12A- Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 1

For this assignment, I have decided to pick the segment of University of Florida who attend classes at the main Gainesville campus. This is a main segment of the market we would like to corner and target.

To find interviewees, I had to go to my peers because I too am a University of Florida student. I chose three students to conduct an interview with so that I could get a better understanding of how to move forward. These interviewees are all 21-22 years old and attend the University of Florida.

In my first interview, the student was 21 and very passionate about Gator sports and the sport of soccer. When posing the question of when he begins to have the need, he reported that it occurs when he finds a lack of soccer that interest him going on. This means the offseason of soccer leagues but also when his national team of Peru is not competing. He finds that during the Fall, Gator Sports is filled with football and thus he doesn't have a need then to fill that because there is no void. He also mentioned that when he feels down or upset, sports are the way that he fills that space. He finds himself trying to actively participate in sport or events in order to fill the need. If heir is a sporting event on campus, he will attend if he is not busy. The sport of soccer is important to him and he believes that the men's team would fit well with his interests and could see himself participating. He finds soccer as a bond not only to his family but to strangers. He follows fan pages and joins discussions to keep up to date with the team and their happenings.

In my second interview, I interviewed a 21 year old female student at the University of Florida. She has a need for Gator sports that include community she responded because it allows her to have entertainment and enjoy herself. She admitted she is not a sports fan but enjoys all the happenings around it including tailgating and the sense of community that surrounds it. She notices this need throughout the semester as a way to unwind from classes and meet new people. To fix the problem, she normally finds an event to attend which bodes well for us since we hope to make soccer games enjoyable and community based. She does not know about the sports side so her needs begins and ends with the event and that is it. She does not follow up on the team, etc...

In my last interview, I interviewed a 22 year old male student who is currently a student. He mentioned he had played soccer all through his years up until college and loves the sport. Though he doesn't follow soccer intently or follow many other teams, as a Gator student he identifies with all Gator sports. He said that Florida sports is a community and by attending the university he identifies with the teams. Though he cannot attend many events due to his busy work schedule and school schedule but still follows along with news and scores. When he finds the need for community in sports, he decides to talk to his buddies who also follow the sport or even just read up on news. He has multiple apps that feed him updates, scores, etc... Though he can't physically attend the games, he still is able to fill his need.

All 3 students fit into our segment and have a need for community of Gator sports. Each student fills and approaches their need differently which I learned through the interviews. Though some students in the segment will fill their need physically, not all will. I also learned that passion is not the same across the board and my goal of filling the stadium may not be as easy as anticipated due to people's different ways of filling the void. I believe the segment has the need as we see currently with Gator football and basketball and their need to fill it however is different. People may be more likely to attend a football game than a soccer game based on many factors. Though we see the segment has the need, our execution may not be as easy as we once thought.