Sport Sponsorship Research Articles

A meta-analysis: Investigating the impact of virtual and augmented reality technologies on brand equity and brand loyalty in sports sponsorship

A meta-analysis: Investigating the impact of virtual and augmented reality technologies on brand equity and brand loyalty in sports sponsorship

Examining the Marketing Effectiveness of Sports Team Sponsorship on Consumer Behaviour: A Cross-Cultural Comparison between Low and High Context Cultures

Sports sponsorship is a marketing activity that requires huge budget where companies seek to achieve business objectives. The study compares between low and high context cultures to understand the effect of football team sponsorship on consumer behaviour. An online survey was conducted through Qualtrics with 380 responses. Results show that culture affects the outcome of football team sponsorship on brand image, purchase intention, and brand loyalty. Football team sponsorship leads to higher marketing effectiveness in low context culture. Low context culture has either the same outcome of high context culture or better and vice versa. High context culture tends to have some negative attitudes toward the brands that are sponsoring football teams. It is recommended for marketers to allocate football team sponsorship budget to low context culture for better outcome. Future work should aim to compare cultural effect on sports sponsorship in other sports such as basketball, tennis, golf … etc.

Case Study: Money Management in Kosovo Sports

Sport in the country is supported through program policies and is also supported in its development even with the difficulties that our society and the sports activity of the country has gone through. The management of sports clubs, federations and sports organizations in general develop their activities facing difficulties of a material nature when it comes to participation in international competitions. Therefore, this paper presents the management of money in sports organizations, infrastructure and other stakeholders. This paper is presented as a model, which has to do with the management, sports, infrastructural capacities that are at the moment, then also the distribution of the budget for federations, clubs, sports infrastructure and other organizations that perform these activities. The management of money for sports in the country has been executed for about 35 sports federations with about 867 sports clubs, where in total approximately 81.041 participate in sports activities, of which 67.583 are men and 13,458 women, and their amount spent was about 14,247,919 euro from the revenues of 18.489.005 euro that were from the country’s government. The management of money for sports in the country would open the way if appropriate measures are taken to increase the budget by engaging serious investors in terms of sports infrastructure in public- private partnerships, where this would then affect the addition of sports facilities and their management as rationally as possible where sports activities would then be increased and then this would also bring incomes. Meanwhile, sports organizations should be further supported in the operationalization of fiscal facilities for companies that are helping clubs and federations that wish to enter sports sponsorship, where this would also be pushing force in the development and improvement of sports and its conditions for the progress of sports activities.

Content Analysis of Sports Sponsorship: Spor Toto Super League

Sponsorluk, küreselleşmenin ve rekabetin arttığı günümüz dünyasında gelişmekte olan bir iletişim aracıdır. Sponsor markalar, sponsorluk faaliyetleri ile toplum faydası ve marka imajı sağlarken aynı zamanda kurumun halkla ilişkiler hedeflerine de hizmet etmektedir. Sponsorluk türlerinden biri olan spor sponsorluğu da medyanın gelişmesiyle daha da belirgin hale gelmiştir. Literatürde spor sponsorluğu ve sponsorluk kapsamında yapılmış birçok çalışma bulunmaktadır. Ancak Türkiye’de spor sponsorlarını sağlıklı ve sağlıksız olarak nitelendiren bir çalışmanın bulunmadığı görülmektedir. Bu araştırmanın amacı, 2021-2022 sezonu Türkiye Spor Toto Süper Lig’inde yer alan futbol takımlarına sponsor olan markaları sağlık ve sağlıksız olarak nitelendirmektir. Türkiye’de ve Türk takımlarına yönelik böyle bir çalışmanın yapılmamış olması araştırmanın özgün değerini oluşturmaktadır. Veriler, futbol takımlarının web sayfalarında belirtilen sponsorluklar esas alınarak 12-26 Nisan 2022 tarihleri arasında içerik analizi ile incelenmiştir. Çalışmanın sonucunda en fazla sponsorluğun gıda sektöründe en az sponsorluğun güvenlik sektöründe yer aldığı görülmüştür. Elde edilen diğer bir sonuç ise Spor Toto Süper Lig takımlarına sponsor markaların çoğunlukla gri kategorisinde yer aldığı ardından ise yeşil kategorisinde bulunduğudur.

Alcohol Marketing and Consumption in Thailand: Results from the International Alcohol Control Policy Study

Background: Alcohol marketing is a facilitator of alcohol consumption and related harm. The objectives of this study were to examine associations between alcohol consumption and exposure to and liking of alcohol marketing activities in Thailand.
 Methods: Data were obtained from the Thailand International Alcohol Control Policy study in 2012/2013 with 5,808 respondents aged betwee 15 and 65 years. Logistic regression models were applied to determine factors associated with liking alcohol advertisements and being a current drinker, regular drinker and binge drinker.
 Results: Of all respondents, 75% were exposed to alcohol advertising on television followed by sports sponsorship (69%) and point of sale (66%). Youth reported higher levels of exposure to alcohol advertising via all activities/channels, particularly online media, than adults (except radio). Respondents with high exposure to alcohol advertising were more likely to like alcohol advertising (adjusted odds ratio (AOR)=7.32, 95%confidence interval (CI): 4.91-10.92), compared to respondents who never exposed to alcohol advertising. The odds ratios of being a drinker (AOR=2.28, 95%CI: 1.82-2.85), a regular drinker (2.10, 1.57-2.81) and a binge drinker (2.57, 1.94-3.41) were significantly higher among those who highly liked alcohol advertising compared with those who did not.
 Conclusion: Thailand should place greater restrictions on alcohol advertising and marketing activities.

Consumer Reactions to Negative Incidents in Sports Sponsorship:

本研究の目的は，スポーツイベントへのスポンサー契約にネガティブなインシデントが発生した場合の，消費者の反応を探索的に検討することである。具体的には，2021年に開催された2020東京五輪に関して，2022年に入って指摘されはじめた五輪汚職を事例に，Twitter上で発生したネガティブな口コミを探索的に検討する。そして，ネガティブな事象が発生した場合の，スポンサー企業への消費者の反応を明らかにする。実際にツイートデータを抽出した企業は，AOKIとKADOKAWAの2社である。これらのツイートデータに関して，ネガティブインシデントが発生した時系列ごとに頻出単語を整理した。その結果，一度ネガティブインシデントが発生して以降は，消費者の反応の増減に関わらず，ネガティブな頻出単語の性質には変化はないことが示された。

Perceptions towards unhealthy food sponsorship in junior sports in Victoria, Australia

ObjectiveTo explore Victorian parents’ and club officials’ engagement with, and attitudes towards, the sponsorship of junior sports by unhealthy food and beverage companies. MethodsWe conducted online surveys with 504 parents of children participating in junior sports and 16 semi-structured interviews with junior sports club officials (from clubs that accepted unhealthy food sponsorship) in Victoria, Australia. ResultsMost parents were concerned about children’s exposure to sponsorship by unhealthy local (58% extremely, very or moderately concerned) and large food companies (63%) in junior sports. The views of sporting club officials were grouped into four themes: (1) the existing funding challenges for junior sports, (2) how junior sports sponsorship is community dependent, (3) how the perceived risks of sponsorship by unhealthy food companies are low and (4) the need for high-level regulations and support to transition towards healthier junior sports sponsorship. ConclusionsTransitioning towards healthier junior sports sponsorship may be hindered by insufficient funding models and low concern for such actions by community leaders. Implications for Public HealthPolicy actions from higher-level sporting governing bodies and governments are likely to be necessary to reduce harmful junior sports sponsorship, alongside restrictions on the marketing of unhealthy foods through other media and settings.

A Non-Intrusive Experiment to Examine the Visual Attention Data on Exposure to a Brand Using Eye Tracking

The objective of this study is to understand the influence of articulation on sports sponsorship posters of a sporting event. An eye tracking experiment was conducted to examine the visual attention data on exposure to the sponsor’s brand while viewing an advertisement poster. The respondents were asked to fill out a questionnaire based on what they could recall while viewing the poster. Quantitative data, along with the eye tracking data, was analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test and ANOVA. Respondents between the age group of 20 to 42 years were approached using the convenience sampling method. The findings of the study ascertained that articulating an advertisement sports poster is unlikely to have a substantial impact on visual attention and brand awareness of the consumer, instead diverting the attention away from the brand to the articulated text. Furthermore, the articulation effects of sports posters depend on the degree of congruence between sponsor-event pairing, which influences visual attention, resulting in a stronger brand recall when congruence is low. This study adds to the body of knowledge on the impact of articulation in sports sponsorship, where the extant literature is still limited. Future research could consider other types of articulation, such as analogical and socio-financial, and use other techniques, such as Electroencephalogram (EEG) and Functional Magnetic Resonance (FMR), to arrive at better results. This study aimed to empirically test the effect of articulation on sports posters considering the impact of ad-design elements on attention and media planning.

Can counter-advertising exposing alcohol sponsorship and harms influence sport spectators’ support for alcohol policies? An experimental study

BackgroundExposure to alcohol advertising and sponsorship through elite sport is associated with harmful use of alcohol. Owing to strong financial and cultural ties between alcohol and sport in Australia, policy action to restrict alcohol sport sponsorship is unlikely to occur without strong public support for change. This study tested whether exposure to counter-advertising exposing industry marketing of harmful products—a technique shown to be effective in tobacco control—promotes higher support for policy change and less favourable beliefs about the alcohol industry among sport spectators.MethodsA sample of 1,075 Australian adults aged 18–49 years who planned to watch an National Rugby League (NRL) State of Origin series game, featuring prominent alcohol sponsorship, was recruited through an online panel and randomly assigned to one of three conditions: control (neutral advertisement); counter-advertisement exposing alcohol harms; counter-advertisement exposing alcohol sponsorship and harms. Participants completed a pre-test questionnaire and viewed their assigned counter-advertisement multiple times in the 5–7 days before the NRL game. Within four days of watching the game, participants completed post-test measures.ResultsCompared to both the control advertisement and the counter-advertisement exposing alcohol harms, participants who viewed the counter-advertisement exposing alcohol sponsorship and harms were significantly more likely to indicate support for each of four policies aimed at restricting sports-related alcohol marketing, including the complete removal of alcohol sponsorship from sport (51% vs. 32% and 37%). They were also significantly less likely to agree with statements such as “alcohol companies should be allowed to sponsor sport since their products are legal” (39% vs. 63% and 60%) and significantly less likely to report liking alcohol companies in general (38% vs. 59% and 54%). There were no significant differences in policy support or industry beliefs between participants who saw the counter-advertisement exposing alcohol harms and those who saw the control advertisement.ConclusionCounter-advertising employing messages that expose and critique the intent and impact of pervasive alcohol sponsorship in sport has potential to bolster public support for policies targeting alcohol sport sponsorship, diminish beliefs supportive of alcohol industry marketing strategies and enhance negative views of alcohol companies and their marketing practices.

Tracing the state of sport management research: a bibliometric analysis

This article presents a state-of-the-art overview of the sport management research discipline through a bibliometric analysis of publication data from the top five sport management journals in the decade 2011–2020. The analysis includes citation and productivity analysis of journals, institutions, countries, and articles, author citation and output analysis, and title and abstract (co-)word analysis. The data identifies the Sport Management Review as the most prolific journal of the last decade. Institutions and authors from the US are dominating the sport management research, which has increased its attractiveness in other disciplines. Co-word analysis shows recent and frequently discussed topics related to management of sport organizations and events, team and game, sport marketing and sponsorship, and behaviour and identification of the spectator. The article serves the ongoing debate on sport management as an academic field with deep insights into the publication structure and thematic dynamics of the last decade.

Investigating the Impact of Food Rewards on Children’s Motivation to Participate in Sport

Children who are physically active and involved in organized sport report having the unhealthiest diets. Research suggests excessive calories may be attributed to the prevalence of fast food and candy which are often provided as rewards in sport. This study explored the use of food as a reward in youth sport and the perceived impact it has on children's motivation to participate in recreational soccer and ice hockey. A multiple instrumental case study approach was utilized. Children aged 4-12 (n = 64), parents (n = 30), and coaches (n = 18) were recruited within central and northeastern Ontario, Canada to participate in focus groups and individual interviews. Transcribed audio recordings underwent inductive thematic analysis. Key themes included: Fun and fast: The culture of food in youth soccer and hockey; (Un)importance of food rewards: The how and why of motivating children in sport; and Youth sport is expensive: Gratitude for sponsorship in youth sport. Themes explain the role of food and food rewards as an element of the youth sport culture as well as the importance of sponsors, regardless of food affiliation, in youth sport. Overall, children's participation and effort would continue without food rewards; however, they continue to be offered food to motivate and celebrate performance in youth sport. Findings highlight the need to increase knowledge and awareness among parents and coaches on what truly motivates children to help foster healthier strategies for celebrating success and supporting lifelong physical activity.

The effect of articulation in sports posters on betting behavior

Several studies argue that sponsorship promotes and normalizes gambling behavior because commercial gambling providers (CGPs) act as sponsors for many sports entities. This study examines the effect of articulation on sports sponsorship, sincerity, and congruence as perceived by consumers and betting behavior by comparing a CGP brand with a congruent sponsor brand. Data were collected through an experiment combining the factor of the inter-subject type of sponsor (CGPs sponsor vs. congruence sponsor) and articulation (commercial articulation and no articulation) in 518 subjects from the United Kingdom. The analysis was performed using structural equation modeling and multi-group analysis. Subjects showed a greater willingness to bet when the CGP sponsor was perceived as congruent and sincere compared with congruent sponsorship, suggesting that this type of sponsor could encourage sports betting. However, the elimination of CGPs’ sponsorship is complex because of the significant funding they provide.

ROLE OF SPORTS SPONSORSHIP IN REVENUE GENERATION

Sports sponsorship's contribution to income generation has been a hotly debated issue in the business world. In return for opportunities for advertising or promotion, businesses back teams or sporting events financially through sports sponsorship. This essay looks at the value of sports sponsorship in terms of generating income for both the sponsor and the organisation being sponsored. The paper examines how sports sponsorship can aid businesses in gaining brand recognition, boosting sales, and cultivating customer loyalty. It also examines how athletic organisations can generate money for their operations and investments through sports sponsorship. The paper concludes that, if done strategically and with a clear grasp of the goals and objectives of both the sponsor and the sponsored entertainment, sports sponsorship can be a potent tool for revenue generation

The Negative Effect of Team Performance on Sponsorship Brand Performance: The Mediating Role of Social Identity Threat

Nowadays, sports sponsorship has become an important marketing method and means for enterprises to improve brand image and visibility. Previous studies focused on the positive effects of sponsorship on brand and consumer factors, but the performance of the sponsored team may also be an important factor for audiences to evaluate the sponsored brand and products. Moreover, the poor performance of a team may have potential negative effects, which is worth exploring in depth. This article explores how poor team performance affects sponsors negatively in the context of sports sponsorship. Through experiments, it was verified that compared with high win rate, poor performance of sponsored teams significantly reduces the brand performance of sponsors, and social identity threat plays a mediating role. In addition, compared with men, the negative impact of poor team performance on brand performance is more significant for women. This study reveals the potential negative effects of implementing sponsorship for enterprises and introduces social identity threat as a mediator to explain the impact mechanism of team performance on brand performance in sports sponsorship. It has certain enrichment and enlightenment effects on related research of sports sponsorship.

Digital Media and Sports Sponsorship: Yandex and Fenerbahçe Collaboration on Review

Dijital medya günümüzde insanların hayatlarında önemli bir yere sahiptir. Arama motorları ise dijital dünyanın en etkin yapı taşlarındandır. Geçmişten bu yana insanların hayatında yer alan bir başka öge ise spordur. Taraftarlık ise insanların spora dâhil olma şekillerindendir. Bu bağlamda sporun desteklenmesi, sponsorluk ve dijital medya unsurları günümüzde yan yana gelmeye başlamıştır. Çalışmanın odaklandığı Fenerbahçe Yandex Arama Motoru söz konusu durumu yansıtmaktadır. Twitter ise dijital medyada insanların bir araya geldiği en popüler olan uygulamalardandır. İnsanların hayatlarına dair farklı türde içerikleri barındıran uygulama toplumlarda etkileşim kurma unsuru olarak kullanılabilmektedir. Bu bağlamda Fenerbahçe Spor Kulübü’nün Twitter hesabı üzerinden Fenerbahçe Yandex paylaşımları çalışmanın ana temasını oluşturmaktadır. Söz konusu çalışmada ise örneklem olarak @Fenerbahce hesabı ele alınmıştır. Fenerbahçe’nin Twitter hesabı netnografi yöntemiyle incelenmiştir. Sonuç olarak FB Yandex Arama motoru Twitter üzerinden genel olarak tanıtım yapmak ve daha çok insana ulaştırılmak istenmiştir. Buna karşın kullanıcıların ve taraftarların arama motoru konusunda çok fazla etkileşimde olmadığı tespit edilmiştir.

Football Associations and Development of Football Leagues in Tanganyika, 1929-1960

This paper explores the history of football development in Tanzania from 1929 to 1960. Specifically, the paper examines the history of football associations and their subsequent contributions in the development of football leagues in Tanzania during that period. This paper significantly focuses on important actors such as the media, sports sponsors, individuals and the government. In order to better achieve this, the study adopts a qualitative research approach which draws its primary information from archives, newspapers and oral interviews. It also consults secondary data from books, theses and journal-articles to understand the ways in which football associations developed football in the period of study. The researchers generally argue that football became popular and took a new shape that completely defined its spread and growth as a more organised sport in the late 1920s. This came after the formation of the first colonial football association in Dar es Salaam district. This stage sparked off the proliferation of football associations that also emerged as voluntary entities to organise and promote football in their respective districts across Tanganyika from the early 1930s to 1950s.

The negative effect of CSR-CSI domain overlap in CSR-linked sport sponsorship

This study aimed to examine (1) the effect of the corporate social responsibility-corporate social irresponsibility (CSR-CSI) domain overlap conditions on attitudes toward the sponsor via two serial mediators (i.e., perceived firm-serving motives for CSR activity and CSR perception of the sponsor) and (2) the moderating effect of cause involvement. Four experiments were conducted: Study 1 assessed the mediation model, and Studies 2, 3, and 4 tested the moderated mediation model. Participants reported a negative mediation mechanism in the high CSR-CSI domain overlap condition (i.e., when CSR was strongly associated with CSI) compared to those in the low CSR-CSI domain overlap condition (i.e., when CSR was weakly associated with CSI). Furthermore, this negative effect was weakened when the participants were highly involved in the cause. The findings provide sponsors with CSI insights into the effective CSR-CSI domain overlap strategy in the sport sponsorship field.

Fan Sponsor Acceptance: So, You Want to Join Our Sports in-Group?

This research introduces the notion of sponsor acceptance and examines its role in an emerging sport, the Australian Big Bash League T20 cricket. Sports sponsors want to achieve consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) outcomes. However, the achievement of CBBE outcomes depends on sponsor acceptance. Using quantitative survey data from BBL television viewers, we developed and tested a model of sponsor acceptance. We compared fan in-group and out-group perceptions, finding that both groups viewed the sponsorship positively. There were no significant differences between the groups in terms of our model of sponsor acceptance. Commercial outcomes of the financial services sponsor validated findings.

Instabrand courtside: a content analysis of marketing strategies by food and beverage brands during the 2021 Australian Open tennis tournament

Objective. To examine the marketing techniques food and beverage brands use on Instagram, as part of their sport sponsorship strategy. Methods. We conducted a qualitative content analysis of 31 Instagram accounts during the 2021 Australian Open tennis tournament. Branded food and beverage posts with tennis‐linked content were coded based on an initial screening and previously published frameworks. Results. Of the 152 included posts, 92% were made by food and beverage companies that were official ‘partners’ of the Australian Open. Products in posts were mostly discretionary foods and alcohol. The most frequently used strategies were ‘Engagement’ (89%) and ‘Branding’ (80%) and nearly half (45%) of alcohol posts invited direct consumption of their product. Conclusions. The powerful combination of sport and social media are utilised by brands to interact and build relationship with consumers while promoting the consumption of alcohol and discretionary foods – products which impede rather than promote health. The indirect marketing techniques favoured by brands make this form of advertising difficult to identify and control. Implications for public health. These results highlight the need for counter‐marketing, policy and regulatory actions to remove unhealthy food and alcohol from sport and reorient sponsorship of sporting events towards products that promote health.

Digitalization and Sports Sponsorship Strategy: A Review and Research Agenda

Digitalization and Sports Sponsorship Strategy: A Review and Research Agenda