Introduction to Sports Sponsorship
Introduction:
Background
In today’s business, companies are doing their best to reach consumers through their minds and hearts using sponsorships as another way to promote their brands (Heismith, 1994). As defined by Cornwell et al. 2005), ‘’Sponsorships are a growing communication form, and are defined by a sponsor (i.e. a brand or firm) providing cash and/or other compensation in exchange for access to an object’s commercial potential (i.e. exposure and association with the cause, event, organisation or individual related to a sport, cultural, and/or non-profit entity)’’. Benett (1999) adds that, Sponsorships ‘’seek to achieve favourable publicity for a company and/or its brands within a certain target audience via the support of an activity not directly linked to the company 's normal business. Sponsorship itself of course, can take various forms ranging from a relatively crude level of financial support that has a limited association with the branding strategy of the sponsor and which might be said to border on the philanthropic (Gwinner and Swanson, 2003), to a far more elaborate integration within a brand strategy so that the relationship may be described as taking on a co-branding ethos (Motion et al., 2003). It also could be under different forms, tv advertisement and all types of visuals.’’
According to Akaoui (2007), it’s estimated that the annual worldwide spending on sponsorships has reached the amount of $33 billion, and approximately two-thirds of all sponsorship spending is directed at sporting events, leagues, teams, and players (Crompton, 2004; Verity, 2002). In the United States Sponsorship expenditures in the US were estimated at $11.14 billion in 2004 (IEG, 2004, cited in Seguin, Teed, & O 'Reilly, 2005). Substantial expenditures have also been reported (Stotlar, 2004) in Europe ($7.4 billion)The above mentioned figures explain why sponsorship and event marketing have become one of the fastest growing areas of promotion (Cunningham
Background
In today’s business, companies are doing their best to reach consumers through their minds and hearts using sponsorships as another way to promote their brands (Heismith, 1994). As defined by Cornwell et al. 2005), ‘’Sponsorships are a growing communication form, and are defined by a sponsor (i.e. a brand or firm) providing cash and/or other compensation in exchange for access to an object’s commercial potential (i.e. exposure and association with the cause, event, organisation or individual related to a sport, cultural, and/or non-profit entity)’’. Benett (1999) adds that, Sponsorships ‘’seek to achieve favourable publicity for a company and/or its brands within a certain target audience via the support of an activity not directly linked to the company 's normal business. Sponsorship itself of course, can take various forms ranging from a relatively crude level of financial support that has a limited association with the branding strategy of the sponsor and which might be said to border on the philanthropic (Gwinner and Swanson, 2003), to a far more elaborate integration within a brand strategy so that the relationship may be described as taking on a co-branding ethos (Motion et al., 2003). It also could be under different forms, tv advertisement and all types of visuals.’’
According to Akaoui (2007), it’s estimated that the annual worldwide spending on sponsorships has reached the amount of $33 billion, and approximately two-thirds of all sponsorship spending is directed at sporting events, leagues, teams, and players (Crompton, 2004; Verity, 2002). In the United States Sponsorship expenditures in the US were estimated at $11.14 billion in 2004 (IEG, 2004, cited in Seguin, Teed, & O 'Reilly, 2005). Substantial expenditures have also been reported (Stotlar, 2004) in Europe ($7.4 billion)The above mentioned figures explain why sponsorship and event marketing have become one of the fastest growing areas of promotion (Cunningham