Sponsor Logos Research Articles

Assessing the drivers of sport sponsor identification: Findings from an empirical lab study

AbstractThe relevance of sport sponsorship as a vehicle for implementing marketing communication strategies has grown at an increasing rate. However, the evaluation of sponsorship activities still lacks a substantial understanding of how brand stimuli are processed in a sport media context. Therefore, this article is intended to contribute to the understanding of sponsorship effectiveness. In a quasi‐experimental lab study, five drivers of sponsor identification were assessed. These drivers were classified by the level of sponsor logo exposure on TV and the proximity between brand and consumer. While previous research assessed the level of sponsor logo exposure by counting seconds of clear visibility on screen, this research also examines the effects of on‐screen size and competitors on screen. The results suggest that the size and exclusiveness of sponsor logo exposure are key drivers in generating sponsor identification. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A content analysis of sponsor representation across professional sport websites: extension of attribute typology

The sport industry has identified the importance of using the internet as a tool that can benefit the organisation. Much like the purpose of entering into sponsorship of sporting events, corporate partners are also attracted to the opportunities that professional sport team websites offer to fulfil similar objectives. The major purpose of this research is to explore the various ways in which sponsor logos are represented across professional sport websites and to extend previous advertising research, specifically the work developing advertising attribute typologies. The subjects for this research are professional sport websites and a qualitative approach is adopted with a content analysis as the main method of analysis used. To ensure reliability and validity within the coding instruments used, percentage agreement and Cohen’s kappa were adopted as indexes to verify this. The findings show sponsors’ logos exist on most professional sport websites and are represented in a variety of ways. Furthermore, a typology for sponsor representation and location across sport websites has been established to present a reliable foundation for future research in the area of consumer attitudes, behaviour and response towards sponsors and their presence on sport websites.

Cricket: notching up runs for food and alcohol companies?

To analyse sports sponsorship by food and alcohol companies by quantifying the proportion of time that the main sponsor's logo was seen during each of three cricket telecasts, the extent of paid advertising during the telecast and the contribution by the main sponsor to this, and to describe the associated ground advertising. DVD recordings of the three telecasts were analysed for visibility of the main sponsor's logo during actual playing time and for each sponsor's proportion of the advertising time during breaks in telecast. The main sponsor's logo was visible on a range of equipment and clothing that resulted in it being clearly identifiable from 44% to 74% of the game time. The proportion of paid advertising time in these three telecasts varied from 3% to 20%, reflecting the difference in advertising content of paid television versus free-to-air. While television food advertising to children is under review, sporting telecasts also reach children and, until recently, have avoided scrutiny. This content analysis of three recent cricket telecasts reveals an unacceptable level of exposure to food and alcohol marketing, particularly in the form of the main sponsor's logo. Sponsorship is not covered by the voluntary codes of practice that address some forms of advertising. A new system of regulation is required to reduce this unacceptable level of exposure.

Sponsorship effect metric: assessing the financial value of sponsoring by comparisons to television advertising

Since sponsoring is an increasingly important marketing communication medium, it is important for managers to know whether their sponsorships are giving a good financial return relative to other communication alternatives. Although several “rules of thumb” are commonly used in the industry for converting sponsorship exposure time into television advertising equivalent values, this research is the first to empirically test them by means of two experiments employing realistic stimuli and representative samples. Across 6 stimuli brands, study 1 finds that an average of 127 s of sponsor logo exposure achieves the same effects as a 30 s TV ad, but variance around this figure is high and depends on a variety of factors such as communication goal, sponsor fit, type of exposure, and whether the sponsor is a known brand. Study 2 finds that combining sponsoring with television advertising does increase the effects of sponsoring, although effects vary widely depending on the context, but even in the best case the increase is not supportive of the high levels of advertising suggested by many industry experts. Overall, the findings will allow managers to more confidently assess the financial value of their sponsorship investments.