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.     

Using evaluative conditioning to explain corporate co-branding in the context of sport sponsorship

This paper investigates the mechanism under which attitude formation takes place in corporate co-branding in the context of sport sponsorship. We developed a conceptual model that synthesises three theoretical frameworks (evaluative conditioning, relationship marketing and brand equity), aiming to explain corporate co-branding in the context of sport sponsorship. Specifically, the proposed model posits that, in sport sponsorship, close consumer relationships with a sport brand leverage sponsor brand equity elements (brand familiarity, brand personality and brand image) and can lead to positive outcomes (wordof-mouth communications). We tested the proposed model using data collected from fans of two professional soccer teams (N = 280). The results of the study confirmed the proposed relationships and further provided new insights regarding the role of brand equity elements in creating ‘backward’ effects to the sport brand (team). Moreover, the findings suggest that sport sponsorship might be the ideal context for co-branding partnerships between mature/high-equity brands.     

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.     

A Model of Sponsorship Effects on the Sponsor's Employees

Drawing from the corporate sponsorship literature, a model is developed that seeks to explain how externally directed corporate sponsorship can influence the behavior of the sponsor's employees. External sponsorship conveys a signal that can impact on employees’ perceptions of their employer. The model seeks to explain the processes and types of possible impacts. Although the model requires confirmation, its conceptualization raises additional avenues to assess the benefits of corporate 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.     

Haight,William. Retail Advertising: Management and Technique. Morristown,N. J.: General Learning Press, 1976

Abstract

Corporate sponsorship is growing in importance as an element of the communications mix. The number of companies participating in sponsorship, as well as corporate expenditures for sponsoring events, is on the rise as organizations seek new ways to reach audiences and enhance their image. The importance of corporate sponsorship is now generally acknowledged, but little research has been done to understand its value and effectiveness. An exploratory study was conducted to examine the relationship between sponsorship and corporate image. The results suggest that corporate sponsorship can improve corporate image, but its effects differ among companies. Moreover, sponsorship is only one of the information sources consumers use to form their impressions of an organization. Under certain circumstances, corporate sponsorship can damage, rather than enhance, the image of a company.     

我国高校体育营销的可行性分析

目前,我国高校体育赞助市场还很不完善,高校体育营销运作很不规范,针对高校体育营销理论的专题研究较欠缺。通过对制约我国高校体育营销事业发展的因素的分析,力图提出一些推进我国高校体育赞助工作的营销策略,供高校在开展体育营销活动时作为参考。     

Effect of self-congruity with sponsorship on brand loyalty

The purpose of the paper is to extend self-image congruence research into the corporate sponsorship literature in marketing communications. We do this by developing a conceptual model showing how self-congruity with a sponsorship event affects brand loyalty. The model posits that self-congruity with a sponsorship event has a positive influence on brand loyalty, especially under two conditions: (1) when customers are aware of the firm sponsoring the event, and (2) when customers are involved with the event. The model was tested using data collected from five different surveys (total N = 1588) involving Nextel mobile communications services (brand) in relation to NASCAR Nextel Cup Series (the sponsorship event). The results provide some degree of support for the model.     

The 2008 Olympic Games： Opportunities and Challenges for Sports Marketing

The Olympic Events are a good opportunity to expand the services. It is two-folded：
a）The building-up of communication equipments for the Olympic Village and the games venues provides vast opportunity for manufacturers and contractors.     

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.     

Evaluating sponsorship through the lens of the resource-based view: The potential for sustained competitive advantage

The resource-based view (RBV) of the firm has become a prominent management theory that firms can use to analyze resources as potential sources of competitive advantage. Theorists have suggested sponsorship of sport properties as one such resource, yet specific cases of sponsorship's role in a firm's achievement of a sustained advantage over competitors have yet to be explored. This article illuminates the case of Visa's longstanding global sponsorship of the Olympic Games, which was initiated and leveraged to counteract competitor American Express’ advantage with global business travelers. Evidence is presented that supports Visa's achievement of a competitive advantage during the term of the sponsorship. The case is then used to develop a conceptual model based on the RBV to identify the key characteristics of sponsored properties capable of assisting the sponsoring firm in achieving a sustained competitive advantage. From a managerial perspective, the model is designed to assist marketing managers tasked with the identification and evaluation of potential sponsorship properties.     

我国体育赞助发展原因探析

我国的体育赞助从上个世纪80年代开始出现,规模不断增大,到2008年北京的奥运会,体育赞助得到空前的发展。本文从经济、法规政策、媒介、企业和消费者等几个方面对我国的体育赞助的快速发展的原因进行梳理和分析。     

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.     

“排”不掉的“他”：企业赞助溢出效应研究

通过排他条款保护赞助权益是赞助商最为关注的问题,但是排他条款难以实现赞助商独占赞助权益却是无法回避的现实问题。文章在赞助研究领域引入溢出效应理论,研究企业赞助对竞争品牌溢出效应的形成机制。结果表明,品牌进行赞助时,可能产生溢出效应,改变消费者对竞争品牌的评价;同时,与事件质量较低时相比,事件质量较高时,赞助事件质量对竞争品牌的溢出效应更大;另外,与赞助企业代表性较高时相比,赞助企业代表性较低时,赞助事件质量对竞争品牌产生的溢出效应影响更大。文章从溢出效应的角度拓展了企业赞助理论,回答了排他条款难以“排他”的理论机理,对企业开展赞助营销实践具有理论借鉴。     

Small Business and Sport Sponsorship

This exploratory study examines 18 small organisations who engaged in the sponsorship of local sport, rugby league teams, in Australia. The literature sponsorship is applied to local activities and small business, thus filling a gap in the literature. The study examined seven main areas: (1) Responsibility for sponsorship arrangement; (2) Firms objectives for choosing sponsorship; (3) Types of other spon- sorship activities; (4) Perceived sponsorship effectiveness; (5) Sponsor- ship and the promotional mix; (6) Sponsorship entitlements; and (7) Demographic questions about the organisation. Similarities and differ- ences to results of earlier literature in this area are discussed. Directions for hture research are also explored.     

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.     

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.     

The Links Between Objectives and Function in Organizational Sponsorship

This paper presents the results of a postal survey of 54 large companies who use some form of sponsorship in the UK. The main purpose was to examine the links between the objectives of sponsorship, and the main types of sponsored activity and to achieve an insight into which organizational functions are responsible. The results indicate that functional objectives for sponsorship generally differ, and that this is reflected in the choice of sponsorship activity. However, the primacy of the corporate image objective is manifest. The number of arts and sports events sponsored are about the same for all organizations, but arts sponsorship is mainly a public relations activity. The marketing function is most concerned with sports sponsorship. Community sponsorship is still commercially unimportant.     

There goes my hero again: sport scandal frequency and social identity driven response*

Abstract

With sport scandals reported frequently in the media, it is important to understand how associated stakeholders are affected. In the current work, we investigated the impact of off-field sport scandal on key stakeholders (the sport, implicated team, sponsor brand), and the roles played by team identification and scandal frequency. A 2 (fandom) × 3 (scandal frequency) between-subjects quasi-experiment examined responses to scandal news stories. Ingroup fan attitudes became less favorable toward all stakeholders following scandal, especially when it was described as repeat behavior. This differed to outgroup fan attitudes, which became less favorable toward the sport, but were generally negative and stable for other stakeholders, irrespective of scandal frequency. Respondents were willing to attribute responsibility to particular perpetrators rather than the team, and tended to endorse sponsorship continuation simultaneously with perpetrator removal/sanction. Findings have strategic implications for those involved in sponsorship, sport marketing, and sport management.     

UK Sports Sponsorship: Fair Play or Foul?

Sport sponsorship is a growth area which is under-researched yet which displays opportunities and threats for both sponsor and sport, as well as having important ethical implications. If sponsorship funding is to be attracted, sports need to supply evidence of the opportunities for sponsors; yet "sport also needs to ensure that the negative aspects of sponsorship are reduced and the positive encouraged." Marylyn Carrigan has a background in banking and export marketing and is currently Lecturer in Marketing and International Marketing at the Business School, The University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, England, where she also researches the areas of Corporate Philanthropy and Sport and Leisure Marketing. Her husband worked in industry before graduating in Sports Studies and Business, and currently works as a Youth Worker for the City of Birmingham Department of Leisure and Community Services with research interests in Sport and the 50+ leisure market.