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Increasing brand recall for naming rights sponsorships

Robert J. Donovan (Mentally Healthy WA, School of Public Health, Curtin University, Perth, Australia)
Julia Anwar-McHenry (Mentally Healthy WA, School of Public Health, Curtin University, Perth, Australia)
Yolexis Hernandez Aguilera (Mentally Healthy WA, School of Public Health, Curtin University, Perth, Australia)
Amberlee Nicholas (Mentally Healthy WA, School of Public Health, Curtin University, Perth, Australia)
Simone Kerrigan (Mentally Healthy WA, School of Public Health, Curtin University, Perth, Australia)

Journal of Social Marketing

ISSN: 2042-6763

Article publication date: 10 October 2016

842

Abstract

Purpose

Maximising return on naming rights sponsorships is important for social marketing campaigns with limited funds. Naming rights allow the sponsor’s brand to be aligned with the event name in text and visual promotional materials. For visual displays, either the brand logo or the brand name in words can be aligned with the event name. As the Act–Belong–Commit mental health promotion campaign’s logo encapsulates the brand name, a study was conducted to assess the relative impact on recall of “Act–Belong–Commit” as part of a sponsored event name, when the logo was aligned with the event name versus when the brand name in only words was aligned with the event name.

Design/methodology/approach

An intercept survey was conducted with n = 112 adult university students. Participants were presented with one of the above two branding alignments for the sponsored event. The image was removed from view, a distracter question asked and participants were asked to recall the name of the event.

Findings

Recall of the Act–Belong–Commit brand in full as part of the name of the event was significantly and substantially greater for participants exposed to the words only alignment versus the logo alignment: 52 vs 7 per cent (p < 0.000).

Practical implications

Given these findings, the campaign has adopted the policy of using the words Act–Belong–Commit alongside the event name rather than the logo in future naming rights sponsorships.

Originality/value

It is recommended that other social marketing brands with similar brand/logo designs undertake research to ensure optimal return on naming rights sponsorships.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The Act–Belong–Commit campaign receives ongoing support from the Western Australian Health Promotion Foundation (Healthway), the Western Australian Mental Health Commission and Curtin University. The authors have no financial or conflict of interest to declare with respect to this research.

Citation

Donovan, R.J., Anwar-McHenry, J., Hernandez Aguilera, Y., Nicholas, A. and Kerrigan, S. (2016), "Increasing brand recall for naming rights sponsorships", Journal of Social Marketing, Vol. 6 No. 4, pp. 377-389. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSOCM-08-2015-0060

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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