Investigating Brand Image Transfer in Sport Sponsorship Of a Participation Sport Event in Singapore

Cheryl Chiu,Do Young Pyun

doi:10.3727/152599518x15403853721240

Abstract

The interest from corporate sponsors in participation sport events in Singapore has increased. This study explores the applicability of the model for brand image transfer in a local participation sport event as to whether sponsor–event congruence, event emotions, and attitude still work as driving variables for brand image transfer. The data were collected from 224 event participants (aged from 16 to 40) at Surf n Sweat, which was Singapore's biggest beach running event. The questionnaire consisted of the items measuring sponsor–event congruence, event emotions, attitude towards the event, attitude towards the sponsor, and purchase intention. A structural equation modeling supports an adequate overall and internal fit of the model to the data. The path analysis shows that sponsor–event congruence significantly influenced positive event emotions (β = ;0.31), positive event emotions significantly influenced attitude towards the event (β = 0.73), event attitude significantly influenced attitude towards the sponsor (β = 0.33), and sponsor attitude significantly influenced purchase intention (β = 0.82). However, negative event emotion did not mediate the relationship between sponsor–event congruence and event attitude. The findings provide empirical evidence of consumer behavior in brand image transfer, thereby benefiting corporate sponsors looking to explore event sponsorship for their brand marketing in Singapore.

Highlights

Over the years, sponsorship has been popularly utilised as a key marketing tool in the sport industry
It was reported that one item in positive event emotions had its item-total correlation of .24 which was lower than the acceptable level of .50 (Glynn, 2009), was removed for the further analyses
This study provides empirical evidence of consumer behaviour in brand image transfer, benefiting corporate sponsors looking to explore event sponsorship to enhance their brand image among Singapore consumers

Summary

Introduction

Sponsorship has been popularly utilised as a key marketing tool in the sport industry. Event sponsorship is an attractive form of marketing communication (Rajdeep & Subhadip, 2013) It is a part of a broader concept of experiential marketing (Martensen & Grønholdt, 2008) which refers to “the creation of a multisensory, interactive environment by a sports property or sponsor, designed to add value to a consumer’s experience in the short term and strengthen relationships in the long term” One important criterion for a sponsor when choosing a sport event is whether the sport property shares similar meanings with the sponsor so as to increase the effectiveness of sponsorship activity (Fortunato, 2013)

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Conclusion