When sports sponsorship incurs brand risk: the roles of team performance, brand familiarity and team identification

PurposeThis study investigated the potential negative effects of a sponsored team's losing performance on audiences' trust and purchase intention toward the sponsoring brand. Shedding light on the moderating role of sponsoring brand familiarity among audiences and audience team identification regarding such negative effects, the study establishes when sports sponsorship may incur risk to a sponsoring brand.Design/methodology/approachThree experimental designs (audience as stimulus of a team's losing vs control condition) were used to indicate whether and when losing performance influences participants' trust and purchase intention toward the sponsoring brand.FindingsThe participants in the losing condition report lower brand trust and purchase intention. Brand trust mediates the relationship between losing results and decreased purchase intention. The negative effects of losing on brand trust and purchase intention only appear when the sponsoring brand has low familiarity among audiences and only for audiences with low identification.Practical implicationsThe strategy of a brand with low familiarity sponsoring a team that frequently loses has risks and is not worth advocating. However, if an unknown brand has already sponsored a team that often loses, the efforts to cultivate audiences' identification with the team can reduce the potential risks.Originality/valueThe affirmed negative effects of losing performance on brand trust and purchase intention have value for firm sponsorship decisions. This study contributes to the sponsorship literature by revealing two boundary conditions (sponsoring brand familiarity and audiences' team identification) for those negative effects.

Beyond the game: perceptions and practices of sports sponsorship in German SMEs

Purpose The purpose of this study is by drawing on signaling theory to address the need for more investigation into the conceptual underpinnings of sponsorships by investigating and seeking to understand sponsorship objectives, opinions and practices, with a focus on smaller organisations. Design/methodology/approach This empirical study contributes to the literature through researched findings from German respondents and a critical evaluation of literature relating to the impact of sports sponsorship on SMEs within local German communities. Findings Drawing on signalling theory and extant studies, the following four categories of SME sport sponsorship activities are proposed: value-based connections, social engagement, recognition and bonding. Research limitations/implications Sponsor, sponsee and dyadic antecedents have increased in both sophistication and complexity, resulting in expected positive consumer outcomes as the justification for marketing communication investments. Practical implications Sponsorship has evolved from short-term philanthropic activities to long-term strategic alliances involving billions of dollars of annual spending globally. Social implications SME companies have certain local opportunities that larger multinational corporations cannot replicate. Originality/value No study to date has provided researchers with a framework to understand sports sponsorship from an SME perspective. This paper contributes to the theories and practice of sport sponsorship, drawing on signalling theory and extant studies.

An Empirical Exploration of Sports Sponsorship: Activation of Experiential Marketing, Sponsorship Satisfaction, Brand Equity, and Purchase Intention

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between the activation of experiential marketing, satisfaction with sponsored sporting events, brand equity, and subsequent product purchase intentions in a small-scale sponsorship campaign. Survey data were collected from 238 actual runners in the terminal rest area after they had completed a race. Structural equation modeling with the bootstrap method was carried out to examine the proposed hypotheses. Results revealed that in terms of product purchase intention, brand equity was the most influential factor, followed by experiential marketing activation and satisfaction with the sponsorship. Specifically, experiential marketing activation significantly influenced the sports sponsorship and the sponsor's brand equity; however, satisfaction showed an insignificant effect on purchase intention. In addition, the mediation test shows that brand equity is an important mediator of experience marketing and satisfaction to product purchase intention. Findings provide some empirical insights into how small-scale sponsorship can benefit sponsoring companies, including intangible brand assets and tangible product consumption. The results could encourage more companies to organize small-scale sponsorship races and to present brand-related experiences (e.g., experiencing product packaging, on-the-spot experience areas). In this way, opportunities may be provided to attract more runners (or potential consumers) to participate in the event and have a deeper brand experience. This study contributes to a better understanding of the effectiveness of small-scale sponsorship in Asia to increase the generalization of the small sponsorship literature. Small-scale sporting events can bring public attention and economic benefits to the host company, and encourage more people to participate, thereby resulting in long-term social and health benefits in the community.

Alcohol versus sponsorship: effectiveness in sports posters

PurposeThe academic literature debates the desirability of sponsoring alcohol products at sporting events, a discussion that increases as major sporting events approach. This study aims to examine the influence that sponsorship of an alcoholic product such as beer has on the sports spectator, and the level of efficacy with respect to congruent, alcohol, and incongruent sponsorship.Design/methodology/approachThe experiment was performed on 180 subjects considering three variables 3 × 3 × 2 (congruency type vs alcohol; sport discipline; placement). The experiment consisted of exposure to sponsored sports posters. Visual attention was recorded through eye tracking and then a self-reported questionnaire.FindingsThrough an experiment using eye tracking the results showed that the recall variable is higher among alcohol sponsorships and incongruent sponsorship, but it cannot be concluded either that the intention to buy or the attitude toward the brand differ among the sponsorships analyzed.Practical implicationsAlcohol brand is perceived as an incongruous brand in the context of sports sponsorship. Congruent sponsors attract more attention and recall, but no differences in terms of intention to buy. If purchase intent and consumption does not increase, perhaps sports sponsorship by alcohol brands should be reconsidered.Originality/valueThis research makes at least three relevant contributions to the scientific literature. (1) It examines the response to sponsorship in the media of the sports poster. (2) It analyses the consumer's response using neurophysiological means and provides new indicators in this area and (3) It compares performance indicators such as purchase intent, recall and brand attitude for alcoholic and non-alcoholic brand sponsors. These contributions could introduce new information about sponsorship performance.