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The National Basketball Association (NBA) is one of the Big Four Sporting Leagues of US Professional Sports. In recent years, the NBA has enjoyed milestone seasons in both attendance and television ratings, resulting in steady increases to both, over the previous decade. (Morgan, 2017) This surge can be attributed in

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is one of the Big Four Sporting Leagues of US Professional Sports. In recent years, the NBA has enjoyed milestone seasons in both attendance and television ratings, resulting in steady increases to both, over the previous decade. (Morgan, 2017) This surge can be attributed in part to the integration of "cultural recognition" initiatives and the overall message of inclusivity on the part of NBA franchises, with their respective promotions and advertisements such as television, social media, radio, etc. Heritage Nights, such as "Noche Latina," among other variants in the NBA, typically feature culturally influenced changes to team logos, giveaways, and other consumer offerings. In markets where Hispanics make up a significant percentage of the fan-base, such as Phoenix, NBA franchises such as the Phoenix Suns must ascertain the financial or perceptual impacts, associated with risks of stereotyping, offending or otherwise unintentionally alienating different categories of fans. To this end, data was collected from the local NBA franchises' fanbase, specifically Phoenix Suns season-ticket holders, and was statistically checked for significant relationships between both categories of fans and several different variables. This analysis found that only $192K in revenue is being missed through the investment of Heritage Nights, and that fan perceptions of stereotypical or offensive giveaways and practices have no significant effect on game or event attendance, despite the stereotypes toward giveaways and practices still being present. Implications of this study provide possible next steps for the Suns and continue to widen the scope of demographical sports marketing both in professional basketball and beyond.
ContributorsGibbens, Patrick Alexander (Author) / Eaton, John (Thesis director) / McIntosh, Daniel (Committee member) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / School of Music (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Only in the world of acting can an individual be denied a job simply on the basis of their appearance, and in my thesis, I sought to explore alternatives to this through the concept of nontraditional casting and casting against "type", which included the presentation of a full-length production of

Only in the world of acting can an individual be denied a job simply on the basis of their appearance, and in my thesis, I sought to explore alternatives to this through the concept of nontraditional casting and casting against "type", which included the presentation of a full-length production of the musical "Once on this Island" which I attempted to cast based on vocal quality and skill alone rather than taking physical characteristics into account. I researched the history and implementation of nontraditional casting, both in regards to race and other factors such as gender, socio-economic status, and disability. I also considered the legal and intellectual property challenges that nontraditional casting can pose. I concluded from this research that while nontraditional casting is only one solution to the problem, it still has a great deal of potential to create diversity in theater. For my own show, I held the initial auditions via audio recording, though the callback auditions were held in person so that I and my crew could appraise dance and acting ability. Though there were many challenges with our cast after this initial round of auditions, we were able to solidify our cast and continue through the rehearsal process. All things said, the show was very successful. It is my hope that those who were a part of the show, either as part of the production or the audience, are inspired to challenge the concept of typecasting in contemporary theater.
ContributorsBriggs, Timothy James (Author) / Yatso, Toby (Thesis director) / Dreyfoos, Dale (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Music (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
We endeavored to begin the process of writing a musical. We composed a total of three songs, 30 pages of script (non-consecutive) with an outline summarizing the remaining uncompleted pages, seven character summaries/analyses, and a reflection on the process and next steps, and presented them in a “Producer Pitch” format

We endeavored to begin the process of writing a musical. We composed a total of three songs, 30 pages of script (non-consecutive) with an outline summarizing the remaining uncompleted pages, seven character summaries/analyses, and a reflection on the process and next steps, and presented them in a “Producer Pitch” format to our readers. In our paper we discuss the birth of inspiration for Girls And Boys—namely philosophical conflicts about the role of biology vs. society in gender identity and real, local events of public districts reevaluating their sex education program—as well as the challenges we experienced during the process and our intentions for continued work towards the completion of the material. In our written script we span the opening of the show to the climax through sporadically completed scenes, with the outline serving to fill in the blanks. In our music, we composed three pieces—a solo ballad, an ensemble number, and an emotional trio—that we converted into an audio file format, and performed live for a small audience. Ultimately, we seek to use the elevated drama of a musical to convince the audience that empathy is the truest, ageless, and genderless expression of humanity.
ContributorsDoering, Emilie (Co-author) / Moylan, Megan (Co-author) / Yatso, Toby (Thesis director) / Mills, Robert (Committee member) / Harper, Robert (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Music (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor)
Created2015-05
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Description
The advertising industry has an interesting relationship with society. Most consumers do not want to be advertised to but the advertisers need to be catching the attention of future customers, as to allow businesses to grow and develop. However, as advertising practices have continued to pester the public with increasingly

The advertising industry has an interesting relationship with society. Most consumers do not want to be advertised to but the advertisers need to be catching the attention of future customers, as to allow businesses to grow and develop. However, as advertising practices have continued to pester the public with increasingly invasive ads, it is important to discuss how far advertisers should go in invading the lives of the consumer. Advertising is necessary in today's world, as without it many industries that are used daily by consumers would become far less profitable without it, rendering many services and entertainment outlets unable to serve their customers. While necessary, advertising has become nothing more than an annoyance to a lot of consumers, leading to the ultimate question addressed in this thesis: where is the line? In addition to discussing many real-world examples, measuring the extent of the annoyance behind a series of controlled advertisements would become crucial in exhibiting how invasive ads can really be. This lead to the survey which aimed to discover where the line is that advertisers should not cross when continuing to create interesting ads, as they can become a nuisance to the audience they are trying to appeal to. While it is difficult to measure exactly when an advertisement becomes a detractor instead of effective marketing, it is determined that advertisers must truly embrace the audience as well as the medium they use to send their messages. Survey responses led to the conclusion that the advertising industry must be wary of what their audience is attempting to do when companies advertise to them. Advertisers must strive to not become an annoyance to the audience they are marketing to, and must create a cohesive campaign that complements the medium used as to not jeopardize the integrity of the entertainment medium.
ContributorsIvanhoe, Daniel Lee (Author) / Eaton, John (Thesis director) / McIntosh, Daniel (Committee member) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
In modern music and theater education, there is a lack of basic understanding for the "rhythm" aspect in artistic performance. Through my upbringing in musical theater and the a cappella music world in my community, I realized there was an opportunity to fill the gap with teaching beatboxing. By applying

In modern music and theater education, there is a lack of basic understanding for the "rhythm" aspect in artistic performance. Through my upbringing in musical theater and the a cappella music world in my community, I realized there was an opportunity to fill the gap with teaching beatboxing. By applying vocal percussion to a theater or music curriculum, it would provide a new, creative outlet for young artists by allowing them to explore their capabilities in artistic performance as well as help them flex new muscles for diction and expression training. I created a vocal percussion "language", a basic notation system that would help students learn and retain their beatboxing training through an extra layer of communication and memorization. I conducted a two day Vocal Percussion Seminar where artists could come and learn about the history and origins of beatboxing, the basic sounds in beatboxing, proper warm-ups for building an individual's skills, how to write and practice vocal percussion notation, and practice vocal percussion performance with beatboxing technology. I created two worksheets as visual aids the workshop: A "Sounds of Beatboxing" worksheet identifying where certain beatboxing sounds occur in the mouth and a "Vocal Percussion Notation" worksheet that can be used as a visual aid for crafting and practicing beatboxing according to the notation guidelines. The intention of this seminar is to be a "Phase One", a version that can be updated and changed for future evolution in education styles and beatboxing knowledge. Despite challenges in attendance and circumstances, "Phase One" of the seminar was a success. In my final paper, I discuss my inspiration for the seminar, the rise of beatboxing's presence in theater, the trends of language and rhythm in artistic performance, the tools behind beatboxing, the application of the International Phonetic Alphabet and Knight-Thompson Speechwork, the workshop's development process, the results of the first phase of the seminar, my plan of action for the seminar's future. Everyone has the tools to generate a powerful and impactful performance, but it is how you use the tools to craft your final product.
ContributorsRhiner, Jennie Lynn (Author) / Yatso, Toby (Thesis director) / Espinosa, Micha (Committee member) / School of Music (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
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Description
Starting in the 2017-2018 season, the National Basketball Association (NBA) will become the first major U.S. sports league to put corporate sponsors on their jerseys. This is a monumental move in the course of sports history, as it will have a major impact on the fans. Teams, as well as

Starting in the 2017-2018 season, the National Basketball Association (NBA) will become the first major U.S. sports league to put corporate sponsors on their jerseys. This is a monumental move in the course of sports history, as it will have a major impact on the fans. Teams, as well as the league, must walk a line and make sure they are not seen as selling out for more revenue. Even though one of the reasons for allowing teams to sell space on jerseys is for revenue generation, it is also meant to help the NBA increase its exposure and become a global brand that is accepting to corporate investment. To understand how this will play out in the NBA, this report will look at the history of jersey sponsorship in Europe and the United States. Studying how jersey sponsorships have affected fans, teams, and leagues in the past will allow for a better understanding of the new jersey sponsorship market that the NBA is creating. Having a complete grasp on how jersey sponsorship markets in Europe and the U.S. will allow for better predictions on how the market for a major U.S. league will be. As of April 21, 2017, six teams have agreed to deals that involve a corporate sponsor patch on the team jerseys. These teams are from a variety of different markets and have varying level of recent and historical success. This small sample of teams with current deals can be compared to the early deals in other leagues. Some trends can be identified within the current deals based on the monetary investment certain teams are receiving from brands. The partnerships also all have other components to them as well as good brand alignment between the team and the sponsor. To value the remaining 24 teams, a formula was produced that would consider the team's current exposure in the marketplace. Through studying the history of other jersey sponsorship markets, a team's exposure is very important to brands and can allow a team to command a larger dollar amount. A formula was derived to relatively determine the value each team from the point of view of a brand mulling the decision to purchase an NBA jersey patch. Understanding the value of exposure to brands, the formula consisted of five variables that fully encompass how a team gains and maintains its exposure. A survey was also conducted in order to understand the fan in the local area. Our survey sample consisted of students of the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. In this survey, we could understand how students felt about certain brands and whether a partnership involving their favorite team could sway their purchase intentions. The survey gave an inside look on some NBA fans and how they feel towards corporate partnerships with teams.
ContributorsSantora, Spencer Dean (Co-author) / Scheetz, Ryan (Co-author) / Eaton, John (Thesis director) / McIntosh, Daniel (Committee member) / Department of Marketing (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
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Description
This thesis explores the various reasons that Broadway musicals fail, or "flop". It goes into detail on several musicals of different genres, and explains what their shortcomings were, whether it be a less-than-perfect book, a weak score, or a production team that was not experienced in the skills that it

This thesis explores the various reasons that Broadway musicals fail, or "flop". It goes into detail on several musicals of different genres, and explains what their shortcomings were, whether it be a less-than-perfect book, a weak score, or a production team that was not experienced in the skills that it takes to put together a musical. It discusses how long the shows ran for, or if they ever made it into a Broadway house. It looks at what the audience reception was like for each show, and whether the shows were a success with the tough critics of Broadway. In addition to this, I have recorded several of my peers performing songs from the musicals I have discussed in the written portion of this thesis. This helps to educate an audience on what it would have been like for one of the flop's real performances. The videos also do a wonderful job of communicating what the show sounds like, and how it can make an audience feel or react. Lastly, it gives more insight into why the musicals they are from failed to thrive in front of a Broadway audience. Through my research, I have discovered that creating a musical is possibly one of the most difficult feats a team of creative people can accomplish. There are countless reasons for failure in these shows, but overall, I feel that every failure had something to offer, and because of that, are surely worth celebrating.
ContributorsUrias-Ramonett, Sedona Lee (Author) / Yatso, Toby (Thesis director) / Dreyfoos, Dale (Committee member) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / School of Music (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
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Description
General Motors is a well-established American company within the automotive industry. However, the industry is always evolving as new technologies, such as self-driving cars are introduced. This technology is predicted to have an impact on the current industry and change the way the world views transportation. General Motors cannot sit

General Motors is a well-established American company within the automotive industry. However, the industry is always evolving as new technologies, such as self-driving cars are introduced. This technology is predicted to have an impact on the current industry and change the way the world views transportation. General Motors cannot sit by as the technology is implemented if it wishes to continue to do well. Companies like Kodak made this mistake as the industry switched from film to digital photography. Kodak was too slow to react to the change and continued to develop and sell film-based products long after the technology became obsolete, which resulted in the eventual breakdown of the company. General Motors has already taken several steps in the right direction by purchasing Cruise Automation and allowing them to operate independently from the corporate brand. Overall, general public perception of this new technology is cautious, and most probably aren't ready for the high price that these self-driving vehicles will bring. Ride-sharing companies are the first adopters of this technology since they are able to pay the premium prices and can handle the testing of the vehicles. Private consumers cannot buy fully autonomous vehicles but can currently purchase vehicles with semi-autonomous capabilities, such as the Tesla Model S. These semi-autonomous vehicles come with a price that most consumers cannot afford resulting in low adoption rates. However, General Motors can resolve this slow adoption rate among private consumers by developing a new brand within its corporate portfolio under the name, Cruise, to develop, market, and sell self-driving vehicles to ride-sharing companies and commercial shipping companies. This brand will start out by exclusively selling to commercial entities before eventually expanding into the private consumer segment as costs become less prohibitive and adoption rates accelerate. This solution is designed to cement General Motors' position within the automotive industry and establish it as the go-to company for every self-driving need. This relationship developed between the company and the consumer will limit competitors and create a long, financially successful life for General Motors.
ContributorsKalmbach, Albert Christian (Author) / Arrfelt, Mathias (Thesis director) / McIntosh, Daniel (Committee member) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
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Description
The purpose of this research was to determine whether there was a brand impact on athletes that chose to engage in political activism. This was investigated through research into examples of athlete activism in history and in the modern era as well as with a questionnaire distributed to marketing students

The purpose of this research was to determine whether there was a brand impact on athletes that chose to engage in political activism. This was investigated through research into examples of athlete activism in history and in the modern era as well as with a questionnaire distributed to marketing students at Arizona State University. The research suggests that there is no predictable impact to athlete brand from engaging in politics. Throughout history and in modern times there are examples of athlete's careers getting damaged because of their political involvement as well a instances where the athlete's brand is undamaged by their actions. The primary research results suggest that while the population preferred that sports and politics remain separate, they also believe that athletes have the right to speak out on political issues and engage in protest, and that doing so does not weaken the brand image of the athletes. The information in this research can be used by athletes to determine how their political actions may be received and by companies deciding how sponsoring a politically active athlete may affect their own brand.
ContributorsKeeslar, Alisia Marie (Author) / Eaton, John (Thesis director) / McIntosh, Daniel (Committee member) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The concept of branding has been around for centuries, but personal branding is a relatively new concept that has been defined and executed by many public figures. With the rise of technological advancements like social media, professional athletes have ample opportunities to connect with consumers outside of their respective court.

The concept of branding has been around for centuries, but personal branding is a relatively new concept that has been defined and executed by many public figures. With the rise of technological advancements like social media, professional athletes have ample opportunities to connect with consumers outside of their respective court. Our thesis team conducted research with Dr. John Eaton and Professor Daniel McIntosh to analyze how athletes’ actions and behaviors affect consumers’ opinions about their brand.
We developed multiple surveys that were distributed to Marketing & Business Performance (MKT 300) students at Arizona State University and AWS Mechanical Turk Workers. The goal of obtaining information from both college students and paid survey-takers was to compile a diverse set of opinions regarding how consumers react to athletes’ social media and public behavior. This led us to analyze how consumers interact with athletes on social media platforms based on the sport they play and consequences of their actions. After examining our consumer research, interviewing executives in the legal background, and talking to some of the university’s top-prospective athletes to gain different viewpoints, we created consumer and athlete categories.
We established six main consumer categories and six main athlete social media strategy personas in order to create social media strategy recommendations. With this information, athletes have the opportunity to develop well-thought out social media strategies that are more tailored to their fan base(s). Athletes must be cognizant of how the content on their social media accounts and their public actions will affect consumers’ perceptions about who they are and their personal brand.
ContributorsRishwain, Demetra Nicole (Co-author) / Delgado, Samantha (Co-author) / Sminkey, Marie (Co-author) / Eaton, John (Thesis director) / McIntosh, Daniel (Committee member) / Department of Marketing (Contributor, Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05