NO SHORT- AND MEDIUM-TERM EFFECTS OF SPORT SPONSORSHIP; THE CASE OF DIVINA PASTORA IN PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL

Abstract

Despite the immense size of sports sponsorship business, such marketing actions do not have a clear association with the return of investment, because literature shows mixed results. In this study, we use a dynamic approach to assess the short- and medium-term efficacy of sponsorship of the insurance company Divina Pastora, official sponsor of one of the top basketball teams in the Spanish ACB professional league, Joventut de Badalona. Divina Pastora signed a sponsorship contract with the team in July 2016, a deal worth €700,000 a year. During the first 15 months of this relationship, we collected data about several intermediate variables (recall, recognition, and brand associations) in four waves spaced 4-5 months apart, and in two distinct geographical populations (markets) randomly sampled. The results show that, overall, Divina Pastora’s investment in sponsorship did not yield any particular change in the perceptions of individuals living in Catalonia and in the rest of Spain during the first year of the partnership. Divina Pastora remains a marginal brand in the minds of the participants, and lies a long way behind the other competing companies in its market sector. These findings add new empirical evidence to the debate on sports sponsorship efficacy.