Abstract
https://doi.org/10.58984/smbic250101355k
The paper examines the impact of personalized digital marketing in sports – implemented through CRM systems (email campaigns, club mobile applications, and loyalty programs) – on consumer behavior and brand perception. Building on theories of consumer value, customer relationship management, and fan engagement models, the study proposes a framework in which personalization (message relevance, timeliness, and consistency) influences perceived communication usefulness, emotional engagement, and trust, which in turn strengthen satisfaction, loyalty, and purchase intention (tickets, season passes, merchandise, OTT subscriptions). At the same time, boundary effects such as privacy sensitivity, perceived fairness of data exchange (value-fordata), and message fatigue are explored. The proposed research framework integrates measures of CRM touchpoint quality (e.g., dynamic content, behavior-based recommendations) with consumer behavior and brand equity indicators, allowing for the testing of mediating and moderating relationships. Expected findings indicate that well-timed, transparent, and value-driven personalization increases engagement and conversion, while excessive frequency and insufficient data control diminish effects. The theoretical contribution lies in linking CRM personalization with loyalty formation mechanisms in the sports context, while the practical contribution provides guidelines for designing privacy-bydesign campaigns, optimizing segmentation, and measuring impacts on purchasing behavior and brand equity.
References
- Abeza, G. (2023). Social Media and Sport Studies (2014–2023): A Critical Review. International Journal of Sport Communication, 16(3), 251–261. https://doi.org/-10.1123/ijsc.2023-0182
- Abeza, G., O’Reilly, N., Séguin, B., & Nzindukiyimana, O. (2017). Social media as a relationship marketing tool in professional sport: A netnographical exploration. International Journal of Sport Communication, 10(3), 325–358. https://doi.org/-10.1123/ijsc.2017-0041
- Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), 179–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-T
- Alghizzawi, M., Habes, M., & Hailat, K. (2024). Understanding the effectiveness of digital media marketing on sports brand loyalty: A review. In Business Analytical Capabilities and AI-Enabled Analytics (pp. 215–225). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-56015-6_17
- Awad, N. F., & Krishnan, M. S. (2006). The personalization privacy paradox: An empirical evaluation of information transparency and the willingness to be profiled online. Information Systems Research, 17(1), 13–28. https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.1060.0085
- Bauer, H. H., Sauer, N. E., & Schmitt, P. (2005). Customer-based brand equity in the team sport industry. European Journal of Marketing, 39(5/6), 496–513. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090560510590683
- Belli, A., O’Rourke, S. T., & Hartmann, J. (2022). 40 years of loyalty programs: How effective are they? Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 50, 151–?. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-021-00804-z
- Dašić, D. (2023). Manifestacioni turizam u funkciji brendiranja država i nacija. Horizonti menadžmenta, 3(1), 111–127.
- Dašić, D., Baltazarević, B., & Stanković, M. (2025). From recreation to elite sport: cycling as a lifestyle and its impact on health, well-being, and social connectedness. Sport media and business, 11(2), 91–108. https://doi.org/10.58984/smb2502091d
- Dašić, D., Vitković, B., & Ilievska Kostadinović, M. (2024). The influence of e-sports on economy, education and cultural communication. International Journal of Cognitive Research in Science, Engineering and Education, 12(3), 647–655. https://doi.org/10.23947/2334-8496-2024-12-3-647-655
- Dorotic, M., Verhoef, P. C., & Bijmolt, T. H. A. (2012). Loyalty programmes: Current knowledge and research directions. International Journal of Management Reviews, 14(3), 217–237. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2370.2011.00314.x
- Dubé, J.-P. (2025). The intended and unintended consequences of personalized marketing: A research agenda. Marketing Science. https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/10.1287/mksc.2024.0901
- European Union. (2016). Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation). EUR-Lex. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/679/oj
- Fernandes, T., & Moreira, M. (2024). Brands as drivers of social media fatigue and its effects on consumer behaviour. Young Consumers, 25(5), 625–644. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/YC-12-2023-2046/full/html
- Filo, K., Lock, D., & Karg, A. (2015). Sport and social media research: A review. Sport Management Review, 18(2), 166–181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smr.2014.11.001
- Funk, D. C., & James, J. (2001). The Psychological Continuum Model: A conceptual framework for understanding an individual’s psychological connection to sport. Sport Management Review, 4(2), 119–150. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1441-3523(01)70072-1
- Ham, M., & Ljubić, M. (2025). Personal data strategies in digital advertising: Can first-party data replace third-party cookies? Information & Management. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0268401224001002
- Hardcastle, K., Vorster, L., & Brown, D. (2025). Understanding customer responses to AI-driven personalized journeys: Impacts on the customer experience. Journal of Advertising, 54(1), 1–?. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2025.2460985
- Herold, E., Singh, A., Feodoroff, B., & Breuer, C. (2024). Data-driven message optimization in dynamic sports media: An artificial intelligence approach to predict consumer response. Sport Management Review, 27(5), 793–816. https://doi.org/10.1080/14413523.2024.2372122
- Ilievska Kostadinović, M., & Kostadinović, G. (2025). Personal branding of athletes digital marketing: the role of communication strategies and their commercial potential. Sport media and business, 11(1), 119–130. https://doi.org/10.58984/smb2501119i
- Jelovčan, T., Čičin-Šain, P., & Kurnoga, N. (2024). Privacy regulation and firm per formance: Estimating the causal effect of GDPR. Economic Inquiry, 62(2), 681–706. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ecin.13213
- Keller, K. L. (1993). Conceptualizing, measuring, and managing customer-based brand equity. Journal of Marketing, 57(1), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224299305700101
- Khalid, B., Arshad, M. A., Khan, S. Z., & Khalid, R. (2024). Evaluating customer perspectives on omnichannel experience using SEM: Evidence from fashion retail. Heliyon, 10(10), e32041. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844024120580
- Kim, S. J., Wang, R. J.-H., & Malthouse, E. C. (2015). The effects of adopting and using a brand’s mobile application on customers’ subsequent purchase behavior. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 31, 28–41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intmar.2015.05.004
- Kostadinović, G., & Ilievska Kostadinović, M. (2025). Sports as an economic driver: analysis and review of Eurostat’s sport satellite account 2025. Sport media and business, 11(3), 169–180. https://doi.org/10.58984/smb2503169k
- Lee, S., Moon, W. K., & Song, G. (2024). Is it transparent or surveillant? The effects of personalized advertising and privacy policy on advertising effectiveness. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 24(4), 383–404. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15252019.2024.2417422
- Lemon, K. N., & Verhoef, P. C. (2016). Understanding customer experience throughout the customer journey. Journal of Marketing, 80(6), 69–96. https://doi.org/10.1509/jm.15.0420
- Liu, H., Lobschat, L., & Verhoef, P. C. (2019). App adoption: The effect on purchasing of customers who adopted a retailer’s mobile app. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 47, 16–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intmar.2018.12.001
- Mihic, S., Dašić, D., & Bogdanova, M. (2023). Promotion of sports and fitness through health in Serbia. In D. Dašić (Ed.), SPORTICOPEDIA – SMB2023 (pp. 239– 250). https://doi.org/10.58984/smbic2301239m
- Miller, K. M., Lukic, K., & Skiera, B. (2025). The impact of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on online tracking. International Journal of Research in Marketing. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2025.03.002
- Mishra, A., Yousaf, A., & Gannon, M. J. (2024). ‘A reputation to protect’: Sport-team reputation as a strategic source of brand equity. Corporate Reputation Review, 27, 1–?. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41299-024-00200-7
- Mlađenović, N. (2025). Between global mobility and cultural affiliation. Management Horizons, 5(1), 127–134. https://hm.edu.rs/index.php/hm/article/view/10
- Neves, J., Turel, O., & Oliveira, T. (2024). Privacy concerns in social media use: A fear appeal intervention. International Journal of Information Management Data Insights, 4(2), 100260. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jjimei.2024.100260
- Nobile, T. H., & Cantoni, L. (2023). Personalisation (In)effectiveness in email marketing. Digital Business, 3(2), 100058. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.digbus.2023.100058
- Pavlović, M., et al. (2025). Consumer behavior and factors influencing the choice of sports equipment in Serbia. Sport media and business, 11(3), 97–114. https://doi.org/10.58984/smb2503097p
- Pavlović, M., & Marković, S. (2025). Visitors’ opinions on the Stanišići ethno village. Management Horizons, 5(1), 25–54. https://hm.edu.rs/index.php/hm/article/view/5
- Payne, A., & Frow, P. (2005). A strategic framework for customer relationship management. Journal of Marketing, 69(4), 167–176. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.2005.69.4.167
- Sahni, N. S., Wheeler, S. C., & Chintagunta, P. K. (2018). Personalization in email marketing: The role of noninformative advertising content. Marketing Science, 37(2), 236–258. https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2017.1066
- Stegmann, P., Ströbel, T., & Woratschek, H. (2024). Categorizing engagement behavior in sport brand communities—An empirical study informed by social practice theory. Sport Management Review, 27(4), 544–571. https://doi.org/10.1080/14413523.2024.2329826
- Steiner, E., Pittman, M., & Boatwright, B. (2023). When sports fans buy: Contextualizing social media engagement behavior to predict purchase intention. International Journal of Sport Communication, 16(2), 136–146. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsc.2022-0158
- Trkulja, M., Ratković, M., & Kos Kavran, A. (2025). The perspective of digital marketing of the sport mega events in the 21st century. Sport media and business, 11(2), 33–46. https://doi.org/10.58984/smb2502033r
- Verhoef, P. C., Kannan, P. K., & Inman, J. J. (2015). From multi-channel retailing to omni-channel retailing. Journal of Retailing, 91(2), 174–181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2015.02.005
- Vuković, M., Urošević, S., & Dašić, D. (2023). Threats to objectivity in the social science research. Sport media and business, 9(2), 143–158. https://doi.org/10.58984/smb2302143v
- Weippert, M., Slivko, O., Wengler, S., & Sigala, M. (2024). The scope and intensity of personalised omnichannel customer journeys: A systematic review. Journal of Marketing Management, 40(13–14), 1234–?. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0267257X.2024.2388088
- Westerbeek, H. (2025). How generative AI is reshaping sports marketing, fan engagement, and governance. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12094936/
- Zhou, Y., & Kim, J. (2024). Exploring predictors of personalized advertising avoidance: Privacy and control agency. Telematics and Informatics Reports, 14, 100165. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/385840825_Exploring_Predictors_of_Personalized_Advertising_Avoidance_from_the_Perspective_of_Consumer_Privacy_and_Control_Agency
Keywords
personalization, CRM in sports, consumer behavior, loyalty and engagement, data privacy
