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Sports events are tourist attractions and their image components can relate to the destination image concept and structure. This study examined sports event images held by active and passive sports tourists at four marathon races in Germany. Some differences in the perception of event images were found for active and passive sports tourists as well as for different types of destinations. For active sports tourists, emotional, physical and organisational image associations were clustered closer. For passive sports tourists, social and historical image associations were clustered closer. The type of destination elicited different event images among active and passive sports tourists.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships among brand experience, sports event image and loyalty in the Jeju International Ultramarathon Race.

Data were collected from 313 ultramarathon runners during the 16th Jeju International Ultramarathon Race. Statistical analyses were carried out using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling.

An analysis of the relationship between brand experience and sports event image revealed that affective experience is the most influential dimension, followed by sensory and behavioral experiences. However, intellectual experience showed insignificant relationship. Sports event image indicated a positive effect on word-of-mouth and revisit intention.

Ultramarathon races are sporting events with few participants, even though it is becoming more popular. The attitude, motivation and personality of people participating in these races may be different in terms of the extreme characteristic and endurance level of sports activity. If the results of this study need to be generalized with other sports event images, a comparative study may help to understand the personality traits of people participating in ultramarathon races and other sports.

As ultramarathon races are not yet popular sports, to target more people, behavioral experience has an influential role because it is action oriented and actively engages the body. Enriching consumer life by facilitating and creating opportunities to physically experience as well as showing them alternate ways of doing things may attract them to substitute lifestyle and interactions (Pine and Gilmore, 1999). Few other popular endurance race events organize short-distance races and kid races for fun (e.g. Lavaredo Ultra trail race), to engage friends and family members before the start of the main event. Doing so may provide an opportunity to attract more runners, and they may engage in running activities and participate in these kinds of events later, after having this sort of casual experience.

Social networking sites may be used to maintain continuous interaction with the runners and followers. Supporting a social cause is another measure to generate the intellectual experience of sports events. The result of this study shows no significant relationship between intellectual experience and the sports event image. To increase the worldwide popularity of this race and to attract more international runners, a judicious use of web platforms may be an option to maintain regular contact with a wider group of audience.

This study is the first to examine the relationship between brand experience and sports event image in an ultramarathon event context. Findings contribute to an understanding of the impact of brand experience on sports event image, thereby influencing the loyalty of runners participating in an ultramarathon event.

Existing literature reports the positive image impact of major sports events on sport tourists. This paper empirically tests the image impact of an overall sports events initiative on a host city, and on intention to revisit from the perspective of general international tourists. The findings show that major sports events, in general, can be useful in reaching out to tourists. However, it questions the utilisation of sports events in destination marketing to general tourists - as awareness of sports events actually depresses tourism atmosphere and service image, as well as the overall destination image. Practical implications and future research are suggested.

Using Shanghai F1 as an example, this research seeks to examine the impact of mega-events on host city image from the perspective of international students. Leisure facilities and service were the most positive image impact perceived by the respondents, followed by affective city images as well as opportunities and convenience. International students tended to disagree that F1 would result in any crime and security problems and were unsure about any negative impact on environment and daily life. Some of the image factors were significantly related to intention to work in the city or the willingness to recommend the city.

This study has sought to examine the issue of 'brand image' and its potential impact on sports sponsorship. In particular, brand personality of a sports event and sponsor are considered in relation to sponsor-event fit and image transfer. The study proposes that if there are strong links in terms of brand personality between the Ryder Cup and IBM brands, then the stronger will be the shared 'brand image' and impact of the sponsorship relationship in the minds of consumers. For the purposes of this study it is assumed the sports event of The Ryder Cup is perceived as a 'brand' in its own right.

This study constructs the influence mechanism model of sustainable marketing activities (SMAs), event image, commemorative product perceived value and tourists’ behavioral intentions (TBIs) in the sports tourism context of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games. Additionally, the article discusses the role of event image and product perceived value in enhancing the SMAs’ effect on TBIs.

The research analyzed 315 valid questionnaires from tourists in the Chinese market by structural equation modeling.

The results indicate that SMAs positively impact sports tourism event image, tourists’ perceived commemorative product value and TBIs. Meanwhile, event image and product perceived value mediate the SMAs and TBIs relationship.

Considering SMAs as essential for sustainable development, this paper contributes to the strategic management discipline. Additionally, the research expands the analysis of event image and product perceived value in the brand theory and customer behavior research.

The article outlines the principal value of SMAs implementation in enhancing behavioral intentions. It also reveals that a favorable event image and good perceived value can enhance SMAs’ effectiveness toward positively influencing TBIs, especially purchase intentions. It provides a new vision for nonprofit organizations to prioritize SMAs’ implementation in marketing strategies.

It is pioneering work with a complex research framework for SMAs implementation in the sports tourism context.

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationships between image congruence, tourist satisfaction and intention to revisit in marathon tourism. The results show that both affective image congruence (AIC) and cognitive image congruence (CIC) have a positive influence on tourist satisfaction and intention to revisit in the context of marathon tourism. The results also reveal that demographic and behavioural characteristics have a significant impact on revisiting intentions; and past experience of marathon tourism controls the relationship between image congruence and tourist satisfaction.

Much of the existing research in sports sponsorship is applied in nature and devoid of serious theoretical insight regarding its role from a marketing communication effects standpoint. In this study, Taylor & Crocker's (1981) schema theory is used to interpret the phenomenon that sponsoring events exhibiting a good image fit with the brand can strengthen brand awareness. Since consumers' perceptions of the FIFA World Cup/official partners image fit enhance the brand awareness of sponsoring brands, the results have implications for the FIFA World Cup marketing parties using sports sponsorship as a strategic marketing tool.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the moderating effect of brand exposure time and exposure frequency in image transfer. In study 1, H1 and H2 assumed the bidirectional image transfer (i.e. from an event to a brand, from a brand to an event). H3 and H4 were set to examine the moderating effect of brand exposure time and exposure frequency in image transfer upon spreading activation theory, mere exposure effect and three-hit theory.

According to study 1, the result indicated that the amount of image transfer varied based on the exposure time. However, brand exposure frequency did not show statistically significant interactions. Study 2 was performed to complement the H4 of the study 1. In study 2, apart from the number of exposures on a screen (group 1=four times; group 2=eight times), the perceived number of exposures were separately measured (group 1=2.67; group 2=3.96) to see if the number of perceived exposures moderated the amount of image transfer.

The results indicated that there was no group difference in the amount of image transfer. Based on the result of the study, a sponsor brand must be exposed for enough time duration in order to maximize the return on investment regardless of how frequently it is exposed.

The current study examined the image transfer in sport sponsorship. Although previous studies empirically examined the image transfer phenomenon in sport sponsorship, they failed to establish theoretical ground. Thus, this study incorporated the three theories in advertising and examined how we can apply the theories to sport sponsorship. In addition, we examine the image transfer based on video clip which is mainly how people are exposed to sport sponsorship. Next, we examined the moderating effects of exposure duration and exposure frequency, which has never been studied in sport sponsorship context.

This empirical study examines the psychometric comparability of Aaker's Brand Personality Scale (Aaker, 1997) in sponsorship matching. It employs a structural validation protocol - the congenerity test (Ohanion, 1990) - to investigate the extent to which sports events and sponsors can be psychometrically matched. The results show that sports events and sponsors are comparable only in terms of limited numbers of the dimensions of the a priori scale. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.