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Kacy Mackreth

Course Director

Kacy is a Senior Lecturer in Sport Marketing in the Carnegie School of Sport.

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About

Kacy is a Senior Lecturer in Sport Marketing in the Carnegie School of Sport.

Kacy is a Senior Lecturer in Sport Marketing at Leeds Beckett University. She delivers a number of undergraduate and postgraduate sport marketing modules within the Carnegie School of Sport. She joined Leeds Beckett University in 2004, initially as Marketing Co-ordinator for Carnegie Weight Management (MoreLife), a research unit within the University, where she oversaw and co-ordinated all their marketing activities prior to taking up her current academic role.

Her research interests primarily focuses on understanding consumer behaviour in sport and how this impacts sport marketing strategy. She is currently undertaking a part time PhD investigating changes made to a sport league product and the marketing implications this has for the sport of rugby league in the United Kingdom.

She takes great pride in her research informing her teaching as well as working with a range of industry professionals in the sport sector to enhance the student learning experience by bridging theory and practice to keep the curriculum dynamic and relevant. Previous and current organisations include O2, Nike, England Golf, Leeds Rugby, RFL, YCCC, Yorkshire Carnegie, England's Barmy Army and Goalball UK.

Research interests

In 2014, she embarked on investigating marketing planning activities in the rugby league Kingstone Press Championship division ahead of the new league structural changes - moving from a licensing system back to a promotion and relegation system. This initial exploratory study provided valuable insight which has been the foundation for her embarking on a PhD. She is currently doing a follow up study examining more widely the impact of changes made to a sport league product and the impact it has on marketing efforts across the sport to reinvigorate fan interest.

Publications (5)

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Internet publication

FIFA World Cup (1) - Wimbledon (Love): sport fandom in a crowded marketplace

Featured 2018 Author

Is there room for two major sporting events on the same day? Kacy Mackreth, Senior Lecturer in Sport Marketing at Leeds Beckett University's Carnegie School of Sport, examines the sports market.

Conference Contribution
Changing a League Structure: Marketing Implications for Rugby League Clubs in the UK
Featured 01 November 2017 2017 Sport Marketing Association Conference (SMA XV) Boston, MA.
AuthorsMackreth K, Bond AJ, O’Keeffe L

AIM The sport of rugby league in the UK underwent a Policy Review in 2013 that saw the sport move from a licensing system which was first introduced in 2009 to restore a promotion and relegation league system to be implemented in 2015 (RFL, 2015). In its 2015-2021 strategic plan, the Rugby Football League (RFL) outlined its rationale and vision to increase the visibility and profile of the sport in the UK (RFL, 2015). The resulting 2015 season new competition format included a 12 team elite Super League, a 12 team Championship, and a new 14 team League One. The integration of all league competitions through promotion and relegation presented a particular opportunity to increase the interest and attractiveness for rugby league as a sport product in the Championship division. The aim was to explore the impact of the new league structure on the Championship clubs marketing activities to reinvigorate fan interest ahead of the 2015 season.

Journal article
Changing the Sport Product : Marketing Implications for Championship Rugby League Clubs in the United Kingdom
Featured 02 June 2020 Managing Sport and Leisure26(6):559-574 Taylor & Francis

Purpose: Professional sports teams and leagues operate in a crowded market, thus, occasionally change league structures to remain competitive in the marketplace. However, the implications of such changes on strategic marketing planning is seldom explored. Design: Semi-structured interviews with 11 second-tier Rugby Football League (RFL) club executives and 1 national governing body executive. Findings: Very few clubs had a marketing strategy, therefore, engaged in very little strategic marketing planning. Furthermore, the main barriers were resource and skills, and, organisation and leadership. Practical Implications: The RFL need to concentrate on making sustainable shared resources which develop capabilities. For example, developing a standardised yet mouldable strategic marketing package would reduce the financial and knowledge resource barriers. Research Contribution: d This paper makes theoretical contribution to sport management, specifically barriers to strategic marketing practices within professional sports organisations. It also brings lower-tier professional sport clubs into focus, which are often overlooked.

Conference Contribution
#RLNewEra: An exploratory study into the marketing planning activities of rugby league clubs in the UK. European Association of Sport Management Conference, September 9-12, 2015. Dublin, Ireland: EASM.
Featured 10 September 2015 European Association of Sport Management Conference Dublin, Ireland

#RLNEWERA: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY INTO THE MARKETING PLANNING ACTIVITIES OF RUGBY LEAGUE CLUBS IN THE UK Mackreth, K ¹, Bond, A¹, O’Keeffe, L¹ ¹ Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK. k.mackreth@leedsbeckett.ac.uk AIM: The sport of rugby league in the UK has embraced a new ‘whole game’ philosophy following the 2013 Policy Review that restored promotion and relegation (RFL, 2015). The resulting 2015 season competition format included a 12 team elite Super League, a 12 team Championship, and a new 14 team League One. In its 2015-2021 strategic plan, the Rugby Football League (RFL) outlined its vision to increase the visibility and profile of the sport in the UK, through an integrated marketing and communication plan (RFL, 2015). The integration of all league competitions through promotion and relegation facilitates an opportunity to increase the the visibility and profile of Championship teams. The aim of this exploratory study was to investigate the marketing activities that Championship teams have implemented to take advantage of the RFL’s new era. LITERATURE REVIEW: The sport marketplace in the UK is currently saturated, with consumers having a wide choice of sport and leisure offerings to engage with. This competitive environment requires sport industry managers to realise the contribution that marketing in general, and strategic marketing in particular, can make to the success of their organisation (Brooksbank, Garland & Werder, 2012). Strategic marketing planning has been stated as an appropriate policy for a wide range of organisations, from large multi-nationals to not-for-profit and small to medium sized enterprises (Harris & Jenkins, 2001). Regardless of size, many sporting organisations now employ marketing specialists to manage the contribution of marketing in the planning process. Despite this, it has been suggested that the sports industry is guilty of complacency in relation to marketing and promotion of their product (Shilbury, Westerbeek, Quick & Funk, 2009). Unfortunately there is currently a limited understanding of the marketing activities that have been utilised within rugby football league. METHODOLOGY: A qualitative research design was employed to investigate the RFL’s marketing strategy and the marketing planning activities of Championship RFL clubs. A purposive sampling technique was used, with semi-structured interviews carried out between July 2014 and January 2015 with appropriate representatives who had responsibility for marketing activity within their organisation. The sample included 12 participants, comprising of 1 RFL Executive Officer, ten Championship Club representatives, and 1 League One club representative, who had been relegated from the Championship. An interview guide was developed in line with a strategic sport marketing planning framework (Shilbury et al, 2009). The interview guide facilitated the data collection of key areas including: identification of marketing opportunities, strategy determination, strategy implementation, evaluation, and the exploration of barriers and facilitators to planning activities. All interviews lasted between 35 minutes to 65 minutes and were recorded and transcribed. Transcripts were then analysed using MAXQDA11 qualitative software package. RESULTS/DISCUSSION: The RFL had a marketing strategy with clear objectives of how to grow interest in the sport. Despite this, results indicate that 7 out of 11 Championship League clubs did not have a formalised strategic marketing plan in place. Instead, there was a reliance on a range of reactive and short-term marketing tactics to engage fans and increase attendances. Primary barriers recognised as impacting a club’s ability to develop and execute a coordinated strategic marketing plan were organisational structure, limited staffing resource, limited expertise and limited finance. All 11 clubs welcomed the restructuring of the league as they believe promotion and relegation would reinvigorate interest amongst their supporters and present an opportunity to broaden their fan base. Clubs felt they would benefit from a more formalised approach to strategic marketing planning to maximise engagement and take advantage of the change in league structure. IMPLICATIONS/CONCLUSIONS: Due to the limited staffing resource, finance and expertise acknowledged within clubs, it is essential to develop shared expertise and resource across the sport. Without the development of shared resource there will continue to be a gap between the leagues and clubs off field performance. The findings support that greater commercial development is needed in Championship clubs to address the aforementioned barriers in the strategic marketing planning process. This will allow clubs to efficiently and effectively allocate marketing resources to engage supporters and generate a new fan base, especially within the restructured league format. REFERENCES: Brooksbank, R., Garland, R., & Werder, W. (2012). Strategic marketing practices as drivers of successful business performance in British, Australian and New Zealand golf clubs. European Sport Management Quarterly, 12(5), 457-475. Harris, L.C. & Jenkins, H, (2001) Planning the future of rugby union: a study of the planning activities of UK rugby clubs, Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol. 19 Iss: 2, pp.112 – 124. RFL. (2015). Strategic and Operational Plans 2015 – 2021. Retrieved from http://www.therfl.co.uk/the-rfl/about_the_rfl/annual_report__governance. Shilbury, D.,Westerbeek, H., Quick, S. & Funk, D. (2009). Strategic sport marketing,3rd ed. Crows Nest, N.S.W. : Allen & Unwin.

Conference Contribution

Childhood obesity: Implications for market segmentation

Featured July 2010 The International Congress of Obesity Stockholm, Sweden
AuthorsMackreth K, Griffiths C, Gately PJ, Radley D, Mackreth P, Wilson A, Cooke CB

Current teaching

She currently teaches a range of undergraduate and postgraduate modules in the Sport Business Subject Group which include:

  • Level 4: The Sport Consumer
  • Level 5: Sport Sponsorship
  • Level 6: Supervisor for Major Independent Study
  • Level 7: Sport Marketing and PR

Teaching Activities (2)

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Course developed

MSc Strategic Sports Marketing

28 September 2020

Leeds Beckett University

Course developed

BA (Hons) Sports Journalism

20 September 2021

Leeds Beckett University

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Kacy Mackreth
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