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This study examines employees of Australian firms engaged in sports sponsorship activity. Where the employee is aware of that sponsorship, we consider the ways in which the general beliefs and attitudes of employees towards sponsorship link to their specific attitudes towards the sponsorship activity of their employer and whether these attitudes may influence their behaviour within the organisation. A model linking employees' attitudes towards their employers' sponsorship activity, the creation of favourable attitudes towards working for that employer and behaviours that can benefit the employing organisation is tested and supported. Implications of results include: a stronger focus on using sports sponsorship for internal marketing purposes; involvement of employees in determining the sponsored activity or organisation; and reassessing the overall benefits that derive from sports sponsorship.

This study contributes to continuing work on the development of a conceptual framework to better understand sponsorship, consumer response towards sponsorship efforts, and the contribution of sponsorship to customer-based brand equity, by seeking to validate a set of consumer-related attitudes to sponsorship. In particular, the study focuses on establishing the properties of consumer-related attitudinal constructs in the context of sponsorship of an annual national sporting event, the New Zealand Rugby Football Union's National Provincial Championship. Such constructs and their embedded scales will enable sponsorship managers to assess and distinguish consumer reactions to the event itself, to the commercialisation of the event, and to identify the consumer behaviours likely to benefit the sponsor of the event.

Concerns about underage drinking have led to calls for a UK ban on alcohol sponsorship of sport. Such a ban would have severe financial consequences for many sports, so should not be implemented without thorough consideration of its likely effectiveness. This study investigating the alcohol consumption intentions of 14 and 15 year olds showed that boys who were involved in sport were more likely both to drink alcohol and to get drunk, with awareness of sponsorship enhancing the likelihood of these behaviours. Girls involved in sport, however, showed more negative attitudes than their peers towards alcohol. It is argued that boys involved in sport are socialised into a traditional masculine alcohol and sports culture, which is reinforced by sponsorship. Evidence from studies on tobacco sponsorship suggests that health-related marketing communications and the use of low-alcohol or non-alcohol brands for sports sponsorship could be more effective than a ban in changing the culture.

Three experiments conducted in Germany examined the impact of different sports sponsorship messages on the perception of print advertisements. The use of sponsorship in advertising proves to be risky. The use of pictures needs particularly careful consideration. The effectiveness of sports celebrities in ads depends on their common popularity, whereas the use of sports motifs bears the risk that consumers cannot identify with the situation. Attitudes towards sponsorship seem to play an important role in the perception of sports ads in general. Here further research is needed.

This paper tests and validates a conceptual model linking the attachment points, team identification, attitude towards the team sponsors and the behavioural intentions in the context of Indian Premier League (IPL), while testing for the moderating effects of age and gender.

Data were collected from 1,053 participants through both online and offline survey and then analyzed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM).

Attachment points influence the formation of team identification, which, in turn, affect the attitude towards the team sponsors. Attitude towards the team sponsors influence the behavioural intentions. Player attachment influences team identification the most. Age and gender have a moderating effect on the constructs of the study. Team identification in females is stronger because of attachment to sports, whereas males have stronger team identification based on player attachment. Males have a stronger intention to spread positive word of mouth (WOM) about sponsor products as compared to the female respondents. The younger age group of less than 21 years has more intention to spread positive WOM compared to the other age groups considered in the study.

This study contributes towards sports sponsorship research and the paradigms of social identity and attachment theories. Moreover, it will also help the marketers (sponsors) in IPL to strategically market their brands.

This is the first study to investigate the impact of attachment points on sponsorship outcomes in the context of IPL. Further, it is also the first to investigate the purchase intentions and WOM for the team sponsors in IPL. The multi-group analysis results will provide insights into marketers to better understand IPL viewers' segments and their behaviour.

The purpose of this paper is to review the existing literature on sponsorship‐linked marketing and to present a set of research propositions.

The approach to the research propositions was to explore the existing literature to discover areas where opportunities for further research exist.

The authors propose that not only does sponsorship‐linked marketing influence attitudes towards the sponsor, but that the relationship is that of an S‐shaped curve where the incremental impact of sponsorship is slight for brands with very little or very strong attitudes established towards the brand. The most dramatic influence that sponsorship‐linked marketing will have is for those sponsors with a moderate amount of established brand attitude. The authors also present an argument that extreme congruity or extreme incongruity will drive brand awareness more dramatically than an expected level of sponsor‐property congruity, thus suggesting a U‐shaped relationship between awareness and congruency. Moreover, while an extremely incongruent partnership may gain widespread attention, it is unlikely to positively influence an emotional or behavioral response for either the property or sponsor.

The majority of the previous literature regarding sponsorship‐linked marketing proposed or assumed a linear relationship between current brand attitudes and the impact of a sponsorship. This paper suggests that this relationship is actually non‐linear and is, in fact, an S‐shaped relationship. Further, while congruency was believed to be linearly related to awareness, this paper proposes that the association between awareness and congruency is a U‐shaped phenomenon.

Sponsorship has seen a rapid growth in recent years in both the dollars devoted to it and its prominence as a legitimate element of a company’s promotional mix. As traditional media have become more expensive and cluttered, sponsorship is viewed as a cost‐effective alternative. As an element of the promotional mix, sponsorship has been a stepchild when it comes to a careful understanding of how it works and its effect on consumers. While the promotional element of advertising has been carefully researched, sponsorship has rarely undergone systematic study. It is usually mentioned as “war stories” of specific examples which worked well for a company. Discusses the definitional dilemma of sponsorship, and proposes a revised definition. As a step towards better understanding the effects of sponsorship on consumers, develops and empirically tests scales for three attitudinal constructs: attitude towards the event; attitude towards commercialization; and attitude towards behavioural intent. Results show that the three constructs consistently appear across three global sports events. Discusses future research agenda and managerial implications.

The marketing of alcohol and tobacco products and their related public policy implications have become controversial issues worldwide, due mainly to health‐related issues. Uses a telephone survey methodology to compare attitudes toward Olympic sponsorship by a leading US brewer with general attitudes toward the use of sports sponsorship to promote tobacco products. Results suggest that respondents have significantly different attitudes towards the two product categories and their use of sponsorship, accepting more readily the use of the Olympics to promote beer. Respondents’ self‐interest is also found to significantly affect the level of acceptance for the use of sport to promote alcohol or tobacco products, although in slightly different ways. The findings are discussed in relation to previous research, along with their managerial implications.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual model for exploring the recall and recognition of embedded advertisements of sponsors.

To verify the proposed conceptual model on a particular sports competition, a questionnaire related to the UEFA Champions League sponsors in the season 2016/2017 was designed. The data were analysed using structural equation modelling.

The results provided support to the claim that higher involvement in a sport and higher exposure to a sponsored event lead to higher recall and recognition of embedded advertisements. Conversely, the same two factors alongside sponsor awareness do not affect the attitude towards sponsors. On the other hand, sponsor awareness and attitude towards sponsors have a direct positive role on the future purchase intention of sponsor products/services.

The findings illustrate that to maximise the effectiveness of their embedded advertisements, sponsors should not merely concentrate on brand awareness, but should go beyond and attempt to improve the consumers’ positive perception of their products and services. Moreover, by sponsoring a sport event, the sponsors can be sure that their message will be effectively transmitted to the ones who are fans of the sport and the sponsored competition.

The present study empirically explores the factors which influence the recall and recognition of embedded advertisements and how the achieved level of sponsorship awareness impacts purchase intentions.

Previous research has focused on the antecedents of fan loyalty or the link between fans and the team on sponsorship reactions, but no comprehensive framework has been developed to combine these perspectives. The purpose of this paper is to present an integrated framework of how team brand experience during the season impacts sponsorship brand experience.

To create the conceptual model, a comprehensive search of peer-reviewed articles was conducted in electronic databases and journal reference lists. The authors identified constructs from prior research aimed at understanding sponsorship effectiveness. These constructs not only included aspects of the sponsorship brand experience, but also aspects within the team brand experience that form the link between consumers’ responses derived from team-related stimuli and the responses evoked by sponsor-related stimuli.

This conceptual framework yields a set of 11 propositions regarding fans’ interactions with both team and sponsorship brands highlighting how to strengthen the bond between fans, teams, and sponsors. It provides a comprehensive understanding of this phenomenon and identifies opportunities to increase fan support and the appeal of professional teams to potential sponsors.

This study extends previous research by providing a unique conceptual framework that highlights the importance of understanding how fans view both the team brand and the sponsor brand. Several suggestions for future studies and strategies to increase the benefits for both teams and sponsors can be drawn from this framework.