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Waterloo Minor Girls Softball Association

Formative Research

Adam Billet, Samantha Clark, Andreas Diogenous, Holly Featherstone, Brittany Robins,

and Alex Rodgers

ABSTRACT

This research looks at the Waterloo Minor Girls Softball Association detailing theirbackground, public relations goals, key audiences, resources and the external

environment in which they operate.

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Table of Contents

Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 2

Orientation Information ........................................................................................................ 2

Who .......................................................................................................................................................... 2What ........................................................................................................................................................ 3

Where ...................................................................................................................................................... 3

When ....................................................................................................................................................... 4

Why .......................................................................................................................................................... 4

How .......................................................................................................................................................... 6

Goals .............................................................................................................................................. 6Social Networks ................................................................................................................................... 7

Publics .......................................................................................................................................... 8Customers .............................................................................................................................................. 8

Producers .............................................................................................................................................. 9

Enablers ................................................................................................................................................. 9Limiters ............................................................................................................................................... 10

Analysis of Key Publics ........................................................................................................ 11Non-public .......................................................................................................................................... 11

Latent Public ...................................................................................................................................... 11

Apathetic Public ............................................................................................................................... 11

Aware Public ..................................................................................................................................... 12

Active Public ...................................................................................................................................... 12

Hard Resources ...................................................................................................................... 12Time ...................................................................................................................................................... 13

Money ................................................................................................................................................... 13

People .................................................................................................................................................. 15

Infrastructure ................................................................................................................................... 15

Soft Resources ......................................................................................................................... 16Goodwill .............................................................................................................................................. 16

Cohesion .............................................................................................................................................. 16

Strategic Intelligence ...................................................................................................................... 17

Stories .................................................................................................................................................. 17

External Environment .......................................................................................................... 18Political ............................................................................................................................................... 18

Economy .............................................................................................................................................. 19

Society and Culture ......................................................................................................................... 20Technology ......................................................................................................................................... 20

Demographics ................................................................................................................................... 22

Competition ....................................................................................................................................... 23

Media .................................................................................................................................................... 24

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 25

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Introduction

The Waterloo Minor Girls Softball Association is an organization solely based on the

work and commitment of volunteers. The organization is based out of Waterloo, Ontario and

provides an enjoyable environment for young girls to learn the skills of softball. The following

report will outline the organizations background information, main goals, key publics, resources,

and environment. The stage of formative research allows for the details of the organization to be

understood and what the next steps would entail.

Orientation Information

This section acts as an introduction to the organization to set the stage for digging deeper

into their goals, publics, resources, and external environment.

Who

The following table lists the board of directors by name and title:

Title Name

President Paul Black

Treasure Tim Sothern

Vice President(Representative Division)

DArcy Terpstra

Vice President

(House League Division)

Michelle Strassburger

Director, Marketing and

Public Relations

Brian Huber

Director, Coach andPlayer Development

Kevin Panchaud

Director, Equipment Steve Ciupa

Executive Director Cathy Fletcher

Board of Directors list found at:http://www.wmgsa.com/association.html

http://www.wmgsa.com/association.htmlhttp://www.wmgsa.com/association.htmlhttp://www.wmgsa.com/association.htmlhttp://www.wmgsa.com/association.html

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The clients/customers of this organization are the girls that register to play softball with

the Waterloo Minor Girls Softball Organization. The beginning stages of this sport starts from

age five to seven; these young girls are at the T-ball level and learn the basic skills and rules of

the game. After that, from ages eight to eighteen, girls can play at either the House League level

or try out for one of the competitive Rep (representative) teams.

A large part of the organization is sponsorship, which helps fund programs and cover

expenses that are acquired throughout the season. The board of directors is in charge of finding

sponsors for the House League teams for all age groups. However, the Rep level teams are to

secure their own sponsorships in order to help cover tournament and travel costs. The following

table lists the sponsors that supported the 2012 House League teams:

Westvale Optimists Dj Vu Sportzone Eastbridge DentalCare

McDonalds Toyota Scotia Bank ManwinEnterprises

Waterloo Printing Picture Yourself Eleven Consulting SOS Physiotherapy

Hybrid Hair &Detox Spa

Alliance Roofingand Sheet Metal

Kind of Magic Heartys Hooligans

All sponsors found athttp://www.wmgsa.com/sponsors.html

What

The purpose of this organization is to teach girls the skills and rules of softball. It is

important to start all new players off with the basic knowledge of the game and build on their

skills as