Research Tips (2): Trade Associations

After finding out about market research reports that have been published on a topic (see Research Tip), an industry's trade associations (TA) are a first port of call. These associations, sometimes called federations, bring together companies rather than individual professional members (usually, societies or institutes). Lobbying government on legislation or taxation is a primary aim, but many TA also gather and disseminate product information and statistics from their members - a reliable and useful source for leisure research.

TA websites should include important industry news, publications, events and lists of members, in better cases including market reviews derived either from government statistics or, better still, from surveys of members. (Detailed stats. are often confidential to members, although reasonably priced yearbooks may be published). Some good examples in the leisure sphere are:

• British Hospitality Association, covering mainly hotels and restaurants. Publishes Trends & Statistics yearly, free on the website.

• British Beer & Pub Association, whose comprehensive Statistical Handbook can be ordered for £47.50 (2006 edition). Also some free brewing and pubs data on the website.

• Cinema Advertising Association represents the two cinema advertising contractors, Carlton Screen and Pearl & Dean, whose websites both publish CAA data.

• British Video Association and British Phonographic Industry both publish market data in considerable depth on the recorded media industries

• The sports and play sectors reorganised in 2005/2006 into a Federation of Sports and Play Associations, bringing together individual associations (eg for golf, angling) under a new umbrella body. FSPA has a separate sportsdata.co.uk website for ordering reports, although reports on the more esoteric topics are research and published only sporadically. (As a general rule, it is worth checking that the smaller TA websites are being kept up to date.)

For the researcher, TA provide "insider" insight into the workings of an industry and, with any luck, free or reasonably priced data on the market. They are often run by enthusiasts for their industries whose PR role means they are usually willing to interview. It is always wise, however, to ask a few questions of the association:

- how representative is it of the whole industry (large and smaller companies)?
- has the website, and its information, been kept up to date?
- given the protective PR function of the TA, is the information skewed in any way?

A major portal to finding a TA is the Trade Association Forum, administered by the CBI (Confederation of British Industry) and partly government-funded. The TAF Directory is a comprehensive online database of TA contacts (www.taforum.org/searchgroup.pl?n=500&directory)

Smoking bans - don't despair "down south"

UK leisure venues will be smoke-free from July 2007: the bans reach England last of all (1st July), after Wales (1st April) and Northern Ireland (30th April).

Scotland has had the advantage of an early ban on smoking in leisure venues. So what has been the experience, halfway through the bleak midwinter outside Scotland's pubs?

After nearly a year of the ban, publicans in Scotland are admitting to have lost some 'wet sales' but the feeling is that it could have been far worse. At Belhaven, part of Greene King since 2005, pub sales were down 2.8% in 2006. Smaller pubs may have fared worse, especially if 'landlocked' (nowhere to build a smoking area) but the range of reactions to the smoking ban have been interesting:


- Smokers have responded in different ways: some have given up, some cut down (and welcomed the ban), others have stayed at home.

- Anecdotal evidence is that the bans can have a feel-good effect: less animosity towards smokers in the pub, smokers enjoying a chat outside, and of course yet another driver for selling food instead of alcohol.

There are plenty of companies lined up with suitable outdoor furnishing products e.g. www.indigoawnings.co.uk, www.parasolar.com) and the patio lifestyle is part of the outdoor megatrend, anyway.

Football's rich clubs by Deloitte

Got €500m to spare? Here's how your team might look made up of the most expensive players from Europe's 13 richest clubs:

FORWARDS: Ronaldinho (Barcelona) Henry (Barcelona) Ronaldo (Man Utd) MIDFIELD: Kaka (Milan), Vieira (Inter), Juninho (Lyon), Gerrard (Liverpool) DEFENCE: Lahm (Bayern Munich), Terry (Chelsea), Cannavaro (Real Madrid) Alves (Seville) GOALKEEPER: Buffon (Juventus) SUBS: De Rossi (Roma), Owen (Newcastle)

The fascinating Football Money League, an annual report from Deloitte published since 2006, reveals that the two Spanish giants currently top the European league table for "turnover from day-to-day football operations". Real Madrid retained top spot at the end of the 2005/06 season and Barcelona was up from fourth to second place. Their respective earnings were €292m and €259m.

The largest UK clubs on this scale of success are Manchester Utd, fourth with earnings of €242m in 2005/06, and Chelsea (sixth, €221m). Italy has four clubs in the top 20 although the UK is dominant in this respect with nine of the top 20.

But a glance at the bottom of Deloitte's top 20 reveals the gulf between the elite and the rest: West Ham, in 19th position, only earned €87m in 2005/06 and its status in the English Premiership, let alone in the Deloitte Top 20, is severely threatened by relegation in 2006/07. (The Hammers last game of the season is away to Manchester United, the likely champions this year.....)

The new three-year television rights deals (for 2007-2011) will boost English Premiership incomes from broadcasting by no less than 70%. The TV rights account for at least a third of most big clubs' income, with other media-related incomes (sponsorship, merchandising, licensing) contributing another third or more. This means that 'matchday' income can account for as little as 25% of club revenues (eg Real Madrid) although a bigger stadium can restore the balance in favour of matchday revenues, the traditional sign of a club's financial strength.

For Manchester Utd, matchday still brings in over 40% of its revenues and its Quadrant expansion of the Old Trafford ground has taken ground capacity up to 76,000. Chelsea will struggle to compete, despite the generosity of its owner, Roman Abramovich, as long as its capacity remains at 42,000. Across London, Arsenal's revenues have soared during 2006/07 thanks to the club's move from Highbury (capacity, 38,500) to the new 60,000-seater Emirates stadium.

Having retained the old Highbury site to build over 700 houses and flats, Arsenal FC has moved into property development, an interesting move considering the number of property developers (or builders) that have occupied board positions in football over the years. It is also an interesting model for other clubs with prime inner-city stadiums to consider. In the lower leagues, the pressure to sell up and quit the inner city is growing all the time as urban property values rise.

Source Notes: Football Money League is free after registration at www.deloitte.co.uk. Deloitte also publishes the Annual Review of Football Finance.