Jonathan A. Jensen

Exploring the Factors Affecting Popularity in Social Media: A Case Study of Football Bowl Subdivision Head Coaches

Social media have become an increasingly important tool for college coaches and administrators to connect with fans, alumni, and recruits. However, despite their increasing prevalence, it is not well understood which factors may contribute to the reach and popularity in social media of high-profile figures such as coaches and athletic directors. Using Football Bowl Subdivision head football coaches and the popular social-media platform Twitter, this case study sought to explore the potential influence of on-field performance on coaches’ popularity in social media. Among the results is the finding that the most influential factor is the football program’s prestige (long-term success), while the coach’s on-field success and the size of the school’s fan base are of lesser importance. Given the increasing influence of social media in intercollegiate athletics, the case study’s results feature several important considerations for administrators seeking to use social-media platforms to increase the reach of the...

The effects of second screen use on sponsor brand awareness: a dual coding theory perspective

Purpose – Advances in technology allow fans to consume live broadcasts of sports events almost anywhere via personal computers, tablets and smartphones. These devices are also frequently utilized as “second screens” to communicate with fellow fans on social media, access additional content, or otherwise multitask during televised game consumption. The purpose of this study is to investigate how simultaneous use of these devices impacts sponsors that receive brand integration during the broadcasts.Design/methodology/approach – A 3x2 between-subjects design based on the theoretical framework of dual coding theory was utilized to advance understanding of the influence of second screens on brand awareness and attitudes toward the sponsors of televised events. Findings – Results demonstrated that brand recognition and recall was reduced by second screen activity across nearly all audio or visual consumption experiences. Further, while second screen use in an audiovisual setting did not interfere with consumers’ ability to recognize brands, it inhibited their ability to recall brands from memory, providing empirical evidence that second screen use may interfere with elaborative rehearsal and reduce cognitive capacity.Practical implications – Given that marketers are investing more resources than ever to achieve brand integration during televised sports events, these findings suggest that brands face challenges in achieving a requisite return (in the form of brand awareness) on their investments. Originality/value – This study represents the first empirical investigation of the impact of consumers’ use of “second screens” in the academic literature, and has important implications for advertisers during live sports broadcasts.

Forecasting Sponsorship Costs: Marketing Intelligence in the Athletic Apparel Industry

Purpose – Due in large part to the proprietary nature of costs, there is a dearth of academic literature investigating the factors influencing the costs for sport marketing investments, such as sponsorship. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to provide an analytical framework for market intelligence that enables managers to better predict and forecast costs in today’s ever-changing sport marketing environment.Design/Methodology/Approach – Given the dynamic and ultra-competitive nature of the athletic apparel industry, this context was chosen to investigate the influence of four distinct factors on sponsorship costs, including property-specific factors, on-field performance, and market-specific factors. A systematic, hierarchical procedure was utilized in the development of a predictive empirical model, which was then utilized to generate predicted values on a per property basis. Findings – Results demonstrated that both property-specific and performance-related factors were significant predictors of costs, while variables reflecting the attractiveness of the property’s home market were non-significant. Further analysis revealed the potential for agency conflicts in the allocation of resources towards properties near the corporate headquarters of sponsors, as well as evidence of overspending by challenger brands (Adidas, Under Armour) in their quest to topple industry leader Nike. Originality/Value – Though the context of apparel sponsorships of U.S.-based intercollegiate athletic programs limits the generalizability of the results, this study represents one of the few in the literature to empirically investigate the determinants of sponsorship costs, providing much-needed guidance to aid decision-making in a highly volatile, unpredictable industry.

What if statisticians ran college football? A re-conceptualization of the football bowl subdivision

Abstract Conference affiliation is an important consideration for institutions of higher learning, both athletically and academically. Traditionally, conference affiliation in the NCAA has been determined based largely on geography. However, recent events beg the question of what would be the result if conference affiliation, and classifications such as being a Bowl Championship Series Automatic Qualifier, were re-configured based not on traditional aspects of geography, tradition and like-mindedness, but solely on the financial and on-field performance of an institution’s football program. This paper utilizes a multivariate statistical technique (cluster analysis) to re-conceptualize conference affiliation, as well as the current Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) hierarchy, based solely on data reflecting the performance of each FBS institution’s football programs. The analysis results in a total of 23 programs being relegated from their current status, while several programs (such as Boise State, Louisville and Rutgers) have been promoted into the highest tier of the FBS based on their performance. The paper also presents a new clustering of four “super” conferences based on this same performance data, resulting in four conferences consisting of programs with similar on-field and financial performance over the past 10 seasons.

The Niche Portfolio Strategy to Global Expansion: The Influence of Market Resources on Demand for Formula One Racing

ABSTRACT International products can achieve mass adoption in some countries, while languishing outside the mainstream in other countries. Theoretically, global organizations can manage market entry and divergent demand by practicing a niche portfolio strategy that requires marketers to appropriately prioritize and cultivate key resources in underdeveloped niches while maintaining dominant status in traditional markets. The authors use the international context of Formula One Racing to examine how market resources influence demand for the sport in 19 different geographically defined niches across four continents. Hierarchical regression analysis demonstrates positive incremental demand effects for participant, spectator, and sponsor-based resources, while media-based resources were nonsignificant.

The moderating effect of identification on return on investment from sponsor brand integration

Purpose The achievement of a requisite return on investment (ROI) from a brand’s investment in sponsorships of sport events is becoming increasingly important. Consequently, evolving trends in the consumption of the live television broadcasts of such events (e.g. increased usage of second screens by consumers) are an important consideration. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of second screen use during sport broadcast consumption on important marketing outcomes (i.e. brand awareness and the perceived value and intrusiveness of sponsor brand integration), and whether effectiveness is dependent on the consumer’s level of identification with the sport being broadcast. Design/methodology/approach A 2×2 (experimental/control and high SportID/low SportID) between-subjects experimental design featuring the broadcast of a sport event as the stimuli was utilized to examine a potential interaction effect between sport identification and second screen use on three dependent variables important for sport sponsors. Findings Results confirmed that those with a high level of sport identification realized significantly higher levels of brand awareness for sponsors integrated into the broadcast. However, when consumers were asked to engage in second screen use, the experiment revealed a moderating effect of sport identification on the impact of second screen use, for both brand awareness and the perceived value of the brand integration. Originality/value Consumers with higher levels of sport identification are an important target of sport sponsorship activities by brand marketers. Given this, the implication that second screen use can reduce the effectiveness of important sponsorship-related outcomes such as brand awareness is a sobering result for marketers expecting a positive ROI from sponsorships of sport events.

Maximizing visitors at college football bowl games

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to isolate factors predictive of event attendees, and assist tourism professionals such as members of host committees, in maximizing the number of out-of-town visitors to their region and optimizing tourism-related revenue when hosting college football bowl games. Design/methodology/approach A total of 16 demand variables were entered into a hierarchical regression model, including the stature of the event and market-related variables, as well as team-related variables reflecting team or program stature and current season performance. Findings A final model containing seven variables (bowl age, market population, conference affiliation, bowl game stature, season wins, home attendance, and distance traveled) predicted 77.5 percent of the variance in bowl game attendance. Research limitations/implications This paper illustrates the use of predictive modeling for major sport event attendance with a unique sample and variables explored. Future research may build off the model to explore attendance for other populations or events. Practical implications The applied nature of this study allows practitioners working in the tourism and event management field to incorporate a predictive model to best select participants in sporting events to maximize event attendees. Originality/value Understanding the variables which predict event attendees in the context of college football bowl games provide useful data to practitioners. This study advances this area of research by treating event participants as unique observations (something which has not been done in prior studies), and looking at a new data set which incorporates the College Football Playoff era.

Event history analysis of longitudinal data: a methodological application to sport sponsorship

Abstract Despite its potential to make causal inferences and unearth insights related to between-subject variation over time, a small percentage of sport-related research is considered longitudinal in nature. One of the inherent challenges is that advanced quantitative methodologies, such as multi-level modelling approaches, are required to analyse such data. Therefore, this study is designed to assist those seeking to analyse longitudinal data by defining several important aspects of the event history analysis (EHA) methodology. The study’s goal was to conceptually demystify EHA by defining several fundamental concepts, including censoring, the survivor function and hazard function, through the application of EHA approaches to the durations of sport sponsorships. The authors conclude by demonstrating the implications of utilizing EHA approaches and identifying several potential applications of EHA for future sport-related research, with the goal of encouraging further sport scholarship utilizing approaches suitable for the analysis of longitudinal data.

Trends in sport sponsorship evaluation and measurement: insights from the industry

With sponsorship spending surpassing

Investigating the Impact of Technology Use on the Efficacy of Broadcast Brand Integration

60 billion on a global basis, more emphasis is being placed on the application of advanced methodological approaches to improve understanding of the returns firms receive from their investment in sponsorship. To that end, within this issue are several innovative, novel papers that break new ground on the topic of sponsorship return on investment (ROI). The papers featured in this issue utilize several cutting-edge experimental and quantitative approaches in investigations of sponsorship ROI across various international perspectives, including Germany, Norway, Spain, and the US. For example, electroencephalogram and eye tracking were utilized by researchers in Spain and Germany to evaluate the influence of color and congruence. Innovative experimental designs were employed by researchers in the US to better understand the impact that implicit memory and identification have on the effectiveness of sponsor exposure on television. Advanced quantitative approaches were used to ascertain the impact that doping scandals and ambush marketing have on returns for sponsors. Given the journal’s focus of bridging the gap between academia and industry, we also thought this was an opportune time to empanel a distinguished group of industry experts to provide the latest perspectives on sponsorship measurement, evaluation, and ROI, including: