The Elusive Fan Podcast #4 launched this weekend on theelusivefan.podshow.com. The topic of the show is thrill marketing, and we talk with Jeff Zaltman, Founder and Managing Director of Aero-GP, a new plane racing motorsport based in Europe. The sport has three main events: a traditional race, a target bombing contest, and a one-on-one dogfight. Think motorsports meets extreme sports meets videogames.

Aero-GP is an interesting case of thrill marketing because of the relatively low participation rates. There really isn't an equivalent to sandlot baseball when it comes to one-on-one plane dogfights. To help compensate for lower particpation levels, Aero-GP is capitalizing on technology to establish a connection with fans. In the book, we call this the vicarious experience connection, where sports products enable fans to get close to the action, as if they were a flying the plane or driving the car themselves. Aero-GP has multiple cameras in the planes that show close-ups of the drivers and the circuit is considering other technological experiences that will enhance fan involvement. These strategies have the benefit of not only bringing the fan inside the sport but also communicating the thrill of the competition in a personalized fashion.

Managing and understanding how thrill operates in sports is a critical strategy in today's elusive fan marketplace. To hear more about the strategy, log on to theelusivefan.podshow.com and click "Thrill Marketing".

This entry was posted by Ben Shields on Sunday, October 8. 2006 at 11:19. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own blog.