Comment: Measuring marketing effectiveness around major sports events: A comparison of two studies and a call for action

Abstract

Introduction Over the years, major sports events have gained a place among the most appealing outlets for brands to communicate with their target customers. Such sports events draw unsurpassed media attention, and millions of people follow the coverage of these events. Companies see the opportunities to reach large audiences in a relatively short time, and invest heavily in marketing campaigns. When doing so, they basically can choose from three major strategies. Companies can become official sponsors by establishing an official relationship with the event (e.g., Mazodier and Quester, 2014, Cornwall, 2008, Walliser, 2003 and Walraven et al., 2014). Alternatively, companies can engage in the so-called ambush-marketing strategies by using misleading communication which makes consumers believe that these companies are official sponsors (e.g., Mazodier et al., 2012 and Payne, 1998). Finally, companies can express what could be called �opportunistic� behavior by just taking advantage of the larger audiences around these events, without giving the impression that they are official sponsors. As such, these companies merely surf the waves of attention and enthusiasm of the consumers (e.g., Gijsenberg, in this issue). Notwithstanding the widespread attention from both companies and consumers for these major sports events and the large (and still growing) marketing budgets devoted to the events, research coverage by the leading marketing journals on this topic has been rather scarce. It is therefore more remarkable that this issue of the International Journal of Research in Marketing features two articles that focus on two of the aforementioned strategies, with the article of Mazodier and Quester investigating event sponsorship and the article of Gijsenberg investigating opportunistic behavior. While having a different focus and using different methodologies, both articles share an interest in obtaining insights on the dynamic effects of marketing around major sports events, an area of which little is known yet.