Commercialisation

Commercialisation is the concluding phase of new product development. It introduces the new product into the market. Therefore the organisation may have to build or rent a manufacturing facility. (Kotler, 2012) A key element of commercialisation is deciding on the introducing time. The next stage the organisation must decided where the launch of the product will be and to whom. (Kotler, 2012)The decision to commercialise a the product sets several tasks in motion: ordering product materials and equipment, starting production, building inventories, shipping the product to field distribution points, training the sales force, announcing the new product to the trade and advertising the product to potential customers. (Lamb, Hair and McDaniel, 2002) The Promotional Mix  is a key element of commercialisation it includes advertising, sales promotion, public relations, personal selling and direct marketing this will then assistance the organisation to promote their product/service. (Hughes & Fill, 2007). The organisation will need to make decisions about warranties to reduce customer risk, which can offer competitive advantage. The most important factor in successful new product introduction is a good match between the product and market needs. (Lamb, Hair and McDaniel, 2002) 

Since T20 went to the commercialization stage it has spread to India where they have developed the IPL. IPL was born when India won the world T20 tournament and the interest of the population rose about 76% across the world demanding this particular cricket. (Ukessays.com, 2015) For the promotion side England could easily access the current fan database and attract new followers due to the rich cricket traditions. Pepsi will be the new sponsor for the IPL. For the sponsorship rights for the next five years they paid approximately $71.77 million. (Cricinfo, 2012) Which is almost double of the original sponsorship deal. This indicates that since they entered the commercialization phase T20 has continued to grow. In India they are no market laggards anymore but market leaders. (Cricinfo, 2012)

Commercialisation of Polf depends on the outcome of test marketing and market research. After the test marketing stage was complete the feedback was used to improve the new format. The new format will be advertised in various different social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, etc., where potential customers can see where to play this new sport. Since Polf is played inside it would make sense to introduce the format to the market in fall/winter. Then people are more likely to go play it then in the summer.  Promotional mix, prices, competition, time period until profitability, commercialization costs is crucial components of commercialization to market Polf. A table containing all these variables created specifically for Polf can be found in appendix A.

Even though the Polf will be launched into a competitive market it will succeed due to the fact that it is a new creative sport, which is presented in an innovative way.

References:

Cricinfo, (2012). IPL sells title rights to PepsiCo for $71m. [online] Available at: http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/story/592291.html [Accessed 4 Feb. 2015].

Hughes, G & Fill, C. (2007) ‘Redefining the nature and format of the marketing communications mix’, The marketing review.

Kotler, P. (2012). Marketing : an introduction / Philip Kotler ... [et al.]. 2nd ed. [Sydney, N.S.W.]: Prentice Hall Australia.

Lamb, C., Hair, J. and McDaniel, C. (2002). Marketing. Cincinnati, Ohio: South-Western.

Ukessays.com, (2015). Overview Of Cricket Commercialization In England Media Essay. [online] Available at: http://www.ukessays.com/essays/media/overview-of-cricket-commercialization-in-england-media-essay.php#ixzz3QlwDr9fk [Accessed 4 Feb. 2015].

Appendix A: Components of Commercialization

Promotional mix	In this section advertising will be the main focus because people need to start talking about the new format. If it becomes recognizable within the first year then the sales will increase. Through direct marketing to the specific target market the recognition value will increase.
Prices	The sport can be played for £6.00 per adult (+16) and £3.00 per child. This was not changed after test marketing because people reacted positively to these prices.
Time period until profitability	After the second year the product is expected to make a gross profit of about £14,000.
Commercialization costs	The commercialization cost will be higher in the first year then in the following years. This is because the Polf needs to gain recognition value. However it will not be extremely high because advertising is done mainly through free platforms.
Competition	Competitors are the actual sports from that Polf developed from, Golf and Pool. Since they are already a well-known and excepted format they are considered high competition for Polf.