Assessing the Effectiveness of Sport Sponsorships — An Empirical Examination

Abstract

Recent surveys find that while managers favored issues of media coverage not more than ten years ago, now they rate sponsor awareness and image transfer from the sponsored event to the sponsor as the main reasons for engaging in sport C. However, the evaluation of C has not kept up with this change in priorities. Companies seem to be reluctant to evaluate sponsor awareness even though measurement is straightforward and not very costly. An important reason might be that previous studies showed unsatisfying effects of “ambush marketing”. In this form of marketing, other firms make consumers believe, incorrectly, that these companies are the actual sponsors of an event. In the case of image transfer, evaluation seems to be difficult due to a lack of a compelling comprehensive and testable model.

We examine these obstacles of assessing sponsor awareness and image transfer in sport sponsorships in two ways. As a means of reducing the danger of ambush marketing, we analyze what drives correct sponsor identification. Our empirical results indicate that event-sponsor fit, event involvement, and exposure are the dominant factors predicting sponsor recall. These factors offer sponsors a basis for successful sponsorship planning and execution through the selection of an appropriate sponsorship. Second, we propose and empirically test a model that assesses image transfer in sport sponsorships. We find support for a basic level of image transfer for all sponsors. However, more detailed research and interpretation of results suggest that the magnitude of image transfer depends on two factors, sponsorship leverage and event-sponsor fit.