Brand spillover effects within a sponsor portfolio: the interaction of image congruence and portfolio size

A sponsor portfolio exists where multiple brands sponsor a single activity or property, such as a sporting event, team, league, or a charity simultaneously. While sponsor portfolios are common in practice, little is known about how the brand perceptions of several concurrent sponsors spill over to influence each individual sponsor’s brand. This paper summarizes two experiments that investigate sponsor portfolios to determine how spillover effects influence consumers’ perceptions of a particular sponsor’s brand within the portfolio. In Study 1, empirical evidence substantiates a brand spillover effect between multiple sponsors of a single sport property. In Study 2, the influences of image congruence and portfolio size on this spillover effect are empirically assessed. Results demonstrate an interaction effect whereby brands incongruent to the sponsored property enjoy a more favorable brand perception when included in either a small portfolio inclusive of another incongruent co-sponsor, or a larger portfolio of otherwise congruent sponsors

Accessing Organizational Resources and Pursuing Value Through International Promotional Alliances

Accessing and exploiting organizational resources plays an integral role in not only a firm’s propensity to achieve a competitive advantage, but also its mere survival in a competitive environment (Ulrich & Barney, 1984). One of the most common means of resource acquisition for both large administrative firms and smaller entrepreneurial enterprises is interorganizational alliances (Ireland, Hitt, & Vaidyanath, 2002). Utilizing the resource-based view of the firm within a strategic alliance framework, this dissertation examines a particular type of interorganizational exchange relationship permeating the marketing discipline. The promotional alliance is defined within this research as a strategic alliance based on resource exchange between a promoting enterprise and a firm seeking to fulfill promotion-based objectives through an ongoing collaboration with the enterprise. Each of the two sides of the promotional alliance relationship served as a focus for one of the two studies presented within this work. In the first study, a longitudinal survival model was employed to investigate the dependency of a promotional enterprise on external resource acquisition via alliances with promotion-seeking firms. Also at issue were the heterogeneity of resources accessed and the dynamics of the institutional forces regulating such alliances. Alliances with sponsoring firms offering financial and performance-based resources, as opposed to operational resources, were found to have a significant influence on the survival of sponsored enterprises. However, these dependencies were subject to changes in institutional support and the potential for diminishing returns. The second study approached promotional alliances from the perspective of the firms seeking promotion. Relying on the theory of efficient capital markets (Fama, 1970), an event study analysis was undertaken to determine the impact of internationally prominent promotional alliance announcements on the equity value of the sponsoring firms, which theoretically reflects investors’ expectations of future cash flows. Contrary to prior research, the initiation of these alliances demonstrated a negative impact on shareholder value. Several alliance, firm, and promoting partner characteristics were hypothesized to influence alliance outcomes to varying degrees within the cross-sectional sample of promotion-seeking firms. Surprisingly, only the magnitude of the sponsoring firm’s alliance investment and the nationality congruence within the alliance were influential in predicting investors’ reaction to such alliances. Each study was embedded within the institutional context of Formula One (F1) motor racing and focused on the promotional alliances involving corporate partners (sponsoring firms) and their affiliated racing teams. In this context, the racing teams acted as the promoting enterprises charged with providing the marketing platform to meet their sponsoring firms’ objectives. With annual races on four or more continents; a global television audience rivaled only by the Olympics’ opening ceremony, FIFA World Cup finals, and the NFL’s Super Bowl; direct competition between promoting teams; and sponsoring firms hailing from fifteen different nations and over twenty diverse industry sectors; F1 provided an ideal setting for the evaluation of interorganizational alliances’ impact on the survival of promoting enterprises and a promotion-seeking firm’s value implications. To compliment and strengthen the applied contribution of both studies, the analyzed results were subjected to a discussion with industry experts representing both sides of the promotional alliance relationship (Lane & Jacobson, 1995). Not only did this closing analysis reinforce the relevance of the research offered here, but it also presented a practitioner-focused examination of the industry challenges inherent in the theoretical tenets underlying such research

Accessing organizational resources and pursuing value through international promotional alliances

Accessing and exploiting organizational resources plays an integral role in not only a firm’s propensity to achieve a competitive advantage, but also its mere survival in a competitive environment (Ulrich & Barney, 1984). One of the most common means of resource acquisition for both large administrative firms and smaller entrepreneurial enterprises is interorganizational alliances (Ireland, Hitt, & Vaidyanath, 2002). Utilizing the resource-based view of the firm within a strategic alliance framework, this dissertation examines a particular type of interorganizational exchange relationship permeating the marketing discipline. The promotional alliance is defined within this research as a strategic alliance based on resource exchange between a promoting enterprise and a firm seeking to fulfill promotion-based objectives through an ongoing collaboration with the enterprise. Each of the two sides of the promotional alliance relationship served as a focus for one of the two studies presented within this work. In the first study, a longitudinal survival model was employed to investigate the dependency of a promotional enterprise on external resource acquisition via alliances with promotion-seeking firms. Also at issue were the heterogeneity of resources accessed and the dynamics of the institutional forces regulating such alliances. Alliances with sponsoring firms offering financial and performance-based resources, as opposed to operational resources, were found to have a significant influence on the survival of sponsored enterprises. However, these dependencies were subject to changes in institutional support and the potential for diminishing returns. The second study approached promotional alliances from the perspective of the firms seeking promotion. Relying on the theory of efficient capital markets (Fama, 1970), an event study analysis was undertaken to determine the impact of internationally prominent promotional alliance announcements on the equity value of the sponsoring firms, which theoretically reflects investors’ expectations of future cash flows. Contrary to prior research, the initiation of these alliances demonstrated a negative impact on shareholder value. Several alliance, firm, and promoting partner characteristics were hypothesized to influence alliance outcomes to varying degrees within the cross-sectional sample of promotion-seeking firms. Surprisingly, only the magnitude of the sponsoring firm’s alliance investment and the nationality congruence within the alliance were influential in predicting investors’ reaction to such alliances. Each study was embedded within the institutional context of Formula One (F1) motor racing and focused on the promotional alliances involving corporate partners (sponsoring firms) and their affiliated racing teams. In this context, the racing teams acted as the promoting enterprises charged with providing the marketing platform to meet their sponsoring firms’ objectives. With annual races on four or more continents; a global television audience rivaled only by the Olympics’ opening ceremony, FIFA World Cup finals, and the NFL’s Super Bowl; direct competition between promoting teams; and sponsoring firms hailing from fifteen different nations and over twenty diverse industry sectors; F1 provided an ideal setting for the evaluation of interorganizational alliances’ impact on the survival of promoting enterprises and a promotion-seeking firm’s value implications. To compliment and strengthen the applied contribution of both studies, the analyzed results were subjected to a discussion with industry experts representing both sides of the promotional alliance relationship (Lane & Jacobson, 1995). Not only did this closing analysis reinforce the relevance of the research offered here, but it also presented a practitioner-focused examination of the industry challenges inherent in the theoretical tenets underlying such research

Legal battles for sponsorship exclusivity: The cases of the World Cup and NASCAR

Theorists have emphasized brand differentiation in achieving a competitive advantage through sponsorship, and managers of sports sponsorships have recognized product category exclusivity as among the most valued rights afforded sponsoring firms. Yet the proliferation of sponsorships in the sports marketplace poses a challenge to sponsors attempting to establish a unique brand position apart from the clutter. The competition between corporate rivals for sponsorship exclusivity in the world's highest profile sporting arenas has begun to spill into the courtroom. The purpose of this paper is to review the cases of MasterCard versus FIFA, and AT&T versus NASCAR, and discuss the relevance of these contract disputes to sponsorship scholars and practitioners. Specifically, the courtsâ finding of irreparable harm faced by the excluded sponsor offers an intriguing legal recognition of the theorized goodwill and inimitability of corporate affiliation with a specific sponsored enterprise. The cases also contribute an opposing view of best practices, where legal ramifications arise from treating sponsorship as a property-based resource and neglecting the relational dimensions of collaborative communication, trust, and commitment emphasized by contemporary sponsorship theory.Sponsorship Law Corporate rivalry Contracts Strategic alliance

Rival Team Influence on Perceived Sincerity and Supportive Behaviors: A Study of Cause-Related Sports Marketing in Major League Baseball

Cause-related marketing (CRM)has become increasingly popular with professional sport leagues and large charitable organizations (Genzale, 2006). Research suggests that CRM can positively affect purchase intentions and behavioral responses (e.g., Bhattacharya and Sen, 2003), consumers’ response to CRM in a sports context may be confounded by team allegiances and rivalries. The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of home team versus rival team imagery in CRM on perceived sincerity and behavior in support of the cause. The findings from an online experiment suggest that hometown versus rival team imagery in sports CRM campaigns can have influential effects on perceived sincerity and intentions to support the cause