Sponsorship in the Marketing Mix

Over the past decade, sponsorship has been the fastest growing form of marketing, with over $6.8 billion spent on sponsorship in 1998 (International Events Group, 1998). Sponsorship has been defined as (Pope, 1998):

The provision of resources (e.g., money, people, equipment) by an organization (the sponsor) directly to an individual, authority or body (the sponsee), to enable the latter to pursue some activity in return for benefits contemplated in terms of the sponsor's promotion strategy, and which can be expressed in terms of corporate, marketing, or media objectives.

Three categories of sponsorship objectives have been identified by Sandler and Shani (1993), including: 1) broad corporate objectives (image based), 2) marketing objectives (brand promotion, sales increase), and 3) media objectives (cost effectiveness, reaching target markets). The ability to specifically target markets is also an important function of sponsorship (Jensen, 1994).

The benefits of sponsorship most often cited are awareness and image building of the brand, product, and company (Cornwell, 1995). Among other benefits are that sponsorship can improve the impact and memorability of the marketing message, enhance the relevance of the brand to the target market, generate the desire to purchase the brand to "reward" the sponsor and heighten the loyalty of those working for and with the company (Kate, 1995).

Sponsorships allow companies to distinguish themselves from the vast field of competitors prevalent in other forms of advertising (Oneal, Finch, Hamilton & Hammonds, 1987). Advertisers also find they can get more "bang for their buck" by sponsoring an event itself rather than paying for 30 seconds of ad time during the event.

The extent to which sponsorship imparts a feeling of goodwill toward the company depends in part on the nature of the event. According to a survey by John Hancock Financial Services, local events made the respondents think more favorably of the sponsors than national events. Sports events are considered most appealing, with cultural events far behind (Kate, 1995).

Sponsorship has a long-term effect, based on accumulated biases over time. The residual effect of sponsorship may last for many years, instilling a predisposition in people to buy the product (Kate, 1995). The benefits of advertising or displaying signage at sporting events accrue as the brand becomes associated with a sport, and the association in people's minds often continues even after the sponsorship ends. Multiple advertising and signage locations at a particular event (three or four) are optimal for higher recall and recognition of sponsors, particularly for televised sport stadium situations (Pope & Voges, 1997).

The success of sponsorship programs may be difficult to fully assess. They are often evaluated by measuring impact in three ways (IEG, 1998):
1) Measuring awareness or attitude changes
2) Quantifying the effects in terms of sales results; and
3) Comparing the value of sponsorship-generated media coverage to the cost of equivalent advertising space or time.

Awareness or attitude changes are usually assessed using surveys, but changes in the image of a product or brand are not always quantifiable. The sales impact can be more readily tracked through sponsorship-specific promotions, such as coupons and special offers tied directly to an event. The amount of media exposure and equivalent cost of advertising is also fairly easy to measure (Kate, 1995).