Alain Ferrand

Brand Images Causal Relationships in a Multiple Sport Event Sponsorship Context: Developing Brand Value through Association with Sponsees

ABSTRACT Sport sponsorship represents a significant marketing tool contributing to the development of involved stakeholders brand value. Although single sponsorship continues to be the focus of research attention and ongoing improvement in understanding, the phenomenon of multiple sponsorship is, by contrast, poorly understood. This study attempts to examine consumers perceptions of brand images in this system. It analyses causal relations between those sponsored and a given sponsor within the framework of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany. The sample included French students: 188 men and 101 women. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to validate the empirical research and revealed that sponsor brand image dimensions can significantly influence sponsees (the sponsored entities) brand image dimensions. Moreover, our model demonstrated causal relationships between the sponsored entitys brand image dimensions in a multiple sponsorship context. This study has both academic and managerial implications, thus sport managers and marketers should consider sponsorship as a stakeholders interactive system which constitutes the complex reality of multiple sponsorship.

Volunteer programme in mega sport events: the case of the Olympic Winter Games, Torino 2006

Running a volunteer programme for a mega sport event, such as the Olympic Games, involves many people over a number of years. A successful programme requires rigorous planning and organisation right from the inception of the project. The purpose of this article was to present the essential strategic and operational success keys factors that must be taken into account through the case study of the Olympic Winter Games, Torino 2006. The method used was a series of field interviews of key persons of the organisation committee and analysis of Olympic official documents of the games (e.g., Final Report – Torino 2006). The Torino Organising Committee (TOROC) of the XX Winter Olympic Games has adopted an organisational model based on the two main macro areas which correspond to the main results presented as follows: 1) promotion of the volunteer programme; 2) planning, recruitment, training and organisation of volunteers. The analysis of the completed interviews with professional organisers of the mega sports event volunteer programme yielded key findings applicable to mega sport events. Suggestions for further research, along with practical guidelines for the perpetuation of the volunteerism as an integral part of sport enterprises are offered.

Appetite for or resistance to consumption relationships? A trans-European perspective on the marketisation of football fan relationships

Although most sport organisations are encouraged to better manage the relationships they maintain with fans, little is still known about the types of relationships that fans want to establish with sport organisations. Also, as most suggested management and marketing practices come from professional sport organisations and European contexts, it is questionable whether they can apply to all sports organisations, and whether they are received in the same way by diverse fans from various socio-cultural contexts. Thus, the study aimed to explore football fans’ relational expectations towards their national football association across Europe and attitudes towards this marketisation. Focus groups and individual interviews were conducted with several casual and die-hard fans from three European countries chosen for their heterogeneity: Armenia, Lithuania and England. Overall, and possibly in contradiction with numerous publications dealing with club football, the fans from the three countries did not express clear opposition or resistance towards the marketisation of their relationships towards their national teams and associations. English fans seemed quite neutral or indifferent although Armenian and Lithuanian fans presented many characteristics of brandom demonstrating an appetite for this marketisation.

Perceptions of key stakeholders regarding national federation sport policy: The case of the French Rugby Union

This article proposes a framework that explains how a national association sport policy is operationally formalized in relation with the various perceptions of its internal stakeholders. This is an important issue, as a lack of engagement from these stakeholders may result in a limited impact of such a sport policy. Considering the latter as a management tool, a case study of the French Rugby Union (FFR) was built using archival material and interviews. We demonstrated that a national sport federation policy, when viewed as a management tool, is the consequence of a conceptual framework, consisting of a formal substrate, a managerial philosophy and a simplified representation of the actors’ role [Hatchuel, A., & Weil, B. (1992). L’expert et le système [The expert and the system]. Paris: Economica]. As part of an intervention-research within the FFR, 45 semi-structured interviews were conducted with both national and regional actors with various statutes. The analysis of these interviews shows both agreement and contradictions, categorized through the conceptual framework used to explain that a “one size fits all” approach should enable a degree of regional freedom for sport governing bodies that include organizational membership.

Introduction: New perspectives in sport event marketing

Sport events are innumerable and diverse. They could be global, national or local, but they constitute social facts generating an emotional experience for the stakeholders involved. These differ in particular by their format, governance, goals and their social, economic and environmental impact. The interaction between sporting events and public organisations presents an array of opportunities and issues that sport event managers must consider. This is best handled through the network of stakeholders that emerges from the event-public organisation dynamic. This introduction considers this perspective in some detail before introducing the papers in the special issue.

Gendered identities in self-descriptions of electoral candidates in a French National Sport Federation

Abstract The aim of this study was to evaluate ways in which male and female candidates for election to the Executive Committee of a National Sport Federation (NSF) for the period 2004–2008 defined themselves in their candidate self descriptions (CSD). Forty-one statements of candidates were subjected to textual data analysis (using ALCESTE software). Four lexical classes were identified, and the demographic profiles of the authors contrasted. The classes identified were subsequently subjected to correspondence analysis which identified two factors explaining 76.6% of total variance, reflecting respectively, gendered roles (first factor) and presence/absence of previous national level experience (second factor). Findings provide a discursive perspective on the construction of gendered roles in a sporting organisation.