Conference Day 4: Learning, Education, Development (4B)

Developing a Marketing Strategy for Mindsport: Bridging Insights and Motivations

Esme Nicholson and Christina Ballinger (Bridge 2 Bridge), Jordan Maclean and Professor Samantha Punch (BAMSA), Professor Maurice Biriotti (Bridge 2 Bridge) 

Bridge is often stigmatised as a dull card game played by older people. The Bridging Insights project aims to revitalise the mindsport by developing a marketing campaign strategy that can promote bridge to the widest possible audience. In particular, the focus will be on attracting younger players rather than the pre-retiree group, which is more commonly targeted by the bridge community. The project is inspired by an arts-based methodology (Leavy 2020) of focus groups and diary methods. Small group workshops will take place at the Bridging Academia, Policy and Practice virtual conference, where academics and members of the bridge community will be encouraged to discuss how four different ‘ideal types’ fit in with their own experiences of bridge (or not). The four ideal types of self-improver, competitor, socialiser and mind-gamer have emerged from various sources, including previous BAMSA research in partnership with English Bridge Education and Development. The outcome of this first stage is to develop narratives (Kim 2015) in the form of short stories based on ideal types of bridge players. The responses will inform the questions that will be used in part two’s focus groups with non-bridge players. Ultimately, the narratives will lead to the formation of a marketing strategy and best practice guidelines for promoting the game of bridge to new players. A diary method (Barlett and Milligan 2020; Hyers 2018) will also be used for documenting the research process on the collaborative workings between academics and a marketing research team. The partnership has the potential to produce insights for both academics and practitioners beyond the world of bridge.

Serious Leisure Experience in A Mindsport: Elite Player Motivations and Participation in Tournament Bridge

Zoe Russell, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Stirling; Professor Samantha Punch, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Stirling

International, elite level tournament bridge is a unique and interesting context to explore the dynamics of serious leisure experience. This paper presents qualitative sociological research of participation and motivations in this mindsport, understood through the lens of the serious leisure perspective and complementary approaches of social worlds, leisure experiences, and recreation specialisation. The study is based on in-depth interviews with 52 elite players of bridge from the US and Europe. The findings pertain to motivations as they emerge through social interaction involving individual and interpersonal dynamics and agency whilst being shaped by wider structural constraints. The experience of motivations are contextually specific and shaped in relation to career contingencies and turning points, associated with a differentiation of professionals and amateurs within this elite social world. As a case study, an exploration of the motivations of elite bridge players offers empirical insights that can inform a multi-paradigmatic approach to theories of leisure experience.