such as increased employee morale as a result of a sport sponsorship. From an Old Paradians perspective, I recently attended a sponsorship lunch put together by the football club to provide hospitality to their sponsors. As a result there were many content people at the lunch who work for the sponsors and are clearly happy to be associated with Old Paradians Football Club. 

I believe another way to distinguish between the tangible and intangible benefits is tangible can be measured by monetary units whereas the intangible such as emotions and perceptions of an organisation cannot. 

Referring specifically to Old Paradians and their sponsorship package as a project group with Hayley, Will and I we found there is a mix of tangible and intangible benefits for sponsors. Old Paradians use the rationale that the more a sponsor spends the more benefits they receive. 

Almost all sponsorship levels included tangible benefits such as signage, display on function television screens, club apparel.  While intangible assets would be associated with free access to selected club events depending on the level of sponsorship. 

Below is a great example of some Old Paradians Football Club sponsors and the tangible benefit they receive through signage (Old Paradians Amateur Football Club 2018). 

Entry Four: Peer Review & Asset Inventory 

The peer review for our Tumblr ePortfolios is a great way to get insight into how other students think and critically analyse different aspects of Sport Sponsorship. 

I also believe it has helped with my own work and understand areas where I am doing well and areas I can improve with regards to articulating theoretical components of sponsorship into reality. 

The two tumblr profiles I reviewed were well written and put together but, just lacked a bit colour, design and artefacts to deeply engage an audience. 

My own tumblr profile was marked highly and I believe its an insight into the commitment I put into my work.

The tumblr profile I have created has also helped me really think about my approach to work, especially with the group assignments. 

The Asset Inventory assignment with involved my group continuing to maintain a relationship with Old Paradians Amateur Football Club. 

Our group consisting of Hayley, Will and I were proud of the work we put into the Asset Inventory. 

Hayley really focused on the functionality and design aspect of the excel spreadsheets and nailed that component of the assessment. 

While Will and I got into the nitty gritty of finding real-life cost figures and reference points to back up our research. 

Together we were able to create an excel file we believe will serve the Old Paradians well. 

To explore the benefits Old Paradians will receive in more detail, Anderson (2018) suggests an organisation implementing their own asset inventory will lead to cost cutting by way of not having to hire a third party to investigate the asset inventory of a club. 

Attached below are snapshots of the Asset Inventory package put together by our group. 

Entry Five: Congruence 

Congruence is word that has been uttered more in Sport Sponsorship than any other subject in our course. 

In terms of our study and the application of the word, it effectively means the harmony and compatibility of the sport organisations involved in a sponsorship. 

All things equal, the more congruent a sponsorship is, the more valuable and reputable the relationship between the organisations in a sport sponsorship becomes. 

Incongruent is also important to understand. In Sport Sponsorship it describes the incompatible sponsorship between sports organisations.  

A fantastic bit of literature on congruence I read by David M. Woisetschläger and Manuel Michaelis showed some really interesting finds on congruent and incongruent sponsorships. 

Their research found evidence suggesting incongruent relationships could actually work. 

An example in recent times is McDonalds fast food sponsoring the FIFA World Cup. 

The FIFA World Cup is event that brings together the fittest footballing athletes in the world for the most watched final of any sport in the world.

Whereas the majority of food from McDonalds would not be considered as part of a regular healthy diet which professional sport regularly promotes. 

Woisetschläger and Michaelis (2012) suggested positive incongruent relationships could exist whereby the well received reputation of an event outweighed the negative image of the sponsoring organisation as well as the enhancing the image of the sponsor. 

Attached below is an advertisement played in the lead up and during the FIFA 2018 World Cup held in Russia by McDonalds. 

The initial thought of a fast food restaurant chain sponsoring a sporting event may seem incongruent but the messaging does an effective job at using the world cup to enhance the reputation of McDonalds. 

Picture below is a photo of arguably best soccer player in history promoting his sponsor Nike and a new shoe. This is one of the most congruent relationships in global sports. Much like Ronaldo, Nike represent high quality and a brand that is one the most recognisable in the world. 

Entry Six: Leveraging & Co-Activation 

Organisations in a sponsorship leveraging against each other to provide mutual benefit over the relationship of the sponsorship is critical. 

Harrison (2018) states that a sponsor will usually spend a amount over the initial sponsorship fee in order to maximise the return from the property/event they invest in. 

Harrison (2018) also contends as many as 70% of businesses spend either less or exactly a dollar for every dollar they invest after the initial sponsorship investment. 

Harrison (2018) also states that those businesses who spend under their initial investment into activation programs and promotional activity will not be content with the strength of the sponsorship. 

In Sport Sponsorship we learnt many different ways businesses in a sponsorship alignment can leverage ideas of each other in order to maximise the benefit of the relationship. 

These leverage ideas include employee involvement, as seen in the Youtube video with Arsenal players flying on their sponsor Emirates’ newest plane. 

One of the best examples found of co-acitvation and leverage during the semester was Etihad Stadium (now Marvel Stadium) and Four ‘n’ Twenty meat pies. 

Pictured above is the beginning of the activation campaign between Etihad Stadium and Four ‘n Twenty. 

If patrons were seating in the yellow seats during a game they were given a scratchy ticket that gave them a chance to win one of 420 free pies to be given away at the game (Roper 2016). 

It is activations such as this - with product give-aways - that has led to the AFL and its association with Four ‘n Twenty pies to be one of their strongest and longest sponsors. 

Entry Seven: Sport Sponsorship Semester Reflection 

It has been a great semester learning new and exciting aspects of sponsorship. 

One of the main take aways from the semester is the focus organisations must put into congruence when assessing and establishing a sponsorship.

The importance of a organisation and their values, beliefs and attitudes aligning with that of another organisation is a critical aspect to the success of the sponsorship.   

Another has been on the ability to assess and evaluates the relationship in a sponsorship which is something businesses do not invest a lot of time and money into. 

This is one of the many reasons sponsorship relationships fall apart because organisations are unable to assess the benefits both organisations are receiving as a result of the partnership. 

One of them most fascinating aspects of the subject was finding out how much money sponsorship generates compared to sport broadcasting rights. 

When we compared sponsorship revenue to broadcast rights revenue at the last three olympic games, we now reach the billion dollar figure. 

Learning that sponsorship, like broadcasting rights, is the lifeblood of many organisations and events was a real surprise and showed me the importance of sponsorship. 

With regards to the group project and our club Old Paradians everything went quite smoothly this semester. 

Working with Old Paradians football operations manager Peter Gilmartin and their president Mike Jolley turned into a really fun experience. The club were so hospitable with their treatment to us. 

To add to that, my group members Hayley and William have been a pleasure to work with. 

Both have a fantastic work ethic and complete group work to a high standard which assists with the standard of my work. 

Hayley was brilliant with her design aspect of the asset inventory excel spreadsheet and Will provided the backbone of research as well as being the motivating force who drove the team to achieve a high credit score for the spreadsheet. 

Our presentations on Friday the 2nd of November marked the end of the semester for Sport Sponsorship. 

I believe Hayley, Will and I presented the asset inventory excel spreadsheet well and our individual pitches went well with the audience really engaged in what we all had to say. 

Pictured below is a photo of Will going through his individual presentation with Hayley and I about to present ours. 

You can see here we are still engaged on our group member highlighting how unified we were as a team. 

Overall, this semester has provided me with many great insights into Sport Sponsorship and has added more sports media knowledge than I had prior to engaging in this subject. 

I have learnt how to work more efficiently in a team and I have also continued to improve my communication skills. 

Finally, the one thing I will continue to work on is time management skills. 

REFERENCE LIST 

Arsenal Boeing 777 flight to Singapore | Time-lapse | Emirates 2015, online video, post 16 July, created by Emirates, viewed 15 October 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea6p8Os81aI&t=2s

Anderson, E 2018, ‘4 Business Advantages of Efficient Asset Inventory for ICS’, Security Matters, 28 June, viewed 19 September, https://www.secmatters.com/blog/4-business-advantages-of-efficient-asset-inventory-for-ics 

Crompton J, 2014, Sponsorship for sport managers, 1st edn, FiT Publishing, West Virginia, U.S.

Harrison, K 2018, ‘How you can use leverage to increase your sponsorship value’, Cutting Edge, viewed 28 October 2018, https://cuttingedgepr.com/free-articles/sponsorship/can-use-leverage-increase-sponsorship-value/

Hoare, D 2014, ‘Tangible and Intangible – Business definitions and use’, Business Economics – A Library of Information, 3 November, viewed 5 September 2018, https://businessecon.org/2014/11/tangible-and-intangible-business-definitions-and-use/#Intangible

IEG 2014, ‘What sponsors want from partners: The most important benefits, services and objectives’, sponsorship.com, viewed 5 September 2018, http://www.sponsorship.com/IEG/files/7f/7f60c23c-43d6-4006-bc7d-2c32c5e83c1d.pdf

Old Paradians Amateur Football Club 2018, Round 18 at The Garvey, photograph, viewed 5 September 2018, https://www.facebook.com/OldParadiansFootballClub/photos/a.2300879746806381/2300882406806115/?type=3&theater

Roper, P 2016, ‘Four’n Twenty partners AFL to create huge branded zone in Melbourne stadium’, Marketing Mag, 6 April, viewed 25 October 2018, https://www.marketingmag.com.au/news-c/four-n-twenty-branded-stadium-zone/

The World Cup is Finally Here! Mcdonald’s TV Commercial 2018, online video, post June 18, created by Every TV Commercials, viewed 21 October 2018,  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5H6u78MFwQ

Woisetschläger, D, Michaelis, M 2012 "Sponsorship congruence and brand image: A pre‐post event analysis", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 46, No.3, pp.509-52. 

[paulsebastiani-blog]

Emerging Media Portfolio

Week 2 - Tribute Website 

For my first entry to the Portfolio I decided to use the tribute website I created on my favourite sporting icon. 

The website is based on the racehorse Winx and contains a profile about her and pages with videos showcasing her most famous wins. 

The technical skills I learnt during this week of Emerging Media Production were the ability to create a interactive and engaging website by embedding videos and images in to the page to lure in the audience.

Statistics provided by Miniwatts Marketing Group as cited through Internet World Stats (2017) show that 54.4% of the global population have the internet. That accounts for just over 4 billion people in the world. 

Websites are designed to give an audience information via digital means. 

Sporting organisations create and design websites in order to promote their own brand and in order to engage the audience/consumer to exchange income for the goods and services provided by the organisation.

The Internet allows video and photo content to be attached efficiently to,  where applicable, various pages contained on sporting organisations websites to engage the consumer. 

As Erpic (2017) suggests, global boundaries are eradicated as a result of websites as fans and audiences are able to connect with sporting organisations in other countries on a regular basis. 

A personal example of this is being an Arsenal fan I use their website to get valuable information about team news and apparel offers. 

https://winxblitz.wordpress.com

Week 3 - Interactive Article 

https://winxblitz.wordpress.com/sunshine-coast-guineas/

My second post is of an interactive article that contains a news story, video and images all relating to racehorse Winx and the beginning of her amazing winning streak which is still intact today.

One of the skills I learnt through this type of emerging media is the ability to embed videos and images into web page news based articles. 

As Kalogeropoulos, Cherubini and Newman (2016) state online video news creates a powerful and popular way to cover big news stories. 

It also provides sport fans with a more aesthetically pleasing content from a visual point of view. 

Furthermore, Kalogeropoulos, Cherubini and Newman (2016) also state that people are seeking to get their news from other platforms rather than mainstream media organisations. 

Furthermore, Takacs, Swart and Bus (2015) argue that highly interactive stories are easier to recall than audio or text based. Takacs, Swart and Bus (2015) also argue it is advantageous fororganisations to implement interactive features on web page stories. 

Sporting organisations can take advantage of this shift away from mainstream media organisations and use their own websites to create interactive articles with videos and images to increase exposure to their website. 

The flow on effect of this is the more clicks and views on a sports organisations website the more the more attractive they are to sponsors creating major revenue opportunities. 

Consistent, interactive news articles sports organisations can clearly create are positive impact to the financial solvency of these organisations. 

Week 4 - Instagram Posts

For my second ePortfolio entry I decided to base it on creating Instagram posts through the skills we learnt through photoshop. 

Above are different types of skills used through photoshop techniques to edit images and enhance their meaning. 

The technical skills that I learnt here were;

1.  Using photoshop to lasso different parts of the photo I wanted to edit

2. Using the lasso and various fill and color tools to highlight the important parts of the two photos of Carlton footballers celebrating a goal in their victory over Essendon. I.e Illuminating Carlton footballers to show their importance in the photo. 

3. Using the scrubbing tool to colour in different parts of the photos into different colours to add effect. I.e. Removing of tattoos in the photo of former Collingwood footballer Dane Swan. 

4. Using logos, texts and numbers to add context to each post. 

Furthermore, photos are essential part to any sporting organisation trying to communicate a message. 

As is highlighted by Pant (2015), statistics show web pages with images/photos on them have 94% more views than solely text based web pages. 

Furthermore, McDonald (2018) states that the brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text. 

Sporting organisations can communicate their messages with more clarity by using images on their web pages.

For the sporting fan, Instagram posts such as the above are a lot more engaging and visually appealing for them rather than slabs of text on a web page which takes longer for them to process. 

In such a time poor society, it is essential sporting organisations portray their message efficiently.  

Week 7 - Video highlight package 2017 

The third of my entries is an video highlights package based on my sporting highlights for 2017. 

I have centred them around the best moments of my beloved Carlton Football Club. 

One of the technical skills learnt in creating a video was the ability to cut and sort different types of videos to create on whole video as a package. 

Another technical skill I learn was the ability to use the detach audio function to drop off the audio associated to cut videos and then attach a different audio file to play in the background while the video played. 

As is seen in the highlight package the Carlton theme song begins and ends the video and in between AC/DC’s Thunderstruck plays during the highlights. 

I was also able to add an intro and outro graphic to give context to the video people are about to watch and send people off with a polite ending. 

As cited in Trimble (2015), technical organisation Cisco stated that in 2017 69% of all internet traffic is accounted for by video. 

Jarboe (2017) also states that by 2019 video will account for over 79% of internet traffic. 

The popularity and predicted increase in popularity of video format for consumers to gain content from must be taken into account by all sporting organisations. 

Much like photos, it allows sporting organisations to create a much more informative and entertaining message than text based content for their fans benefitting both parties.  

Week 8 - Sporting Heartbreak Video 

My fourth entry is a video created about my sporting heartbreak. 

It is centred around Carlton being defeated by the West Coast Eagles in 2011 in Perth. 

One of the skills learnt during this stage of the semester was the ability to shoot a subject with a video camera from different angles. 

In this video there are a variety of close range and mid range angles that combine in with moving shots at the beginning. 

Another skill learnt was the ability to create overlay footage as part of the video. This is essentially playing other footage over, in this instance, an interview. 

As I described a critical passage of play during the match overlay footage of the play begins while I continue to speak about exactly what happened. 

This adds to the theatre of the video and adds context to the story. 

This type of emerging media can be used by sporting organisations during interviews as seen above. 

Many sporting organisations do this now when interviewing players and coaches. For example, the AFL (2013) conducted interviews with footballers after the Carlton vs Richmond elimination final and used a variety of different overlay footage for different moments the footballers spoke about. 

Another great example is a video created by the Carlton Football Club (2018). It centres around AFLW captain Bri Davey and her struggle with an ACL injury. Here there are a variety of rolling, close up and mid range shots of various interview talents and use of overlay footage while the talent speaks is pivotal to creating an engaging video. 

Week 11 - Web based app 

 My final entry is a web based application based on race horse Winx. 

The application is essentially the website as used prior, however it is created in order to be compatible for iOS and Android smartphones similar to iOS and Android based applications. 

The skills I learnt through this type of emerging media was the ability to reduce the size of the web page into format that would fit and be easily accessible and useable for those with iOS and Android devices. 

I also learnt how to create a thumbnail for iOS and Android home screens for people to click on which takes them straight to the page of the web based app. 

Statista (2018) show that there are 2.3 billion users of smartphones worldwide and this number is set to increase to approximately 2.87 billion in 2020. 

The benefit to consumers is from a logistical point of view where they can access sporting content from the palm of their hands rather than having to log into a desktop or laptop.

Furthermore, Stanley (2018) states that web base applications are available 24 hours and seven days a week. There is no restrictions on when they can and cannot be used. 

If a sporting organisation invests in an online store through their web based app where by fans can purchase goods and services from the sporting organisation without having to travel or head to a shop front that has limited hours. 

The flow on effect means the potential revenue can spike upwards positively effecting the organisation and the financial bottom line. 

With so many present users of smartphones and the predicted increase in their use it is imperative sporting organisations create content and web pages that are accessible by these devices. 

REFERENCE LIST 

Bri Davey – Turning Point | Trailer 2018, online video, 21 February, created by Carlton FC, viewed 31 May 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h7-W1V8hZ0

Erpic, J 2017, Novelus Marketing Agency, Why we love social media? (And why you should, too!), viewed 25 September 2017, http://novelus.eu/why-we-love-social-media-and-why-you-should-too/

Jarboe, G 2017, ‘Video will account for 79% of global internet traffic by 2020 (so increase your video marketing budget now)’, Tubular Insights, viewed 31 May 2018,  http://tubularinsights.com/video-79-percent-internet-traffic-2020/

Kalogeropoulos, A, Cherubini, F, N, Newman, 2016, ‘The future of online news video’, Digital News Project, viewed 31 May 2018, http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/research/files/The%2520Future%2520of%2520Online%2520News%2520Video.pdf

McDonald, H 2018, Image Editing, Emerging Media Production Week 13, 31 May, BSM205 Emerging Media Production, Bachelor of Sport Media, Holmesglen, viewed 31 May 2018, https://holmesglen.brightspace.com/d2l/le/content/176359/viewContent/912913/View

Miniwatts Marketing Group 2018, ‘Internet Users in the World’, Internet World Stats, viewed 1 June 2018, https://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

Pant, R 2015, ‘Visual Marketing: A Picture’s Worth 60,000 Words’, Business2Community, viewed 30 May 2018, https://www.business2community.com/digital-marketing/visual-marketing-pictures-worth-60000-words-01126256

Stanley, P 2018, Advantages of web applications, viewed 30 May 2018,  https://www.pssuk.com/AdvantagesWebApplications.aspx

Statista 2018, Number of smart phone users worldwide from 2014 to 2020 (in billions), Statista, viewed 30 May 2018, https://www.statista.com/statistics/330695/number-of-smartphone-users-worldwide/

Takacs, Z, Swart, E, Bus, A 2015, ‘Benefits and Pitfalls of Multimedia and Interactive Features in Technology Enhanced Storybooks’,  Review of education research, vol.85, no.4, pp. 698-739, viewed 1 June 2018, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4647204/

#TissotMoment – Richmond v Carlton Elimination Final 2013 2014, online video, 25 March, created by AFL, viewed 31 May 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4njV0lXn8PQ

Trimble, C 2015, ‘Why online video is the future of content marketing,’ The Guardian, viewed 30 May 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2014/jan/14/video-content-marketing-media-online

[paulsebastiani-blog]

Sport Marketing ePortfolio

ENTRY 1 - ABOUT ME 

My name is Paul Sebastiani and I amStudying in my second year of Sports Media at the Holmesglen Institute. 

I transferred out of a Bachelor of Accounting to pursue a career in sports media and wanting to fulfil my lifelong dream of becoming either an AFL or horse racing commentator. 

AFL and horse racing are two of my most loved sports. I am a passionate and opinionated Carlton Football Club member and I also contribute written articles to Carlton’s reserve team the Northern Blues.

Both clubs hold a very close place to my heart. 

My admiration and passion for horse racing stemmed from listening to callers such as Greg Miles and Bill Collins ply their craft for many years in Victorian racing.

I am enamoured at the ability of the horse to get their noses in front at the finish post with either bold front running efforts or flashing come from behind victories. 

As well as Collins and Miles, the great 3AW AFL calling duo of the late Clinton Grybas and retired calling veteran Rex Hunt will always be two media personalities whom I focus on and learn from. 

Away from studies - as well as working for the Northern Blues - I work part time in a bottle shop to get myself through my studies and ensure I’m in a comfortable financial position when I complete my course at Holmesglen. 

My first year of study at Holmesglen was a great success. 

For the year I averaged a distinction across the board with all the subjects I studied showcasing my unwavering commitment to the course and determination to succeed in the sport media industry. 

Despite a successful year, I believe I can improve my time management skills having lost a some marks over the duration of the first year for not handing in assessment on deadline. 

ENTRY 2 - INTRODUCTION TO SPORT MARKETING 

This semester I am looking forward to continuing to grow my ability to work within a team, improving time management skills and developing my knowledge in sports marketing.   

Last semester I felt as though there were a few communication break downs when working within a group. However, there were more positives than negatives. 

I began to develop a better understanding at using the strengths of others to assist a group project. I believe this semester I will continue to develop that aspect of academic work.  

This semester I will continue to improve my time management skills. I need to continue to prioritise the most important things in my life at the moment. Getting the right balance between my degree and life outside of school is important as well.  

In relation to sports marketing, I am really looking ahead to learning how sporting organisations use marketing to enhance their brand and influence stakeholders.  

Furthermore, the Work Integrated Learning (WIL) the course implements is such a useful tool for now and the future. I believe it makes the course have a realistic feel to it rather than always having a theoretical feel to it. 

WIL refers to educational studies that implement academic learning into a workplace environment (Fleming & Haigh 2017).  

WIL has allowed me to impart the various academic theories and skills learnt in Sports Marketing out into the workplace. 

Throughout Sports Marketing and Emerging Media Production WIL with Old Paradians Football Club has made me accountable for my work especially in a group environment.

I have to commit to tasks in the group projects we undertake and the peer review marking system ensures this as well. 

Plus, completing work for organisations means I must take pride and have a high standard for the work completed. 

From a professional level, the experience I will garner from working with these sporting organisations I believe will hold me in good stead when finishing my degree and looking for work. It will seperate my resume from the rest.

ENTRY 3 - IMPORTANCE OF MARKET RESEARCH 

I believe market research is one the most important aspects if an organisation wants their product (good and or service) to succeed. 

Market Research refers to an organisation collecting statistics and data which in turn will attempt to assist the organisation to make informed and educated decisions (Small Business Development Corporation 2018).

Market research can be divided into primary data whereby the organisation conducts its own quantitative and qualitative research direct from the source of subject in order to gain insight into aspects of their market (Bradley 2010).

 It can also be divided into secondary data whereby the organisation uses existing data and statistics from organisations (Bradley 2010) such as the Australia Bureau of Statistics in order to gain insight to a market. 

Moreover, specific examples of types of market research that can be used in developing a marketing strategy include; 

1. Surveys/questionnaires - Using individuals as samples answering questions of which the answers are statistically analysed (Bradley 2010).    

2. Focus groups - A type of qualitative research whereby certain people are asked questions about their values, beliefs,  perceptions of goods and or services provided by an organisations (Bradley 2010). 

3. Observational reporting - Is a type of research conducted whereby the researcher is not interfering with the sample subject  Below is an example of an observational report used for the Old Paradians Amateur Football. My group and I are going to be using this as an important market research tool when conducting the comprehensive marketing strategy for the club.

ENTRY 4 - WORK WITH THIRD PARTIES 

As part of our Sports Marketing subject each student has been assigned to groups in order to create a comprehensive sport marketing strategy for VAFA football clubs. 

The VAFA clubs are considered the third party in this situation. My group were assigned the Old Paradians and have been working closely with them to ensure wants and needs are met from all parties involved be that the students ourselves, lecturer Robbie Coyle and the football club. 

Working with a third party such as the Old Paradians has its pros and cons. 

The positive aspect of working with the football club allows us as students to get an experience as to what working in sports marketing will require from a professional level. 

It also allows us to continue to network with organisations outside the university to better our chances of employment when finishing our course. 

The only challenging aspect is the ability to marry up meeting times and the project GAANT chart around Old Paradians busy schedule outside of our marketing work for them. 

The improvements that can be made are potentially sacrificing a little more time outside of university to ensure the group can all meet together at the club. 

This would ensure everyone understands the requirements of their role in the project and contributions are evenly spread. 

Additionally, being in constant contact with the club on at least a weekly basis at bare minimum will also help us to achieve our goals and relieve any issues and queries from the football club. 

It will also allow us to meet our project deadlines set out by the course and our GAANT chart.  

ENTRY 5 - EFFECTIVE & HIGH PERFORMING TEAM MEMBER

There are many aspects I have imparted and learnt about being an effective and high performing team member over the course of Semester 1 in 2018. 

Effective communication is such an integral part of being an effective and high performing team member. 

The ability to convey messages in a clear and concise manner via the right platforms has allowed me to improve the quality of work I have produced.

It has also allowed for strong relationships between my fellow group members and peers. 

I believe there is room for improvement for my communication though. 

Case in point being the way I commented and completed the peer review section of assessment four. 

The detail I went into may have been expanded a little more to give those receiving the feedback a better idea of where they could potentially improve their own work and what parts they were doing well with. 

Furthermore, I believe being punctual and adhering to deadlines is an important aspect of being an effective and high performing team member. 

This area is a continual work in progress for me as I try to balance work, school and my personal life at the same time. 

Another aspect of being an effective and high performing team member is the ability to delegate tasks. 

Throughout the semester this has been a challenge given some extenuating circumstances that occurred during the Sports Marketing research proposal and strategy. 

However, my ability to delegate realistic tasks to group members even with the adversity faced definitely helped with the outcome and final product of our marketing strategy for Old Paradians. 

Attached below is a conversation had with one of our contacts for Old Paradians which I believe sums up the ability to communicate effectively. 

ENTRY 6 - THE IMPORTANCE OF SPORTS MARKETING CONCEPTS AND TRENDS 

One of the very first things I learnt through Sports Marketing are the two types of sport marketing that can occur. 

The first is marketing of sport which Smith (2008) refers to the advertising/promotion of the actual sport or a sporting event taking place. The perfect example of this is the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games lead up promotion on Youtube as attached below. 

The other concept of sport marketing is marketing through sport. Smith (2008) refers to marketing through sport as a non sport product being marketed through an association of sport. A clear example of this is in the image attached below. Here there are various sponsors who are not sporting organisations but have aligned themselves with a baseball team to promote and expose their brand in conjunction with the team. 

Marketing through sport has become and will continue to be a pivotal part in the financial solvency of sporting organisations. It is believed that in 2015 an estimated US $45 Billion was received by sport organisations on the back of corporate sponsorships (Budati & Bansal 2012).

An interesting trend I also focused on was Digital Marketing. Ryan (2014) refers to digital marketing as organisations and businesses taking their brands and advertising and promoting them via the internet and connected devices. 

The trend towards digital marketing has become prevalent due to the incredible increase in internet users worldwide as seen is in the table below produced by Internet World Stats (2018). 

ENTRY 7 - END OF SEMESTER REFLECTION 

The first semester of 2018 has finally come to an end I have gained so many new insights into sports marketing thanks to the guidance of Sports Marketing subject teacher Robbie Coyle.  

There were many challenges and rewards during the three months of this subject. 

We had a variety of assessments to complete during the semester the first being a market research proposal in our assigned project groups and VAFA football club. 

There were a few communication breakdowns early on in the semester with the group I was working in as well as with the football club which hurt the quality of our overall market research proposal. 

The group was able to pass the assessment, however we did expect to do a lot better than we did and learnt a valuable lesson about effective communication, delegation and punctuality when being part of a team. 

The market research proposal was then refined in order to help the next major assessment which was the marketing strategy for Old Paradians AFC. 

The beginning of this assessment was not ideal as two team members were unable to contribute to the assignment due to personal circumstances. 

However, fellow group member Will and I were able to unite and ensure our contact with the club and between ourselves was done on a consistent basis in order to ensure the success of the marketing strategy. 

Old Paradians AFC were fantastic in their co-operation and commitment to our marketing strategy from the moment we started to make our goals clear and how we were going to go about it. 

Will and I continually let the club know our progress of the marketing strategy and consistently organised meetings with them over the semester to ensure the successful completion of the strategy. 

Despite our challenges during the semester, Will and I were able to produce a comprehensive 27-page marketing strategy document as well as a presentation that summarised the document. 

Additionally, a new aspect of sport marketing I learnt that I believe will remain with me throughout my studies is the ‘Product Market Expansion Grid’ as shown below (Gobloges 2012). 

Mello (2017) describes the grid as a development for business growth strategy that assesses the bond between new and existing products and new and existing markets. 

Mello (2017) also explains the concept of each section of the grid by stating the strategy of a business focusing on market penetration (existing markets and products) is low risk, a focus on product development (existing marketing and new products) is of some risk, a focus on market development (existing product and new markets) is also of some risk and finally a focus on Diversification (new products and new markets) is the highest risk for a business to take. 

This area of sports marketing has allowed me to better understand how businesses position themselves in order to assess their situation from a product and market point of view in order to make decisions that will hopefully lead to a profit. 

This semester has been full of not only academic learning but many life lessons which I can take into the workplace and put to great use to benefit myself and others. 

I am looking forward with a high level of optimism to my next phase of studies in semester two and beyond. 

REFERENCES 

Bradley, N., 2010. Marketing research: tools & techniques, 2nd ed., New York: Oxford University Press.

Budati, A, Bansal, N,. 2012, ‘Marketing Through Sports: The Evolution and Future’, Mbaskool, viewed 29 May 2018, https://www.mbaskool.com/business-articles/marketing/5444-marketing-through-sports-the-evolution-and-future.html

Fleming, J, Haigh, N 2017, ‘Examining and challenging the intentions of work-integrated learning’, Higher Education, Skills and Work, vol. 7, no.2, pp. 198-210

Gobloges 2012, ‘Product/Market Expansion Grid’, What Marketing Is, viewed 29 May 2018, http://whatmarketingis.blogspot.com/2011/08/productmarket-expansion-grid.html 

Internet World Stats 2018, World Internet Usage and Population Statistics Dec 31, 2017, viewed 30 May 2018, https://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

Mello, J 2017, ‘The Product Market Expansion Grid Explained’, Product 2 Market, 1 January, viewed 10 June 2018, https://product2market.walkme.com/product-market-expansion-grid-explained/

Murdoch University 2018, What is Work Integrated Learning, viewed 14 May 2018, http://www.murdoch.edu.au/Work-Integrated-Learning/What-is-WIL/

Nate Assignment 2018, Sport Marketing a basic understanding, viewed 29 May 2018, https://nateassignment.weebly.com

Ryan, D 2014, Understanding Digital Marketing: Marketing Strategies for Engaging the Digital Generation, 1st. edn., Kogan Page, London, U.K., https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.holmesglen.edu.au/lib/holmesglen/reader.action?docID=1694820&query=

Small Business Development Corporation 2018, Market Research, viewed 25 May 2018, https://www.smallbusiness.wa.gov.au/business-advice/marketing/marketing-research

Smith, A. 2008, Introduction to Sport Marketing, 1st. edn., Elsevier Ltd., Oxford, U.K.