As the St. Louis Cardinals are celebrating their 11th World Series victory, a dark cloud hovers over their success: Albert Pujols, their star first-baseman, has just become a free agent. A free agent in baseball means that any baseball team can bid on the player and the player, along with his agent, can decide who they would like to sign with.
As we enter this bidding war, the St. Louis Cardinals become a consumer who is in need of a first-baseman. Just like any consumer who wants a product, the Cardinals can be influenced by touchpoints, loyalty loops, advertising, product experiences, and news reports. Thus, I am going to take you through a hypothetical St. Louis Cardinals' consumer decision-making process through the traditional funnel and the consumer decision journey.
Traditional Funnel
Awareness (Problem Recognition)
The St. Louis Cardinals realize that Albert Pujols’ contract just ended and now need to find a first-baseman to replace him.
Familiarity (Info Search)
The Cardinals look around the free agent market and determine who is available.
Consideration (Evaluation of Alternatives)
The Cardinals narrow it down to 4 choices and compare their options
 |
| 2011 Season Totals |
Purchase (Product Choice)
The Cardinals choose Albert Pujols because he has the best stats and features that fit its ball club
Loyalty (Outcomes)
The Cardinals really like Albert Pujols and build their ball club around him. They enjoy his presence and are determined to make it back to the World Series.
Consumer Decision Journey
Since Albert Pujols has played for the Cardinals before, I am going to begin the journey with the Cardinals’ ongoing experience with Pujols.
In 2004, Albert Pujols signed a 7-year, $100 million dollar contract. They have had a great experience with him as he consistently has been one of the top players in Major League Baseball.
 |
| Albert Pujols' Career to Date |
Trigger: Based on the Cardinals’ experience with Pujols, they find him to be the perfect fit for the ball club. The Cardinals decide to skip most of the decision making process and take the loyalty loop to stick with Albert Pujols. He has been everything that the Cardinals dreamed of for a first-baseman and all the experiences have been extremely positive.
Moment of Purchase
The Cardinals select to offer Albert Pujols in a multi-year contract. Since he has a 9-time All Star and the only player to have 30 home runs and 100 RBI’s in his first 10 seasons, his offer will be the highest for any baseball player.
Post Purchase Experience
The money that the Cardinals will spend will be well worth it, for Albert Pujols is considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time. His presence will boost attendance, team chemistry, and the Cardinals’ chances of repeating as World Champions.
Austin Stadler, BEM Major
Austin Stadler, BEM Major
Much like other things such as donating to give and choosing to save water, I thought this was a unique perspective on the consumer decision making process as opposed to which new lawnmower to buy.
ReplyDeleteGiven that Albert just signed with the Angels for $254 M, we now know what decision the Cardinals came to. While the Cardinals had strong familiarity with Pujols, they also have decent familiarity with Prince Fielder (Alternative Product Choice) because he played in their division. They also saw that he had a higher wins above replacement than Pujols last year, and that he was younger, and could potentially be bought for a cheaper price. Given this information, it appears that the Cardinals make an excellent consumer decision if they are able to land Prince Fielder.