Bridging Stigma: Marketing the Mindsport Bridge to the Next Generation of Players

Abstract

The image of the card game bridge is associated with an older generation of players. This study develops ideal types of bridge players as a way of challenging the mindsport’s stigmatized image to promote and increase its global reach. In a two-part emergent design, part one involved five workshops with the bridge community and part two involved three focus groups with non-bridge players. Among the bridge community, there was a consensus for the socializer, self-improver, and competitor ideal types, but not for the mind-gamer type. Although the ideal types were evident in non-bridge players’ experiences of sport, they might not be enough in themselves to persuade them to play bridge. To conclude, identity-based marketing can be used to rebrand bridge as a mindsport and mind-game to overcome its negative stigmatized image.