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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.

Little research has examined sponsorship within the context of mega‐event and related host images. This paper seeks to explore the relationships among country, destination, mega‐event and sponsor images through the evaluations formed of each entity.

Based on data collected from 291 Canadian consumers two months after the Beijing Olympics, a SEM model examines the relationships among consumer evaluations of the host country, the country as a destination, the mega‐event itself and sponsors.

Results support the hypothesized model and present a paradoxical situation for the Olympics hosted by China. While the overall country evaluation was found to have a strong and positive effect on its evaluation as a tourist destination and the destination evaluation has a subsequent positive relationship with Olympic evaluations, a direct and negative relationship between the evaluation of the country and of the Olympic Games was also supported.

Future research should examine the relationship among country, destination, mega‐event and sponsor images in other mega‐event and country contexts. In addition, the pattern of these relationships should be assessed longitudinally.

This study provides evidence to show that the Olympic Games image is resilient and can thrive in challenging contexts. Further, sponsors can be assured that they are receiving value from Olympic sponsorships.

These results extend previous literature on sponsorship evaluation into the large, global sponsor context. In addition, this study examines the role of the host country in understanding the influence of the mega‐event on sponsor images.

To date, research on sponsorship considers the effects of only positive or only negative sponsorship information on consumers’ attitudes toward the sponsor brand. However, in practice, sometimes mixed information (positive and negative) is available that influences consumers’ sponsor evaluations. To mirror the information situation of the real world, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how the valence of sponsorship information (only positive vs mixed vs only negative) and the strength of sponsorship information (weak vs strong) influence the consumers’ attitudes toward the sponsor brand.

This research uses an experimental research design (n=210). Data were collected among students of a German university.

The results reveal that when the strength of information was weak, attitudes in the mixed information condition were not significantly worse than in the only positive condition and significantly better than in the only negative condition. In addition, when the strength of information was strong, attitudes in the mixed information condition were significantly worse than in the only positive condition and significantly better than in the only negative condition.

This study offers several practical recommendations regarding the sponsors’ evaluation of their investments and the decision to maintain or exit the sponsorship of a controversial object.

This study expands the research on the effects of available sponsorship information on consumers’ sponsor evaluation. The present research highlights the effects of different types of sponsorship information on consumers’ attitudes and considers the strength of information as a boundary condition of these effects.

Argues that the general area of commercial sponsorship activity, while attracting increasing interest from marketing practitioners as an important strategic option in marketing communications, has not been the subject of sufficiently rigorous and comprehensive investigation by theoreticians. States the purpose is to establish and consolidate the available body of knowledge combining an overview of the standard conceptual approaches to marketing communication with an examination of the recent academic research in sponsorship, while maintaining a focus on current marketplace practice. Argues for a coherent and structured approach to the management of sponsorship expenditure through the application of a ‘management by objectives’ approach. Parameters are established in terms of a working definition of sponsorship, a review of its commercial development and an overview of current activity. Develops a commercially ration framework within which sponsorship activity may be undertaken. Views objective‐setting as the cornerstone of sponsorship management and outlines a classification of sponsorship objectives that subsumes current practice clarifies the range of potential benefits. Examines the criteria that govern rational sponsorship selection and proposes an evaluation strategy based on stated criteria. Methods of evaluating effects of marketing communications (sponsorship particularly) are examined and new evaluation techniques are advanced to facilitate the implementation of this rigorous scientific approach.

The aim of this study is to evaluate rugby fans’ attitudes toward financial sponsorship, specifically event sponsorship and Dove Men+Care and its association with the Welsh Rugby Union. The study examines four issues: How do rugby fans perceive event sponsorship? How does such sponsorship affect consumption choices? Do fans engage in long-term relationships with the event’s sponsoring brand? Are relationships affected by the event sponsor’s engagement with other international teams and rugby events?

This paper is a theory-building, exploratory study that utilised a qualitative framework. Data were collected over a 12-month period, incorporating the autumn internationals of 2012 and 2013, with 198 fans participating in focus groups before and after games.

The results reveal a distinct lack of brand awareness on the part of the participants, a collective perception of the sponsor as incongruent given the event and a demonstration of enmity arising from rival sponsorships by the sponsoring brand. Additionally, the findings reveal a reluctance to consume the sponsoring brand in either the short or long term given its incongruence, lack of functionality, pre-existing schematic frameworks and obdurate brand preferences.

Given that autumn internationals are held every season by several of the international rugby board (IRB) ranked teams, the findings of this research have an immediate and direct application for brand managers involved or implementing sponsorship programs. The research outlines both short and long term mistakes made by the sponsor as perceived by the fans’ themselves, and suggests that those brands considering becoming involved in sport and event sponsorship instigate a more informed, strategic approach to their sponsorship activities. However, the work is context driven and therefore not generalisable.

The findings enable marketing brand managers to effectively evaluate events against the backdrop of strategic fit, as well as fan/consumer expectations, their needs and wants and willingness to engage.

Despite rugby union’s growing global presence, little or no research has examined sponsorship within the context of rugby union and none exists that has evaluated event sponsorship, and been driven by fans’ perspectives. This paper fills that void. The research delineates fans attitudes, opinions and brand conceptualisations relating to event sponsorship, incorporating evaluations of identity, congruence and fit. Moreover, the paper highlights what to avoid from a strategic and brand building perspective when considering event sponsorship in a rugby union context.

The objective of this study is to develop a theoretical structure of sporting event personality and to build a measuring scale for that personality. This study identifies five sporting event personality dimensions: diligence, uninhibitedness, fit, tradition and amusement. The findings show that these personality dimensions are related to attitudes towards sporting events, which in turn lead to positive sponsorship evaluation and favourable evaluation of the sponsoring brands.

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).

This paper aims to provide a systematic review of evaluations of public health and social marketing campaigns reporting the use of sports sponsorship. Sports sponsorship is a key health promotion strategy, yet academic literature on the use of sponsorship in social marketing and public health is surprisingly limited.

Seventeen studies were identified following systematic literature review procedures.

Coupling of social marketing and public health sponsorship with changes in policies in sporting clubs and associations offers an effective means to achieve desired outcomes, e.g. behaviour change.

The analysis presented in this review included information that was reported in the identified studies, which might be an incomplete representation of work undertaken but not reported. All of the studies identified in this review were conducted in English-speaking countries. Considerable opportunity for future research is apparent, and areas for future research are outlined.

Limited evidence was available, and additional research examining the effectiveness of sponsorship in attaining behavioural change is urgently needed. Future studies should assess the role, scope of involvement in, aims and benefits of non-government sponsors of public health and social marketing campaigns; use methods that do not rely on self-reporting, such as observations; and explore the influence of health sponsorship on attitudes, social norms and behaviours.

This is the first study to provide a systematic review of the use of sports sponsorship in public health and social marketing.