Sponsorship, Branding & Marketing in Football
FIFA and the corporate players (BSc)
Alice D’Angelo & Jacqueline Alair Soares (2020)
Abstract: Private capital has become an increasingly important factor in the globalized football economy. The relationship between a sponsored entity and its sponsor is still relatively unexplored within marketing. The motivation behind writing this paper is to seek further understanding of how sponsors communicate during corruption allegations that hit an international sports body, and in light of that, investigate how brand equity changes when companies are affiliated with long-term sponsor contracts. The study has a qualitative approach and relies on pre-existing material. Theories within crisis communication and brand equity will be applied to the press releases of three sponsors. In order to find brand equity implications for the sponsors, brand equity theories within marketing are weighed against each other. The study indicates that while there is a direct relationship between the brand image for sponsors and the sponsored entity, brand equity for sponsors has been held intact during the worst crises.
Football agents as occupational loners – How established practitioners act to win market power (MSc)
Ludvig Ekman & Joakim Runnemo (2017)
Abstract: The research purpose of this study is to investigate how football agents act to gain market power, despite an apparent decreasing need for intermediaries, lowering transaction costs within the football industry. Prior theory has emphasized market conditions to explain the growth of the profession, thereby overlooking the agents as active partakers in market developments. To address the identified research gap and understand the behavior of agents, a qualitative study was conducted where agents, clubs, players, and additional relevant actors in Sweden were interviewed. An interdisciplinary research approach was applied at the intersection of embeddedness and professionalization theory. The current study finds that agents work on an individual basis to create embedded ties with players as well as clubs in order to form networks and gain personal trust. Additionally, established practitioners’ networks and relations characterized by personal trust, rather than professionalization processes, are exploited to legitimize the need for matchmakers in the labor market and to gain market influence.
Traditionalist Meets Rebel: Football and e-sports – Will it be a good match? (MSc)
Ludvig Stavervik & Tomas Westerbrand (2017)
Abstract: This thesis sets out to increase the understanding of how the football industry in Sweden perceives e-sports as a phenomenon, as there is now a trend of sports clubs entering e-sports and setting up their own e-sports sections. No previous literature has investigated this specific combination of sports, and the purpose of this thesis is to provide initial results regarding the trend. To address the gap in research, two studies were conducted. Study 1 used quantitative data to analyze and understand the Swedish football industry. Study 2 used Grounded Theory to qualitatively analyze press releases and interviews to understand what the perception of e-sports is among Swedish football clubs. The empirical findings show that Swedish football clubs perceive e-sports as a complement to football clubs and that a brand extension into e-sports would aim to attract new supporters and sponsors to the club. Relationships with existing partners and supporters are delicate, and the brand extension must be in line with the club's values. The main reason why more Swedish clubs have not started e-sports sections is the need for expertise about the new industry and how to integrate it with their existing business.
Amanda Sochon & Anna Zdolsek (2017)
Abstract: Corporate interest in sponsorship is continuously increasing globally, and sport is receiving the largest portion. In Sweden, a country ranked as one of the most gender-equal countries in the world, 46 % of elite athletes are women, but only 20 % of sport sponsorship resources are allocated to this group. While previous research on women in sport found women to be restricted in the sport arena, adjusting to the prevailing male norm, sponsorship literature has illuminated how a corporation can benefit from and use sponsorship. The few studies that have connected the two research areas have studied single aspects of sponsorship collaborations influenced by gender. Lacking in research is a holistic perspective of the sponsorship collaboration in relation to gender, to further understand which aspects and why they influence the possibilities of women's clubs in obtaining and maintaining sponsorship collaborations. In order to isolate aspects influenced by gender in sponsorship collaboration and set a direction for future research in the field, a qualitative multiple-case study at the elite level in Swedish football was undertaken. Interviews with nine football clubs; four women-only, three men-only, and two with men and women's teams, and nine football sponsors, were undertaken in relation to sponsorship collaborations. These showed that gender is foremost influential in the pre-phase and the start-up phase of a collaboration. Furthermore, aspects such as personal influence, continuous collaborations, and untargeted measurements that previously favored men to obtain and maintain sponsorship are still related to gender, but either one can experience the benefits. Gender per se was, however, not found to influence the management of the collaboration or evaluations, foremost related to the possibilities of maintaining sponsorship.
Football agents as occupational loners – How established practitioners act to win market power (MSc)
Ludvig Ekman & Joakim Runnemo (2017)
Abstract: The research purpose of this study is to investigate how football agents act to gain market power, despite an apparent decreasing need for intermediaries, lowering transaction costs within the football industry. Prior theory has emphasized market conditions to explain the growth of the profession, thereby overlooking the agents as active partakers in market developments. To address the identified research gap and understand the behavior of agents, a qualitative study was conducted where agents, clubs, players, and additional relevant actors in Sweden were interviewed. An interdisciplinary research approach was applied at the intersection of embeddedness and professionalization theory. The current study finds that agents work on an individual basis to create embedded ties with players as well as clubs in order to form networks and gain personal trust. Additionally, established practitioners’ networks and relations characterized by personal trust, rather than professionalization processes, are exploited to legitimize the need for matchmakers in the labor market and to gain market influence.
Brands in the marketing of sports high schools – which suit your sport best? (BSc)
Ludvig Stavervik & Tomas Westerbrand (2015)
Abstract: The upper secondary school 2011 (Gy 2011) was a reform that created large changes in the Swedish educational system. One of the major changes was the requirement of certification for sports schools. Schools in Sweden have historically used sports in their marketing, but this opportunity was impaired by the reform. This thesis aims to investigate how brands are applied on the webpages of sports schools that are certified in football and/or cross-country skiing. Content analysis was used as a method of data collection. The results indicate that sports schools used affiliated club brands more when certified in football than when certified in cross-country skiing. The use of present and former pupils' personal brands was more extensive in schools providing cross-country skiing compared to the schools providing football. However, no significant relationship was found between the two sports and the use of coaches' brands on the webpage. We argue that the origin of these differences lies in the fact that these sports are different by nature. One major component is that football is a team sport, while cross-country skiing is an individual sport.
Benefits of Sponsoring a Football Club: An Event Study (MSc)
Jonas Bukenas (2014)
Abstract: Motivated by an increasing interest in the sports industry, this paper examined the relationship between a football club's performance in the UEFA Champions League and its jersey sponsor's stock price. The paper aims to quantify the benefits of football sponsorships, expand current academic knowledge about sport sponsorships, and provide insights into why companies are investing increasing amounts of money into football clubs. A total of 9 teams and 12 sponsoring companies were used in this analysis, which covered 12 seasons, starting from 2001/02. Using the event study methodology, it was found that despite the outcome, positive abnormal returns can be observed after every game. Additionally, the size of a company and the stock exchange where the company is listed seem to be important factors affecting abnormal returns. There is some evidence that the pre-game probability of a team winning or losing a game decreases abnormal returns; however, these results lack statistical significance.
Bernhard Böhm (2014)
Abstract: This study examines how sports team rivalry and other negative sport sponsorship effects can interfere with a successful sponsorship agreement between a sponsor and its sponsored object. The study consists of two sections, a quantitative as well as a qualitative research part. In the quantitative part of this study, I have focused my research on European club football and analyzed rival fans' reactions in the highest club football competitions in Austria and Germany. Results showed that fans of the examined football teams transferred their negative rivalry feelings towards their rival's sponsors. However, not all sponsors were fully influenced by this negative image transfer. For this, influencing factors were analyzed. The level of fan identification showed no significant influence on fans' responses; however, the cause of the cooperation deal did. Furthermore, it was found that there is a statistically significant interaction between the effects of sponsorship level and the geographic origin of a rival brand on fans' responses towards this brand. An experimental design was used to test those hypotheses. The qualitative research part tried to examine what fans' reactions look like if their favorite team's main sponsor acts in a legally or socially controversial way. This was done through an ethnographic study of two different German football fan groups. The study tried to analyze supporters' opinions towards their controversial main sponsor. Results showed that it seems like the longer and more intense a sponsorship deal lasts, the easier the sponsor and team become "one" in the supporters' mindsets, and, as a further step, negative opinions towards this controversial sponsor seem to disappear. The implications of these studies' findings for both managers in the business world as well as football club officials are discussed. Managers are recommended to consider the possible negative effects of sponsorships in subgroups. Similarly, team sport officials have to strategically analyze their potential main sponsors and consider future scenarios.