Sports Sponsorship As A Tool For Customer Engagement

This paper reports the findings from a series of semi-structured interviews with Sponsorship Managers in major UK-based sports sponsors. The key theme explored is the use of sponsorship leverage strategies as a means of deepening engagement with both existing and potential customers. Therefore, this study draws on literature from the field of customer engagement, relating this to sponsorship objectives, in order to assess the extent to which sponsors are actively seeking to engage customers through their sponsorship activities. Customer engagement and building an affinity with brands are cited as objectives now being pursued by sponsors. The findings suggest that sponsorship is increasingly being used by brands as a springboard for wider marketing communications activity, including social media and event-based customer experiences. Sponsorship success is not guaranteed simply by buying the rights to associate with a sporting property, but rather, is maximised when creatively activated to engage customers interactively, as opposed to the one-way communication medium of advertising. The evidence provided highlights examples of good practice among sponsors in a growing area of interest. Therefore, a wider ranging study of the use of event-based experiences and social media as sponsorship leverage strategies is proposed as an area for future research

Determining the brand-building success of sponsorship

Sports sponsorship has developed exponentially both as a commercial and academic discipline over the course of the past 20 years, with 2006 worldwide expenditure totalling $37.9 billion (IEG, 2008). In line with the growing practice of sponsorship across product and service sectors, academic interest in the domain has increased steadily. However, there still remain a considerable number of gaps in knowledge and understanding of how sponsorship works. In line with trends towards the application of broader theoretical models to the field of sponsorship, this paper explores the brand building capacity of sports sponsorship within the conceptual framework of consumer-based brand equity

An empirical assessment of factors affecting the brand-building effectiveness of sponsorship

Purpose: This study assesses, in two different live sponsorship environments, the contribution of sponsorship to consumer-based brand equity. Design/methodology/approach: The study adopts a quantitative survey methodology, employing self-administered questionnaires at two UK sporting events (athletics and cricket). To isolate the impact of sponsorship, questionnaires were also distributed to comparison sample groups not exposed to the sponsorship activities. The elements of consumer-based brand equity are operationalised in line with Aaker‟s (1996) brand equity measurement tool. Findings: Sponsorship can be an appropriate vehicle through which to build consumer-based brand equity; however brand building success is not guaranteed and is subject to a range of factors impacting upon particular sponsorships, including strength of the sponsor-event link, leverage activities and clutter. The most successful sponsorship displayed marked contributions to building brand associations, perceived quality and brand loyalty. However, the presence of sponsorship clutter in particular was found to impact negatively upon the perception of quality transferred to a brand through sponsorship. Research limitations/implications: The use of live event settings limits the ability to tightly control all variables; therefore replication of this study using experimental methodologies is recommended. Nonetheless, findings indicate managers should consider the above mentioned contextual factors when selecting sponsorships in order to maximise sponsorship success. Originality/value: This study explores the contribution of sports sponsorship to consumer-based brand equity in live sponsorship settings, addressing concerns over the generalizability of previous experimental studies. Equally, this study compares the brand equity-building effectiveness of sponsorship for two sponsors, which differ on a range of contextual factors that impact upon sponsorship success

An empirical assessment of factors affecting the brand-building effectiveness of sponsorship

Purpose: This study assesses, in two different live sponsorship environments, the contribution of sponsorship to consumer-based brand equity. Design/methodology/approach: The study adopts a quantitative survey methodology, employing self-administered questionnaires at two UK sporting events (athletics and cricket). To isolate the impact of sponsorship, questionnaires were also distributed to comparison sample groups not exposed to the sponsorship activities. The elements of consumer-based brand equity are operationalised in line with Aaker‟s (1996) brand equity measurement tool. Findings: Sponsorship can be an appropriate vehicle through which to build consumer-based brand equity; however brand building success is not guaranteed and is subject to a range of factors impacting upon particular sponsorships, including strength of the sponsor-event link, leverage activities and clutter. The most successful sponsorship displayed marked contributions to building brand associations, perceived quality and brand loyalty. However, the presence of sponsorship clutter in particular was found to impact negatively upon the perception of quality transferred to a brand through sponsorship. Research limitations/implications: The use of live event settings limits the ability to tightly control all variables; therefore replication of this study using experimental methodologies is recommended. Nonetheless, findings indicate managers should consider the above mentioned contextual factors when selecting sponsorships in order to maximise sponsorship success. Originality/value: This study explores the contribution of sports sponsorship to consumer-based brand equity in live sponsorship settings, addressing concerns over the generalizability of previous experimental studies. Equally, this study compares the brand equity-building effectiveness of sponsorship for two sponsors, which differ on a range of contextual factors that impact upon sponsorship success

Profiling Contemporary Sports Sponsorship Objectives

The study aims to identify the objectives most commonly pursued by sports sponsors and explores whether these differ by sport, sponsorship type and sponsor product category. Press releases/articles relating to 402 recent sponsorship deals were content analysed, with imagebuilding being the most commonly cited objective, followed by brand awareness. Using chi-square tests, significant differences were found between the objectives pursued by sport, sponsorship type and sponsor product category. As press releases represent a corporate, and thus potentially biased, public relations tool, this research forms part of a wider study exploring sponsorship objectives and evaluation, using interview and survey methodologies

The Role of Brand Knowledge in Determining Sponsorship Effectiveness

Using the theoretical framework of consumer-based brand equity, this paper reports findings from a cross-sectional survey, measuring the comparative brand-building effectiveness of sponsorship for new and established brands. Results suggest that sponsorship is capable only of building awareness for new brands, while for an established brand, sponsorship exposure is found to impact positively on brand associations, perceived quality and brand loyalty. The need for an underlying level of brand knowledge for image transfer to occur is proposed, suggesting that the brand-building role of sponsorship is one of reinforcement, rather than creation. The findings have practical implications relating to sponsorship selection