Sponsorship & Marketing
What Dictates Consumers’ Loyalty? (BSc)
Gustav Moberg (2023)
Abstract: Since American Airlines launched its first frequent flyer program in the 1980s, the usage of customer loyalty programs has spread greatly. Now they are found in many industries in different shapes and forms. Empirical support and research behind loyalty programs as a legitimate marketing method is, however, double-barreled in terms of positive and negative findings. One side points to generally positive outcomes such as increased retention rate and share-of-wallet. Another side of the research means that other factors, like satisfaction, are what determine repurchase intentions rather than loyalty program presence. The aim of this study is therefore to examine how the perception of a customer loyalty program, purchase motivation for low prices, and satisfaction determine customer loyalty. A self-completion questionnaire for members of a Swedish sports retailer's loyalty program was conducted to examine the research questions. Results display that satisfaction was the only statistically significant predictor of loyalty. Perceived advantages, perceived complexity, and purchase motivation for low prices did not determine loyalty. Additionally, different membership levels at the focal loyalty program turned out to have significant differences in perceived advantages, satisfaction, and loyalty.
Lovisa Wilhelmsson & Sofia Segerfors (2019)
Abstract: Today, sports events play an important part in companies' marketing strategies. This is mostly due to the huge interest sports manage to evoke among people. Thus, commercial costs during these events are extensive and at times even excessive. Therefore, it is of great importance for a company that the receiver of the commercial fully understands and is able to interpret the message. However, the emotional stage of arousal that sport events can induce could potentially aggravate the cognitive ability and thereby interfere with the understanding of the message. This study aims to further investigate the impact that arousal, evoked by sport, tends to have on cognitive ability. In addition, it will examine how the cognitive ability could potentially affect the receptiveness and generate different attitudes, intentions, and associations towards the brand. By investigating the presented aspects with a quantitative approach, the following conclusions have been drawn. Arousal in sports events affects an individual's cognitive ability negatively, which results in difficulties in interpreting complex messages in commercials. Moreover, depending on the level of an individual's emotional stage in terms of arousal and the complexity of the following commercial's message will influence formed attitudes, intentions, and associations towards the brand. The result of this study emphasizes the importance for companies to be aware of the receiver's emotional stage as the commercial airs during a sports event.
Anthony Grivas & Fabian Bratell (2018)
Abstract: Celebrity athletes have been powerful marketing tools throughout the professionalization and commercialization of sports. During the last couple of decades, the amount of sponsorship money allocated to the sports industry has rapidly increased, outpacing other sectors of entertainment. Today, celebrity athletes go beyond their traditional role as spokespeople. Instead, they function as communication channels for their own brand as well as for the brands they endorse. They operate with greater freedom and develop closer relationships with their follower base through continuous communication via social media. The increased exposure of their private life puts emphasis on the personality type of the athletes, which makes this an interesting area of examination. Grounded in social psychology theory, this thesis examined the scandal-sensitivity of different athlete-personality categories. Having likeability and moral character as the two personality dimensions, three athlete categories - The Gentlemen, The Rebels, and the Villains - were formed and subject to the study stimulus of a charity-fraud scandal. Survey respondents, mainly business students in their twenties, evaluated the athlete and the endorsed brand on several measures. A quasi-experimental design was used, where the consumer response of a treatment group and a control group was compared. Moreover, simple mediation analysis was used to further understand the underlying relationships. As athlete scandals could have severe consequences for their endorsed brands, companies tend to partner with uncontroversial, well-liked athletes with the intention of transferring desirable attributes to their brands and mitigating risk. Despite this logic, the findings show that well-liked, high-moral athletes - The Gentlemen - are the athlete category that is the most scandal-sensitive, exhibiting significant losses in the attitude and intentions toward them and the endorsed brand. Non-liked, low-moral athletes - The Villains - exhibit no significant losses regarding attitudes and intentions. Well-liked, low-moral athletes - The Rebels - exhibit some significant losses in the attitude and intentions toward them, but none toward the endorsed brand.
Sarah Ahnström & Sofia Albertsson (2014)
Abstract: Corporate sponsorship continues to experience growth globally. The study investigates corporations' engagement in sports, culture, and community-related sponsorship from a management control perspective. Previous research on corporations' management of sponsorship addresses the use of individual control elements, but fails to acknowledge that control elements often interconnect in a control system. The study aims to address this gap by investigating how corporations manage sponsorship activities through the use of holistic management control systems (MCS). The analysis builds on a multiple case study, including six large Swedish companies, chosen for being active, front-tier sponsors in Swedish communities. Based on an abductive research approach, a theoretical MCS framework is developed by the authors. The holistic MCS consists of five control elements, where Merchant and Van der Stede's (2012) object-of-control framework (result, action, personnel, and culture controls) is complemented with Malmi & Brown's (2008) organizational structure control. The findings show that various MCS configurations exist for sponsorship. Organizational structure controls and action controls are found to be the primary control elements, whereas result controls do not provide effective control due to the immeasurable nature of sponsorship effects. Personnel and culture controls are also of limited application in the sponsorship context, but it is found that an ownership culture based on personal influences may enhance control rather than damage it, contradicting previous research.
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.
Decision-Making Processes for Different Categories of Sport Sponsorship (BSc)
Anna Söderlind & Emma Nilsson (2014)
Abstract: Sport sponsorship is becoming an increasingly used marketing measure. Companies spend billions of dollars on sponsoring every year, and revenues from sponsoring constitute an essential part of the sport associations' and athletes' businesses. Despite this, many aspects of sponsorship are still unexplored. This thesis aims to create a better understanding of how decision-making processes work and differ for varying categories of sport sponsorship collaborations in Sweden. This is done through interviewing ten Swedish companies active in a number of industries and studying the composition of their sponsorship activities and processes. By analyzing the results from the interviews with the help of relevant marketing and management theory, structures in the decision-making processes of the different sports sponsorship categories are found. It is shown that some sponsorship categories can be defined as traditional, with characteristics such as long-lasting contracts, vague objectives, and inconsequential use of policies leading to indistinct decision-making processes and results. Meanwhile, other sponsorship categories can be defined as modern, with attributes like large decision-making units, distinct strategies, and active involvement from the sponsoring company, resulting in sponsorship activities corresponding closely with the core business activities.