Wednesday, March 21, 2012

ESPN for Women Adds a Sponsor

 An effort by ESPN to appeal to women is getting some addition marketer support as a brand becomes the first in its category to advertise with the company. The brand is a package-food product, Colavita olive oil, which is also a longtime sponsor of cycling. Colavita is forming a professional women's cycling team, co-branded with ESPNW, which is ESPN's sector designed especially for women interested in sports. 

It has been said that ESPN is very masculine and appears to a very male dominated crowd. This has changed over the year with adding female broadcasters on most of the ESPN venues shown but they are still accused of lacking their support of women's sports. ESPNW, as of now, is only a web site dedicated to women's sports, they hope to create a broader expansion of ESPNW in the years to come, but this website alone has taken over three years to really take off.

ESPNW's target market is obviously women but they have also expressed that this range is woman that are 25+ years of age because they believe that are the future "consumers" of this upcoming endeavor. Going back to its largest supporter, Colavita olive oil, some may not realize the actual significance that this olive oil has. In recent studies, olive oil has been reported as one of the few foods to "prevent cancer." It may sound ridiculous at first but there are some foods that actually reduce oxidization in your body which is one of the most significant reasons cancer cells grow inside the body. I think this support by Colavita olive oil is a subtle but very smart choice on their part. They could promote their product and little do most know, by using it in every day meals it prevents cancer cells from forming inside your body.

Do you think ESPNW is hitting the right age for their target market or do you think their age range is off? I personally think their should be another channel added to the few that ESPN already has that shows more female sports, what do you think?

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