The impact of title event sponsorship announcements on shareholder wealth

Title sponsorships are often considered the crown jewels of sports sponsorship programs. Garnering top media coverage, title sponsorships are prized for both generating brand/product awareness and building image for their sponsors. Not surprisingly, the rising cost of title sponsorships has led some managers to question their underlying value. Accordingly, this study presents an analysis of the impact of 114 title sponsorship announcements of professional tennis and golf tournaments (both men’s and women’s), auto racing (NASCAR), and college bowl games on the stock prices of sponsoring firms. Overall, the results of the study suggest that title sponsorships are generally signed at market-clearing prices. Thus, companies undertaking title sponsorships typically receive exactly what they pay for—except in the case of NASCAR races (which show evidence of increases in share prices). Splitting the sample into new and renewing sponsorships generates results which differ dramatically by sport. Finally, a cross-sectional regression finds congruence of sport and sponsor, sponsorship by high tech firms and sponsorships by large firms all correlated with perceived sponsorship success.     

Are rival team fans a curse for home team sponsors? The moderating effects of fit,oppositional loyalty,and league sponsoring

Sports sponsorship is big business, and a great deal of research provides evidence as to sponsorship’s efficacy in achieving a large range of communication goals, particularly for brands that are perceived as fitting well with the sport by the most involved fans. A developing body of literature, however, suggests that fan passion for a favorite team or athlete might work against the sponsors of hated rivals. The current research contributes to the rivalry effects topic by examining the impact of sponsor-sport fit, business rivalry, and league sponsoring on “home” team fan attitudes towards the sponsors of their team’s main rival. The study finds that negative rivalry effects are particularly severe when the rival team sponsor has high-perceived fit with the sport and is a direct business rival to a “home” team sponsor, but that league sponsorships largely mitigate these rivalry effects.     

Corporate Objectives in Sports Sponsorship

This article considers corporate objectives in sports sponsorship. The important question is to determine why companies sponsor sport when there are other promotion techniques available to them. Reasons for sponsoring sport in the first place are discussed, as well as broad corporate objectives in becoming involved in sponsorships. This study involved a sample of 45 sponsors who received media exposure in South Africa between November 1984 and March 1985. Results show that the most important reasons for sponsoring sport include potential TV coverage, promoting the corporate image and the potential of spectators as customers. Anonymous sponsorship, even philanthropic, is rare.     

Rules of engagement: A discrete choice analysis of sponsorship decision making

Abstract

This paper draws on exchange and utility theories to propose and test a model of sponsorship decision making using discrete choice analysis. Grounded in prior sponsorship research and current management practice, the model describes sponsorship selection as a sequence of choices about sponsorship packages of differing value. The core thesis is that managers attempt to maximise their utility when selecting sponsorships by evaluating the various pay-offs from the alternatives available. This research applies a simulated choice-based experiment with 196 sponsorship managers to assess their preferences for a set of criteria likely to shape their future decisions about sponsorship selection. While perceptions of brand-image congruence and relationship quality significantly affect sponsor preferences, contrary to some evidence, short-term business arrangements appear more desirable than longer-term sponsorships.     

A Cross-Cultural Investigation of the Ethical Dimensions of Alcohol and Tobacco Sports Sponsorships

While the sport industry has grown into a multi-billion dollar international business with unique ethical concerns, there is little empirical research examining the ethics involved in sport sponsorships, especially sponsorship of alcohol and tobacco brands. This study investigates the potential influence of culture and gender on future practitioners' willingness to work in the tobacco and alcohol sport sponsorship areas. The nature of the relationship between sports, alcohol and tobacco is reviewed, along with past research on variables noted to influence ethical decision making. Three hypotheses are investigated for differences between American and Australian students. A cultural difference in ethical perceptions is supported, while gender differences are not significant. The implications of these findings are discussed, along with the study's limitations and future directions for ethics research in sport marketing.     

Citizen Preferences for the Corporate Sponsorship of Public-Sector Park and Recreation Organizations

ABSTRACT

Corporate sponsorship of public-sector organizations is becoming more commonplace. However, few studies have examined citizen attitudes toward sponsorship of public-sector organizations. Using parks and recreation as the study context, this research assessed general citizen support for corporate sponsorship as well as preferences for specific sponsorship promotional activities and contractual conditions. Given that previous research has linked sponsorship attitudes to individual and contextual factors, relationships between socio-demographic, park use characteristics, and sponsorship support were also examined. A mail survey of 578 citizens in the Harrisburg-Lebanon-Carlisle, Pennsylvania MSA indicated that a majority supported corporate sponsorship of park and recreation agencies. Sponsorships by local businesses and sponsorships that provided free products received the most favorable evaluations. Sponsorships involving naming rights, exclusivity, and user fees were evaluated least favorably. However, older adults, minority citizens, and park users were less likely to favor a number of specific sponsorship activities and conditions. Implications for sponsorship program design and future citizen-based research are discussed.     

Drivers of brand image improvement in sports-event sponsorship

This stock-taking article re-examines 20 years of research on conditions that influence the magnitude of brand image improvement through sports-event sponsorship. The study suggests a procedure to adequately measure sponsor image change in field sponsorships and investigates potential factors related to the sponsored property, the sponsorship relationship, the sponsor, and the individual sports spectator that may affect the magnitude of sponsor image improvement. An empirical analysis in the context of a large sponsored sports event shows that some drivers influence sponsor image improvement directly in a multiple regression analysis (spectators’ perceived event image, event–sponsor fit, sponsor familiarity, and product category importance), while other drivers are related to sponsor image in bivariate analyses only (spectators’ event interest, sport interest, event exposure, and demographic characteristics). Reasons for these findings (e.g., interrelationship between drivers of sponsor image improvement), managerial implications, and consequences for the development of a comprehensive model of sponsor image formation are discussed.     

Investigating social marketing sponsorships: Terminology, stakeholders, and objectives

In spite of rapidly increasing professional interest and involvement, the extant literature concerning social marketing sponsorships remains scant. In order to begin to address this gap, the purpose of the current research is to investigate the concept of the social marketing sponsorship. The research in this paper (a) reviews the sponsorship literature and theory - specifically focusing on what is meant by sponsorship when used in social marketing; and (b) reports the results of empirical case research on the formation and implementation of a sponsorship designed to support a social marketing program aimed a reducing stigma and changing behaviors around mental health. The paper reports on how social marketing sponsorships compare to commercial sponsorships in terms of (a) the identification of key stakeholders and their roles, (b) the objectives of the stakeholders involved, and (c) how sponsorships are formed, developed, and implemented.     

The effectiveness of advertising that leverages sponsorship and cause-related marketing

This paper shows that consumers are more likely to have ambivalent attitudes towards causerelated marketing (CRM) than sponsorship. Whereas consumers share similar positive perceptions of CRM and sponsorship, and attribute the motives behind them to altruism, their negative perceptions and attributions of CRM are more accessible than those of sponsorships. On the basis of these differences, this article proposes a contingency model in which suppressing the activation of CRM’s negative perceptions enhances the effectiveness of advertising that leverages CRM. The effectiveness of advertising that leverages corporate sponsorship, which is not associated with ambivalent perceptions, is less subject to the suppression of negative perceptions. The model includes two contingent factors, an individual difference factor and a situational factor. The results generally support the proposed model; the effectiveness of ads leveraging CRM improves when negative associations of CRM are less likely to be activated.     

The effectiveness of image congruence and the moderating effects of sponsor motive and cheering event fit in sponsorship

Using the case study data of the South Korea 2002 and 2006 World Cup sponsorship campaigns, this study examined (1) whether more favourable sponsorship response occurs as image congruence between a sponsor and the World Cup increases, and whether (2)consumer attributions of a sponsor’s motives in sponsoring the World Cup and (3) a sponsor’s perceived fit in aiding World Cup cheering events, namely cheering event fit, moderate image congruence’s effects on sponsorship response. Consistent with prior research, results suggest that high vs low image congruence sponsorships generate more favourable responses to the sponsorship, as measured by attitudes and intentions at three different levels of the hierarchy of effects. Results also show that high cheering event fit leads to more favourable sponsorship response. Furthermore, a negative interaction between image congruence and cheering event fit indicates that, albeit still significant and positive, the effect of image congruence on sponsorship response becomes significantly weaker at higher levels of cheering event fit than at lower levels of cheering event fit. A moderating role of a sponsor’s sponsoring motive has not been supported. Overall, the finding sunder score the significance of image congruence as well as the utility of cheering event fit as a particular type of ‘created fit’ that can be used to reduce the perception of low fit and its associated risks.     

Is Publicity Always Better than Advertising? The Role of Brand Reputation in Communicating Corporate Social Responsibility

Previous studies on corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication suggest that firms’ social initiatives should be communicated through third-party, non-corporate sources because they are perceived as unbiased and therefore reduce consumer skepticism. In this article, we extend existing research by showing that source effects in the communication of social sponsorships are contingent on the brand’s pre-existing reputation. We argue that the congruence between the credibility and trustworthiness of the message source and the brand helps predict consumer responses to a social sponsorship. The results show that a non-corporate source (publicity) generates more positive brand evaluations than a corporate source (advertising) when the sponsor has a positive reputation. However, the converse effect occurs when brand reputation is low: when the sponsor has a poor reputation, a corporate source generates more positive brand evaluations than a non-corporate source. Mediation analyses show that the interaction effect between CSR information source and brand reputation can be explained by sponsorship attitude, persuasion knowledge, and perceived fit between the brand and the cause.     

品牌熟悉度和赞助方式对消费者响应的影响

文章通过研究了赞助事件中品牌熟悉度与赞助方式对消费者品牌态度与购买意愿的影响,得出以下结论：首先,与不赞助相比,品牌单独赞助时,消费者对低熟悉度赞助品牌的态度和购买意愿会显著提高,但对高熟悉度赞助品牌的态度和购买意愿则没有显著变化。其次,与单独赞助相比,当两个品牌共同赞助某一事件时,消费者对低熟悉度品牌的态度和购买意愿会显著降低;而对高熟悉度品牌的态度和购买意愿则没有显著影响。最后,文章为企业营销人员制定赞助策略提出一些有益的营销启示。     

Sponsorship portfolio as a brand-image creation strategy

The meanings held by events are sometimes transferable to a brand through sponsorship. The perceived sponsor-property fit affects brand evaluations. This research hypothesizes that in the case of a sponsorship portfolio, the source of image transfer can be composite, and brand image association may depend on the perceived fit between sponsorships. Building on theories of social cognition and categorization, this research proposes two dimensions of fit: sponsorship category relatedness and event personality fit. Two experiments show that categorical relatedness between sponsorships not only leads to the creation of a unified brand personality for the sponsor, but also enhances brand meaning consistency and clarity. Central category-related traits cue a category membership framework that integrates sponsorships in the portfolio. Under conditions of category ambiguity, the impact of event personality fit emerges. Interestingly, the findings suggest that sponsored properties having a “spiky” brand personality (having both high and low performance on dimensions) may communicate most clearly in a portfolio.     

The Evaluation of Sports Sponsorships

This article considers how sports sponsorships are evaluated by sponsors. The important question is to determine whether a systematic approach is used in the light of the huge expenditures involved in sponsorships. The role of sports sponsorships in the promotional mix is discussed, as well as the evaluation of sports sponsorships. This study involved a sample of 28 sponsors in South Africa during 1988. A framework for the evaluation of sponsorships is presented for use by companies wishing to enter the world of sponsorship.     

Creative Analogy As a Means of Articulating Incongruent Sponsorships

Sponsorship congruence refers to the extent to which associations held for a property are perceived as sharing content and meaning with those held for a brand. Congruence has been shown to enhance the benefits derived from sponsorship. Consequently, it is important for an incongruent sponsor to articulate how it is related to a property. Analogical articulation represents a creative way of resolving perceptions of incongruity. A contribution of the current research is that it is the first to distinguish sponsorship effects on the basis of articulation type. Across four studies in which analogical articulations of incongruent sponsorships are compared to unarticulated and nonanalogical articulations (for both congruent and incongruent sponsorships), we find that analogical articulations improve perceptions of an incongruent sponsor's fit with a property and also perceptions of the sponsorship alignment's creativity. Analogical articulations also elicited a more pronounced “aha” moment of insight, which was found to mediate the effect of analogical articulation on perceptions of fit and creativity. Finally, analogical articulations yielded greater recall of the sponsorship.     

The influence of sport sponsorship on brand equity and purchase behavior

Abstract

Drawing on Aaker’s brand equity model and Keller’s brand engagement concept and building on the sponsorship between a professional basketball club and a software company, this study examined how sport sponsorship affects brand equity and purchase behavior of the sponsor’s product. Data from 222 survey respondents were collected and analyzed using structural equation modeling techniques. The results provided evidence that perceived quality and brand engagement impact brand loyalty and purchase behavior of fans toward the sponsor’s product. Perceived fit between sponsor and sponsee and team identification were found to influence significantly sponsor’s brand equity constructs. The study extends Aaker’s model in the sport sponsorship context and highlights the influential role of perceived quality and brand engagement on driving sport team fans to form brand loyalty and purchase sponsor’s product.     

Assessing the Economic Worth of Corporate Event Sponsorships: A Stock Market Perspective

Sponsorships of events represent a significant and growingcomponent of firms overall investment in marketing and promotions.While the marketing literature suggests that sponsorships maybe a potential communications tool, relatively little empiricalresearch has been devoted to studying efficiency issues in sponsorships.To understand if sponsorships are efficient investments, we assesstheir economic worth via the event study methodology. Specifically,we hypothesize that a corporate sponsorship announcement providesinformation to market analysts who evaluate the potential profitabilityof a firm. This evaluation of a companys potential profitability,in turn, affects the firms stock price. Announcements of 76sponsorship events were analyzed using the event-study method.Results indicate that on average, corporate sponsorship announcementsimpact the stock market positively and that sponsorships areviewed as worthwhile investments by the financial community.The findings of this study contribute to a better understandingof performance issues surrounding sponsorship investments, andextend recent literature which examines the financial impactof marketing decisions.     

An examination of women’s sport sponsorship: a case study of female Australian Rules football

ABSTRACT

In recent years we have seen an increase in corporate and media interest in women’s sport leagues and events. Despite the increase in commercialism and professionalism of women’s sport, there is a lack of research focusing on the marketing of and through women’s sport. This current study addresses this gap, examining the motivations of sponsors involved in the women’s Australian Rules football national league. Exploratory in outlook, this paper presents insights from key sponsorship decision-makers. It was found that sponsorship was motivated by a desire to promote gender equality at a firm, industry and broader societal level. Sponsorship of women’s football provides convergence of corporate social responsibility and commercial benefits. The paper provides insights for sport marketing and initiates the conversation of women’s sport sponsorship.     

The Development of a Process for Evaluating Marketing Sponsorships

Despite the increasing resources being allocated from marketing budgets to sponsorship, effective evaluation is relatively rare, and sponsorship evaluation methods are often proprietary in nature. This paper reports on a research project designed to develop a process model for evaluating sponsorships. An initial version was conceived from agency theory, the evaluation literature, and sponsorship writings. This draft was then assessed by sponsorship experts during a series of 14 in‐depth interviews. Based on these analyses, a final version of the process model was proposed. The revised version was then adopted to evaluate—as a demonstrative example—a specific sponsorship. Results of this case and recommendations for future research and practice in sponsorship evaluation are presented. Copyright © 2011 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The implications of recency and gender effects in consumer response to ambush marketing

So-called ambush marketers, are companies that use clever advertising imagery (and/or ad placement) to link their brand(s) with a major event, in the minds of its audience, without having to purchase the expensive rights fees that event properties often charge for official sponsorship status. This study uses an experimental design to explore certain effects of the ambush marketing strategy. Its focus is on the potential impact of recency (of ad exposure), as well as gender differences, on measures of memory, brand attitude, and behavioral intentions for brands perceived to be official sponsors. Respondents (n-215) were randomly assigned to groups viewing Olympics programming intercut with advertising for either official sponsors or ambush marketers. No statistically significant differences are observed between males and females in their pretest sponsor recall or recognition levels, whereas recency of ad exposure is found to be a significant influence on posttest sponsor awareness in the aggregate. Significant gender differences are detected, however, in attitude toward the brand and purchase intentions for two of three product categories investigated, as females have higher mean scores for those two measures. The implications of these results are discussed and followed by recommendations for event promoters seeking to preserve the value of event sponsorships, along with defensive advertising-strategies to protect the investments of their official sponsors. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.