Tony Meenaghan

Understanding sponsorship effects

This article offers a framework for understanding the effects of commercial sponsorship on consumers. It defines and explores certain tenets essential to understanding sponsorship effects, namely, goodwill, image transfer, and the concept of fan involvement, and relates these tenets to the achievement of a consumer response, building to a proposed model of how sponsorship “works” in relation to consumers.

The Role of Sponsorship in the Marketing Communications Mix

This article examines the development of commercial sponsorship as a legitimate marketing communications option available to management. Initial attention focuses on the causes of sponsorship emergence, the current developments in this growing industry and the prospects therein. Sponsorships role on behalf of management is then discussed in terms of potential objectives and target audiences. Sponsorship management issues in terms of selection, implementation and results evaluation are subsequently examined.

The role of advertising in brand image development

In an increasingly competitive marketplace, greater emphasis is being placed on brand image development as the basis for consumer discrimination. Advertising has a central role to play in developing brand image, whether at the corporate, retail or product level. It informs consumers of the functional capabilities of the brand while simultaneously imbuing the brand with symbolic values and meanings relevant to the consumer. These two functions of advertising closely parallel the informational and transformational schools of advertising effects and theories on the central and peripheral routes to consumer persuasion. Such dichotomous approaches to explanation are unlikely to represent the reality of consumer choice in that brand image is likely to be formed by the simultaneous absorption of advertising messages based on both the functional and expressive capabilities of brands.

Sponsorship – Legitimising the Medium

An introduction to sponsorships as a marketing communication is given. The factors underlying the growth of sponsorship are summarised and the changes currently taking place are outlined: the new type of sponsor; the changing patterns of sponsorship expenditure; the better range and quality of support services; the development of a global perspective. The future prospects are summarised. The nature of sponsorship is shown to be a versatile medium, fulfilling many of the basic functions performed by other elements of the marketing communications mix, although it may be perceived both by sponsors and recipients as not being a wholly legitimate process.

Sponsorship and Advertising: A Comparison of Consumer Perceptions

Unlike advertising, little is currently known about how consumers regard commercial sponsorship. This paper outlines the results of focus group research which examined how consumers perceive sponsorship and how they view it in comparison with advertising.

Ambush marketing: Corporate strategy and consumer reaction

Commercial sponsorship has grown significantly as a method of marketing communications; however, the practice of ambush marketing, whereby corporations, often direct competitors of official sponsors, seek low-cost association with major sporting events, is a related development, arguably to the detriment of both official sponsors and event owners. This article examines the phenomenon of ambush marketing and the main strategies employed by ambushing companies as well as seeking to explore consumer reaction to the practice of ambush marketing. Consumer reaction is examined under two broad headings: the effectiveness of ambush marketing and consumer attitudes to the practice of ambush marketing.

Current developments & future directions in sponsorship

Throughout its relatively brief history commercial sponsorship has changed in many fundamental ways. Most evident has been its development from small-scale activity to major global industry. In recent years the opportunities for sponsorship investment have expanded beyond the traditional options of sport and arts. New industries and companies continue to adopt sponsorship as a method of marketing communications. One of the most notable developments has been a change in corporate attitudes to managing sponsorship. Hitherto treated as ‘something different’, many sponsors today have in place sophisticated planning, selection and evaluation procedures for their sponsorship programmes. This desire for improved management has had a knock-on effect on a growing support industry, in particular on research companies as well as sponsorship consultants and advertising agencies.As an industry, sponsorship has settled down from the heady days of the 1960s and 1970s. In contrast to the dynamic and turbulent environment...

Focusing commercial sponsorship on the internal corporate audience

Sponsorship is an effective means of communicating with corporate audiences, both external and internal (i.e. the sponsors own workforce). This paper gives a case history of how the Bank of Ireland merchandised to staff its sports sponsorship programme. Research showed how the staff viewed their employers activities.

The sports network: insights into the shifting balance of power

Abstract This study applies network theory for the first time to the economically and socially important area of sport and examines relationships between National Governing Bodies (NGBs), media and corporate sponsors. Issues of power, dependency and relationship are examined in an empirical, qualitative, two-stage study of 51 respondents. These respondents range from the key actor groups to an ‘expert’ group, all examined within an Irish context. The impact of change drivers and the nature of relationships over time are assessed; transactions are mapped, and a model is proposed that seeks to articulate the power relationships in this network. The results indicate the applicability and potential of network theory in an area removed from the traditional industrial market setting of previous network-based studies.

Spectators as Consumers - The Motivating Forces

This paper attempts to understand sport spectators as buyers of a product in traditional marketing terms. Research on spectators and their behaviour patterns has been neglected by marketers, but has been extensively researched by sociologists and psychologists. The findings in this paper are based on a survey of 493 spectators. Information was collected on their attendance record at games and their loyalty to the product.