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A key concern in sports sponsorship decisions is knowing under what conditions sponsorship can effectively act as a brand building tool. The purpose of this study is to list attributes to use when examining congruency in the sponsorship of national football teams. The second aim was to test whether being a client of the sponsor brand and being involved with the sponsee moderates the relationship between image congruence and sponsorship response.

Data were collected on four sponsors of the Portuguese national team, just before the 20th Fédération Internationale de Football Association World Cup. Analyses were conducted on a representative national sample of fans. The research design encompassed a two-step approach. First, qualitative analysis identified the main attributes that fans associate with the national team. In the second quantitative phase, moderated regression analysis was used to test the proposed model.

This study confirmed sponsor–sponsee congruence in seven attributes (i.e. national symbol, strength, strong emotions, happiness, optimism, connection and positive feelings) enhances positive brand image and fans’ involvement with the national team moderates this relationship. Positive sponsorship outcomes tend to be higher for sponsors when fans are currently clients of the sponsor brand.

This study adds to previous research by using mixed methods to study sponsor–sponsee congruence regarding national teams and by testing whether fans being clients of sponsors and being involved with sponsees moderate sponsor–sponsee congruence.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically test O’Reilly and Madill’s (2012) process model to assess social marketing elements of a multi-year partnership between Coca-Cola Canada and a physical activity microgrant program, known as Teen Challenge, managed by ParticipACTION, a Canadian not-for-profit organization that champions sport and physical activity participation. ParticipACTION’s Teen Challenge is a multi-year initiative that was developed in 2008 and involves over 5,800 community organizations (COs) and over 500,000 Canadian teens across the nation (ParticipACTION, 2016).

A series of ten hypotheses related to the evaluation are tested using longitudinal data from event participants over a five-year period from 2009 to 2013.

The study revealed that sponsor and sponsee shared objectives around sport participation, including the three found in this study. Practically, this is a positive result for sport participation properties who might now consider this as part of a sponsorship sales strategy. The research found that both Coca-Cola Canada and ParticipACTION have the following shared objectives in this particular sponsorship: motivate and support youth to get active and live a healthy life; remove barriers that youth face in getting physically active; and encourage more COs to be involved in the program. Conceptually, this finding extends the discussion of shared social marketing objectives in sponsorship proposed by Madill and O’Reilly (2010).

The findings support the sponsorship literature, in suggesting that shared objectives among sponsorship partners are important for the sponsorship to achieve successful outcomes (Cornwell et al., 2001). Shared sponsorship objectives can be utilized as a strategic tool for the sponsee to demonstrate the effectiveness of the program and to build a long-term relationship. The results of the logistic regression analysis indicate that COs which viewed partners’ collaboration as positive agreed that the Teen Challenge program made physical activity more accessible and affordable for youth.

This study provides several important implications for non-profit organizations that aim to establish an effective social marketing campaign. One way for non-profit organizations to build a strong relationship with sponsors was through positive collaboration where the two partners work together (e.g. activation) to maximize the sponsorship’s effectiveness. First, it increased youth participation in the Teen Challenge program and made it affordable for teens to participate in other physical activity programs. Second, it enhanced Coca-Cola’s image as supporters of active lifestyle in the eyes of COs. Finally, it affected the likelihood that COs would recommend the program.

Results of the survey of COs that are registered with the program provides us with another important finding that positive partner collaboration is only one component of overall effectiveness. Another component would be to take action to communicate to COs that positive collaboration indeed took place in the sponsorship. One way to achieve this goal is to demonstrate to COs the importance of funding that the sponsor provides as well as the impact of sponsorship partners’ positive collaboration on the overall program. The authors also found that sponsorship partners’ positive collaboration in the delivery of the Teen Challenge program played an important role in whether COs recommend the program to others.

The results of this research contribute to the evaluation of the sponsorship of a health-oriented social marketing sponsorship of a sport participation property or sponsee (ParticipACTION) and a major brand as sponsor (Coca-Cola).

To date the vast majority of sponsorship research has focused on the perspective of sponsors. The purpose of this paper is to use this research to identify factors that sponsored institutions and organizations (sponsees) should be cognizant of before entering into a sponsorship arrangement, and to propose a research agenda based on these factors.

The authors leverage sponsorship research that has been published in business journals with an impact factor above 0.5 (Reuters, 2015).

This paper argues that sponsees should be aware of the benefits that sponsorship brings to sponsors so that they can better appeal to potential sponsors. A sponsee also needs to be aware of the impact a sponsorship partnership may have on its own brand, image, and equity.

This is a conceptual paper grounded in the literature that aims to stimulate further research in the domain of sponsorship and provide deeper understanding for sponsees. Empirical research addressing the research questions posed is required.

In a holistic manner, this literature review offers insights into factors that sponsees should consider before entering a sponsorship relationship.

Previous research in the sponsorship domain has focused primarily on dyadic sponsors. This paper considers sponsorship from the sponsee’s perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the reasons for the discontinuation of sports sponsor–sponsee relationships and categorize them. Despite the negative outcomes of a sponsorship dissolution, research on this topic is rather scarce.

The paper relies on an analysis of 24 historical cases and 19 in-depth interviews focusing on the Dutch soccer league. Several sponsorship disruptors are identified and clustered into four categories.

The four categories for sponsorship dissolution are the following: sponsor-related factors, sponsee-related factors, inter-relational factors and external factors. In total, ten sponsorship disruptors are identified: insufficient value creation, objectives achieved, sports results, signal to society, exclusivity, negativity, personal relationship, changed marketing strategy, financial situation and legislation and regulation.

This study primarily investigates soccer sponsorship cases. Future research could investigate other sponsorship areas, which could yield different reasons for sponsorship termination.

Practitioners are advised to view the sponsorship relationship as a strategic alliance, rather than a resource, from the beginning of the sponsorship. A solid relational framework is needed, which is built around the elements of trust, commitment and collaborative communication. If such a foundation does not exist or has eroded, the sponsorship relationship is fragile and can be endangered by various factors.

This study uses inductive reasoning to devise a framework that enables sponsees to anticipate when sponsors are likely to discontinue their sponsorship such that the sponsees can take actions accordingly. Apart from validating existing reasons for sponsorship dissolution, this research also presents novel and previously undiscovered sponsorship disruptors.

This paper seeks to build understanding of the evaluation of sponsorships involving high human mortality risk. Examples of risky sponsees are presented, with two assessed as in-depth case studies. Based on this research, a sponsorship evaluation framework for sponsors is presented that includes: sponsee selection, risk management, strategic tactics, contingency planning, contract elements and post-contract tactics.

This research highlights the need for sophisticated measurement tools to allow sponsors and sponsees to evaluate sponsorship achievement against specific goals and its performance relative to other promotional tactics. Two high-profile in-stadium sponsorships of a mega-sponsee, the Grey Cup, are evaluated. Some evidence appears to supports and the effectiveness of the sponsorships; other observations raise questions about the accuracy of the evaluation process. The paper provides direction for practice and future research in sponsorship evaluation.

The purpose of this paper is to report on research designed to assess the impact of sponsorship financing of social marketing initiatives on the evaluation of those social marketing programs.

The research utilizes an in-depth, multi-method case study of the Canadian Mental Health Association Calgary Region (CMHA-CR) who carried out a social marketing campaign concerning mental health behaviors that was largely financed by sponsors.

The sponsorship of the CMHA-CR social marketing program was complex with a total of 15 stakeholders involved as sponsors, partners and grantors. The research reveals that while there is considerable sharing of objectives among the stakeholders in this sponsorship, not all objectives are shared between sponsors and sponsees, and not all objectives are shared between the public and private sector sponsors of the program.

The research showed that because sponsors and sponsees share in many of the objectives of the social marketing campaign, the evaluation of the social marketing campaign, particularly its ability to achieve the social marketing-specific objectives, is of interest to all the stakeholder parties, and effective social marketing evaluation must also incorporate evaluation of the non-shared objectives of all sponsorship stakeholders.

Increasing social needs, accompanied by reduced government funding and increased competition amongst not-for-profit (NFP) organizations for that funding, are driving NFPs to seek innovative approaches to financing their social programs. The research reports initial findings critical in this environment, as well as raises issues and questions related to future research.

In marketing research, it is widely acknowledged that customer engagement leads to higher reputation, lower costs and increased revenues for firms. However, there are still open questions on how sport sponsorship can drive customer engagement. It is hypothesized that sponsors' activations correlate with customer engagement toward the sponsor. Specifically, the roles of sponsorship authenticity and attitudes toward the sponsor have received little attention in this context. Accordingly, this study aims to test the effects of sponsors' activations on customer engagement disposition (CED) and customer engagement behavior (CEB) by considering the roles of sponsorship authenticity and attitudes toward the sponsor.

An online experiment with a factorial between-subjects design with 529 total participants was conducted. Data were analyzed through analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and binary regression analysis.

Sponsors' activations can lead to positive or negative CEB, depending on how sport consumers evaluate the activation. Sponsorship authenticity reduces or enhances CEB following a sponsor's activation. Moreover, consumers' prior attitudes toward the sponsor influence the relationship between sponsors' activations and CED. The findings further showed that CED leads to CEB.

This research contributes to the sport sponsorship literature by empirically proving that sponsors' activations increase customer engagement toward the sponsors. Moreover, this is the first study testing consequences of sponsors' activations in relation to sponsorship authenticity and consumers' attitudes. Furthermore, the authors enrich the customer engagement literature by discussing the sponsors' activations as a marketing strategy to increase customer engagement and consequently firms' performance.

This study aims to empirically test how sponsored video customization (i.e. the degree to which a sponsored video is customized for a sponsoring brand) affects video shares differently depending on influencer characteristics (i.e. mega influencer and expert influencer) and brand characteristics (i.e. brand establishment and product involvement).

This study uses a unique real-world data set that combines coded variables (e.g. customization) and objective video performance (e.g. sharing) of 365 sponsored videos to test the hypotheses. A negative binomial model is used to analyze the data set.

This study finds that the effect of video customization on video shares varies across contexts. Video customization positively affects shares if they are made for well-established brands and high-involvement products but negatively influences shares if they are produced by mega and expert influencers.

This study extends the influencer marketing literature by focusing on a new media modality – sponsored video. Drawing on the multiple inference model and the persuasion knowledge theory, this study teases out different conditions under which video customization is more or less likely to foster audience engagement, which both influencers and brands care about. The chosen research setting may limit the generalizability of the findings of this study.

The findings suggest that mega and expert influencers need to consider if their endorsement would backfire on a highly customized video. Brands that aim to engage customers with highly-customized videos should gauge their decision by taking into consideration their years of establishment and product involvement. For video-sharing platforms, especially those that are planning to expand their businesses to include “matching-making services” for brands and influencers, the findings provide theory-based guidance on optimizing such matches.

This paper fulfills an urgent research need to study how brands and influencers should produce sponsored videos to achieve optimal outcomes.

This paper outlines how sponsorships can be beneficial or harmful to events. Using an experimental design and focusing on association transfers surrounding a snowboarding event, we illustrate that the sponsoring brand associations have a significant effect on the associations of the event. Our results indicate that in this instance some associations are transferred; others are not significant. Event managers must track which of these association transfers are occurring in order to understand and maintain their desired positioning.