This clearly displays ESPN's intent for marketing. However, looking from the outside in, business's such as professional sports leagues, NFL, MLB, NBA, etc will use ESPN for its use of business marketing. This is because, ESPN's key characteristics for its business use regarding serving sports fans serves for a business market such as professional sporting leagues. In reference to Marketing, 5th edition by Lamb, Hair and McDaniel, one key definition when discussing business marketing is, reintermediation. Reintermediation is defined as the reintroduction of a intermediary between products and users. Using ESPN as the example for reintermediation, ESPN is the source for reintroduction of a intermediary (professional sports) between its products (highlights of professional sports) and its user or consumers (sports fans). In a nut shell, ESPN is trusted by professional sports to play the highlights to their shared target markets, sports fans all around the world.
This brings us to the next use of ESPN's business marketing. Relationship commitment. Relationship commitment is a firm's belief that an ongoing relationship with another firm is so important that the relationship warrants maximum efforts maintaining it indefinitely. Simply put, the relationship between ESPN and all professional sports requires maximum efforts to sustain ESPN's identity. Without ESPN's business agreement with professional sports, professional sports would not get their message to their target market and without professional sports, ESPN wouldn't have anything for sustain its company indefinitely.
Discussing business marketing and ESPN has proven to be extremely difficult because ESPN's main mission is to their consumer. However, ESPN is indeed a business company, therefore, must acquire and maintain business marketing to survive. Which is why, joint demand plays another vital characteristic for ESPN and business marketing. Joint demand is simply the demand for two or more items (NFL,MLB and NBA) used together for a final product (ESPN).
In conclusion, ESPN looking from the outside in, looks as if it was self sustaining and has no need for business marketing because their intended use is for us, the consumer of sports. However, without ESPN's proper use of business marketing and all its characteristics, the media giant known as ESPN would not be. Therefore, business marketing plays a pivotal role and the success and survival of ESPN.
In summary, its who you know as well as what you know. And never burn bridges because you never know when these bridges will come into play with business marketing.
