Marketing

Contents 1. Introduction 1.1 Mission Statement 1.2 Products and Services 2. Market Orientation 2.1 Golfing Market Analysis – UAE 2.2 SWOT Analysis - ADGC 2.3 Holistic Marketing Concept 2.4 Strategic Direction – ADGC 2.5 Target Segments 2.6 Marketing Strategies & Evolution of ADGC’s Marketing Activities 3. Market Research 4. Conclusion 5. References 1. Introduction Abu Dhabi Golf Club “An oasis of tranquility and beauty carved out of desert” is how it is being marketed. Located in the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Abu Dhabi. Fifteen minutes away from the city centre and ten minutes from the Abu Dhabi International Airport, Abu Dhabi Golf Club (ADGC) is perfectly located for domestic and international guests. ADGC features 27 holes of Championship golf course, spread over 162 hectares of land with undulating terrain meandering through pockets of palms and ornamental trees, shrubs and spectacular saltwater lakes. The clubhouse built in a shape of falcon with its wings outstretched peering over the 18th green. As you look across the lakes and shrubs from the far end of the course, clubhouse dominates the scenery. Ranked among the top 100 golf courses by Golf World Magazine, the course provides tough but a fair test of championship golf. The course host the major event of PGA European Tour named HSBC Abu Dhabi Golf Championship with a prize fund of US$ 2.7 million sponsored by HSBC, the world’s local bank. The ADGC is managed by Troon Golf. 1.1 Mission Statement “Abu Dhabi Golf Club creates extraordinary experiences for our members, local community and international tourists by providing superior amenities, services and playing surfaces. Our fanatical attention to detail and continuous effort to improve makes us one of the Middle East’s most sought after Golf Clubs. The creativity and energy of our people stimulates a culture of enthusiasm and Excellence in Innovation, setting us apart from competitors”. 1.2 Products and Services I. ADGC operates as semi private property and it open doors for members and guest paying daily fee for golfing. Its products and services are as follows; II. Golf - This is the main source of revenue for ADGC. The revenues generated from its members those who are paying annual membership fees and guests visiting Abu Dhabi paying a daily fee III. Golfing Classes (training academy) – This is an auxiliary service provided by the golf club. The club offers different packages and could be selected depending on the requirement. All the trainers are PGA (Professional Golfers Association) certified to ensure the quality of the service offered. IV. Pro shop – This is the shop in the club caters all the customer requirements related to golfing equipments and accessories ranging from golf clubs to tees, clothing for men and women golfing shoes to sport bands. Another supplementary product of ADGC for the golfers. V. Food and Beverage (F&B) - As it reads it’s the F&B sales at the F&B outlets of the club. Like almost all the golf clubs ADGC has spike bar (more of casual type F&B dining outlet for golfers and guests) for the golfers. It has fine dining outlet as well as caravan roaming around the course and pavilions on the golf course to grab a quick bite or a drink when needed. VI. Gymnasium and swimming pool – The access has been restricted to country club members (different from golf membership and only to use facilities) except for the swimming pool where visitors can get entry permit for a fixed fee. In the gym personal training, diet consultation, physiotherapist service, weight training services are provided on pay as you go basis. VII. Meeting space and banquets –ADGC has meeting rooms and banqueting space that is rented along with F&B and separately depending on the customer requirement. Kindly note that the revenues generated from meeting space and banquets are included in F&B revenue for the reporting purpose. Revenue Breakdown of Abu Dhabi Golf Club - 2010 Comparison of Actual Results against Budget – Q1 of 2011 2. MARKET ORIENTATION ADGC started its commercial operations in the year 1998 and continued to grow since then. It was the only golf club in the UAE’s capital city of Abu Dhabi to play 18 holes golf until March 2010. ADGC had the first mover advantage and well received in the market as there was no completion up until March 2010 when Yas Links and Saadiyat Beach Golf Club started its operation. In the past ADGC had the advantage of being the single player in the market and had a monopoly. However even though it was the only place to play golf in Abu Dhabi ADGC has to continue the marketing activities in order to secure its place within the UAE market as people can commute from Abu Dhabi to Dubai within an hour where so many other facilities were available that the city of Abu Dhabi lacks in the past. Late 2009 the Yas Island was opened for the visitors and seven hotels opened on the same time increasing the Abu Dhabi’s hotel room supply by 2500 rooms and new restaurants were opened on the hotels created more choice for the customers. As Yas Island was 10 minutes drive from ADGC the restaurants created completion for ADGC. 2.1 Golfing Market Analysis – UAE With the addition of two golf course in Abu Dhabi market UAE’s championship 18 hole golf courses increased to total of 13 comprising Abu Dhabi 3, Dubai 8 and 2 in Ras Al Kaimah at the end of year 2010. Emirates Golf Federation (EGF) a nonprofit governing body of amateur golf in UAE had 6500 registered golfers at the end of year 2010. Majority of these golfers belong to a club with the remainder being associated with the federation which offers reduced fees and other associated discounts. As per EGF, rounds played by non-resident / overseas golfers in UAE had fallen during 2008 to 2010 period. Resident rounds have been increased year by year although the growth rate was dropped from 17% in 2008/09 to 10% 0f 2009/10 period. Dubai clubs were most affected by the market shift with some clubs experiencing significant negative growth in year over year. ADGC unlike the clubs in Dubai had seen an increase in overseas rounds 500+ from 2009- 2010 although overall increase in the segment was only 6%. It is also anticipated that this segment will see robust growth over the next two years with the opening of two clubs in Abu Dhabi as well as opening of several leisure and hospitality attractions in the Abu Dhabi. The positioning of ADGC is very exciting as the club continues to garner accolades and become more mature in the product offering. The refurbishment of club house and bunker enhancement in 2010 shows the commitment to remain the market leader in Abu Dhabi as well as to provide head to head completion to rivals in Dubai. The catchment area in which club is located continues to grow and allows ADGC to become the social centre for the surrounding community. 2.2 SWOT Analysis - ADGC  Strengths • 27 Holes as well as addition opportunity for capacity with a triple tee configuration • Location –City of Abu Dhabi continue to expand and high end housing projects in close proximity to the club • Complete facility including swimming pool, gym and scotch courts. • Refurbished and upgraded facility • European PGA tour venue • Top 100 golf course world ranking  Weaknesses • Holes 19-27 do not match the championship course offering • Greater exposure to overseas guests • Perception of being a private club • Perception of being focused on tourists for the membership  Opportunities • Synergies with the Westin Hotel located next to ADGC which is to be opened on Q4 of 2011 • Synergies with Saadiyat Beach Golf Club • New gymnasium • Night golfing • Membership retention and increased members lounge and meeting space.  Threats • Increased completion from both Saadiyat and Yas Links • Increased completion for F&B with Westin hotel • Increased pricing of annual membership fees 2.3 Holistic Marketing Concept Dynamics in the market have forced the firms to become more innovative when it comes to marketing the firm. The firms are recognizing the gravity of adapting to the marketing environment and thinking beyond the conventional marketing concepts to success in its activities. The holistic marketing concept is based on the development design and implementation of marketing programs processors and activities that recognize their breadth and interdependencies. Holistic marketing recognizes that “everything matters” in marketing and that a broad integrated perspective is often necessary. (Kotler and Keller (2009)) Four broad components of holistic marketing (Kotler & Keller 2009) 2.4 Strategic Direction - ADGC ADGC is focused on maximizing the use of club and related facilities through dedicated sales and marketing efforts and strategic pricing. With the added competition to the market member retention is becoming a key priority . Efforts are made to provide added value to the membership through inclusive pricing as well as addition benefits offered at other golf courses managed by Troon Golf in the UAE such as preferred booking windows, promotional golf rates in addition to discounts on F&B and merchandise. The sales and marketing team was restructured in 2010 to become more focused on specific areas. The S&M staff is shared between Saadiyat Beach Golf Club and ADGC as both were owned by same owner and managed by Troon Golf. This step was taken to ensure clubs are to become complementary to each other rather than being competitive to increase the revenues and profitability. In addition to driving revenues through the club S&M team will focus on crating synergies and brand building along with Westin Hotel. Joint promotions to include golf and leisure stay and play packages will create a provide strong platform for both properties outperform competitors. 2.5 Target Segments a. Membership – member retention is the first priority • Retain all membership levels • Fill any vacant memberships due to resignations • Look for oppourtinities to grow weekday memberships • Night golf memberships b. Local community (Abu Dhabi) – targeting residents for both golf and F&B offers and promotions • Group/corporate business for golf • Group / corporate business for F&B as well as meetings and conference activities • Partnerships and associations • Banqueting c. UAE community – As Abu Dhabi continue to outpace Dubai in growth, more Dubai based companies are providing services and conducting business in Abu Dhabi. • Associations • Business Groups • Charity Events • Sponsorships d. International tourists- visitors to Abu Dhabi and UAE • Concierge programs with hotels allowing hotels to make reservations along with tee time booking for its guests • Partnering with tour operators drive in the business • Strategic partners Eg; Etihad (national airline of UAE) 2.6 Marketing Strategies & Evolution of ADGC’s Marketing Activities  Changes to the Marketing Mix ADGC has hybrid marketing mix structure as it has products as well as services offered to customers. The marketing mix is well balanced in order to depend the current position as market leader and to grow with the market. As there are two competitors in close proximity ADGC had focused on creation of perceived value in the mind set of customers. The extended marketing mix of 7 Ps to include impact of services through people, process and physical evidence had been fine tuned to provide exceptional experience to the customers. People – Staff were trained to ensure better customer service and continuing process of internal assessments to identify gaps of service standards have contributed to the organizational goal. Employees were given opportunity to experience the products and services to enabling them to provide more accurate information about product and services offering. The F&B services staff has been given opportunity to taste the menu items and included in food and wine tasting takes part in every month. This had enabled the service staff to describe the F&B menu items to the guests. The staff had been vital factor in F&B service, fitness training and golf lessons as they highly depending on the employees. Process – this is how ADGC had been structured to deliver the exceptional customer satisfaction. This includes core processes and internal operating systems. The service process contributes towards the total service, which includes the “accessibility” of the service, the “customer/ organization interaction” and level of “customer involvement” with in the processes. Internal processes in ADGC have simplified to become more customer focused than before. Physical Evidence- Internal and external service environment and its appearance had been improved during the recent refurbishment in late 2010 to upkeep the property and to provide greater ambiance to the guests. Further new signage has been introduced and service staff uniforms had been changed to align with the theme of the restaurants. Direct Marketing ADGC had stated customer database collection by different means to ensure it can create channels to directly reaching the customers. The information collected internally and externally. There were draws introduced in the club for guest with a chance of getting meal for two for a drop of business cards. Externally ADGC sponsored morning radio program which promote golf and F&B operations of the club. Everyday free lunch was on offer for the right answer given for the question asked at morning drive program. ADGC collected all the phone numbers which were used to send answers to radio station and added it into the database. The promotional flyers are send to the email lists and sms were sent into frequent visitor database. ADGC started door dropping brochures at high end residential communities in close proximity (Al Raha, Al Bandar and Golf Gardens average annual rental value exceeds US$ 54.000 p.a.) to communicate its promotions and special events . This was well received and started driving traffic into the club. Taking further step ADGC targeted school teachers and offered them attractive discounts. In return club sees an increase of junior golf activities and sale of golf lessons to the students. In order to boost the membership sales in country club (gym and swimming pool) ADC approached its business partners with higher number of staff with high average pay such as Etihad Airline, Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority and Tourism Development and Investment Company with an exciting offer of no initiation fee and 50% discount on individual membership. The move was well reserved as ADGC was perceived to be a private property among the general public.  Brand Building ADGC started brand building through varies methods and erected signboards on highways to give direction to the club. It started promotions every month to maintain the appearance on Time-out Abu Dhabi and Abu Dhabi Week, weekly magazines latter one has a weekly circulation of 82000 copies. The fine dining restaurant named The Grill was marketed as sub brand and gains popularity as good quality affordable restaurant.  Hosted Events Members Mixer – A quarterly social event for members and their spouses which serves as a thank you for their loyalty as well as a casual forum. Abu Dhabi Golf Championship (Annual Tournament) – ADGCs opportunity to showcase the ultimate red carpet corporate golf event and thank its partners. Despite the unfavorable weather condition prevailed during the championship event held in January had seen 10% increase of guests to the event totaling to 33000 for the three day event. Concierge Familiarization Trips – site visits arranged for concierge staff in 5 star hotels and meeting organizers to sell the products and services.  Public Relations A PR company was hired by the club to handle domestic PR activities. The contract started in January 2011 for period of two years. The PR agency will distribute press releases, assist with editorial captures such as reviews and features, assist with media attendance at hosted events and supply monthly PR coverage reports. International PR activities are handled by Professional Sports Group based out of UK and will be commissioned on needy basis. 3. MARKET RESERCH Market research is the systematic design, collection, analysis and reporting of data and findings relevant to specific marketing situation facing the company (Kotler and Keller (2009)). Effective marketing research follows the below steps; Kotler and Keller (2009)) ADGC is involved in continuous market research activities designed to find out ways and means to improve its ultimate profitability by retaining its customers, enhancement of product and services portfolio to cover missing aspects, and to provide exceptional service. Golf related activities – ADGC has introduced guest feedback cards and issued to all visiting players (not members) at the time of sign up for play along with tee card. At the end of play completed feedback cards are collected and forwarded to S&M team for analysis. In addition to that on the same day an email is send to players with questionnaire to obtain more descriptive information that players may not comfortable of providing at the end of play to the staff. Food and Beverage related activities- when the guest request for the check (bill) serving staff will place guest feedback card designed for F&B outlet along with the check and the folder containing them is handed to the guest. The serving staff will make a gentle request to the guest to provide feedback. The restaurant managers and senior chefs were given allowances to visit competitive restaurants to dine in and to gather information on competitors’ products range and service quality. The staffs were given a questionnaire to complete to ensure that ADGC captures all the useful information on competitors’ activities. At the outlets sales information is captured to the system and those information regarding customer preferences are analysed on monthly basis. The menu item which highly requested and least requested are identified. The menu item which were least received in every quarter were replaced with new menus to cater customers taste. Further, the menus were frequently changed to create variety of choice to the guests and to reflect seasonal changes and to celebrate special occasions. Apart from gathering information and performing research activities in house ADGC also use external sources to get research information. Like most of the hotels ADGC also uses the service of mystery guest to experience the facilities and provide a report on monthly basis. A guest satisfaction report is prepared on monthly basis by the S&M team using the mystery guest report and internally collected information. The report is presented to the strategic management for the action. 4. CONCLUSION Abu Dhabi Golf Club is considering marketing as vital element in its operation. It moulds its marketing strategy with a view of achieving its objectives of corporate, business and functional levels. Marketing activities are changed on regular basis to support the strategy and achievement of business objectives. 5. REFERENCES Kotler, P. and Keller, K.L. (2009). Marketing Management. 13th (International) Edition, Pearson/Prentice-Hall. Troon Golf. (Online) Available from :http://www.troongolf.eu/abu-dhabi-golf-club.html (Accessed on 1 April 2011) Abu Dhabi Golf Club. (Online) Available from : http://www.adgolfclub.com/Home.aspx (Accessed from 1 March to 30 April 2011) Emirates Golf Federation. ( Online) Available from : http://www.emiratesgolffederation.com/Contents/AboutUS.aspx (Accessed on 30 April 2011) Top 100 golf courses of the world (online) Available from : http://www.top100golfcourses.co.uk/htmlsite/productdetails.asp'id=1374 (Accessed on 1 April 2011) Yas Island Abu Dhabi (Online) Available from : http://www.yasisland.ae/ ( Accessed on 15 April 2011) Abu Dhabi Golf Club. (2010). 2011 Business Plan, Abu Dhabi, UAE: Abu Dhabi Golf Club Abu Dhabi Golf Club. (2011). 2010 Annual Report, Abu Dhabi, UAE: Abu Dhabi Golf Club Abu Dhabi Golf Club. (2011). 2011 Q1 Owners Report, Abu Dhabi, UAE: Abu Dhabi Golf Club