ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK

OF SPORTS MARKETING

Sports marketing has become a cornerstone of successful sports management and business,
driving growth in sports organisations and widening fan-bases. Showcasing the latest think-
ing and research in sports marketing from around the world, the Routledge Handbook of
Sports Marketing goes further than any other book in exploring the full range of this exciting
discipline.
Featuring contributions from world-leading scholars and practitioners from across the
globe, the book examines theories, concepts, issues and best practice across six thematic parts:
brands; sponsorship; ambush marketing; consumers, spectators and fans; media; and ethics
and development. It examines key topics such as:

• consumer behaviour
• marketing communications
• strategic marketing
• international marketing
• experiential marketing
• and marketing and digital media

Comprehensive and authoritative, the Routledge Handbook of Sports Marketing is an essential

reference for any student or researcher working in sports marketing, sports management,
sports business, sports administration or sports development, and for all practitioners looking
to develop their professional knowledge.

Simon Chadwick is ‘Class of 92’ Professor of Sports Enterprise in the Centre for Sports
Business at Salford University, UK, and Director of Research at the Josoor Institute, part of
Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, the body charged with organising
the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Simon’s research and teaching interests lie in the areas of
sponsorship, sport marketing and commercial strategy in sport. Having previously worked
at the Universities of London, where he was the founding Director of the Birkbeck Sport
Business Centre, and the University of Leeds, where he was Programme Director for the
MA in Advertising and Marketing, Simon is the founder and Editor of Sport, Business and
Management: An International Journal and a former Editor of the International Journal of Sports
Marketing and Sponsorship. He also recently created and edits the highly regarded academic
website The Scorecard.

Nicolas Chanavat is Senior Lecturer in Sport Marketing at the Université Paris-Saclay,

France, where he has been Director of the first year of the Sport Management master’s degree
programme since 2010. His PhD (University Lyon I/Loughborough University) deals with
multiple sponsorship effects in a mega sporting event context. Nicolas’s main research
interests are focused on marketing of football and mega sporting events (sponsorship and
ambush marketing, branding strategies and sports organisations marketing, fan consumption).
He has published several books and numerous academic articles in this field. Nicolas worked
for the French soccer club, Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne (ASSE). He was also
Assistant Director and Director of the volunteers programme at the FIFA France Confederation
Cup in 2003 and trainer for the volunteer instructors at the 2006 Torino Winter Olympic
Games. Nicolas is administrator of the French National Olympic Academy and Director of
Research Grants for the French Centre for Olympic Studies. He is also marketing and
strategic consultant for the museum of the Grand Stade of Olympique Lyonnais.

Michel Desbordes is a Full Professor at the Université Paris-Saclay, France, and Associate
Professor at INSEEC Business School, Paris, France. He is a specialist in sports marketing
with a research focus on the management of sports events, sports sponsorship and marketing
applied to football. He has published 23 books (with Elsevier, UK; Editoral Piadotribo and
Inde Publicationes, Spain; Economica, Les Editions d’Organisation and PUS, France) and
numerous academic articles (International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship; European
Sport Management Quarterly; International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing amongst
others) in this field. Since January 2009, Professor Desbordes has been the Editor of the
International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship.

ii
ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK
OF SPORTS MARKETING

Edited by
Simon Chadwick, Nicolas Chanavat
and Michel Desbordes
First published 2016
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2016 S. Chadwick, N. Chanavat & M. Desbordes
The rights of S. Chadwick, N. Chanavat & M. Desbordes to be identified as
authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters,
has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent
to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Routledge handbook of sports marketing / edited by Simon Chadwick,
Nicolas Chanavat and Michel Desbordes.
  pages cm
 Includes bibliographical references and index.
 1. Sports—Marketing. I. Chadwick, Simon, 1964–
 GV716.R697 2016
796.0688—dc23 2015020127

ISBN: 978-1-138-82351-8 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-74202-1 (ebk)

Typeset in Bembo
by Keystroke, Station Road, Codsall, Wolverhampton
CONTENTS

List of illustrations ix
List of contributors xiii

Introduction 1
Simon Chadwick, Nicolas Chanavat and Michel Desbordes

1. Defining sports marketing 3

Sebastian Kaiser and Markus Breuer

Part I
Brands13

Section introduction 13
Simon Chadwick, Nicolas Chanavat and Michel Desbordes

2. Congruence effects in sports marketing: Determinants, measures,

and outcomes of fit or misfit 15
Björn Walliser

3. Brand activation in sports organizations 27

Frank Pons, Lionel Maltese and Marilyn Giroux

4. The strategic building of a football club: The case of Interbrand

and Shakhtar Donetsk 38
Paolo Guenzi and Manfredi Ricca

5. Sports and city branding: How useful are professional football

clubs for branding Europe’s cities? 51
Christopher Hautbois

v
Contents

Part II
Sponsorship69

Section introduction 69
Nicolas Chanavat, Simon Chadwick and Michel Desbordes

6. Computing the impact of sponsor signage exposure within sports

broadcasts71
Christopher Rumpf and Christoph Breuer

7. A data-driven approach to sponsorship planning:

Multiple sponsorship selection 80
Larry DeGaris, Mark Dodds and James T. Reese

8. Sports sponsorship decision model: A conceptual model proposition 92

Barbara M. B. Sá and Victor Manoel Cunha de Almeida

9. Effects of multiple sponsorship activities: Propositions and framework 110

Nicolas Chanavat, Michel Desbordes and Geoff Dickson

10. Celebrity athlete endorsers: A critical review 125

Ted B. Peetz and Nancy Lough

11. A sporting (mis)match? Assessing the objectives pursued and

evaluation measures employed by sports sponsors 141
Leah Gillooly

Part III
Ambush marketing 159

Section introduction 159

Nicolas Chanavat, Simon Chadwick and Michel Desbordes

12. A theoretical and empirical overview of ambush marketing in sports 161

Gerd Nufer and André Bühler

13. Ambush marketing in sports 180

Simon Chadwick, Nicholas Burton and Cheri Bradish

14. Towards the regulation and restriction of ambush marketing: The case
of the first truly social and digital Olympic Games: London 2012 195
Nicolas Chanavat and Michel Desbordes

vi
Contents

Part IV
Customers, spectators and fans 205

Section introduction 205

Nicolas Chanavat, Simon Chadwick and Michel Desbordes

15. Relationship marketing in sports: Building and establishing

longstanding relations in the business of sports 207
André Bühler and Gerd Nufer

16. Experiential marketing and sporting events 222

Guillaume Bodet

17. Managing season ticket holders 232

Heath McDonald

18. Sports marketing professionals’ expertise and knowledge on

consumer behaviour 249
Fabien Ohl and Gary Tribou

19. A methodology to classify spectators: The case of AIK in Stockholm 261

Sten Söderman

Part V
Media275

Section introduction 275

Nicolas Chanavat, Simon Chadwick and Michel Desbordes

20. Sports marketing and new media: Value co-creation and

intertype competition 277
Patrizia Zagnoli and Elena Radicchi

21. Digital content and real time marketing: Strategic challenges for
the globalised football brands 299
Grégory Bolle

Part VI
Marketing, ethics and development 315

Section introduction 315

Nicolas Chanavat, Simon Chadwick and Michel Desbordes

vii
Contents

22. Grassroots sports: Achieving corporate social responsibility

through sponsorship 317
Marc Mazodier, Carolin Plewa, Karen Palmer and Pascale G. Quester

23. Marketing sports and recreation participation 327

Kostas Alexandris and Dan Funk

24. Managing behavior: Organizational and consumer perspectives

on athlete transgressions 340
Constantino Stavros, Kate Westberg, Bradley Wilson and Aaron C. T. Smith

25. Marketing women’s sports: A European versus North

American perspective 355
Nancy Lough and Ceyda Mumcu

26. The role of sports as an agent of social change and marketing

performance: Examining the charitable face of Real Madrid 369
Verónica Baena

27. The marketing and legal implications of the ATP event reorganization 383
Mark Dodds, George Vazenios and Justin Lovich

Conclusion 389

Index 392

viii
Illustrations

Figures
2.1 Congruent pairings in key sports marketing areas 16
4.1 Interbrand’s model for the development of the Shakhtar Donetsk
brand43
4.2 The team logo: 2006 44
4.3 The new logo 44
4.4, 4.5 Examples of using the Shakhtar logo in the club’s communication
activities46
4.6 The Donbass Arena logo 47
4.7, 4.8, 4.9 Examples of using the Donbass Arena logo in the stadium 47
4.10 A preliminary study for Shakhtar’s merchandising, displaying
the logo’s power 48
5.1 Perceptual map of cities 54
5.2 Melbourne, the world’s ultimate sports city 55
5.3 Effects of a professional football club on city development 61
5.4 Effects of place reputation on football club development 62
6.1 Brand-related information processing 73
6.2 Modeling process 76
7.1 The importance of sponsors 88
8.1 Sports Sponsorship Decision Model (SSDM) 96
9.1 A conceptual model of multiple sponsorship 120
10.1 Early example of a co-present mode endorsement 127
10.2 Modified source credibility model 131
10.3 Source attractiveness model 133
10.4 Transfer of meaning process 135
12.1 Objectives of ambush marketing 163
12.2 Systematisation of the manifestations of ambush marketing 165
12.3 Ambush marketing case, “Bavaria”, 2006 166
12.4 Ambush marketing case, “Bavaria”, 2010 167
15.1 Primary and secondary customers of professional sporting
organisations212
ix
Illustrations

17.1 Example of a tweet deriding “new” fans 235

17.2 Drivers of overall satisfaction 238
17.3 Churn rate by years of membership 245
19.1 Klacken vs non-Klacken, Study One 267
19.2 Klacken vs non-Klacken, Study Two 267
19.3 Characteristics of the five clusters 269
19.4 From five to three clusters in five years 270
19.5 Illustrations of our five types related to the three main frames of reference 271
20.1 Value co-creation in the sports industry 279
20.2 New media’s features 282
20.3 The intertype competition in the sports industry 285
20.4 Sports new media applications 289
20.5 Social media evolution 290
21.1 Standard broadcast media value chain in the sports industry 303
21.2 Shared ideal to grow meaningful dialogues between clubs and their fans 305
21.3 A new business model for e-sports marketing 305
21.4 Optimising the digital communication of football clubs 309
21.5 The evolution of sponsorship and marketing approaches for football clubs 313
22.1 Conceptual framework 321
22.2 Results path model 322
23.1 A consumer decision-making process 328
25.1 Girls’ and women’s sports participation 357
25.2 Women’s tennis career prize money leaders 365
26.1 Beneficiaries of the Real Madrid Foundation in the Philippines 374
26.2 Socio-sporting schools of Real Madrid in the USA 375
26.3 Real Madrid’s legends annual match to raise money for a charitable purpose 377
26.4 Real Madrid campaign (official website and banners) to explain to
their followers how to help people through the team’s Foundation. 377
26.5 Beneficiaries of the Real Madrid Foundation in Guatemala receive a
visit from the Chairman of Real Madrid, Florentino Pérez 379

Tables
2.1 Determinants of congruence in sports marketing 17
2.2 Direct measures of overall congruence 18
2.3 Two-dimensional congruence scale 19
2.4 Outcome of congruence on key marketing variables 21
3.1 Sponsorship activation tools 31
3.2 The “We are Tennis” ecosystem 35
5.1 Global top 10 city brands 54
5.2 Information about the three cases studied 58
6.1 Model output 78
7.1 Survey demographics 85
7.2 How interested are you in the sport of baseball 85
7.3 How interested are you in the sport of baseball, by gender 86
7.4 Major League Baseball: fan avidity based on age 86
7.5 Little League Baseball: fan avidity based on age 86
7.6 The number of games attended (frequency) 87

x
Illustrations

7.7 Fans’ media behavior 87

8.1 Sports sponsorship objectives 99
8.2 Sports sponsorship selection 102
8.3 Sports sponsorship activation 104
8.4 Sports sponsorship results 106
9.1 Recap of the theories relating to the research perspectives 119
10.1 Brief evolution of research examining celebrity endorsers 137
11.1 Sports sponsored 146
11.2 Sponsorship type 146
11.3 Sponsor product/service category 146
11.4 Cited objectives from press statement content analysis 148
11.5 Sponsor product/service category: objective cross-tabulation 149
11.6 Sponsorship type: objective cross-tabulation 152
12.1 Results of unaided recall 169
12.2 Results of aided recall 172
12.3 Characterization of the confusion clusters 174
12.4 Results of the bivariate tests regarding ambush marketing 174
15.1 Main differences between relationship marketing and transactional marketing 209
17.1 Satisfaction drivers for season ticket products 237
17.2 Satisfaction scores from one league: 2004–2014 239
19.1 The results where Klacken “dominates” the gaps 268
19.2 Stage II analysis leading to five clusters 269
21.1 Social media audiences of global football clubs in 2015 307
21.2 Social media audiences of football players in 2015 308
22.1 Measurement items, sources, and item loadings 322
23.1 Motives and strategies 333
23.2 Constant factors and examples of individual constraint items 335
25.1 History of women’s professional sports in the United States 359
25.2 UEFA Member Associations in women’s football, by year, number
of players and clubs 360
25.3 Comparison of WNBA and Turkish Women’s Basketball League 362

xi
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Contributors

Kostas Alexandris, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

Verónica Baena, Full Professor/Chair of Marketing at Universidad Europea de Madrid,

Spain

Guillaume Bodet, Université Claude Bernard Lyon-1, France

Grégory Bolle,Vice-President, Head of Strategic Planning, Maxus/GroupM (WPP), Dubai

Cheri Bradish, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada

Christoph Breuer, Deutsche Sporthochschule Köln, Institut für Sportökonomie und

Sportmanagement, Germany

Markus Breuer, Hochschule Heidelberg, Germany

André Bühler, Hochschule für Wirtschaft und Umwelt Nürtingen-Geislingen, Germany

Nicholas Burton, Brock University, Ontario, Canada

Simon Chadwick, Salford University, UK

Nicolas Chanavat, Université Paris-Saclay, France

Victor Manoel Cunha de Almeida, Instituto Coppead de Administração UFRJ, Rio de

Janeiro, Brazil

Larry DeGaris, University of Indianapolis, USA

Michel Desbordes, Université Paris-Saclay, France

Geoff Dickson, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand

xiii
Contributors

Mark Dodds, State University of New York College at Cortland, USA

Dan Funk, Temple University, Philadelphia, USA

Leah Gillooly, Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, UK

Marilyn Giroux, Concordia University, Canada

Paolo Guenzi, Department of Marketing, Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, Milano,

Italy

Christopher Hautbois, Université Paris-Saclay, France

Sebastian Kaiser, Hochschule Heilbronn, Campus Künzelsau Reinhold-Würth-University,

Germany

Nancy Lough, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Justin Lovich, State University of New York College at Cortland, USA

Heath McDonald, Swinburne University, Melbourne, Australia

Lionel Maltese, Aix Marseille Université and Kedge Business School, France

Marc Mazodier, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong and the University of South
Australia

Barbara M. B. Sá, Instituto Coppead de Administração UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Ceyda Mumcu, University of New Haven, Connecticut, USA

Gerd Nufer, ESB Business School, Reutlingen University, Germany

Fabien Ohl, University of Lausanne, Switzerland

Karen Palmer, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide Business School, Adelaide, Australia

Ted B. Peetz, Belmont University, Nashville, USA

Carolin Plewa, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide Business School, Adelaide, Australia

Frank Pons, Kedge Business School and Laval University, Canada

Pascale G. Quester,The University of Adelaide, Adelaide Business School, Adelaide, Australia

Elena Radicchi, University of Florence, Italy

James T. Reese, Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA

xiv
Contributors

Manfredi Ricca, Chief Strategy Officer for EMEA and LatAm at Interbrand, Italy

Christopher Rumpf, Deutsche Sporthochschule Köln, Institut für Sportökonomie und

Sportmanagement, Germany

Aaron C. T. Smith, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

Sten Söderman, Stockholm Business School, Stockholm University, Sweden

Constantino Stavros, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

Gary Tribou, University of Strasbourg, France

George Vazenios, State University of New York College at Cortland, USA

Björn Walliser, University of Lorraine, France

Kate Westberg, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

Bradley Wilson, Facultad de Administración, Universidad de Los Andes, Bogota, Colombia;

School of Media and Communication, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia and
Department of Services Management, Unversität Bayreuth, Germany

Patrizia Zagnoli, University of Florence, Italy

xv
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INTRODUCTION
Simon Chadwick, Nicolas Chanavat and Michel Desbordes

The global sports industry is now “estimated by the United Nations to account for
approximately 3% of global economic activity. A recent report by PWC (2011) indicates that
the sports market will be worth $145 billion by 2015, with North America accounting for
45% of global revenues, EMEA for 35%, Asia Pacific for 19% and Latin America for 5%.
However, Plunkett Research (2014) believes the total size of the American sports industry is
currently $485 billion. Consequently, sports are seen as big business by many people, including
academic researchers. Sports continue to fulfil an important socio-cultural role across the
world, providing the focus for communities, health initiatives, and so forth. There can be no
doubt that sports are central to the lives and activities of innumerable people and organisations,
whether they be fans in a stadium, runners taking part in a charity race, sponsors named on
the side of a racing car, or local people benefitting from a sports club’s community engagement
programme.
As the twentieth century progressed and the North American model of sports developed
(a model founded on providing good customer service linked to funding through private
means, such as the sale of television and sponsorship rights), so sports marketing began to
emerge as an important vehicle through which organisational goals could be simultaneously
achieved. For sports such as the NBA, NFL, NHL and NASCAR, marketing developed as a
basis for building a sustainable fan base, selling merchandise, securing television coverage and
generating revenues. These sports set a precedent that was subsequently followed by
organisations such as the International Olympic Committee, created structured marketing
programmes, which in turn have been duplicated by the likes of FIFA, the PGA and the
tennis Grand Slams.
As a result, the influence of and perceived necessity for sports organisations to engage in
marketing has become paramount. Even in situations where there is strong state involvement
in sports, the need to adopt such practices is accepted. Grassroots sports initiatives, sporting
mega events and healthy lifestyle initiatives are actively marketed in order to ensure that the
right people are getting the right product, delivered in the right way, in the right place and
at the right time. As the importance of marketing has grown, we have seen a related growth
in sports marketing research being undertaken by academic researchers and practitioners.
Academic publishing in the field of sports marketing has proliferated dramatically over the
last two decades, there are now a number of established specialist journals, including Sport

1
Introduction

Marketing Quarterly, the International Journal of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship and the
International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing. Other journals, too, often carry sports
marketing papers, such as the European Journal of Marketing, while there are now academic
bodies that were specifically set up to further promote the discipline, America’s Sport
Marketing Association being one example.
It is clear, therefore, that sports marketing has an established place, not only in the sporting
landscape, but also in the academic research landscape in general. Indeed, we firmly believe
that sports marketing is no longer a fledgling discipline that is emerging from the generic
marketing literature. Rather, it is a rapidly maturing area of research, which is rapidly
developing its own unique characteristics and features. Studies now being published
demonstrate that sports marketing has an identity and has developed the confidence to
warrant a handbook such as this one.
As such, this Handbook of Sports Marketing is presented as a showcase for the latest thinking
in the field, as a bold statement of confidence among the researchers working in sports
marketing, and as a stimulus and motivating force for further research in the future. The
Handbook brings together leading thinkers, researchers and writers in sports marketing, who
address some of the most pressing issues in contemporary sports. Some of the issues will
already be familiar to readers, some may not be; the foci of these papers are often commercial
but not always so, as some papers address the socio-cultural context within which the
marketing of sports is located.
Based upon the expertise of the academics who have contributed to the text, the book
has been divided into six parts: brands; sponsorship; ambush marketing; customers, spectators
and fans; media; marketing, ethics and development. At the beginning of each section, the
reader is able to find out more about the purpose of each section and the papers appearing
in it. As Editors of the Handbook of Sports Marketing, we believe that the contributions made
to this book will enhance the current body of work in sports marketing, further adding to
the growing reputation and status of the discipline. We hope readers will benefit from the
range of authors and chapters that we have assembled here.

References
Plunkett Research (2014). Industry statistics sports & recreation business statistics analysis, www.
plunkettresearch.com/statistics/sports-industry/ (accessed 6 May 2015).
PWC (2011). PwC outlook for the global sports market to 2015,www.pwc.com/gx/en/hospitality-
leisure/changing-the-game-outlook-for-the-global-sports-market-to-2015.jhtml (accessed 6 May
2015).

2
1
DEFINING SPORTS MARKETING
Sebastian Kaiser and Markus Breuer

Introduction
During recent decades, sports have become an essential part of people’s leisure time. Sports
organizations have evolved from local institutions that were dominated by honorary employees,
to professional, global players.The FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games can be recognized
as some of the most important and probably the most sought after global sports events played
at a professional level. The 2010 FIFA World Cup hosted in South Africa made $2,408 million
from selling TV rights and an additional $1,072 million from selling marketing rights.1 The
2014 World Cup held in Brazil was estimated to have generated a total turnover of $4 billion
for FIFA.2 In addition to sports organizations and broadcasting stations, more and more “non-
sport” corporations are becoming involved in the global sports market. According to the
Qatar Foundation, one of the global players in sponsorship (for example, sponsorship of FC
Barcelona), global sponsorship spending was estimated at $50 billion in 2013.3 Producers of
sports goods and sportswear, such as Nike and adidas, employ thousands of people all over
the world and earn revenues of several billion dollars.
This chapter will provide an overview of sports, sports marketing and its economic
background. It is structured as follows: the next two sections define the expressions sports
and marketing and bring together these core ideas explaining the difference between
marketing through sports and marketing of sports. The next section explains why marketing in
the sports context differs from marketing for any other business segment. By virtue of the
categories – suppliers, special characteristics of sports goods and special characteristics of
sports demand – we will explain what makes sports marketing special. Finally, a brief outlook
outlining some of the most important trends in sports marketing.

Defining sports and its meaning for sports consumers

Although the expression sport is widely used, it is difficult to find an appropriate definition
that includes all the relevant fields of interest (from an economic perspective) and excludes
all activities that should not be subject to processes like sports marketing. According
to Mandelbaum (2004: 4), the expression sport is related to disport. Spectators are diverted
from the burdens of normal existence. Team sports such as baseball and football offer a
“particularly compelling form of drama” (Mandelbaum, 2004: 5). Similarly, Delaney and

3
Defining sports marketing

Madigan (2009: 11) argue that the term sport has its origins rooted in the idea that it is an
activity designed to divert people from the routines of everyday life. While Mandelbaum
considers only the spectators (consuming professional team sports), Delaney and Madigan
implicitly include athletes as well. For our purposes, it is reasonable to consider both: athletes
and spectators or customers. Additional information regarding the special characteristics of
sports production and consumption will be provided later.
Normally, any sports are related to some kind of effort. According to Sansone (1992: 37),
sport is the ritual sacrifice of physical energy. In most cases sports include competition.
Physical competition mandates that physical effort and individual skills are involved to
determine a winner or loser (Delaney and Madigan, 2009: 12). However, physical energy is
not a necessary part of sports in modern societies. One only needs to think of mental exercises
such as chess. Even competitiveness is not essential, for example, Nordic walking shows that
sports could be driven by individual ambition without being competitive. That is, instead of
glory and monetary incentives, athletes are motivated by social benefits or health. In this
context we define sports according to Horch (1994: 245), as an aggregate of utility creating
scarce goods that are linked to sporting behavior. This definition explicitly includes passive
consumption of sports, as well as individual activity culminating from competition or for
individual pleasure, so long as the precondition of effort or diversion is fulfilled.

Defining marketing and sports marketing

Marketing
The expression marketing was already widely discussed in the United States around the turn
of the twentieth century (Usui, 2008: 15). As the production capacities of companies in the
business sector grew and exceeded the consumer demand, methods of how to distribute and
sell goods became increasingly important. According to Ferrell and Hartline (2012: 7),
marketing is many different things. Marketing can be seen as a business process like production
and logistics. As a business function, the goal of marketing is the connection of organizations
(producers, suppliers) and customers. It can also be seen as a process that manages the flow
of products from the point of conception to the point of consumption (ibid). For simplicity
reasons we will focus on the famous 4Ps of the marketing mix concept. The concept of the
4Ps dates back to the 1960s and includes the following aspects:

• Product: product variety, quality, design, features, brand name, packaging, sizes, services,
warranties, returns.
• Price: list price, discounts, allowances, payment period, credit terms.
• Promotion: sales promotion, advertising, sales force, public relations, direct marketing.
• Place (distribution): channels, coverage, assortments, locations, inventory, transport (Kotler
and Keller, 2012: 25).

Marketing and the marketing mix do not focus on the promotion or even on advertising, but
consider the entire value chain of a company, starting with the research and development
(R&D) department and the production process (product) and ending with the field of
customer care (for example, returns).
Although the 4Ps model is widely taught, it suffers from a number of flaws. First, it is
incomplete as many activities that are carried out by a marketer are not considered. Second,
it tends to push each activity into a separate category without considering the intersections.

4
Defining sports marketing

Third, the mutual benefit for the marketer and the consumer is neglected (Blythe, 2006: 8).
Not all marketing activities are only for the benefit of the producer, some could also be
providing utility to the customer. Considering these aspects, several authors built up extensions
to the standard 4Ps model. Probably the best-known proposition was published by Booms
and Bitner (1981), adding three more Ps (people, process, physical evidence), ending up with
a 7P model. Some authors tend to distinguish different “marketing releases”. In terms of
“industry 4.0” and “web 2.0”, they set up three stages of modern marketing activities:

• Marketing 1.0 is known to be product-centric marketing with the sole objective to sell
products. The interaction between companies and consumers is limited to one-to-many
transactions, indicating that it is impossible to address single consumers individually.
• Marketing 2.0 (“consumer-oriented marketing”) aims at satisfying and retaining the
consumers. Products and services are no longer functional but become emotional. The
relationship between companies and customers is one to one, based on new technologies
and decreasing costs.
• Finally, marketing 3.0 is value-driven marketing and aims at “making the world a better
place”. Instead of a simple interaction between company and consumer, some authors
claim for a many-to-many-collaboration (Kotler, Kartajaya and Setiawan, 2010: 6).

The third stage is an inherent part of sports and its provision or consumption. For instance,
when one thinks of a professional soccer game: 22 athletes and thousands in the stadium
produce a unique good that is characterized by the uncertainty of outcome and is consumed
by millions through TV and other media channels. However, in this case there has been no
simple or direct interaction between a single company and a customer.

Sports marketing

What is sports marketing?

Sports marketing means the application of all marketing related activities, structures and
thoughts to the phenomenon of sports. In this context, “sports” includes mass sports, professional
(competitive) sports and sports in the media. Focusing on the supplier perspective, we can say
that sports marketing is a managerial process by which the sports manager seeks to obtain what
sports organizations need through creating and exchanging products and services with others
(Shilbury et al., 2014: 17). To use this definition in day-to-day operations, we can put it into
a sports marketing framework that outlines a step-by-step process to implement sports marketing
activities. This framework includes four stages (Hoye et al., 2012: 204–205):

• Identification of sports marketing opportunities: analysis of internal and external envi-

ronments, analysis of the organization, analysis of markets and consumers and consumer
behavior.
• Development of a sports marketing strategy: development of a strategic sports marketing
direction, development of a sports marketing strategy.
• Planning the sports marketing mix: considering price, product, promotion and place (4Ps).
• Implementation and control of the sports marketing strategy: implementation strategies,
control process, sports marketing ethics.

According to Mullin (2014: 13), “sport marketing consists of all activities designed to meet
the needs and wants of sport consumers[. . .]. Sport marketing has developed two major trusts:

5
Defining sports marketing

the marketing of sport products [. . .] and the marketing of other industrial or services using
partnerships and promotions with sport properties”. The difference between marketing of
sports and marketing through sports will be discussed in the following sections.

Marketing of sports
Marketing of sports refers to the practice of marketing as it occurs within a sports organization
(Parent and Smith-Swan, 2013: 97). In this context, the term “sports organization” covers, but
is not limited to: (a) sports clubs (mass sports and professional sports); (b) profit oriented sports
providers; (c) media (for example, broadcasting stations, websites, etc.); and (d) production
and sale of sports goods (such as clothes, rackets, etc.).
Sports club marketing implies all marketing-related activities that occur in the management
of professional as well as mass sports clubs. Focusing on professional sports clubs would include:

• The entire communication towards fans and other stakeholders that act as customers.
The marketer has to ensure relevant information is provided to all kinds of customers,
especially fans. Due to past changes in information technology (“web 2.0”), the constant
provision of information and the control of all kinds of information has become one of
the crucial tasks of marketing. Moreover, marketing nowadays has to consider activities,
such as customer relationship management (CRM), in its marketing strategy. CRM can
be based on individualism and holistic marketing, sales and service concept based on
modern IT. A good CRM policy requires a good database. This is why sports clubs
compete for ingenious new ways of obtaining reliable information on their customers
(Desbordes, 2012: 170).
• The selection of merchandising products and the management of the distribution chan-
nels. Licensing revenues are generated when teams grant merchandise and apparel com-
panies the right to use their names and logos. Recently, these arrangements have been
increasingly lucrative as a source of revenue for professional teams (Gladden and Sutton,
2011: 130). In addition to the direct financial effect, customers purchasing branded goods
show a deep commitment to the club and the public use of merchandising products (such
as jerseys) initiates a recursive process, thus increasing the brand value. The portfolio of
merchandising products has to be chosen and ordered in the first step. The consequent
steps include the management of inventory stocks and distribution channels.
• Negotiations with actual and potential sponsors. Sponsorship is the most important
source of income for most professional sports clubs. In only a few cases, the sale of media
rights outperforms the sponsorship revenue. In Europe, it is only soccer clubs that gener-
ate a major part of their revenue by selling media rights. All other clubs are constrained
by their sponsorship income and a patron or investor.

All activities discussed must be executed in a mass sports club in a similar manner. However,
the information management is often lot easier as the interested public is usually restricted
by a city or a region. Nevertheless, demographic changes and an increase in the profit making
sector make it more difficult to remain competitive.
Like any other corporation, profit-oriented sports providers, such as public baths, have to
cope with the 4Ps of the marketing mix. Regarding the price, many corporations compete
with non-profit service providers that might offer substitutes at lower prices, benefitting from
tax exemptions or voluntary work. Therefore, any kind of promotion has to ensure that
customers realize the additional value that is generated by PFOs.

6
Defining sports marketing

The economic relationships between media (including online media) and the sports sector
are long-lasting and have evolved significantly in recent years (Andreff and Bourg, 2006: 37).
The media assume a hybrid role in the marketing of sports. They act as customers buying
broadcasting rights from sports clubs and associations, whereas broadcasters use sports events
and the coverage they receive as a marketing instrument of their own: For many years
broadcasted sports events did not play an important role in the program planning, however,
since global events like the Olympic Games gained importance, sports as content became
more and more important. Today, broadcasting stations use sports content as a positioning
tool. Revenues generated from the sale of commercials during the event might be too low
to cover expenditures for the acquisition of broadcasting rights. The broadcast of sports is
cross-subsidized by revenues in other fields.
In terms of the overall influence of media on sports, broadcasting stations enforced several
changes in competitive sports in recent years. In order to get the media’s attention, sports
events had to reform forms, systems and rules of the games (for example, schedules) to meet
TV requirements (Quing, 2013: 26). As a result of this influence, media is now a part of the
modern magic triangle. It is formed by sports, corporations and media and describes the
interdependencies between these major market players.
Sports goods producers can be regarded as suppliers for the sports industry. Although they
do not underlie the restrictions for the sports organizations, they can be considered as normal
for-profit corporations. The only exception is that such companies are often integrated in the
entire sports value chain. When an important sports event is organized, corporations such as
Nike or adidas act as sponsors and benefit from the success of athletes and teams. However,
industrial enterprises can sponsor several athletes and do not suffer from individual setbacks
in the same way as teams do.

Marketing through sports

Marketing through sports happens when a non-sports product is marketed through an
association to sports (Smith and Stewart, 2015: 6). Sponsorship is probably the most popular
example of marketing through sports. Large corporations use sports as a vehicle to promote
their products and services (Shilbury et al., 2014: 16). During the 1970s, marketing through
sports often served either the personal interests of the executives or as a vehicle for charitable
contributions. Since the 1980s it has become a practice involving serious research, large
investments, and strategic initiatives related to corporate targets (Mullin 2014: 239) and long-
term oriented goals.
Because marketing through sports mainly covers sponsorship, the monetary impact strongly
correlates with the sponsorship market and the possibility to reach existing as well as prospective
customers. Some reasons for the sharp increase in global sponsorship expenditures include:

• More television devoted to sports programs.

• Technological developments that led to the portability of sports through cell phones,
tablets, etc.
• Emergence of new sports offerings, such as mixed martial arts, or new combinations of
sports and media such as e-sports.
• Globalization of sports (Mullin, 2014: 239).

The Olympic Games have been mentioned in the introduction of this chapter. The selection
of the “worldwide top partners” of the IOC and the Olympic Games does not contain any

7
Defining sports marketing

sports related corporation. Current top Olympic partners are: Coca-Cola (soft drinks), Atos
(IT), Dow (chemicals), GE (electronic devices), McDonald’s (food), Omega (luxury watches),
Panasonic (consumer electronics), P&G (personal care), Samsung (consumer electronics), and
VISA (financial services). All of these sponsors share common goals that they want to achieve
by their sponsorship expenditures. Sponsorship goals can be structured as follows: cognitive
goals (increasing brand awareness); affective goals (support and change brand image); and
behavioral goals (support and stimulate sales, increasing brand loyalty) (Lagae, 2003: 44).
Depending on each individual sponsor, the importance and relevance of these goals may differ.
In addition to sponsorship engagements, several other possibilities of marketing through
sports can be found in sports marketing practice. Probably the best-known is ambush
marketing. An early definition can be found in Sandler and Shani (1989), saying that ambush
marketing is a planned effort by an organization to identify itself indirectly with a (sports)
event in order to gain at least some of the recognition that is associated with being an official
sponsor. For additional information on ambush marketing, see Part III of this handbook.

Special characteristics of the sports market

Marketing of sports and marketing through sports is subject to several circumstances and
recent developments that make a difference between the sports market (and its downstream
markets) and other economic markets (Smith and Stewart 1999; Beech and Chadwick, 2004;
Beech, Kaiser and Kaspar, 2013).
Globalization has a significant impact on the scope of sports organizations. For example,
the sale of TV rights by the European major soccer leagues has become more and more
important, especially for clubs that were able to build up a global brand (like Barcelona or
Manchester United). From a social perspective, public requests from sports and sports
organizations changed significantly during recent years. CSR and CRM became more and
more important in the scene of global competition of sports organizations. Federations like
FIFA are subject to discussions in the media, even legal restrictions are discussed in some
countries. Individualization and sophisticated lifestyles influence the demand for sports.
Former “9 to 5” jobs are increasingly replaced by lifestyles empowering workers to commit
themselves beyond their working hours. Strictly-defined training hours become less
important. The recent development in the media sector has changed the finance structures
of competitive sports. Mass sports are still mainly financed by member contributions and
donations, whereas competitive sports are mainly financed by sponsorship and the sale of
media rights. As a result of the development of the new media, i.e. internet related media,
clubs and federations are able to broadcast themselves by using sites such as YouTube. Today,
there is no need to contract a broadcasting station to communicate with fans and spectators.
Hence, increased media coverage makes sports events and tournaments more attractive for
sponsors. The following section analyzes some characteristics that are special for the sports
market and that should be recognized for any kind of sports marketing.

Characteristics of suppliers and the overall market structure

The main characteristic of the sports market (from the supplier’s perspective) is the diversity
of different sports producing organizations. Focusing on Europe, a major part of the sports
facilities is provided by non-profit organizations such as clubs and associations that are
subsidized by the federal state through direct payments or other advantages like tax exemptions.
The goals of many sports organizations are not maximizing their profit but maximizing their

8
Defining sports marketing

success in sports events, tournaments, etc. Moreover, the sports sector is dominated by small
suppliers, such as local clubs or small gyms. These market players most often face restrictions
regarding their budget (for example, for promotion activities or the development of new
products). Finally, smaller organizations normally show a minor degree of internal
differentiation, employing only a few staff members acting as generalists.
Regarding sports as a phenomenon of competition that is determined by tournaments,
league tables, etc., it is obvious that competition needs a degree of cooperation. Without any
cooperation between the athletes or teams, neither sports nor sports goods (for passive sports
consumption by spectators) can be provided. Additionally, in the case of professional sports
production, external production factors, especially the spectator in the stadium, hall, etc., are
involved in the production process. Production and consumption of sports goods are linked
inseparably (Uno-Actu principle). Additionally, exogenous factors such as the weather,
consumption of performance-enhancing drugs, etc., play an important role during the
production process and affect the marketability of the economic result (i.e. the product). The
most important result of these factors is a “systematic and structural deficit of rational
behavior” (Horch, 1994; cf. Smith and Stewart 1999). The core of the product cannot be fully
controlled or determined by the supplier (i.e. the athlete, team, club, gym, etc.).
Regarding the circumstances for the marketing of sports, it is impossible to promote the
characteristics of the sports goods. Therefore, any promotion has to focus on the facts and
circumstances of the production process itself. These facts include, but are not limited to the
objective quality of players and athletes (in comparison to other athletes based on a league
table) and the importance of the contest (derby, championship, “battle for being #1”).

Special characteristics of the goods produced

Regarding the special characteristics of sports goods, the predominance of services is to be
mentioned first. From an economic perspective, the quality of services cannot be assessed
prior to the consumption. Therefore, services can be classified as confidence goods: any
consumer would need to rely on the service provider for the quality and display confidence.
Otherwise, no contract will be concluded and no service will be provided. The consumer is
embedded in the service provision process. As a result of the provision of services, uncertainties
could occur at the level of the service provider as well as at the level of the service recipient.
Special “cooperation designs” offer possibilities to reduce these uncertainties (cf. Fitzsimmons,
2011). Instruments that visualize the potential, the process and the result, and that symbolize
the quality of the service, are most important in this context. Popular “signals” are, for
example, certificates, photographs and other visual media providing information on the
comfort of an event location, etc.
Predominant (economic) goals of sports organizations are increasing revenues and increasing
numbers of members and customers. Besides these goals, sports organizations utilize promotional
activities to strengthen their public recognition and the publicity of their offers. Recognition
at the level of actual and prospective customers and the offer’s publicity both influence the
value of the sports organization’s brand positively. Because the advertisement for services is
more complicated compared to other goods (tangibles), it is even more important to use
repeated signals describing the quality of the service. The main goal of permanent signals is to
build on the organization’s reputation and to be silhouetted against other competitors.
Moreover, many sports goods and services can either be described as public goods
(Samuelson, 1954) or merit goods (Musgrave, 1969). Promotion of sports and promotion
through sports can benefit from this aspect, provided promotion refers to sports goods’ special

9
Defining sports marketing

characteristics. Because sports can create positive external effects that can be classified as
public goods, sports might be subsidized. The following example might clarify this idea:
Children and adolescents playing football (either in a non-profit club or in a profit oriented
soccer center) train their physical fitness attributes and learn to adapt a disciplined lifestyle
(development of human capital). Moreover, the game could act as an integration opportunity
for children coming from low income households, immigrant families, etc. Thus, sports can
play an important role in the education and building of a prosperous society. Not only the
children, but the entire city or district benefit from this effect and hence, we can refer to
this as a positive external effect. In many cases, the state is not able to generate these effects
in a similar quality or extent with lower costs. Therefore, a public subsidy for the organized
sports can be derived from the positive externalities generated by sports organizations.

Special characteristics of sports demand

The demand for sports services and goods is characterized by several special effects that
influence it significantly and that should be considered in the marketing mix of sports
marketing. First, active sports execution is normally performed with other individuals and as
a part of some kind of social program that aims at social interaction. In nearly all cases, active
sports has a social impact. Second, sports goods show a variety of exemptions from the
standard demand rules. Only a few examples should be given in this context. Individual
decisions suffer from bounded rationality due to the good character of some sports goods.
Moreover, doing sports often can be characterized by a positive marginal utility (in contrast
to the consumption of normal goods) (Heinemann, 1995). Therefore, any analysis of the
demand for sports (including sports services and goods) must not rely only on the generally-
accepted economic principles of consumption. These generally-accepted principles assume
income changes and market prices as independent variables. However, origin and shape of
preferences are neglected and the time factor is normally not considered (ibid). Finally,
regarding sports and differentiating between active and passive sports consumption, individuals
have to trade passive sports consumption (individuals act as consumers) against active sports
exercises (individuals act as sports suppliers) in many cases.
If athletes buy sports goods (or receive sports services) they want to satisfy needs, such as
health, prestige, social contacts, etc. In contrast to normal goods, the purchase of sports goods
does not satisfy these needs. Furthermore, inputs like time, effort, etc., that need to be
provided by the athletes are necessary for the utility. In day-to-day life the utility level that
can be reached by an athlete is uncertain due to input restrictions. This leads to a reduced
willingness to pay by consumers or athletes.
Regarding professional sports, the popularity of team sports and team sports events is often
explained by the uncertainty of outcome hypothesis (Rottenberg, 1956). The attractiveness
of a competition is influenced by the uncertainty of outcome: The more uncertain the result
is, the higher is the popularity. Focusing on fans that show a deep loyalty to a club, the
uncertainty of outcome hypothesis is of less importance. Group experiences (in the stadium,
watching their club win or lose) become much more important for these fans, compared with
neutral spectators who are only interested in the sports but not in the performance of a single
team. Against this background, sports marketing faces an opportunity: If the marketer is able
to strengthen the identification of the fans (consumers) with “their” team, the revenues
resulting from the sale of tickets, merchandising, etc., are more and more independent from
the current performance of the team. Thus, “identification with the team” is an important
segmentation criterion for a target group oriented address. In this context, the new media

10
Defining sports marketing

allow adequate means to get in contact with target groups as they enable the marketer to
address different groups at low costs. For the strategic planning and the identification of
adequate content, it is important to identify links that allow a long-term identification with
a club that is independent of the current success (independent of the current league table).
According to Kaiser (2010) such links might be:

• The team’s success in the past.

• The performance of individual athletes.
• Shared values (for example, a working-class background).
• A strong connection to a city or region.
• A common understanding as an underdog.

Outlook
Against the background of the past there is hardly any doubt over the ongoing professionalization
of sports and its related industries. Professionalization does not focus on FPOs but will
explicitly gain importance in the context of NPOs.
The technological evolution is only one additional factor influencing the marketing of
sports and the marketing through sports. Marketing 3.0 was already discussed earlier; the
current discussion of industry 4.0 provides an initial idea of future technologies and its impact
on organizations. Any marketing in relation to sports has to consider the outstanding changes
in information technology. Facebook, Google and Twitter have already changed our day-to-
day life and will continue to do so. Marketing of individual athletes involves new media in
order to allow a 24/7 availability of stars. Twitter posts and (user) channels on YouTube allow
new possibilities in reaching millions of users and customers within seconds, irrespective of
their location. In order to stay in contact with all stakeholders, sports organizations will have
to consider these changes in their marketing strategy and their 4Ps. In a nutshell, sports
marketing remains one of the most important tasks in relation to sports.

Notes
1 www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/finances/income.html (accessed 18 August 2015).
2 www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2014/06/05/the-billion-dollar-business-of-the-world-cup
(accessed 18 August 2015).
3 www.qf.org.qa/page?a=835&lang=en-CA (accessed 18 August 2015).

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Jeanrenaud, C. and Késenne, S. (eds.), The economics of sport and the media, Cheltenham: Edward
Elgar, pp. 37–70.
Beech, J. and Chadwick, S. (2004). The business of sport management, London: Pearson Education.
Beech, J., Kaiser, S. and Kaspar, R. (eds) (2013). The business of events management, Harlow: Pearson.
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Ferrell, O. C. and Hartline, M. (2012). Marketing strategy, 6th edition, Nashville: South Western
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Gladden, J. M. and Sutton, W. A. (2011). Professional sport, in Pedersen, P. M., Parks, J. P.,
Quarterman, J. and Thibault, L. (eds.), Contemporary sport management, 4th edition, Champaign:
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Horch, H.-D. (1994). Besonderheiten einer Sport-Ökonomie, in Freizeitpädagogik, 16, pp. 243–257.
Hoye, R., Smith, A.C. T., Nicholson, M., Stewart, B. and Westerbeek, H. (2012). Sport management:
Principles and applications, 3rd edition, New York: Routledge.
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Management im Sport: Betriebswirtschaftliche Grundlagen und Anwendungen der modernen Sportökonomie,
2nd edition, Berlin: Schmidt, pp. 437–461.
Kotler, P., Kartajaya, H. and Setiawan, I. (2010). Marketing 3.0, New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons.
Kotler, P. and Keller, K. (2012). Marketing management, 14th ed., New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Lagae, W. (2003). Sports sponsorship and marketing communications, Essex: Pearson Education.
Mandelbaum, M. (2004). The meaning of sports, New York: Public Affairs.
Mullin, B. J. (2014). Sport marketing, 4th edition, Champaign: Human Kinetics.
Musgrave, R. A. (1969). Finanztheorie, 2nd edition, Tübingen: Mohr.
Parent, M. M. and Smith-Swan, S. (2013). Managing major sport events: Theory and practice, New York:
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12
PART I

Brands
Simon Chadwick, Nicolas Chanavat and Michel Desbordes

The notion of branding in sports is one that has only recently emerged, but which has now
become a focus for sports marketing practitioners and academic researchers. In some quarters,
there is still a marked reluctance to conceive of teams, clubs, events and other sporting entities
as brands. Critics see branding as the unnecessary commodification of sports, rendering social
institutions simply as commercial properties. However, there is no doubt that many of these
sporting institutions have a clear history, identity and position, which can be utilised as the
basis for fan engagement, product positioning and revenue generation. As such, sports
organisations have variously sought either to create clear brand identities or to release the
latent equity that many of the organisations possess. Branding is thus a relatively immature
activity but is nevertheless rapidly rising to prominence. This part sets out to examine some
of the currently most salient issues in the field. Chapters examine how sports brands are built,
how such brands can be activated in sports, and the role brands play in promoting sports
properties.

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2
CONGRUENCE EFFECTS
IN SPORTS MARKETING
Determinants, measures, and
outcomes of fit or misfit

Björn Walliser

Introduction
In sports marketing, congruence often arises as a magical concept, able to induce stronger
and more positive impacts on consumer reactions than incongruent pairings. For example,
an athlete endorser should have a stronger influence than an actor on the evaluation of an
energy bar but not on the evaluation of a candy bar (Till and Busler, 2000). Even athletes
such as Tiger Woods or Michael Phelps, who transgress social norms, might enjoy commercial
success if they endorse “rebellious” products (Pokrywczynski and Brinker, 2012). Similarly, a
sports team brand should anticipate greater success by leveraging its brand equity in a sports
clothing line rather than a cosmetics line (Papadimitriou et al., 2004). In contrast, misfits—
brands and sports entities not going well together—might damage brand equity by prompting
negative reactions among consumers. It is questionable whether the sponsorship of the soccer
team, Atletico Madrid, by the country of Azerbaijan is well understood by sports spectators,
albeit some recent studies propose that a well-chosen misfit could benefit sponsors and sports
marketing brands (for example, Trendel and Warlop, 2013).
For decades, sponsorship practitioners and scholars have suspected that congruence drives
sponsorship and endorsement success. Congruence effects are arguably the most widely-used
theoretical concept for explaining sponsorship effectiveness, often in interaction with other
variables. Sponsorship literature thus follows research in other marketing areas, such as celebrity
endorsements and brand extensions, where the role of fit had received earlier attention. Several
theories provide explanations for congruence effects, though they do not all offer the same
conclusions. Congruity theory (Osgood and Tannenbaum, 1955) and balance theory (Heider,
1958) both stress the importance of cognitive consistency, which motivates people to maintain
uniformity in their thoughts, feelings, and behavior. According to general schema theory,
information that is consistent with existing schemas tends to be better remembered and
evaluated more positively (Fiske, 1982). In contrast, the encoding flexibility model (Sherman
et al., 1998) posits that information consistent with prior expectations receives little attention
and is poorly encoded, such that people instead turn their attention to inconsistent information
that is harder to comprehend, such as incongruent pairings.

15
Brands

Sports sponsorship: Shell (lubricant supplier) and the Ferrari Formula 1 team.
Sports naming rights: Macron (sportswear manufacturer) and Bolton Wanderers F.C.
Sports (celebrity) endorsement: Under Armour (sports apparel) and Jordan Spieth (golf).
Sports brand extension: Liverpool F.C. and LFCTV (television channel).

Figure 2.1 Congruent pairings in key sports marketing areas

This chapter details the impact of congruence on three key areas of sports marketing:
sports sponsorship, sports advertising based on endorsements, and sports brand extensions. All
three areas combine two or more brands or entities in a quest for commercial success, such
that congruence should be important for all of them, though the focal associations differ. For
example, a sponsorship entails a match between a brand and a sports property, often an event,
but sometimes a person or team (for example, Shell and the Ferrari Formula 1 team); for
some, sports naming rights are also a specific form of (venue) sponsorship. When it comes to
endorsements, congruence between the athlete and the brand or product is of primary
concern (for example, Jordan Spieth and Under Armour sports apparel). For brand extensions,
the congruence between two brands or products is most important (for example, Liverpool
F.C. and LFCTV, the club’s television channel).
Negotiating a sponsorship or endorser agreement demands substantial time and
resources. More than one in four endorsers featured in U.S. magazine advertising represents
the world of sport (Belch and Belch, 2013). If a perfect match was not necessarily required,
this would alleviate much stress from sports marketing managers. If congruence had a
consistent influence, it would be reassuring to take advantage of positive effects and avoid
negative ones.
The following sections describe the nature, relevance, and existing measures of congruence,
before documenting the outcome of congruence effects and suggesting several variables that
likely mediate or moderate their impact.

Determinants of congruence in different sports marketing contexts

Many terms describe congruence, and many grounds provide theoretical bases for predicted
congruence effects. That is, congruence also appears as “relevance” (Johar and Pham, 1999),
“fit” (Pracejus and Olsen, 2004), “similarity” (Gwinner and Eaton, 1999), “match” (McDaniel,
1999), “compatibility” (Ruth and Simonin, 2003), and many other terms. In sports marketing,
congruence refers to how well a brand goes with another entity, such as an event, athlete, or
another brand.1 Furthermore, the basic determinants of congruence—image and product
features—are common across different areas of sports marketing, but its precise conceptualization
differs (see Table 2.1).
As early as the 1970s, Kanungo and Pang (1973: p. 172) suggested the need for “fittingness”
between a model and a product, though they did not specifically address the sports context.
Misra and Beatty (1990: p. 161) led the groundwork to understanding endorsement-related
fit—the so-called matchup hypothesis—by asserting: “the highly relevant characteristics of
the spokesperson are consistent with the highly relevant attributes of the brand.” Endorsement
research (for example, Erfgen, 2011) frequently distinguishes three congruence categories:
attractiveness-based (relevance of the physical attractiveness of the endorser), expertise-based
(perceived expertise of the endorser for a product category, brand, or issue), and image-based
(match of the endorser’s image with the image of the brand). In addition, Fleck et al. (2012)
observe that the perceived congruence of a (celebrity) endorser depends on the consumer’s

16
Congruence effects in sports marketing

Table 2.1 Determinants of congruence in sports marketing

Sport celebrity endorsement Sport brand extension Sport sponsorship

Image of the endorser Image of the parent brand. Image of the sponsor (including
(including endorser ubiquity). Expertise of parent brand. sponsor sincerity and ubiquity).
Expertise of the endorser. Product category and product Product functions and benefits
Attractiveness of the endorser. features (performance, team play (product use, audience similarity,
Liking of the endorser. characteristics, history, quality geographic origin, etc.).
level, etc.).

attitude toward that endorser. People who like a celebrity are more likely to find them
congruent, regardless of the brand being promoted.
The congruence between a parent brand and its extension has been conceptualized in
various ways (for example, Apostolopoulou, 2002). Early studies (Chadwick and Clowes,
1998) define extension congruence primarily in terms of product category fit and feature
similarity, that is, whether the product category of the parent brand and the extension brand
are similar, and whether both brands are used in similar settings or are manufactured at the
same facility. Aaker and Keller (1990) define brand extension fit as the established expertise
of the parent brand in the extension’s product category. Image and quality are other key
dimensions of extension congruence. The team brand association scale (Ross et al., 2006)
establishes several factors that might determine extension congruence in a sports context,
such as the non-player personnel associated with a particular team, team performance, team
history, team play characteristics, identifying marks associated with the team, organizational
attributes, and even liking or disliking competitor teams. Marketing research has shown that
perceived fit is mediated by the perceived credibility of the parent brand and its potential
ability to launch new products (Smith and Andrews, 1995). Apostolopoulou (2002) suggests
that sports fans with stronger team identification are more likely to react positively to brand
extensions, regardless of perceived fit. In most cases, brand extension literature (Broniarczyk
and Alba, 1994) simply defines “fit” as the extent to which consumers perceive congruence,
notwithstanding the specific reasons that lead to it.
The extent to which a sponsor and sponsee are perceived as similar by sponsorship targets
depends on their functionality, image, or other attributes, associations, or strategies. Fleck and
Quester (2007: p. 981) tabulate definitions of congruence in sponsorship literature. For
example, functional or logical fit arises from sponsor products that are used during the
sponsored event. Image fit reflects a link between the image of the sponsor and the sponsee,
such as Rolex supporting a prestigious golf tournament. A strategic fit might be exemplified
by a beer brand sponsoring football, for the simple reason that football fans tend to consume
above-average amounts of beer. A qualitative, empirical, cognitive mapping sponsorship study
(Olson and Thjømøe, 2011) confirms some of these dimensions and adds new ones, identifying
seven total explanations of fit: (1) using a brand’s products during an event, either directly, for
example, athletes’ shoes, or indirectly, for example, spectators drink beer while watching a
game; (2) size similarity, for example, the object and brand are both prominent or not
prominent; (3) audience similarity, for example, the object’s audience is also the brand’s target
segment; (4) geographic similarity, for example, national brand and national team; (5) attitude
similarity, for example, equal liking of the brand and the object; (6) image similarity, for
example, similar meaning or image of both entities; and (7) time duration of the sponsorship

17
Brands

relation, for example, “unhealthy” beer brands still fit well with “healthy” sports, because of
their longstanding sponsorship link.
Use by the participants and audience similarity turns out to be the most important
predictors of fit in the context of the study done by Olson and Thjømøe (2011). Work by
Woisetschläger et al. (2010) reveals that the perceived benefits of the sponsor for the sponsored
entity and regional identification with the sponsor company have the strongest influence on
sponsorship fit, according to fans of a soccer club. The same variables influence perceived fit
in a stadium-naming context (Woisetschläger and Haselhoff, 2009). Sponsor sincerity
and ubiquity contribute only modestly to perceived fit (Speed and Thompson, 2000;
Woisetschläger et al., 2010).
Across various sports contexts, the different determinants of congruence appear
independent. For example, if an endorser does not fit a brand in terms of image, they could
still be perceived as congruent, because of their expertise or attractiveness. In the absence of
a functional sponsorship fit, a sponsor and sponsee could be perceived as similar because of
their image, national origin, or another dimension of fit. Therefore, brands should always be
able to find some grounds on which to establish fit with a sports entity.

Measures of congruence
Congruence can be measured indirectly or directly. Indirect methods determine the overlap
among associations evoked independently by each of a pair of entities. Indirect methods thus
would first evaluate the associations evoked by a brand, then test the associations evoked by
a celebrity or event, and finally compare the two set of associations. Direct methods instead
evaluate congruence as on overall construct, using “fit” and its synonyms such as “similar,”
“well matched,” or “congruent” as prompts. The scales in Table 2.2 reflect direct measures,
which tend to be more commonly adopted by sports marketing studies.
Some direct measures are also more elaborate. Speed and Thompson (2000: p. 231) include
a specific fit dimension in their five-item sponsorship scale: “The image of the event and the
image of the sponsor are similar.” Olson and Thjømøe (2011) propose 17 items to measure
six of the seven dimensions of sponsorship fit they identified. For the “product use” dimension,
they ask: “(1) How likely is it that the products from [sponsor] are used by the participants
in [object]? and (2) When watching [object] on television, how likely are audience members
to be using [sponsor] products?”

Table 2.2 Direct measures of overall congruence

Sponsorship literature Endorsement literature

Simmons and Becker-Olsen (2006) Rifon et al. (2004) Fleck et al. (2012)
1. dissimilar w similar 1. not compatible w compatible “[Brand X] and [celebrity Y]
2. inconsistent w consistent 2. not a good fit w good fit go well together.”
3. atypical w typical 3. not congruent w congruent “[Brand X] is well matched
4. low fit w high fit with [celebrity Y].”
5. does not make sense “In my opinion, [celebrity Y]
w makes sense is very appropriate as a
celebrity endorser for
[brand X].”

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Congruence effects in sports marketing

Table 2.3 Two-dimensional congruence scale (Fleck and Quester, 2007)

Expectancy Relevancy

1. I am not surprised that this company sponsors this 1. That this company sponsors this event
event. tells me something about it.
2. I would expect this company to sponsor this event. 2. With this sponsorship, I discover a new
3. It was predictable that this company would sponsor aspect of this company.
this event.

Inspired by advertising research (Heckler and Childers, 1992), Fleck and Quester (2007)
validate a two-dimensional congruence scale (see Table 2.3 for the measures) based on
expectancy and relevancy. Consumers clearly understand congruence more in terms of
expectancy (noticing a sponsor at an event where it was expected) than relevancy (learning
something about the sponsor through the event or the sport). To illustrate, Messi and Adidas
would be an expected and relevant pairing, as would be Phil Mickelson and Callaway golf
balls. However, KPMG would not necessarily be expected as a sponsor of golfers, but could
still be considered relevant based on the strategic capacities needed by golf professionals
playing a course as well as by management consultants. Expectancy explains three times more
variance in the congruence construct than relevancy. An adapted version of this scale
successfully measured endorsement congruence as well (Fleck et al., 2012).

Conceptual background of congruence effects

On a general level, congruence effects in sports marketing can be explained by balance theory
(Heider, 1958). Consumers strive to establish harmony in their thoughts about elements they
perceive as belonging together. Confronted with an entity they like, such as an athlete or
sports event, together with a less-valued entity, such as a brand, consumers may form more
positive attitudes toward the brand, or else a less positive attitude toward the celebrity or
event. Congruity theory (Osgood and Tannenbaum, 1955) refines this approach by identifying
degrees of positive and negative evaluations and anticipating that evaluations of both entities
could change. Thus, consumers might form more neutral attitudes toward the liked celebrity
or event and the less-liked brand.
Schema theory offers another means to explain congruence effects. Schemas are cognitive
structures that represent information about objects, their attributes, and the interrelations
among attributes. In a general case, information congruent with existing schemas is easier to
memorize (Alba and Hasher, 1983); items consistent with existing schemas also receive affect
from that schema (Fiske, 1982). In a sponsorship setting,2 general schema theory posits that
when spectators perceive that a sponsor brand fits with an existing schema (for example, a
brand that fits with an event), they better remember the brand, and the affect from the event
schema transfers to the brand schema (or vice versa). Predictions about schema processing
outcomes are not uniform. According to one model of schema theory, expectancy-incongruent
information enjoys better encoding. This “schema-pointer plus tag” model posits that
incongruent information gets encoded in a specific memory location and is therefore better
recognized in subsequent encounters.
The associative network (AN) approach further posits that memory consists of individual
pieces of information, called nodes, that are connected. Thinking about one node (for

19
Brands

example, event, athlete) may activate thinking about another node (for example, brand).
Repeated exposures to typical sports marketing pairings strengthen the associative link of the
two entities, which might also modify the evaluation of our attitude toward these objects,
because attitude reflects the association between an object and its evaluation (Fazio et al.,
1989). Whether expectancy-congruent information is better remembered than expectancy-
incongruent information depends on the level of elaboration. In a sponsorship context,
Simmons and Becker-Olsen (2006) describe interpretations of marketing stimuli as a two-
stage process. First, consumers make relatively effortless inferences about sponsor stimuli on
the basis of their event schemas (or inversely, make inferences about the event on the basis
of their sponsor schemas), such as “This brand fits well with the event” or “Supporting this
event or cause is a good thing.” Second, congruent relationships do not trigger very elaborative
processes, so they lead to milder, albeit positively valued thoughts. Incongruent pairings
instead advance the processing to a level at which consumers assess all available inputs and
potentially correct inferences they drew during the more superficial first processing stage.
This more effortful processing leads to positive valuations if people can resolve the incongruity
(Jagre et al., 2001). The resolution of slightly incongruent messages leads to similar (Simmons
and Becker-Olsen, 2006) or possibly stronger affect; an inability to cope with strong
incongruence may lead to frustration and negative thoughts (Mandler, 1982).
The encoding flexibility model (Sherman et al., 1998) confirms these processes. It posits
that information consistent with prior expectations receives little attention and is not well
encoded. Instead, consumers turn their attention to inconsistent information, which is harder
to comprehend, such as incongruent pairings. This model also differentiates between
perceptual and conceptual encoding of information. Perceptual encoding implies processing
of the physical qualities of the stimulus (for example, recognizing the logo of a sports brand).
Conceptual encoding relates to the attribution of meaning to a stimulus (for example,
perceiving a brand as luxurious). According to the encoding flexibility model, under low
elaboration, perceptual encoding is superior for incongruent information, but conceptual
encoding is better for congruent information (Trendel and Warlop, 2013).
Samu et al. (1999) combine schema and AN theories to explain co-branding and advertising
alliances. Whereas AN theory explains how memory of partner brands gets activated, schema
theory explains the transfer of affect across activated schemas and explains how the perception
of congruence changes over time.

Effects of congruence on sports marketing variables

Congruence affects sports celebrity advertising, sports brand extensions, and sports sponsorship
in many ways. Table 2.4 offers an overview of studies that measure and test the influence of
congruence on key marketing variables, such as memorization, attitude, and purchase
intentions.

Overall effect of congruence

Sponsorship literature, that has provided the vast majority of the studies presented in Table
2.4, regularly documents positive outcomes of congruence. In most cases, congruence seems
to increase rather than decrease attention to sponsors (for example, Deitz et al. 2009), sponsor
memorization (for example, Rodgers, 2004), sponsor brand attitude (for example, McDaniel,
1999), purchase intentions (for example, Rodgers, 2004), and the market value of brands or
companies (for example, Clark et al., 2009). Congruence benefits not only the sponsor

20
Congruence effects in sports marketing

Table 2.4 Outcome of congruence on key marketing variables

Variable investigated Positive effects Negative or neutral effects

Recall/recognition. Barros and Silvestre (2006S), Johar and Pham Trendel and
(1999S), Wakefield et al. (2007S), Cornwell et al. Warlop (2013S),4
(2006S), Grohs et al. (2004S), Trendel and Warlop Olson and
(2013S)3 Thjømøe (2009S)
Image or attitude Simmons and Becker-Olsen (2006S), Speed and Ruth and
(e.g., preference, Thompson (2000S), Weeks et al. (2008S), McDaniel Simonin (2003S),
attractiveness, (1999S), Olson (2010S), Becker-Olsen and Hill Koernig and
favorability of/for (2006S), Coppetti et al. (2009S), Woisetschläger and Boyd (2009E)
sponsor products, Haselhoff (2009S), Donahay and Rosenberger III
word-of-mouth (2007S), Gwinner and Eaton (1999S), Roy and
intentions). Cornwell (2003S), Barros and Silvestre (2006S),
Woisetschläger et al. (2010S), Kim and Na (2007E),
Papadimitriou et al. (2004BE), Fink et al. (2004E),
Koernig and Boyd (2009E)5
Purchase intentions. Fink et al. (2004E), Koernig and Boyd (2009E), McDaniel (1999S),
Papadimitriou et al. (2004BE) Koernig and
Boyd (2009E)6
Financial (stock) Cornwell et al. (2005S), Clark et al. (2009S),
value of brands. Cornwell et al. (2001S)
S
Sponsorship study, EEndorsement study, BEBrand extension study

company or its shareholders but in certain conditions, it also strengthens the brand’s identity,
brand relationships (Becker-Olsen and Hill, 2006), and the image of sponsees (Ruth and
Simonin, 2003).
There is some doubt whether the influence of fit on memorization is always positive.
Some studies (Olson and Thjømøe, 2009;Trendel and Warlop, 2013) reveal that non-congruent
sponsors are easier to recognize than congruent sponsors, in line with Stangor and McMillan’s
(1992) meta-analysis, in which recall of expectancy-incongruent information is higher
overall than that for expectancy-congruent information. Some prior studies may have
overestimated the positive role of congruence on memorization because they ignored
spectators’ tendency to infer sponsor names using congruence heuristics (Johar and Pham,
1999): if they are not sure about a sponsor of an event, spectators tend to cite brands they
think would fit with the event.
A series of empirical results confirm the tenets of the match-up hypothesis for sports
endorsements. Till and Busler (2000) show that respondents offer more positive evaluations of
an energy bar when it is promoted by an athlete, that is, someone who should have expertise
about energy products, rather than by an actor. Athlete characteristics, such as perceived attrac-
tiveness and expertise, positively influence perceived fit, which in turn influences attitudes
toward the endorsed brand (Fink et al., 2004). Even unknown athletes in advertisements for
sports products elicit more favorable responses, in terms of perceived expertise and purchase
intent, than do non-athlete endorsers (Koernig and Boyd, 2009). But not all dimensions of fit
are equally salient in all situations. The endorser characteristic most directly linked to the
promoted product exerts the strongest impact. For example, the expertise of a softball player
has a stronger influence on attitudes toward a softball game and ultimately intentions to buy

21
Brands

tickets for that game than player attractiveness (Fink et al., 2004). Congruence has a positive
general influence on endorsement processes, regardless of whether the endorsers are sports
celebrities or unknown athletes. A single, salient (sports-related) characteristic, such as muscu-
larity for exercise equipment, may even be enough to evoke congruence among consumers.
Congruence also is influential for the extension of existing sports brands into new product
categories, though empirical evidence addressing this point is sparse. Sports managers believe
fit is a key success factor for extensions (Apostolopoulou, 2002), and fans are capable of
assessing the fit of extensions (Walsh et al., 2012). Sports clothing and sports camps thus
produce significantly higher fit perceptions than cosmetics or banking services. Furthermore,
product categories with greater fit are evaluated more positively by fans and invoke higher
purchase intentions (Papadimitriou et al., 2004). Similar to endorsement and sponsorship
literature, the dimensions of congruence vary by the product category of the extensions,
hinting at effects of perceived typicality for sports brand extensions that are similar to those
uncovered in brand extension literature in general (for example, Loken and Ward, 1990).

Mediating and moderating variables of congruence

for sports marketing outcomes
The influence of congruence on memorization, brand attitudes, and other marketing
outcomes is moderated and mediated by several other variables, including message elaboration,
perceived brand motives, and brand prominence. It is also subject to situational traits and the
personal characteristics of the consumers.
Consumers generate more thoughts if they perceive a misfit rather than fit, in a brand
extension (Koernig and Boyd, 2009) or sponsorship (Becker-Olsen and Hill, 2006) context.
If fit is high, perceived cognitive consistency leads to positive thoughts (Speed and Thompson,
2000). Without such cognitive consistency, consumers develop more thoughts about the
misfit, including more negative thoughts toward both partners (Simmons and Becker-Olsen,
2006; Speed and Thompson, 2000; Becker-Olsen and Hill, 2006). Similarly, if an endorser
does not fit, consumers have more negative, more neutral, and fewer positive ad-related
thoughts than if the endorser fits with the product advertised (Koernig and Boyd, 2009). The
negative thoughts due to the lack of relation in the pairing lead to feelings of frustration
(D’Astous and Bitz, 1995) and negative attitudes toward both partners. Between the extremes
of fit and misfit, a moderate level of fit may lead to better brand memorization and more
positive attitudes than perfect fit (Jagre et al., 2001). That is, a small misfit between two entities
may be beneficial, so long as it is perceived as interesting and mostly positive. For example,
unexpected information leads to greater advertising message involvement and more favorable
evaluations (Lee, 2000).
Increased elaboration generates thoughts not only about the misfit itself but also the
context of the pairing in general (Koernig and Boyd, 2009; Simmons and Becker-Olsen,
2006). According to attribution theory, consumers try to understand why sponsors support
an event or cause. Spectators who believe that sponsors have altruistic motives, perceive them
as more credible and develop more positive attitudes toward them (Rifon et al. 2004; Speed
and Thomson, 2000). Sponsors perceived as too aggressive or commercial instead are perceived
less favorably. Colbert et al. (2005) show that congruence interacts with the type of sponsor,
perceived sponsor objectives, and the type of event. For example, some large public companies
in Canada do not need functional matches to be perceived favorably as sponsors, because
their longstanding history of sponsorships makes them seem like “natural” sponsors to many
Canadians.

22
Congruence effects in sports marketing

Analogous to literature on “brandfests”, participation in sponsorship experiences offers

another way to increase congruence and brand attitudes for non-congruent sponsors (Coppetti
et al., 2009; Weeks et al., 2008). Furthermore, sponsors that articulate their good intentions
(Simmons and Becker-Olsen, 2006) can accommodate pairings that initially were perceived
as non-congruent. Articulation and spectator experience both facilitate image transfers
(Coppetti et al., 2009) and memory (Cornwell et al., 2006) for non-congruent sponsors,
though not for already congruent brands. In addition to the positive main effects of congruency,
activation, and altruistic articulation on brand attitudes,Weeks et al. (2008) observe a three-way
interaction among these variables. For less congruent sponsorships, the positive effects of
activation leverage get offset by commercially oriented articulations. For congruent sponsors
using activation, perceptions of a commercial rationale do not negatively alter brand perceptions.
The more expertise a person has with a stimulus category, the more likely they are to
apply schema-based processing. Experts have more compact and readily accessible schemas
and use schema-inconsistent information more than novices do. In a sports context, experts
are equivalent to fans; brand experience is largely influenced by brand prominence. Compared
with less knowledgeable persons, event experts generate more thoughts about the event, as
well as more negative thoughts about sponsor–event combinations (Roy and Cornwell, 2004).
Thus, experts should be more critical of sponsor–event pairings, especially when sponsor
equity is low, because experts also generate more negative thoughts for such low equity
sponsors than do novices (Roy and Cornwell, 2004). Sponsors with high brand equity instead
appear more congruent with the event (Roy and Cornwell, 2003) and invoke more positive
brand attitudes (Rifon et al., 2004). Deitz et al. (2009) highlight how social identification
with a team (i.e., fans) and need for cognition can enhance perceived fit and sponsorship
responses. Identification with a team, being a fan, directly and indirectly, through perceived
team–sponsor congruence, leads to more positive responses to a sponsorship.
Congruence typically appears as a static property, such that the relationship between the
two entities is perceived as congruent or not. However, perceptions of congruence can
change over time. Sponsors or endorsers that do not appear congruent when a deal is first
announced might achieve increased matching over additional encounters. Exposure leads to
habituation, if not liking, and may help people forget about mismatches. According to Dardis
(2009), congruence thus mediates between exposure and brand attitude. Brand extension
research also affirms that congruence is “elastic” (Dardis, 2009: p. 39), in the sense that
promoting an extension is a key success factor. Consumers’ perceptions of congruence thus
appear to evolve over time, depending on communication efforts by the brand and learning
by spectators (Cornwell et al., 2006). The Amstel Gold Race—a popular cycling event in
Europe sponsored by the beer brand, Amstel—offers an extreme example. If asked explicitly,
many cycling fans likely consider an alcoholic beverage and a cycling race a misfit. But over
time, this longstanding sponsor has literally become part of the event (i.e., its name) and is
barely perceived as a sponsor, much less an intruder or misfit. When sponsors have been with
an event long enough, people tend to question the link much less.

Conclusion
Prior literature demonstrates that congruence has a positive effect on brands across three areas
of sports marketing: sports sponsorship, sports celebrity endorsements, and sports brand
extensions.
Considering the many determinants of congruence, brands should always be able to find
some grounds on which to create fit with a sports entity. But because congruence is

23
Brands

context-dependent, dynamic, and subjective, it remains a constant managerial challenge to

determine the most convincing basis of fit. Consumers have different reasons to believe that
two entities fit (or misfit), but some of these reasons are more convincing, or have better
predictive power, than others.
Sports marketing managers seem to believe that congruence has a positive effect for brands
with little prior exposure but a negative one for brands with a strong sponsorship presence
(Henseler et al., 2007). The reality is more complicated. Evaluations of fit and positive sports
marketing partnerships depend on brand-related factors, including brand prominence, brand
equity, sponsorship articulation, and brand history, as well as consumer-related factors, such
as brand experience, brand knowledge, and brand motive attributions.

Notes
1. This chapter does not elaborate on self-congruity or self-image congruity, which is not to be con-
founded with the aforementioned conceptualizations of congruence. Self-congruity refers to the
match between a person’s self-concept and the image of a product or service. In a sport context,
self-congruity is the degree to which spectators think that an event they attend or a product they
buy is congruent with their self-image (for example, Close et al., 2009).
2. Most examples in the following paragraphs refer to sponsorships, yet the conceptual framework
applies equally to endorsements, brand alliances, and brand extensions.
3. Memorization measured in terms of conceptual implicit memory.
4. Memorization measured in terms of perceptual implicit memory.
5. The impact was positive when this study used an unknown athlete.
6. This study found no significant impact when a famous athlete was used.

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26
3
BRAND ACTIVATION IN
SPORTS ORGANIZATIONS
Frank Pons, Lionel Maltese and Marilyn Giroux

Introduction
The level of competition in the sports industry has tremendously increased in recent years
and sports organizations have to fight to get a part of the sports consumer dollar. The global
sports revenue should continue to grow in the coming years and generate more than $145
billion in 2015. From this, the gate revenue accounts for the largest source of income, with
32.6 percent of the total sports market. This is especially true for North America and Europe,
where live events are part of the traditions. However, gate revenue has the smallest growth
compared to other types of income. The second source of revenue is sponsorship with a
significant 28.8 percent of the total income. Sponsorship is the most promising factor for
sports organizations and teams in the coming years, with an average increase rate of 5.3
percent (PWC, 2011). However, in order to be effective, sponsorship activities need the
development of differentiated and strong sports brands that can cater to potential sponsors’
objectives. Therefore, being part of this extremely competitive environment, brand managers
of different sports entities and organizations are focusing more on the notion of brand
development, brand equity and how to better transfer more efficiently these values and equity
from sports properties to sponsors. In addition, sponsorship activities are becoming more and
more subtle as exposure and visibility are not sufficient objectives anymore. In this complex
landscape, brand activation has become critical for sponsors to maximize their return and for
properties to attract sponsors.
This chapter will first highlight the importance of brand and brand equity, then present
activation strategies adapted to different sports contexts.

The importance of brand and brand equity

A brand is a name, a word, a sign, a symbol, an image, or a combination of these elements,
intended to identify the products and services of a company and thereby distinguish them
from those of its competitors (Kapferer, 2004; Keller, 2007). In the context of spectator sports
(professional sports teams and major events), the importance of a strong brand image is even
more crucial. Thus, since the mid-1990s, the brand concept has become omnipresent in the
sports industry (Gladden, 2007). Increased competition from the entertainment industry has

27
Brands

compelled sports events organizers to seek long-term sustainability through developing a

more strategic approach to brands (Bauer, Sauer and Schmitt, 2005). Keller’s (1993) and
De Chernatony’s (2001) contributions have led to the application of some elements of
brand development in the area of spectator sports, modeled in three stages: identity, positioning,
and strategic brand management (Couvelaere and Richelieu, 2005). Even though revenue
growth may constitute the ultimate benefit to be drawn from a strong brand, Gladden (2007)
posits that effective brand management yields four main benefits: regularity of revenue, the
possibility of establishing a premium, greater attractiveness to sponsors, and the opportunity
for brand extension.
Emphasis on brand strength has ushered in a wave of academic research and has had
implications for management consisting of a push to translate brand strength into brand
equity (Bodet and Chanavat, 2010; Chanavat and Bodet, 2009). In recent years, the concept
of brand equity has received special attention in the marketing sector. Dubois and Jolibert
(1992) attempt to grasp the concept through the following definition: “value added through a
brand name and rewarded by the market through greater profits or greater market shares” (our
translation). Clients and members of the channel might perceive this added value as a financial
asset and as a set of favourable associations and behaviours. Many ratings in the financial press
offer an evaluation of brand equity (Forbes and BrandZ ratings, for instance). In one of these
ratings, Manchester United appears among the sports brands with the highest brand equity.
Its brand equity is estimated at nearly $2.23 billion. Furthermore, 55 percent of its supporters
are from Asia, where the English Premier League is the most widespread sports property.
Strong brand equity becomes a factor and provides major financial leverage for the
organization’s strategic development (Gladden and Funk, 2002; O’Cass and Grass, 2004),
allowing it to position itself in comparison to other companies with respect to media
opportunities, sponsorship and brand extension.
At the academic level, numerous studies highlight the complexity of the concept of brand
equity, in particular, the multidimensionality that characterizes it and the absence of consensus
to date regarding its conceptualization and measurement (Schuiling, 2002). Brand equity is
mainly measured through the variable “brand awareness”, understood either as “brand
notoriety” or as “brand image”. Evaluating the impact of brand awareness on the various
elements of the marketing mix can also inform as to the level of brand equity. The stronger
the equity of a sports brand, the easier it is to differentiate from the branding of competitors
and to become a distinct offer, even though the product does not always have concrete
attributes for the consumer (Bobby, 2002; Desbordes, 2008). Strong brand equity also helps
a brand transcend the sports context (event) by creating a “brand community” based on a
structured set of social relations among admirers of a brand (Muniz Jr. and O’Guinn, 2001).
Supporters therefore experience this connection within an event as well as outside of it
(Chanavat and Bodet, 2014).
This connection may have different origins. First, self-identification may explain this
connection with the sports brand and why spectators buy, consume and wear diverse products
related to the team and ultimately contribute to the brand equity of the sports property. In
this perspective, people identify strongly with what the team is and this association is part of
their description of themselves. This is related to the cognitive processes described by
Bhattacharya and Sen (2003), which stipulated that consumers compare and match different
attributes (of brands) to their own characteristics like personality and traits. Fans who
perceived those characteristics to be similar to them feel more proximity and connection to
the team and the validation of their identity (Pritchard et al., 2010). This concept is closely
related to the intensity of the identification to a team (Pritchard et al., 2010).These similarities

28
Brand activation in sports organizations

between the fans’ perceptions of the team and themselves strongly influence their identification
with this specific team. People associate themselves with teams that they believe are comparable
to them (actual self) or what they aspire to be (aspirational self) (Pritchard et al., 2010). Social
identity is also important in understanding how strong brands can develop and favor fan
engagement (Ashforth and Mael 1989). In this mindset, the consumption and affiliation with
a sports brand can increase the sense of belongingness to the sport entity and other similar
individuals (Kwon et al., 2002). A strong motivation for buying branded products is that fans
enjoy the bonding that it creates with other supporters of the team. Supporters often feel an
instant connection with the other fans of the team. Consumers think of other partisans of
the team as having a lot of similarities with them, they have a lot in common, especially
related interests and passion. The decision to purchase products is motivated by this factor
because people want to show to others what they are, what they represent and want to be
part and be a member of this special community. It seems to be a criterion for them to be
included in this community of fans. Real and authentic supporters need to have products
that identify themselves to the specific team. This need for affiliation is known to be an
important factor and a basic need for individuals. Participants feel they share something
special and common with other fans of the team. Individuals, who watch the same game or
participate in the same tailgate, even if they don’t know each other, view this activity as a
mutual experience. People affiliate themselves easily with each other. By wearing and
consuming different products, people express their love for the team and that they are part
of a group of fans and once again this brand engagement and experience contribute to the
reinforcement of the sports brand equity.
In an ethnographic study, Kraszewski (2008) investigated the different consumption acts
of people in North Forth and their identification with the Pittsburgh Steelers, as well as the
type of relationships that the franchise is able to build with fans thanks to strong team brand
equity. In this city, the team’s fans go to the Steelers’ bar where they perform specific rituals.
They asked the bar to carry Iron City beer, the only beer they would drink, as it embodies
Pittsburgh’s blue-collar identity. Fans also brought Steelers merchandise with them, but not
only did they want typical jerseys, they only wanted products sold in Pennsylvania. Fans
establish their credibility and authenticity by wearing products that are sold exclusively on
the local market and enhance the brand equity locally as a complement to the more
comprehensive marketing efforts of the team. In a similar fashion but with a different scope,
sports organizations can rely on their brand equity and identity at a broader level. The Red
Sox Nation is an excellent example of this strategy and exemplifies the role of brand equity.
The expression was first used by a journalist from the Boston Globe in 1986 and showed that
the Boston Red Sox were popular all over North America, not just in the Boston region.
Capitalizing on their brand equity, since 2004 the franchise has offered official citizenship
and access to various newsletters and exclusive merchandise items to their fans. People from
all over America have joined the ranks, as well as some celebrities, including Ben Affleck,
Matt Damon and Jake Gyllenhaal, who are proud to exhibit their preference for this team,
thus helping to reinforce the team’s brand equity and its attractiveness for potential partners.
The preceding paragraphs have focused on the importance of developing strong brand
equity and show that in the particular case of sports brands, it helps them, directly or indirectly,
to expand various revenue streams. For companies and communities, sports constitute an
original avenue with an impressive potential for communicating through sponsoring events.
Indeed, sponsorship activities are perceived as a unique marketing means that perfectly
completes a marketing communication program (Roy and Cornwell, 2004; Chanavat and
Desbordes, 2014).

29
Brands

Sponsorship can deliver increased brand recall and awareness, brand image, brand equity
and purchase intentions (Chanavat and Desbordes, 2014; Barros et al., 2007; Cliffe and
Motion, 2005; Cornwell, 2008; Koo et al., 2005). In addition, it can be an excellent way to
differentiate the brand from other competitors (Fahy et al., 2004). Perceived as less intrusive
than advertising by consumers, sponsorship is viewed as more personal and altruist and tends
to become a part of people’s lives (Aaker and Joachimsthaler, 2000). Sports sponsorship
represents an approved tool to concretely manage its brand image, brand personality and
related aspects of the brand equity. Several factors can influence the effectiveness of
sponsorships. One important factor is the congruence (fit) between the sponsor and the
sponsee. This congruence can be perceived in terms of sponsor product relevance or
functional benefit, and also in terms of personality or image.
Sponsorship deals can represent an important part of revenues for soccer teams who
benefit from their huge success and their field performance to negotiate important kit and
shirt sponsorship deals. For example, Manchester United recently signed the most expensive
supplier kit deal with Adidas. This agreement, which represents an impressive $100 million
per year, came soon after Arsenal’s $47 million per year with PUMA. In addition, teams
secured multi-millions for their shirt sponsorship deal.
However, despite these successes, sponsorship is currently undergoing a significant
evolution in the operational implementation and the new marketing opportunities available
to sponsors. In addition, research on sports sponsorship (Chanavat and Desbordes, 2014;
Cornwell and Maignan, 1998; Walliser, 2006) has often focused on operational techniques
and performance from the perspective of the search for visibility and has long neglected the
use and impact of public relations as well as of partner brand activation and citizen initiatives.
The next section of this chapter will address these two aspects.

Activation strategies
Contrary to scientific literature where the concept of sponsorship activation is seldom studied
(Weeks et al., 2008), activation has become a well-developed activity and issue. Very few
researchers have attempted a clear definition, which Weeks et al. (2008) have done by trying
to differentiate the concept of “leverage” from that of sponsorship activation. According to
these authors, the term “leverage” is used to describe marketing-related tools, communications
and any collateral activity in sponsorship investment. The term “activation” is often used with
respect to situations where the public has any sort of opportunity to interact with the sponsor.
In practice, www.partnershipactivation.com, conceived as a think tank, addresses activation
as the answer to a key question for professionals in the field of communications and sports
sponsorship: “How to connect fans to brands?”
Activation is therefore a concept deriving from sponsorship marketing, which can be
defined as operational methods of sponsorship implementation in events organizing with
the objective of connecting fans (or the direct audience) to sponsors’ brands. The relational
phenomenon of connecting consumers with a brand can be seen as “bringing a brand
alive on the event ground level”. From a strictly operational and pragmatic perspective,
several event communication tools can be used for the purpose of stimulating the con-
nection between the direct audience and a sponsor’s brand. At first centered on brand visibility,
sponsorship has gradually evolved towards a more relational axis (Ferrand et al., 2009),
where the sponsored entity becomes a supporter of client-provider relations management
strategies, as well as of internal human relations. The classical notion of sponsorship has
thus rapidly been replaced by that of sponsorship activation (Weeks et al., 2008), where

30
Brand activation in sports organizations

the objective of connecting club fans, events or athletes to sponsor brands has become a
main priority.
Activation is integrated into programs designed by advertisers so as to develop an
interaction with those who are exposed to sporting competitions. Various tools are available
to advertisers for attracting and interacting with fans (BtC) or companies and institutions
(BtB). The following table summarizes possible sponsorship activation tools and techniques.
This presentation of activation tools shows the range of possible event communication
offers used to activate a brand and to fulfill marketing objectives. From the standpoint of the

Table 3.1 Sponsorship activation tools

Sponsors’ Operational activation tools Description

marketing objectives

Visibility Panel advertising Billboards around grounds, fields and courts (with
increased use of LED technology), radar speed gun,
clock, coolers.
Printed material Placards (4*3), posters, programs, flyers, internal
newspapers and magazines.
Media, multimedia Giant screens, web portals, internal TV or radio.
Human support Jerseys, shorts, ball boys, umpires (line judges), managers
and equipment (clothing, watches), mascots, Pom Pom Girls.
Naming Stadium, arena, stands, team, match, competition, special
event.
Umpiring, scoring Umpire’s chair, scoring (mobile, TV, web, giant screens).
Branding Flags, banners, tents, printed canvas.
Relations Public relations VIP and hospitality areas.
Web marketing, Banners, mailing, newsletters, news feeds, audio and
Web 2.0 video, forum, chat, blog, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr.
Mobile marketing WAP sites, news feeds, cards.
Conventions, seminars Organization of conventions or seminars, which can be
internal or open to the public depending on the topic.
Participation Activities, games Activities and games for the public to participate in, as
well as activities broadcast during game intermissions,
sponsored by certain companies.
Stands, testing facilities Commercial stands, product and service placement,
testing facilities (cars, mobiles, micro-computers).
Supporting objects Use of objects for communication support (for example,
the PMU hand or BNP Paribas “tap tap”).
Involvements Official supplier The partner provides know-how and expertise for the
event: technologies, catering, transportation, security,
environment, energy, waste management.
Cause-related marketing, Partners, organizers and associations set up programs in
eco-citizen sponsorship defense of certain causes (humanitarian, environmental,
educational, solidarity), attempting to harmonize the
participating partners’ expertise and expectations.
Sponsored days With the organizer’s assent, the partner sponsors one or
several theme days related to the partner’s social
commitments (women, children, solidarity).

31
Brands

offeror (event organizer), personalizing the sponsorship offer is a crucial aspect for setting up
the optimal activation system corresponding to the marketing needs of the client (sponsor). In
practice, sponsors often hire specialized agencies to design their activation programs. The latter
can pinpoint the needs of their client, i.e. the future partner, and negotiate the desired
actions with the event offeror. However, many sporting event producers have started
developing this kind of expertise, like UEFA recently, and PSG. Their knowledge of the offer
and their capacity to anticipate the needs of partner brands help them to personalize activations.
The question now is whether the financial and human investment in an activation program
is cost-effective. Although a thriving area of academic research, measurement of the impact of
sponsorship often remains, at a practical level, limited to measuring media impact and equivalent
advertising. Beyond hardly quantifiable declared objectives and expected returns, the search
for or preservation of competitive advantages is a core concern of partner brands. For brands
such as Coca-Cola, which primarily target individuals, activation techniques aiming to
maximize the interaction between the sponsor’s brand and the exposed public often use media
and digital tools. The objectives for services brands are different and often oriented towards
perceptions of the reputation of partner companies reaching a BtB and BtC public.The choice
of activation programs and their deployment integrates internal and external actions where
the search for interpersonal interactions remains central. Consequently, efficiency measurements
must capture relational objectives rather than simple visibility metrics.
Most of the time, event and sports marketing agencies are solicited by sponsors to design
and implement activation programs. The Tour de France and its caravan are known for their
activation system promoting numerous brands, which interact with the public at every stage
of the competition. The copyright holder and organizer, Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO),
recently established an internal activation cell designed to replace agencies. The advantage of
this lies in its capacity to pinpoint the sponsor’s needs and to adapt the activation system to
a sporting event. UEFA, too, is increasingly developing in-house marketing actions intended
for activation partners for the Champions League, Europa League and Euro of soccer.
Considering the wide range of possible activation operations, personalization of offer has
become a major issue. Thus we propose the following approach to formalizing a personalized
activation program:

1 Analysis of the sponsor’s needs either directly on the basis of a brief or by studying the
group’s marketing strategy.
2 Personalization of a partner’s offer by mounting a specific adaptive file containing pro-
posals corresponding to the known or anticipated objectives of the future partner.
3 Operational implementation of the activation program for the event on the ground.
4 Comprehensive evaluation of the program through the development of contextual indi-
cators capable of objectifying expected returns.
5 Helping the program move forward in line with the evaluation results and creating a
sustainable dynamic.

The specific case of eco-responsible activations

In order to stand out from the crowd and with a view to making sponsorship more socially
conscious, many advertisers have moved towards a new form of responsible sponsorship and
activation (Bayle et al., 2011; Babiak and Wolfe, 2006). In France, major groups historically
linked to the public sector (for example, Française des Jeux, EDF, GDF Suez,Veolia, La Poste)
have rapidly adopted this style of support and communication.Very few academic studies have

32
Brand activation in sports organizations

focused on this trend, in particular with respect to the expected returns for sponsors who
adopt this responsible approach to their activation activities.
In this respect, several key factors must be taken into consideration in order to build an
ecosystem whose main ambition is to create an interaction between targets for exposure and
the partner brand. The first stage in configuring such a marketing system consists of choosing
objectives for the sponsor, on the basis of which – the second stage – appropriate activation
tools for attaining these objectives are then selected. The third stage involves constructing the
core of the ecosystem, namely, the creation and mobilization of a community to apply the
set of activation actions capable of boosting the notoriety and promotion of the new
ecosystem’s brand. The next stages focus on evaluating returns of objectives (ROO) in
connection with the sponsor’s strategy for managing its relationship with the client. The sixth
stage involves readjusting objectives ahead of the next annual cycle of implementation of the
comprehensive sponsorship program.

Box 3.1 Fondation La Française des Jeux: Wear your trainers at the office! Mets
tes baskets dans l’entreprise!

La Française de Jeux is a major European lottery operator, offering enjoyable, responsible and safe
sports games and betting for the general public. In 1993, La Française des Jeux created the first
Fondation d’Entreprise (Company Foundation) dedicated to sports, whose action focused on two
main areas: sports and solidarity. As such, every year, the Fondation Française des Jeux supports more
than 50 projects and helps more than 350 high-level athletes.
In the context of its eco-citizen activation programs, La Fondation Française des Jeux partnered
with ELA, an association of parents and patients uniting their efforts in the fight against
leukodystrophies. Since 1994, ELA has been organizing a “Wear your sneakers and fight disease”
week in schools. La Française des Jeux subsequently involved partners from the business world in
this solidarity campaign. The concept put forward by the Fondation Française des Jeux consists in
inviting employees of partner companies to wear trainers to work and measure the steps they take
with pedometers. For each step, the partner contributes one centime to ELA. A communication
campaign bringing together all partners and sporting shows is also planned for the event.
One such day-event, which took place on May 19, 2010 in Vitrolles, Bouches du Rhône,
engaged 690 partners of La Française des Jeux at three of the group’s sites, for a participation rate of
62 percent. A total of 250 employees took part in the activities. At national level, 14 companies
joined the system (including PPR, Puma, Boursorama, Allianz, Generali, Veolia, Mitsubishi). Some
19 million steps were measured, corresponding to a *163,000 contribution made to ELA.
The benefit of this citizen activation operation was to raise funds for an association and to raise
awareness among many employees. The internal company dynamic was also impacted thanks to a
friendly day of solidarity. The media coverage of this original approach earned various actors
significant visibility. Finally, the positioning of La Française des Jeux was promoted to current and
potential commercial targets and key influencers intrinsically suited to sports betting (adult
population with sufficient purchasing power for this act of consumption).

Source: Case study carried out by Observatoire de l’expérience de consommation dans les stades et arénas
Kedge Business School (2011)

33
Brands

In France, many formerly public organizations, now privatized, for example, Française des
Jeux, La Poste, Veolia, EDF, SNCF, prioritize eco-citizen approaches in their choice of
activation programs. Among sports sponsorship actors, La Française des Jeux and Groupe
Generali are most active.
Taking into consideration the objectives of each sponsor, the activation tools of an eco-
citizen sponsorship operation also include the entire range of those presented in Table 3.1
(visibility, relations, participation and involvement). The activation methods of eco-citizen
sponsorship can be framed according to two positionings:

• The copyright holder establishes its eco-citizen strategy and proposes to its partners to
integrate its system by activating their sponsorship mainly in the areas related to the core
of their business or to their own CSR policy. In this case, activation programs are planned
by the event organizer (Babiak and Wolfe, 2006), while partners validate the operational
methods.
• The sponsor imposes its CRS approach in the framework of its eco-citizen activation,
and the copyright holder adapts its offer so as to satisfy its client’s project specifications.
In this context, partners often solicit specialized agencies to design, monitor and evaluate
the activation program.

BNP Paribas’s “We are Tennis” ecosystem

In 2013, BNP Paribas celebrated its 40th year of partnership with Roland Garros. A major
partner of tennis and tennis events (Davis Cup, Fed Cup, Roland Garros, ATP and WTA
tours), BNP Paribas developed a new community system called “We are Tennis” three years
ago. At first, it was only a live portal for information on tennis along with a blog and social
media presented by journalists attending tennis events worldwide. The portal included
signposting and stands featuring the colours of the brand and offering numerous activities,
including the possibility of commenting live on match points or uploading videos on Internet
during tournaments.
BNP Paribas had oriented its sponsorship strategy towards two objectives:

• Visibility of the brand on the court and therefore a robust search for notoriety;
and
• Exploiting the opportunity that events offer to develop relationships by inviting present
and prospective clients, individuals and companies (hospitality service).

The “We are Tennis” ecosystem introduced a third objective: becoming an operator by
galvanizing the community of tennis fans under an umbrella brand. Besides the physical
support enabling the organization of activities stands, the citizen element was recently
integrated into the system through the operation “We are Tennis at Heart.”
An analysis of BNP Paribas’s overall system and choice of activation methods regarding
each tennis event it supported shows that two classic activities are always implemented:
optimization of BNP Paribas’s brand visibility and public relations operations. The third
objective was developed by the group three years ago with the aim of becoming a more
involved participant by interacting with tennis fans on site and online. This is what is meant
by creating an ecosystem in the form of an expanding community. The possibility of sharing
digital and sporting and other community content online, coupled with numerous activities
and games, allows for interaction with event-exposed targets and with fans of professional

34
Brand activation in sports organizations

Table 3.2 The “We are Tennis” ecosystem

Objectives Choice of activations Ecosystem creation

Visibility Back-court tarps, printed material, Communication (notoriety) regarding the

media, ball boys, Hawk Eye, branding. “We are Tennis” ecosystem (other than
back-court tarps): TV, press, branding.
Relationships Hospitality, PR, large public stands, Promotion (emulation) of the “We are
game-gifts (tennis balls, trophy awards). Tennis” ecosystem: Stands, games,
participatory sponsorship.
Reputation Social media, blog, fan community of Creating interaction (CRM–FRM):
the “We are Tennis” brand, live and expanding community: “We are Tennis”
offset content, “We are Tennis at Heart” virtual community.
(hospitals, star program).

tennis players. It is important to note that this activity, which is at the core of the community
ecosystem, is stimulated in two ways:

• Visibility of the brand and therefore of the “We are Tennis” ecosystem on all printed
material (except panel advertising on tennis courts), as well as on media, enabling the
development of its notoriety; and
• A reception area for BNP Paribas guests (stands for the general public and hospitality
areas) integrating various competitive games and activities.

The “We are Tennis” ecosystem is integrated into BNP Paribas’s overall sports sponsorship
strategy and is thus composed of a set of activations including a central digital activation, thus
establishing an interaction between tennis fans and the “We are Tennis” brand, supported by
peripheral activations acting as stimulants in terms of notoriety and emulation. Finally, thanks
to this system, BNP Paribas has the opportunity to integrate its sponsorship actions as an
ecosystem into its customer relationship management policy with a view to creating and
maintaining customer loyalty. In this regard and in the context of sporting events, the brand
purveyor can plan to develop its Customer Relationship Management (CRM) strategy by
incorporating a Fan Relationship Management (FRM) strategy, as such benefiting from the
emotional impact induced by exposure to the event in question.

Conclusion
The purpose of this section was to present a conceptual and an operational approach to the
sponsorship action and offer and its activations. In an economic system where the pursuit of
competitive advantages remains a major priority for companies, the search for differentiation
can be optimized through ecosystem constructs co-created by copyright holders, certain
specialized agencies, and partner brands. The use of activation tools is part of a range of
increasingly dominant strategy options at the managerial level, even though academic studies
in this field remain relatively limited. For example, thanks to its “caravan,” the Tour de France
is likely considered by many product-producing businesses as a spectator sport producer that
provides fertile ground for activations. The creation of new sporting avenues should increase
offers and will enable partners to interact with certain targets in modern stadiums and arenas,

35
Brands

thus generating a plethora of activation initiatives, even though it remains difficult for sponsors
and copyright holders to evaluate returns on investments in an objective and comprehensive
manner. The importance of building client relationships in marketing nevertheless suggests
that activation holds great promise for the future.

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37
4
The STRATEGIC BRANDING
OF A FOOTBALL CLUB
The case of Interbrand and Shakhtar Donetsk

Paolo Guenzi and Manfredi Ricca

Branding and the world of sports

There are four key aspects to consider when evaluating a product’s brand equity (Aaker, 1991):

1 Perceived quality.
2 Brand loyalty.
3 Brand awareness.
4 Brand associations.

Just as for any organization, each of these aspects is essential for sports clubs as well, in order
to create advantageous relationships with fans and with other key stakeholders, particularly
current and potential sponsors. When a team has strong brand equity, its offering is perceived
as high quality, its fans are unconditionally loyal, its brand name is widely recognized and its
brand enjoys a positive image. All these factors can generate broader media coverage, lucrative
merchandising activity, higher ticket sales with more season passes, and a more upbeat
atmosphere during sporting events, making it easier to find sponsors.
The importance of branding in sports, especially for sports teams, is illustrated by the high
number of academic publications on topics such as brand equity (for example, Ross, 2006;
Gladden and Milne, 1999; Bauer, Sauer and Schmitt, 2005; Richelieu and Pons, 2006),
brand associations (for example, Ross, James and Vargas, 2006), brand personality (for
example, Braunstein and Ross, 2010), brand extension (for example, Apostolopoulou, 2002;
Walsh and Lee, 2012), brand dilution (Walsh and Ross, 2010), brand architecture in
professional sports leagues and teams (Kunkel, Funk and Hill, 2013), human brands in sports
(Carlson and Donavan, 2013), the impact of sponsorship on a club’s brand equity (Henseler,
Wilson and Westberg, 2011), the impact of logos on brand personality in sports (Watkin and
Gonzenbach, 2013), brand alliances (Yupin, Mengze and Goldfarb, 2009), brand recall and
recognition for sports organizations (Walsh, Kim and Ross, 2008), and sports brand
positioning (Ferreira, Hall and Bennett, 2008).
According to Gladden, Irwin and Sutton (2001); the variables that impact brand equity
can be grouped into three macro-categories:

38
Strategic branding of a football club

1 The characteristics of the product offered by the sports organization (with a club, for
instance, the players and the coach, which equate to success on the field and quality of
play).
2 The specific traits of the sports organization (its history and tradition).
3 The characteristics of the geographic and competitive context of the sports organization,
as well as its ability to impact the market (for example, through local media coverage).

Worth noting is that in this model, for a professional sports club a winning record is only
one of the determinants of brand equity, and not necessarily even the most important one.
Other significant variables include the number and quality of potential target customers, the
intensity of competition in the club’s home territory, the team’s history and traditions, the
decisions concerning club management from a technical or sports standpoint. Beyond these
considerations, marketing activities also serve to increase the club’s brand equity, in particular,
by growing brand awareness and creating and managing the brand image with respect to the
final customers (fans and spectators), the media, and business partners.
It has been suggested that spectator-based brand equity in sports is ultimately comprised
of brand awareness and brand associations (Ross, 2006), and these brand components have
the potential for significant impact on the sports organization’s revenue streams, such as ticket
and licensed merchandise sales. Gladden and Funk (2002) investigated brand associations in
the specific field of sports and developed the Team Association Model (TAM): starting from
the three categories proposed by Keller (1993), i.e. attributes, benefits and attitudes, sixteen
dimensions were identified as potential constructs believed to underlie brand associations in
sports. Later, Ross, James, and Vargas (2006) developed the Team Brand Association Scale
(TBAS), which identifies eleven types of brand associations held by consumers in the
professional sports setting. These associations are: (1) the non-player personnel associated with
a particular sports team (Non-player Personnel); (2) the quality, performance, or success of a
team (Team Success); (3) the history of a particular sports team (Team History); (4) the
stadium and community in which the team calls “home” (Stadium Community); (5) specific
characteristics that a team displays on the field of play (Team-play Characteristics); (6) the
identifying marks associated with a specific sports team (Brand Mark); (7) the sports
organization’s dedication to fans of the team (Organizational Attributes); (8) eating and
consuming beverages at the stadium (Concessions); (9) associating with others such as friends
and other fans of team (Social Interaction); (10) the competition among teams that are known
to be historically significant competitors (Rivalry); and (11) an individual’s enduring affiliation
to a particular sports team (Commitment).
When a team enjoys strong brand equity, this sets a virtuous circle in motion as outlined
below:

1 Marketing processes that aim to enhance the team’s brand equity (for example, by
attracting the attention of the general public, the media, and sponsors; beyond
having a winning track record) make a major contribution to improving customer equity
as well.
2 Customer equity, which the club generates by attracting new fans, leads to a broader
customer base on one hand, and more intense involvement and loyalty of long-time fans
on the other. This gives a sizable boost to the number of season-ticket holders and spec-
tators at live matches and through different media. Beyond this, fans are also more likely
to buy club merchandise, which prompts the organization to pursue brand extension
strategies. All this paves the way to acquiring media equity.

39
Brands

3 Media equity refers to the attention and interest that various media dedicate to an
organization. When a sports organization has a dedicated, loyal, highly-involved fan base,
the media can count on a broad, stable audience. For the club, this translates into more
media coverage, which equates to greater brand exposure, continually reinforcing brand
awareness and resulting in higher-value contracts with these media for broadcasting
rights for team matches.
4 Media equity, in turn, means increasing possible touchpoints with potential customers
(who are often fans of other clubs when matches are broadcast on television). In this way,
the club grows the target market for its offering.
5 So customer equity and media equity mutually reinforce one another, and this process
is closely linked to the team’s ability to attract and connect with other companies
(through sponsorships and various other kinds of partnerships), establishing and building
lucrative relationships with them. There are certain key factors that would attract a
company looking to tap into the communicative and promotional potential of associating
its brand with a sports club: a team with a broad, active customer base on one hand (from
fans to occasional television viewers), and on the other, a platform provided by media
coverage of the team and team activities.
6 A team’s brand equity also translates into its ability to attract all-star athletes and the
most qualified human resources for club management. The image of a winning club –
more importantly one with a promising future – represents powerful forces of attraction
for top-tier players and coaches (Gilson, 2000). After all, these are the people with the
power to build up the team’s brand equity, because world-class athletes and coaches help
the club draw the attention of the general public, media and sponsors.

According to Richelieu et al. (2008), the process of managing brand equity for a sports
organization such as a football club should start with a precise definition of the identity of
that organization. This identity should then serve as a guideline for developing a consistent
marketing positioning strategy, which lays the foundation for coordinated marketing initiatives.
Taken together these initiatives should convey to the market a certain perception of brand
equity, a perception based on tangibles and intangibles. The first include the logo, the mascot,
and the stadium; the second refer to a sense of belonging and community among the
club’s fans.
The process of building brand equity is shaped in part by internal factors that the sports
organization can control (for example, merchandising, websites and web channels, organizing
tournaments and recruiting top-level athletes and coaches, and so forth). Other factors are
external, such as rivalries with other teams, the image of the home city or region, as so on.
This overview of the literature on branding in sports highlights the lack of empirical
investigations on the processes of strategic development of a new brand and strategic
re-branding of an existing brand (Milligan, 2009). Furthermore, the extant literature is largely
based on empirical analyses run in the United States. Therefore, here we focus on the case
of the strategic re-branding of an existing club in Ukraine.

Shaktar Donetsk: history of the club

Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk was formed in May 1936 and was initially named Stakhanovets,
from Aleksei Stakhanov, a coal-miner in the Donbass region and propaganda celebrity in 1935.
The team changed its name in July 1946 to Shakhtyor, the Russian word for “miner”. In the
1960s, the club reached the finals of the USSR Cup three times, winning it twice in 1961 and

40
Strategic branding of a football club

1962. In 1980 and 1983, Shakhtar brought home the crystal USSR Cup to Donetsk and in
1983, it won the USSR Super Cup. In the newly independent Ukraine, Shakhtar and Dynamo
Kyiv became perennial first place competitors. The team won the Ukrainian Cup three times
in 1995, 1997 and 2001. The club won their first Ukrainian Premier League title in the
2001–02 season. They were also victorious in the 2001–02 Ukrainian Cup. In 2004, coach
Mircea Lucescu won the 2003–04 Ukrainian Cup, and after three months, for the first time
in club history the club made it to the UEFA Champions League group stage. They won their
second Premier League title in the 2004–05 season and retained the Premier League crown
in the 2005–06 season, when they managed to win their first Super Cup title. Shakhtar
regained the title in the 2007–08 season, when they were also victorious in the Ukrainian
Cup. Shakhtar’s attendance levels at league matches have continually risen over the years to a
point where they averaged 36,983 spectators over the 2011–12 Premier League season. In
2009, they became the second Ukrainian team to win a European competition (and the first
since independence), and the first to win the UEFA Cup. Shakhtar won the Premier League
title in the 2009–10 season. The 2010–11 season was also very successful for Shakhtar: they
reached the quarter-final stage of the Champions League, they won the Premier League,
Ukrainian Cup, and the Super Cup. In 2011, the IFFHS gave Shakhtar a special award for
making the biggest progress of the decade among football clubs. They then went on to win
the Premier League and Ukrainian Cup in the 2011–12 season. In the 2012–13 season Shakhtar
won the Premier League, Cup and Super Cup. Shakhtar won the 2014 United Supercup, a
tournament between the top-two placed clubs of Ukraine and of Russia, which strengthened
Shakhtar’s status as the strongest club in Eastern Europe. At the end of the 2013–14 season,
Shakhtar won the Ukraine Premier League and the Ukrainian Super Cup.

Rebranding Shakhtar: formulating a new strategy

In the mid-2000s, the new management team set out two strategic objectives for the five years
to follow:

1 Augment the weight of the team on the international scene, ensuring that Shakhtar
would become a regular player in European competitions, aiming to bring home the top
European trophies.
2 Consolidate the role of the club at a local level, establishing Shakhtar as major promoter
of the culture of football in the Ukraine.

The club’s management was convinced that to reach these objectives, the image of Shakhtar
had to evolve from a post-Soviet era football team to the pride of all of Eastern Europe. The
management team realized that what was lacking was a deep understanding of the team’s
values among the Ukrainian football fans. This knowledge would provide the foundations for
designing a strategy that would make the team’s objectives attainable. What followed was the
club’s decision to invest in market research to fill this knowledge gap.
The findings were encouraging. Shakhtar enjoyed a positive image among its own fans
and football fans in general. The team was recognized as having ambition, technical quality,
a desire to grow, willingness to invest and a forward-looking attitude: all associations that the
new strategic plan could leverage. At the same time, though, the perception emerged that
many of these positive factors had not yet translated into success at an athletic or managerial
level. Case in point, opinion on the most recent team logo (see Figure 4.2 later) wasn’t
particularly positive.

41
Brands

The management team realized that the lack of a clear brand identity was the main reason
the team didn’t have a distinctive positioning among football fans. Specifically, preserving the
existing, unclear identity would work against communicating change. This prompted the club
to turn to a consulting company specialized in branding, Interbrand, which would develop a
branding strategy to establish a new brand identity, complete with a new set of brand elements
and an appropriate brand architecture.

Interbrand
Interbrand, a division of Omnicom Group (NYSE: OMC), is a global branding consultancy
company founded in London in 1974. The company’s focus is the creation and management
of brand value, a notion it developed in the 1980s using its breakthrough Brand Valuation
methodology, allowing to identify a brand’s financial worth. Interbrand combines diverse left-
and right-brain branding disciplines to assist companies with market intelligence, strategic
advice, experience creation, and activation. Today, Interbrand is the largest company of its kind
in the world, with more than 30 offices around the world. Interbrand defines a brand as:

A living business asset, brought to life across all touchpoints, which, if properly
managed, creates identification, differentiation and value. Value from a consumer
perspective is the promise and delivery of an experience; from a business perspective
it is the security of future earnings.

There are different ways of looking at brand equity. However, the notion of brands as powerful
business assets implies the ultimate measure of success should be sustainable economic value,
and this should apply to a sports brand, too. There are two ways in which a brand builds value:
by generating higher expected earnings by making a promise, and by mitigating their risk by
delivering upon that promise. In the case of a football club, there are several interconnections
that link the brand to the business value. To give one example, a stronger brand is more
attractive to football talent, creating a higher likelihood of sports success and, therefore, the
opportunity for higher revenues through rights, attendance and merchandising.
Beyond that, brands are crucial to football clubs for two reasons. First, they are key to
preference and loyalty. Whilst in other categories the brand plays a role alongside other factors
such as product performance, in football the role of brand is dominant, and outbalances the
actual performance (sports results). Second, brands in football solve the often critical tension
between business and passion. They bridge the two hemispheres by being an asset and a
symbol; brands ensure that passion is converted into business sustainability. Conversely, brands
are the insurance policy against business choices, which compromise on the ethos and the
values of the club. These were the deepest principles with which the Shakhtar brand
development process was approached.

The new Shakhtar brand

To cast the new brand in the same mold that shaped the values and ambitions of the club,
the management turned to Interbrand, tasking the company with developing a brand identity
to reflect the excellence that the club was striving to achieve, to set up a clear and sharp brand
positioning, and to create an updated, representative visual identity. This is how Manfredi
Ricca, Managing Director of Interbrand’s Italian office, and leader of the project, explains
how these objectives were achieved:

42
Strategic branding of a football club

Even before we started, the Club had always shown a strong sensitivity toward the
brand, managing it carefully and consistently. So as we began working with the club’s
management we realized we were partnering with an uncommon organization,
unified by a common sense of purpose, a high level of professionalism, and a genuine
ambition. The Club was extremely disciplined in managing the brand’s touchpoints
(communication, website, merchandising, and so on). However, what was missing
was a shared, sharp definition of what the brand should stand for, and compelling
design codes that could do justice to the club’s status and vision. I believe that our
most important contribution was to use the brand to make the business and sports
strategy visible and understandable internally and externally. In other words, we
changed the conversation from “logo” to “brand”; a shift that came natural to a club
that, not by chance, hired a brand consultancy rather than the typical design or ad
agency, however competent. Brands are powerful catalysts for change, and the
Shakhtar story is a compelling example of that.

The rigorous process that Interbrand crafted for the Shakhtar brand’s development can be
summed up as depicted in Figure 4.1.

We kicked off the project by carrying out an in-depth analysis, including reviewing
all existing research material as well as holding dozens of hours of interviews with
the management, the technical staff and even the players. This enabled us to immerse
ourselves into the Club’s vision, both in terms of sport and business, and to identify
the role that the brand should play. We soon realized that the brand wasn’t expressing
the platform of excellence that the club had begun to build, from the world-class
management team to the magnificent sports center, from the medical center to the
new stadium (then under construction), which would be the first in Eastern Europe
to earn a five-star UEFA rating. All this laid the foundations for the Brand Definition
– a concise but compelling summary of Shakhtar’s philosophy, bringing together
Vision, Mission, Values and Personality. The Brand Definition represents the brand’s
DNA, and guides everything that the brand has to be, say, and do. We defined
Shakhtar’s Mission as being the ambassador of Ukrainian football in the world, and
of international football in the Ukraine. A critical role, which in a way sees the Club
as the celebration of a city and a region.
This foundation was designed to inspire the entire experience created by the
brand – ideally from the team’s playing style to the communication and all that’s in
between, including the brand architecture, i.e. the portfolio of brands associated to
the Shakhtar brand (among which the Donbass Arena brand). The new Shakhtar
brand was launched in December 2007, a tough time for the club from a sports
perspective. It served as a kind of reboot in many ways.

Brand
Brand Brand
Analysis > portfolio Implementation
definition design
management

Figure 4.1 Interbrand’s model for the development of the Shakhtar Donetsk brand
Source: Picture courtesy of Interbrand

43
Brands

Developing a branding strategy is a process that begins by clearly determining what the brand
is meant to represent, which positioning it will have within the relevant context and how it
can serve the business objectives. The brand identity emerging from Interbrand’s work with
the club’s management consisted of the following elements:
Vision. To be the ambassador of Ukrainian football in the world and of international
football in Ukraine, promoting the culture of the sports in the country.
Mission. To be the team that redefines the boundaries and the standards of excellence in
football in Ukraine.
The next step was to identify the values underpinning this identity, values that would serve
to more clearly delineate brand positioning.
Youth
Loyalty
Determination
Knowledge
Interbrand developed a concise Brand Proposition that captures the brand’s overall ethos:
“Beyond boundaries”.

New brand elements: the logo

Between 1936 and 2007 the team logo changed several times: a blue hexagon with a red “C”
in the centre and a jack hammer on top (1936); a black and white symbol with the club’s
name (1946); two crossed hammers inside a circle with the name “Shakytyor Donetsk” (1965);
and the previous logo (Figure 4.2), which didn’t get favorable reviews from the sample of
fans interviewed for the study. In fact, it was seen as quite traditional, predictable (with its
round shape, a football in the centre, and a green pitch), and muddled (using three languages:
Ukrainian, Russian, and English).
The centrepiece of the new visual identity is the new logo developed by Interbrand (see
Figure 4.3) that encapsulates a variety of meanings. It capitalizes on the origin of the club as
the coalminers’ team through the traditional orange and black colours, expressing the contrast

Figure 4.2 The team logo: 2006 Figure 4.3 The new logo
Source: Picture courtesy of Interbrand Source: Picture courtesy of Interbrand

44
Strategic branding of a football club

between the darkness of mines and brightness of the sun. The lower black part of the logo
focuses on the club’s origins by reintroducing the year of foundation and the symbol of
miners’ labour: the crossed hammers. Both were disappointingly absent in the preceding logo.
This not only communicates the club’s heritage, but also reflects President Rinat Akhmetov’s
desire: “I am proud of having been born and brought up in Donetsk. Donetsk is the capital
of Donbass, a symbol of hard labour. I want the world to know about this region.”1
A flame burns in the centre of the upper part of the logo, symbolizing the natural energy
entrapped in the earth of the coalmining region of Donbass, and the “flame of passion”
driving the Club’s supporters, players, officials. The flame is surrounded by a black shape,
evoking the mine galleries and the fact that energy is trapped within every chunk of coal.
The strongly distinctive pointed shape of the logo reflects the value of determination,
providing a strong sense of direction. The sharpness of its design evokes the renowned “fighter
character” of the team. The shape is a courageous break from the standard shapes of the
football industry.
The strategic meaning and implications of the development and launch of the new logo
should not be underestimated and are clearly pointed out in the words used by the club’s top
managers during the official presentation of the new logo:

Our previous crest was not revealing our ambitions. If we conducted an opinion
poll to find out what people were thinking about a football club that have such a
crest, you would hear them saying: this is a team from the middle of the league table
and all they can do is winning the third place in the domestic championship. These
are not our ambitions. We decided after a thorough consideration, to change the
crest that would tell three main things about our team: where we come from, who
we are and where are we heading to. We were born in an industrial region. Our fans
are strong courageous and hard-working people. Who we are – we are the club that
live up to European standards. And, finally, where we are heading to – our plan is
to win European trophies. We shall become one of Europe’s strongest clubs. We shall
be representing the entire nation on the European football stage.
Rinat Leonidovich Akhmetov, President2

For our Club this is a very serious, significant event. This is not only the change of
an emblem. This is the idea of the philosophy of our club, which consists of our
brand’s mission, values, essence, and finally our purposes. This is not simply about
fancy pictures. This is the expression of our past, present and future. Our symbol
expresses the aggressiveness of our plans, which compel us to establish standards in
football. And in this we see the basic mission of our club.
Sergey Palkin, CEO3

New brand elements: the name

One of the complexities in rebranding the club lay in the local cultural sensitivity, something
that gains a tragic status at the time of this writing, when Donetsk is one of the epicentres
of unrest and violence in the context of Ukraine’s unstable political situation.The club already
had a name: shakhtar means miner in Ukrainian. This name has always been a point of pride
for the club, underscoring its origins as the miners’ football representative. In keeping with
the research findings, the first objective of the project was to sort out the confusion surrounding
the languages and lettering used in the logo: Russian, the commonly spoken language in the

45
Brands

Donbass region, or Ukrainian, the official language? With the local Cyrillic, or the more
internationally widespread Latin script? Ultimately the decision was based upon the agreed
mission as the “ambassador of Ukrainian football”, which directed the decision towards the
use of the Ukrainian–Cyrillic combination.

The new brand architecture

The next step was to align the club’s entire product and communication strategy with the
new brand strategy. To do so, Interbrand developed a brand architecture with the goal of
defining exactly where and how to use the Shakhtar brand without diluting it. The brand
architecture was built on three hierarchical levels, with the purpose of achieving effectiveness
and efficiency in communication. First, the Shakhtar masterbrand represents the vertex of
the portfolio. Using a masterbrand-driven approach enables each component of the portfolio
to leverage the equity of the Shakhtar brand in a broader context. The second level consists
of sub-brands, which identify specific activities that the club manages either directly or by
partnering with other organizations. Sub-brands are used, for example, for specific
communication activities. The club owns an official website (around 14.7 million hits during
the 2011–12 season), a club newspaper (150,000 copies sold during the same season), an
in-house newsletter, pre-match distribution programmes (letters and flyers), an online
television channel (FCSD.tv), all marked with the corporate logo. Figures 4.4 and 4.5 show
some examples.
The third and final level is made up of endorsed brands, i.e. brands with their own unique
images but which tap into the positive associations of the master brand. An example is the
Donbass Arena, which has its own logo, inspired by the club’s identity (Figure 4.6). A close,
but separate, design personality achieves precisely this goal, communicating the relationship
between the club and the stadium. The logo is widely used in the stadium to characterize
restaurants, membership clubs, etc. (see Figures 4.7, 4.8 and 4.9).
The new logo has also supported a strong increase in revenue-generating activities (see
Figure 4.10). For example, merchandising sales grew by 30% for the 2008–09 season compared
to the previous year, as a result of providing a contemporary, distinctive identity and leveraging
an excellent distribution chain. This consists of seven official Shakhtar Donetsk stores,
including the impressive 390-square-metre Fan Shop in the Donbass Arena.

Figures 4.4 and 4.5 Examples of using the Shakhtar logo in the club’s communication activities
Source: Pictures courtesy of Interbrand

46
Figure 4.6 The Donbass Arena logo
Source: Picture courtesy of Interbrand

Figures 4.7, 4.8 and 4.9 Examples of using the Donbass Arena logo in the stadium
Source: Pictures courtesy of Interbrand

47
Brands

Figure 4.10 A preliminary study for Shakhtar’s merchandising, displaying the logo’s power
Source: Picture courtesy of Interbrand

Shakhtar Donetsk today

The club’s victories and its positive commercial results are the result of a long-term project
developed by Ukrainian magnate, Rinat Akhmetov, who took over as club president on 11
October 1996. Akhmetov had the ambition to see his club compete on the same level as the
great European clubs, not only in the quality of play, but the managerial approach as well.
The first investments were concentrated on raising the bar on technical skills: Akhmetov hired
coaches and players with international stature, and also opened a football school and the
Kirsha training centre, one of the most innovative sports facilities in Europe. The centrepiece
of all this is the Donbass Arena, the first UEFA five-star stadium in Eastern Europe. The
50,000-seat venue offers high entertainment value thanks to four mascots, music and mega-
screens inside the arena that are used not only to display information, but also simply for
audience enjoyment (for example, the “kiss cam”). There are also 500 monitors that show
press conferences and similar events in addition to advertising. Often, the stadium hosts other
activities as well, such as concerts by Ukrainian celebrities, cheerleading shows, and
personalized initiatives such as small opera performances for the “Diamond Club” (the most
prestigious members), or children’s entertainment for the “Family Club”.
The club’s communication has also been ramped up considerably. The official website,
http://shakhtar.com, is in Ukrainian but is also translated into Russian, Portuguese and
English; foreign fans can even download it in pdf format on their cell phones. The club also
has a magazine that is distributed throughout the television station that broadcasts programs
dedicated exclusively to Shakhtar. The club also has its own YouTube channel.
The successful growth of Shakhtar is witnessed by many performance indicators:4 the
average attendance at the stadium grew from 27,300 spectators in the 2009–10 season, to
37,050 in the 2011–12 season, which is largely above the average attendance of the major
European championship. In the same time period, season ticket holders grew from 17,500 to
23,200 and visitors of the club’s website grew from 9.5 million to 14.7 million people. The
club’s Facebook fans in the 2011–12 football year exceeded 59,000, which was four times
more than in the previous season. Income from commercial activities grew by 20% in the
same period, and average spending for merchandising grew by 7%. More than 23,500 team
scarves and 3,500 team t-shirts were sold. In the 2011–12 season, revenues from commercial

48
Strategic branding of a football club

activities accounted for 49% of total revenues, higher than all of the top 20 European clubs
with the exception of a couple of German teams (Deloitte, 2013).
Shakhtar’s success can be attributed to a combination of factors. Beyond an impressive
improvement in the team’s athletic performance, the quality of management throughout the
organization is noteworthy, and the creation of a brand with an identity and a positioning
that stand out in the world of football at a national and international level. A fundamental
aspect in achieving the club’s ambitious goals has been working on the club’s brand equity.
Shakhtar Donetsk has become one of the best-managed football brands in Europe, has
diversified revenue sources, has an excellent reputation for first-rate management and a
variety of assets: one such asset is its brand. From the post-Soviet club it once was, Shakhtar
is now recognized as one of the rising stars on the European football scene. In 2014, Shakhtar’s
team and management relocated to Western Ukraine as a consequence of the tragic events
in the Donbass Region, following political unrest and the ensuing annexation of Crimea by
the Russian Federation. Despite the upheaval, Shakhtar finished second place in the 2014–15
Ukrainian Premier league.

Notes
1. Shakhtar Donetsk 2009 Calendar.
2. http://shakhtar.com/en/news/5756
3. Press conference December 6th, 2007, Donetsk. Partly recorded on www.ukrrudprom.com/digest/
dfghgfg061207.html
4. Shakhtar Donetsk Annual Report 2011–2012.

References
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Apostolopoulou, A. (2002). Brand extensions by U.S. professional sport teams: Motivations and keys to
success. Sport Marketing Quarterly, 11(1), 205–214.
Bauer, H. H., Sauer, N. E. and Schmitt, P. (2005). Customer-based brand equity in the team sport
industry: Operationalization and impact on the economic success of sport teams, European Journal of
Marketing, 39(5/6), 496–513.
Braunstein, J. and Ross, S. (2010). Brand personality in sport: Dimension analysis and general scale
development. Sport Marketing Quarterly, 19(1), 8–16.
Carlson, B. D. and Donavan, D. T. (2013). Human brands in sport: Athlete brand personality and
identification, Journal of Sport Management, 27(3), 193–206.
Deloitte (2013). Football Money League Report.
Ferreira, M., Hall, T. K. and Bennett, G. (2008). Exploring brand positioning in a sponsorship context:
A correspondence analysis of the Dew Action Sports Tour, Journal of Sport Management, 22,
734–761.
Gilson, C. (2000). Peak performance: business lessons from the world’s top sports organizations, Harper Collins.
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sport: Empirical evidence from consumers of professional sport. Journal of Sport Management, 16(1),
54–81.
Gladden, J. and Milne, G. (1999). Examining the importance of brand equity in professional sports. Sport
Marketing Quarterly, 8(1), 21–29.
Gladden, J., Irwin, R. and Sutton, W. (2001). Managing North American professional sport teams in the
new millennium: A focus on building brand equity. Journal of Sport Management, 15, 297–317.
Henseler, J., Wilson, B. and Westberg, K. (2011). Managers’ perceptions of the impact of sport
sponsorship on brand equity: Which aspects of the sponsorship matter most? Sport Marketing
Quarterly, 20(1), 7–21.
Keller, K. (1993). Conceptualizing, measuring, and managing customer based brand equity, Journal of
Marketing, 57(1), 1–22.

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Kunkel, T., Funk, D. C. and Hill, B. (2013). Brand architecture, drivers of consumer involvement, and
brand loyalty with professional sport leagues and teams, Journal of Sport Management, 27(3),
177–192.
Milligan, A. (2009). Building a sports brand, Journal of Sponsorship, 2(3), 231–240.
Richelieu, A. and Pons, F. (2006).Toronto Maple Leafs vs Football Club Barcelona: How legendary sports
teams built their brand equity. International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, 7(1),
231–250.
Richelieu, A., Lopez, S. and Desbordes, M. (2008). The internationalisation of a sports team brand:
The case of European soccer teams. International Journal of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship, 10(1),
29–44.
Ross, S. D. (2006). A conceptual framework for understanding spectator-based brand equity. Journal of
Sport Management, 20, 22–38.
Ross, S. D., James, J. and Vargas, P. (2006). Development of a scale to measure team brand associations
in professional sport. Journal of Sport Management, 20, 260–279.
Shaktar Donetsk (2012). Annual Report, 2011–2012.
Walsh, P. and Lee, S. (2012). Development of a brand extension decision-making model for professional
sport teams. Sport Marketing Quarterly, 21(4), 232–242.
Walsh, P. and Ross, S. (2010). Examining brand extensions and their potential to dilute team brand
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Walsh, P., Kim, Y. and Ross, S. D. (2008). Brand recall and recognition: A comparison of television and
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Watkins, B. A. and Gonzenbach, W. J. (2013) Assessing university brand personality through logos: An
analysis of the use of academics and athletics in university branding. Journal of Marketing for Higher
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Yupin Y., Mengze, S. and Goldfarb, A. (2009) Estimating the value of brand alliances in professional team
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50
5
SPORTS AND CITY BRANDING
How useful are professional football
clubs for branding Europe’s cities?

Christopher Hautbois

Introduction
Over the past 15 years, cities all over the world have become involved in international
competitions; their common goal is to attract visitors, residents and businesses. In general, one
can argue that a place with a positive reputation is more able to gain attention, resources,
people, jobs and money. Consequently, place reputation has become a key element in cities’
global strategies. Managers of urban development are now having to generate a virtuous circle.
They need to consider a holistic approach that includes “hard” factors, such as tourism,
economic development, the social organization of the city, infrastructure, people, local policies,
tax regime and accessibility. Nevertheless, according to several branding specialists, it is
becoming more and more difficult for mega-cities to differentiate themselves using only these
“hard” factors. Designing and promoting “soft” factors, such as friendly local people,
entertainment and leisure services, and art heritage and traditions, are now assumed to have a
greater importance. These elements appear to be crucial for cities seeking to become creative
destinations. According to Morgan, Pritchard and Pride (2011), cities that want to improve
their place reputation by becoming creative destinations need to engage in a virtuous circle
that encapsulates six interconnected elements: (1) tone (ambience, attitudes of its people,
heritage, narratives); (2) tradition (culture, history, authenticity 1); (3) tolerance (welcome
people, regardless of race, religion, ethnic background or sexual persuasion); (4) talent (host
incoming talented human capital to enhance local economy and tourism competitiveness,
promote new ideas or lifestyles); (5) transformability (able to embrace new technologies but
also to think differently, because in difficult times there may be a tendency to retreat into safe
thinking and knowledge markets); (6) testimonies (stories told by tourists, students, residents
and business people of a destination can add or subtract to the real equity of a place’s reputation).
In every case, place or destination2 brands have to manage complex relationships between
brand, image, reputation and identity (Morgan et al., 2011). Thus, place reputation can be a
point of interest for city governments in charge of local development and for academics.
There is a need for cities to better understand the way in which they can differentiate
themselves from direct competitors and enhance their branding skills in terms of their
strengths. Over the past ten years, place and destination branding have become a major field
of research. During the 2000s, several publications (including Anholt, 2005; 2006a; 2006b;

51
Brands

2008; Dinnie, 2008; Fan, 2005; Florian, 2002; Kavaratzis, 2004; Lucarelli and Berg, 2011;
Papadopoulos, 2004 and Van Ham, 2008) suggested the fundaments of this fairly new
theoretical field. In addition, since 2004, one particular journal, Place Branding and Public
Diplomacy, has addressed the lack of information and knowledge of this field.
To date, the literature about place branding has aimed to look at the best way to build
good place reputation. Several options have been studied, including: culture, 3 festival,4
fashion,5 folklore dancing,6 food and beverage7 and hallmarks events.8 However, one of the
main ways that a place can build a positive reputation is through sports. Sports can be
particularly useful, because they are a worldwide phenomenon that matches the international
ambition of many cities. For this reason, since the beginning of the 2000s, many cities
and countries have based their urban development plans on sports. Consequently, an
increasing number of journal papers have been published on this topic in major international
reviews.
This chapter aims to provide both theoretical and managerial perspectives about place
branding through sports. More precisely, it stresses the branding relationships between
professional football clubs in Europe and their host cities. The key research questions of this
chapter are: How useful are professional football clubs in a city branding strategy? How
damaging is it for place branding if a professional football club becomes too famous or is
made into a worldwide brand (i.e. the club brand becomes a competitor of the city brand)?
Can a good place reputation be useful for football club branding strategy? How do the
different local stakeholders manage the relationships between places and football clubs and
any co-branding strategies?

Place branding: sports as a relevant tool

Places and destination branding: a (not so) particular form of branding

Is place a common product? Can a city be seen as a regular product? Are common branding
concepts helpful when branding a city? Following Keller’s (1993) definition of a brand,9 one
can postulate that destination can be assimilated into a brand. Indeed, “Most researchers in
this area seem to be willing to accept definitions of city branding that are analogous to
product branding whilst acknowledging the special nature of a city as an entity” (Anttiroiko,
2014). Thinking of towns as brands, Kapferer (2008) suggested that

[A] town . . . is first and foremost a human, local and immovable reality (that is not
to say it is unchangeable), anchored in history, culture and its ecosystem. [. . .] The
brand cannot be built without it. It must be reckoned with. The construction of the
brand should first of all involve a consensus among the town’s key actors.

Cai (2002) considered that a destination image brand can be defined as “perceptions about the
place as reflected by the associations held in tourist memory”. Thus, a consensus does exist to
say that a destination or a place can be considered as a regular brand or product. However,
there are some specificities that make place branding different from other types of branding.
The first places to develop branding strategies were cities involved in the tourism business,
where the local turnover was directly correlated to tourist flow. Today, branding strategies
extend more widely, affecting most medium-size and large cities. The latter compete in terms
of attracting visitors, tourists, residents and businesses. From a broad perspective, brand city
managers have to focus on attributes, visual associations, overall reputation and identity. This

52
City branding with Europe’s football clubs

poses a major challenge because if a tourist, potential resident or business person already has
a prejudice against a city, positive facts and aspects about the place do not necessarily gain
the attention they deserve. Conversely, a well-perceived city may have many factual
disadvantages, even though it is seen favorably at the time of decision-making. Thus, it has
become more and more important to pay attention to place image and reputation. This is
significant because, according to Morgan et al. (2011), “it’s incredibly difficult to persuade
people to change their minds about places and their notions of whether somewhere is an
attractive place to live, work, study, holiday or even travel”. Using Simon Anholt’s Nation
Brands Index, the authors identified that since 2005, the date of the Index’s launch, only two
cities of the 3,400 taken into consideration (distributed throughout the world) saw their
international image change significantly. Furthermore, Herstein and Jaffe (2008) suggested
that there are ways for a city to transit from a negative to a positive image. Baker (2012) made
a similar point, stating that “when a city has a negative image that has evolved over decades,
it’s very difficult, if not impossible, to change it in a short term”. Prebensen (2007) claimed
that a destination’s image can be influenced by three sources of information: organic image
(for example, what we learn about a destination at school, in books, or hear about on the
news and through word of mouth), induced image (the result of promotional material and
destination marketing efforts) and modified-induced image (the result of personal experience
of the destination). These different elements challenge the city governments in two main
ways. First, local managers who are in charge of branding the destination can influence only
one (induced image) of the three sources of information that impact on image. Second, it
can take a long time to change a destination’s image or reputation. This poses a problem, in
that mayors, councillors and elected urban developers do not know how long they will
maintain their authority over their city. As a result, a city branding strategy does not intrinsically
fit well with the time restrictions imposed on city governments.
The concept of city brand can be defined as “the unique, multi-dimensional blend of
elements that provide the city with locally grounded differentiation and relevance for all its
target audiences” (Anttiroiko, 2014). Earlier, Baker (2012) provided the following definition:
“a place brand is the totality of thoughts, feelings and expectations that people hold about a
location. It’s the reputation and the enduring essence of the place and represents its distinctive
promise of value, providing it with a competitive edge.” With regard to the concept of city
branding, we should also recognize that several other analogous terms exist in the literature,
including: place branding, location branding, destination branding, city marketing, place
marketing, place promotion, place production, place shaping and place making. Whilst these
terms vary in their meaning to some degree (see Anttiroiko, 2014), they all refer in some way
to local development. Whatever the term used and the case studied, two main phases can be
identified: brand audit and brand development. In 2006, Prophet, a consulting company,
gave more details about the city branding process and suggested eight different steps.10 This
process is clearly defined and city governments have to brand their city according to the
strengths and opportunities provided within its boundaries. However, whilst the eighth step
requires us to measure the efficiency of the process, we still have little evidence of how cities
have branded successfully (Parkerson and Saunders, 2005). What we observe is that the best
examples of city branding are those that are best known, in other words, cities that are at the
top of the global urban hierarchy (for example, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Hong Kong, New
York, Seoul, Singapore and Toronto). Confirmation of the importance of large cities in the
branding process can be found in the 2013 GfK’s City Brands Index of brand and asset
strengths in major worldwide cities. Paris emerged as the number one city brand, followed
by Sydney and London (see Table 5.1).

53
Brands

Table 5.1 Global top 10 city brands

Top 10 city brands

1 Paris
2 Sydney
3 London
4 Rome
5 New York
6 Barcelona
7 San Francisco
8 Los Angeles
9 Vienna
10 Madrid

Based on the following six categories: presence, place,

prerequisites, people, pulse, potential
Source: GfK’s City Brands Index

Two comments can be made about Table 5.1. First, this list of branded mega-cities does
not reflect the realities of most cities around the world. For example, “For many of them, the
mission is rather to increase the awareness of the target audience that the city exists”
(Anttiroiko, 2014). However, the globalization and internationalization of business and
tourism appear as new and big challenges for most of the cities, regardless of their size.11 This
process pushes cities to state their branding process (i.e. definition of objectives and SWOT,
segmenting and positioning) and to subdivide it into successive logical steps. Second, it is
necessary to further explore the values associated with a brand. Such an investigation was
carried out by Westerbeek and Linley (2012). The figure they provided (Figure 5.1) shows
the possible associations between city brands and brand identity or values.

3.0
Kuala Lumpur
congested

down_to_earth
friendly 2.0 Manchester Johannesburg

1.0
gai ni ng_in_popu larity traditional

A uckland Di0goexcjjjn_
attractive_parMands IValencia
Melbourne Barcelona
Amsterdarr rich_history_or_culture

- 2.5 safeo— 2 .0 - 0 . 5. 0 .5 distinctive -j .q 1 .5 2 .0 2 .5

healthy Vancouvei innovative
reliable Sydney
Montreal intelligent London

welLregarded — 1_0 expensive

leader Berlin arrogant
high_quality stylish
Paris
- 2.0 prestigious

- 3.0

Figure 5.1 Perceptual map of cities

Source: Westerbeek and Linley 2012

54
City branding with Europe’s football clubs

Sport-based branding strategies

Westerbeek, Turner and Ingerson (2002) assumed that “increasingly, cities are basing their city
marketing efforts around hallmark events in order to maximize the benefits to be achieved
from event-driven tourism, sponsorship and media exposure”. This sporting event-based
option, which allows cities to be (re)branded, has also been supported by Rein and Shields
(2007), Heslop, Nadeau and O’Reilly (2013) and Herstein and Berger (2013b). The sporting
events that gain most attention are the Summer and Winter Olympic Games and the FIFA
World Cup. Others, for example, Commonwealth Games, motorsport Grand Prix,12 Rugby
World Cup13 and Super Bowl,14 have been studied to a lesser degree. Whatever the kind of
sporting event, it seems that the entertainment industry, of which sports events are a vital
part, is particularly influential with regard to creating, facilitating, strengthening and changing
people’s perceptions about places (Kotler and Gertner, 2002). Referring to the brand
personality concept, and to the existing literature on sponsorship, Westerbeek and Linley
(2012) considered that this concept also applies to place and country marketing. According
to them, “it could even be argued that cities that attract events in order to (re)position their
image and build their brand can be likened to corporate sponsors who, for similar reasons,
decide to sponsor individuals, organizations or events”. As a result, the fit between a destination
brand and one or more major sporting event brands is of particular interest.
As previously mentioned, the Olympic Games are seen as the most powerful platform for
rebranding a city. They are reputed to have two kinds of impact: on image and on local
economy (including the labor market15). These two impacts refer to the common objectives
of city planners. During the bidding process, the latter usually claim that hosting this event
will leverage the image of their city. Consequently, several surveys have been conducted to
measure the impact of such events. With regard to image impact, one should consider the
case of Seoul. This city’s branding strategy was designed in parallel with the city’s involvement
in international bids and the hosting of sporting events. The process started with the hosting
of the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea and Japan. The 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing have
also been studied several times, in order to identify their impact on China’s image. First, in
an ex-ante perspective, Berkowitz et al. (2007) analyzed the opportunity to use the 2008
Olympics as a marketing tool to maximize the global equity of the China brand. Preuss and
Alfs (2011) and Chung and Woo (2011) went on to address the effects on China’s country
image of hosting the 2008 Olympic Games, as an international marketing strategy. A second-
level objective was to study the way the changed image of the country contributed to
changing its product image. They found a significant difference in the overall image of China
two months after the Olympics, compared with the overall image of the country two months
before. However, no significant change in China’s product image has been found. Gibson et
al. (2008) and Chen and Funk (2010) studied the relationship between destination image,
travel intentions and tourist characteristics. The respondents perceived China and the Beijing

“Melbourne has been named winner of the 2014 SportsBusiness Ultimate Sports City [. . .] for
the second time and also recognized as the world leader in Sports Venues and in Event
Strategy, at an Awards announcement at the SportAccord Convention in Turkey. [. . .] Others
cities short listed were Berlin, Cape Town, Singapore and Sydney”

Figure 5.2 Melbourne, the world’s ultimate sports city

Source: Victorian Major Events Company, Media release, 14 April 2014

55
Brands

Olympic Games positively and destination image was significantly predictive of the intention
to travel to China and the Olympic Games. Finally, Zeng et al. (2011) focused on the impact
of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games on China’s image in the international TV media (nine
countries). Chalip, Green and Hill (2003), Avraham (2004) and Hede (2005) also used a media
approach in their respective researches. The latter analyzed the efficacy of the Australian
telecast of the 2004 Athens Summer Olympic Games in developing positive perceptions and
attitudes of Greece as a tourist destination. With regard to the impact on the host country’s
image, Armenakyan et al. (2012) carried out a cross-national, longitudinal study of Canadian
and US respondents in order to examine the (positive) impact of the 2010 Vancouver
Olympic Games on the images of the host country, Canada, and the Olympic Games itself.16
However, according to Herstein and Berger (2013a), hosting a mega-sporting event is not
enough to rebrand a city or leverage its image. Indeed, over the last 30 years, many millions
of dollars have been spent with little success in leveraging the image of host cities. Two cities
were studied by the authors. The Barcelona model shows how a city can leverage its image,
using the Olympic Games to become more familiar to millions of potential tourists. The
London model shows how an entire country can also profit from the fact that its capital is
hosting the Olympic Games.
With regard to the impact of image, hosting17 hallmark events is a good way to attract
tourists. According to Westerbeek et al. (2002), people are often drawn to destinations
because of the hallmark (sporting) events staged there, rather than the region itself. In
2001, the 11th report of the Tourism Forecasting Council stated that 1.7 million tourist
visits were estimated in Sydney between 1997 and 2004 as a direct response to the Olympic
Games. During 2000, however, visits for the period were estimated to be 20 percent of
this total.
In terms of strategy design, Herstein and Berger (2013b) considered that city planners
can use four re-branding strategies related to sporting events: mega events, international
events, medium events and minor events. The first two event types can be useful to
local businesses if decision makers ensure that people all over the world see their city as a
leisure, tourism and consumption center and not just as a sports arena. The last two
event types are helpful in fostering residents’ civic pride (Maennig and Porsche, 1999).
Another area of interest is to look at the use of single-purpose events to build a city
brand versus the use of a genuine long-term, multi-event portfolio. Chalip and Costa (2005),
Ziakas and Costa (2011) and Westerbeek and Linley (2012) all supported the option
of a multi-event portfolio and the idea of founding a city branding strategy on hosting
recurrent events.
As previously established, mega sporting events (especially the Olympic Games) are often
taken into consideration by city governments, who aim to (re)brand their city and to position
it in a worldwide competition. They are also considered by academics, who see the Olympic
Games as an interesting case to study. Such interest can be explained by the fact that when
a city government bids for a sporting event, there is a real strategy and ambition to host this
event, on a certain date and with a return of investment that has been well analyzed and
targeted. In such a strategy, a voluntary choice has been made by the community. Alternatively,
a city can (re)brand itself through its professional sports clubs. Few studies of this strategy
exist in the literature, which is surprising, bearing in mind that many cities in the world have
become well known because of the professional sports clubs that they host. Thus, it is of
interest to study the role of professional sports clubs, particularly football clubs, in branding
European cities. This chapter seeks to address this lack of research in co-branding strategies
between professional football clubs and their host cities.

56
City branding with Europe’s football clubs

Method
The key research questions of this chapter are: How useful are football professional clubs in
city branding strategies? How are city governments able to use the powerful brand of local
football clubs in order to enhance their city brand? Is it damaging for place branding if
football professional clubs become too famous or become a worldwide brand, limiting the
city brand development? In order to answer these questions, two complementary surveys have
been designed. This double approach allowed the crossing of data and provided an overview
of the strategic relationships between the football club brand and the city brand. This method
also offered an opportunity to gather general data about several football clubs in Europe. From
this general data, special and interesting cases could be further explored. For both approaches,
data was collected between December 2014 and March 2015.

Qualitative approach: a study of three well-known

professional clubs in football history
For our research, several football clubs were deemed suitable for our analysis. Three main
criteria were then taken into consideration: nationality of the club (with the goal to diversify
as much as possible); the importance of the club in football history (the fact that each club
could be perceived as a legendary club on a European or national scale); the trophies and
titles of the club (in terms of national and European championships won or the domination
of the club in the short- or medium-term period). Using these three criteria, the clubs of
FC Barcelona, Manchester United and AS Saint-Etienne were selected. An interview was
carried out with one or more experts in each club in order to analyze the relationship
between the professional football club and the city from a branding perspective. The table
below provides additional information about these three clubs and the interviews carried out.

Quantitative approach: a study of the four most major

football championships in Europe
The second approach we used was based on a questionnaire sent to all clubs in the Premier
League championship (n=20), Bundesliga championship (n=18), Calcio championship (n=20)
and Liga championship (n=20). In addition, another questionnaire was sent to the host cities
of football clubs that belong to the Premier League championship (n=13 18), Bundesliga
championship (n=17), Calcio championship (n=15) and Liga championship (n=16). As a
result, a questionnaire was sent to a theoretical sample of 139 respondents. However, we faced
problems in delivering this questionnaire, because of an incorrect email address in 29 cases.
In addition, 16 respondents answered that they were not the right person to complete the
questionnaire and were not able to forward it to the relevant person. Thus, our final sample
was 96 respondents. At the time of writing this chapter, 18 correctly completed questionnaires
(10 clubs and 8 cities) were received and analyzed (a response rate of 0.19). The questionnaire
asked the respondents to rate the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with different
statements on a 7-point Likert scale. The first part of the questionnaire asked the respondents
about the existence of a branding strategy for the football club and the city. The second part
was about the influence of the city on the club’s ability to meet certain key goals, but also
about the influence of the club on the city’s ability to meet certain key goals. Finally, the
question enquired as to the nature of the perceived relationships between the football clubs
and cities from a branding perspective.

57
Brands

Table 5.2 Information about the three cases studied

Club FC Barcelona Manchester United AS Saint-Etienne

Nationality Spanish British French

Date of creation 1899 1878 1919
Number of national titles 61 35 17
(cups and championships)
Number of European titles 12 6 0 (1 final)
(cups and championships)
Expert interviewed Antonio Davila Claude Boli (1) Lionel Boucherp
(2) Stéphane Devrieux
Function Professor at the Historian, specialist (1) Councillor in charge of
IESE Business on Manchester sporting events
School United (2) Local tourism manager
Date and duration 9 March 11 February (1) 9 February (65 minutes)
of the interview (35 minutes) (60 minutes) (2) 19 February (55 minutes)
City Barcelona Manchester Saint-Etienne
Population 1,600,000 512,000 172,000
Number of professional 2 2 1
football clubs
Tourists 13,200,000 988,000 overseas 43,000
overseas tourists tourists per annum
per annum (second in the UK
after London)

Results and discussion

Three different contexts for three different city branding strategies

The results presented below are based on the interviews of experts shown in Table 5.2.

The football clubs as a symbol of rebirth

In order to study city branding, it is important to look at the background of the cities and
to better understand where they have come from. This section aims to provide some detail
of the local background of all three cities studied. Furthermore, it explores how local football
clubs came into being after economic troubles faced by the cities.

In my opinion, there are three things about Manchester that have to be put into
their historical context. First of all, we need to remember that Manchester was the
birthplace of the industrial revolution. Manchester’s ability to respond to situations
comes from that history. It’s often thought that the suburbs, places where people can
live and work, had their origins in Manchester. Finally, this city has been known
since the 1980s as a place of deindustrialization, which has damaged Manchester’s
image as a symbol of Victorian England. In the 1980s, music, particularly pop and
New Wave, became one of Manchester’s trademarks. [. . .] From the 1990s, the inter-
national success of Manchester United, has brought new life to this city through its

58
City branding with Europe’s football clubs

industrial heritage [a sort of renewal]. So, whether we’re in England or elsewhere,

when people speak about Manchester they inevitably mean Manchester United.
Claude Boli (Manchester)

Saint-Etienne has a strong heritage, a strong industrial past, a past that is linked
with the mail-order business Manufrance, which was set up here. It’s all part of our
history, but this history is still being written today, only in a different way. Our ambi-
tion is to change the city’s image. That’s why we have an ongoing campaign called
“Do you know how Saint-Etienne will change the world?” It highlights design-based
activities, such as the International Design Biennale. There’s also the modern art
museum that houses the second most important collection after the Pompidou
Centre in Paris.
Lionel Boucher (Saint-Etienne)

A football club with a strong identity suitable for urban development

The three football clubs studied have a very strong brand, internationally for Manchester
United and FC Barcelona and nationally for AS Saint-Etienne. In all three cases, the existence
of these clubs has a strong and positive influence on local development, place reputation and
business.

If the club does well, businessmen here can sell their products abroad. Some companies
have even decided to mark their products with the “made in Manchester” logo. It’s
become a mark of quality.The attraction of football has led to some companies setting
themselves up in Manchester so as to benefit from the city’s “aura”. Thanks to all this,
Manchester is seen less as a Northern town where it rains all the time.
Claude Boli (Manchester)

As I said, today Manchester United is seen as the city’s international showcase.

Nonetheless, Manchester’s past, its industrial heritage, the music scene that still
carries on, is being reinvented. This is especially obvious with the transformation of
former industrial buildings into modern loft apartments, which now form a part of
the city’s identity. Football has contributed to Manchester’s renaissance. And it’s not
just Manchester United; from 2000 on, Manchester City has also contributed to the
renewal of a city that now has two leading clubs, with two different, but comple-
mentary, histories. Thanks to them, the city is seen differently by those who live
here. That said, the Manchester brand has historically been based more on Man
United than on Man City. The success of the Manchester brand was based on the
sporting success of Man United. Everyone knows that City is a foreign force. It’s
not English. Even though United belongs to the Glaser family, it’s not the same
thing. Really, there’s no rivalry between the Manchester brand and the United
brand.
Claude Boli (Manchester)

The club continues to generate enthusiasm with our associates in the rest of France.
Very often, we’re chosen to host exhibitions or events because they’re fans of ASSE
and they want their event to take place in the city. Admittedly, ASSE is a club that

59
Brands

has a large fan base all over France, including in towns where there are big football
clubs, like Toulouse.
Stéphane Devrieux (Saint-Etienne)

Saint-Etienne is a football town. Even if we try to develop other areas of the town,
we’ll still have to invest in football, because it’s the number one subject when we’re
talking about our town, it’s our main sound box.
Lionel Boucher (Saint-Etienne)

I really think that the FC Barcelona is one of the attributes of the Barcelona city
brand. The FC Barcelona is sometimes known as the club of the Catalonia. But for
branding, I think that the club is more internationally known as the club of
Barcelona. People don’t know what Catalonia is but they know what Barcelona is
and what this city refers to in terms attributes.
Antonio Davila (Barcelona)

The influence of a football club on city branding: maintaining a

tricky balance between the advantages and disadvantages
Each of these three football clubs has a strong brand and has a positive influence on
city reputation. However, it’s the business of the city planners to limit the negative
influence that these brands could have if they became too strong, dominating other assets in
the city.

Sport helps us to sell land, that’s certainly true. [. . .] Firstly, ASSE allows us, as much
on a national as a local level, to capitalise on our positive image, to our benefit.
Equally, though, we want to make sure that it doesn’t overshadow everything else.
The town of Saint-Etienne isn’t just about its football club, as prestigious as it is, it’s
also important in terms of its local history and the history of sport in the country.
We want to show off everything that we have to offer. In my opinion, what we have
is a win-win partnership between the town and the club.
Stéphane Devrieux (Saint-Etienne)

It’s clear that you can’t just focus on the results of one club. By their very nature,
these results are random. They don’t come out as you’d like. . . So, you could say that
the club is very important and of great interest to the town in terms of pride, the
activities that take place here, a sense of community, of living here together. [Despite
this], Saint-Etienne cannot yet see itself as being a brand. Until now, this hasn’t been
a priority. We’re not in the position of Lyon or Amsterdam, which has “Iamsterdam’
as its brand, but this can change.
Lionel Boucher (Saint-Etienne)

Today, the town’s tourist offering rests on three pillars. First, business tourism, with
its conferences and seminars, where we try to welcome more and more people to
Saint-Etienne. Then, there’s urban tourism, which builds on our cultural offering.
[. . .] Urban tourism is based on offering short breaks. One of the main ways we’ve
carried out this second strategy is through the Design Biennial, which we organised
in 2006. This event has been a big help to us, especially when in 2010 Saint-Etienne

60
City branding with Europe’s football clubs

became the first UNESCO City of Design in France. The final point is concerned
with the development of our natural heritage. Close to Saint-Etienne, accessible
only five minutes from the town, is the regional park of Pilat.
Stéphane Devrieux (Saint-Etienne)

The Barcelona city has two Professional football clubs. I do not think that this is a
problem to brand the city. I consider that this gives you two opportunities to make
people come to the city. Of course, the FC Barcelona has the same name as the city
which is very helpful and this is much famous team than Espanyol. Beside, the city
of Barcelona is famous for these professional clubs but to me this counts only for
10 percent of the awareness of the city. This city is also known for architecture,
quality of life, entrepreneurship. . .
Antonio Davila (Barcelona)

European football clubs: are they globally helpful for city branding strategies?
As mentioned in the methods section, both a qualitative study and a quantitative survey were
carried out. Data about the city government’s perception, of the influence of the local football
club on place reputation is now given.
According to the city governments, the three most important effects of a professional
football club on city branding were found to be civic pride (6.5), tourism activity (5.7) and
incoming residents (5). Moreover, respondents considered that on a 7-point Likert scale
(1=negative; 7=positive), the global average influence of a professional club on place reputation
was highly positive (6.3). In addition, the perceived influence of football clubs on place
reputation was not correlated with the number of seasons in the first division (r=0.086), the
number of national titles (r=-0.061), or the number of international titles (r=-0.034). Rather,
this positive influence was correlated more with the size of the local population (r=0.5).
Another lesson from our quantitative analysis is that we also need to consider the influence
of the place reputation on the football club branding and business. Data about the perception
of this influence by the respondents19 is now given.

6.5
7.0
5.7
6.0
109 109
109
109 109
109
109
109
109
109
To attract To attract To attract To attract new To build some To strengthei
tourists residents investments companies bridges civic pride
between different
local communities

Figure 5.3 Effects of a professional football club on city development

Note: rating on a 7-point Likert scale (1=disagree; 7=agree) to the question: “Do you consider that the
local professional football club, in terms of its image, awareness, and values is helpful for the city to . . .?”

61
Brands

7
6 6
6
5.38
4.75
5

0
To attract or To attract or To attract or To attract or
strengthen the strengthen the strengthen the strengthen the
loyalty of loyalty of fans loyalty of loyalty of BtoB
sponsors spectators customers

Figure 5.4 Effects of place reputation on football club development

Note: rating on a 7-point Likert scale (1=disagree; 7=agree) to the question: “Do you consider that the
image, the awareness, the value of the host territory or city are helpful for your club to . . .?”

The influence of place reputation was generally perceived as being positive for the football
clubs, especially in terms of fans’ and spectators’ loyalty (6.0), but also because of sponsors’
loyalty (5.38) and BtoB customers’ loyalty (4.75). The overall perception of the influence of
the city brand on the football club brand was positive (5.12).
The quantitative approach concluded that the relationship between the football clubs
and their host cities is based on a positive co-branding. Even if this effect was perceived as being
more positive for the city (6.3) than for the football club (5.1), from a marketing perspective,
one brand does seem to help the other. Thus, one can conclude that there the city brand and
the football club brand do not compete; rather, they form part of a positive co-branding strategy.

Discussion
According to the data collected, it seems that the existence of a professional football club can
be used by city planners to engage in a virtuous circle, as described by Morgan et al. (2011).
The quantitative data gathered, and both the Saint-Etienne and the Manchester cases,
highlight the fact that the existence of a local football club had a positive impact on place
reputation, as well as on tourists’ intention to visit, on companies’ intention to invest locally
and on local companies, who mentioned on their products or in their communication plans
that their headquarters are based in these towns. These observations can form the fundaments
of this virtuous circle.
In comparing the data collected on football clubs and from publications on city branding
through sporting events, it is necessary to mention that, in both cases, media exposure
appeared decisive to branding the city. In order for a football club to have a positive influence
on a city brand, the city needs to be associated with the football club and this association has
to be exposed by the media. This is a key element because, without media exposure, the

62
City branding with Europe’s football clubs

potential of using the football club to brand the city will not be reached. One of the
advantages provided by a professional football club is to bring media to the city.
In addition to this media exposure, the association between a club and a city brand needs
to be strengthened over the long term. As emphasized by Morgan et al. (2011), “it’s incredibly
difficult to persuade people to change their minds about places”. Even if quantitative data
shows that there is no correlation between the number of seasons that the football club has
played in the first division, interviews have confirmed that, in order to use the club brand to
brand the city, the club has to be part of the local and city history. The history of the club,
its status as a legend, its long-term association with the city, the existence of several generations
of local fans who’ve attended matches in the stadium, are an efficient way for city planners
to take advantage of the club to enhance the city brand. From this perspective, our case studies
of football clubs have produced findings that are in line with existing literature on hosting
sporting events. Both the football club and the city need a long time period to positively
influence a place reputation.
According to quantitative data collected, however, there is no correlation between the
number of titles and the perceived effect of the football club on city brand. The interviews
also confirmed that long-term positive results give a city government more opportunities to
brand the city and to improve place reputation. In others words, the existence of the club is
maybe not enough on its own. By taking these results into consideration, it may be possible
to optimize the city brand strategy. They may appear less important if the football club’s brand
is strong and has worldwide appeal. Even if a club is no longer competitive, it can nevertheless
be used in a city brand strategy if it is a legendary club. “Legend” or “history” are two good
concepts to use when engaging in a communication plan.
In each of our three cases, the city government needed to be involved in a city brand
strategy based on the local football club. As previously mentioned, Prebensen (2007) claimed
that a destination’s image can be influenced by three sources of information (organic image,
induced image and modified-induced image). As a result, city planners must be active,
especially in terms of induced image, when it is necessary to integrate the opportunity
provided by the club in the global city brand strategy and any plans to make the city more
attractive. For example, Manchester placed a giant Manchester United poster at Manchester
Airport so that people who arrive in the city can see it, along with the implied message “you
are arriving at the city of Manchester United”. This strategy forms part of the Marketing
Manchester Agency’s plans, which seek to

develop the Manchester brand and to focus on the contemporary and traditional
strengths of the city-region’s culture, create world-class events programme, [. . .]
position Manchester as a vibrant international destination, ensure that Manchester
is further established as one of the Europe’s leading business destinations and support
the enhancement of the tourism product in Great Manchester.
www.marketingmanchester.com

Following this example, and looking at the data collected from our sample, one can conclude
that there is no competition between football club and city branding. This point was one of
the research questions of this chapter. Both qualitative and quantitative data confirm
that there is no negative influence of the football club on the city brand. Rather, it seems
very likely that a positive circle can be created that benefits both structures. Managers who
were asked to complete the questionnaires insisted on the positive co-branding that exists
between the club and the city.

63
Brands

Two final comments can be made. First, the interviews confirmed that it is important to
correctly position the football club within the city branding strategy.The city planners control
neither the existence of the club (the city government is not the owner of the club and is
not able to decide if the club can keep on playing in the first division), nor its results, thus,
using the club in a branding strategy adds a degree of uncertainty. If the club produced poor
results over the medium and long term, or if it was relegated to division 2, then the city’s
branding plans would have to completely change. On this point, the use of a football club
to brand the city is not widely covered in the existing literature, which has largely dealt with
branding from the perspective of hosting sporting events. Of course, hosting a mega sporting
event can also bring uncertainty, because before hosting can take place, cities have to engage
in a bidding process (Ingerson and Westerbeek, 2000). Once the bid has been won, however,
the opportunity for the city to design a branding strategy is fixed; it does not depend on the
results. That is why a mega sporting event is a relevant vehicle for branding a city. Second,
the experts interviewed suggested that a local football club should not be used the sole vehicle
in city branding. The club should be a part of a portfolio of opportunities used by the city
government, taking into consideration the timing, the current objective and the agenda. This
result is in line with previous recommendations on sporting events put forward by Chalip
and Costa (2005), Ziakas and Costa (2011) and Westerbeek and Linley (2012), who supported
the option of a multi-event portfolio and the idea of founding a city branding strategy on
hosting recurrent events. In this portfolio, city planners should also ensure that the football
club does not overtake other opportunities in the city’s branding strategy. The data collected
confirms that mayors, councilors and city governments wanted their city to be known only
through its football club.

Conclusion
As mentioned in the introduction and the section on theoretical background, little is known
about the usefulness of a professional football club to city branding. This is quite surprising
because many cities throughout the world, especially those in Europe, are known through
their local professional club. Most existing publications about the role of sports in the
enhancement of place reputation have dealt with sporting events hosted by cities. This
assessment can be explained in two ways. First, hallmark sporting events, such as the Olympic
Games and the FIFA World Cup, are powerful events that can brand cities. Thus, it is logical
that many publications have dealt with them. Second, whilst city governments can drive an
offensive campaign when bidding to host sporting events, they have no influence on the
existence or performance of a local football club, an organization that is distinct from the city
government. As a result, whilst city governments can plan to brand their city by hosting a
sporting event, they cannot do the same by “creating” a football club. They can only take
advantage of a club that already exists. The fact that the city governments are powerless to
“create” a professional football club may account for why the existing literature has, until
now, focused more on major sporting events.
This chapter can be seen as a first step; one that serves as a call to others to explore further.
However, it does draw the conclusion that a professional football club can be a support for
a city brand strategy, because of the knowledge we already have about the use of hallmark
sporting events. During our survey, the chief revenue and marketing officer of Valencia FC
claimed that “the club was the best ambassador of the city”. Nevertheless, this work is still a
work in progress. More data needs to be collected if we are to refine the current results and
explore other hypotheses. What is the precise impact of a club’s performance and the number

64
City branding with Europe’s football clubs

of seasons in the first division on the city brand, on tourism activity and on local business?
Is the size of a city important in terms of enhancing the city brand? Do we observe the same
effects on city brands for all European championships?

Notes
1. According to Gilmore (2002), a destination’s brand message should be “an amplification of what is
already there and not a fabrication”.
2. This can be defined as places that have tourism-oriented business. A survey conducted for the World
Tourism Organization in 2009 stated that 60% of brands are focused only on tourism.
3. Anttiroiko (2014) shed light on Seoul’s case, which in the 2000s used the cultural sector and a slogan
(“Seoul, the soul of Asia”) to enhance its competitiveness in tourism. Baker (2012) focused on how
the movie Australia helped to brand and market a location to make it attractive to tourists.
4. Cannes’ case (France).
5. Milan’s case (Italy).
6. Rio de Janeiro’s case (Brazil).
7. Munich’s case (Germany).
8. De Carlo (2011) discussed Milan’s case; the city hosted Expo 2015.
9. “A brand can be defined as a name, term, sign, symbol or design or combination of them which is
intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them
from those of competitors” (Keller, 1993).
10. Step 1: Define clear objectives. Step 2: understand the target audience. Step 3: identify current brand
image. Step 4: set the aspirational brand identity. Step 5: develop the positioning. Step 6: create value
propositions. Step 7: execute the brand strategy. Step 8: measure access.
11. A similar comment can be made for nations. Most countries have a destination brand: “100 Percent
Pure New Zealand”, “South Africa it’s possible”, “YourSingapore”, “Incredible India”. Even
Afghanistan positions itself as the “Last unconquered mountains of the world”.
12. See, for example, McCartney (2005).
13. See, for example, Jones (2001).
14. See, for example, Kim and Walker (2012).
15. See, for example, Hagn and Maennig (2007) for data about the labour market effects of the 2006
FIFA World Cup.
16. Using a co-branding framework, authors also go further in demonstrating that the “2008 Beijing
Olympics were not successful in reputation and image enhancement of either the Olympics brand
or of China. However, the Canadian mega-events outcomes were positive for both partners”:
country and OG.
17. Or bidding. Cornelissen (2004) tested the impact on African countries’ image of bids for sporting
events they were involved in.
18. One city hosts several football clubs.
19. Most of the time, respondents were commercial directors, brands or sales managers, and marketing
officers of football clubs.

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PART II

Sponsorship
Nicolas Chanavat, Simon Chadwick and Michel Desbordes

Although sponsorship is not an exclusively sporting phenomenon, over the last four decades
sponsorship has become synonymous with sports. Indeed, in many markets across the world,
sports account for the significant majority of all spending by sponsors. Sponsors view sports
as one way of reaching target audiences and getting people to notice them. Sports are also a
route through which a corporation can build its image.There are B2B benefits too: sponsorship
is often the focus for corporate hospitality and networking, and for the joint development of
new products and technologies. For sports, at one level sponsorship is a source of revenue; at
another, it can form the basis for a collaborative relationship with a sponsor and a way to
engage fans and customers. For the fans, sponsorship can be contentious (some see it as the
over-commercialisation of sports) but also hugely beneficial, for instance, in the way
sponsorship programmes create an experience around sports properties they are linked to. In
this context, chapters presented in this part address a range of issues pertinent to sport in the
twenty-first century, notably, the role of data in sponsorship, how sponsorship decisions are
made, the link between objectives and evaluation in sponsorship, what the impacts of
sponsorship can be (especially in a global context), and the link between sponsors and athlete
endorsers.

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6
COMPUTING THE IMPACT OF
SPONSOR SIGNAGE EXPOSURE
WITHIN SPORTS BROADCASTS
Christopher Rumpf and Christoph Breuer

Introduction
Despite the continuous growth of sponsorship as a branding tool, the evaluation of sponsorship
performance is still at a limited stage. The most frequently used evaluation technique is based
on a media analytical approach known as exposure analysis. Exposure analysis accounts for
seconds of sponsor–brand visibility, and thus, gives an indication of the opportunities to be
seen (Cornwell, 2008). However, most sponsors seek to achieve economic or psychological
objectives with their sponsorship instead of merely being visible. Therefore, a main criticism
of exposure analysis relates to the fact that it does not account for the impact of sponsorship
(Shilbury et al., 2009). It is also noteworthy that exposure analysis only allows for ex-post
evaluation: that is, after a sports event took place. However, for decision makers it would be
even more important to have a reliable estimate of sponsorship performance before investing
a share of the marketing budget.
This chapter is dedicated to the measurement and evaluation of sponsorship performance.
First, we will critically discuss current approaches of sponsorship evaluation before the concept
of attention is introduced. We will explain how eye-tracking can be used to assess visual
attention to sponsor signage. Then, we will discuss findings from a lab study on the impact of
exposure. The models derived from the study serve as the basis of an innovative evaluation
system. Finally, we will conclude by explaining the system’s application in sports business.

Evaluation approaches in sponsorship research

A widely-used approach for the evaluation of sponsorship is called exposure analysis and
reveals the seconds of visibility for any sponsor signage in the media, particularly on TV.
Exposure analysis helps to answer the question of how long a sponsor signage was visible
within a certain sports telecast and consequently, how many opportunities to be seen were
derived. At the same time, the audience reach dedicated to the sports telecast is assessed. The
amount of exposure is then put in relation to the audience ratings on a program-by-program
basis and accumulated over a certain time span (for example, a season). Based on such index
values (so-called sponsoring contacts) sponsorships can be benchmarked against each other
(Felten, 2007).

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Sponsorship

Despite its simplicity and transparency, exposure analysis is criticized by leading thinkers
in research and industry (Meenaghan and O’Sullivan, 2013). “Sponsoring contacts” reveal the
extent to which a brand was presented on television, however, it remains unclear whether
sports viewers have perceived the sponsorship message. Thus, exposure analysis provides data
on the inputs, but no insight into whether or not the sponsorship generates any outputs for
the brand. Thus, sponsorship managers base their decisions on the probability of having
contacted the sports viewer, whereas no conclusions can be drawn on the impact of their
activity (Tripodi et al., 2003).
Current research shows that the impact of sponsor signage exposure depends on the position
of the sponsor signage at the venue (for example, Breuer and Rumpf, 2012; Olson and Thjømøe,
2009). Sponsorship platforms offer a wide variety of signage positions, for example, apparel,
interview backdrops or perimeter boards. To date, the influence of the sponsor signage posi-
tion is not considered by the media analytical approach of sponsorship evaluation.
Furthermore, the size of signage exposure and the surrounding clutter is neglected, even
though we know from vision science that small stimuli in an overloaded environment are less
likely to be perceived compared to large and exclusively presented stimuli (for example,
Palmer, 2002). As “sponsoring contacts” do not consider the position, size and clutter of
exposure, all sponsor signage appearances have the same weight on the index value. For
example, large and exclusive logo exposure on a player’s jersey is accounted for in the same
way as very small signage on a brand-overloaded interview backdrop. Based on this reasoning,
exposure analysis offers a very limited basis for managers’ decision making. It can provide
general guidance towards the maximization of brand visibility, but it is useless when it comes
to the analysis of sponsorship outcome. However, the outcome for the brand should be
regarded as the key success criterion for sponsorship activities.
Cornwell, Weeks and Roy (2005) classify sponsorship outcomes as cognitive, affective and
behavioral. Cognitive outcomes typically focus on the target group’s awareness of the sponsor–
sponsee relationship and image transfer, whereas affective outcomes mean brand liking and
preference. Behavioral outcomes reflect whether or not there is a change in the target groups
purchase behavior due to sponsorship.
To assess sponsorship outcomes, market research carries out phone interviews and on-site
or online surveys to collect data on the consumers’ response. In most cases, the same questions
are asked before and after the event to calculate the deviation between pre- and post-event
results that indicate the impact of sponsorship (Crompton, 2004; Gwinner, Larson and
Swanson, 2009).
Even though the survey-based approach provides the sponsorship manager with some
comprehensive figures, the method is faced with serious problems. First, experimental studies
show that cognitive outcomes are biased in favor of prominent brands. Given all other
variables being equal, well-known brands are more likely to be recalled than non-prominent
competitors. This phenomenon is due to the fact that consumers not only retrieve sponsor-
event-associations from memory, but also use constructive processes such as heuristics to
identify sponsors. To put it in other words, consumers tend to believe that big brands are
more capable of sponsoring sports properties than small brands (Pham and Johar, 2001).
Affective outcomes, such as brand liking and preference, are biased towards the mood of
consumers (Hoyer and MacInnis, 2010). Therefore, consumers are more likely to make
positive sponsor–brand evaluations in a state of euphoria (for example, after a successful
match), whereas the same brand might be evaluated less favorably after an unexpected defeat
of the favored team. This situational bias means a serious constraint to the validity of affective
outcome measures. Moreover, the measurement of behavioral outcomes is highly problematic

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The impact of sponsor signage exposure

because most companies use a number of marketing activities (for example, advertising),
which makes it difficult to isolate the impact of a sponsorship activity on purchase behavior
(Tripodi et al., 2003).

Attention as an intermediary measure

We suggest a new approach for the evaluation of sponsorship performance based on the
“economics of attention” (Simon, 1971). This framework builds on the scarcity of attention
deriving from the ratio between visible information and the receiver’s cognitive capacity to
process such visible information. In most situations the amount of cognitive capacity is
insufficient to process all visible information in our environment. Consequently, a mecha-
nism called “attention” selects the most salient and relevant information to be processed on
higher cognitive levels, whereas the other information remains unconsidered (Davenport and
Beck, 2001).
Sports viewers are usually exposed to more visual information than they can process at
one point in time. Therefore, the human information processing system filters out most
information to protect against information overload (Jacoby, 1984).
Only when the viewer’s attention is devoted to sponsorship signage can the information
be processed by the sports viewer. Thus, we argue that attention can only be captured by
visible sponsorship signage and sponsor–brand awareness requires attention. According to
these propositions, attention means an intermediary construct between sponsor signage
visibility and the sports viewers’ awareness of the sponsor–sponsee relationship. Figure 6.1
illustrates that the amount of information decreases from the visibility level to the attention
level, and from the attention level to the awareness level.
To understand how sports viewers select sponsorship signage to be processed, it is useful
to introduce the two-component framework of attention (Itti and Koch, 2000; Treisman and
Gelade, 1980).The first component, saliency-based attention, can be described as an automatic
mechanism that drives the viewer to select stimuli based on the perceptual saliency of visual
features (Pieters and Wedel, 2004). Whereas saliency-based attention works very quickly and
almost without cognitive control, the second component, top-down attention, is slower and
responsible for conscious experiences (Treisman and Gelade, 1980). That is, in the case of
top-down attention, the viewer has deliberate control over the allocation of their cognitive
capacity.
When sports-interested people watch sports, top-down attention is most likely to be
devoted to the game or race action in order to follow the sports competition (for example,

Level 1: Visibility Level 2: Attention Level 3: Awareness

Information processing

Figure 6.1 Brand-related information processing

73
Sponsorship

progress of the race, ball movement, scoring). However, we argue that sponsorship signage
captures the viewer’s saliency-based attention through automatically activated processes. In
the context of sports events, simple brand logos or names are exposed to the sports viewer,
who is usually experienced in processing “advertising fragments” without top-down attention
(Pham and Vanhuele, 1997). Therefore, we can build on the general assumption that
sponsorship signage, to a large extent, is processed automatically by saliency-based attention.
Inspired by the neural architecture of the human visual system and building on feature
integration theory (Treisman and Gelade, 1980), the model of saliency-based visual attention
(Itti and Koch, 2000) suggests that objects in the visual field are not processed equally. Only
those objects the viewer perceives as visually salient draw the viewer’s automatic attention,
whereas other objects require the viewer’s voluntary effort (i.e., top-down attention) in order
to be processed (Itti and Koch, 2000). Thus, sponsorship signage must win the competition
for saliency or receive the viewer’s top-down attention, which is rather unlikely in an
attracting sports environment. In the model of saliency-based visual attention, saliency is
derived from the visual properties of color, intensity and orientation, which are “extracted”
from the visual scene. Each visual property becomes analyzed in terms of its features, for
example, color is broken down into red, green, blue, etc. Based on the network of visual
features, a so-called “saliency map” is created in which one object captures the visual attention
in a winner-takes-all manner (Itti and Koch, 2000).

Measurement of attention
Given that gaze direction is highly correlated with attention (Henderson and Hollingworth,
1999), eye-tracking methodology has been used in several studies to measure the participants’
attention to sponsorship signage (for example, Breuer and Rumpf, 2012; d’Ydewalle and
Tasmin, 1993; Le Roy and Vivier, 2008). Compared to alternative measures of attention,
namely, memory measures that are dependent on top-down attention, eye-tracking is also
capable of detecting preconscious allocation of attention. As we argue that attention for
sponsorship signage is mainly captured through a saliency-based process, memory measures
must be regarded as an insufficient indicator of attention (Rosbergen, Pieters and Wedel, 1997).
The fundamental principle of eye-tracking is to measure the direction of the gaze by
recording the position of the pupils with high frequency as horizontal and vertical coordinate
values. As the focus of the gaze can change not only through the movement of the eyeballs,
but also through head movements, modern systems measure the pupil position and the
position of a reflection point on the cornea of the eye (Duchowski, 2007). On the basis of
the relationship between the position of the pupils and the position of the corneal reflection
on the eye, the eye tracking system can calculate the direction of the gaze independently of
head movement. For this purpose, infrared light is beamed from a fixed lighting source onto
the test person’s face, while a special infrared camera records the reflected light.
On the recorded video image, the eye tracking system can identify the test person’s pupils
as dark circles because the beamed light is absorbed by the pupils. The cornea reflects the
infrared light very strongly, which is why the corneal reflection appears as a bright point on
the video image and is identified by the system (Holmqvist et al., 2011).
Even though eye-tracking allows for a precise measurement of gaze direction, it does not,
per se, reveal whether the sports viewer’s gaze is oriented to sponsor signage. Therefore,
so-called areas of interest (AOI) are marked within the sports broadcast. Due to the short
length of fixation (100–400 milliseconds), this marking should be done frame-by-frame. The
manual work process can be supported by the automatic algorithms of modern computer

74
The impact of sponsor signage exposure

software. Given a complete marking of AOIs, it is possible to automatically evaluate how long
and frequently a sports viewer’s gaze enters into a certain AOI in order to draw conclusions
about the attention for sponsor signage.

Empirical findings on the impact of exposure

To analyze the impact of sponsor signage visibility on the viewers’ attention and awareness,
lab studies provide a good surrounding as several potential biases can be controlled. In a recent
study, four sports (football, handball, biathlon, Formula 1) were tested by using a mix of
research techniques (exposure analysis, eye-tracking, questioning). By doing so, the visibility
of sponsor signage (exposure time, on-screen size, on-screen clutter), visual attention (glance
duration) to sponsor signage, and brand awareness (spontaneous sponsor recall) were assessed.
Brand-related (brand familiarity, prior purchase behavior) and individual variables (sports
involvement) were measured by a questionnaire.
Based on the derived multi-level data, regression models for each type of sports were
estimated, explaining the degree of visual attention to sponsor signage. The exposure variables
(signage position, on-screen time, on-screen size, and on-screen clutter) were entered as
predictors, whereas the degree of personal involvement served as control variable. The
likelihood of brand awareness was estimated by logistic regression. The model of sponsor–
brand awareness reflects the predictors glance duration, prior brand familiarity and prior
purchase behavior. Interestingly, we found an S-shaped relationship between glance duration
and sponsor–brand recall. Hence, the viewer’s awareness is highly increased on a low attentional
level, then the effect “flattens out” and finally grows again on a high attentional level.
Furthermore, the statistical models reveal that the choice of signage positions has a
significant impact on capturing viewer attention, independent of their exposure time. In
particular, sponsor signage located on the athletes’ apparel (or at least close to sports action),
provides a greater chance of attracting viewer attention than sponsor signage in the periphery.
In an effort to maximize the efficiency of sponsorship communication, decision makers
should therefore choose signage positions at the venue that generate the best ratio between
exposure time and attention.
The exposure–attention ratio of particular signage positions (for example, interview
backdrop) can vary between venues or due to different camera placements. An interview
backdrop, for example, can either hold a single sponsor message, or it can be visually overloaded
by more than twenty smaller logos. The efficiency of sponsorship communication highly
depends on the size and exclusiveness of sponsor signage exposure.
The study reveals that increasing the size of the sponsor signage helps significantly to draw
attention to the sponsor. Thus, decision makers are advised to select positions that allow for
large signage presentations. Additionally, the exclusiveness of signage exposure is relevant for
capturing visual attention. On-screen clutter will significantly reduce the attention of sports
viewers. Therefore, sponsorship managers should consider sponsorship information overload
as a threat to their communication objectives. For example, a jersey holding more than five
sponsor logos should be avoided, because the impact of exposure on visual attention will be
marginal.

Application in sports business

Based on the data derived from the lab study, multivariate regression models were estimated.
The model equations were connected to build a computer-based system for the evaluation

75
Sponsorship

Exposure data Sponsoring contacts CPT Sponsorship

<tAttentionH-equation Attention contacts CPT Attention

“Aware ness，
，
-equation Awareness contacts CPT A w areness

Market research data Equation

Data input

Data output

Figure 6.2 Modeling process

of sponsorship performance. Figure 6.2 illustrates the structure of the evaluation system.
Starting with the “attention”-equation, exposure data (i.e., signage position, exposure time,
size, clutter) is used to calculate the number of “attention contacts” for each sports program
in which the specific sponsor signage appeared. “Attention contacts” reflect the number of
sports viewers who have devoted their visual attention to certain sponsor signage.The number
of “attention contacts” is then entered into the “awareness”-equation calculating the number
of “awareness contacts” by also considering market research data (i.e., brand familiarity, prior
brand use). “Awareness contacts” denominates sports viewers who have become aware of a
certain sponsor–sponsee relationship.
To also reveal the efficiency of a sponsorship investment, the costs per thousand
(CPT) are calculated by the evaluation system. For this purpose, the sponsorship fee
needs to be taken into account. The CPT is calculated on three levels: “CPT Sponsorship”
indicates the conventional price value based on the amount of visibility, whereas
“CPTAttention” and “CPTAwareness” indicate the sponsorship’s impact on attention and awareness,
respectively.
The application of the evaluation system provides decision makers with solid indicators
of sponsorship effectiveness (gained attention and awareness) and sponsorship efficiency (costs
per gained attention and awareness). The evaluation system is highly compatible with current
methods of media and market research in sports business as it makes use of secondary data
(exposure data and market research data). It can be applied in three essential phases of
sponsorship management: the negotiation phase (i.e., sponsorship manager compares various
sponsorship proposals), the implementation phase (i.e., sponsorship manager makes use of
communication rights) and the adjustment phase (i.e. sponsorship manager adapts the
sponsorship communication strategy).
During the negotiation phase, the sponsorship manager is faced with the problem of
selecting the most efficient sponsorship activity from a number of options. After pre-selecting
those options that match best with the brand’s target group, the sponsorship with the greatest
amount of attention at the lowest costs needs to be identified. Although the sponsorship fee
is given by the right holder, the attention for sponsor signage is hard to predict based on
conventional methods. By using exposure data from the prior season or event, the evaluation
system carries out ex-ante evaluations of certain scenarios. The option that offers the best
ratio between predicted attention contacts and costs is to be selected.

76
The impact of sponsor signage exposure

In the implementation phase, most sponsors rely on performance indicators from media
analysis such as seconds of visibility or “sponsoring contacts”, although exposure data cannot
reflect sponsorship effectiveness. The evaluation system overcomes this shortcoming by
calculating the “attention contacts” and the “awareness contacts”. The use of the latter two
indicators is recommended because they reveal the actual impact of signage exposure on the
viewer’s visual and cognitive processing.
In the adjustment phase, the sponsorship manager needs to assess the extent to which
changes in certain communication conditions will affect sponsorship effectiveness. Most rights
holders frequently adjust their marketing concept by changing, for example, the size of their
sponsor pool or modifying the communication tools at the venue. Thus, sponsors raise the
question of whether the planned adjustments lead to a change in the value of their sponsorship.
In order to support the manager’s decision making, the evaluation system is capable of running
various simulations of sponsorship performance in terms of attention and awareness. Thus, the
manager can find out whether a certain adjustment is worth the additional costs.
Even though the evaluation system provides several merits compared to conventional
sponsorship evaluation, it is not free from limitations. The predictions by the evaluation
system are based on experimental data patterns and therefore it builds on the (unproved)
assumption that the identified relationships are also valid in the real world. The artificial
character of a lab situation might lead to the criticism that the viewer’s behavior in a natural
environment may deviate from the behavior in the lab.

Evaluation of a football sponsorship

The practical relevance of the evaluation system was tested with regards to several high-tier
and low-tier sponsorships in football, handball, biathlon and Formula 1. To run the system,
sponsors provided exposure data and market research data for at least one season. In the
remainder of this chapter, the case of a football sponsorship is presented to illustrate the
applicability of the evaluation system.
The predicted output for the football sponsorship is displayed on the visibility, attention
and awareness level in Table 6.1. “Sponsoring contacts” on the visibility level indicate the
amount of possibilities of having contacted a viewer. “CPTSponsorship” reflects the costs per
1,000 “sponsoring contacts”. Although “sponsoring contacts” simply consider visibility,
“attention contacts” reveal how far specific sponsor signage captured the sports viewers’
attention. That is, only sports viewers who put their gaze on the signage are accounted. In
this context, “CPTAttention” reflects the costs per 1,000 contacts weighted by the attentional
impact of sponsor signage exposure. Moreover, the evaluation system outputs the number of
viewers who became aware of the sponsorship, so called “awareness contacts”. Thus, the
“CPTAwareness” reflects the costs per 1,000 contacts weighted by the exposure’s impact on
awareness. In terms of “awareness contacts”, the status of a brand within the target group is
also considered: that is, prior brand familiarity and prior brand use.
On average, the football sponsorship reached 1,757 million “sponsoring contacts” per
season. Given that the sponsorship fee was four million euros per season, the average
“CPTSponsorship” amounts to *2.36. If we compare the four seasons on the visibility level,
the results imply that the highest return on investment was achieved in the 2008/2009
season because the most “sponsoring contacts” were reached (2,023 million) and the lowest
price for 1,000 “sponsorship contacts” was paid (CPTSponsorship=*1.98). The results on the
visibility level are equal to the values derived from the conventional exposure-based approach
discussed earlier.

77
Sponsorship

Table 6.1 Model output

Visibility Attention Awareness

Season Sponsorship Sponsoring CPTSponsorship Attention CPTAttention Awareness CPTAwareness

Fee contacts contacts contacts (in
(in millions) (in millions) millions)

2007/2008 4 000 000 * 1 812,00 2,21 * 47,28 2,75 * 18,00 2,12 *

2008/2009 4 000 000 * 2 022,75 1,98 * 58,09 2,24 * 17,99 2,12 *
2009/2010 4 000 000 * 1 264,60 3,16 * 45,65 2,85 * 14,54 2,62 *
2010/2011 4 000 000 * 1 928,15 2,07 * 74,05 1,75 * 22,79 1,67 *
Average 4 000 000 * 1 756,87 2,36 * 56,27 2,40 * 18,33 2,13 *

The mathematical equations take corrective influence on the attention and awareness level.
It shows that the application of the evaluation system leads to different implications. Thus,
the most efficient season in terms of sponsorship impact occurred in 2010/2011, when a
maximum of “attention contacts” (74.05 million) and “awareness contacts” (22.79 million)
was reached. This leads to the lowest costs for the sponsor in terms of attention
(CPTAttention=*1.75) and awareness (CPTAwareness=*1.67). The sponsor found an efficient way
to communicate its sponsorship to the TV audience. Based on these results, it is advisable to
continue the sponsorship and to keep the adjustments with regards to signage positioning.

Conclusion
The optimal selection of sponsor signage positons, the optimizations of exposure size, and
the reduction of visual clutter can be regarded as significant drivers of sponsorship impact.
In this chapter we proposed a new evaluation system that takes these drivers of success into
account by predicting the sports viewer’s attention and awareness rather than sponsor signage
visibility.
The evaluation system enables decision makers to use sports sponsorship more efficiently.
The most important advantage of the evaluation system relates to the fact that managers
receive information regarding a sponsorship’s impact rather than a sponsorship’s visibility.
Hence, it offers the opportunity to link the marketing managers’ decision making a lot
closer to the overall marketing objectives (for example, brand awareness). Furthermore,
through ex-ante scenarios the manager receives relevant information prior to making an
investment.
In summary, we recommend that viewer attention and awareness should be regarded as
critical indicators of sponsorship performance. As the attention capacity of sports viewers is
not unlimited, it represents a chronically scarce resource from the sponsor’s perspective. In
this context, we suggest that maximizing the degree of viewer attention, instead of maximizing
viewer exposure, should be regarded as the main challenge for sponsorship management.

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7
A DATA-DRIVEN APPROACH
TO SPONSORSHIP PLANNING
Multiple sponsorship selection

Larry DeGaris, Mark Dodds and James T. Reese

Introduction
Sponsorship is “an investment, in cash or in kind, with an activity, in return for access to the
exploitable commercial potential associated with that activity” (Meenaghan, 1991). In other
words, a sponsor pays money to a property for the ability to communicate to the fans attracted
to that property. It is important that the sponsor chooses the best property in order to achieve
its objectives. In order to make that choice, a sponsor must evaluate potential properties. The
continued increases in sponsorship rights fees means there is a lot on the line financially when
choosing sponsorship properties.
Prior to choosing a property, a sponsor should create a policy to identify goals and
objectives attainable with a sponsorship. This policy can be effective to choose the optimal
proposal (Meenaghan, 1991). A sponsor should identify clear goals for the sponsorship, such
as reaching a defined target audience (either demographic or geographic), generating
incremental sales, attracting media attention, increasing brand awareness, or enhancing brand
image (Liu, Srivastava and Woo, 1998; Meenaghan, 1991).
Sponsors often seek properties that “fit” their brands. Traditionally, “fit” is the perception
of the congruence between the sponsor and the property (Speed and Thompson, 2000). It is
usually either functional or image related (Otker and Hayes, 1987). The sponsor then needs
to define what congruence means to them. Some may look at personality fit, similar image
and values, even corporate mission statements (Cunningham, Cornell and Coote, 2009;
Dees, Bennett and Ferreira, 2010; Simmons and Becker-Olsen, 2006). Sponsorship managers
may look at a narrow audience such as a female head of household with children as a
demographic fit (Mayo and Bishop, 2010).
Despite the importance of sponsorship selection, very little research has been done in the
area. What little research exists suggests that sponsors would benefit from a more rigorous,
systematic approach to sponsorship selection. For example, gender has been found to influence
the sponsorship selection decision process. Johnston’s research indicates that female managers
adhere to a firm’s sponsorship criteria more closely than male managers (Johnston, 2010).
This insight suggests that no matter what criteria is utilized, a male manager may choose a
property based on something other than empirical data support, such as previous experience,

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a “gut feeling”, or a personal affinity for the property. It is important to choose the right
property because a poor selection will not create the desired impact and would be a waste
of valuable funds and other resources (Day, 2010).
Sponsors often point to measurement as being one of sponsorship’s biggest challenges.
Most often, however, measurement is viewed in the context of evaluation: what sponsors
are getting for their sponsorships. Given the high stakes and potentially corrupting influences
in the sponsorship planning process, data and measurement can play a vital role in plan-
ning as well. For sponsorship properties, the use of data and measurement can help
support their sponsorship sales efforts. For sponsors, data and measurement can help to
justify programs in addition to empirically-supported sponsorship strategies (DeGaris,
2008b).
Despite the fact that most sponsors hold multiple sponsorships, often within the same
sports, most published sponsorship research focuses only on single sponsorships (Chanavat,
Martinent and Ferrand, 2009). Even after deciding to enter a particular sport, sponsors must
choose among sponsorship levels and properties, such as leagues, teams, and individuals.
Moreover, the few research studies that examine multiple sponsorship contexts look at the
aggregate effects and do not measure the relative contributions of different sponsorship
relationships.
To date, there is very little empirical support to guide sponsors’ decisions in selecting from
among an array of choices. The small body of research about sponsorship selection indicates
that sponsors rely heavily on very basic measures. Based on a survey of industry executives,
Pearsall (2009) noted that sponsors are most likely to look at demographics, attendance, and
fan passion in making a decision about sponsorships. According to the survey, 46% of sponsors
consider “psychographics” when planning a sponsorship.
It is also important to consider sponsorship activation plans while considering which
properties to sponsor. As Cornwell (2008) notes, there is an urgent need for more research
in marketing activities-linked sponsorships, or sponsorship leveraging. As Simmons and
Becker-Olson (2006) found, when a property does not “fit” a sponsor, the sponsor can take
steps to make it fit through advertising, public relations, promotions, or other sponsorship-
linked marketing communications. Along these lines, Reisman and Eccleston (2013) argue
that “receptivity” to sponsorship is a more important criterion for sponsorship selection than
fan passion. Based on the results of a national survey of 2,750 U.S. adults, they identified
segments of sports fans who report varying degrees of receptivity to sponsors’ efforts. That is,
even if a sponsorship property fits a sponsor’s demographics and brand image, and has
passionate fans, the sponsorship must be actionable (i.e., “activation-able”).
Therefore, the purpose of this chapter is to draw on examples from baseball in the U.S.
to provide a framework for a data-driven approach to selecting sponsorship properties.
Building on existing frameworks for sponsorship selection, the approach includes demogra-
phics, attitudes, and leveraging opportunities. Although baseball has a modest profile outside
the United States, the multi-level structure (for example, elite professional, lower-level
professional, amateur, and grassroots) presents sponsorship options that are common to most
sports. In sponsoring soccer in Europe, for example, sponsors must choose among leagues
by country (La Liga, Serie A, etc.), within countries (Premier League, Championship, etc.),
teams within each league, individual players, and events (FIFA World Cup, Champions League,
Europa, FA Cup, etc.). Therefore, the current study examines the three dominant baseball
organizations in the United States (Major League Baseball, Minor League Baseball and
Little League Baseball) and their role in a sponsorship-linked integrated marketing communi-
cations strategy.

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Integrated marketing communications

Integrated marketing communications (IMC) is a strategic marketing approach that
coordinates all marketing communication tactics, including sales promotions and sponsor-
ships (Ciletti, 2011). IMC allows marketing communication to build relationships with
consumers by creating a consistent message across the all message platforms. All marketing
communications need to convey a single message to the customer to break through clutter
and eliminate brand confusion. Sponsorship represents a platform upon which sponsors can
integrate marketing communications – advertising, PR, sales promotions, etc. – not another
promotional tool.

Sales promotions
Sales promotions are short-term incentives designed to stimulate product sales. Sales promotion
tactics may include coupons, sweepstakes and contests, premium giveaways, athlete or coach
autograph signings, bundling or price reductions for purchasing multiple products, and loyalty
cards. Many of these sales promotions may be implemented through technology using social
media platforms. Sales promotions often interrelate with other aspects of the marketing mix
including advertising, personal selling and public relations (Cormier, 2011).
Sponsorships are a great tool to leverage existing sales promotions (DeGaris, West and
Dodds, 2009). Research confirms that sales promotion participation is strongly linked to fan
avidity, and fans participate in promotions because they are fun and have sports ties, which
results in driving sales through the sport-linked sales promotion.

Sponsorship as a catalyst
Sponsorships can drive direct and indirect sales. Some packages include on-site sales, pouring
rights and merchandise opportunities that companies use to offset the cost of the sponsorship.
Although practitioners often find difficulty with isolating the impact a sponsorship has on
sales given the influence of advertising, sales promotions and other marketing mix elements,
DeGaris and West (2013) found an increase in soft drink consumption depending on effective
sponsorship activation tactics. Therefore, a sponsorship should be integrated with other
marketing communication tools strategically in order to be most effective.

Baseball organization background

Major League Baseball (MLB)

Professional baseball has existed within the United States since the mid-1800s (Eagleman,
2011). In 1903, two major leagues, the National League (NL) and the American League (AL),
containing eight teams each, combined to hold a post-season championship series, now
referred to as the World Series (Eagleman, 2011). Today, there are 30 teams in MLB; both the
NL and AL have 15 teams each (Team-by-team information, 2015). MLB franchises are
dispersed throughout North America (“Goodbye”, 2011).
The franchises are located within the largest metropolitan areas within North America
(“Baseball markets”, 2015). In fact, the largest markets within the United States and Canada
without an MLB team are Montreal, Quebec (3,426,350); Portland, Oregon (2,265,223);
Vancouver, British Columbia (1,986,965); and Sacramento, California (1,796,857).

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Cost to attend
The sports publication, Team Marketing Report, publishes an annual fan cost index for MLB
that ranks the average ticket prices for all 30 major league clubs.The Fan Cost Index comprises
the prices of four adult average-price tickets, two small draft beers, four small soft drinks, four
regular-size hot dogs, parking for one car, two game programs and two least expensive, adult-
size adjustable caps. On average, it costs a family of four $210.46 to attend an MLB game.
Despite the cost, MLB reported a total attendance of more than 70 million during 2014
(MLB Press Release, 2014).

Minor League Baseball (MiLB)

Minor League Baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues one level below Major
League Baseball. Many Minor League teams are official affiliates of Major Leagues teams used
for the development of players. Minor League Baseball, founded in 1868 and headquartered
in St. Petersburg, Florida, consists of 160 teams in 43 states across the United States. Additional
leagues and teams also exist in South America. The duration of the season is typically 70
games per team from April to early September (Minor League Baseball, 2013).

Cost to attend
Team Marketing Report also publishes the average ticket prices and a fan cost index for
Minor League Baseball. As there are so many minor league teams across the United States
(approximately 160), the report summarizes ticket prices based on the level of play (for
example, AAA, AA, A, Rookie League, etc.). The Fan Cost Index for MiLB is a little different
from MLB as the report looks at tickets for adults and children. The average cost to attend
an MiLB game ranges from $56.37 in the Rookie league to $70.03 at the highest level
(Triple-A), substantially lower than that for MLB.

Little League Baseball (LLB)

As early as the 1880s, a variety of baseball leagues were operated in the state of New York
for pre-teen children. Due to a variety of circumstances, such as a lack of funding and an
inadequate number of volunteers, the leagues were unable to flourish (Little League Baseball,
2014). In 1925, the American Legion, which still exists today, was formed for boys aged 15–19
(“History of American Legion baseball”, 2015). However, a void still remained for younger
boys who wanted to play organized baseball.
In 1938, Carl Stotz came up with the idea of starting a youth baseball league for his
nephews and the local boys in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. His vision was to provide a
“wholesome program of baseball for the boys of Williamsport, as a way to teach them the
ideals of sportsmanship, fair play and teamwork” (Little League Baseball, 2014: p. 8). Stotz
named the new organization Little League and the first game was played on June 6, 1939
(Little League Baseball, 2014). Little League baseball was born.
A Board of Directors guides each individual league, usually consisting of between five and
twenty-five adult volunteers from the community. There are now more than 6,500 Little
League programs in nearly 90 countries around the world (“Structure”, 2015). A group of
10–20 leagues in a specific area makes up a Little League district and reports to the respective
district office. Groups of districts are classified into one of five national regions in the United

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States and report to regional directors. Regional offices are located in Warner Robbins, Georgia;
San Bernardino, California; Indianapolis, Indiana; Bristol, Connecticut; and Waco, Texas. There
are also four offices that serve the Little League international regions. They are located in
Puerto Rico, Canada, Hong Kong, and Poland. All regional offices report to the International
Headquarters located in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania (Little League Baseball, 2014).

Media
On August 26, 2013, Little League Baseball announced an 8-year contract extension to 2022
for multi-platform (television and digital) broadcast rights with ESPN worth $76 million
(Brigandi, 2013). This is more than double the previous deal of $30.1 million, which ran from
2007 to the end of the 2014 season. Either ESPN or its broadcast partner ABC has televised
every Little League World Series final since 1963 (Cook, 2013).

Cost to attend
Since its formation in 1939, there has never been a cost to attend a Little League World Series
event at the international headquarters in South Williamsport, PA (“World Series,” 2015).
Most of the attendance is composed of family members of the players and would be very
small. However, the 2014 Little League World Series drew an average of 12,895 fans to the
32-game tournament with two games exceeding 30,000 (Beauge, 2014). There is no Fan Cost
Index for Little League Baseball. However, prices are affordable at Little League games and
families can get the types of food and beverages, but less alcohol, that you would expect to
find at any baseball game. According to Wood (2015), you can find traditional menu items
such as hotdogs, hamburgers, chicken fingers, pulled pork sandwiches, roast beef sandwiches,
corn on the cob, cotton candy, funnel cakes and Cracker Jacks. Traditional soft drinks, water,
Gatorade, lemonade, and fruit smoothies are also available.
This study examines demographics, attitudes, and activation propensity among the three
major baseball properties in the United States. Then the results are compared for similarities
and differences in order to answer the study’s research question: How can sponsors select
sponsorship properties to best meet their objectives?

Methodology
Data for this study was drawn from a larger industry study that analyzed baseball sponsorships,
including Major League Baseball, Minor League Baseball, and Little League Baseball (DeGaris,
2008a). Data was collected from a telephone survey of 1,000 baseball fans (defined as at least
a “6”, where 1 means “not interested at all” and 10 means “extremely interested”, on at least
one form of baseball: the sport of baseball in general; Major League Baseball; Minor League
Baseball; Little League Baseball).

Demographic information
Demographic profiles of sports audiences help to guide sponsors in establishing a baseline fit
for their sponsorships. Sponsors seeking younger consumers would seek sponsorship properties
that can provide access to their marketing targets. Like most sports audiences, the respondents
in the study were predominantly male (57.8% to 42.2%), older, affluent, and educated (see
Table 7.1).

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Table 7.1 Survey demographics

Male 57.8%
Female 42.2%
Average age: male 46.6
Average age: female 47.2
Average household income: male $62,540
Average household income: female $56,322
College graduate/Some college: male 57.6%
College graduate/Some college: female 60.0%

Fan avidity information

Fan avidity measures are important because sponsors attempt to leverage the passion fans have
for the sports they love into marketing outcomes. In general, the more passionate the fan, the
more successful the sponsorship. It is interesting to note consistent fan avidity levels between
“Baseball in general” and “Major League Baseball”, suggesting that respondents may equate
fan avidity in baseball to mean fan avidity in MLB only. It is also noteworthy that MiLB score
tends to be lower than LLB, despite the higher level of play. In addition to past experiences
in playing youth baseball, involvement with LLB may extend to being a parent of a player or
a volunteer with the local organization.
Although baseball fans are more likely to be male, both genders are baseball fans at mostly
similar levels, but differ slightly with respect to specific baseball properties (see Table 7.3).
Both men and women are fans of MLB at similar levels (8.4/8.2) and MiLB (4.9/4.9),
however, men are less interested in LLB than women (4.9/5.6), suggesting a segment of
passionate “Little League Moms”. The relative lack of baseball sponsorships targeting female
fans might be a result of confusing a higher percentage of men being fans with men being
bigger fans. Results of this study indicate that is simply not the case. To the contrary, female
baseball fans represent a largely untapped opportunity for sponsors. Moreover, this dynamic
is likely to extend to other sports because of the prevalence of male sports fans comprising
larger numbers within respective fan bases.
Although baseball tends to attract an older audience in general, younger fans are as
passionate about the sports as older fans, supporting the axiom that “fans are fans”; they might
be greater or fewer in number but fans share the passion for the sports. Major League Baseball
attracts a consistent level of interest across all age categories with the mean ranging from 8.2
to 8.4 (see Table 7.4).
However, in LLB, the 35–44 age group shows highest interest level overall (5.7). This may
be explained by interest in this type of baseball being driven by a personal connection. If a
child is participating in baseball (typically parented by the 35–44 category) then interest in

Table 7.2 How interested are you in the sport of baseball (1=not at all interested; 10=Extremely
interested)

Baseball in general Major League Baseball Minor League Baseball Little League Baseball

Mean 8.3 8.3 4.9 5.2

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Table 7.3 How interested are you in the sport of baseball, by gender (1=not at all interested; 10=Extremely
interested)

Major League Baseball Minor League Baseball Little League Baseball

Male Female Male Female Male Female

Mean 8.4 8.2 4.9 4.9 4.9 5.6

Table 7.4 Major League Baseball: fan avidity based on age (1=not at all interested; 10=Extremely interested)

18–34 35–44 45–54 55+

Mean 8.2 8.4 8.3 8.4

Table 7.5 Little League Baseball: fan avidity based on age (1=not at all interested; 10=Extremely interested)

18–34 35–44 45–54 55+

Mean 5.5 5.7 5.3 4.6

LLB rises. The data indicates lower interest in 45–54 and 55+ when those children grow out
of LLB (see Table 7.5).
Although baseball fans report similar levels of interest, the points of attachment differ.
Almost two-thirds (64.1%) of fans in the study say they are biggest fans of their favorite team,
much higher than the sport of baseball in general (30.4%) or their favorite players (5.5%).
This potentially has huge implications for sponsorship selection because sponsors must choose
among league, team, and player relationships. Given the strong following for “baseball in
general”, sponsors looking to identify with the broader sports and not just the local team
must decide which assets collectively define the sports, and for whom.
Sponsors are interested in live event attendance as opportunities to reach fans directly,
providing opportunities for experiential marketing and product sampling, for example. This
is a major strength of baseball as a potential sponsorship property. Attendance comparisons
of the three properties reveal numerous insights into the leagues. It is important to note that
although this study measured the number of games attended, the total number of possible
games is different per league. The MLB season has 162 regular season games, the MiLB season
may contain 70 games and the LLB season may have 10–20 games per season.
When comparing the high interest level associated with MLB and the corresponding
frequency of games attended, an explanation may be that the fan avidity for MLB is media
driven. Because 28.8% of the respondents attend one or two games, this suggests a high media
impact for the fan to choose which particular game to attend. This data also suggests the
choice of game may be dependent on the promotion offered at that game.
Minor League Baseball has the lowest number of games attended. This may be attributed
to the smaller markets and lower stadium capacities of the MiLB teams. Almost two-thirds of

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A data-driven approach to sponsorship planning

Table 7.6 The number of games attended (frequency)

Major league baseball Minor league baseball Little league baseball

None 44.8 65.5 55.8

1–2 28.8 22.9 10.7
3–5 15.2 7.1 8.2
6+ 11.1 4.4 25.4

Table 7.7 Fans’ media behavior

How often do you...? (Daily)

Watch baseball news on television, such as Sportscenter or your local news 58.5%
Follow baseball in the newspaper 43.8%
Watch baseball games on television 31.0%
Watch baseball news, such as Baseball Tonight or This Week in Baseball 24.8%
Visit Internet sports sites for baseball news, such as ESPN.com or Foxsports.com 24.3%
Visit Internet sports sites such as MLB.com 15.0%
Follow baseball in magazines 3.9%

the fans in the study surveyed did not attend a MiLB game. Conversely, Little League Baseball
has the highest percentage of frequent attendees (“six or more” games attended) among all
the properties tested. For sponsors, LLB’s opportunity to reach fans directly through more
frequent attendance is mitigated by the challenge of implementing promotional programs at
the grassroots level.
Although live attendance is a strength for MLB because of the number of games and sizes
of the venues, mediated audiences can deliver substantial value to sponsors on their own
and as part of a larger integrated sponsorship that includes experiential marketing elements.
Fans in the study actively consume baseball related media, with more than half (58.5%)
following baseball daily on television news (see Table 7.7). Sponsors should look to fans’
media behavior to identify a potential fit with their current marketing programs and goals.
Nearly two-thirds of fans in the study say their favorite team is outside their local area, with
only 30.5% saying their favorite team is in their hometown. Although fans’ emotional
attachments are local in that they focus on teams, the teams are likely to be more broadly
geographically distributed, placing a greater emphasis on media behavior, especially digital
assets and national television.

Fan attitudes toward corporate sponsorship

Generally, baseball fans like corporate sponsorship. More than 43% of baseball fans like
sponsorship in baseball as opposed to 24% who dislike corporate sponsorship. This difference
is important to a marketer because attitudes toward sponsorship in general can affect attitudes
toward a specific sponsorship. In addition, more than 58% of all baseball fans think corporate
sponsorship is very or extremely important to the sport, with another 30% believing it’s
somewhat important. Comparatively, however, these numbers are low.

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Sponsorship

60.4%
Little League baseball
32.8%
59.3%
Major League baseball
34.3%
58.7%
Sport of baseball
35 .9%
58.4%
M LB teams
35.2%
51 .4%
Minor League baseball
38.1%
34.8%
College baseball 48.9 %

89.9%
NASCAR
109
Net: Unimportant Net: Important

Figure 7.1 The importance of sponsors

Source: SRS NASCAR Sponsorship Study (2006)

A similar study of NASCAR fans (SRS NASCAR Sponsorship Study, 2006) yielded much
higher sponsorship favorability, with 80% of NASCAR fans saying they “like” corporate
sponsorship in NASCAR.
Based on the results of the survey, we see a high importance of corporate sponsors for
LLB, though still well below NASCAR levels (see Figure 7.1). This may be explained by the
business model of the Little League organizations, with LLB being a blend of sports and
cause-related marketing. Little League Baseball and each individual, local group is a non-
profit organization that provides recreation for young boys and girls. The fans, many of whom
are the parents of the players, understand the direct impact of the sponsorship revenue for
the organization. This revenue is used for field renovation, improving facilities, purchasing
safety equipment. In fact, much of the sponsorship sales activity is conducted by the parents
themselves.

Sponsorship leveraging
Despite the weak favorability, there is evidence that baseball sponsorship drives incremental
sales, with 33.8% of baseball fans saying they support sponsorships through purchasing sponsor
products. In contrast to the weak favorability toward sponsors, and fortunately for sponsors,
baseball fans are broadly receptive to sponsors’ leveraging efforts.
Nearly a third (28.9%) of fans in the study say they have participated in a baseball sponsor’s
consumer sales promotion (i.e., contest or sweepstake, premium, loyalty program) during the
past 12 months. Participation in baseball sponsors’ promotions increases with fan usage or
avidity. More than a third (37.3%) of “super fans” (the top quartile as measured by media
behavior) participated in a contest or sweepstake, 14.5% received a premium item, and 5.9%
participated in a loyalty or rewards program. Sponsors’ baseball tie-ins seem to trigger interest
and participation among the sport’s most avid fans.
Further, there is evidence to suggest that the participation is incremental and attributable
to sponsors’ links to baseball. Nearly a third (31.5%) of fans who participated in a sponsor’s

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A data-driven approach to sponsorship planning

promotion in the past 12 months say that they do not like to participate in promotions,
suggesting that the baseball tie-in motivates incremental participation among fans who are
not predisposed to participate.
In addition to promotional participation at the ballpark, there is evidence to suggest that
baseball sponsorships can drive traffic at retail. Baseball fans make a concerted effort to seek
out sponsor’s products. More than 17% of baseball fans specifically search for baseball sponsor
products at retail. When combined with the data indicating baseball fans purchase baseball
sponsors’ products, it can be concluded that sales promotions, including point-of-purchase
displays, couponing, etc., is important to create sponsorship awareness.

Conclusions and recommendations

Sponsorship can be an effective investment to build brands and drive incremental sales.
However, the investment needs to be planned effectively and strategically, especially in light
of increasing sponsorship rights fees. Sponsorship needs to be selected with the overall marketing
communications program in mind. Tactical decisions should be data-driven and there must be
an overall “fit” between the property, the brand, and the marketing communications plan.
Because there are three distinct baseball organizations with different benefits, a manager needs
to analyze the marketing objectives, decide what promotional tactics can best achieve the
brand’s marketing goals, then choose the sponsorship property to deliver the message.
MLB teams are the major point of attachment for fans. Because the individual teams are
in the largest markets within the United States, a sponsor may choose to sponsor an indivi-
dual team to focus on a particular market. The individual team would create more interest
in a promotional tactic specifically tied to the home team. However, this strategy misses out
on the large number of fans who live outside the home market. Digital properties and
targeted advertising might mitigate the loss, but it might make sense for some sponsors to
seek a national platform, especially if they do not wish to run the risk of alienating fans of
opposing teams.
MLB league sponsorships provide a platform that may be executed with a national
campaign. MLB receives national media exposure through game broadcasts on many channels,
game highlights on national and local television stations, game recaps in newspaper and
magazines and has a significant presence on social media sites such as MLB.com. MLB is
supported by both genders and fan avidity is consistent through the age demographics.
Although MiLB may be seen as a national organization, it is a strongly local sponsor-
ship property lacking the fan passion in other baseball properties. A national campaign
would be difficult due to the limited national media associated with minor league baseball.
However, MiLB is a family friendly, low-cost entertainment option with extensive on-site
promotional options.
LLB combines elements of traditional commercial sponsorships with a pure, grassroots
marketing opportunity. The LLB World Series is a property that offers national (and
international) media exposure. However, the individual leagues are community-based where
a small market may have numerous little leagues within its boundaries. The media is very
limited. Aside from the LLB World Series, there is no national media coverage. Typically, there
is very little broadcast media even from local media. Small, local newspapers and websites run
by the league itself, tends to be the only media associated with the leagues. Local sponsors
can promote their brands with naming rights at the field or of the individual teams. Activation
has to be on-site. However, the high frequency attendance suggests a successful promotion
may extend over multiple visits. For instance, a local restaurant may offer a new coupon every

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week to stimulate several visits as opposed to one coupon with a long expiration date. LLB
sponsorships are very successful for brands geared toward children or “little league moms”
aged 35–44.
Although favorability toward baseball sponsors is tepid compared to the highly sponsor-
loyal NASCAR fans, baseball fans represent a fertile market for promotional efforts. High
levels of receptivity to and participation in sponsors’ promotions, combined with high levels
of live attendance, present baseball as a strong opportunity for sponsors’ experiential marketing
and consumer promotions. For sponsors with a strong emphasis on these marketing programs,
baseball sponsorships might be a good fit even if demographics and attitudes match poorly.
Finally, sponsorships should be considered part of a portfolio, which together lead to
achieving sponsorship goals. A brand may choose to incorporate a national campaign then
support it with individual team sponsorship. In this case, the national campaign would increase
brand awareness and the individual team sponsorship would generate a favorable attitude
toward the brand. For example, Bank of America identified itself as the “Official Bank of
Baseball”, a trademarked designation of their own making. In order to support their status,
Bank of America signed national sponsorship agreements with Major League Baseball, Little
League Baseball and Softball, Minor League Baseball, and the National Baseball Hall of Fame
(“Bank of America”, 2007).
As this chapter shows, there are many differences among the three dominant baseball
organizations within the United States. In order to maximize success, a potential marketer
must match its goals and tactics with the baseball property that best achieves those objectives.
Each property reaches its target audience differently, which allows a sponsor to activate its
brand to meet its marketing objectives.

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8
SPORTS SPONSORSHIP
DECISION MODEL
A conceptual model proposition

Barbara M. B. Sá and Victor Manoel Cunha de Almeida

Introduction
Professional sports have gained recognition in the corporate environment as an extremely
lucrative market that attracts investments and provides countless opportunities for enterprise
(Shannon, 1999). By the end of 2014, it was estimated that the global sports market will
have grossed more than $140 billion (PwC, 2011). Most sponsorship investment has been
directed towards sports, which already accounts for 70% of this type of investment in the
USA (International Events Group, 2014). It is estimated that the 2014 FIFA World Cup
earned $1.4 billion from sponsorship deals, with more than 20 global enterprises choosing
to link their brands to the most important football (soccer) event in the world (Valim, 2014).
As with the Rio 2007 Pan American Games, many companies were attracted by
opportunities to associate their brands with sports in Brazil (Ramiro, 2007). According to
Rosa (2009), it is expected that the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games in
Rio will lead to a 40–50% increase in investments in marketing in Brazil and the country
should obtain more than $800 million exclusively from sponsorship deals of these events.
There are many options for companies that wish to develop ties with sports through
sponsorship, but executives should think strategically to evaluate the opportunities and select
those that have the greatest potential to help them achieve their desired goals (Farrely,
Quester and Greyser, 2005). However, the lack of knowledge regarding the best way of
investing in sports marketing often leads companies to begin a process marked by frustrated
attempts or unexpected successes in the development of their sponsorship strategies (Davies
and Tsiantas, 2008).
The literature abounds with studies that separately analyse the different elements of a
sports sponsorship decision-making process: the strategic decision to invest in sports (Fullerton
and Merz, 2008; Mason, 2005; Papadimitriou, Apostolopoulou and Dounis, 2008); the
objectives of sports sponsorship (Cornwell and Maignan, 1998); different types of sports
sponsorship activation (Fullerton and Merz, 2008; Miloch and Lambrecht, 2006); measuring
the results of this type investment (Davies and Tsiantas, 2008; Lagae, 2005); and evaluation
models to select sponsorship opportunity (Copeland, Frisby and McCarville, 1996;

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Sports Sponsorship Decision Model

McCook, Turco and Riley, 1997). When it comes to the creation of a portfolio of sponsor-
ships, it is suggested that managers should also take into consideration the interactive system
that is built by the multiple properties (Chanavat, Martinent and Ferrand, 2010), because the
fit of sponsored properties helps create a brand showing consistency and clarity (Chien,
Cornwell and Pappu, 2011).
Some of the authors mentioned highlight gaps in this field of research and suggest that
new studies should be developed in order to: (a) increase knowledge of the process involved
in acquiring this type of investment (Arthur, Scott and Woods, 1997); (b) investigate the
dynamics of the sponsorship process (Copeland, Frisby and McCarville, 1996); (c) lead
advances in the understanding of sponsorship processes (Meenaghan, 2001); (d) enable
comparisons to be made between sponsorship practices and effects (Walliser, 2003); and
(e) verify the effectiveness of alternative strategies to leverage or activate sponsorship (Speed
and Thompson, 2008).
Although many studies have been developed in recent years, none of them analyse these
issues in the integrated fashion that would make it possible to establish a clear connection
between motivation, selection, activation and measurement of the results of sports sponsorship.
This chapter intends to contribute to the expansion of knowledge in the sports sponsorship
by investigating the phenomenon from the sponsors’ perspective. The aim is to understand
the decision-making process by gaining a greater understanding of a company’s motivations
for making the investment, identifying how opportunities are selected, how activation actions
are planned and executed and how sports sponsorship results are measured.

Theoretical references
Sports sponsorship consists of a set of activities linked to a communication process that
uses the marketing of sports and the lifestyle associated with it to transmit messages to a
specific target audience (Mullin, Hardy and Sutton, 2004). It constitutes an association with
sports established as an alliance that provides strategic partners with opportunities to add
actions to the marketing mix and thus get better marketing activity results (Morgan and
Summers, 2005).

Objectives of sports sponsorship

It is essential that companies clearly define what they aim to achieve with sponsorship in
order to obtain the best return (Lee and Ross, 2012). In a typical sports sponsorship partnership,
the sponsor provides resources in the form of funds, products or services in exchange for an
association with an element that is external to the company and which offers promotional
opportunities to enhance the value of its brand from the customers’ perspective (O’Reilly
and Madill, 2007; Pichot, Tribou and O’Reilly, 2008).
Attempting to achieve a broad understanding of what companies expect from sports
sponsorship, this study classifies the objectives identified in the literature into six groups:
(1) corporate objectives, such as return on investment (Koo, Quarterman and Flynn, 2006),
conquering markets (Davies and Tsiantas, 2008), developing new business (Irwin and
Asimakopoulos, 1992), increasing sales and undertaking competitive actions (Cornwell, Pruitt
and Clark, 2005; Davies and Tsiantas, 2008); (2) brand objectives, such as improving corporate
brand image (Irwin and Asimakopoulos, 1992), company or brand awareness and product or
brand positioning (Cornwell, Pruitt and Clark, 2005; Davies and Tsiantas, 2008); (3) product
objectives, such as product development, testing and launch (Barrand, 2005; Davies and

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Sponsorship

Tsiantas, 2008; Rines, 2000); (4) audience objectives, such as consumer perception towards
the brand (Cornwell, Pruitt and Clark, 2005), customer satisfaction and loyalty, and
recognition of the company as a sponsor (Davies and Tsiantas, 2008; Gwinner and Swanson,
2003); (5) relationship objectives, such as involvement with the community (Meenaghan,
1983), hospitality or development of a closer ties with employees (Cornwell, Pruitt and
Clark, 2005; Davies and Tsiantas, 2008), and also media exposure or reaching opinion
formers (Copeland, Frisby and McCarville, 1996); and (6) executives’ personal objectives
(Meenaghan, 1983).

Sponsorship selection: sports modality, type of sponsorship and sports property

Sponsors have become more selective in their choice of sports sponsorship, not only due to
the increase in the amount invested in sports in recent years, but also to the number of
proposals that appear on a daily basis (Lardinoit and Derbaix, 2001;Walliser, 2003). Establishing
realistic objectives and choosing activities carefully can enable the company to maximise the
results of a sponsorship (Davies and Tsiantas, 2008). The choice of sports sponsorship should
be based on a rational decision using selected criteria (Meenaghan, 1983) and set out in a
detailed plan included in the marketing communication, encompassing the selection of the
type of sponsorship, the execution of the action, its integration with marketing communication
and the measurement of the effects of sponsorship communication (Lagae, 2005).
The similarities between each sponsorship in a portfolio affect brand meaning and clarity
(Chien, Cornwell and Pappu, 2011) and the existent interaction between sponsors and
sponsored properties can influence brands’ cognitive and affective dimensions (Chanavat,
Martinent and Ferrand, 2009). Also, a sponsor–sponsee partnership that seems incongruent
might not have a positive influence on a customer’s behavioural and emotional responses to
the brand (Nickell, Cornwell and Johnston, 2011). Companies should take into account the
characteristics of the sports modality before taking the decision to sponsor (Lagae, 2005). This
is the best way of identifying whether there is a fit between the sport’s potential reach and
the company’s area of interest, and whether the audience that follows the sports intersect the
company’s target audience. Each sports modality affects consumers’ emotions in different ways
(Wann et al., 2008) and affects evaluations regarding the sponsoring company’s endorsement
of its products (Martin, 1996). Sponsors should select the opportunities that will better
represent the image their companies desire to have (Ensor, 1987).
Another factor companies should consider is the type of sports sponsorship in which
they wish to invest. Eight types of sports sponsorship were identified in the studies investigated:
(1) sponsorship of sports teams; (2) individual sponsorship and endorsement of sports
celebrities; (3) sponsorship of sports organizations or entities; (4) sponsorship of sports
events; (5) sponsorship of sports facilities; (6) sponsorship of sports transmissions;
(7) sponsorship of technologies; and (8) licensing (Fullerton and Merz, 2008; Lagae, 2005;
Rines, 2000). Although there are many options for investment in sports, it is not always easy
to make a choice and it is necessary to assess the opportunities and risks associated with each
alternative to be certain that the company’s objectives will be achieved (Rines, 2000).
Selection should be made carefully, as a sponsee’s image can be transferred to the sponsor
(Cornwell and Maignan, 1998); also, multiple sponsorship interactions have the power to
affect the brand image (Chanavat, Martinent and Ferrand, 2010). Knowing that each type of
sponsorship requires a different investment, companies should question whether it is better
to bet on a single type of sports sponsorship or on a combination of actions (Lardinoit and
Derbaix, 2001).

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Sports Sponsorship Decision Model

Selecting the sports property is an important task when a company chooses sports sponsorship
as a way of achieving internal or external marketing objectives (Pichot, Tribou and O’Reilly,
2008). Sports property is the term used to describe organizations, events or athletes sponsored
by companies as part of their marketing strategies (Farrelly, Quester and Greyser, 2005: p. 341).
Sports can provide various properties, such as teams, competitions, individuals, events or static
advertising. It is precisely through a sports property that sports sponsorship occurs (Rines,
2000). A sports property can also be a major event, celebrity, entity, a developing athlete or
even an event that is still unknown (Amis, Pant and Slack, 1997).
As sponsors wish to create involvement with an appropriate sports property (Madrigal,
2000), the professionals involved in selection should observe whether there is a clear fit
between the company’s image and marketing strategy, and the characteristics of the property
being sponsored (Ensor, 1987). Various authors highlight the need for strategic decisions in
the selection of the best property in order to achieve the company’s aims (Farrelly, Quester
and Greyser, 2005; Meenaghan, 1998). To better select a sports property, all available options
should be carefully considered before taking a decision so that the choice contributes to
ensuring that the company is able to achieve the objectives proposed with the sports
sponsorship action, and consequently, that investments in sports are not seen as being costly
and yielding disappointing returns (Papadimitriou, Apostolopoulou and Dounis, 2008).

Activation of sports sponsorship

Activation is defined as a set of strategic initiatives adopted by companies to position
themselves in sports marketing (Fullerton and Merz, 2008). The term is also used to describe
the activity developed through actions that exploit the property’s potential to achieve specific
marketing objectives. Activation contributes to the formation of a link between sponsor,
sponsee, customer and sales (Rines, 2000).
The growing number of sponsors and the demand for companies’ more effective financial
controls has forced companies to imagine more creative and innovative solutions for the
activation of their sports sponsorships (Miloch and Lambrecht, 2006). An activation strategy
requires communication that clearly publicizes the association between sponsor, sponsee and
a specific audience (Westerbeek and Smith, 2002).
Activation is able to influence a brand’s recognition and recall rates as well as increase an
event’s level of familiarity. The recognition of sponsoring companies that activate their sports
sponsorships can be as much as twice as those that do not (Miloch and Lambrecht, 2006).
The disciplines typically used for activation of sports sponsorship are: the brand, promotions,
hospitality, merchandising, relationship marketing and advertising (Rines, 2000), development
of B2B strategies, internal communication, internet agreements and greater public relations
efforts (Miloch and Lambrecht, 2006).

Measurement of sports sponsorship

Walliser (2003) explains that the evaluation of the results of investments in different types of
sports sponsorship has constituted an important issue for marketing professionals who, due
to the increasing cost of sports sponsorships, have been questioning the effectiveness of their
actions (Lardinoit and Derbaix, 2001).
The measurement of sponsorship is a complex activity (Lagae, 2005) and is usually
performed using models and scales developed for other forms of advertising. From the
consumers’ perspective, this assessment is normally performed in terms of the levels of

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Sponsorship

recognition achieved, attitudes created or altered, brand recall, whether it is instantaneous

or not, and level of press coverage (Bennett, 1999). Some measures used by companies to
assess the impacts of sports sponsorship on consumers are: public awareness; change of
attitude in relation to the brand’s image, undertaken comparatively before and after the
execution of the action; measures of affinity, evaluated in market research; and evaluation of
the impact on sales, purchase intention and loyalty (Meenaghan, 2005). Despite academic
efforts to develop more precise evaluation measures, the tests of association and recognition
that have been proposed are merely superficial measures of the impacts of sponsorship that
do not contribute to a better understanding of the ways consumers involve themselves in
sports (Meenaghan, 2001).

Conceptual model
The Sports Sponsorship Decision Model (SSDM) proposed in this study (see Figure 8.1) was
developed using the theoretical references to serve as the conceptual framework for the
analysis. According to the SSDM, a company interested in investing in sports sponsorship
should establish clear objectives that serve as a basis for the sponsorship selection decision,
which can begin with the choice of (1) sports modalities or (2) types of sponsorship aligned
with established objectives. The company should consider the opportunities and restrictions
that occur when trying to match (3) sports modalities and types of sponsorship, given that
not all sports modalities provide opportunities for all types of sponsorship and vice versa.
Once the sports modalities and types of sponsorship have been defined, the company should
select sports properties, the concrete locus of the sports sponsorship action. Once again, the
nature of the sports property (4) should be aligned with the company’s objectives. The
company should also consider the restrictions between (5) sports properties and sports
modalities and between (6) types of sponsorship and sports properties. The company should
then decide on sponsorship activation actions to fully exploit the sports property’s potential.
These actions should be aligned with the opportunities and restrictions that result (4’) from
the nature of the sports property, (5’) the sports modality and (6’) the type of sponsorship.

MOTIVATION SELECTION ACTIVATION MEASUREMENT

■ 9

Sports
modalities 5，
5
1

Sports Sports
Sports 3 Sports sponsorship
sponsorship 4 4，
- 7 sponsorship
properties activation
objectives results
initiatives
2,
Types
6
6，
of sports
sponsorship

Figure 8.1 Sports Sponsorship Decision Model (SSDM)

96
Sports Sponsorship Decision Model

The next step is to decide on the indicators that will be used to measure the results of the
sponsorship, considering (7) the results expected from sponsorship activation actions and (8)
the objectives initially defined. Finally, the company should use the results as a tool to refine
(9) the objectives to be achieved through sports sponsorship.

Methodology
This chapter aims to contribute to the expansion of knowledge in the sports marketing area,
more specifically regarding the theme of sports sponsorship, by investigating the phenomenon
from the sponsors’ perspective. The main objective is to understand the sports sponsorship
decision-making process by analysing companies’ motivations for making these investments,
identifying how opportunities are selected, how activation actions are planned and executed
and how the results of sports sponsorship are measured.
We decided to use the case analysis method to conduct the investigation. “Case study” can
be defined as a description of a managerial situation (Bonoma, 1985) usually conducted when
the researcher intends to obtain a better understanding of a given theme (Eisenhardt, 1989)
typically by deeply analysing a restricted number of situations (Campomar, 1991) in the real
context where they happen (Yin, 2001: p. 19).To achieve the aim of this research, the following
four research questions were proposed:

1 What motives lead companies to become involved with sports and what objectives do
they expect to achieve by investing in sports sponsorship?
2 How do companies select sports sponsorship opportunities and what criteria do they use
to choose those they wish to become involved in?
3 How does the activation of sports sponsorship occur?
4 What are the indicators used by companies to measure the results of sports sponsorship?

Due to the nature of these questions, we conducted an exploratory study and developed it in
two stages. During the first one, in-depth interviews were performed with eight sports
sponsorship specialists, professionals who had worked in sports agencies as mediators of the
relationship between sponsors and sponsees. The aim of these interviews was to acquire deeper
knowledge of the phenomenon investigated as well as verify the adequateness of the semi-
structured interview guide for the subsequent interviews with sponsors in order to perform
an external triangulation of the information collected from the informants. In addition,
complementary information regarding each sponsoring company was researched in secondary
sources, reinforcing the validity of the study through external triangulation (Bonoma, 1985).
After the first round of investigation, we conducted another set of in-depth interviews
with six executives in charge of the sports sponsorship areas from their companies. These
executives represent a total of four companies selected for the purpose of this study, based on
the criteria that, together, they embrace most types of sponsorships identified in literature.
Petrobras is one of the biggest oil companies in the world and has been investing in sports
since the 1980s. It has sponsorship agreements encompassing different sports, events, and
entities, among others. Ipiranga is also an oil company that invests in athletes, teams, and
events, mostly in race sports. Unimed-Rio is a medical insurance enterprise that chooses to
sponsor athletes from different disciplines and supported one of the most well-known soccer
teams in the country for 15 years. Finally, Olympikus – a big Brazilian sporting goods
company – has licensing agreements, and was also the technological supplier of sports
equipment to athletes, teams and sports organizations.

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Sponsorship

The analysis was performed using the critical realism approach. This approach holds that
the existence of reality depends on our perception of what is real and that the analysis of this
reality is only possible by understanding the cause and effect relations that exist in what is
observed. By using this approach, researchers are able to reinforce the degree of analytical
generalization of their findings and the ability to replicate them (Welch et al., 2011).
In order to apply the proposed method, first, a case-by-case analysis was performed to
identify patterns. Second, the cases were compared to search for similarities and divergences
in each of the categories of analysis: (a) objectives of sports sponsorship; (b) selection of sports
sponsorship; (c) activation of sports sponsorship; (d) measurement of the results of sports
sponsorship.

Discussion of results

What motives lead companies to become involved with sports and what
objectives do they expect to achieve by investing in sports sponsorship?
The analysis of the four cases investigated suggests that companies that sponsor sports do so
for different reasons: corporate or business, brand, product and relationship objectives, or to
take advantage of tax breaks and even for personal reasons and also to link the company to
a property with a high level of visibility, credit and success. The interviewees highlighted
increased sales and brand visibility as important objectives for sponsors, as had been mentioned
by previous researchers (Cornwell, Pruitt and Clark, 2005; Davies and Tsiantas, 2008). Their
main aim is to conquer space in Brazil’s most significant media groups, especially on television.
The interviewed executives believe that sports sponsorship creates closer ties between the
brand and customers by enabling corporate hospitality (CH) opportunities to interact with
strategic customers as well as providing sales opportunities in stands set up at sports events
or even in the points of sale, which can be used to undertake actions that communicate the
company’s involvement with sports, thus attracting more customers.
Other objectives observed were the expansion of existing business, as observed by Davies
and Tsiantas (2008) and the development of new business (Irwin and Asimakopoulos, 1992).
Companies attribute part of their success in closing deals with investors and in their strategies
to conquer new markets to sports sponsorship. Objectives linked to the personal interests of
executives as highlighted by Meenaghan (1983) as well as relationship actions with different
interest groups also appeared in the interviews.
A particular characteristic of the Brazilian market also emerged from the interviews. Since
the promulgation of the Federal Sport Incentive Act in the year 2000, Brazilian companies
can use 1% of taxes owed to sponsor projects approved by the Ministry of Sport. Tax breaks
have encouraged the development of sports sponsorship actions but the companies investigated
in the study were still organizing themselves to use these benefits in their relations with sports
while awaiting the outcome of ongoing adaptations to the law. Table 8.1 summarizes the
study’s main findings and relates them to the objectives identified in the literature.

How do companies select sports sponsorship opportunities and what

criteria do they use to choose those they wish to become involved with?
Some of the companies investigated have a specific area responsible for sports matters. These
sectors manage the strategies, execution and measurement of the results of sports sponsorships
undertaken. In various cases investigated these sectors with decision-making powers are

98
Table 8.1 Sports sponsorship objectives

Categories of Analysis Olympikus Unimed-Rio Petrobras Ipiranga

Corporate: increase Increase sales. Guarantee the Increase sales of health Increase sales incentivized by Draw more consumers to the
sales, increase ROI and company’s ROI. plans. promotions linked to sports. stations to consume Ipiranga’s
conquer new markets. Consolidate the company’s Consolidate the company’s products and services.
position in Latin America. position in Latin America.
Brand: improve brand Increase brand knowledge and Increase knowledge and Increase brand knowledge and Increase visibility of the brand,
knowledge, awareness awareness with more visibility awareness of the brand in awareness in new markets. Position gaining more knowledge. Position
and image, change the and exposure. Position itself and the domestic and Brazilian itself as a brand with high- itself as a brand with high-
public’s perception of be recognized as a brand of market. Reinforce the performance and technological performance and technological
the company and its quality products and Brazilian positioning of health and products and a Brazilian company products and reinforce the message
products. sports brand. Endorse the wellbeing through that invests in the development of of “In love with cars like all
quality of products winning association with sports. Brazilian sports. Endorse the Brazilians”. Endorse the quality of
consumers’ trust and improving quality of products winning products winning consumers’ trust
the brand’s image. consumers’ trust and improving and improving the brand’s image.
the brand’s image. Publicize
investments in renewable energy.
Product Develop products with Not observed. Develop, test and improve Develop, test and improve products
sponsees. products jointly with sponsees. jointly with sponsees.
Relationship with Not observed. Develop a relationship Develop a relationship with Develop a relationship with strategic
strategic customers, with strategic customers in strategic customers in CH. customers in CH. Facilitate the
opinion formers, the CH and with collaborators Develop close ties with opinion integration of new retailers by
community and with the presence of the formers and in surfing events. maintaining the sponsorship that
collaborators. athletes in the company. was formerly Texaco’s.
Personal Not observed. Not observed. Not observed. Some retailers may have personal
reasons for sponsorship.
Sponsorship

composed of one person or a small group of people. Companies’ sports sponsorship strategies
also vary from case to case. Most companies plan their actions, whether they involve initiating
a new relation or renewing an existing contract, around one year in advance. In most cases
it is the individual or entity seeking sponsorship that approaches the companies to request a
sponsorship, as observed in previous studies (Lardinoit and Derbaix, 2001; Walliser, 2003), but
the opposite can also occur when companies see an opportunity to link their brand to a sports
property.
The study revealed that only Petrobras employs specific software to support managers in
the sports sponsorship decision-making process. The other companies were unaware of the
existence of any kind of software that could help them take decisions related to sports
sponsorship. In the cases investigated, no signs were found of an ideal set of evaluation criteria
for the selection of sports sponsorship. Each company examines its necessities and translates
these interests into factors that could help them determine whether or not to select a sports
sponsorship opportunity, in line with the idea of evaluating benefits and risks of establishing
the partnership (Rines, 2000).The following criteria emerged from the interviews: visibility,
budget availability, congruence between the sports property and the sponsor’s brand;
attributes of the sports property and those desired by the brand; the audience interested in
the property and the sponsor’s target audience. In addition, companies also observed the
potential of the properties evaluated to: increase sales, have an impact on the relevant target
audience, develop a relationship with different audiences, exploit sports sponsorship with the
company’s internal audience, generate spontaneous media, generate a return on investment,
and activate sports sponsorship. Sponsorship coverage and alignment with company strategy
complement the selection criteria observed.
As regards sports modalities, the specialists said in their interviews that this was the first
decision to be taken in the selection of sports sponsorship. The investigation of the cases also
showed that various companies consider that the sports modality is an important criterion
although they also chose according to types of sports sponsorship or specific sports properties.
Companies seek sports modalities that are capable of contributing to achieve planned strategic
marketing objectives (Ensor, 1987; Pichot, Tribou and O’Reilly, 2008), or possess attributes
close to those desired for the sponsor’s brand, following the idea of a need for congruency
in the sponsor–sponsee relationship (Nickell, Cornwell and Johnston, 2011). Properties that
have an interested audience and show characteristics that are congruent with the brand of
the sponsoring company are also attractive. This can be observed in the cases of Petrobras and
Ipiranga, that maintain links with motor racing, or Olympikus and its sponsorship of Olympic
sports and football. These three companies have products that can be related to the sports
sponsored, perhaps suggesting that the reason for prioritising involvement in a specific
modality depends on the existence of products or services related to it.
In most of the cases observed, sports sponsorships are not chosen essentially according to
the type of sponsorship. This may give the impression that this is a secondary decision
but there have been cases in which the choice of type of sponsorship was the most important.
The types of sports sponsorship seem to be more important as a selection criterion
when they represent some kind of risk. Some companies that allege not having a preference
for any particular type of sponsorship declare that they do not establish ties with athletes or
are very cautious about sponsoring teams. In the case of athletes, bad behaviour inside or
outside sports can end up being linked to the sponsor’s brand. Image transfer from the
sponsored property to the sponsor had been mentioned by other studies as a result of
sponsorship (Cornwell and Maignan, 1998) but the negative impact of these relationships was
what emerged. Poor performance can also lower the expected return on an investment in

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Sports Sponsorship Decision Model

sponsorship, given that its natural consequence is less space in the media. As regards teams,
companies’ main concern is the question of rivalry, especially between football teams, where
the passion of one group of supporters’ can mean the aversion of the other group.
Sports sponsorship can also involve exploiting an opportunity in the form of a sports
property. Olympikus revealed that it became interested in the Brazilian Olympic swimming
champion Cesar Cielo when he reached the top of the ranking. Another example of this type
of opportunism can be seen in major sports events as they represent a unique chance for
companies that wish to establish strong ties with sports like Petrobras, the main sponsor of
the 2007 Pan American Games. For some companies, the sports property is what really matters
in sports sponsorship. After all, a link to a sports property constitutes the very nature of
sponsorship. Table 8.2 summarizes the main points highlighted in the interviews, showing
that the selection criteria identified in this study correspond to those identified in the literature.

How does the activation of sports sponsorship occur?

Activation can occur through advertising, the use of electronic media, corporate hospitality
actions, promotional actions and using properties for actions inside the company. These kinds
of strategies had already been identified by Rines (2000) and Miloch and Lambrecht (2006).
In the cases investigated, when companies use advertising to activate their sponsorships they
create campaigns that highlight their support for sports as well as transmitting the desired
messages. Companies can also activate sponsorships using electronic media. Specific websites
to talk about the sponsorships, websites for the properties, online games and profiles in social
media are examples of the forms of activation through the internet most widely used by the
companies investigated. Corporate hospitality, which is already recognised as an important
marketing tool by companies (Cornwell, Pruitt and Clark, 2005; Davies and Tsiantas, 2008),
constitutes another form of activation. It improves sponsoring companies’ networking
capabilities, promotes greater product exposure and enables companies to develop engagement
programs for employees. For these employees, motivational speeches are also an important
form of activation. Table 8.3 presents a summary of the main activation actions identified in
the study.

What are the indicators used by companies to

measure the results of sports sponsorship?
The companies investigated evaluate their sponsorship investments by employing the same
models typically used to assess other communication actions, as had already been identified
by Lagae (2005). Traditional forms of advertising evaluation are commonly used in the cases
investigated, as Bennett (1999) highlighted. The assessment is usually based on reports that
present information on the visibility of sponsoring brands and sports events related to the
property sponsored. Regarding the sponsor’s visibility, reports typically address brand exposure
in terms of frequency and length (inches) of citations and reviews on press media, as well as
broadcast media (minutes). The data obtained is compared with what would be paid for
traditional media. In addition, information can be gathered on the sports events, such as the
attendance of each event and its corresponding media coverage. Interviews also revealed the
use of indicators that come from market studies such as the “Top of Mind” research – a study
promoted by media vehicles that indicates the most remembered companies according to
specific criteria – to evaluate the effects of sports sponsorship on the perception of sponsoring
companies’ brands.

101
Table 8.2 Sports sponsorship selection

Categories Olympikus Unimed-Rio Petrobras Ipiranga

of Analysis

Strategy Greater involvement with sports Greater involvement with sports Great involvement only with motor racing Resumes sponsorship of tarmac
from the mid-1990s. observed in 1998 with the until the 1990s, after which it invests in motor racing in 2009. Interest in
Investments planned nearly one beginning of a partnership with other modalities. Interest in using the using the Federal Sports
year in advance. Fluminense FC. Federal Sports Incentive Act. Decisions Incentive Act. Planning together
planned nearly a year in advance and others with other communication areas
even earlier. nearly a year in advance.
Decision Specific department responsible Specific department responsible Single department responsible for sports- Sports-related decisions taken by
for sports-related decisions. for sports-related decisions. Did related decisions. Was not able to specify the the same area that deals with
Receives around 10 proposals not specify exactly how many exact number and only evaluates proposals institutional communication.
per day, but is also pro-active in proposals it receives but evaluates that fulfil the directives’ pre-requisites. Receives around 80 sports
searching for interesting all individually. sponsorship projects for
properties. evaluation every year.
Tools Not observed. Not observed. Uses its proprietary evaluation tool called Uses a spreadsheet containing
MetriCom. the most important evaluation
criteria.
Criteria Visibility, congruence with what Seek properties with attributes Activation potential, degree of adherence In motor racing, alignment with
the brand produces, value, desired for the brand. Verifies with communication policy, cost, coverage, brand strategy, broad coverage,
impact and sales increase visibility, estimated audience, relationship potential, estimated audience, nationwide visibility. In other
potential. Short and long-term activation potential ability to spontaneous media potential. Fulfil sports, it is sufficient to have
complementary sponsorships. generate returns, budget, internal directives of each sponsorship program and good brand visibility and
exploitation potential. One-off observe criteria stipulated by government exposure. One-off and
and long-term sponsorships that bodies. One-off projects such as the 2007 renewable sponsorships (aiming
complement Unimed do Brasil Pan American Games and renewable ones at visibility and exposure).
initiatives. Close and partnership- (rally and others). Exclusive sponsorships
based relations with sponsees. and sponsorship deals with preference for
long-term partnerships.
Modality/ Popular modalities (soccer and Involvement with distinct sports, Involvement with different modalities. Concentration on off-road and
Type/ volleyball), sports entity preferentially with athletes. In the Selection according to the coverage of a tarmac racing. Investment in
Property (Brazilian Olympic Committee) case of football the company type of partnership. Does not sponsor events, teams, drivers and
and specific properties sponsors teams and participates individual athletes. transmissions. One-off
(sponsorship deal with on a one-off basis in facilities and involvement with other
broadcaster Rede Globo in the events. Does not sponsor risky or modalities.
2010 FIFA World Cup). combat sports.
Risks Behaviour of individual athletes Exercises caution with certain Rivalry between teams, limited duration Risks associated with
requires very careful selection. modalities due to attributes it partnerships with drivers. regionalized actions that can
does not wish to associate with create discomfort with retailers
the brand. and the general population.
Table 8.3 Sports sponsorship activation

Categories Olympikus Unimed-Rio Petrobras Ipiranga

of Analysis

Advertising Use of the image of the sponsored Creation of teams that use Use of the image of the sponsored Use of the image of the
property in company communication. the brand name in property in company sponsored property in company
Creation of teams that use the brand competitions. communication. Creation of communication. Creation of
name in competitions. proprietary teams and events, teams with the company name.
acquisition of naming rights.
Use of electronic Presence in only a few social media Incipient use of social Present in all main social media Present in only a few social
media networks, but an intense one. Creation media. Communication of networks with constant updating media networks, sparse use and
of a tool for socialization between sports sponsorship on the of information. Development of rare information. Development
ordinary sports practitioners. Use of corporate website. websites to communicate of websites to communicate
the corporate website to communicate sponsorships. Development of sponsorships.
and activate sports sponsorship with online games and authorization to
spaces for interactivity between fans use the brand in electronic games.
and athletes. Creation of online games.
Corporate Not observed. Use of CH for relationship Use of CH for relationship actions Use of CH for relationship
hospitality actions with strategic with strategic customers and actions with internal audience
customers, stakeholders negotiation of new deals. and customers and negotiating
and the internal audience. of new deals.
Promotional Distribution of promotional material. Distribution of Distribution of promotional Distribution of promotional
actions promotional material. material and promotional actions material and promotional actions
with customers in the points of with customers in the points of
sales and through the internet. sales and creation of a sales stand
at the event location.
Use of properties Not observed. Participation of sponsored Not observed. Participation of racing drivers in
for actions in the athletes in motivational the company’s social actions.
company speeches for the internal
audience.
Sports Sponsorship Decision Model

Another way of evaluating the impact of sponsorship on companies’ brands is to verify

whether there was public recognition of the initiatives undertaken, which had also been
identified in previous researches (Davies and Tsiantas, 2008; Gwinner and Swanson, 2003).
The results of activation actions are also evaluated by observing the interactions that occur
inside a hospitality centre, which contribute, for example, to the closing of deals and an
increase in product sales. Another kind of evaluation is to observe the evolution in the quality
of products used by the sponsored athlete or team. This was seen in the case of motor racing,
with Ipiranga and Petrobras improving their products, and also Olympikus, which even
developed specific products jointly with its sponsees. The study, however, found no evidence
of models that can measure precisely how much of this improvement is due exclusively to
sports sponsorship, corroborating the lack of measurement tools for evaluating sponsorship
deals identified in the literature (Speed and Thompson, 2008; Walliser, 2003). Table 8.4
summarizes the main findings on this topic.

Contributions to academic research and managerial practice

The main contribution of this study lies in the proposal – based on the theoretical references
and empirical validation using case studies – of the Sports Sponsorship Decision Model
(SSDM), a model that articulates the main decisions that companies wishing to sponsor sports
may have to face. It constitutes the first academic attempt to model the sports sponsorship
decision-making process considering motivation; selection of modalities; types and sports
properties; activation; and measurement of results; identifying how these elements interrelate
to foster results aligned with company strategies. The SSDM model suggests that sports
sponsorship strategies should consider these four blocks of elements so that the process is
undertaken in an integrated fashion, ensuring that stage execution is aligned with planning
and consistent with company objectives.
This investigation also provided empirical evidence to support previous findings of the
sports sponsorship literature. It revealed that the companies investigated see this type of
investment as an opportunity to enhance the value of their brands with their target audiences
(O’Reilly and Madill, 2007; Pichot, Tribou and O’Reilly, 2008) and have different objectives
when they involve themselves with sports through a sports sponsorship agreement. In the
cases investigated, the study identified corporate, brand, product, relationship and personal
objectives that had already been identified in the literature by other authors such as, for
example, Meenaghan (1983), Kuzma, Shanklin and McCally Jr. (1993), Gwinner (1997) or
Cornwell and Maignan (1998). It is necessary to establish clear objectives to be achieved with
the actions independently of a company’s motive for choosing to invest in sports sponsorships.
Whenever possible, companies should seek congruence between the property sponsored and
their business, as mentioned also in other investigated studies (Chien, Cornwell and Pappu,
2011). It should be highlighted that companies that have a clear vision of the objectives they
expect to achieve through sports sponsorship seem to find it easier to select the opportunities
that contribute to furthering their interests and reject those that do not fit.
We also verified that no pattern can be found in the choice of sports sponsorship actions
by the companies investigated. They have been learning from their mistakes in order to
improve their opportunity selection process, corroborating the literature’s findings that the
evolution of sponsorship skills depends on companies’ ability to learn from their successes
and failures (Kuzma, Shanklin and McCally Jr., 1993). It was also observed that although the
companies investigated showed some level of activation of their sponsorships, especially
through the successful development of portals, games and social media profiles, the results of

105
Table 8.4 Sports sponsorship results

Categories Olympikus Unimed-Rio Petrobras Ipiranga

of Analysis

Visibility Visibility reports with media impact Visibility reports with media Visibility reports with impact Visibility reports with media impact
developed by specialized firms and by impact developed in the media developed in the media and frequency prepared by
entities and those seeking sponsorship. prepared by specialized firms prepared by specialized firms specialized firms.
and by entities and those and by entities and those
seeking sponsorship. seeking sponsorship.
Brand Research to evaluate brand recognition Recognition and recall Qualitative research prepared Annual research to evaluate the
and remembrance or recall. evaluated in Top of Mind jointly with other company company’s positioning, recall,
research. communication areas. perception mobilization and change
in the public’s consumption habits.
Activations Not observed. Surveys of the company’s Research developed by the Not observed.
target audience regarding company to evaluate results.
receptivity of its actions.
Sales Reports of sales of CR Flamengo shirts, Unable to establish a direct Closing of deals. Increasing sales during promotion
for example. relation with investments in periods.
sports sponsorship.
Products Development and testing of products Not observed. Technical gains achieved with Not observed.
jointly with athletes. tests performed with teams.
Tools Not observed. Not observed. Use of MetriCom, a Not observed.
proprietary project evaluation
tool.
Sports Sponsorship Decision Model

this study indicate that there are still many opportunities for the development of activation
actions. This study’s findings also suggest that initiatives that provide consumers with
interaction opportunities can lead them to forge closer ties with companies. Given that sports
is a theme that provokes interest and emotion, this relation can become even more intense.
This chapter did not identify any satisfactory model to evaluate the results of sports
sponsorship. The empirical evidence corroborates the literature’s findings, which show that
as the methods currently used are based on models developed to measure the results of
advertising (Lee, Sandler and Shani, 1997), they are inefficient (Bennett, 1999) to evaluate a
complex tool like sports. However, it should be emphasised that despite all the difficulties,
some activations performed by the companies investigated in this study make it possible to
evaluate the direct effects of sports sponsorship. This may suggest that establishing assessment
parameters for concrete activation actions would allow a more direct and less abstract
measurement. However, this is a theme that needs to be explored more fully.The gap regarding
forms of measurement remains to be filled and opens up a vast field of investigation into
methods, models and variables that facilitate the evaluation of investment results.

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9
EFFECTS OF MULTIPLE
SPONSORSHIP ACTIVITIES
Propositions and framework

Nicolas Chanavat, Michel Desbordes and Geoff Dickson

Introduction
Sponsorship activities, including ambush marketing, rarely occur in isolation from other
sponsorship activities. A large portion of research takes the view that sponsorship is dyadic,
failing to recognize that other organizations or brands have a sponsorship relationship with
the sponsee (Cornwell, 2008). In other words, studies that investigate dyadic sponsorship (or
ambush marketing) relationships do not reflect the real world. An analysis of multiple
sponsorship will reflect real-world complexity. Therefore, “sponsorship shall be considered as
a network of players rather than a link between a sponsor and a sponsee” (Walliser, 2006: 31).
Multiple sponsorship occurs when two or more organizations are associated, either directly
or indirectly, with the one sponsorship property (for example, event, organization, individual,
facility). The indirect dimension also includes the ambush marketing activities that are present
in so many high profile sporting events. A review of the literature reveals that nothing has
been done to simultaneously examine the interaction effects between these sponsorship
stakeholders.
Some scholars recognize the plural nature of sponsorship (Chien, Cornwell and Pappu,
2011; 2012; Groza, Cobbs and Schaefers, 2012). Groza et al. (2012) analyzed the effects that
sponsors have on the sponsored enterprise. However, previous studies have not investigated
the interaction between the cognitive, affective and conative reactions of the consumer across
multiple sponsorship stakeholders. This is despite the interaction between the different
sponsorship having consequences for the relevant brands.
Recent conceptual frameworks are trying to better comprehend the way sponsorship
works without considering multiple sponsorship. For instance, Kim, Stout and Cheong’s
(2012) framework of how sponsorship affects the image of the sponsor was developed from
an information-processing perspective. Depending on the consumer’s processing capabilities,
sponsorship information is processed either holistically or analytically. Each mode is theorized
to play an important role in impacting several components of the sponsor’s image. Despite
its singular, rather than plural focus, the interactions identified by Kim et al. are useful when
endeavoring to study the impact of sponsorship. The proposed conceptual model seeks to
extend this research by considering multiple sponsorship. The model is pioneering but
grounded in previous sponsorship research, and offers scholarly and practitioner utility.

110
Effects of multiple sponsorship activities

Given this context, this research proposes an innovative framework for sponsorship
relationships. The goal is a conceptual model which simultaneously takes into account the
interaction effects between organizations that are associated, either directly or indirectly, with
the one sponsorship property, and the relationships between brand image, brand attachment
and purchase intention. The model explains how sponsorship stakeholders can affect the other
brand image of other stakeholders.
Brand image “refers to the set of associations linked to the brand that consumers hold in
memory” (Keller, 1993: 2). This definition of brand image is used in this research to measure
consumers’ brand cognition. Attachment represents “the degree of linkage perceived by an
individual between him/herself and a particular object” (Schultz, Kleine and Kernan, 1989:
360). Spears and Singh (2004) define purchase intention as “an individual’s conscious plan to
make an effort to purchase a brand” (p. 56). Attachment and purchase intention represent
consumers’ affective and conative reactions respectively.
In this perspective, an overview of the research on multiple sponsorship activities is
presented. The authors also propose a theoretical framework that takes into account realities
in the field. Simultaneously, future research propositions are suggested.

Overview

Research considering the plural nature of sponsorship

There is a discrepancy between academic research and the realities of sponsorship. Most
academic research on sponsorship focuses on the relationship between a sponsee and only
one sponsor.This is despite sponsorship memorization and recognition research demonstrating
that sponsees have multiple sponsors (Nanopoulos, 2008). In effect, the majority of sponsorship
studies are investigating an “individual”, “single” or “exclusive” sponsorship. Only a few
studies – Ruth and Simonin (2003; 2006), Carrillat, Lafferty and Harris (2005), Chien,
Cornwell and Stokes (2005) and Chanavat, Martinent and Ferrand (2009) – explicitly
investigate “multiple sponsorship”.
Ruth and Simonin (2003) were the first to investigate the simultaneous involvement of
multiple sponsors with a single sponsee. More specifically, they investigated the impact of
these sponsors on consumer attitudes towards the sponsee. The results suggest that attitudes
towards the co-sponsors (i.e. Coca-Cola and an unspecified co-sponsor) are positively linked
to attitudes towards the sponsee. Consequently, the results show that stigmatized sponsors (for
example, alcohol or tobacco brand) will influence consumer attitudes towards the event.
Furthermore, the results of this research highlight interactions between the stigmatized
sponsors, the nationality and the perceived sponsor-event fit. This research reveals that the
assessment of co-sponsors may be improved in a context of multiple sponsorship. Brands can
benefit from the direct positive effects of the event and indirect effects of other co-sponsors
that are held in high regard by consumers.
Carrillat et al. (2005) investigated the influence of single and multiple sponsorship on
consumer attitudes and purchase intentions. They examined two co-sponsors (FedEx and
Alltel) in the context of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. The results reveal that the effect
of sponsorship on the attitude and intention to purchase of the consumer is stronger towards
a less familiar brand whatever the situation studied (single sponsorship or multiple sponsorship).
In other words, the existence of co-sponsors does not modify the influence of sponsorship
on the attitude towards a little-known sponsor. If the presence of several partners seems to
lessen the process of transfer from the sponsee to the one of the sponsors, this study suggested

111
Sponsorship

that an attitude transfer, coming from other co-sponsors, offsets this process. Consequently,
in comparison to a single sponsorship, the impact of the sponsorship on the affective (attitude)
and conative (intention to purchase) dimensions does not seem to be attenuated within
multiple sponsorship. The results of this study could not validate Gwinner’s hypothesis (1997)
that a high number of sponsors associated with the same event may curb the transfer of image
process of that event towards involved sponsor brands.
Furthermore, Chien et al. (2005) propose a theoretical framework to explain image transfer
within sponsorship portfolio. This model, adapted from works by Gwinner (1997) and
McCracken (1989) comprises three phases: construction of the event’s image, exposure to the
multiple sponsorship situations, and development of brand image through the event. In
contrast to previous brand-image research, this study suggested that interaction between two
sponsors of the same event impacts sponsee–sponsor evaluations. The authors postulate that
the congruence between partners impacts the interaction effect. Because images of the events
may become closely linked to the brand, it is important to take multiple sponsors into
account. In this perspective, the effects of incompatible partnerships must be considered so
that the desired image is not tarnished.
Ruth and Simonin (2006) recognized that most events are sponsored by more than one
company. Using a fictional event, they examined whether co-sponsors dilute the effects of
the sponsorship. Using an exclusive approach, Ruth and Simonin first demonstrated that a
stigmatized sponsor would negatively influence consumer attitudes towards the event.
However, as the number of co-sponsors increased, the negative attitudes towards the event
were attenuated. This is despite evidence that an additional sponsor would normally increase
negative attitudes towards the event.
In the context of sponsorship portfolios, Groza et al (2012) investigated the effect of
sponsor–sponsee congruence on the sponsee’s brand equity. The results of the first study
reveal that sponsor–sponsee incongruence is most problematic for sponsees with incongruent
title sponsors. The second study shows that increasing the number of congruent sponsors
could reduce the impact for the sponsee of title-sponsor incongruence.

Multiple sponsorship is a real-world practice

The lack of academic interest in multiple sponsorship strongly contrasts with the reality of
sponsorship practices (Ruth and Simonin, 2006). Although some studies utilize the plural
nature of sponsorship operations, they do not comprehend all the implications. In a nutshell,
consumer reactions to multiple sponsorship have rarely been measured (Chien et al., 2011;
2012; Groza et al., 2012; Ruth and Simonin, 2006). We are confident that, “the association of
several sponsors on the same shirt (five to six sometimes) may blur the perception of each”
(Tribou and Augé, 2009: 113). Therefore, it is necessary to understand the relationships
between and among sponsors and their sponsees. Despite its importance, attitude does not
enable us to understand all the reactions generated by the sponsorship.
Another reality of sponsorship is ambush marketing (Meenaghan, 1994). There is
growing understanding of the potential associations between sponsored entities and
ambushers (Mazodier, Quester and Chandon, 2011; Scassa, 2011). Consequently, any
model that seeks to improve our understanding of real-world sponsorship, must consider
ambush marketing alongside the official sponsorship. This is certainly the case for multiple
sponsorship.
We suggest the analysis of the potential effects caused by multiple sponsorship with regard
to the consumer. Cognitive, affective and conative reactions of the individual towards

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Effects of multiple sponsorship activities

co-sponsee entities, sponsors and ambushers within the framework of a given sporting event
should be examined.

Theoretical framework and propositions

Towards an innovative theoretical and conceptual framework

Bacharach (1989: 496) stressed, “a theory is a statement of relations among concepts within
a set of boundary assumptions and constraints. It is no more than a linguistic device used to
organize a complex empirical world”. Some research has attempted to theorize the effects
of sponsorship on consumer behaviour. Nevertheless, previous studies on sponsorship
highlight the complexity and the difficulty of explaining how it works. Cornwell, Weeks
and Roy (2005) are concerned that many studies on sponsorship offer no theoretical
explanations. In this perspective, Walliser (2003: 88) argues that there is no dominant theory
among the many theoretical explanations of sponsorship. He contends, “Several theoretical
frameworks would probably need to be mobilized and adapted to specific situations in order
to explain the effects of sponsorship” (p. 88).
This section develops a theoretical and conceptual framework that explains consumer
reactions to multiple sponsorship. The aim is to highlight the relevance of a theoretical
approach and to formalize research propositions. The relations in this model are developed
in purposeful sequence. The propositions are shown in Figure 9.1. A theoretical foundation
will be provided for each series of propositions. The entire theoretical framework is presented
in Table 9.1.

Propositions: multiple sponsorship and cognitive reactions

Sutton and Staw (1995) argue that a prediction without logic should not be considered a
theory. In this section, we consider the effectiveness of multiple sponsorship on the cognitive
reactions of consumers (P1a, P1b, P1c, P1d). It is anticipated that these reactions lead to
significant links between the cognitive components of involved brands.

Activation and spreading theory

Our theoretical approach to cognitive components is based on cognitive psychology and more
particularly, memory models and associative networks. Rooted in the theory of spreading
activation, memory models under the form of networks (Anderson, 1983; Collins and Loftus,
1975;Wyer and Strull, 1989) provide explanations of how multiple sponsorship works. Multiple
sponsorship requires people to create or reinforce the associations linked to the brand image
of involved entities. Since the 1980s, mainstream marketing research has investigated brand
associations and brand image (Aaker, 1991; Keller, 1993). With a strong brand, organizations
can more easily create a positive image (Keller, 2003). Sports organizations can leverage their
brands (Desbordes and Richelieu, 2012; Chanavat and Bodet, 2009; Richelieu and Pons, 2009).
In this context, the majority of previous sponsorship research examines the cognitive response
of consumers (for example, Chanavat et al., 2009; Groza et al., 2012; Gwinner and Eaton, 1999;
Lee and Cho, 2009; Speed and Thompson, 2000). Considered collectively, the results suggest
an image transfer occurs between the sponsor and the sponsee.
Brand image, according to Keller (1993), is based on the theory of long-term semantic
networks and the principle of information. Memory is characterized as a network with nodes

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Sponsorship

and links. Information is stored in a node. Nodes are linked to other nodes by links of varying
strength. In this way, a brand is a node to which other nodes are linked, nodes that are the
associations to the brand. This network of nodes and links represents the knowledge of
the brand by consumers. Thus, when a node is stimulated, activation spreads through the
whole network related to the brand. Other nodes can be activated. For a node to be activated,
it is necessary that the level of activation reach a specific threshold. With multiple sponsor-
ship, the individual is exposed to the official sponsors, the sponsee and any ambush
sponsors. The nodes and links related to all these entities may consequently be activated
simultaneously.
Learning “means adding new nodes, new links and/or reinforcing existing links” (Grunert,
1996: 91). Thus, an individual, exposed simultaneously to multiple brands through multiple
sponsorship, will activate nodes and create links between these as well as the connected
associations. In this way, the principle of spreading activation may explain how brand images
are created or reinforced by multiple sponsorship.

Theories of transfer and endorsement: the double transfer phenomenon

The transfer theory is capable of incorporating cognitive (meaning) and affective (feeling)
reactions.1 This theory is based on the endorsement theory of McCracken (1989). The
multiple sponsorship concept incorporates sponsors, their sponsees and ambushing
organizations. Each involved brand, laden with meaning and affect, is likely to interact with
others. Consequently, these theories may contribute to potential links between the components
of, on one hand, image, and on the other hand, affect, of multiple sponsorship entities. If
transfer theory is key to the understanding how single sponsorship works, then it will likely
have some explanatory value for multiple-sponsorship interactions. Propositions P1a, P1b and
P1d are relevant to this theoretical framework.
Sponsorship can enhance the image of the sponsor’s brand. This is a consequence of an
image transfer from the sponsee towards the sponsor (Gwinner and Eaton, 1999). Ganassali
(2009: 3) notes that consumers will subconsciously transfer,

the perceived features of the sponsee (person, event, activity, etc.) onto the sponsor.
The transfer would take place in that way than in the other because sponsees gener-
ally involve consumers deeply and their perceptions are more rooted and less mobile
than those they have about brands and companies.

Nevertheless, little research has looked into the cognitive impact of the sponsor onto the
sponsee. This study assumes this process occurs in a situation of multiple sponsorship. This
proposition is reinforced by the results from Ruth and Simonin (2003, 2006). These authors
suggest that co-sponsors may impact the cognitive perception of the sponsee. The research
on the effectiveness of multiple sponsorship did not take the plurality of co-sponsored entities
into account.The small volume of research conducted focused on the study of several sponsors
within the framework of an event (Carrillat et al., 2005). Multiple sponsorship may create
relations between the cognitive dimensions of the sponsee and that of the sponsor. The
direction of the transfer (sponsee => sponsor; sponsor => sponsee) thus represents an
important issue.
For example, our model would allow us to measure the most effective partnerships to
reinforce the perceived image of Nike by a New York Jets fan. What image components of
the entities sponsored by Nike are transferred or impact the brand image of the kit supplier?

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Effects of multiple sponsorship activities

Is it the image of their quarterback Michael Vick? Is it more generally the values connected
to the New York Jets franchise? Is it the brand image of the NFL?
Consequently, the first proposition (P1a) deals with the interactions between the cognitive
dimensions of the co-sponsored entities and those of the sponsor.

P1a: Multiple sponsorship creates relations between the cognitive dimensions of the sponsee
and that of the sponsor.

In this perspective, this study supposes that in a situation of multiple sponsorship, the attitude
towards a given sponsor has a positive influence on the attitudes towards other co-sponsors.
Furthermore, to our knowledge, the literature on brand management and marketing in
professional sports has not considered the potential links perceived by the consumer
between various sports entities whatever their nature. Yet branding is the most important
asset for a professional sports organization (Bauer et al., 2005). The brand power of a
professional sports organization often determines team identification and purchase beha-
viours (Richelieu and Pons, 2006). In addition, an organization brand equity can generate
income despite poor on-field success (Gladden and Milne, 1999). Any sports-brand owner
should develop its brand equity through a marketing approach (Ferrand and Torrigiani,
2005). In sports, the objective of brand equity is to establish a strong link between the
consumer and the club (Suckow, 2009). In this context our model allows us to measure the
interactions of perceived images by an MLS fan towards the New York Red Bulls, the Red
Bull Arena and Thierry Henry (a New York Red Bulls player). Given these elements, and
independent of the possible links between co-sponsored entities and sponsors, this study
thus proposes:

P1b: Multiple sponsorship creates interrelations between the cognitive dimensions of the
co-sponsored entities.

Beyond the sponsor-interactions, the issue of knowing if multiple sponsorship generates

interactions between the image components of a same brand is raised. Thus, the cognitive
components relating to the image of Thierry Henry would be measured (for example, “All-
time best scorer of the French soccer team”, “best Arsenal FC player”, “New York Red Bull
star”, “World and European champion”, “cheat”, “arrogant”) with regard to MLS fans. Our
model would enable us to measure the cognitive components of the image of the brands
studied. Therefore, the propositions P1c asserts that multiple sponsorship creates relations
between the cognitive dimensions of brands.

P1c: Multiple sponsorship creates interrelations through causality links between the image
components of a brand.

Given the abundance of brands associated with a property, we propose that interactions are
generated between an ambush sponsor and the sponsee. For instance, the applications of our
model would allow us to simultaneously evaluate the McDonalds–IOC-USOC sponsorship
in the context of the Subway–Michael Phelps sponsorship. Therefore, we propose the
following:

P1d: Multiple sponsorship creates interactions between the cognitive dimensions of the
co-sponsored entities and those of the ambusher.

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Sponsorship

Propositions: multiple sponsorship and affective reactions

The second series of propositions are concerned with the impact of multiple sponsorship
on the affective reactions of consumers (P2a, P2b and P2c). Here it is considered that
multiple sponsorship will create significant links between the affective dimensions of the
relevant brands.
In this context, we rely on the transfer theory and the principle of affective conditioning.
There is evidence of an affect transfer between sponsee and sponsor (Cornwell et al.,
2005). Some works examined specifically the affective dimension and also demonstrated
sponsee–sponsor interactions (for example, Hansen, Halling and Christensen, 2006). These
dyadic interactions underpin multiple sponsorship as each affect-laden entity may interact
with others. For example, Tissot is the official watch and timekeeper of NASCAR.
Danica Patrick, a NASCAR driver, is also a brand ambassador for Tissot. The proposed
model can determine the partnerships that have the greatest impact on the affect
developed by a NASCAR fan towards Tissot. Is it the partnership developed with the Sprint
Cup Series or the partnership established with Danica Patrick? Thus, a new proposition is
offered, relating to the impact of multiple sponsorship on the affective components of the
brands involved.

P2a: Multiple sponsorship creates interactions between the affective dimensions of the
co-sponsored entities and that of the sponsor.

To our knowledge, the research on multiple sponsorship has not considered the multiplicity
of co-sponsored entities. Furthermore, the literature on brand management and marketing in
professional sports shows that the attachment towards an athlete may influence the affect
towards the club they belong to. For example, Chanavat and Bodet (2009) demonstrated that
some French fans supported Chelsea (an English Football Club) because Didier Drogba (a
player with French heritage) played for them.
Our model permits the simultaneous measurement and analysis of affective links perceived
by a fan towards the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers and Kobe Bryant (Lakers player). Is the
affect developed towards the franchise stronger? Is this affect influenced by the affect developed
towards the player? That multiple sponsorship creates links between the affective dimensions
of the co-sponsored entities is the focus of the next proposition:

P2b: Multiple sponsorship creates interrelations between the affective dimensions of the
co-sponsored entities.

Ambush marketing (Meenaghan, 1994; 1998) is common in commercial sports (Desbordes

and Richelieu, 2012). Chanavat and Desbordes (2014) show that ambushers could be very
imaginative at the expense of official sponsors and that social networks can be powerful
publicity channels. Ambush marketing takes many distinctive forms depending on the strategy
and the ingenuity of the ambusher (Séguin and Ellis, 2012). Overall, ambush marketing has
a triple-objective: (1) divert attention from the official sponsor towards the ambusher;
(2) constrain the official sponsor’s operations; (3) modify the reaction of sports spectator
audiences to the benefit of the ambusher (Chanavat, Desbordes and Ferrand, 2013). As
mentioned previously, recent research identifies potential associations between sponsees and
ambushers (Mazodier, et al., 2011; Scassa, 2011). Considering the potential effects of ambush
marketing on the fan’s reactions will reflect real-world situations. Consequently, we suggest

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Effects of multiple sponsorship activities

the analysis of the potential effects caused by multiple sponsorship with regard to the consumer.
To date, sponsorship research has not considered the potential impact of an ambusher on
multiple co-sponsors of a sporting property. Thus, one can rightfully wonder what roles are
played by Adidas sponsees in the development of the Nike affect towards a Chicago Bulls and
Derrick Rose fan? Therefore, we offer a new proposition (P2c) regarding the multiple
sponsorship and the affective dimensions of co-sponsored entities and those of the ambusher.

P2c: Multiple sponsorship creates interrelations between the affective dimensions of the
co-sponsored entities and that of the ambusher.

Propositions: Multiple sponsorship and cognitive, affective and conative reactions

Cognitive reactions are things that a consumer knows, or things that they think. Sponsorship
researchers have examined cognitive reactions that were based on brand-related (i.e. brand
equity, brand image or brand association) interactions between sponsor and sponsee. Chanavat
et al. (2009) stress that few researchers have studied sponsor–sponsee or ambusher–sponsee
fit and that scholars failed to clearly examine the relations between brands in this context.
The affective refers to things that a consumer feels and the things that are valued. Affective
outcomes of sponsorship activities, such as attitude, liking, preference, psychological attachment
or favourable thoughts, have been examined in sponsorship literature. The conative aspect of
the mind is the least well understood, but may be the most important. Conation refers to
those things you will actually do when striving. Only a few researchers have investigated
conative reactions of fans to sponsorship.
We propose significant links between the cognitive, affective and conative reactions of the
consumer towards co-sponsored entities and a brand within the framework of a multiple
sponsorship operation. P3a, P3b and P3c represent the third series of propositions.
In the context of advertising effectiveness, Beerli and Santana (1999) argue that it is
necessary to consider the cognitive, affective and conative dimensions. Though not identical,
sponsorship is similar to advertising (Meenaghan, 1991). These behavioural reactions allow
the effects of sponsorship on an individual to be measured. Sponsorship must have some sort
of mental impact before influencing the behaviour of an individual (Poon and Prendergast,
2006).

Advertising persuasion theory: hierarchy of effects model

These propositions are based on the cognitive models of persuasion and information
processing, and the hierarchy of effects model (Lavidge and Steiner, 1961). Grouped in pairs,
the six advanced steps correspond to the three main dimensions of advertising communication:
cognitive dimension (fame and knowledge of the product), affective dimension (assessment,
preference and development of an attitude towards the product) and conative dimension
(conviction or purchase intent and product purchase). Poon and Prendergast (2006) utilized
the hierarchy of effects model to assess sponsorship effectiveness. Pyun and James (2011)
suggest that sports are an advertising platform capable of fostering positive attitudes towards
advertising. The model proposed by the authors involves antecedents (beliefs), a consequence
(attitude towards the advertisement), and attitude regarding sports as a moderator of the
association between beliefs about, and attitude towards, advertising through sports.
Little academic research offers a combined analysis of the relations between the cognitive,
affective and conative components of sponsorship effects. The known interactions between

117
Sponsorship

sponsor and sponsee in a single sponsorship situation (for example, Koo, Quarterman and
Flynn, 2006; Madrigal, 2000, 2001), provide a sensible foundation for multiple sponsorship.
This knowledge offers an explanation of the potential interdependency between the cognitive,
affective and conative dimensions of the individual towards brands within multiple sponsorship
(P3a, P3b and P3c). Despite the dearth of research, this study suggests interactions between
co-sponsored entities, sponsors and ambushers. Support for our view is provided by Carrillat
et al. (2005), who highlight the affective and conative relations between a property and several
co-sponsors. Bridgestone is a partner of the Bridgestone Arena, the venue used by NHLs
Nashville Predators. In this situation of multiple sponsorship, how does a consumer deter-
mine their affect towards Bridgestone? Can the affective reaction of the consumer impact
purchase intentions? The idea that multiple sponsorship activates cognitive, affective and
conative reactions in the consumer towards the sponsor reflects the cognitive => affective
=> conative sequence within the hierarchy of effects model.

P3a: Multiple sponsorship activates the cognitive, affective and conative perceptions in this
sequence: cognitive => affective => conative.

The specificity of multiple sponsorship leads us to take the multiplicity of involved

entities in an operation of multiple sponsorship into account. Adidas was simultaneously a
partner of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the Argentine
Football Association, and Lionel Messi within the context of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Our model incorporates the contribution of these three sponsorships towards the inten-
tion to purchase Adidas products. To what extent does each partnership with the federation
influence the image of Adidas? What partnership influences the affect developed towards
the kit supplier? Does the partnership with the player dominate? Could it be considered
sufficient? Given this, we formulate the proposition that multiple sponsorship activates
cognitive and affective perceptions towards the sponsee and the affective and conative
perceptions towards the sponsor according to the hierarchy of effects model (Lavidge and
Steiner, 1961).

P3b: Multiple sponsorship activates the cognitive and affective perceptions of the sponsee
and the affective and conative perceptions of the sponsor according to the sequence: cognitive
=> affective => conative.

Ambush marketing is likely to impact the effectiveness of sponsorship. Nike is simultaneously

a partner of Cristiano Ronaldo and the Portuguese Football Federation, which participated
in the Adidas-sponsored 2014 FIFA World Cup. In this context, our model would allow us
to determine whether a Portuguese consumer is more or less likely to purchase Nike or
Adidas products at the end of the event. Furthermore, does the fan’s image of the Portuguese
team dominate and does it determine their affect towards Nike? Does the consumer’s affective
reaction favour purchase intent towards Nike?
Consequently, we assert that multiple sponsorship activates the cognitive and affective
perceptions of the sponsee and the affective and conative perceptions of the sponsor according
to the hierarchy of effects model (Lavidge and Steiner, 1961).

P3c: Multiple sponsorship activates the cognitive and affective perceptions of the sponsee and
the affective and conative perceptions of the ambusher in this sequence: cognitive => affective
=> conative.

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Effects of multiple sponsorship activities

Multiple sponsorship: a conceptual model

The ten propositions can be presented in a conceptual model (see Figure 9.1). Different
entities were chosen to illustrate the model: sporting event (sponsee 1), sports team (sponsee
2), sponsor and ambusher.
Three psychological constructs have been chosen in the conceptual model of this study
(cognitive => brand image; affective => brand attachment; conative => purchase intention).
It should be noted that, overall, several other marketing constructs can be integrated in the
model (for example, attitude towards the team, brand familiarity, fan loyalty, brand love or
team identification). For example, fan loyalty is the strength of the relationship between a
sports consumer’s attitude and repeat patronage (Bee and Kahle, 2006). In all instances, to
simplify the comprehension of the multiple sponsorship model, only three constructs have
been chosen for our research.
Table 9.1 aims to summarize and clarify the presentation of the theoretical frameworks of
the research proposals.

Managerial implications
Our model encourages the consideration of the plural nature of sponsorship. The model
provides a more authentic real-world understanding of multiple sponsorship and its impact
on consumer perceptions and behaviours.
This model demands a reconsideration of how sponsorship effectiveness is measured in
operations. There are implications for many sponsorship stakeholders: sponsors, ambusher,
clubs, federations, athletes, rights holders, marketing agencies. The model can foresee strategic
management and strategic marketing implications. For example, sports organizations with a
strong brand image can leverage their relationship with existing sponsors to extract greater
value from new sponsor. The benefit for the new sponsor is that they derive value, not just
from their relationship with the sponsee, but also from the other sponsors.

Table 9.1 Recap of the theories relating to the research perspectives

Models/Theories Relevance in the framework of research Reactions of the Relevant

perspectives relevant consumer propositions

Theories in Allows observation of the effects Cognitive, P3a, P3b

advertising persuasion. related to multiple sponsorship affective and and P3c
Hierarchy of effects activities on the consumer’s conative.
model by Lavidge reactions.
and Steiner (1961).
Activation and Contributes to explaining the Cognitive. P1a, P1b, P1c
spreading theory. reinforcement or creation of the and P1d
brand image of entities involved in a
situation of multiple sponsorship.
Transfer and Contributes to explaining the links Cognitive and P1a, P1b, P1d,
endorsement between brand components and the affective. P2a, P2b and
theories. affective dimensions of involved P2c
entities in a situation of multiple
sponsorship.

119
CBI CBI

Pic

CBI

Plb Brand image

Pld
Sponsee 2: Team

CBI CBI Pla CBI CBI

Pic Pic
Pld

CBI CBI

Brand image Brand image

Sponsee 1: Event, Am busher
Pla

P3b CBI CBI

P3c
Pic

CBI

Brand image
Sponsor >

Affecti'
ctive dimension P2c Affective dimension
Spon!
onsee 1: Event Am busher
P2b P2c

Affective dimension
H3b Sponsee 2 ：Team

P2a and P3b

P2a and P3b P2a and P3b

Effective dimension
Sponsor

P3a and P3b

Conative dimension o onative dimension P3c

Sponsor Am busher

Figure 9.1 A conceptual model of multiple sponsorship

Note: The acronym “CBI” means “component of brand image”. Please note that in order to facilitate
the reading of this model, the direct links between all the components of brand image studied do not
appear. Theoretically, multiple relations are possible. In addition, two components of brand image can
represent all cognitive dimensions associated with each brand studied.

120
Effects of multiple sponsorship activities

Furthermore, this new type of analysis may favour the measurement and comparison of
potential effects between sponsors and ambushers. In the case of companies, it would be a
tool that would contribute to the measurement of the performance of their sponsorship
policies and to the protection of their rights against ambushers. For the sake of performance,
genuine reflection on the choice of sports entities to sponsor is necessary. Rights sellers would
need to propose a “sports entities package” and a measurement protocol that would determine
the effectiveness of multiple sponsorship activities. Furthermore, a development (negative or
positive) of the perceived affect by consumers towards the sponsored entity might, for instance,
be integrated into the sponsorship contract.

Limitations, perspectives and conclusion

This conceptual model is grounded in a real-world phenomenon: a sponsorship does not
exist in isolation, sponsorship co-exists with other sponsorships. Almost all sponsees are
simultaneously associated with multiple brands. An organization will almost certainly have
sponsorship with several properties. All of these occur in the context of ambush marketing.
It is not possible to understand sponsorship effectiveness without recognizing the multiplicity
of sponsorship contracts and the myriad of brands associated with a sporting event. Sponsorship
is a complex phenomenon with numerous interactions. Our model highlights the cognitive
paradigm and the importance of the mental processes underpinning consumer’s behaviour.
This work provides a foundation for better understanding of sponsorship effects.
Two main limits to this work can be highlighted. First, if the proposed model integrates
numerous constructions, others could have been included. Second, the model is deductive
and was not tested empirically. The proposed model requires structural equation modelling
to simultaneously test the potential relations. Bacharach (1989: 508) emphasized,

Although path and structural equation (for example, LISREL) models provide a
systematic format for expressing the assumed relationships among variables and
estimating the strength of these relationships, the actual ordering of the variables
and the nature of their relationship (for example, causal, simultaneous) can only take
place on the assumptive level.

So whilst useful, SEM will not illuminate the entire story.

In any case, our understanding of dyadic sponsor–sponsee relationships is well-developed.
Multiple sponsorship provides an opportunity for understanding sponsorship that is otherwise
unattainable. We expect this innovative model to create a better understanding of multiple
sponsorship and be used as a work basis for new research. Beyond the theoretical developments,
entities involved in sponsorship activities will appreciate this work and the perspectives it
brings to their practice.

Note
1. The measure of affective reactions affect the second and third series of propositions. Nevertheless,
in order to facilitate the understanding of the reader, it was necessary to present the double transfer
phenomenon from the beginning of this chapter.

121
Sponsorship

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10
CELEBRITY ATHLETE ENDORSERS
A critical review

Ted B. Peetz and Nancy Lough

Part 1
Arnold Palmer is regarded as one of the greatest golfers of all-time. His significance to the
game of golf is unquestioned, however, it can be argued his biggest impact occurred off the
course. Although endorsements have been a marketing strategy used for centuries, Palmer
helped to usher in a new era of the celebrity athlete endorser. His ascent to stardom in the
1950s aligned with the beginning of sport’s television age. Palmer’s ability, style and good
looks made him the perfect spokesman for companies seeking to benefit from his popularity.
The strategy he utilized to parlay his athletic accomplishments with advertising success has
become the template for today’s celebrity athlete endorser. McCracken (1989) defined a
celebrity endorser as “an individual who enjoys public recognition and who uses this
recognition on behalf of a consumer good by appearing with it in an advertisement” (p. 30).
Companies have utilized celebrity athletes like Arnold Palmer because it is believed that they
can attract and hold consumers’ attention (Charbonneau and Garland, 2005), enhance
believability of the advertisements (Kamins et al., 1989), differentiate product images
(Friedman and Friedman, 1979) and increase brand loyalty (Bush, Martin and Bush, 2004).
An example of a company who blatantly acknowledges the impact a celebrity athlete endorser
like Arnold Palmer can have on their brand, is Ketel One Vodka who ran an advertisement
stating: “Dear Ketel One Drinker, We know you’re not influenced by what other people
drink, however, we thought you might like to know Arnold Palmer drinks Ketel One”.
Endorsements and sponsorships can appear synonymous at first glance. Endorsements have
been labeled as “personality sponsorships” and sports marketers have agreed that endorsements
fall within the sponsorship category. Both concepts approach their marketing outcomes in
slightly different ways. A sponsorship is usually considered as a broader marketing tactic,
which seeks to gain exposure through the commercial potential of a specific event or property.
Sponsors typically pursue similar outcomes in using this approach as they would when
implementing a celebrity athlete endorsement, such as supporting overall organizational
objectives, marketing goals and promotional strategies. A sponsorship allows the sponsor the
opportunity to capitalize on the number of spectators of a particular event and to associate
themselves with the positive brand attributes the event or property holds. An endorser’s
effectiveness, on the other hand, comes from their ability to reach target markets in a more

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direct manner. The culturally relevant images, symbols and values celebrity athletes embody
help to extend and strengthen the connection with consumers that many sponsorship attempts
cannot accomplish. The increased use of new technologies for delivering marketing messages
has also increased ways to utilize celebrity athlete endorsers and make more enduring
connections with consumers. Social media, for example, can give the appearance of a more
authentic testimony. Support and promotion from celebrity athletes’ personal Twitter
accounts has become so muddled it can obscure the lines between a paid endorsement and
a friendly recommendation. The Advertising Standards Authority (UK) and the Federal
Trade Commission (USA) have been investigating this new trend in endorsements and
outline that the hashtag #ad should follow any endorsement claim made on a personal
Twitter account (Varney, 2013). The fact that a hashtag needs to be applied to a celebrity
athlete’s paid marketing messages to distinguish it from social media chatter is testament to
the power an endorsement by a celebrity athlete can provide a product or service.
The potential reach of sponsorships through associations with events and companies is
impressive and “personality sponsorships” often help to solidify this connection with
consumers. As Advertising Age (2001) explained, “Other creative tactics and techniques
change with the fashion of the day but the testimonial is such a workhorse selling tool that
it never goes out of style” (p. 10). Endorsements traditionally have featured consumers due
to their similarity to target audiences (Ohanian, 1990). Also known as typical person
testimonials, these persuasive messages involve a person unfamiliar to the audience who
endorses a product in an advertisement. Research suggests that using a “typical person” acts
as a minor cue to influence the persuasiveness of an advertising message (Petty, Cacioppo and
Schumann, 1983). In contrast to the average consumer testimonial, the use of a celebrity acts
as a more direct cue relating to a number of factors such as trustworthiness or expertise. For
example, when athletes are used to promote a sports product they use in competition,
consumers are likely to acknowledge that they have expert knowledge of the product based
on their experiences. McCracken (1989) noted that a testimonial can be implemented using
four endorsement styles. The most straightforward of these styles is the explicit mode and
features the endorser declaring, “I endorse this product”. The implicit mode is when an
endorser states “I use this product”, while the imperative mode has the endorser explain, “You
should use this product”. The final endorsement style is the co-present mode where a
celebrity only appears with the product. The co-present mode is often a favorite method of
using celebrity athlete endorsers because it allows a sponsor to benefit from the meanings
associated with the athlete and allows the consumer to align those meanings with their self-
images. Effective pairings are often due to an easy to understand connection between endorser
and product where the meanings associated with the endorser are easily conveyed and valued.

Investing in endorsements
Companies with confidence that celebrity athlete endorsers are an effective way to reach
their target audiences are willing to pay large sums to connect with high-profile star athletes.
The amount of money spent on athlete endorsers is truly staggering. Even though Arnold
Palmer retired from golf years ago, he continues to make large sums of money through
endorsement deals. According to Forbes magazine, Palmer made $1.8 million during his
professional golf career, yet he earned an estimated $40 million off the course in 2013 alone
(Badenhausen, 2014a). The Top 10 highest paid currently active celebrity athlete endorsers
earned more than $350 million in endorsement royalties in 2013 (Badenhausen, 2014b).
These impressive numbers are a far cry from the $75 reportedly paid in 1905 to Honus

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Wagner to endorse Louisville Slugger Baseball Bats (Mullin, Hardy and Sutton, 2014). A select
number of today’s athletes enjoy significant leverage in their endorsement contracts, adding
testimony to the value companies place on these figures to promote their products. Although
paying an athlete to endorse a brand is still common, other forms of compensation have been
devised to entice athletes to hawk their products. For example, basketball player, Kevin
Durant, re-signed with athletic apparel provider, Nike, for an estimated $265 million over ten
years, but that number is flexible and could reach $300 million with royalties he receives from
shoe sales (Rovell and Stein, 2014). Another basketball star, Lebron James profited an estimated
$30 million from the stock options he earned by endorsing the headphone company Beats
by Dre when the company was purchased by Apple (Smith, 2014). Company expenses often
reflect the significance they place on using a celebrity athlete endorser in their marketing
messages. Nike, for instance, typically spends about 10% of its revenues on “demand creation”,
which is a term they use to describe the advertising expenses and costs associated with
endorsement deals (Stock, 2014).
When an athlete attains celebrity status the result can be a high level of importance with
consumers that companies hope to capitalize on. Although the cost of using this marketing
strategy has risen exponentially over the years the goals of using celebrity athletes have
remained the same: grab the consumer’s attention, create positive associations with the
product or service, and positively impact revenue. A recent study has validated the use of
celebrity athlete endorsers by showing a firm’s decision to use this strategy has a positive
pay-off on product sales in an absolute sense and relative to the firm’s competitors. Elberse
and Verleun’s (2012) research showed that signing a high-profile athlete to endorse a brand
“on average generates a 4% increase in sales, which corresponds with around $10 million in

Figure 10.1 Early example of a co-present mode endorsement

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additional sales annually and nearly a .25% increase in stock returns” (p. 163). Marketing
literature has supported that a well-executed endorsement deal with a successful athlete can
substantially impact how a company is perceived as well as their bottom line.

Risks associated with celebrity athlete endorsers

The benefits of using a celebrity athlete endorser are well documented, however, a number
of risks exist when using this marketing tactic. No matter how perfect a crafted image may
be, there is always the possibility of a negative event, association or comment greatly affecting
the way the athlete and their endorsement are perceived. Some studies have shown that
unflattering conduct by an endorser can cause consumers to hold lower opinions of the
athlete and that those opinions will become associated with the products they endorse. What
makes this connection even more significant is that consumers typically pay more attention
to negative information than to positive publicity linked to the endorser.
Scandals involving infidelity, substance abuse, violence, and other detrimental activities
have caused marketers to evaluate the risk–reward ratio associated with this strategy. National
Football League Hall of Famer, O.J. Simpson, is a cautionary tale of a once bankable athlete
whose persona instantly changed from American sports hero to accused double murderer.
The fear some companies have in using celebrity athlete endorsers is understandable given
the seemingly constant reports of athletes being involved with undesirable events. One
strategy used to combat the negative publicity associated with embarrassing or upsetting
behavior is using deceased celebrities or animated characters who still offer a wealth of
symbolism and meaning to a company, yet pose no threat of doing something that could
tarnish a brand’s image. Another common strategy for companies is to purchase insurance
policies to lessen the harmful effects of a damaging incident.
The substantial amount of money an athlete can make by lending their endorsement to a
brand has caused many celebrities to tie their image to multiple products. Consumers are
skeptical of celebrities who are paid to deliver support for a brand or product. This skepticism
is heightened when a celebrity athlete endorses more than one product. Overexposure as an
endorser can weaken the distinctiveness, likability and credibility of an athlete and can
adversely affect the brands they endorse.
It is not uncommon for athletes to suffer injuries that can greatly impact their exposure
and performance. Olympian Liu Xiang became a national hero and cultural icon after
winning China’s first gold medal in men’s track and field in 2004, however, his effective-
ness as an endorser was limited due to untimely injuries during the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.
If companies are using athletes to promote distinct brand attributes to separate them from
the competition, having an athlete who is frequently injured or unreliable does not send a
strong message.
There is a large range of negative events that can impact the relationship between endorser,
brand and consumer.Whether it is an insensitive comment made over social media or breaking
the law, no company using this strategy is immune to the negative actions of endorsers.
Athletic apparel manufacturer, Nike, has experienced the impact of being associated with
controversy surrounding some of their athletes. During one week in September 2014, Nike
had to cancel endorsement deals with three of their athletes: sprinter Oscar Pistorius (culpable
homicide), and National Football League running backs Ray Rice (domestic violence) and
Adrian Peterson (child abuse). A few marketers may push the mantra, “any publicity is good
publicity”, however, many would warn about placing short-term economic gains before
intangible impacts and sustaining a strong brand image. Although the risks of using celebrity

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athletes as endorsers are ever present, their popularity has continued to remain near the
forefront of advertising campaigns.
Companies have embraced using athletes as endorsers because few professions are as highly
revered as professional athletics. The cultural shift from being an athlete to being a celebrity
athlete has caused many companies to utilize these figures in endorsements of a wide-range
of products. The perceived benefits of this marketing strategy have led to endorsements now
being one of the most popular forms of retail advertising. Researchers have studied this
phenomenon to gain a better understanding of what makes an effective endorser. Brooks and
Harris (1998) noted,

the common fault with all these efforts is that athlete endorsement is often discussed
without any apparent theoretical understanding of the phenomenon. The papers
frequently fall victim to a significant element of hype and contain little, if any, critical
analysis of what the endorsement process is all about (p. 35).

A major issue with the analysis of this subject is that there is no agreement as to the dimensions
or factors that make-up endorser effectiveness. Although the number and types of factors
associated with this construct are still debated, a number of models have been developed that
have allowed further analysis and clarification of endorser effectiveness. It should be noted
that analyzing endorser effectiveness is a difficult task and the factors associated with endorser
effectiveness are often not viewed the same way by all consumers. The following section will
outline the development of the most commonly used models and critically examine how
they have shaped our understanding of celebrity endorser effectiveness.

Part 2

Source models
In an exploratory study of this topic, Roy (2006) stated, “A review of literature suggests that
there are four basic models that deal with the issue of celebrity endorsements” (p. 140). Those
four models include the source credibility model (Hovland, Janis and Kelley, 1953; Hovland
and Weiss, 1951; McGuire, 1968) the source attractiveness model (McGuire, 1985), the
match-up hypothesis (Mowen, Brown and Schulman, 1979), and the transfer of meaning
process (McCracken, 1989). Each of these models offers a framework to examine the
effectiveness of celebrity athlete endorsers. The models are also highly applicable to sports
due to a celebrity athlete’s ability to impact consumer attitudes. A number of factors related
to endorsers have been tested to gauge their impact on the advertising message. As the study
of this concept has gained more attention, these models have provided the theoretical basis
for the selection of factors included in examinations. By no means do these models encapsulate
all the factors and situations that can arise in a consumer’s evaluation of an endorser’s
marketing communication, but they provide a better understanding of how this phenomenon
has been analyzed over the past 60 years.

Source credibility model

The source credibility model (Hovland et al., 1953) is recognized as being the first widely
accepted model to identify the factors impacting the effectiveness of an endorser. Source
credibility has been defined as “the believability of the endorser, spokesperson or individual

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in an advertisement” (Clow et al., 2011 p. 25). The model has its origins in social research
and asserts that a credible source will elicit positive responses from its intended audience. The
model contends that expertise and trustworthiness are the most vital factors associated with
endorser credibility. These two factors have become commonplace in endorser research due
to their presumed impact on consumer behavior. Establishing credibility of a source is a
critical element in gaining acceptance from the message recipient. If a consumer finds an
endorser credible, “they may forgo the effortful task of scrutinizing the message and, instead,
unthinkingly accept the conclusion as valid” (Priester and Petty, 2003 p. 409).
Research has shown that a consumer’s favorable assessment of a source’s expertise will
positively influence their effectiveness (Ohanian, 1990). Expertise refers to “the knowledge,
experience or skills possessed by the endorser” (Erdogan, 1999 p. 298). The status of celebrity
athlete endorsers in society allows them to provide expert opinions on a number of products,
but especially on products they use during competition. For example, few would argue the
expertise of Olympic gold medal sprinter, Usain Bolt, when it comes to his knowledge and
experience with running shoes. Messages coming from an expert endorser are accepted with
greater agreement than the same message from a non-expert. The expertise factor is often
highlighted in advertisements of new products or products that require more than a surface
level understanding because believability of the message is increased when a celebrity holds
an expert position in the mind of consumers (Kamins et al., 1989). Similar to the other factor
within the model, trustworthiness, the perception of expertise among the target audience is
ultimately what determines the effectiveness of this factor (Hovland et. al., 1953; Ohanian,
1991). These connections also help to create positive word of mouth associations. It is not
surprising that this factor has been linked with the intention to purchase products (Ohanian,
1991). Therefore, a company utilizing this marketing strategy would be wise to establish
endorser expertise in their promotions.
The other factor included in the source credibility model is trustworthiness. When
discussing endorsements it is intuitive that trustworthiness would be a factor that is included.
Ohanian (1990) explained, “the trust paradigm in communication is the listener’s degree of
confidence in, and the level of acceptance of, the speaker and message” (p. 41). If an endorser
is viewed as being untrustworthy, it may not matter what product or brand attributes they
are describing because consumers will not have confidence in the message. Trustworthiness
is a powerful factor in marketing messages and the perceived trustworthiness of the source
has been shown to create a greater attitude change than perceived expertise. American
professional cyclist, Lance Armstrong, is an example of an endorser who greatly changed the
level of trust he had obtained with the public when he admitted to taking performance
enhancing drugs during his career. His confession created a mass withdrawal from sponsors
who wanted to distance themselves from the tarnished athlete. In addition, a group of
consumers sued Armstrong for false advertising for his endorsements of FRS energy products
that he claimed were his “secret weapon” (Schrotenboer, 2014). Although Armstrong
successfully defended the lawsuit, legal action is definitely a strong statement as to the public’s
perception of the disgraced cyclist. According to research, consumers who distrust an athlete
like Armstrong would be more likely to critically examine advertising messages that came
from him, while an athlete with a perceived high level of trustworthiness would be less likely
to have their marketing communications scrutinized.
In Ohanian’s (1990) seminal work on celebrity endorsers, she included attractiveness in
the source credibility model as a factor influencing the persuasiveness of an endorser’s
marketing communication.The inclusion of this factor was based on theoretical and empirical
observations. You only need to turn on the television or browse through a magazine to

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Perceived
expertise

Perceived Endorser
trustworthiness effectiveness

Figure 10.2 Modified source

Perceived credibility model
attractiveness
Source: Ohanian, 1990

understand the importance marketers place on the physical attractiveness of an endorser.

Attractive endorsers consistently receive higher evaluations of likability compared to
spokespersons who are unattractive (Ohanian, 1990). When basing marketing decisions on
the attractiveness of an endorser, advertisers hope to gain from the dual effects of physical
traits and an athlete’s celebrity status. Aligned with the source credibility model, researchers
have found that celebrity athlete endorsers who were viewed as an expert were also viewed
as being significantly more attractive and liked than someone who was viewed as a non-
expert (Buhr, Simpson and Pryor, 1987). One celebrity athlete endorser who garners
significant attention due to his attractiveness is footballer, David Beckham. His skillfulness on
the pitch has often been overshadowed by his good looks. As Cashmore and Parker (2003)
stated, there is more than one David Beckham, he is a fashion icon, sports star and trend setter.
Beckham’s magnetism has allowed him to continue to grow his brand, attaching himself to
products ranging from air travel to chocolate, even though his playing days are over.
It is important to note that the physical appearance of an endorser is not the only way a
consumer evaluates attractiveness. Like all factors associated with the source models,
attractiveness has been operationalized in many ways. For example, images of a strong,
powerful female athlete can be a source of inspiration and empowerment for women. The
exposure can also aid in helping build the attractiveness of a sports league. When the Women’s
National Basketball Association (WNBA) was first established, one of its star players, Lisa
Leslie, helped to create positive associations with the league through many traits that fans
found attractive. Although she had physical beauty she also had power, she was the first
women to dunk in a professional game, and had a fun personality. Val Ackerman, former
President of the WNBA, noted, “It’s vital to us to have our star players part of popular
culture, part of television shows, and to be seen as not just part of the sports landscape but
part of the cultural landscape” (Mullin, 2003, para. 12). Lisa Leslie was able to convey the
image and message the WNBA wanted to send to the public. The associations people
connected with Lisa Leslie made her a sought-after endorser by a long list of companies. Her
perceived attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise provides supporting evidence of why
the source credibility model is still widely accepted, even 60 years after it was first conceived.

Source attractiveness model

It took more than 30 years before another endorsement model was introduced that received
a similar level of acceptance in the evaluation of endorser effectiveness as the source credibility
model. The source attractiveness model came as a result of a number of attempts to further

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analyze endorser communication and both models have become an essential part of our
understanding of the endorsement process (McCracken, 1989). As Brooks and Harris (1998)
noted, “both the source attractiveness and source credibility models have been validated to
some degree in the literature, and each provides an intuitively appealing reason why an athlete
should be an effective endorser” (p. 41). This particular model identifies familiarity, similarity
and likeability as dimensions of attractiveness. The concept of attractiveness is more than
physical appearance. Attractiveness as it applies to this model can be someone’s affinity for
an endorser’s personality, intellectual skills, lifestyle or other appealing traits (Erdogan, 1999).
Most people would naturally conclude that if an endorser is viewed as likeable, familiar and
similar to the intended audience, the greater the likelihood their message would be accepted.
Familiarity is described as “the knowledge of a source through exposure” (Erdogan, 1999,
p. 299).With the increase of media outlets, especially those devoted to sports coverage, athletes
have garnered more exposure than ever before. Athletes who attain this level of familiarity
with the general public are often viewed as stars. It seems reasonable that a company who is
utilizing the endorsement strategy would want someone who is recognizable with the target
market. A celebrity athlete endorser who is familiar to an audience is said to be have the
ability to break through the media clutter and hold viewers’ attention. Athletes have benefited
greatly from the exposure they receive in the media. For example, the continued growth in
women’s sports has strengthened the reach for female athletes due to the increased coverage
they receive in the media. Research has shown that females prefer to purchase sporting goods
endorsed by their favorite female athletes and are supportive of female sports (Bush et al.,
2004). A tennis superstar like Serena Williams, for instance, should be able to elicit greater
attention and consumer action when endorsing a product compared to an unfamiliar source
promoting the same item. As long as sports remain a popular viewing option, the familiarity
of athletes should make them appealing to companies looking to use a spokesperson to sell
their products.
The factors included in the source attractiveness and source credibility models are not
independent of each other. An example of this includes whether or not a person views an
endorser as being similar. Similarity is defined as the perceived resemblance a respondent
feels exists between themselves and the source (Erdogan, 1999). Researchers have theorized
that people trust individuals who are similar to them. Patzer (1985) posed the “likes attract”
hypothesis, which stated that consumers respond positively to endorsers who are similar.
Interestingly, the author suggested using above-average-looking endorsers because people
usually inflate their own attractiveness. Cialdini (2007) expanded on the idea by explaining
this notion holds true if the similarity includes areas such as opinions, personality traits or
lifestyle. Burgoon (1976) noted “if similarity breeds attraction, and if both influence credibility,
people should prefer as the ideal source someone similar to themselves” (p. 201). The traits
associated with the concept of similarity can also be explained as either in-group or out-
group characteristics. Brewer (1979) explained that the in-group members tend to hold other
in-group members in higher regard compared to out-group members. Sports fandom offers
plenty of opportunities for social interaction and comparison between fan bases. This
interaction allows people to navigate through in-groups and out-groups. If a celebrity
endorser is someone who is viewed as part of the in-group of the targeted audience, the
source attractiveness model asserts that it will be more effective than using someone who is
viewed as an out group member.
Likeability is the last factor included in the source attractiveness model and is a construct
that can include physical and behavioral characteristics (McCracken, 1989). This factor falls
within the concept of endorser attractiveness, which is a basic component of source

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Celebrity athlete endorsers

Familiarity

Endorser
Likeability
effectiveness

Sim ilarity

Figure 10.3 Source attractiveness model

Source: McGuire, 1985

effectiveness (McGuire, 1968). Likeability can be influenced by the number of products a

celebrity athlete endorses. A study by Tripp, Jenson and Carlson (1994) found that as the
number of products a celebrity endorsed grew, their credibility and likability dropped.
However, if a celebrity is viewed as an expert in a product category they are more liked.
Reinhard and Messner (2009) conducted a study that found the greater the consumer’s
cognitive motivation to process a persuasive message, the less important were peripheral cues
such as an endorser’s likability. However, the tendency to consider endorser likability as a
factor in evaluating the persuasiveness of a message increased when the consumer’s cognitive
motivation was low.This finding suggests that likability can be an effective aspect of a product’s
advertising, especially if the product being endorsed requires little thought during the buying
process. For example, the cereal brand, Wheaties, first started using athletes on their product
packaging in the 1950s but they were very particular with who graced the box. It was
important to the Wheaties brand that the athlete was viewed as exceptionally likeable to the
point of being a role model. Two-time gold medalist vaulting legend, Bob Richards, was the
brand’s first spokesman (“The Box”, 2014). He was strong, likeable, and an advocate for
physical fitness. His likeability allowed for the message to persuade with ease: Wheaties is the
“Breakfast of Champions”.

Limitations with the source models

A plethora of studies have been designed and conducted over the last 60 years, which analyzed
factors deemed relevant in the effectiveness of celebrity athlete endorsers. Although the
source credibility and source attractiveness models have provided some clarification and
theoretical structure to the discussion, there continues to be a lack of consistency as to the
number and types of factors influencing source effectiveness (Ohanian, 1990). McCracken
(1989) noted that these models do not capture all aspects concerning the endorsement
process. The author goes on to state that the models fail to explain endorsement’s most
fundamental features. Plenty of companies have encountered situations where endorsers have
not had the effect on consumers they had intended. Although the source models may help
to address how an athlete is viewed, they fail to examine why they are viewed that way.
“For the model’s purposes, as long as the credibility and attractiveness conditions are satisfied,
any celebrity should serve as a persuasive source for any advertising message” (McCracken,
1989, p. 311). The source models therefore have a singular focus on the endorser without

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addressing the product being endorsed. Another criticism of the source models is that they
only make claims regarding an endorser’s credibility and attractiveness without addressing
their role as a message medium. The source models may explain that one athlete is perhaps
more likable or attractive than another athlete but they fail to address how they “differ from
a symbolic or communications point of view” (McCracken, 1989, p. 312). Ultimately,
critiques of the source models admit that certain characteristics of a source are important,
but how those factors affect the meaning associated with the product is vital in understanding
the effectiveness of an endorser.

Match-up hypothesis
The match-up hypothesis (Mowen et al., 1979) is a concept that was created to further
examine the effectiveness of an endorser and one of the first attempts to take into account
the significance of the product in the endorsement process.The match-up hypothesis explores
the appropriateness of fit between the endorser, the target market and the product. One
criticism of the match-up hypothesis is that there are no established rules to assess whether
or not a good fit exists between a product or brand and endorser. Even though the
understanding of what creates “fit” is still vague, a number of studies have been conducted
that have explored the concept though traditional endorser effectiveness factors.
Several studies have focused on a match or fit between a celebrity endorser and products
centered on physical attractiveness. The “match” in these studies showed that messages for
beauty products promoted by celebrities who were physically attractive were most effective.
Expertise is also a factor that can be enhanced based on congruence between endorser and
product. Celebrity athletes are often viewed as having expertise when it comes to products
that involve high social and psychological risk (Friedman and Friedman, 1979). Celebrity
athletes are often used in advertisements for automobiles, for instance, because of the high
social risk involved when someone is perceived to be driving a beat-up or non-stylish car.
Because their images can depend on aligning themselves with products that support their
personas, a consumer may feel more confident selecting a product that is closely connected
with a celebrity athlete.
The strength of congruence between an endorser and a product or brand can be based
on the perceived similarity of the two. A study analyzing athletes who endorsed energy bars
found athletes were better able to increase brand attributes than actors (Till and Busler, 2000).
In this example, it is logical that athletes would have better product fit with energy bars than
actors. In some instances the strength of a celebrity’s image can overpower the product they
are endorsing. This phenomenon is known as the “vampire effect” and often occurs when
the consumer believes there is a poor fit between the endorser and product. An infamous
example of the “vampire effect” was the use of American football player, Joe Namath, in an
advertisement for Hanes Beautymist Pantyhose. Although the advertisement received a lot of
attention for the unexpected use of a male endorser, Joe Namath’s celebrity status overpowered
the message ultimately causing the product to be an afterthought. A strong fit between
product and endorser also influences the believability of the endorsement.When the endorser–
product match-up is not strong it will likely give the appearance that the endorser is only
participating for financial gain and not because of their belief in the product.
The positive or negative perceptions consumers have about an endorsement come from
the meaning they attribute to the celebrity athlete. In some cases “match-ups” between
product and endorser can alter how both are perceived. This phenomenon is especially visible
with female celebrity athlete endorsers who can be viewed as “sell outs” if they try to

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Celebrity athlete endorsers

capitalize on their fame and good looks by endorsing products in an overly sexualized
manner. Racecar driver Danica Patrick has been frequently criticized for showcasing her
looks to promote products rather than relying on her talent as a driver. Within the marketing
culture, the “sex sells” strategy is often believed to be the most effective way to use females
in endorsements, even when this idea has been shown to be counterproductive. Highlighting
attractiveness of an athlete for a beauty product is logical and appropriate, however, simply
employing the “sex sells” strategy does little if the goal is to align your product with other
traits like performance or reliability. Tennis star Maria Sharapova is an example of a female
athlete who has been able to balance the line of looks and credibility. Harvard Business School
professor, Anita Elberse, explained that Sharapova is a perfect match for the Canon PowerShot
digital camera because, “she possesses a number of qualities that fit with the brand being
powerful but with precision, and having a sense of style” (Gilbert, 2007). The message to take
from the match-up hypothesis is that celebrity athlete endorsers have powerful meanings
associated with them, and often, so do the products they endorse; it is critical to the success
of an endorsement that the fit between the two is harmonious.

The transfer of meaning process

The transfer of meaning process (McCracken, 1989) explores the meaning a person associates
with an endorser and how their interpretation affects the persuasiveness of the advertising
message. In this process a consumer often has aspirational motives and will symbolically
identify with a particular sports star by purchasing products endorsed by the athlete. The
transfer of meaning occurs when the meaning connected to a celebrity athlete endorser
becomes associated with the product they endorse. If successful, the meaning is transferred
to the consumer when they purchase the product. Peetz, Parks and Spencer (2004) explained,
“the effectiveness of athletes’ endorsements of sports products (or products in general) depend
upon successful transfer of meaning from the athlete to the product and, ultimately the
consumer” (p. 142). For example, an athlete like basketball legend, Michael Jordan, is someone
who is associated with powerful meanings, those meanings could include traits such as cool,
confident and athletic. According to the transfer of meaning process, a product that he
endorsers, like an athletic shoe, will take on the meaning of being cool, confident and athletic.
If the process is successful, the consumer will adopt the meanings associated with the product
and apply it to their own self-image.

Culturally constructed
meanings

Expression of
Roles Endorser Product Consum er
self-concept

Characteristics

Figure 10.4 Transfer of meaning process

Source: McCracken, 1989

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Sponsorship

The transfer of meaning process is specifically applicable to celebrity athlete endorsers

because of the powerful meanings they often project. Advertising is a tool used to communicate
culturally constructed meanings and due to the many dimensions associated with endorser
effectiveness, celebrity athlete endorsers can often “deliver meanings of extra subtlety, depth
and power” (McCracken, 1989, p. 315). If relevant, meanings are not projected to a consumer
then the result will most likely be an unresponsive consumer. When someone purchases an
endorsed product it does not always mean the process has been completed. In order to
complete the transfer of meaning process, a consumer must claim the meaning associated
with the product and endorser. Levy (1959) argued that people claim meanings and behave
in a particular way to stay consistent with their sense of self. It is suggested that advertisers
research the meanings and symbolism associated with endorsers to determine whether they
are desirable for the brand or product because these meanings are a significant part of what
an endorser brings to the endorsement process (McCracken, 1989).

Part 3

Sports endorsement research

Investigations into endorser effectiveness place emphasis on any type of celebrity that receives
public recognition (McCracken, 1989). Athletes are naturally included in this research because
of their popularity and exposure within society. The models and conceptual frameworks
presented in this chapter provide a strong understanding of the endorsement process and
factors deemed critical to the success of an endorser. However, as noted previously, the
endorsement effectiveness is a multifaceted construct and the models currently associated
with endorsements do not provide a complete understanding of this phenomenon. Due to
their strong presence in marketing strategy, sports scholars have expanded on traditional
endorser research to specifically examine the celebrity athlete endorser.
A more recent investigation into celebrity athlete endorser effectiveness was the creation
of a scale to examine the factors most critical to the success of an athlete endorser. Grounded
in the theoretical framework of the two previously mentioned source models the study
aimed to create a valid and reliable measuring tool to assess celebrity athlete endorser
effectiveness. A wide-ranging assortment of factors impacting this construct have been
examined, however, an instrument containing all six attributes (expertise, trustworthiness,
attractiveness, likability, familiarity and similarity) included in the source credibility and
source attractiveness models had not been analyzed (Peetz, 2012). The researcher felt that
examining all six of the factors included in the two most widely recognized source models
was necessary to gain a more complete understanding of celebrity athlete endorser
effectiveness.
Peetz (2012) examined the perceptions of a college student population on advertisements
utilizing celebrity athletes. College students are an attractive demographic to sports marketers
because of their high levels of interest in sports celebrities (Stotlar, Veltri and Viswanathan,
1998). The initial phase of the study included asking a convenience sample of fifty students
(n=50) to list as many athletes as they could remember in three minutes. The two celebrities,
one male and one female, with the most mentions were used in the final instrument. The
two athletes who garnered the most responses were basketball player, Kobe Bryant, and tennis
player, Serena Williams. Next, those athletes were positioned in mock advertisements for a
cellular phone and a survey was sent out electronically to a college student population. The
participants (n=813) viewed the advertisement then answered six questions pertaining to each

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of the six factors included in the source credibility and source attractiveness models for a
questionnaire that included 36 items.
Once the surveys had been administered, data analysis was conducted to discover the
nature of the factors influencing responses to the hypothetical advertisements. From the factor
analysis calculated, an interesting result became evident: both celebrity athletes had factor
solutions that included the same set of factors. Ultimately, the finalized questionnaire included
four questions pertaining to attractiveness from the source credibility model and four questions
for the factor familiarity from the source attractiveness model. A new factor was also uncovered
that the author labeled as compatibility, which included a combination of one question
concerning expertise (source credibility) and two questions on the factor similarity (source
attractiveness). In this study, compatibility is defined as “the strength in relationship between
the consumer and the celebrity athlete endorser” (Peetz, 2012 p. 81). As a result of this study,
a simplified scale encompassing a mixture of factors from the two most widely used
endorsement scales was created. What is more intriguing is the newly created compatibility
dimension, which may become viewed as a vital factor in how celebrity athlete endorsers are
perceived.
The compatibility factor appears to incorporate not only factors from the source modeled
but also elements of the other two widely used endorsement models. Although interpretation
of the findings within the newly developed scale were not completed considering the
match-up hypothesis or the transfer of meaning process, it does offer a compelling argument
for future research on this concept. New examinations into celebrity athlete endorser
effectiveness might want to place greater emphasis on the idea of the “relationship strength”
a consumer feels toward an endorser and the product. If applied to the match-up hypothesis,
compatibility would theoretically increase if the product and endorser had a strong fit. In
addition, within the transfer of meaning process a compatible endorser would likely generate
stronger and more powerful meanings for the consumer. This study is just one example of
how our understanding of endorser effectiveness has continued to evolve.With a phenomenon
as multifaceted as the celebrity athlete endorser, it will likely remain a topic that receives
considerable attention from academics and sports marketers.

Table 10.1 Brief evolution of research examining celebrity endorsers

Author(s) Concept Significance

Mowen, Brown & Match up Hypothesis One of the first endorser frameworks to
Schulman (1979) consider the product as well as the endorser.
McGuire (1985) Source Attractiveness Used a person’s evaluation of similarity,
Model familiarity and likability to determine endorser
effectiveness.
McCracken (1989) Transfer of Meaning Examined the meaning people attach to
Process celebrity endorser.
Ohanian (1990) Source Credibility Modified previous endorser credibility research
Model and determined trustworthiness, expertise and
attractiveness as significant factors.
Peetz (2012) Endorser Effectiveness Factor analysis that examined all factors within
Scale the source attractiveness and credibility models
resulting in the creation of an new factor,
compatibility.

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Conclusion
Sponsorships have long been used in sports marketing as a viable strategy for building
associations between brands and consumers. Sports marketers have agreed that “personality
sponsorships” more commonly referred to as endorsements fall within the sponsorship
category. Endorsements of celebrity athletes are believed to solidify the connection with
consumers, and are valued by companies for their reach capacity. The culturally relevant
images, symbols and values celebrity athletes embody work to extend and strengthen the
connection with consumers, which is something sponsorships rarely accomplish. When an
athlete attains a certain level of celebrity status, they often garner a high level of importance
among consumers, which is precisely what companies hope to capitalize on.
The three primary goals sought when using celebrity athletes have remained consistent:
(1) grab the consumer’s attention, (2) create positive associations with the product or service,
and (3) positively impact revenue. So despite the high cost, the use of this marketing strategy
has risen exponentially over the years. Risks are inherent in all marketing strategies, and
endorsements are no exception. Injuries, insensitive comments on social media, or behavior
problems often compromise the athlete-brand association and diminish the value, because no
matter how perfect a crafted image may be there is always the possibility of a positive
association turning negative. Even overexposure as an endorser can become a risk, because it
weakens the distinctiveness, likability and credibility of an athlete and can thereby adversely
affect the brands they endorse.
To counter perceptions of risk and establish credibility for this key sports marketing
strategy, four models have been utilized to evaluate the effectiveness of celebrity athlete
endorsements. The source credibility model (Hovland et al., 1953; Hovland and Weiss, 1951;
McGuire, 1968) the source attractiveness model (McGuire, 1985), the match-up hypothesis
(Mowen et al., 1979), and the transfer of meaning process (McCracken, 1989) have all been
used extensively in scholarly work. Most often, research on celebrity athlete endorsers has
examined the characteristics of the source (athlete) that affect the effectiveness of the message.
Peetz (2012) evaluated the six factors from the two source models, including expertise,
trustworthiness, attractiveness, familiarity, likability and similarity. In his work, the new factor
of compatibility emerged, along with support for familiarity and attractiveness factors. The
effectiveness of athlete endorsers can be an elusive concept as consumer characteristics
influence perceptions and can vary widely. Considering the gender of the target market and
the endorser is one strategy too often overlooked, despite findings showing a match will
“improve endorser credibility through greater trustworthiness” (Boyd and Shank, 2012,
p. 338). Clearly, the use of celebrity athletes as endorsers will continue long into the future.
With the considerable investment in endorsements increasing each year, those using this core
marketing strategy could benefit from a deeper understanding of how to best match their
products and brand image with endorsers to maximize the appeal among their target markets.

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11
A sporting (mis)match?
Assessing the objectives pursued and evaluation
measures employed by sports sponsors

Leah Gillooly

Introduction
Despite difficult economic conditions, expenditure on sponsorship as a communications
vehicle continues to grow as the scope of sponsorship activities expands to include ever more
properties and associations. IEG reported global sponsorship expenditure of $43.5 billion in
2008 (Sponsormap, 2009a), growing to $55.3 billion in 2014 (IEG, 2015). Therefore,
sponsorship remains an ever expanding area of interest both academically and to practitioners
seeking return on their marketing investments. The nature of sponsorship objectives has
been the subject of considerable interest, with an array of notable surveys on the most
commonly pursued objectives across a range of countries (Abratt and Grobler, 1989), sectors
(Armstrong, 1988) and vehicles (e.g. sports, arts, charitable causes) (Witcher et al., 1991). More
recently, authors have turned their attention to not only assessing but also categorising
sponsorship objectives (Nufer and Bühler, 2010; Hartland, Skinner and Griffiths, 2005). As
sponsorship has matured as a communications vehicle, so there is evidence of an increasing
sophistication in the objectives pursued by sponsors, with a notable shift from tactical to
strategic and from short-term transactional to long-term relationship-building goals (Farrelly,
Quester and Burton, 2006).
While the objectives set by sponsors continue to evolve, the other side of the coin concerns
the measurement of sponsorship outcomes and whether such measures are evolving
concurrently.The issue of sponsorship evaluation has been referred to as the greatest challenge
facing sponsors and as an area of weakness within the sponsorship domain (Copeland, Frisby
and McCarville, 1996). Sponsorship objectives and the evaluation of sponsorship are therefore
intricately linked (Tripodi, 2001) and the growing requirements to evidence return on
investment (RoI) of marketing activities will only heighten the need to evaluate performance
against stated objectives. This chapter presents the results of a mixed methods investigation,
first exploring the objectives pursued by sports sponsors through a content analysis of global
sponsorship announcements and second, through a series of semi-structured interviews with
Sponsorship Managers, examining the objectives being pursued and evaluation measures
employed by a range of brands involved in sponsorship of major sporting properties in the
United Kingdom. Therefore, conclusions can be drawn concerning the current ‘state of play’
as regards the nature of sponsorship objectives and the match, or mismatch, between objectives

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pursued and evaluation measures of sports sponsorship. As such, this chapter updates our
understanding of the current activities of sponsors in terms of objectives and evaluation,
building on previous studies and identifying shifts in the orientation of sponsorship as a
communications tool.

Literature review

Sponsorship objectives
Sponsorship can offer brands the opportunity to achieve multiple objectives (Ukman, 2004),
and the nature of the objectives pursued is likely to vary considerably between sponsored
properties, product categories and levels (e.g. community versus elite). With a growing focus
on RoI, it is unsurprising that objectives directly impacting on bottom line sales/market share
are becoming increasingly common (Apostolopoulou and Papadimitriou, 2004). However,
market research carried out by Sponsorium indicates that sponsors are starting to pay more
attention to CSR-related elements of sponsorship deals (McCullagh, 2009), with Plewa and
Quester (2011) arguing that this may be a particularly relevant objective for local/regional
sponsorships.
Despite a surge in interest in sponsorship and CSR, arguably the most frequently cited
sponsorship objective is building brand awareness (Zinger and O’Reilly, 2010; Cornwell, Roy
and Steinard, 2001). Most recently, IEG’s survey of sponsorship decision-makers found
awareness benefits to be the most important (Performance Research, 2014). Often vying with
awareness for the top ranking in surveys of sponsorship objectives is corporate or brand image
enhancement. In line with the theoretical framework of Keller (1993), Yang, Sparks and Li
(2008) found evidence of sponsors in China pursuing what they termed brand equity
objectives of awareness and image, while Roy and Cornwell (1999) found corporate/
brand image enhancement to be the most common objective among both product and
service firms.
In line with the pursuit of image benefits, sponsorship can be used to reach defined target
markets based not only on demographic profiles but also on shared values (Barrand, 2006).
As such, sponsorship may be used to achieve objectives relating to brand positioning (Hartland
et al., 2005), or repositioning. Depending on the nature of the sponsor’s products/services,
sponsorship can also provide a perfect environment for brands to showcase their products
(Howard and Crompton, 2004) being used in the sporting arena. However, awareness,
image-benefits and targeting specific markets/clients can all be thought of as intermediate to
the ultimate goals of building sales and brand loyalty.
Several studies indicate sales as the most important objective pursued by US sponsors
(Lough, Irwin and Short, 2000; Lough and Irwin, 2001). Such a view is supported by the
IEG survey, in which sales/trial/brand usage was considered highly important by 47 per cent
of respondents (Performance Research, 2014). The sponsorship of sports by alcoholic and soft
drinks brands is often associated with a focus on sales, for example through on-site product
sampling (Nufer and Bühler, 2010) or obtaining pouring rights at a sporting venue. In an
interesting comparison between sponsorship in general and sponsorship of women’s sports,
Lough and Irwin (2001) found that image benefits were considered most important for
sponsors of women’s sports, while overall (when including (the much larger number of)
male sports), sales objectives were ranked as most important. The authors conclude that the
female sports sponsorship market is less developed than that of male sports and suggest that
as sponsorship matures, there is a shift from image-based to sales-based objectives.

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Sponsorship objectives and evaluation

There is also growing evidence of a further shift in sponsorship objectives, in line with
changing marketing orientations from a transactional to a relational paradigm (Grönroos,
1994), where brands are seeking to develop long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with
customers. A strength of sponsorship is its ability to allow brands to develop an attachment
with target audiences (Ferreira, Hall and Bennett, 2008) by associating themselves with
emotional brands such as sports teams (McManus, 2002). The importance of relationship
building was borne out by Farrelly et al. (2006), who identified, through interviews with
sponsors, a move away from the pursuit of awareness and image benefits to a focus
on developing connections with consumers. Fostering customer relationships through
sponsorship may ultimately lead to increased brand loyalty (Henseler, Wilson and Westberg,
2011). In a 2002 study of sponsorship managers by IEG, the number one objective of sponsors
was building brand loyalty (Levin, Beasley and Gamble, 2004), while increasing brand
loyalty was considered an important objective by 63 per cent of sponsorship decision-makers
in the 2014 IEG survey (Performance Research, 2014).
Along with the shift in general sponsorship orientation, it is also likely that the nature of
objectives pursued by sponsors will evolve over the lifetime of their sponsorship deals.
Verity (2002) proposes a hierarchy of sponsorship effects, starting with building awareness,
leading to positive, top-of-mind image associations, brand preference and ultimately to brand
purchase and loyalty. This was evidenced by Cliffe and Motion’s (2005) case study of
Vodafone New Zealand, which initially used sponsorship to build brand awareness in a new
market, before moving to more sophisticated objectives of communicating brand values
through sponsorship experiences and developing emotional connections with the target
market. Therefore, sponsorship is firmly positioned, both theoretically and empirically
as a communications tool through which brands can develop a sustainable competitive
advantage (Amis, Pant and Slack, 1997).
The vast spectrum of opportunities with a range of sports properties also makes sponsor-
ship an appropriate medium for pursuing objectives relating to stakeholders other than
the end consumer, with staff recruitment (Ukman, 2004) and employee relations
(Apostolopoulou and Papadimitriou, 2004) goals increasingly being pursued by sponsors.
Equally, sponsorship is frequently undertaken to enhance trade relations (Lough and Irwin,
2001) and for influencing wider stakeholders including governments and investors (Collett,
2011). From the above discussion, it is clear to see that sponsorship is capable of achieving a
multitude of objectives, cementing its position as a valuable tool in the armoury of brands.
However, the multi-faceted nature of sponsorship also presents a challenge to those trying to
develop measures of sponsorship effectiveness (Houlder, 2008).

Sponsorship evaluation
With ever growing sponsorship expenditures, evaluation of sponsorship effectiveness is
becoming crucial, with fewer sponsors in IEG’s 2014 study reporting a zero spend on
sponsorship measurement than in previous iterations of the survey (Performance Research,
2014). However, there are still considerable gaps in our understanding relating to the
measurements of sponsorship effectiveness (Cliffe and Motion, 2005; Ashill, Davies and Joe,
2001) and in tight economic times, corporations may begin to question the use of sponsorship
faced with a lack of empirical evidence of its RoI (Becker-Olsen and Hill, 2006).
While advertising and other promotional media have long-established methods and
traditions of evaluation, sponsorship has somewhat lagged behind, with Smolianov and Aiyeku
(2009) reporting that according to S:COMM Research in 2003, 70 per cent of traditional

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Sponsorship

media campaigns were measured, compared with only 28 per cent of sponsorship campaigns.
However, perhaps in light of the growing importance of demonstrating RoI, the 2014 IEG
survey reports that 51 per cent of sponsors spend up to 1 per cent of rights fees and 27 per
cent spend 1 to 5 per cent of rights fees on evaluation (Performance Research, 2014).
From the above figures, there is a generally encouraging trend towards greater use of
sponsorship measurement. Nonetheless, measuring sponsorship effectiveness is still widely
viewed as a problem faced by sponsors (Hartland et al., 2005) and in a study of Norway-based
sponsors, Thjømøe, Olson and Brønn (2002) found a general lack of use of appropriate
sponsorship evaluation tools/techniques, with a lack of effective means to measure results
being a commonly cited reason for brands not using sponsorship. Similarly, a 2007 European
Sponsorship Association survey revealed that only 11 per cent of sponsors felt their
organisations measured sponsorship’s RoI effectively, with 58 per cent believing their
organisations to be ineffective at measuring RoI (Houlder, 2008). Despite the recognition of
the importance of sponsorship evaluation, the question remains, therefore, as to the nature
and usefulness of the evaluation measures employed.
Sponsorships which use regular, objective feedback and measurement tend to yield the
greatest benefits (Zinger and O’Reilly, 2010) and there are numerous proprietary sponsorship
evaluation tools available, for example Sponsormap’s (2009b) Sponsorship Performance
Matrix, while many consultancies offer sponsorship evaluation, often based on media coverage
metrics. However, the use of media equivalencies is widely criticised for inflating the value
of sponsorship by directly comparing the impact, for example, of a sustained 60-second
advert, with 60 seconds of exposure to sponsorship signage during a sporting fixture (Parker,
1991) and for lacking relevance to brands with already high brand recall (Crompton, 2004).
Equally, measuring sponsorship effectiveness based on media equivalency assumes that
exposure will lead to changes in consumer perceptions about a sponsoring brand (Quester
and Farrelly, 1998).
Many academic studies have also examined the impact of sponsorship using measures of
sponsorship and brand recall and recognition (Lardinoit and Derbaix, 2001; Johar and Pham,
1999). As with all measures of business performance, the sponsorship evaluation measures
should be tied closely to stated objectives (Arthur et al., 1998). However, the use of recall and
recognition measures, perhaps because they are easy to employ and interpret (Howard and
Crompton, 2004), has not been limited to those pursuing awareness-related objectives
(Herrmann, Walliser and Kacha, 2011). With the growing importance of objectives other than
awareness, the use of such measures is questionable (Herrmann et al., 2011) as they do not
capture how consumers are engaging with sponsorships (Meenaghan, 2001). Equally, while
sponsorship recall and recognition measures can facilitate comparisons between sponsors of
an event, it is likely more meaningful for brands to compare their performance against
competitors, rather than against other sponsors in different product categories (Herrmann
et al., 2011). Therefore, there is an apparent mismatch between objectives considered to be
important and the measures employed in practice (Smolianov and Aiyeku, 2009).
While awareness measures have predominated, in line with the importance of image as a
sponsorship objective, many studies have also explored the effectiveness of sponsorship at
building corporate (Pope, Voges and Brown, 2009; Stipp, 1998) and brand image (Nufer and
Bühler, 2010; Chanavat, Martinent and Ferrand, 2009), using dimensions including attitude
towards the brand (Lardinoit and Quester, 2001), sympathy towards the brand (Nufer and
Bühler, 2010) and brand personality (Carrillat, Harris and Lafferty, 2010). However, a
considerable problem is that many sponsorship objectives within the ‘image’ domain remain
vague (Fenton, 2005), thus rendering the development of appropriate measures problematic.

144
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Moving beyond the popular areas of awareness and image, studies measuring sponsor-
ship effectiveness become scarcer. However, a few studies have explored sponsorship
effectiveness on a more behavioural level, including examining the impact on purchase
intention (Ko et al., 2008) and brand loyalty (Sirgy et al., 2008; Levin et al., 2004). More
broadly, Speed and Thompson (2000) developed a sponsorship evaluation scale, which assessed
sponsorship response in line with the hierarchy of effects concept, measuring impact on
interest in the brand, favourability towards the brand and willingness to use the sponsoring
brand. Equally, in one of few such studies, Jensen and Hsu (2011) assessed sponsorship
effectiveness by measuring the impact of sponsorship investment on overall business
performance (measured by financial indicators such as total revenue and earnings per share).
However, while representing a bottom line measure of sponsorship effectiveness, this
approach perhaps lacks direct relation to the range of sponsorship objectives pursued. Lund
(2006), in response to the range of objectives (not only marketing) pursued through
sponsorship, suggests the Intellectual Capital Framework as a tool for evaluating sponsorship,
although again its usefulness will be determined by the specific objectives pursued by
individual sponsors.
From the above discussion of literature, we can see that there is a dual thrust acting upon
the sponsorship environment: first, a marked shift in the nature of objectives being pursued
by sponsors and, second, a growing need to evaluate RoI in sponsorship. However, perhaps
the greatest challenge facing those trying to measure sponsorship effectiveness (in all of its
guises) is the problem of isolating the impact of sponsorship from the effects of other
marketing communications (Nufer and Bühler, 2010; Zinger and O’Reilly, 2010). Thus, the
complexity of the sponsorship objectives being pursued perhaps makes developing one single
sponsorship evaluation methodology unrealistic (Houlder, 2008). Nonetheless, this should not
deter sponsors from evaluating their sponsorships and the challenge remains to develop
creative ways of assessing effectiveness against objectives.
The following section will outline the methodology employed in this study, before moving
on to discuss the results obtained and draw conclusions relating to the objectives pursued
through, and evaluation of the effectiveness of, contemporary sports sponsorship.

Methodology
In line with the exploratory nature of the research in mapping the objectives pursued and
evaluation methods employed by sports sponsors, this study adopts a mixed methodology,
incorporating a content analysis of press statements relating to sponsorship announcements
and a series of semi-structured interviews with Sponsorship Managers (or equivalent) in a
range of large, UK-based organisations.
In order to facilitate the quantitative analysis of objectives being pursued by sports sponsors,
an online search was made for press reports relating to sponsorship announcements from the
top 30 monthly worldwide sponsorship deals from October 2008 to October 2011, as published
in SportBusiness International magazine. The criterion for inclusion of the final sample was that
a publically available press report must contain a quote from a representative of the sponsoring
organisation, which made reference to the objectives to be pursued through the sponsorship
deal. Consequently, of the 1,020 sponsorship deals within the sample period, data on objectives
was available for 713 sponsorship deals. The reported objectives, along with the sport, sponsor
product/service category and type of sponsorship was recorded and analysed using SPSS. Tables
11.1, 11.2 and 11.3 below provide a summary of the sports, sponsorship types and sponsor
product/service categories of the final sample. In order to analyse the data, sponsorship objectives

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Sponsorship

Table 11.1 Sports sponsored

Frequency Valid percent

Football 225 31.6

Olympic 69 9.7
Golf 36 5.0
Tennis 31 4.3
Venue 43 6.0
Sailing 19 2.7
Motor Sport 71 10.0
US Team Sports (inc. College Sport) 86 12.1
Rugby (League & Union) 33 4.6
Other 100 14.0
Total 713 100.0

Table 11.2 Sponsorship type

Frequency Valid percent

Team 278 39.0

Event 259 36.3
Organisation 101 14.2
Personality 33 4.6
Venue 42 5.9
Total 713 100.0

Table 11.3 Sponsor product/service category

Frequency Valid percent

Financial services 110 15.4

Sports clothing, equipment & organisations 85 11.9
IT & telecommunications 74 10.4
Alcoholic drinks 37 5.2
Soft drinks 21 2.9
Travel, tourism & entertainment 65 9.1
Cars/automotive 72 10.1
Gambling & lottery 22 3.1
Energy/power/gas/electricity 23 3.2
Oil/petrol 26 3.6
Other 178 25.0
Total 713 100.0

were cross-tabulated with sponsor product/service category and sponsorship type, using
chi-squared analysis, to examine if there were any significant differences between the objectives
pursued by different sponsors relating to these categories.

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Sponsorship objectives and evaluation

Evidently, the use of press statements means that the analysis is relying on self-reported
objectives which the sponsors were willing to articulate in the public domain. As such, and
acting as a limitation of this study, it is possible that some element of ‘window-dressing’ or
masking of true commercial objectives could have taken place in order to protect commercially
sensitive information and present both sponsor and sponsored property in the best light.
Consequently, this limitation should be borne in mind when interpreting the findings of the
content analysis. In order to compensate for the limitation of using statements made in the
public domain, the press statement analysis was complemented by conducting interviews with
Sponsorship Managers.
Semi-structured telephone interviews were carried out with nine managers with
sponsorship responsibilities in a range of large, UK-based corporations. Respondents were
purposely sampled to reflect the organisation’s sponsorship activity, with the final sample
determined by willingness to take part in the study. The sponsoring firms represent a broad
range of product and service industries, with both a B2B and B2C focus, including financial
services, telecommunications, travel and professional services. All of the brands in the study
were involved in sponsoring elite-level sport, including events, sports teams and individual
athletes, with a well-known national or international profile. The quotes presented below are
selected for their ability to illuminate the discussion and are not attributed to a particular
sponsor in order to protect the identities of the brands involved. Anonymity was granted to
all participants as a condition of taking part in the research.
Interviews lasted between 25 and 45 minutes and covered a range of sponsorship-related
topics, including those concerned with objectives and evaluation measures reported in this
chapter. With sponsors operating across different product and service industries, a semi-
structured interview format was adopted in order to capture the sponsorship objectives in
the words of the sponsorship practitioners themselves. Questions and outline topics for
discussion were sent to respondents prior to the interviews to allow them to reflect on the
sponsorship objectives and evaluation procedures of the organisation and gather any relevant
information to prepare for the interview. This prior consideration can result in respondents
giving more guarded responses than if questions are asked spontaneously, which could pose
a limitation, particularly in light of the interviews attempting to compensate for the use of
public statements in the quantitative phase of the study. However, several respondents
requested a copy of the questions, thus this was seen as necessary to elicit cooperation in the
research. A copy of the interview questions used is included below in the Appendix. All
interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Transcripts were then subjected to
thematic analysis using NVivo.

Results

Sponsorship objectives
As can be seen in Table 11.4, by far the most commonly cited objective in the press statements
related to image (39 per cent), largely couched in terms of positive image transfer, with a
further 2 per cent referring specifically to brand positioning. Notably, within the interviews
with Sponsorship Managers, less mention was made of the pursuit of image-related objectives
than in the press statements. Nonetheless, in certain contexts, reference was made to borrowing
the image associations of ‘success’, ‘credibility’ and ‘being seen as [the] Olympic firm’, while
others referred to using sponsorship to reinforce a brand’s ‘leadership positioning’. However,
these are very general attributes and lack specific detail. While some managers referred to

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Sponsorship

Table 11.4 Cited objectives from press statement content analysis

Frequency Valid percent

Image 277 38.8

Targeting market segments 125 17.5
Brand awareness 113 15.8
Showcasing products/brand 101 14.2
Customer engagement 28 3.9
Image (positioning) 13 1.8
Corporate social responsibility 12 1.7
Community relations 11 1.5
Sales 11 1.5
Product development 8 1.1
Relationship development 8 1.1
Brand development 4 .6
Profit 1 .1
Promotional leverage 1 .1
Total 713 100.0

using sponsorship for ‘enhancing stature’, or developing ‘trust’, these notions were
predominantly expressed in discussions of why sponsorship was undertaken, rather than when
discussing specific objectives.
The distinction between objectives and motivations for undertaking sponsorship may
account for the prevalence of image-related mentions in the press statement analysis, with
sponsors actually articulating why they undertook sponsorship rather than what they hope
to get out of it. As such, perhaps here we see a mismatch between motivations and objectives,
with brands being influenced by image congruence and image benefits when selecting
sponsorships but having end goals related to aspects other than image. Therefore, while brand
image may be seen as a stepping stone to higher order brand objectives such as loyalty or
purchase intention, one can question whether appropriate sponsorship decisions are
being taken as any sponsorship should be undertaken based on its ability to achieve its
objectives.
Image was followed by targeting market segments (18 per cent) and brand awareness
(16 per cent) within the most mentioned objectives. However, the pursuit of ‘brand awareness’
was more prevalent in the interviews, across a range of sponsor product/service categories,
with one example of sponsorship being used to build awareness for a new brand. With the
growing maturity of the sponsorship market, many sponsors have long-term associations with
sport; therefore, in line with the contention of Lough and Irwin (2001), and supported by
interview findings, there may be an evolution of objectives, with sponsorship initially being
used to build awareness, before moving on to higher order elements of brand building as the
sponsoring brands grow and mature.
Within the overall results from the press statements, some significant differences in
objectives did occur across different sponsor product/service categories and different types
of sponsorship (e.g. event, team, venue, individual). As shown below in Table 11.5, using chi-
square analysis, a significant difference was found between the objectives pursued by sponsors
from different product/service categories (|2=224.639(60), p < 0.000). A notable difference
was found in terms of the pursuit of awareness objectives, which was cited by 30 per cent of

148
Table 11.5 Sponsor product/service category: objective cross-tabulation

Objective Total

Brand Image & Targeting Showcasing Customer CSR & Other

awareness positioning market products/ engagement & community
segments brand relationship relations
development

Industry Financial Services Count 33 31 26 0 11 9 0 110

% within product 30.0% 28.2% 23.6% .0% 10.0% 8.2% .0% 100.0%
category
Sports clothing, Count 4 53 8 11 1 1 7 85
equipment & % within product 4.7% 62.4% 9.4% 12.9% 1.2% 1.2% 8.2% 100.0%
organisations category
IT & Count 9 22 5 26 10 2 0 74
telecommunications % within product 12.2% 29.7% 6.8% 35.1% 13.5% 2.7% .0% 100.0%
category
Alcoholic drinks Count 2 15 15 1 2 0 2 37
% within product 5.4% 40.5% 40.5% 2.7% 5.4% .0% 5.4% 100.0%
category
Soft drinks Count 4 7 6 1 1 1 1 21
% within product 19.0% 33.3% 28.6% 4.8% 4.8% 4.8% 4.8% 100.0%
category
Travel, tourism & Count 8 25 20 6 2 4 0 65
entertainment % within product 12.3% 38.5% 30.8% 9.2% 3.1% 6.2% .0% 100.0%
category
Cars/automotive Count 17 29 16 7 2 0 1 72
% within product 23.6% 40.3% 22.2% 9.7% 2.8% .0% 1.4% 100.0%
category
Gambling & lottery Count 5 11 3 1 2 0 0 22
% within product 22.7% 50.0% 13.6% 4.5% 9.1% .0% .0% 100.0%
category
(continued)
Table 11.5 (continued)

Objective Total

Brand Image & Targeting Showcasing Customer CSR & Other

awareness positioning market products/ engagement & community
segments brand relationship relations
development
Energy/power/gas/ Count 7 5 2 5 1 2 1 23
electricity % within product 30.4% 21.7% 8.7% 21.7% 4.3% 8.7% 4.3% 100.0%
category
Oil/petrol Count 2 12 2 3 1 1 5 26
% within product 7.7% 46.2% 7.7% 11.5% 3.8% 3.8% 19.2% 100.0%
category
Other Count 22 80 22 40 3 3 8 178
% within product 12.4% 44.9% 12.4% 22.5% 1.7% 1.7% 4.5% 100.0%
category
Total Count 113 290 125 101 36 23 25 713
% within product 15.8% 40.7% 17.5% 14.2% 5.0% 3.2% 3.5% 100.0%
category
Sponsorship objectives and evaluation

financial services brands, 24 per cent of automotive and 23 per cent of gambling brands,
compared with only 16 per cent overall. Brands in these sectors face stiff competition and as
such it is crucial to gain high levels of brand awareness in order to get into consumers’
consideration sets for purchase. This can be contrasted with sports clothing/equipment, only
5 per cent of which cited awareness as an objective. While this is also a competitive industry,
purchase, particularly of sports clothing, also involves a hedonic motivation and as such, image
was an objective for 62 per cent of brands in this category (compared to 41 per cent overall).
Equally, the pursuit of image-related objectives is also significantly more important for
sponsors which perhaps lack inherently attractive characteristics, such as transport brands, of
which 69 per cent cited image objectives. In this case, sponsorship may be used by brands to
differentiate themselves from their competitors, by borrowing the intangible image associations
from sponsored properties.
Supporting the data from the quantitative analysis, interviewees reported using sponsorship
to ‘engage with our target audience’. In particular, the interviews suggest that sponsorship,
through its ability to reach a diverse range of consumers in an environment where they are
comfortable, is being used to reach ‘new audiences that perhaps wouldn’t normally consider
[the brand]’. However, the focus of sponsorship is not only on acquiring new customers, as
one sponsor reports using it to ‘drive very strong affinity with customers, both existing and
new . . . and thereby reduce churn and drive acquisition’. Here, then, we see sponsorship
moving from targeting market segments to encompassing a notion of ‘driv[ing] brand loyalty’
in terms of developing an affinity with consumers.
Interestingly, from the press statements, showcasing products/brands was cited as an
objective by 14 per cent of sponsors, which can likely be explained by the timing of the analysis,
which covered the time when many sponsorship deals were signed for the London 2012
Olympic Games, the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the EURO 2012 Football Championships.
In line with this, a significant difference (|2 = 94.685(24), p < 0.000) was found between
objectives pursued using different types of sponsorship (team, venue, event, personality), as
shown in Table 11.6 below. Showcasing products was found to be an objective of 22 per cent
of event sponsors, compared with 14 per cent overall, as sports events provide high-profile,
challenging environments, in which (particularly B2B) brands can demonstrate their capacity
to deliver for the best clients in the most demanding of circumstances. The power of sports
events to allow sponsoring brands to demonstrate their products/services is captured by one
Sponsorship Manager, who talks of how event sponsorship is used as a ‘showcase for the firm
in terms of a super-credential of the work we can do’.
Contrasted with the use of events for sponsors showcasing products/services, the press
statement analysis revealed a greater tendency to use venue sponsorship for awareness-related
objectives (25 per cent, compared with 16 per cent overall). Such a finding is logical, with
venue sponsorship often entailing naming rights, which confer significant media coverage
and visibility to brands. Equally, venue sponsorship was used more for achieving community
relations/CSR objectives (14 per cent), compared with sports sponsorship overall (3 per cent).
Such sponsorship, by contributing to funding the construction of new stadia, can help
sponsors be seen as giving something back to the local community.
Unlike the evidence from the literature, there appears little evidence of a shift towards the
pursuit of more relational objectives from the press statement analysis, with only 4 per cent
of sponsors citing customer engagement as an objective and 1 per cent citing relationship
development. However, the interviews did reveal a trend, particularly among B2B brands, of
the use of sponsorship for pursuing objectives relating to relationship development, with one
interviewee reporting ‘using it to develop existing relationships and to help facilitate new

151
Table 11.6 Sponsorship type: objective cross-tabulation

Objective Total

Brand Image & Targeting Showcasing Customer CSR & Other

awareness positioning market products/brand engagement & community
segments relationship relations
development

Sponsorship Type Team Count 44 132 38 26 18 6 14 278

% within Sponsorship 15.8% 47.5% 13.7% 9.4% 6.5% 2.2% 5.0% 100.0%
Type
Event Count 43 89 46 58 11 5 7 259
% within Sponsorship 16.6% 34.4% 17.8% 22.4% 4.2% 1.9% 2.7% 100.0%
Type
Organisation Count 9 37 31 11 5 6 2 101
% within Sponsorship 8.9% 36.6% 30.7% 10.9% 5.0% 5.9% 2.0% 100.0%
Type
Personality Count 5 25 2 0 0 0 1 33
% within Sponsorship 15.2% 75.8% 6.1% .0% .0% .0% 3.0% 100.0%
Type
Venue Count 12 7 8 6 2 6 1 42
% within Sponsorship 28.6% 16.7% 19.0% 14.3% 4.8% 14.3% 2.4% 100.0%
Type
Total Count 113 290 125 101 36 23 25 713
% within Sponsorship 15.8% 40.7% 17.5% 14.2% 5.0% 3.2% 3.5% 100.0%
Type
Sponsorship objectives and evaluation

relationships’. Interestingly, the use of sponsorship to pursue relationship development

objectives is not limited to consumers, with one interviewee reporting the use of sponsorship
to ‘develop relationships with our major retail and trade customer base’. As such, the
relationship development potential of sponsorship remains significant and while the number
of sponsors citing such goals in the press statements is small, the evidence from the interviews
suggests that relational objectives are becoming increasingly relevant for sponsors in both
B2B and B2C markets.
While the above suggests the use of sponsorship to pursue brand objectives of image,
awareness and loyalty, in the words of one Sponsorship Manager, while brands are interested
in ‘tapping into the hearts and minds of the fans . . . we’re certainly doing it for more direct
commercial gain’. Such a view is echoed by several Sponsorship Managers, with statements
of: ‘ultimately we want to sell [products]’ and ‘first and foremost, [it is] to drive revenue’. Thus,
the pursuit of the other objectives is, in many cases, a stepping stone towards the ultimate
objective of sales and/or revenue. While sales is only infrequently mentioned in academic
studies of sponsorship objectives, this may be more associated with the difficulty of ascribing
sales to sponsorship, rather than its lack of importance among practitioners. Although the
press statements talked largely in terms of image-benefits, the Sponsorship Managers, in the
interviews, are positioning sponsorship firmly as a tool for driving sales and revenue. As such,
there is a clear shift in emphasis, perhaps driven by the drive to demonstrate sponsorship’s
RoI. Equally, it may be that in public statements, sponsors are less likely to talk of overt
commercial objectives, perhaps conscious that there remains some resistance to what is
perceived as excessive commercialisation of sport.
Despite the focus of some sponsors on sales, one interview respondent was more cautious
on the link between sponsorship and sales, suggesting that sponsorship is used to drive ‘brand
preference’, rather than being an overt sales tool. In the words of the Sponsorship Manager:
‘the idea is that when people have a need [for the product] that they will then consider you
because they already have a connection with the brand’. Therefore, consistent with previous
research and ongoing academic debate (Chanavat et al., 2009; Hoek et al., 1997), the findings
from this study find opinions divided on the ability of sponsorship to impact sales.
Moving away from a consumer focus, CSR/community relations was mentioned as an
objective by one Sponsorship Manager, in this case, using sponsorship to ‘invest in our local
community’ by sponsoring a team based in the town where the brand is headquartered. As
such, this objective seems to still be relevant in some cases, but often on a local, rather than
national or global, scale. Finally, within the interviewee sample, objectives in relation to
recruitment and employee relations were also mentioned, with sponsorship acting as a way
for brands to ‘engage and motivate our employees’. This is of particular note in the context
of event sponsorship, which can, in the words of one Sponsorship Manager, be used as a point
of differentiation when trying to attract employees: ‘[we] use [the sponsored event] to help
us differentiate our recruitment brand . . . we’re the only firm that can offer the opportunity
to work on [the sponsored event], so for us it’s a big differentiating factor’. Thus, from the
point of view of setting objectives, sponsorship can be utilised as a source of differentiation
not only among consumers but also among (potential) employees.
The above discussion has highlighted the diverse range of objectives currently being
pursued by sports sponsors. Therefore, and in the words of one Sponsorship Manager,
‘especially in the current climate where you’re very accountable for how you’re spending
your marketing dollar, [and] everyone’s checking return on investment’, the discussion will
now proceed to explore the findings from the interviews in relation to current sponsorship
evaluation measures and the (mis)match between these and objectives pursued.

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Sponsorship

Sponsorship evaluation
Unsurprisingly, in the current environment, many interviewees discussed the importance of
undertaking evaluation of their sports sponsorships, with one Sponsorship Manager asserting
that evaluation is ‘an essential part of the sponsorship in order to ascertain its effectiveness’.
However, several admit that evaluation remains neglected to some extent, with one Manager
admitting: ‘if I was honest, we don’t do enough evaluation’, going on to say that ‘I’d love to
do more but it’s often a product of time and budget’. However, in some cases, evaluating
sponsorship outcomes is not considered a priority when allocating time and resources, with
one Sponsorship Manager explaining that the brand made ‘a strategic decision that we
wouldn’t spend our time trying to measure to the nth degree’, instead saying that ‘we’d rather
spend our time making things happen and activating and leveraging the sponsorship’. Given
the sophistication of the sponsorship in question, this may initially seem at odds with the
overall strategy, however the claim made here is likely to have more to do with the nature of
the objectives of the brand, relating to showcasing expertise and using sponsorship to build
new client relationships in a B2B context (which are easier to track more informally than
for B2C brands due to the lower volume of client relationships), than a lack of concern for
whether sponsorship is delivering results. The brand in question does assess whether the
sponsorship contributed to them winning a particular contract, but this is done in a very
general sense.
Among those Sponsorship Managers who reported measuring sponsorship effectiveness,
one reported using intermediate measures such as ‘how many people clicked on the ads [and]
whether they entered the ticket competitions’. These measures assess consumer engagement
with sponsorship activations, yet they provide no indication of whether consumers go on to
have further interactions with the brand. Similarly, several Sponsorship Managers reported
using ‘tracking studies’, measuring ‘awareness and what people’s perception of the brand is’
as a result of the sponsorship. In some cases, this tracking takes the form of ‘qualitative
research at events’ assessing metrics such as ‘awareness and affinity and what they thought of
the event and would that . . . increase their preference towards [the brand].’ In the case of
one particular sponsor, the stated objectives related to engendering loyalty among existing
customers and driving new customer acquisition, with the evaluation consisting of, in the
words of the Sponsorship Manager, tracking ‘spontaneous brand awareness, which is a key
metric that directly correlates with brand consideration and brand purchase’. While such
claims have some academic support (Hoyer and Brown, 1990), tellingly the interviewee goes
on to suggest that evaluation is: ‘more about spontaneous brand awareness [because] it’s very
hard to determine how many of those [sport] fans have ended up staying with [the brand]
or how many of them have been converted from another brand’.
Therefore, while there is some evidence that by measuring spontaneous brand awareness,
they are tapping into a driver of brand consideration and purchase, the reality may be
more that they are measuring what is easily measurable, rather than directly measuring against
stated objectives. As with all of the interviews, these quotes are specific to individual brands
and therefore no claim is made as to their generalisability to other sponsoring brands.
However, it is telling that such practices exist and it is therefore not unreasonable to assume
that many brands may be measuring awareness-related aspects of their sponsorship, which
might correlate with sales- or loyalty-related objectives, because measuring the direct sales or
loyalty effects is too complex. In fact, several sponsors reported the difficulty of measuring
against their actual objectives, with one Sponsorship Manager saying that while they track
sales around the times and locations of sponsored events and measure sales in markets where

154
Sponsorship objectives and evaluation

sponsorship activation has taken place, the actual increase in sales attributable to sponsorship
is ‘almost impossible to measure’. This is equally the case with objectives concerned with
relationship development, with one Sponsorship Manager explaining that ‘what’s harder [than
using media values] is tracking the investment that you make in hospitality with key business
partners’. Thus, it is unsurprising that brands resort to measuring awareness, which is an easy
metric to assess, regardless of the objective.
From the above discussion, it appears that the overall pattern is that tracking awareness
and consumer opinions still predominates with, to a lesser degree, some attempt to measure
sales. Thus, there is a mismatch to some extent, between objectives and evaluation measures
employed. While many sponsors are aware of the importance of measuring the return on their
sponsorship, the diverse nature of the objectives pursued makes this measurement difficult.
Therefore, the development of more comprehensive, varied sponsorship evaluation tools is
imperative and presents a challenge to both academics and practitioners.

Conclusion
From the analysis of the press statements and interview data it appears that awareness, once
the most commonly pursued objective by sponsors, is becoming of lesser importance. While
awareness objectives remain important for certain sponsors, the interview findings suggest
that this is often an early sponsorship objective and over time sponsors’ objectives evolve
towards targeting market segments, relationship development, brand loyalty and sales. Image-
related objectives were most often cited in the press statements, yet received little attention
from interviewees. It is suggested that in press statements brands talk more of reasons why
they engage in sponsorship, rather than what they specifically want to get out of the
sponsorship relationship. This reluctance to discuss business objectives in the press statements
may also be a means of tempering the commercial focus in the face of resistance against the
commercialisation of sport. The use of event sponsorship by both B2B and B2C sponsors to
showcase products/services/expertise is particularly prevalent as the scale and range of
sporting events increase. Thus we see a shift in sponsorship away from mere exposure goals
to the provision of goods and services as a means of demonstrating the sponsoring brands’
capabilities on the biggest worldwide stages.
Within the interviews, a range of objectives concerned with relationship development
and brand loyalty were identified, but, in the current climate, an overriding theme was that
ultimately sponsorship was about driving sales and revenue, with the other objectives acting
as a conduit towards this. Moving on to the evaluation of sponsorship, many interviewees
identified this as an area of real importance but also of weakness, claiming that the ultimate
goals of sales are difficult to assess. Therefore, use is still made of awareness and brand
opinion measures, which may correlate with sales, as a means of evaluating the return on
sponsorship. We can see that the objectives being pursued by sponsors have evolved
significantly to involve a focus not only on consumers but also on employees and other
stakeholders. However, sponsorship evaluation techniques have not evolved concurrently,
and in the face of growing scrutiny and the need to demonstrate discernible RoI, sponsorship
risks losing its appeal, not because it does not work, but because sponsors do not know
how to effectively demonstrate how it delivers bottom-line value. As such, sponsorship
evaluation still remains a challenge; one which is becoming increasingly complex as
objectives evolve, but also one which is becoming increasingly important to ensure the
continued growth and success of sponsorship as a viable tool for achieving business
objectives.

155
Sponsorship

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Appendix 1 – Pre-circulated Interview Questions

1 What sponsorships are [brand] currently involved in? (select the most high profile/
appropriate for further probing)
2 Why have you chosen to use sponsorship over other communications vehicles?
3 How long has the current sponsorship deal been going?
4 How long is the deal in total?
5 Why did you select this particular sponsorship?
6 What choice criteria were used in selecting this sponsorship?
7 Who is the primary target market you are trying to reach through this sponsorship?
8 What are your objectives for the sponsorship of [property]?
a) (if image-related: What images did you want to be transferred? What images are
being transferred? How do you know this?)
9 When were the sponsorship objectives set?
10 Are you achieving your stated objectives?
11 How often are the objectives reviewed/re-evaluated?
12 Who is responsible for setting the sponsorship objectives?
13 What benefits does [brand] get from this sponsorship?
14 What benefits are offered to your consumers through your partnership with
[property]?
15 What support activities do you use to exploit/communicate your sponsorship?
16 How closely do you cooperate with the rights holder, e.g. joint promotions, meetings,
updates, evaluation?
17 What role does sponsorship play in the wider communications/branding strategy of
[brand]?
18 How do you evaluate the success of your sponsorships?
19 What measures do you use to measure sponsorship effectiveness?
20 Who is responsible for sponsorship evaluation (brand, rights holder, agency)?
21 What support, if any, do you get from [property] in terms of evaluation?
22 Do you see sponsorship as playing a long-term role in the communications/brand
strategy of [brand]?

158
PART III

Ambush marketing
Nicolas Chanavat, Simon Chadwick and Michel Desbordes

As sports sponsorship has evolved as a phenomenon, so, too, have challenges and threats to
it. One of these in particular has emerged as a significant issue for sponsors and the properties
with which they are associated. Ambushing is now over thirty years old, but rather than
showing any sign of abating, appears to be proliferating in number and gaining in creativity
and innovation. Ambushing can distract, confuse or undermine official sponsorships, and may
also be viewed as being immoral or illegal. Such is the threat posed by it that major sports
properties, such as the Olympic Games, oblige host nations to pass legislation aimed at
protecting official sponsors. There are other approaches to protecting against ambushers;
sponsors and event owners seem keen to strongly engage fans to mitigate the effects of
ambushing. Conversely, ambushers appear to see creativity, innovation and sometimes
aggression, as the route to diminishing official sponsorships. As these contests play out across
the sporting world, fans and customers seem either unaware of or indifferent to ambushing
and ambushers. However, this remains something of a moot point requiring further attention.
Chapters in this part consider prevailing issues pertaining to ambushing, specifically, what
ambushing is, what its effects are and the ways it might be regulated and controlled.

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12
A THEORETICAL AND
EMPIRICAL OVERVIEW OF
AMBUSH MARKETING IN SPORTS
Gerd Nufer and André Bühler

Introduction
For many companies, it is major international sporting events (in particular the Football
World Cup or the Olympic Games) that constitute the ideal platform for the integration of
their target group-specific marketing communication into an attractive sports environment.
Sports event organizers sell exclusive marketing rights for their events to official sponsors,
who, in return, acquire exclusive options to utilize the event for their own advertising
purposes. Ambush marketing is the method used by companies that do not hold marketing
rights to an event, but still use their marketing activities in diverse ways to establish a
connection to it. There is still widespread debate and confusion about the topic. Ambush
marketing is often defined in different ways, by different people, according to their position
as either supporters or opponents of the practice.

The principles of ambush marketing

The philosophy of ambush marketing consists of achieving conventional marketing objectives
with unconventional methods. The general intention is that a relatively small investment
generates the greatest possible impact. The phenomenon of ambush marketing is not new,
but in recent years it has become significantly more professional. The growing aggressiveness
in communications and sponsorship markets has resulted in the fact that ambush marketing
can be observed worldwide and continues to grow.

Definition of ambush marketing

Ambush marketing was first mentioned by Bayless (1988: 1) as “a popular tactic . . . to take
advantage of . . . an event”. This simple, unambiguous definition describes the false association
by a company not sponsoring an event, with a view to deriving similar benefits as the official
sponsors. Another early definition of ambush marketing originates from Meenaghan (1994:
79). He describes ambush marketing as “the practice whereby another company, often a
competitor, intrudes upon public attention surrounding the event, thereby deflecting attention
toward themselves and away from the sponsor”. More than a decade later, Farrelly, Quester

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Ambush marketing

and Greyser (2005: 341) define ambush marketing as “a quasi-parasitic appropriation of the
brand value of an event by competitors who time a purposeful use of the sports theme during
and around the event they seek to ambush”. A very recent definition originates from
Chadwick and Burton (2011: 714):

Ambush marketing is a form of associative marketing which is designed by an

organization to capitalize on the awareness, attention, goodwill, and other benefits,
generated by having an association with an event or property, without the organiza-
tion having an official or direct connection to that event or property.

In summary, ambushers want to promote and sell products through an association with the
(sports) event in the same manner as official sponsors that have paid to do so.
In popular sources, ambush marketing is frequently used synonymously with terms such
as “coattail marketing”, “parasitic marketing” and “free-rider marketing”. Official sponsors
define these ambushes on high-priced advertising rights as “theft” and emphasize the illegal
aspects of ambush marketing (Payne, 1998; Townley, Harrington and Couchman, 1998).
However, there are also proponents, who see ambush marketing as a legitimate power that
facilitates more efficiency in the sponsorship market. “All this talk about unethical ambushing
is . . . intellectual rubbish and postured by people who are sloppy marketers” (Welsh, 2002:
w.p.).
This shows that there is still disagreement about the definition of ambush marketing.
Because of the widespread character of ambush marketing, for the following analysis a
comprehensive definition will be applied. Ambush marketing is the practice by companies of
using their own marketing, particularly marketing communications activities, to give an
impression of an association with the event to the event audience, although the companies
in question have no legal or only underprivileged or non-exclusive marketing rights for this
event sponsored by third parties. Thus, ambushers want to promote and sell products through
an association with the event as official sponsors are allowed to do.

Objectives of ambush marketing

The idea of ambush marketing is to capitalize on the success of sports sponsorship without
taking on the intrinsic obligations of an official sponsor. The objectives of ambush marketers
are therefore largely identical to those of the sponsors, but are to be attained with reduced
financial expenditure (Burton and Chadwick, 2009; Pechtl, 2007). The objectives of ambush
marketing can be deduced from the objectives of sponsorship. Their primary function is the
achievement of communicative (psychological) aims (see Figure 12.1).
Ultimately, the exploitation of the marketing potential of a sports event implies the
targeting of economic objectives such as sales, revenue, market share and profit. This is to
be understood as directly related to the range of event-related products and services
(Pechtl, 2007).
The pre-economic (psychological) objectives are situated primarily in the area of
communication impact. Like sponsors, ambushers target psychological objectives such as
attention to their own advertising, the increase of their awareness levels as well as a sense
of being up to date. They aspire to achieve image enhancements through their (sup-
posed) sponsorship (goodwill), as well as an image transfer from positive attributes of the
sport event to the image of the product or the company. In addition to these goals, ambush
activities also feature explicit competition-oriented objectives. The intent is to diminish the

162
Overview of ambush marketing in sports

Target variable of ambush marketing

Economic Psychological Competition-orientated

Sales, Attention Awareness ， Image, Weakening of competition,

turnover, topicality goodwill reduction of effectiveness
market share: of sponsorship
profit

Figure 12.1 Objectives of ambush marketing

Source: Nufer, 2013: 34

communication-political effectiveness of the sponsorship, thereby weakening the competition

(for example, by obviating the exclusivity of the sponsorship, the reduction of the share of
voice of the sponsors or obstructing the sponsors’ advertising) (Nufer, 2013).

Structuring the manifestations of ambush marketing

A novel approach to structuring the various manifestations of ambush marketing is presented
in this section, classified into different categories, case groups and cases (Nufer, 2013).

Differentiating the fundamental categories of ambush marketing

In the first step, three basic categories of ambush marketing are differentiated. To begin with,
it can be differentiated between direct (“blatant”) and indirect (“subtle”) ambush marketing.
It is characteristic of direct ambush marketing for actions to target the marketing rights of
the event organizer or the event sponsors without deviation. Indirect ambush marketers, on
the other hand, use the sports event as the motive for their own marketing activities, which
is why indirect ambush marketing is prevalent primarily in the area of communications. In
literature, this fundamental differentiation has been established (Du Toit, 2006; Wittneben and
Soldner, 2006; Pechtl, 2007). The aforementioned dichotomy is complemented by a third
category that can best be designated as dominant destructive-aggressive ambush marketing:
The essential objective of actions in this category is to diminish the effectiveness of official
sponsorships with predatory methods. The obstruction of sponsors’ measures is an attack on
a direct competitor of the ambusher, in effect, weakening the competition (McKelvey and
Grady, 2008; Nufer, 2010).

Differentiating ambush marketing case groups per category

In a second step, these three categories are further broken down into case groups, in which
similar cases are grouped together. Within the scope of direct (blatant) ambush marketing,
direct ambushing approaches that are motivated primarily by product policy and predominantly
pursue (mainly short term) economic objectives are distinct from direct ambushing activities,
whose motivation and implementation are focused primarily in the realm of communications
policy and which therefore prioritize (mainly medium term) psychological objectives. Within

163
Ambush marketing

the scope of the first case group, event-associated products are created and marketed in an
unauthorized manner. The second case group involves communicative pretense to a
sponsorship that, in reality, does not exist (Du Toit, 2006; Nufer and Bühler, 2013b).
Initially, indirect (subtle) ambush marketing is subdivided into ambush marketing by
intrusion and ambush marketing by association. Whereas under ambush marketing by
intrusion, all ambush activities that can be characterized as “capitalising on the opportunity”
are subsumed within the scope of a sports event, ambush marketing by association can be
further differentiated: “Agenda setting” encompasses all ambush marketing measures that can
be subsumed under “positioning by topicality” and focus on the event as a communications
platform (Pechtl, 2007). “Fun ambushing” (Nufer, 2005) and “philanthropic ambushing”
(Nufer and Geiger, 2011) constitute two special cases of ambush marketing by association.
The category “dominant destructive-aggressive ambush marketing” is not differentiated into
any distinguishable case groups.

Typology of the manifestations of ambush marketing

In the third step, a total of 21 cases of ambush marketing subsumed in the individual
categories and case groups are distinguished from one another. Figure 12.2 summarizes the
observations with regard to structuring the manifestations of ambush marketing.
Most of these 21 cases of ambush marketing have a focus on marketing communications.
In these descriptions, the examples shown have made it obvious that a clear cut differentiation
is not always possible, but that overlaps do occur. What this means is that some ambush
activities have multiple characters and could (or even should) be ascribed to two (or possibly
more) parallel cases. Neither does the systematisation claim to be complete. Based on the
highly innovative content of ambush marketing, with its constantly new creative activities,
this is rather a snapshot of the current situation. The applied structure is therefore not rigid,
but flexible and open, in order to allow for new cases to be subsequently included and
integrated.

Examples of eye-catching cases of ambush marketing

This section presents and analyses two particularly striking examples of ambushing activities
that were observed in the context of the 2006 and 2010 Football World Cups (Nufer, 2010;
2013).
Before and during the 2006 World Cup in Germany, Bavaria, a beer brand owned by the
Dutch Heineken group, distributed about 250,000 samples of imitation lederhosen in orange,
the Dutch national colour, bearing the advertising imprint “Bavaria” (see Figure 12.3).
The intention was to have the Dutch fans wear these lederhosen during their World Cup
stay in what was supposedly the “lederhosen country” of Germany and especially to display
these prominently during their stadium attendances. This strategy was initially successful, as
thousands of Dutch fans showed up wearing them at the Netherlands vs. Ivory Coast group
stage game in Stuttgart, consciously or subconsciously acting as disseminators transporting
unauthorised advertising into the stadiums. In order to protect the official sponsors, a rapid
decision by the organisers was called for. FIFA invoked Rule 10 of the ticket terms and
conditions, which stated: “advertising, commercial, political or religious articles of all types,
including banners, symbols and flyers . . . are inadmissible and . . . may not be brought into
the stadium if the organisation committee has grounds to assume that these will be displayed
in the stadium.” The FIFA Rights Protection Team saw to it that all unauthorised Bavaria

164
Ambush marketing

Direct (“blatant”) Indirect (“subtle”) Dominant

destructive-aggressive
Primarily Primarily By intrusion By association
prod uct-pol icy communication-policy
motivated motivated
Agenda Fun Philanthropic
setting ambushing ambushing

(1) Unauthorized use (4) Advertising with (8) Advertising in the (14) Sports and event (19) Fun (20) Philanthropic (21 ) Dominant
of event brands event brands geographical as the contextual ambushing ambushing destructive-aggressive
environment leitmotif of the ambush marketing
(2) Unauthorized use (5) Simulation of commu 门iations
of event materials sponsorship (9) Advertising in the strategy
media environment
(3) Unauthorized (6) Overreaching on and public relations (15) Equipment sponsorship
catering at the lower-privi lege
event venue right in a (10) Broadcast program (16) Testimonial or celebrity
sponsorship sponsorship endorsement
subcategory
(11) T V advertising in (17) Advertising with the
(7) Advertising at the the context of event location
event venue event coverage
(18) Partnership to facilitate
(12) Providing services establishing connections
in the extended to the event
event envirnment

(13) Launch of products

or services in conjunction
with the event

Figure 12.2 Systematisation of the manifestations of ambush marketing

Source: Nufer, 2013: 58
Ambush marketing

Figure 12.3 Ambush marketing case, “Bavaria”, 2006

Source: Nufer, 2013: 44

advertising items remained outside the stadium gates, more than 1,000 Dutch fans had to
remove their lederhosen otherwise FIFA would have barred them from entering the stadium.
Although ultimately a repelled ambush attempt, the operation produced a tremendous
amount of attention for Bavaria. The fact that more than 1,000 fans followed a World Cup
game in the stadium in their underpants was picked up with great interest by the media.
During the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Bavaria also relied on ambush marketing
and again attained a high level of media attention, this time with the so-called “beer babes”.
The spectators at the Netherlands vs Denmark preliminary round game in Johannesburg
included 36 young women, who showed up in the orange-coloured mini-dresses of the
brewery. This time the Bavaria brand name was only evident on a small label on the seam
(see Figure 12.4).
Once again, FIFA was rigorous in dealing with this action, removing the women from the
stadium and even briefly had their alleged ringleaders arrested. Then the situation exploded.
The World Football Association filed a suit in court against the planned promotion. The
Dutch embassy assured the women of legal support. While Bavaria’s advertising intent in 2006
with the clearly visible logo on the lederhosen was obvious, the brewery’s calculation in 2006
was infinitely more subtle. On site, in front of and in the stadium, the action was initially not
recognised as ambush marketing. Thus, the “beer babes” were easily able to make their way
into the stadium. Who pays attention to a few orange-clad girls (with a barely visible Bavaria
logo) in a stadium, when thousands of orange-clad Dutch fans are already there? It was only
with the intervention of FIFA that the ambush marketing activity was exposed as such and
became public knowledge. Only this way did an initially harmless incident, in terms of
advertising effectiveness, make it into the media reports and achieve such an immense PR
impact, which is precisely what Bavaria wanted to achieve.
The Bavaria lederhosen from 2006 are at first advertising with the event location, also a
kind of fun ambushing (both indirect ambush marketing by association). The activity grew

166
Overview of ambush marketing in sports

Figure 12.4 Ambush marketing case, “Bavaria”, 2010

Source: Nufer, 2013: 44

at the World Cup venue Stuttgart to advertising in the geographical environment (indirect
ambush marketing by intrusion). It would have culminated to advertising at the event venue
(direct, primarily communications-policy motivated ambush marketing) if the RRP team
hadn’t intervened at the last minute.
The Bavaria beer babes from 2010 are definitely a more subtle form of ambush marketing.
Without the intervention of FIFA, this ambush marketing activity would never have appeared
in the media (reference in the media environment and public relations), and would never
have become public knowledge (news in the context of the event coverage). This is cool,
calculated ambush marketing straight from the drawing board. Based on their ambushing

167
Ambush marketing

experience from the 2006 World Cup, this case is an example for an innovative and well-
planned form of indirect ambush marketing by intrusion.

Empirical study on ambush marketing

The following analyses are based on a comprehensive primary statistical data collection that
was conducted in the frame of a particular event: at the time of the 2006 FIFA football World
Cup in Germany. As part of this survey, 2,109 people were interviewed before, during and
after the World Cup (Nufer, 2010). The results of this study may help to better understand the
effectiveness of ambush marketing and to evaluate forthcoming ambush marketing activities.

Research design
For the selection of the sampling units, a process of simple random sampling was used and
was based on additional standards in order to guarantee the comparability of the individual
subsets and survey waves. Three standard attributes were defined for the empirical survey: age,
sex and education of the interviewees. Adolescents in Germany constitute the specific survey
target group. Previous empirical surveys have shown that younger groups are particularly
receptive to sports advertising, achieving above average results primarily with high school and
college students (von der Lippe and Kladroba, 2002). This study concentrates on teenagers
aged 13–18 years and includes equal numbers of boys and girls. Care was taken to include
students of all three major school types in Germany: “Hauptschule” (secondary modern
school), “Realschule” (middle school), “Gymnasium” (grammar school). What was called for
was an identity for the subsets and interview waves in terms of the parameters of these
demographic characteristics in order to obtain largely structurally identical groups, thereby
enabling a meaningful comparison of effects to be conducted.
The empirical data collection was performed in three independent waves. The reference
measurement took place in March and April, i.e. 2–3 months prior to the start of the World Cup.
The comparison measurement during the World Cup was performed in the third week of the
tournament, at the exact point in time when the group stage had been completed and thereby
48 of the total of 64 games had been played. The follow-up survey was performed in September
and October, i.e. the same interval after (2–3 months) as the first survey was prior to the World
Cup. In order to obtain independent subsets for the statistical data analysis, stringent care was
taken to interview each participant only once, as the first round of questions regarding recollec-
tion of sponsoring activities sensitizes their attention with the result that a follow-up interview
with the same person can no longer be considered independent (Opfer, 1997; Stenger, 1986).

Perception of brands and companies in the context of sports

Brand perception is the basic prerequisite for the success of communications activities. The
following analyses concerning perception of World Cup sponsors and ambushers are based
on the data collected in the second survey wave. Only those who indicated that they are
watching or watched the World Cup are included.

Unaided recall
Unaided recall is measured in terms of perceived official World Cup sponsors. Consequently,
only naming the 15 official main and the six German sponsors is correct. These 21 brands

168
Overview of ambush marketing in sports

and companies were displayed on stadium billboards and therefore visible to television
viewers.
Table 12.1 depicts the top 50 responses with reference to unaided recall, i.e. all companies
and brands that were named by at least five test respondents in the study conducted during
the World Cup. The brands are ranked according to the frequency with which they were
named during the World Cup (figures highlighted in bold print) and, for purposes of
comparison, the frequency with which they were named in the post-World Cup survey are
indicated alongside. In addition, the change from the during and after comparison has been
calculated and the difference regarding World Cup sponsors assessed for its significance
(Mann-Whitney U tests for two independent samples with non-metric variables; Bühl 2006).
Official World Cup sponsors continue to be highlighted in dark or pale grey, while all other
companies listed have been named erroneously.

Table 12.1 Results of unaided recall

Rank Brand During After Change Significance

Absolute Relative Absolute Relative

1 McDonald’s 381 59.5 % 268 46.1 % -13.4 % 0.000 .***

2 adidas 332 51.9 % 257 44.2 % -7.7 % 0.008 .**
3 Coca-Cola 298 46.6 % 208 35.8 % -10.8 % 0.000 .***
4 Telekom 184 28.8 % 149 25.6 % -3.2 % 0.224
5 Nike 129 20.2 % 101 17.4 % -2.8 %
6 Nutella 120 18.8 % 148 25.5 % +6.7 %
7 Puma 114 17.8 % 84 14.5 % -3.3 %
8 Hyundai 108 16.9 % 33 5.7 % -11.2 % 0.000 .***
9 OBI 91 14.2 % 86 14.8 % +0.6 % 0.773
10 MasterCard 87 13.6 % 40 6.9 % -6.7 % 0.000 .***
11 Yahoo 68 10.6 % 31 5.3 % -5.3 % 0.001 .***
12 Vodafone 60 9.4 % 54 9.3 % -0.1 %
13 Bitburger 57 8.9 % 33 5.7 % -3.2 %
14 Philips 40 6.3 %   3 0.5 % -5.8 % 0.000 .***
Toshiba 40 6.3 %   4 0.7 % -5.6 % 0.000 .***
16 Media-Markt 35 5.5 % 25 4.3 % -1.2 %
17 Postbank 34 5.3 % 23 4.0 % -1.3 % 0.263
18 Gillette 24 3.8 %   9 1.5 % -2.3 % 0.018 .*
19 Emirates 20 3.1 %   2 0.3 % -2.8 % 0.000 .***
20 Continental 19 3.0 % 16 2.8 % -0.2 % 0.822
Reebok 19 3.0 % 10 1.7 % -1.3 %
22 O2 18 2.8 %   3 0.5 % -2.3 %
23 Fujifilm 17 2.7 % 11 1.9 % -0.8 % 0.374
Burger King 17 2.7 % 13 2.2 % -0.5 %
Google 17 2.7 % 10 1.7 % -1.0 %
26 EnBW 16 2.5 %   8 1.4 % -1.1 % 0.158
Pepsi 16 2.5 % 17 2.9 % +0.4 %
28 Budweiser 14 2.2 %   2 0.3 % -1.9 % 0.005 **
Canon 14 2.2 % (Continued)

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Table 12.1 (Continued)

Rank Brand During After Change Significance

Absolute Relative Absolute Relative

30 Allianz 13 2.0 % 13 2.2 % +0.2 %
Mercedes 13 2.0 % 13 2.2 % +0.2 %
Xbox 13 2.0 %
33 Avaya 12 1.9 %   6 1.0 % -0.9 % 0.223
Premiere 12 1.9 %   6 1.0 % -0.9 %
35 Sony 11 1.7 % 16 2.8 % +1.1 %
Warsteiner 11 1.7 % 10 1.7 % 0.0 %
37 Deutsche Bahn 10 1.6 % 14 2.4 % +0.8 % 0.287
Siemens 10 1.6 %   7 1.2 % -0.4 %
Snickers 10 1.6 % 12 2.1 % +0.5 %
40 Deichmann   9 1.4 %
41 Kreissparkasse   8 1.3 %   8 1.4 % +0.1 %
42 Oddset   7 1.1 %   0 0.0 % -1.1 % 0.012 *
Bwin   7 1.1 % 30 5.2 % +4.1 %
Erima   7 1.1 %
Krombacher   7 1.1 %   7 1.2 % +0.1 %
46 Yellow Strom   6 0.9 %
47 Hamburg-   5 0.8 %   2 0.3 % -0.5 % 0.313
Mannheimer
Axe   5 0.8 %   3 0.5 % -0.3 %
Intersport   5 0.8 %   4 0.7 % -0.1 %
Samsung   5 0.8 %   4 0.7 % -0.1 %

* p <= 0,05 significant

** p <= 0,01 very significant
*** p <= 0,001 highly significant

The results for the unaided recall survey conducted during the World Cup vary considerably
for the 21 World Cup sponsors:

• The top three brands (McDonald’s, adidas and Coca-Cola), which were mentioned by
about half of the interviewees, can be particularly pleased with their results.
• Among the main sponsors, the lowest rates in the adolescent target group were scored
by Fujifilm, Budweiser and Avaya, with less than 3%.
• The average unaided recall value of the 21 World Cup sponsors is 13.4% (main sponsors:
17.1%; German sponsors: 4.2%).
• As far as the unaided recall values are concerned, it appears that the non-sponsors Nike,
Nutella and Puma easily join the ranks of the official sponsors and achieve individual
values of up to 20%. Vodafone, Bitburger and Media-Markt are also erroneously named
more frequently than many actual World Cup sponsors.

If one compares the unaided recall values attained by the World Cup sponsors during the
World Cup, with their scores three months after the end of tournament, the following is
striking:

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Overview of ambush marketing in sports

• In most cases a significant decline in unaided recall is apparent in the during and after
comparison for the World Cup. Only the main sponsors, Deutsche Telekom, Continental,
Fujifilm, Avaya, and the German sponsors, OBI, Postbank, the energy group EnBW, the
rail operator Deutsche Bahn and the insurance company Hamburg-Mannheimer tend
to maintain their summer levels.
• On average, the recall capacity for World Cup sponsors falls by 3.8% (main sponsors:
-5.2%, German sponsors: -0.4%).

The companies named erroneously can be explained as follows:

• Nike and Puma were, and still are, active as sports equipment providers for numerous
teams. Therefore, although they were not represented on stadium billboards, they did
have a strong presence on the playing field (for example, players’ shirts and shoes).
• As the program sponsor, Bitburger presented all public service television broadcasts on
the ARD and ZDF channels. The Bitburger commercials were aired immediately prior
to kick-off, in the halftime break and following the final whistle of all game broadcasts
on German television.
• Nutella has been running advertising with German national players for an extended
period of time, including the time frame of the survey. Vodafone has been operating as
the sponsor of European Champions League football for years. In its 2006 marketing
communications, Media-Markt focused on the theme “We will be world champions”. It
becomes clear that these brands and companies are very closely linked with the themes
of football and the World Cup, which evidently led to confusion among the
respondents.
• Other companies are erroneously named when the respondents recall the sponsor’s
sector but not the specific name and then err when they provide a response. The fact
that Nike, Puma, Reebok, Vodafone, O2, Bitburger, Burger King, Google and Pepsi
were named can be explained in this manner.
• Mercedes-Benz is occasionally named erroneously, since the automobile company has
been active as the sponsor of the German national team for many years.

Approximately one third of all responses are erroneous. Furthermore, it is astonishing that of
the 640 respondents who indicated that they were following games during the World Cup,
95 openly admitted they were unable to recall any brands. Another 22 did not respond to
this question, which leads us to the conclusion that they too were unable to recall any brands.
A total of 18.3% of people interviewed during the World Cup appear not to have been
affected in any way by sports-related advertising.

Aided recall
In the context of this analysis, the participants were given a list of 16 selected brands to check
off. Of the official sponsors, those companies it could be assumed that the young consumers
would know and use were specifically chosen. Among these were five main sponsors: Coca-
Cola, McDonald’s, Yahoo, Deutsche Telekom and adidas as well as OBI, a German sponsor
for the 2006 World Cup. The other ten brands that were presented were non-sponsors and
direct industry competitors of the World Cup sponsors, either ambush marketers (Nike, Puma,
Nutella,Vodafone, Media-Markt and Burger King) or simply dummies placed as a distraction
(Google, Pepsi, Reebok and Snickers).

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Ambush marketing

Table 12.2 Results of aided recall

Rank Brand During After Significance

1 adidas 81.3 % 76.6 % 0.046

2 McDonald’s 79.2 % 77.5 % 0.454
3 Coca-Cola 78.0 % 77.5 % 0.829
4 Telekom 56.4 % 53.0 % 0.234
5 Nutella 49.5 % 64.4 % 0.000 -***
6 Nike 41.4 % 42.2 % 0.787
7 Puma 40.3 % 38.0 % 0.416
8 Vodafone 30.9 % 35.3 % 0.107
9 OBI 29.2 % 24.6 % 0.070
10 Media-Markt 23.6 % 21.3 % 0.347
11 Yahoo 20.8 % 14.3 % 0.003 .**
12 Google 11.9 % 13.4 % 0.415
13 Pepsi 10.2 % 8.6 % 0.354
14 Burger King 9.8 % 9.6 % 0.904
15 Reebok 8.4 % 11.2 % 0.106
16 Snickers 4.4 % 5.7 % 0.296

In Table 12.2 these brands are arranged in a ranking based on their aided recall values
during the World Cup (official main sponsors are again highlighted in dark grey, while
German sponsors are highlighted in pale grey). The differences in the during and after
comparison were tested for their significance (Mann-Whitney U tests for two independent
samples with non-metric variables).
The main results are:

• The first four places are occupied by four main sponsors. The German sponsor OBI is
mid-table. Yahoo is the sole main sponsor to attain a very low rank.
• With an average recall of 57.5%, the selected World Cup sponsors achieve good results
(by way of comparison, the average value is 23.0% for non-sponsors).
• All five of the main sponsors included (adidas, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Deutsche
Telekom and Yahoo) are more or less able to distinguish themselves from their non-
sponsor industry competitors Nike, Puma, Pepsi, Burger King, Vodafone and Google, by
a significant margin.
• Additional interesting aspects are revealed by a comparison of aided recall measured
during the World Cup with that compiled several months after: the results are largely
identical. In 14 of 16 cases there is no significant difference in the during and after
comparison. Of the World Cup sponsors considered, only Yahoo had to deal with a very
significant reduction of its score. On the other hand, the non-sponsor, Nutella, managed
a real feat: even after the World Cup, the brand was able to very significantly increase its
already excellent score.

Analysis of the reasons for confusing ambushers with official sports sponsors
In the following, the focus is on the data collected during the World Cup and circumscribed
in terms of the filter variable “followed the World Cup”. The analyses below are based on the

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Overview of ambush marketing in sports

study of whether and, if so, to what extent, the interviewees were able to differentiate World
Cup sponsors from ambushers and dummies among the great variety of brands and companies
included on the list presented to determine aided recall.

Determination of confusion
In order to do this, the number of World Cup sponsors correctly identified by each interviewee
is initially added up. An individual quotient of correctly identified World Cup sponsors in
proportion to the number of all official World Cup sponsors contained in the question
regarding aided recall may be calculated from this (in this case, six). This sponsor quotient
features a range of values from 0 (worst possible result: none of the six sponsors are identified)
to 1 (best possible result: all of the sponsors are identified).
| World Cup sponsors identified
Sponsor quotient =
| World Cup sponsors queried
Similarly, a calculation is made for each interviewee as to how many non-sponsors they
erroneously considered to be World Cup sponsors. Based on this, a second quotient is
generated that relates this value to the total number of ambushers and dummies (in this case,
a total of ten) appearing on the list. The non-sponsor quotient also features a range of values
from 0 to 1, whereby in this case, 0 is the best possible result (the interviewee did not confuse
any of the ten non-sponsors with a World Cup sponsor) and 1 is designated as the worst
possible result (the interviewee incorrectly declared all non-sponsors as official sponsors).

| Non-sponsor incorrectly declared as World Cup sponsors

Non-s ponsor quotient =
| Ambushers and Dummies queried
Subsequently, an individual confusion coefficient is calculated for each interviewee. Here,
the difference between the sponsor quotient and the non-sponsor quotient is determined.
The result of this subtraction formula, as per its definition, fluctuates within a value area of
-1 to +1. The value -1 designates the worst case scenario, i.e. the test person did not
recognize a single World Cup sponsor but mistook all the ambushers and dummies for the
official sponsors. The value +1, on the other hand, can be interpreted as the best case
scenario, i.e. all sponsors listed were correctly recognized and all non-sponsors also identified
as such. The confusion coefficient thus indicates the extent to which each individual
interviewee allowed themself to be misled by ambush marketing or dummies.

Confusion coefficient = sponsor quotient – non-sponsor quotient

With regard to the evaluations below, the interviewees are grouped in different confusion
clusters depending on their individual confusion coefficients, in terms of the value area (see
Table 12.3).
It becomes apparent that in the context of the present empirical study that only clusters
1 and 3 occur, thus a mistaken identification in the sense of very severe confusion has not
been determined for a single interviewee. The majority of the interviewees are to be assigned
to cluster 2.
The purpose of the following observations is to ascertain what factors led to the confusion
of the World Cup viewers and are therefore substantially responsible for non-sponsors being
mistaken for official World Cup supporters. Answering this question allows us to extrapolate

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Ambush marketing

Table 12.3 Characterization of the confusion clusters

Confusion cluster Specificity of the confusion coefficient Share of the sample Characterization

1 <0.5 to 1 28.3 % Slightly confused

2 <0 to 0.5 57.2 % Confused
3 <-0.5 to 0 14.5 % Severely confused
4 -1 to -0.5 0% Very severely confused

what influences on the interviewees promote the effectiveness of ambush marketing and
thereby possibly compromise the effectiveness of the World Cup sponsors’ activities.

Bivariate analyses
An analysis was conducted of the influence of a total of 21 recorded variables on the extent
of the interviewees’ confusion, evaluated in terms of their affiliation to various confusion
clusters. In Table 12.4 the results of all bivariate analyses that were conducted regarding the
state of confusion or mix-up are aggregated in one overview. The smaller the p-value,

Table 12.4 Results of the bivariate tests regarding ambush marketing

Influencing factors Variables Correlation to confusion

Significance Interpretation

Individual Age 0.006* Correlation exists, but no

attributes clear trend
Sex 0.017* Confusion among girls
more prevalent than
among boys
Education 0.000*** The lower the level of
education, the more
frequent the confusion
Sports type-specific Interest in football 0.003** The greater the interest in
involvement football, the rarer the
confusion
Play football 0.011* Correlation exists, but no
clear trend
Interest in World Cup 0.114 No correlation
Number of World Cup games 0.020* The more games watched
watched live on television, the less
confusion occurs
Product or company- Use Coca-Cola 0.466 Overwhelmingly no
specific involvement Use McDonald’s 0.408 correlation
Use Yahoo 0.469
Use Deutsche Telekom 0.060
Use adidas 0.150
Use OBI 0.004**

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Overview of ambush marketing in sports

Influencing factors Variables Correlation to confusion

Significance Interpretation
Sports advertising- Attitude to sports advertising 0.716 No correlation
specific involvement
Intention to purchase based on 0.041* Correlation exists, but no
sports advertising clear trend
Event knowledge Knowledge of event 0.000*** The greater the knowledge
of the event, the rarer the
confusion
Sponsorship Knowledge of sponsorship rights 0.000*** The greater the knowledge
knowledge of sponsorship rights, the
rarer the confusion
Attitude towards I don’t care if a company that 0.458 No correlation
sponsorship and uses the 2006 World Cup in its
ambush marketing advertising is an official sponsor
or not.
Only companies that support the 0.028* The greater the approval,
World Cup financially as official the rarer the confusion
sponsors should be allowed to
advertise using the World Cup
Companies who are not World 0.487 No correlation
Cup sponsors should not use their
advertising to create the impression
that they are somehow involved
with the World Cup
If a company is not a World Cup 0.212 No correlation
sponsor but uses its advertising to
pretend that it is, I think that it’s
smart and savvy

the stronger the influence of the individual factor, which is indicated by the number asterisks.
In addition, the direction of the effect of significant influences is verbally interpreted.
However, the explanation for the confusion of World Cup sponsors with ambush
marketers or dummies cannot be merely monocausal. The fact is that the confusion is
influenced by a variety of determinants in parallel or their interdependencies. Further,
multivariate analyses have to answer questions such as: “What are the differences between
slightly confused, confused and severely confused consumers?” “Which variable-characteristics
are essentially relevant for affiliation to the three diverse confusion clusters?”

Limitations of the study

To date there have been very few empirical analyses as to the effects of ambush marketing,
in business administration and sports economics. In the context of the comprehensive study
that has been conducted, of which only selected results have been presented here, an effort
has been made to close that gap. However, the results of this study cannot be generalized for
a variety of reasons:

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Ambush marketing

• The object of the research was a specific sponsorship event, namely, the 2006 FIFA
Football World Cup.
• In the context of the present study, only psychological target variables were measured.
• The analysis focused exclusively on the target group adolescents aged 13–18.
• The study focused primarily on the official main sponsors and selected ambushers. It is
not really surprising that the brands that were able to achieve the best effectiveness
ratings were often those with which the adolescents are most likely to have contact.
• Adolescents in Germany were interviewed for this study. One can assume the fact that
the 2006 World Cup was held in Germany did have some impact on the results of the
study (the interviewees’ high degree of interest in an event held in their own country,
strong accompanying media coverage).

Conclusion and outlook

The main results of the empirical impact evaluation may be summarized as follows. Ambush
marketing helps non-sponsors to achieve comparable or even greater impact than the official
event sponsors. Ambushing campaigns above all compromise the effectiveness of sponsorship,
as official sponsors are forced to share the attention of the target group with additional
advertisers as freeriders using the theme of the event for their own benefit.
Ambush marketing remains controversial and will continue to be the subject of contentious
discussions. From the perspective of the event organizers and sports sponsors it represents an
understandable threat, while from the perspective of the ambushers it offers the opportunity
to reach the target audience in an attractive environment and at affordable cost. However,
ambush marketing may by no means be relegated to the status of a “dirty word” of sports
marketing on the basis of its controversial nature. Instead, ambush marketing should be
classified as a competitive tool in conjunction with a sporting event. The fact that ambush
marketing is often a “race between the hare and the tortoise”, in which the organizers take
on the role of the hare should therefore be viewed as a sign of functioning competition in
which all the participating players deploy their specific “weapons”: official sponsorship
against creativity (Pechtl, 2007; Nufer, 2013).
The concept of ambush marketing has a negative connotation and at first glance inevitably
produces a negative estimation of this phenomenon. One could extrapolate that there are
ambushing forms that are not objectionable, neither in legal-statutory nor ethical and moral
terms.
The overall conflict potential that ambush marketing generates may be summarized as
follows.The interests of the organizers in monopolising the marketing rights for a sports event
exist in a relationship of legal tension with the advertising freedom of companies who seek
to use the event for advertising even without making a sponsor’s contribution. Therefore, a
closer contemplation of ambush marketing must always differentiate. A limited extent of event
protection would be a proper and appropriate solution. Ultimately, this involves a political
value judgment as to what is to be considered the higher ranking interest (Wittneben and
Soldner, 2006). It is important to determine an adequate median so that the financing of
sports mega events is secured, and at the same time, fairer competition among advertiser
companies is enabled, as per the saying “if you don’t stand out from the pack, you’re out”
(Schulte, 2007: 138).
This chapter structured the phenomenon of ambush marketing. It contained empirical
research results concerning the effects of ambush marketing in sports. For a detailed analysis of
legal and ethical aspects of ambush marketing see, for example, Hartland and Williams-Burnett,

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Overview of ambush marketing in sports

2012; Ellis, Scassa and Séguin, 2011; Heermann, 2011; Grady, McKelvey and Bernthal, 2010;
McKelvey and Grady, 2008; Noth, 2007.

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13
AMBUSH MARKETING IN SPORTS
Simon Chadwick, Nicholas Burton and Cheri Bradish

Introduction
On 16 June 2006, the Netherlands and the Côte d’Ivoire met in a group stage match at the
2006 FIFA World Cup in Stuttgart, Germany; a game remarkable more for the action on the
terraces and outside the ground than for the play on the pitch. As part of a marketing
campaign centered on the World Cup and Dutch football supporters, Netherlands-based
brewery Bavaria staged a promotional giveaway offering fans orange, Bavaria-branded
“leeuwenhose”, or “lion pants”, in special cases of beer throughout Holland. The campaign
proved a great success, as thousands of Dutch supporters descended on Germany for the
World Cup clad in Bavaria-lettered lederhosen, setting the stage for one of the most audacious
event-related guerrilla marketing campaigns in European sports history. Stadium officials
and FIFA’s brand police met leeuwenhose-adorned supporters outside the stadium, requiring
fans to remove the offending merchandise or be refused admission in an effort to protect
official sponsors, Budweiser, from unwanted competition. FIFA’s reaction garnered
international media coverage, applauding Bavaria’s ingenuity and condemning FIFA’s
draconian response. More importantly, Bavaria’s efforts to “ambush” the tournament – to
associate or align with the event without an official marketing partnership with FIFA –
ignited a new era in sponsorship protection and public awareness of ambush marketing and
brand management in sports, and introduced ambush marketing to the world as a key player
in sports marketing.

Ambush marketing: in the beginning . . .

The history and development of ambush marketing is presented here, contextualizing the
emergence and evolution of ambush strategies from the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympic
Games to the present day.
First emergent in 1984 as a result of changes implemented by the 1982 FIFA World Cup
and the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympic sponsorship programmes, ambush marketing is
defined as the marketing communications activities of a brand seeking to capitalize on the attention,
awareness, fan equity, and goodwill generated by having an association with an event or property, beyond
the official or authorized rights of association delivered by that event or property. As a result of growing

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uncertainty regarding the financial security and viability of sporting events in the 1970s and
early 1980s, FIFA and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) implemented major
structural reforms to their sponsorship programmes, incorporating rights bundling (the
combining of assets and rights owned by the events into comprehensive, inclusive sponsorship
packages) and category exclusivity (securing one sponsor from each major product category)
into their sponsorship programmes. These changes served to limit the number of “official”
sponsors of their events, and to increase the value of those sponsorships, revolutionizing the
sale and distribution of sports sponsorship assets, and encouraging a progressive growth in the
marketing value of sports events and properties.
The reforms enacted by Ueberroth and the Los Angeles organizing committee made the
1984 Olympic Games the most successful in Olympic history to that point and inspired
changes throughout the sports sponsorship industry. The IOC created The Olympic Partner
(TOP) sponsorship platform, combining category exclusivity, rights bundling, and a multi-
tiered sponsorship framework, in order to further grow sponsorship revenues and build upon
the success of the Los Angeles Games. These structural changes ushered in a period of
progressive growth in sponsorship expenditure and subsequent managerial and strategic
sophistication. Whereas in 1984 the global sponsorship industry was estimated to be worth
$2 billion (Meenaghan, 1991), the International Events Group valued the global sponsorship
market for 2014 to be approximately $55.3 billion (International Events Group, 2014), a
growth of $30.9 million since 2002 alone (International Events Group, 2006). Within this
international sponsorship market, Europe and European sports account for a significant share
of spending; in 2013, the European Sponsorship Association estimated the industry’s value to
have exceeded *26 billion, a growth of more than 15% over the preceding four years
(European Sponsorship Association, 2014). Although estimates vary, sports account for
approximately 50–75% of all sponsorship investment worldwide, with particular emphasis on
major international properties, such as the IOC Summer and Winter Olympics, the FIFA
World Cup, and the UEFA European Championships (Mintel, 2006).
Despite these advances, the sponsorship reforms to come from the 1984 Olympic Games
equally inspired the advent of ambush marketing. Prior to 1984, any company willing to pay
for the rights to associate with the Olympic Games or FIFA World Cup had the opportunity
to do so for a nominal fee. The increased competition for sponsorship rights, and the
increased expenditure necessary for official partners to secure an association, ultimately forced
market rivals who previously held simultaneous official partnerships with the Olympics into
direct competition for corporate sponsorship rights. The new framework thus encouraged
non-sponsor brands to identify alternative means of affiliating with the event, and gave rise
to ambush marketing as competitive marketing practice for brands left out of the sponsorship
families of major events.
The earliest examples of ambushing – such as Kodak’s sponsorship of the United States
Track and Field team for the 1984 Los Angeles Games – represented overt and direct attempts
to weaken or undermine the official sponsorship partnerships of direct market rivals, in this
instance official sponsors and industry competitors Fuji. Such early examples of ambush
marketing capitalized on marketing opportunities and activities today viewed as wholly
legitimate and acceptable: individual team, nation, or federation sponsorship, broadcast
partnerships, and the exploitation of outdoor advertising media at and near event facilities,
with the express intent of competing directly with a market rival for consumer awareness.
This predominantly competitive, sabotage-based form of ambushing which emerged inspired
its nomenclature, and ultimately guided the initial discussions – professional and theoretical
– of ambush marketing’s place and purpose in sports marketing.

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This competitive, rivalry-based ambush marketing defined the formative stages of ambush
marketing as a form of marketing communications, as major international brands vied for
place and presence around the Olympics in the late-1980s and early 1990s. This era of
ambushing inspired famous campaigns such as the American Express ambush of Visa around
the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympic Games, 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympic Games, and
1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympic Games, proudly proclaiming that fans “don’t need a visa”
to travel to the host countries of each Games. This direct, explicit approach to ambush
marketing continued until the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympic Games, where brands outside
of the IOC family began to realize and exploit the multitude of marketing options available
to non-sponsors, and ambushing as a commercial and not-competitive activity was fully
embraced. The Atlanta Games became a marketing phenomenon with brands, such as Nike,
Puma, Converse, Pepsi, and hundreds more, activating around the event, signalling ambush
marketing’s true emergence as an event marketing alternative.
The Atlanta Olympic Games saw ambushing brands launch international marketing
campaigns focused on the Games, construct elaborate off-site marketing and hospitality centres
for visitors to the Games, and activated throughout the Games using major events, athletes,
and themes surrounding the Games as a means of attaching their brands to the event. Sportswear
manufacturer, Puma, for example, incurred heavy fines from the IOC and marketing regulatory
bodies for outfitting British sprinter, Linford Christie, with Puma-logo styled contact lenses
for a press conference ahead of the 100m men’s sprint final. Competitors, Nike, also mounted
an elaborate ambush of the Games, designing gold, highly visible spikes for gold medallist
Michael Johnson, the face of the American Olympic team. The ambush marketing attempts
that emerged in Atlanta evidenced a creativity and bravery on the part of the ambushers
previously unseen in other events. Specifically targeted campaigns against official sponsors, such
as American Express’s ambush attempts in Barcelona and Lillehammer, were replaced by highly
associative, suggestive, and subversive marketing efforts, using the colours, symbology, themes,
and key players of the event to craft more innovative ambush campaigns. This move inspired
continued developments in ambush tactics through the 1996 UEFA European Championships
and 1998 FIFA World Cup, as ambush marketing grew in scope and scale.
Despite this pronounced shift in the mid-1990s, the perception of ambushing as an
aggressive, attack-minded form of marketing communications has dominated academic and
professional discourse around ambushing and sponsorship. Ambush marketing has historically
been portrayed as a tactical, parasitic activity aimed at devaluing the official sponsorship of a
market rival or intentionally confusing consumers as to the identity of an official sponsor.
This rights-holder espoused view of ambushing has undermined a progressive evolution in
ambush marketing media and strategy, influenced by the success of ambushers at the 1996
Atlanta Olympics and the interventionist activities implemented by commercial rights holders
and official sponsors to limit and prohibit ambush marketers.

Interventionism in sports sponsorship

Beginning in 1992 with the Barcelona Summer Olympic Games, as the concerns of IOC
and their sponsors with regard to ambush marketing grew, sponsorship programmes at the
highest levels of sports have undergone a marked transformation in adopting a more stringent,
regulated framework for the protection of sponsorship rights and relationships.The prominence
and availability of ambushing opportunities around events witnessed necessitated a reaction
from major rights holders and event organizers designed to better protect their corporate
partners and condemn the activities of non-sponsoring brands.

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The response elicited proved the catalyst for the development of counter-ambush marketing
activities, broadly categorized into two major forms: proactive, marketing-oriented counter-
ambush strategies, which place greater responsibility on sponsors to leverage and better
communicate their relationship with a property in an effort to limit potential ambush
opportunities, and minimize the detrimental effects of ambush marketing efforts; and the
employment of reactive, rights holder-based interventionist tactics, such as the enforcement
of legal protection by rights holders, and the utilization of increasingly rigid intellectual
property rights infrastructures and legislations available, in an effort to prohibit the illegal
association of non-sponsoring brands with an event or property. The result of these initiatives
has been widely felt throughout European and international sports sponsorship: as sponsorship
agreements and programmes have become more strictly protected and enforced, the
management of corporate partnerships as dyadic and synergistic relationships has grown.
However, the interventionist activities and policies put in place have equally encouraged a
rise in the creativity and innovation of ambush marketers, and has forced non-sponsoring
brands to identify new, unique, and increasingly clever and subversive opportunities by which
to leverage against the commercial appeal of major events.
The earliest forms of counter-ambush activities relied upon predominantly reactive, ex
post facto defence tactics employed by event staff and major federations. Chief amongst these
reactive interventionist measures was the development of “name and shame” public relations
activities, intended to capitalize on the unethical and immoral perception of ambushing
perpetuated by commercial rights holders and to drive public opposition to ambush marketers.
Press conferences, such as Reebok’s response to Nike’s activities around the 1996 Atlanta
Summer Olympics, appealed to consumers’ sense of justice and fair play in marketing in the
hopes of courting public support and turn opinions against Nike. As part of a wide-reaching
ambush campaign, Nike erected a temporary store on the limits of the Olympic village, and
partnered with Sports Illustrated on a special insert triumphing Nike-endorsed athletes
and US-sports federations; official United States Olympic Committee sponsors Reebok
responded by condemning Nike’s efforts, stating: “Shame on them. They’re undercutting
people and companies and products and services that will go to make the ultimate success of
their own athletes” (Myerson, 1996).
Such appeals, on ethical grounds, ultimately proved ineffective as ambush marketers
received additional coverage and attention and public opinion offered little remedy for the
implicated sponsors. Ambushers felt little deterrence from such public condemnation, and
instead grew more bold and confident in staging ambush campaigns, inviting the added
media coverage naming and shaming afforded them.
Simultaneously, a growing push towards contractual and legal regulation for sponsorship
agreements emerged, affording sponsors greater protection against explicit intellectual
property rights infringements and reinforcing the terminology and responsibilities of both
sponsor and sponsee. The legal protection against ambush marketing has guided much of the
subsequent sponsorship enforcement initiatives implement. However, the success of legal
manoeuvres in preventing ambush marketing has been marginal: major sporting events, such
as the Olympics or FIFA World Cup, report hundreds of ambush marketing incidents every
year, but the majority of those investigated are small-scale or local businesses using protected
phrases or imagery in promotions. In such instances, cease and desist letters, or court-ordered
injunctions, offer immediate relief and protection against illegal ambush campaigns from
smaller enterprises unwilling or unable to challenge court injunctions or risk facing legal
action. However, cease and desist letters have provided little protection against larger, more
creative or surreptitious efforts, which are careful not to infringe upon the intellectual

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property rights of organizers and rights holders. As such, the legal precedence for ambushing
is largely undeveloped.
Further complicating the legal defense, past court findings have typically favoured ambush
marketers in cases not involving direct infringements of intellectual property rights. Cases of
alleged ambush marketing have proven difficult to assert, as most ambushing efforts fall
outside the law, and manifest instead as competitive marketing practices wholly within the
legal rights of the ambushing brand. Typically, ambushers have taken great care and precision
to avoid potentially illegal campaigns, abstaining from the use of protected marks, symbols,
and words, or making direct reference to the event targeted. As such, the legal precedent set
by cases such as the National Hockey League vs. Pepsi-Cola Canada (1990), and the New
Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU) vs. Canterbury International Ltd. (2001), have
favoured the ambush marketer, further complicating the legal protection against ambush
marketing sought by sponsors and rights holders. Nevertheless, the enforcement of intellectual
property rights remains a fundamental component of sponsorship protection and ambush
prevention for most major events and properties. This reliance on legal protection ultimately
inspired the development of event-specific ambush marketing legislation for the largest
governing bodies and rights holders, such as the IOC.
The use of specific trademark and intellectual property rights legislation as a means of
deterring and prosecuting ambush marketers began with the Australian government’s adoption
of the Sydney 2000 Games (Indicia and Images) Protection Act in 1996 as protection for the
2000 Summer Olympic Games. By the late-1980s, Australia had already enacted legislation
protecting Olympic symbols and marks, as have many other participating and host countries
in the years since. However, organizers for the Sydney Olympics sought new means of
protecting the 2000 Olympics following the pronounced commercialization and rampant
ambush marketing experienced during the 1996 Atlanta Games, and implemented bespoke
ambush marketing legislation designed to govern Olympic sponsorship rights and advertising
during the Games as a means of limiting potential ambush opportunities. Such legislation
now exists in all Olympic host countries around the globe, including Greece, Italy, Russia,
and the United Kingdom.
This event-specific ambush marketing legislation has granted major event hosts such as
the International Olympic Committee enhanced intellectual property rights protection above
and beyond the standard allowances for copyright and trademark protection, including
protection in some countries extending to imagery and terminology deemed too similar to
protected marks. The legislation employed further grants rights holders immediate injunctive
relief against alleged infringements and ambush marketers, as well as increased financial and
legal penalties and remedies for organisations and individuals found in violation of the
legislative protection. Given the short time-frames during which most sporting events take
place, and the often quick, creative campaigns released by ambush marketers, such measures
provide potentially invaluable protection for sponsorship programmes.

Proactive sponsorship relations

Unfortunately for events and properties, ambush marketing’s evolution and rise in prominence
has seen its growth continue despite the enactment and enforcement of such legislations. The
legislative efforts of the International Olympic Committee and other major events’ rights
holders have shown initiative in preventing possible ambush marketing campaigns and have
secured enhanced rights protection for corporate partners, important elements of contemporary
sponsorship protection. However, the creativity and innovation of ambushers shown in

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circumventing the legal frameworks in place, and in identifying new opportunities unguarded
against by rights holders, has defined ambush marketing in recent years, and merely reinforced
the difficulty faced by rights holders and host governments in preventing ambush marketing’s
proliferation.
Arguably more effective have been advancements in the management of sponsorship
relations by rights holders and sponsors witnessed over time, developments that have redefined
the roles and responsibilities of both parties and encouraged greater collaboration in
maximizing the value and visibility of official sponsorship agreements. Sponsors and rights
holders have increasingly embraced a more comprehensive, positive approach to the activation
of sponsorship, adopting multi-tiered, extensive marketing campaigns in order to prevent
would-be ambushers, and increase sponsorship effectiveness.
Amongst those strategies adopted in refining sponsorship strategy, perhaps none have been
more important than the cooperation between organizers and broadcasters in distributing
broadcast advertising and the more effective activation of a sponsor’s association. Rights
holders have taken a more proactive involvement, endeavouring to block-out possible ambush
opportunities, and limit the immediate threat faced by corporate partners. To this effect,
sponsorship contracts have grown in sophistication, more clearly establishing the rights and
responsibilities of sponsor and sponsee, and ensuring that properties and events play a more
active role in the promotion and activation of sponsors’ associations and marketing
communications activities.
Furthermore, following the increasingly opportunistic, adventurous ambush marketing
campaigns emergent around the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympic Games and 1998 FIFA World
Cup, the International Olympic Committee and UEFA both initiated new protocols on the
sale of broadcast advertising rights during their events, restricting immediate access to
broadcast audiences for potential ambushers. Organizers of major events have equally taken
greater control of the use and distribution of tickets, in an effort to deter their use in ambush
promotions, and implemented extensive on-site policing and regulation of brand visibility
and marketing. Such measures have become instrumental in ensuring “clean” venues for
official partners and in keeping ambush marketers away from event sites, whilst alleviating
much of the marketing clutter around major events caused by competing marketing
communications and non-sponsor messaging.
Integral to this push for clean venues has been the establishment of protected marketing
exclusion zones around event stadia and host sites. In 2000, UEFA and marketing partners,
International Sports and Leisure (ISL), implemented restricted-access marketing zones around
host stadia and event locales for the European Championships in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Outdoor marketing media around and near the host football grounds – to a radius of 3km
– was secured by UEFA and ISL, to be used by official sponsors or kept clean for the duration
of the tournament, thus ensuring that ambush marketers were kept away from all advertising
opportunities in the immediate vicinity of the matches.
Such efforts have grown in time – the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games featured a
protected marketing radius of 30km – yet merely reinforced the ingenuity of ambushers. In
order to capitalize on China’s first Olympic Games in 2008, Pepsi launched an extensive
marketing campaign featuring Chinese basketball star, Yao Ming, throughout Shanghai,
avoiding the restricted marketing space in Beijing whilst establishing a presence around the
Games in one of China’s biggest cities. Similarly, at the 2008 ATP/WTA French Open at
Roland Garros, sportswear brand K-Swiss ambushed the event by staging a guerilla promotion
on the limits of the tournament’s protected property, placed a car being crushed by a metre-
diameter purple tennis ball on a main access route in plain view of pedestrian and public

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transit access to the stadium. Comparable efforts have become commonplace around major
golf events, along train lines, and in airports as a means of giving ambush marketers access to
fans and consumers en route to events, rather than within the grounds or in the arena, areas
more heavily policed and protected.
This push towards more marketing-based, proactive sponsorship protection has been an
important development in sponsorship relations. Whereas the predominantly reactive, rights
protection initiatives employed have largely proven ineffective in preventing or limiting
ambush opportunities – and encouraged a more intelligent, creative, surreptitious approach
on the part of ambushers – the move towards a more positive ambush prevention approach
has limited non-sponsor communications immediately competing with sponsors, and has
served to reinforce and promote sponsorship relations around major events. Nonetheless, the
inherent impact of those rights protection and interventionist activities employed by right
holders has been a pronounced evolution in the strategy and media employed by ambush
marketers, and a proliferation in ambush strategies and media. Marketers have increasingly
uncovered new and innovative ways of circumventing the rights protection and counter-
ambush marketing programmes in place around major events, expanding their marketing
activities beyond exclusion zones, adopting more associative, suggestive imagery and
terminology, and capitalizing on the ever-growing number of opportunities available to
leveraged against the value of sports. Ambushing has thus emerged as an alternative to official
event sponsorship, providing non-sponsors a means to capitalize on the consumer, spectator,
and media interest surrounding major sporting events, outside of the parameters and capital
costs of official sponsorship.

The many sides of ambush marketing: contemporary and future challenges

The impact of ambushing’s proliferation, and the interventionist frameworks enacted and
employed by commercial rights holders is next discussed, with particular emphasis on
European events and examples including the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the 2008 UEFA European
Championships, and the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games.
Whilst the discussion of ambush marketing’s evolution, and the progressive adaptation of
interventionist measures employed by commercial rights holders and official sponsors,
has inherently driven the study of ambush marketing and consideration of its merits and
place in sports marketing, the view of ambushing as something in need of preventing or
protecting against is ultimately one of many perspectives in need of acknowledging.
Historically, much of the theoretical and professional literature has been influenced and
guided by the pejorative, parasitic definitions of ambush marketing prescribed by major
rights holders. Multiple stakeholders’ perspectives offer relevant views in the discussion and
debate surrounding ambush marketing, including those of sponsors, consumers, and ambush
marketers themselves.

Ambushing to ambushers
From the point of view of alleged ambush marketers, the legitimacy and strategy of
ambush marketing is clear. Major sporting events offer a consumer outreach and visibility
across target markets unlike any other medium. As such, sports and event marketing represent
fundamental components of many brands’ marketing communications portfolios, leveraging
the cognitive, affective, and emotive connections made by consumers with sports. Whilst
rights holders like the IOC and FIFA have bemoaned ambushing as an unethical, parasitic

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practice, the expectation that major international brands and marketers should abstain from
competitive marketing practices merely out of a sense of fair play is unrealistic. It could be
argued that for major international corporations to ignore mega-sporting events and not seek
to use sports as a vehicle for marketing would be an abdication of duty and irresponsible
from a commercial perspective. For brands unable to secure official event or property
partnerships, or for whom such an approach may not reflect the brand’s image or reputation,
ambush marketing – when used in conjunction and with respect to the legal and legislative
frameworks in place – represents a legitimate and viable alternative to official sponsorship.
Myriad strategies and marketing activities are available to brands wishing to pursue an
unofficial relationship with a property through ambush marketing; creative campaigns
utilizing suggestive or clever imagery, symbology, terminology, music, colours, themes, or
characters may allow non-sponsors a means of circumventing the legal and legislative
frameworks protecting sponsorship, whilst simultaneously aligning their brand with the
intended country or event or team in the minds of consumers. In 2006, for example, German
airline Lufthansa ambushed the FIFA World Cup by painting the nose cones of their fleet
of aircraft with black and white footballs. Such a simple act fell foul of no regulations or laws
protecting FIFA’s sponsors, but served as an intelligent reminder of Germany’s national
airline’s presence and created a subtle link between the brand and the World Cup that
summer. Likewise, the 2008 UEFA European Championships saw Puma ambush rivals and
official sponsors Adidas through the creation of an interactive campaign allowing fans to set
their mobile’s ringtone as their country’s trademark song or chant, and have it played
automatically each time the country scored. More recently, many companies – including
clothes retailer, American Apparel – ambushed the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games, by
developing promotional campaigns focused on gay and lesbian rights, a response to the
debate surrounding human rights and civil liberties in Russia prior to the Games.
Ambushing brands have equally been successful in leveraging existing associations with
member teams, countries, or participating athletes, or in activating marketing campaigns
before, during, and after an event. Such strategies maximize exposure and consumer awareness
of the ambush attempt, and ensure an authority and legitimacy in the ambusher’s actions.
Major international brands, such as Pepsi and Nike, have long exploited such legal and
authentic practices and leveraged endorsement agreements with athletes and celebrities in
line with major events as a means of capitalizing on the opportunity such events present.
Nike’s “Courage” campaign in the summer of 2008, for instance, made no reference – overt
or implied – to the Beijing Olympic Games, yet featured a variety of Nike-endorsed athletes
competing in Olympic and non-Olympic sports. The creative campaign was released and run
in time for the Beijing Games as a way to connect the company with the Summer Olympics,
and further build upon Nike’s immense marketing reach.
More recently, the proliferation of marketing media and advertizing opportunities around
mega-sporting events – particularly with the advent and growth of social and digital media
– has afforded ambushing brands a creative and innovative means of activating in real-time
and capitalize on current affairs and major incidents at events, and establish a relevance and
presence in the minds of fans unlike ever before. Brands like Specsavers, Kit-Kat, and Oreo
have cleverly used social media platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, to release digital
advertisements playing on major events and incidents in games across sports, such as the
disallowed England goal scored against Germany at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and the power
outage experienced during the 2013 NFL Super Bowl. Such campaigns evidenced an
immediacy and relevance available to ambush marketers in securing an association with the
games, unavailable to official sponsors requiring authorization from rights holders for any

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activation around their sponsorships, and demonstrate a creativity and ingenuity on the part
of the ambushing brands.
In employing such creative, associative strategies to ambush events, the majority of
contemporary ambush marketing cases represent strategic, intelligently-crafted marketing
campaigns, and not the parasitic or aggressive, competitive marketing attacks aimed at industry
rivals, which inspired ambushing’s name. In light of this direction, and the legitimate approach
embraced by ambushers, the term “ambush” marketing merits reconsideration. Although
ambush marketing is an accepted and established term within professional and academic
circles, the emphasis on the ethical and moral implications of ambushing is outdated and
misrepresentative of current affairs. Terms such as pseudo-sponsorship, or parallel-event
marketing perhaps better describe the activities and intents of major event ambushers in the
twenty-first century, a trend worth greater consideration.

Commercial rights holders

Unfortunately, despite the advances made in ambush strategy and creativity, much of the
dialogue surrounding ambush marketing continues to come from major rights holders such
as the IOC, UEFA, and FIFA, who continue to propagate the pejorative view which
originated in the 1980s. The reasons behind this perspective are clear: in providing brands
with an alternative to official sponsorship, and potentially cluttering the event marketing
environment with competing marketing communications, ambush marketing potentially
devalues sponsorship for rights holders and sponsors alike. If the effectiveness of a sponsor’s
activation is negatively impacted by an ambush marketer’s campaign, or if consumers are
confused as to the identity of the true sponsor, the value of that partnership to the sponsor
could be questioned. Moreover, if brands who would be bidding against market rivals to
officially sponsor an event – and thereby raising sponsorship values – remove themselves from
the auction process in favour of ambushing the event, the revenues generated by sponsorship
programmes could be impacted.
Ambush marketing, therefore, represents an important concern for commercial rights
holders to manage, and a potential threat to the long-term financial security of sports. The
revenues contributed by sponsors to event hosts and governing bodies account for 30–50%
of all turnover for major commercial rights holders, and are thus a sizable contributor to
sport’s viability and continued success. Thankfully, to date, no evidence of such detrimental
effects have been seen in sponsorship: partnership agreements have continued to grow in
value and scale over the course of ambush marketing’s development, and no major partners
have withdrawn from a sponsorship agreement in order to assume a role as an ambush
marketer. Nevertheless, the potential threat to sport’s bottom-line, and to the long-term
value and future of sponsorship, guarantees that the illegitimate, parasitic view of ambushing
maintained by commercial rights holders will continue to define ambushing and dictate the
interventionist measures employed at all major sporting events.

The sponsors’ view

Interestingly, despite the inherently threatened, pejorative view of ambush marketing held by
rights holders, the impact of ambushing on sponsors has inspired a different view amongst
major event partners. Whilst those early examples of ambushing presented sponsors with
direct competition and saw rival companies overtly and explicitly attack their partnerships,
over time greater distance has been established between sponsors and the significant majority

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of ambush marketers. Contemporary practices represent at worst competitive advertising and

marketing between rivals, and pose little more than a minor inconvenience for those sponsors
maximizing the value and potential of their official associations. For sponsors, ambush
marketing is no longer an attack on their brand or partnership, instead a source of competition
for consumer attention, awareness, and market share; a competition that has ultimately forced
sponsors to improve their sponsorship agreements and activations. With the advances made
in sponsorship protection and relations, the competition created by ambush marketing has
led to a rise in sophistication and strategy on the part of sponsors, and advances in sponsorship
theory and practice.
Imperative to this development has been the acknowledgement that sponsors and ambush
marketers inherently have different aims and objectives at the core of their marketing
activities. Whereas ambush marketers seek to leverage marketing the value of sports in order
to gain attention and awareness, to reaffirm an unconventional or cavalier brand image, or
to reinforce their presence and place in sports, sponsors at the highest levels have the
option to look beyond simple market share or consumer recognition and build their activa-
tions around larger, more focused, and more far-reaching objectives. The authority and
opportunity provided by official sponsorship agreements afford brands a multitude of available
commercial and corporate objectives to fulfil, from business to business relationship-building,
to corporate social responsibility activation, to brand image development, above and beyond
the seemingly minor threat posed by ambush marketing.
Sponsorship has thus undergone a similar and simultaneous transformation to ambush
marketing, growing in ambition, scope, and strategy. The advances made at the highest levels
of sports sponsorship have influenced sports marketing relations and programmes throughout
sports, and encouraged an increasingly relational approach to rights holders’ sponsorship
portfolios. The rights protection policies implemented by rights holders, and interventionist
frameworks now commonplace for major events, have further reinforced the sophistication
and professionalism of sponsorship practices, and required greater management and
accountability on the part of major event sponsors. The resultant advances have helped
redefine sponsorship as an integral form of marketing communications, and have facilitated
an exponential rise in sponsorship value for rights holders and sponsors.

The consumer perspective

Ultimately, the success and impact of sponsorship and ambush marketing is reliant on the
perspectives and behaviours of consumers, the deciding vote in the debate over ambush
marketing’s place in sports marketing. Rights holders have consistently sought to influence
public opinion and encouraged the view of ambush marketers as unethical as a means of
protecting their corporate partners, however, evidence of any negative perceptions on the
part of consumers is scarce. Little evidence exists to suggest that consumers share that view:
studies conducted around the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, 1998 FIFA World Cup, and
2000 UEFA European Championships evidenced a pronounced apathy on the part of fans
and consumers. The assumption made by the likes of the IOC that consumers should be
concerned about ambush marketing relied heavily on the belief that fans understood and
valued Olympic sponsorship and sponsorship regulations. Instead, however, consumers’ views
spoke to a wide-ranging confusion and disinterest in the division between “official” and
“unofficial” sponsors of major events, with little consideration for the ethics of ambush
marketing activities. Such a view highlights the need for greater collaboration and
communication on the part of sponsors and sponsees in establishing the role and importance

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of sponsorship for sport’s financial viability, and continued progression towards more
synergistic sponsorship programmes.
The ethical discussion regarding ambush marketing has most recently shifted focus onto
commercial rights holders, and the draconian, overly-restrictive interventionist activities
implemented to prevent ambush marketing. Increasingly, as event-specific legislations have
grown in purview and the protections afforded to events like the Olympics have expanded,
public pressure and questions over the need for and reach of such measures have arisen. The
legal and legislative measures enacted to protect against ambushers have raised concerns over
civil liberties infringements and anti-competitive practices, raising doubts over the ethical
practices of rights protection activities and moving the debate regarding ambush marketing’s
moral and ethical basis away from ambushers and onto commercial rights holders. The
overzealous and draconian efforts taken by some organizers and host governments have
overshadowed the legal discussion of ambushing in recent years. Restrictions imposed on
spectators entering venues in South Africa at the 2003 Cricket World Cup, for example,
banning school children from entering the premises carrying canned beverages or wearing
branded t-shirts, and legal action threatening local restaurants for perceived ambush marketing
efforts in Canada in preparation for the 2010 Winter Olympics, have brought negative
attention onto the measures in place to protect sponsors to a broader audience, and highlighted
the rigor with which such means are enforced.
This was perhaps no more apparent than at the 2012 UEFA European Championships in
Poland and Ukraine, where UEFA came in for heavy criticism following its response to an
ambush marketing stunt involving Danish striker, Nicklas Bendtner. After scoring against
Portugal in the tournament’s group stage, Bendtner lowered his shorts to reveal branded,
green under-shorts bearing the name of Irish bookmakers, Paddy Power. Bendtner was fined
*100,000 for his actions, despite pleading his ignorance of the competition’s regulations
prohibiting player involvement in on-field ambush marketing campaigns. The severity of
Bendtner’s fine stood in stark contrast to UEFA’s response to racial abuse and fan misconduct
at the event, which earned the Spanish and Russian football federations penalties of *20,000
and *30,0000, respectively. The Croatian federation, too, faced sanctions for racist behaviour
amongst its support, being fined *80,000 for its second offense. The sizable difference in fines
between Bendtner’s ambush and serious human- and civil-rights offenses drew criticism from
fans, the media, and footballs alike, all of whom questioned the priorities of UEFA and other
commercial rights holders where sponsorship protection is deemed more important than
ensuring fair and equitable treatment for supporters and athletes at the event.
Similarly, the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and 2012 Summer Olympic Games
in London sparked controversy in their local communities over the legislation enacted to
protect sponsorship. Both host countries implemented stringent intellectual property rights
protection that heavily restricted any marketing opportunities for local businesses around the
events, regardless of their intent or possible impact on sponsors. South African businesses and
citizens questioned the value of hosting major events like the World Cup if their own local
economy is unable to benefit from or exploit the properties in any way. Likewise, aggressive
brand protection activities in London threatened heavy fines and possible legal action for
offending or infringing businesses across the city, igniting debate over the monopolistic power
granted to the Olympics and their marketing partners in host countries.
The ethical concerns regarding ambush marketing have shifted from the place and
propriety of ambush marketers onto the need for severity of rights protection measures,
telling in the pervasive view of ambush marketing amongst consumers. As ambush marketing
has embraced a more associative, opportunistic approach, the moral questions surrounding its

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legitimacy and intent have faded. The concern today is how best to protect and promote
sponsors, whilst acknowledging and respecting consumers’, supporters’, and local businesses’
civil and commercial rights, a not insignificant development in ambush marketing’s constantly
growing history.

Case: ambush marketing and the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games
This chapter now presents the case of the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games, providing
a brief examination of the effects and impact of ambush marketing on sponsorship delivery
for the Games, and the subsequent influence the 2012 London Games have had on ambush
marketing theory and practice.
London and the British Olympic Association were awarded the right to host the 2012
Summer Olympic Games on 6 July 2005, a watershed moment for British sports and
potentially for European sports marketing. Upon its announcement, the 2012 London
Summer Games would represent a return to Europe for the world’s largest multi-sports event,
and London’s first opportunity to host the world’s best athletes since 1948. Perhaps most
significantly, however, the 6 July decision ushered in a new era in British sponsorship and
sports marketing regulation, a move whose impact would be felt across Europe.
Following the success of the Sydney 2000 Games (Indicia and Images) Protection Act in
protecting Olympic sponsors in Australia, the International Olympic Committee’s bid process
for potential host cities requires candidate cities to ensure the provision of specific legislative
protection for Olympic-owned intellectual property during the planning, preparation, and
staging of the Games, and bespoke governmental protection enacted in order to safeguard
Olympic sponsors and eliminate possible ambush marketing opportunities. Within the
guarantees provided by the British Olympic Association and the London Olympic Games
bid committee were assurances of enhanced and revised intellectual property rights for the
Olympic marks, and the creation of a “Brand Protection Task Force” to control outdoor
media. Moreover, the promises made by the United Kingdom and the Department for
Culture, Media and Sport included a promise to secure 99% of all outdoor advertising media
controlled by the British Airports Authority, with contingencies included to acquire the
remaining 1% upon the completion or termination of existing long-term contracts.
These interventionist rights protection initiatives guaranteed by the London Olympic
Games bid committee represented the preliminary framework for the 2012 Olympic Games’
counter-ambush activities, and inherently reflected the state of ambush marketing and nature
of ambush activities popular at the time of London’s bid preparation.
The resultant legislation designed to govern the 2012 Olympic Games – the “London
Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006” – was enacted a year after the announcement
of London’s successful bid. This act, designed to monitor and aid in the organization of the
upcoming Games, featured five major sections, of which only one dealt with the commercial
aspects of the Olympics, specifically, the advertising and marketing surrounding the Games,
meant to protect against ambush marketing.The legislation set out guidelines and contingencies
for advertising and trading standards before, during, and after the Games, as well as amendments
to the existing “Olympic Symbols etc. (Protection) Act 1995” already in place to control
Olympic intellectual property.
Amongst the clauses included, specific mention was given to additional protection granted
for Olympic marks and intellectual property, requiring monitoring and reporting provisions
for alleged infringements, revised terminology in defining those marks granted special
protection, and extended coverage for any infringements deemed similar to already protected

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marks. Additional measures were put in place to address previously known ambush marketing
strategies, such as proximity advertising, ticket giveaways, illegal merchandising, and increased
penalties for offending individuals and enterprises were further incorporated.
Unfortunately, the measures implemented in Britain’s event-specific legislation and rights
protection guidelines highlighted two of the key dangers faced by commercial rights holders
and sponsors in developing sponsorship protection strategies. First, the stipulations and
contingencies included sought primarily to prevent and protect against those forms of ambush
marketing seen previously at other Olympic Games and major international events, such as the
use of outdoor advertising space at airports, and public transit hubs around the city. However,
as evidenced throughout ambush marketing’s existence, ambushers have proven adept and agile
in adjusting to such regulations, and have consistently circumvented the restrictions in place
and identified new, creative, and opportunistic marketing alternatives. Second, the strict brand
protection activities and “ambush marketing police” teams charged with monitoring and
reporting potential offences around the city contravened public opinion on ambushing
and sponsorship protection, and served to further alienate supporters and businesses from the
Games, a potentially costly mistake on the part of LOCOG’s sponsorship protection team.
The resultant Games, and marketing environment around the event, may prove to be a
major watershed moment in European sports marketing. Ambush marketers, such as Paddy
Power, Nike, Beats by Dre, Puma, Mizuno, and countless others, succeeded in marketing
around the London Olympics and generating considerable buzz for their efforts, despite the
interventionist measures in place. Nike, for example, designed an elaborate international
creative campaign titled “Find Your Greatness”, making heavy use of the place-name London
around the world in their marketing before, during, and following the Games. More directly,
Beats by Dre earned tremendous visibility in-competition by outfitting athletes in headphones
to wear during warm-ups and in pre-race routines.
The success enjoyed by ambushers in associating with the London Games reaffirmed for
organizers and rights holders the challenge they face and inherent need, which exists for
sponsors and rights holders to embrace a more proactive, forward-thinking approach to rights
protection. Perhaps most importantly, though, the public and media discourse around
the London Games and ambush marketing surrounded the draconian measures in place,
and the overly enthusiastic brand police charged with monitoring alleged infringements
of the Olympic legislation. Public interest stories such as that of the British Sugarcraft Guild,
a bakery who were prohibited from icing cakes with “London 2012” to celebrate their annual
baking competition, sparked controversy and firmly cast the spotlight on Olympic sponsors
and marketers. Similar stories emerged across London as the “brand police” charged with
protecting the event’s intellectual property rights proved overzealous, and alienating local
business and citizens as a result.
The lasting impact of these failures – and of the wealth of marketing controversies and
shortcomings seen at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games – were evident in late 2014 as
the International Olympic Committee accepted and approved two important sponsorship-
related reforms within their 20+20 Recommendations for 2020, changes that will see the
IOC and local organizing committees take a more synergistic, proactive stance on Olympic
sponsorships relations.The recommendations approved look to encourage greater engagement
between international sponsors and national-level organizing committees as a means of
strengthening sponsorship programmes and policies in the host countries. Furthermore, the
plans in place will seek to incorporate TOP Olympic sponsors in community, cultural, and
socially-responsible initiatives, as a means of reinforcing the value and role Olympic sponsors
play in the delivery and success of international sports.

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These recommendations, whilst not specifically targeting ambush marketing, evidence a

move on the part of the IOC and their sponsors towards a more proactive approach to
sponsorship and sponsor-relations. The ultimate success of these recommendations remains
to be seen, however, in the wake of the London Olympics, and the continued success of
ambush marketers operating around major sporting events around Europe and throughout
the world, it is clear that a change in sponsorship is needed, and a new approach to rights
protection and ambush protection is required.

Conclusion
The emergence and proliferation of ambush marketing is an important consideration within
sports business and marketing. The implications of ambush marketing for stakeholders across
the sports and events marketing industry are wide-reaching, from commercial rights holders,
to event host cities and countries, to official sponsors, to participating athletes, teams, and
federations, to fans and supporters in-stadium and at home. The challenges and opportunities
presented by ambush marketing for sports marketing and management practitioners, and
scholars, are thus manifest.
To date, the emphasis in ambush marketing theory and practice has been on the prevention
of and protection against potential ambush attempts, and has seen a growing interventionism
in the rights management protocols of major events. Event-specific legislation, enhanced
contractual protection for sponsors, and heavily-restrictive event regulations for athletes and
spectators have all become commonplace for events such as the Olympic Games, the FIFA
World Cup, and the UEFA European Championships, and continue to filter through the
sports-events landscape. However, these increasingly stringent measures implemented by
event owners have merely encouraged ambush marketers to identify and exploit more creative,
innovative, and intelligent marketing opportunities in order to leverage against the rising
commercial value of major events. This evolution has seen ambush marketing move away
from the more aggressive, direct, attack-minded campaigns of ambushing’s early history,
towards a decidedly more strategic, opportunistic marketing alternative for brands operating
in and around sports.
As such, it is incumbent upon event owners and official sponsors to better understand the
challenges presented by ambush marketing for sponsorship relations and returns, and to
identify more effective, efficient, and responsible means of protecting their investments and
partnerships. Sponsors and rights holders have progressively moved towards a more
collaborative, cooperative approach to sponsorship agreements, and have embraced a more
proactive stance on sponsorship activation and rights protection, designing synergistic
partnerships in an effort to better leverage sponsorship associations and establish greater
ownership of the event marketing landscape. Such measures could be influential in the future
of ambush marketing and sponsorship management.
Where ambush marketing – and event sponsorship management and relations – go from
here, remains to be seen. Recent developments have seen ambushers circumvent ambush
marketing legislation and event marketing regulations through digital and social media,
the use of key event themes and social issues, and cavalier in-stadium guerrilla efforts.
Regardless of their intent, or the media they employ, ambush marketing today is defined by
the ability of marketers to remain one step ahead of commercial rights management initiatives
and the laws governing event marketing; the challenge for sponsors and rights holder is
therefore set.

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Recommended reading
Ambush marketing as an area of academic study is a relatively young and developing field of
research. Sandler and Shani (1989) and Meenaghan (1994; 2001) offer an important foundation
for ambush marketing theory, and examine the early nature, objectives, and possible
implications of ambushing for sponsors, commercial rights holders, and consumers. These
early studies established a number of key directions in ambush marketing studies, including
the ethical and moral debate over ambush marketing’s place in sports marketing, the legality
of ambush marketing campaigns, and the effects of ambush marketing attempts on sponsorship-
linked marketing recall and recognition amongst consumers.
Subsequent studies by Crompton (2004), McKelvey and Grady (2008), and Séguin and
O’Reilly (2008), have furthered the study of ambushing and its relationship with sponsorship
management and explored the variety and validity of myriad counter-ambush marketing
practices and protocols, and offer invaluable insight into the challenges faced by commercial
rights holders in protecting their corporate partners and their investments. Finally, and most
recently, research by Chadwick and Burton (2011), Scassa (2011) and Humphreys et al. (2010)
have extended the study of ambush marketing into new areas, and have explored the
management and marketing strategy underlying ambush attempts, the power dynamics at play
within – and legitimacy of – event-specific government legislation protecting Olympic marks,
and the psychological and cognitive effects of ambush marketing on information processing.
These studies, and more, provide a valuable multi-disciplinary look into the effects and
implications of ambush marketing, and represent a worthy foundation for continued study.

References
Chadwick, S. & Burton, N. (2011). The evolving sophistication of ambush marketing: a typology of
strategies. Thunderbird International Business Review, 53(6), 709-719.
Crompton, J.L. (2004). Sponsorship ambushing in sport. Managing Leisure, 9(1), 1-12.
European Sponsorship Association (2014). ESA sponsorship fact sheet 2014. London: ESA.
Humphreys, M.S., Cornwell, T.B, McAlister, A.R., Kelly, S.J., Quinn, E.A. & Murray, K.L. (2010).
Sponsorship, ambushing and counter-strategy: effects upon memory for sponsor and event. Journal
of Experimental Psychology, 16(1), 96-108.
International Events Group (2006). IEG Sponsorship Report. Chicago: IEG.
International Events Group. (2014). IEG Sponsorship Report. Chicago: IEG.
McKelvey, S. & Grady, J. (2008). Sponsorship program protection strategies for special sport events:
are event organizers outmanoeuvring ambush marketers? Journal of Sport Management, 22(5),
550-586.
Meenaghan, T. (1991). Sponsorship – legitimising the medium. European Journal of Marketing, 25(11),
5–10.
Meenaghan, T. (1994). Point of view: Ambush marketing: immoral or imaginative practice? Journal of
Advertising Research, 34(5), 77-88.
Meenaghan, T. (2001). Understanding sponsorship effects. Psychology & Marketing, 18(2), 95–122.
Mintel (2006). Sport marketing and sponsorship UK 2006. London: Mintel International Group Ltd.
Myerson, A. R. (1996). Olympic sponsors battling to defend turf. The New York Times. www.nytimes.
com/1996/05/31/business/the-media-business-advertising-olympic-sponsors-battling-to-defend-
turf.html?src=pm (accessed 14 August 2008).
Sandler, D.M. & Shani, D. (1989). Olympic sponsorship vs. “ambush” marketing: who gets the gold?
Journal of Advertising Research, 29(4), 9-14.
Scassa, T. (2011). Ambush marketing and the right of association: clamping down on references
to that big event with all the athletes in a couple of years. Journal of Sport Management, 25(4),
354-370.
Séguin, B. & O’Reilly, N. (2008). The Olympic brand, ambush marketing and clutter. International Journal
of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship, 4(1/2), 62–84.

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14
TOWARDS THE REGULATION
AND RESTRICTION OF AMBUSH
MARKETING?
The case of the first truly social and digital
Olympic Games: London 2012

Nicolas Chanavat and Michel Desbordes1

Introduction
The increase of the cost of entry for sponsors seems to have favored an implicit association
with an event, considering the myriad of professional sports entities involved (athletes, teams,
players, coaches, referees, etc.). In light of this, the IOC (International Olympic Committee)
requires that candidate host countries for the organization of the Olympic Games adopt
specific regulations in order to protect the Olympic symbols.
There was no specific law dealing with ambush marketing during the London 2012
Olympic Games. The Olympic brand is only protected by one international agreement, the
Nairobi Treaty on the Protection of the Olympic Symbol (Nairobi Treaty, September 26th
1981, WIPO). However, three laws may apply. First, the Olympic Symbol etc. (Protection)
Act 1995 aims to prevent unauthorized commercial association with the Olympic trademark.
Second, the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006, complementary to
the 1995 law, aims to reinforce the protection of intellectual property rights in relation to
the event and in particular to implement legal sanctions. Finally, the London Olympic Games
and Paralympic Games (Advertising and Trading) (England) Regulations 2011 ensure control
over a number of advertising activities, providing the London police with the power to act
against unauthorized advertising.
Despite reinforcement of the legislation, the London Olympics, which constituted the
first truly digital games, highlighted a widespread growth of the practice where brands
showed a lot of imagination at the expense of official sponsors.
In line with the implementing decree of “Rule 40” of the Olympic Charter, it was
prohibited for athletes to be seen in advertising between July 18th and August 15th 2012 for
brands that were not an official sponsor of the London Olympic Games. However, photos of
Michael Phelps associated with the Louis Vuitton brand were revealed on the internet before
the authorized date. Paddy Power, a British online betting operator, chose to sponsor a small
event in a tiny French village in Burgundy called London and publicize it, in an attempt to

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be seen as an official sponsor. Along similar lines, Jamaican sprinter, Yohan Blake, took the
risk of being disqualified by wearing a Richard Mille watch during the 100 meters final.
Moreover, Beats by Dre headphones were handed out to athletes to wear on Olympic sites
although Panasonic was the official sponsor. Another example occurring at the 2012 Olympic
Games is the American athlete, Nick Symmonds, who deployed a creative strategy to create
a buzz by lining up for the 800 meters with a bandage on his shoulder concealing a temporary
tattoo of a brand, Hanson Dodge Creative. Finally, Nike launched an advertising campaign
called “Find Your Greatness”, featuring athletes residing in London.
Even if the Olympic charter foresaw any sanctions, neither athletes nor businesses seem
inclined to miss out on such an opportunity to promote their brands. If the ambush technique
has been known for many years, the transformation of its practice across social networks seems
to be opening up a new and fertile field of action, whether academic or professional.Therefore
it appears essential for legal experts to work on new, more effective protection measures as
the illegal character of ambush marketing seems very uncertain at this time. In all events it
needs to be taken quite seriously by decision makers like IOC and sponsors. They must find
ways to protect official partners specifically from social ambush.

Background
The Olympic Games have become the largest sports-related property in the world since 1984
(Séguin and O’Reilly, 2005). The eleven main partners of the IOC generated *730 million
in revenue between 2010 and 2012, which represents almost half of the revenue of the
international organization. In return, sponsors own the right to associate themselves (under
certain conditions) to the Olympic Games and Olympic brands. The value of these marketing
rights and the efficiency of their operations are nevertheless attenuated when unauthorized
entities use Olympic brands and symbols. Therefore, sponsors must face the creativity of the
messages of pseudo-sponsors that are favored by social networks.
Clearly, the development of social networks since the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games has
reinforced the battle between official sponsors, ambushers or entities trying to associate
themselves with the event without paying for the rights to do so. During the Beijing Games
there were, for instance, fewer than 1 million Twitter users; today there are more than 500
million accounts, at least 140 million of which are considered active.
On Saturday, August 4th 2012, Michael Phelps won his eighteenth gold medal during his
last Olympic race. The American swimmer became the athlete to win the most medals in the
history of the Olympics, ahead of Larissa Latynina (eighteen medals) with the 22 medals he
won in 2004, 2008 and 2012. Photographers from all over the world captured the moment
and instantly broadcasted the images around the globe. This was a fabulous publicity
opportunity for the Swiss watch brand Omega, which was contractually associated with the
Olympics and the athlete.
On Monday, August 13th 2012, people discovered the first pictures of Michael Phelps
associated with the luxury brand Louis Vuitton. It was then discussed as to whether the
champion should be stripped of his London medals. In fact, the IOC reproached him for
publishing these pictures two days before the legal date. According to the implementing
decree of “Rule 40” of the Olympic Charter, athletes were not supposed to be seen in
advertising between July 18th and August 15th 2012 for a brand other than those sponsoring
the London Olympics. The media coverage of these pictures, which was largely relayed by
the international press and social networks, is likely to provoke confusion or a wrongful
attribution and understanding in the mind of consumers.

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Regulation and restriction of ambush marketing

These facts emphasize an old issue: that of the regulation and restriction of ambush
marketing operations. Evidently the pseudo-sponsorship phenomenon has rapidly developed
over the last twenty years, especially due to its efficiency during large-scale sports events such
as the Olympic Games.

Objective
Considering the creativity of pseudo-sponsors, we can rightfully wonder how sponsors and
organizers owning rights have learned how to fight against ambush marketing operations.
What regulation enables them to deal with ambush practices? How effective are such legal
provisions? To what extent are social networks involved in ambush marketing operations?
What were the implications for those taking part in the latest Olympic Games? The
multiplication of ambush marketing practices gives rise to several questions.
This chapter deals with the regulation and restriction of ambush marketing in this context
through the case of the first truly social and digital London 2012 Olympic Games. It has
three main objectives. First, to highlight and analyze the legal tools that help reinforce the
protection of the Olympic brand and therefore the rights of its sponsors. Second, to investigate
several ambush marketing cases that arose during the 2012 Games and underline a widespread
growth of the practice, insofar as brands proved imaginative at the expense of official sponsors.
Finally, it aims to discuss the consequences of the development of the phenomenon which
proved social networks were effective publicity channels.

Implementation

The ambush marketing concept

Historically, the word “ambush marketing” (or pseudo-sponsorship) was outlined from the
perspective of the sports property (McKelvey, Sandler and Snyder, 2012). Meenaghan (1994:
p. 79) defines ambush marketing as: “the practice whereby another company, often a
competitor, intrudes upon public attention surrounding the event, thereby deflecting attention
toward themselves and away from the sponsor.” Ambush marketing operations may be divided
into several categories according to the nature of the practices and their extent. These
operations generally have a triple-objective: (1) divert the attention away from the event
towards the pseudo-sponsor; (2) attenuate the effectiveness of the official sponsor’s operations;
(3) modify the reaction of sports spectator audiences to the benefit of the ambusher (Chanavat,
Desbordes and Ferrand, 2013).
It is commonly considered that the phenomenon appeared at the Montreal Olympic
Games in 1976 (Ferrand, Chappelet and Séguin, 2012).Within the framework of its marketing
strategy for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Kodak sponsored the broadcasting of
the Games on ABC in particular, as well as the official movie of the American athletics
team. The intention for Kodak was to attenuate, in a well-thought-out and planned
manner, the effects of the sponsorship won by Fuji, the official partner of the event. Contrary
to common belief, ambush marketing is therefore not a recent phenomenon. During
the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, each sponsor had at least one competitor that used an
ambush marketing strategy. British athlete, Linford Christie, wore contact lenses showing
the colors of his equipment manufacturer Puma during a press conference at the 1996
Atlanta Olympic Games. However, at the time, Reebok owned the commercial rights to
the event.

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In any event, the pseudo-sponsorship phenomenon has developed rapidly over the last
twenty years, especially because of its effectiveness. Furthermore, as the cost of entry for
sponsors increases, it appears easier to be implicitly associated with an event considering the
multitude of professional sports entities involved (athletes, teams, players, coaches, referees,
etc.). Furthermore, the proven effectiveness of pseudo-sponsors has led us ponder to what
extent sponsors and property owning organizers have learned how to fight against ambush
marketing operations.

New practices
In order to deal with the increase of pseudo-sponsorship operations, sponsors and property-
owning entities have multiplied initiatives. Now they: (1) put pressure on organizers so that
they protect the event; (2) have associated ground sponsorship and broadcasting sponsorship;
(3) anticipate the promotional efforts of competitors; (4) must exploit secured sponsorship
rights; (5) may systematically sue in case of acknowledged infringement. However, this debate
is not closed, especially regarding the multiplication of sponsorship contracts.
Ambush marketing strategies are very common since football players play in teams that
have collective contracts with manufacturers, while the players also have individual contracts
for their boots with manufacturers who are often a competitor. The message is scrambled
(Desbordes and Richelieu, 2012). One instance of this is the former Paris Saint-Germain
player, David Beckham, who wore the swoosh brand on his shirt because Nike was the
official manufacturer of the team, even though he is linked to adidas through an individual
contract.
Before UEFA Euro 2012, Nike was sanctioned by the advertising regulatory authority
after tweets from English player, Wayne Rooney, mentioning the Nike #Makeitcount
campaign. The tweets proved to be hidden advertising referring to the British team and the
Euro 2012 soccer tournament, the official sponsor of which was adidas.
The issue for rights owners is to fight ambush marketing, since pseudo-sponsors benefit
from the perceived value of an event by reaping its benefits without being contractually tied
to it. However, overreaction often means increased coverage. Using this approach, ambush
marketing operations are increasingly visible on interactive media such as YouTube, Twitter
and Facebook. In this perspective, social media constitutes a difficult area in order to control
the dissemination of information. Clearly, this context is favorable for the action of ambush
marketing called social ambush.

Towards a reinforcement of ownership and the Olympic brand

Two main threats for the Olympic property can be highlighted: the violation of the Olympic
brand and ambush marketing activities. In this rather favorable context for parasitic marketing,
the IOC wished to reinforce protection for the rights of its partners. For instance, the
committee initiated an extensive international awareness and caution campaign against
ambush marketing to the benefit of its commercial partners and the Olympic movement. The
LOCOG (London Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games) was the
most restrictive OCOG (Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games) in history as it
attempted to thwart ambush marketing. The commercialization of the Olympic Games falls
under the exclusive authority of the IOC and the LOCOG.Without their prior authorization
it is prohibited to mention the Olympic Games in the use of logos, appellations or other
methods when advertising products and services.

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The Olympic brand is only protected by one international agreement, the Nairobi Treaty
on the Protection of the Olympic Symbol (Nairobi Treaty, September 26th 1981, WIPO);
there was no specific law dealing with ambush marketing during the London 2012 Olympics,
however, three laws may apply.
First, the Olympic Symbol etc. (Protection) Act 1995 aims to prevent unauthorized
commercial association with the Olympic trademark. The purpose of this law is to prohibit
the use of terms and logos associated with the Olympic Games, such as the Olympic motto,
“Citius, Altius, Fortius”, or simply the use of the terms “Olympic(s)”, “Olympiad(s)” or
“Olympian” or of any similar term (for example, Olympix), without prior authorization.
Second, the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006, complementary
to the 1995 law, aims to reinforce the protection of intellectual property rights in relation to
the event and in particular to implement legal sanctions. This law specifically forbids verbal
and nonverbal representation that may lead people to imagine an association with the London
Olympic Games. It offers an open list of language elements suggesting any form of association
with the Games, such as “Games”, “2012”, “Medals” or “London”, as such terms belong to
the Olympic property. Expressions such as “Come to London in 2012” and “Watch the
Games here this summer” are also affected by this law. This regulation was considered
draconian by the advertising industry (Blackshaw, 2009).
Finally, the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (Advertising and Trading)
(England) Regulations 2011 ensure control over a number of advertising activities. This set
of rules provides the London authorities with the power to act against unauthorized
advertising.
Consequently, the IOC requires that candidate host states for the organization of the
Games pass specific laws. Within this framework, host countries have enacted specific
legislation to protect the Olympic symbols and to fight ambush marketing since the 2000
Sydney Olympic Games.

The Olympic Charter and the development of social and digital ambush
marketing
As with a lot of global sporting events, sponsorship is big business and the Olympics is the
premium event in terms of attracting sponsorship and ambush marketing. In all events there
are neither specific legal tools nor international agreements that prohibit ambush marketing
and protect official sponsorships. However, some provisions from the Olympic Charter work
around these actions.
According to the “Rule 40” implementing decree of the Olympic Charter (2011: p. 77):

Except as permitted by the IOC Executive Board, no competitor, coach, trainer or

official who participates in the Olympic Games may allow his person, name, picture
or sports performances to be used for advertising purposes during the Olympic
Games.

According to the IOC, “during” means nine days before the official opening ceremony and
up to three days after the closing ceremony. By agreeing to participate in the 2012 London
Olympic Games under these conditions, each participant accepts this rule. If the participant,
their federation or sponsors do not abide by the conditions of participation, the participant
is liable to sanctions. In other words, during the 2012 London Olympic Games, participants
and other authorized individuals were not authorized to promote a brand in a forum article,

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a tweet or on any social network. In line with “Rule 40” therefore, Michael Phelps could
have been sanctioned. Pictures of the swimmer were indeed associated with the Louis Vuitton
brand and appeared on the internet.
LOCOG has even approached Twitter, who has agreed to prevent brands from exploiting
the social media for Olympic ambush marketing attempts. This will likely mean non-sponsors
will not be allowed to buy promoted tweets against hashtags such as #London2012.
Furthermore, LOCOG has dealt with Foursquare to prohibit ambushers from making check-
ins around the locations of the Olympics.
Evidently it seems that new technologies have a greater impact on the perception of sports
events by consumers. Social media has modified the way business is done. People spend so
much time on Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms. Indeed, the use of social
networks proved to be very intense during the London Games: 100,000 pictures on Instagram
(over 650,000 related to the Games), 116 million posts on Facebook, 12 million additional
fans of athletes’ Facebook pages, 150 million tweets, 393 Weibo posts. This phenomenon
has consequences on sponsorship and ambush marketing operations. Hence, the London
Olympics represents an extraordinary opportunity to create long-term customer loyalty,
locally and universally. In this context, the 2012 London Olympic Games symbolizes the
first truly social and digital games that seemed to favor ambush marketing.

The first truly social and digital games are the talk of
the town in term of ambush marketing
The IOC wishes to protect the rights of its partners by implementing suitable provisions and
measures. The idea of safeguarding the values of Olympic partners is the basis of Olympic
marketing (Séguin and O’Reilly, 2008). However, if the IOC did its best to reinforce
regulation in order to avoid non-partner brands reaping any benefit from the 2012 London
Games, the staging of these Games seems to have demonstrated that social networks can be
effective advertising channels. They serve to develop the economic and marketing power of
athletes and play a role in the development of sports brands. The 2012 London Games showed
that this practice is tending to become widespread. During these Games, ambush marketing
cases were numerous and brands proved to be very imaginative in this field, at the expense
of official sponsors.
Beyond the previously mentioned Phelps–Louis Vuitton case, other instances of ambush
marketing situations were listed within the framework of 2012 London Olympic Games.
Here are six other cases.2
Paddy Power, a British online betting operator, chose to sponsor a small event in France,
in a small village in Burgundy called London, in order to appear on British London billboards
as an official sponsor. Paddy Power actually sponsored an event called egg-and-spoon race,
consisting of carrying an egg on a spoon placed between the runner’s teeth. It was possible
to read the following slogan, “Official sponsor of the largest athletics event in London this
year! There you go, we said it”, on the streets of London during the Games. This “subtle” use
of the name of the village of London in France served to create a buzz and confusion in the
mind of spectators in London, UK.
Jamaican sprinter,Yohan Blake, took the risk of being disqualified by wearing a Tourbillon
luxury watch during the 100 meters final. The very flashy, ergonomic and reliable watch with
a brand new structure was tailor-made by Richard Mille. The young athlete, who was
designated as ambassador of the Swiss watchmaker for 2013 should have worn an Omega
timepiece as Omega was the official sponsor of the Games. The fact that he wore this

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Regulation and restriction of ambush marketing

half-a-million-dollar watch caused a sensation, especially on social networks and served

to increase the popularity of the ambusher brand. The disqualification of the athlete and a
hefty fine was discussed after he wore this accessory during the race and on the podium. It
should be noted that his teammate, Usain Bolt, left his King Power Hublot watch in the
changing room.
Beats by Dre headphones were handed out to athletes to wear on Olympic sites although
Panasonic was the official sponsor. Ambassadors were numerous, and among them
the “Baltimore bullet”, Michael Phelps. The brand sent headphones to the different dele-
gations and especially swimmers who appeared in the Olympic village with the
headphones, a situation which ensured such a sensation that the Sol Republic brand also
offered headphones to swimmers. Both brands then went on handing out headphones to
other athletes in warm up stadiums and in cycling velodromes. These operations seem to have
ensured a more significant jump in sales for Beats by Dre than for the official sponsor
Panasonic.
The American athlete, Nick Symmonds, also learnt how to benefit from the Olympic
Games. It all started with an auction placed on eBay by the athlete at the beginning of 2012
and won by Hanson Dodge Creative for $11,100. This amount allowed the agency to have
its logo and Twitter account inked on the athlete’s shoulder to create a buzz on the internet.
This buzz was increased by the propagation of videos over social networks. According to IOC
regulations, Symmonds was not authorized to compete with the temporary tattoo visible on
his shoulder during the Games. However, the mere fact that he lined up in the 800m with a
bandage on his shoulder was an original strategy that increased attention. He later revealed
the reason for this bandage on his twitter account, disclosing the brand, Hanson Dodge
Creative.
Nike had been running “Find Your Greatness”, a publicity campaign centered on athletic
greatness, in towns called London around the world, rather than just in London, UK. Nike’s
videos were broadcast more than the “Take the stage” videos by official sponsor, adidas, and
they allude to the Olympic Games but do not name them. The buzz-stealing approach is
similar to Nike’s “Write the Future” campaign during the 2010 FIFA World Cup in which
it also surpassed adidas’ official sponsorship. Londoners of South Africa, Jamaica, Nigeria, the
United States and other countries are showcased in a one-minute television commercial, as
well as a series of sports-specific shorter films, to demonstrate that even if you play far away
from the dazzle of the Olympics, your greatness is no less important. The campaign is
stimulated with a global Twitter-promoted hashtag, #findgreatness, designed to ignite
conversation about how athletes find their own greatness everywhere.
The Tetley Tea brand launched a light-hearted social media marketing campaign on Twitter
to capitalize on the Olympic fever sweeping the UK. The Tata-owned brand rolled out
operations, supporting Team GB, from its “Tetley Tea Folk” Twitter account. Posts turned
actual Olympic events into tea and cake-themed competitions, such as the Ar-cherry event,
which saw Victoria Sponge pitted against Bakewell Tart, and Jam-nastics, which saw Chocolate
Fudge Cake come first ahead of Scone and Battenburg. Tetley was driving brand engagement
by getting fans to choose nominees for the events before voting on the winners. The High-
tea jump actually witnessed Carrot, Lemon Drizzle, Chocolate Fudge and Victoria Sponge
compete for the gold medal. Other events included Ju-dough and Tea-kwon-do, again, cake-
based popularity contests designed to increase engagement. Further Olympic-based operations
had the brand send a consignment of Tetley tea to British swimmer Jo Jackson, who thanked
the company on Twitter. The Tetley Tea Folk, which formed the basis of the Olympic social
media operations, were reintroduced by the brand after a ten-year absence, however, they

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featured less prominently in advertising operations as the brand launched a new approach,
introducing the “Make Time. Make Tetley” strapline.

Conclusion
Sponsorship of major sporting events constitutes large business. Sandler and Shani (1989)
were among the first to investigate ambush marketing, which they suggested occurred when
a non-sponsor of an event attempted to pretend to be an official sponsor. Ambush marketing
represents a very good opportunity for advertisers who are not the official sponsors of the
event, while ambush marketing becomes a source of frustration for the brands that have given
the sponsorship fees. Notwithstanding that it is an issue of critical relevance, there are few
researchers or authors presently conducting in-depth research on ambush marketing as it
relates to Olympic marketing (IOC, 2011).
It should be noted that no OCOG had ever imposed such restrictions in order to prevent
pseudo-sponsorship operations. Nevertheless, even if the Olympic charter foresees sanctions,
notably, neither athletes nor businesses seem inclined to miss out on such an opportunity to
promote their brands. Therefore, this analysis of the London Games is in line with the
conclusions of O’Sullivan and Murphy (1998: p. 339) who underlined that “Legal issues
clearly arise, but the body of case law is as yet slight.” McKelvey and Grady (2008) noted that
it is unrealistic and naïve to consider that assurances or “guarantees” in the contracts between
event organizers and host countries or cities can provide a “silver bullet” against the legal
marketing operations of non-sponsors.
Through this research we wish to highlight that a multiplication of the legal measures
developed in order to face ambush marketing operations during the 2012 Olympic Games
was not sufficient. According to Sandler and Shani (1998: p. 375) “ambush marketing can be
effective only if a significant number of consumers do not possess sufficient knowledge about
the rights of official sponsors.” With the increase of smartphone or tablet ownership, the 2012
London Olympic Games was presented as the “first social Olympic Games” or “sociolympics”.
With Olympic viewers becoming more social, it is no surprise that sponsorship and ambush
marketing campaigns started to incorporate social media engagement components. If the
ambush has been known for many years, the transformation of its practice across social
networks seems to be opening a new and fertile field of action, whether academic or
professional.
Therefore, we could wonder whether the multiplication of ambush marketing operations
might indeed persuade brands to avoid associating themselves with the Olympic Games
on a long-term contractual basis. Without their support, is the IOC not in danger of
reconsidering its economic model and jeopardizing the viability of the Games? Moreover,
what is the future for legitimate IOC official sponsors in the digital marketplace? It
appears that the money spent on sponsorship arrangements has increased in parallel to the
rise in ambush marketing campaigns in the traditional and in the online and social
media space. The 2012 London Olympic Games provides an interesting insight into future
practice, protections and issues related to addressing ambush marketing in virtual space. The
online space brings with it a supplemented level of complication and risk to sponsorship
opportunities.
Organizations should seek legal advice and think carefully about any campaigns if they
plan to associate their products or services with the Olympics and major sporting events,
particularly if a competitor is an official sponsor. Rights owners should also seek advice and
consider a strategy to moderate the risk of rights being reduced as a result of ambush by

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digital marketing. In all events, as the decision-maker, the IOC must find ways to protect
official sponsors from social ambush. Indeed, the IOC and sponsors should improve social
media monitoring and provide athletes with better training on how to use social platforms
during the Olympics in order to protect the rights of sponsors. For instance, the Olympic
organizers could have a social media “command center”: a rather grand description of a
dedicated team of workers who use software to monitor social media and network on a bank
of screens. Olympic organizers and sponsor brands could also be organized to reply to
worrying tweets or blogs quickly. Further training for athletes on how to use Twitter
responsibly during the Olympics may also reduce sponsorship annoyances. Each day of the
London Olympics reportedly saw more tweets posted than during the whole of the Beijing
Games. This represents a sign of how quickly and considerably the digital landscape has
improved over the years. This should also be a warning to organizers such as the IOC, FIFA
(Fédération Internationale de Football Association) or UEFA (Union of European Football
Associations). For example, the organizing committee for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, as
well as brands planning to sponsor the 2016 Games, need to keep apace of emerging social
and digital platforms and how they change the dynamic of its sponsorship deals. Moreover,
it appears essential for legal experts to work on new, more effective protective measures as
the illegal nature of ambush marketing seems very uncertain at this date. We can rightfully
consider that pseudo-sponsorship operations cause harm to the development of the Olympic
movement itself.

Notes
1. Both authors want to thank the International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship where the
original version of this chapter was published in April 2014. See www.imrpublications.com/
journal-landing.aspx?volno=15&no=3
2. Other pseudo-sponsors took advantage of the 2012 London Olympic Games without being
contractually tied to the event: Red Bull, Virgin Media, Puma, Mizuno and Specsavers are some
examples that are not specifically dealt with in this paper.

References
Blackshaw, I. (2009). Protecting major sporting events with particular reference to the 2012 Olympic
Games, Entertainment and Sports Law Journal, January.
Chanavat, N., Desbordes, M. and Ferrand, A. (2013). Faut-il avoir peur de l’ambush marketing? Jurisport,
128, 41–45.
Desbordes, M. and Richelieu, A. (2012). Global sport marketing, Abingdon: Routledge.
Ferrand, A., Chappelet, J-L. and Séguin, B. (2012). Olympic marketing, Abingdon: Routledge.
IOC (2011). Olympic movement marketing history, Olympic Studies Centre.
London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006 (2006). Implementation decree, www.
legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/12/contents (accessed 18 August 2015).
London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (Advertising and Trading) (England) Regulations 2011
(2011). Implementation decree, www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2011/9780111515969 (accessed 18
August 2015).
McKelvey, S. and Grady, J. (2008). www.humankinetics.com/acucustom/sitename/dam/067/225_
mckelvey_sponsorship_pr1.pdf (accessed 18 August 2015).
McKelvey, S., Sandler, D. and Snyder, K. (2012). Sport participant attitudes toward ambush marketing:
An exploratory study of ING New York City marathon runners, Sport Marketing Quarterly, 21, 7–18.
Meenaghan, T. (1994). Ambush marketing: Immoral or imaginative practice, Journal of Advertising Research,
34, 77–88.
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Olympic%20Charter/Charter_fr_2010.pdf (accessed 18 August 2015).

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Olympic Symbol etc. (Protection) Act 1995 (1995). Implementation decree, www.legislation.gov.uk/
ukpga/1995/32/contents (accessed 18 August 2015).
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15(4), 349–366.
Sandler, D. M. and Shani, D. (1989). Olympic sponsorship versus ambush marketing: Who gets the
gold?, Journal of Advertising Research, 29(4), 9–14.
Séguin, B. and O’Reilly, N. (2008). The Olympic brand, ambush marketing and clutter. International
Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, 4(1), 62–84.

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PART IV

Customers, spectators and fans

Nicolas Chanavat, Simon Chadwick and Michel Desbordes

In an age of global media, commercial partners and celebrity athletes, fans still remain at the
heart of sports: they support teams, become members of clubs, attend events and buy sponsors
products. Fans are co-producers of the sports product and a source of revenue; they generate
atmosphere and are often deeply engaged with sports properties. As a result, fans are taken
seriously by practitioners seeking to ensure they remain committed to their club or event,
and by academic researchers who have remained keen to understand the nature of fans and
their fandom. The chapters in this part embrace a number of interesting and perpetually
important issues. Getting fans and keeping them is a major issue for many sports marketers,
which requires a deep understanding of what motivates fans and how they engage with sports
properties. Chapters address these issues and examine the ways fans differ from and are similar
to one another. Once engaged with a property, knowing how fans consume sports is para-
mount, especially as many fans who, for example, attend a sporting event, will expect an
experience and contribute to delivering it. Further chapters consider issues pertaining to
behaviour and experience.

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15
RELATIONSHIP MARKETING
IN SPORTS
Building and establishing longstanding
relations in the business of sports

André Bühler and Gerd Nufer

Introduction
As long as there have been professional sports, there have been deep relationships on different
levels. For example, sponsorship (or patronage as it was called in the early days) was mostly
based on personal relations between the local benefactors and their favourite sports club.
Regarding media, clubs always maintained special relationships with selected journalists. The
bond between fans and their clubs was always a close and mutually beneficial one. All these
relationships existed from the start of the sports business. Therefore, relationship marketing is
nothing new in the context of sports. Many sporting organisations always knew to value a
deep and good relationship with their stakeholders and practised relationship marketing
without being aware of it. Successful sports managers, however, take the old wisdom and turn
it into a modern relationship marketing approach by structuring the various relationships in
order to make them more effective and profitable for the own sporting organisation and the
various stakeholders. This has been well illustrated in a study conducted by Bühler (2006)
who carried out qualitative interviews with representatives of English Premier League and
German Bundesliga clubs. The results of his study acted as an inspiration for further
publications (for example, Bühler and Nufer, 2010; 2013) as well as an inspiration for writing
this chapter, which illustrates the many facets of relationship marketing and the possibilities
it offers in the context of the sports business.

The principles of relationship marketing

Two decades ago, Buttle (1996: p. 1) came to the following conclusion when talking about
the evolution of marketing:

Marketing is no longer simply about developing, selling, and delivering products. It

is progressively more concerned with the development and maintenance of mutually
satisfying long-term relationships.

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Customers, spectators and fans

Indeed, managing relationships with customers and other interest groups has become the core
of marketing. In the age of globalisation, competition is increasing. With product and service
quality becoming a common standard in many industries and no longer being a major source
of competitive advantage, organisations are especially adopting a Customer Relationship
Marketing (CRM) approach as a means of differentiating themselves. CRM is a strategic
orientation assuming that the customer prefers to have an ongoing relationship with one
organisation rather than with changing organisations. Based on this assumption and because
it is less expensive to retain satisfied customers than to attract new ones, marketers focus on
building and keeping groups of profitable, loyal customers by moving them into long-term,
mutually beneficial relationships (Sandhusen, 2008; Bruhn, 2013).

Development of relationship marketing

Berry (1995: p. 236) concluded that relationship marketing “is an ‘old new’ idea but with a
new focus”. The concept of relationship marketing can be traced back to as early as the
Middle Ages, when merchants were already aware of how important it was to maintain a
relationship with the customer. One only has to think of the ancient Middle Eastern proverb:
“As a merchant you’d better have a friend in every town” (Grönroos, 1994: p. 347). However,
with the beginning of the industrialisation and its resulting mass production, as well as
constant growth of business organisations, the level of personal contact between buyer and
seller has considerably decreased and the customer was often turned from a relationship
partner into a market share statistic (Harwood, Garry and Broderick, 2008).
Academic and practitioner interest in relationship marketing took off to the extent that
many marketers viewed it as the new key marketing issue. Indeed, many marketing experts
propose that there has been a “paradigm shift” away from the traditional transaction marketing
approach towards a more relationship-oriented one during the last few years (Sandhusen,
2008; Bruhn, 2013). Transaction marketing considers the satisfying of customer needs as an
exchange of goods and services for money. With its short-term goal of making the sale
through single transactions and minimal communication or interaction, it contrasts sharply
with the relational-based approach. Relationship marketing puts major emphasis on close,
personal and long-term provider–customer relations as well as on high interactions, and
focuses on the maintenance of existing customers rather than on the acquisition of new ones
(Nufer, 2006; Bruhn, 2013). Depending on the products sold and customers served, both
relationship and transactional marketing can coexist in a company’s strategic marketing plan.
Conditions under which transactional marketing is most likely to apply include generic
commodities or low-value consumer products and services, as there are usually no or low
costs associated with switching suppliers, so customers have little interest in building a
particular relationship with the provider but prefer transactions. Relationship marketing is
most appropriate in competitive, saturated markets with few key providers or suppliers, where
switching costs are high and when there is a consumer’s ongoing need and desire for a certain
product or service (Sandhusen, 2008; Harwood et al., 2008). Table 14.1 provides an overview
of the main differences between relationship marketing and transactional marketing.
An initial starting point for relationship marketing was the notion that in order to retain
customers in the long term, marketing exchanges need to be seen not just as transactions
between the seller and the buyer, but as a set of activities in which relationships are developing.
Another factor influencing the development of relationship marketing was the maturing of
service marketing in the service industry: The dimensions of customer care and quality arose
and overlapped with the traditional marketing philosophy. Advances in the information and

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Relationship marketing in sports

Table 15.1 Main differences between relationship marketing and transactional marketing

Criterion Relationship marketing Transactional marketing

Primary object Relationship Single transaction

General approach Interaction-related Action-related
Perspective Evolutionary-dynamic Static
Basic orientation Implementation-oriented Decision-oriented
Long-term vs. short-term Generally takes a long-term Generally takes a short-
perspective term perspective
Fundamental strategy Maintenance of existing Acquisition of new
customers customers
Focus in decision process All phases focus on post-sales Pre-sales activities
decisions and action
Intensity of contact High Low
Degree of mutual dependence Generally high Generally low
Measurement of customer Managing customer base Monitoring market share
satisfaction (direct approach) (indirect approach)
Dominant quality dimension Quality of interaction Quality of output
Production of quality The concern of all Primary concern of
production
Role of internal marketing Substantial strategic importance No or limited importance
Importance of employees High Low
for business success
Production focus Mass customisation Mass production

Source: Henning-Thurau and Hansen (2000: 5); Bruhn (2009: 15); Bühler and Nufer (2013: 357)

communication technology further facilitated the effectiveness of relationship marketing

(Nufer, 2006; Bruhn 2013). Therefore, the relationship marketing orientation is bringing
together service, quality and marketing philosophies.

Definition of relationship marketing

Relationship marketing has arisen from a number of academic disciplines, such as economics,
psychology and sociology. The term “relationship marketing” has been used since the early
1990s, but there is still no consensus about an agreed definition of relationship marketing.
Even the meaning of the two-letter acronym “RM” is contested: some understand it as rela-
tionship marketing, others use the acronym for relationship management. There have also
been several substitute terms for relationship marketing, “loyalty marketing”, “personalised
marketing”, “database marketing”, “interactive marketing”, all looking at the same – relation-
ship marketing – from more or less different points of view (Buttle, 1996). However, one of
the most comprehensive definitions comes from Bruhn (2013: p. 12):

Relationship marketing includes all measures of the analysis, planning, implementa-

tion and controlling in order to serve the company regarding the initiation, stabilisa-
tion, intensification and recovery as well as the termination of business relations
concerning the stakeholders, especially the customers.

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Customers, spectators and fans

In addition to customers, the main stakeholders of a company are suppliers, intermediaries

and competitors, according to Meffert, Burmann and Kirchgeorg (2012).

Importance of relationship marketing

With the increasing duration of relationships with customers, and thus customer loyalty, the
profitability of a consumer as part of the business’s general profit increases. At the beginning
of a relationship investments have to be made (acquisition costs). However, due to the newly-
won consumer’s demand for the company’s products and services, a basic profit is assumed
to be made shortly afterwards. If the company manages to establish a long-term relationship
with the consumer, and if the customer is loyal to the company, a further increase in profit
can be expected due to a more efficient saturation of customer-related turnover and revenue
potentials (profits from cross selling). The basis for this assumption is that growing trust in the
company will lead to an increase in the customer’s purchase frequency and intensity. Moreover,
a long-term customer relationship leads to better knowledge of consumers, as well as better-
informed consumers, which in turn leads to decreased operational costs for each consumer
over time. Another important effect resulting from consumer relationships are reference
effects provided by satisfied customers through positive word-of-mouth communication.
Non-consumers usually rate the opinion or judgement of other customers above the
communication messages of companies. Consequently, for a company, satisfied long-term
customers are the best advertisers and a great potential of free advertisement. A further effect
of relationship marketing implementations is seen in the possibility of charging increased
prices. Within long-term relationships, customers begin to appreciate the value of the product
or service at such a rate that the price elasticity of demand increases (Friedrichs, 2005; Diller,
2000; Morgan, Crutchfield and Lacey, 2000; Meffert and Bruhn, 2013; Bruhn, 2013).

Instruments of relationship marketing

In order to establish a long-term relationship with customers, companies can select from a
wide range of various relationship marketing instruments. The most important instruments
will be introduced in the following (Bühler and Nufer, 2010; 2013).
Customer magazines are an effective tool for companies to inform their customers on a
regular basis and therefore remind the customers of the company. The electronic version of
customer magazines are newsletters distributed by email. They are less expensive than printed
magazines, however, they are not quite effective in view of the numerous spam emails
customers receive each day. A very effective instrument are bonus programmes in combination
with loyalty cards (for example, frequent flyer programmes with airlines or cashback
programmes at supermarkets). Customer events, such as open days where customers are
allowed to cast a glance behind the scenes of a company, are another relationship marketing
instrument because the experience provided might strengthen the bond between customer
and company. Even more effective are exclusive customer events, where access to the event
is limited. Many radio programmes provide such events, for example, private concerts of
famous musicians for a limited number of people. Because tickets are not on sale, people
have to listen to the radio programme the whole day in order to gain the opportunity to
win them. Such exclusive events provide a once in a lifetime experience and lead to a
stronger bond between the customers and the company. Another relationship marketing
instrument is the joint product development, where customers are invited to take part in the
product development of companies. For example, Vitamin Water (an affiliated brand of the

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Relationship marketing in sports

Coca-Cola Company) asked their Facebook fans to create a new flavour. Ten thousand
customers took part in that project, discussing various tastes, sending in suggestions regarding
the labelling and voting for the actual product. Vitamin Water then produced the new
flavour and offered it under the name “connect”, with the slogan “made by fans, for fans on
Facebook”. The whole project was a huge success and helped to establish a stronger
relationship between the customers and the brand (Bühler and Nufer, 2013). An effective
complaints management is another important relationship marketing instrument. Many
companies view complaining customers as a nuisance. However, customers taking the trouble
to complain should be viewed as a very good source of information in order to improve the
company and its products. Therefore, companies should take complaints seriously by installing
a systematic complaint management, which forwards the respective complaint to the right
department and always keeps the complaining customers informed. Consequently,
complaining customers feel themselves esteemed and that might lead to a positive relationship
between the company and the customers (Stauss and Seidel, 2014).

Relationship marketing in sports

In recent years, relationship marketing has become a key topic in the sports sector. However,
while the concept of managing relationships with customers is well established in the sporting
goods industry, sporting organisations have just started to adopt the concept of relationship
marketing. The fact that many sporting organisations are nowadays acting like commercial
enterprises has strongly influenced the adoption of relationship marketing, above all on the
professional level. Bühler and Nufer (2010: p. 25) proposed the following definition of
relationship marketing in sports:

Relationship Marketing in sports refers to the establishment and maintenance of

positive, enduring and mutual beneficial relations between professional sporting
organisations and their stakeholders.

Professional sporting organisations are thereby defined as “clubs, associations or teams that
are involved in spectator sports on a professional level” (Bühler and Nufer, 2010: p. 51). The
following section describes the stakeholders of a professional sporting organisation in further
detail.

Professional sporting organisations and their main stakeholders

Some decades ago, many sports clubs and associations operated on a non-professional level
with voluntary staff. In the early days, gate receipts were the only source of income. Nowadays,
sporting organisations can be compared with medium-sized companies in terms of annual
turnover and number of employees (Bühler and Nufer, 2014). Gate receipts are only one of
many revenue sources of professional sporting organisations, and one that has become less
important in comparison to the other revenue streams. The biggest share of sports entities’
annual turnover today comes from television income and sponsorship revenues. Merchandising
and other commercial revenues (for example, hospitality and licensing) is another important
source of income, at least at the top level. Further money might come from shareholders or
external investors. This is well illustrated in the case of some English and French football clubs
who were taken over by foreign businessmen. Another revenue stream could be the fees paid
by the members of the sports organisation. Clubs such as FC Barcelona or FC Bayern Munich

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Customers, spectators and fans

Fans and spectators

Sponsors Media

Professional
Other external Governments and
sporting
stakeholders authorities
organisation

Competitors Employees

Agents/agencies

Primary customers Secondary customers

Figure 15.1 Primary and secondary customers of professional sporting organisations

Source: Bühler and Nufer (2013: 364)

have more than one hundred thousand members. In addition, some associations such as the
German Football Association (DFB) count more members (6.85 million in 2014) than the
national political parties. The money generated from the membership fees might therefore
amount to a significant income stream for some sports entities.
However, not all sports entities are the same; one should not make any generalisations.
Professional sporting organisations differ not only in the sport involved but also in their size
and importance. English football clubs are bigger and attract more people than a Swedish
handball team, for example. However, it is also true that the basics are nearly the same for
each sporting organisation. They have to deal with the unique characteristics of the business
and the sport product as well as with the various market players. Therefore, it is just fair to
conclude that all professional sports entities have the same type of stakeholders. Figure 14.1
provides a general overview of the various stakeholders of a professional sporting organisation.
A customer is defined as someone who purchases a product or a service. According to this
simple definition, three groups of primary customers can be identified: fans, sponsors and the
media. All three groups pay the sporting organisation in order to get something in return.
Fans purchase tickets, sponsors buy communication rights and television channels pay a lot
of money for the broadcasting rights. The other stakeholders usually do not pay the sporting
organisations. Employees and suppliers, for example, even get paid. However, from a modern
marketing point of view, companies have to treat their stakeholders like customers in order
to engage in a positive relationship, which benefits both parties. Therefore, it is proposed to
view all internal and external stakeholders as secondary customers of professional sporting
organisations.

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Relationship marketing in sports

The stakeholders mentioned in Figure 15.1 are described as follows:

• Fans and spectators: The whole business of sports is based on people who are prepared
to pay money for the various sports products. Fans, supporters and spectators are the
main customers of professional sporting organisations and their relationship can be
described as a customer-supplier relationship.
• Sponsors: In the early days, local businessmen supported their favourite sports club for
reasons of patronage. Over the years, patronage became commercial sponsorship with
companies realising that sports is a perfect communication tool. Nowadays, professional
sports would not be possible without revenues generated from sponsorship. However,
not only have the sponsorship fees increased in the last years, but also the number of
sponsors of each and every sports entity. Clubs have multiple sponsors nowadays and
therefore they have to deal with various relationships. The relationship between profes-
sional sporting organisations can be described as a business-to-business relationship in
view of the fact that both sponsor and sponsee are enterprises.
• The media: The business-to-business relationship between professional sporting organisa-
tions and the media is a two-way process because both need each other and both benefit
from each other. Television channels, newspapers, radio stations, websites, publishers and
all other types of media need content for their customers. Sports delivers not only games
or competitions but also good stories. Sports entities, on the other hand, need publicity
in order to develop their brand and make them more known. The relationship between
sporting organisations and the media is an interesting one because there are a number
of factors, which can benefit as well as damage the relationship as described later.
• Competitors: Professional sporting organisations have a number of competitors. First,
there are the direct national competitors (clubs of the same national leagues) and direct
international competitors (clubs competing in the same international competition). Then
there are competitors of different national and international leagues within the same
sport (for example, clubs in lower leagues or other international competitions). Here,
sporting organisations not only compete on the field but also off the field for sponsorship
revenues, players and fans. Then there are competitors of different sports (for example,
cricket is competing with rugby for attention and the customers’ money). Last, but not
least, sporting organisations compete with the entertainment industry (cinemas, theatres,
television) as a whole. Here, the sports entity competes for people’s time and money. For
example, a customer might have the option to spend the evening watching a movie in
the local cinema or attending a game of the local football club. However, competitors
don’t necessarily have to compete with each other, but could also seek collaboration.
After all, the relationship between sporting organisations and their various competitors
can be seen as a very special business-to-business relationship.
• Agents/agencies: Some agencies have specialised in selling marketing rights on behalf
of the respective sports entity. For example, Sportfive (a division of the French
media group Lagardère) markets individual rights for the Pan American Games, the
Men’s Handball Champions League, the Argentine Rugby Union, the World Rally
Championship, the Rugby Six Nations Tournament, the Swedish ice hockey league and
many more. Sportfive therefore engages in many relationships with various sporting
organisations. In order to make the relationship with agencies a successful one, sporting
organisations have to apply relationship marketing techniques in this context as well.
• Employees: As described earlier, many sporting organisations can be viewed as medium-
sized companies in terms of people working for the company full time. In this respect,

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human resource management (HRM) becomes more and more important. Furthermore,
sporting organisations are increasingly looking for high-potentials on a top management
level. In order to attract and subsequently keep professionals, sports entities have to seek
a positive relationship with their employees.
• Governments and authorities: Governments and authorities have an interest in professional
sports in view of the fact that major sport events (such as the Football World Cup or the
Olympic Games) not only put the respective country or city in the global limelight, but
also attract millions of tourists to visit the country or city. In addition, sports entities are
huge taxpayers and employers. However, sporting organisations have to collaborate with
national and local authorities (such as the police) in order to secure their home games.
Furthermore, professional sporting organisations benefit from governments as well in
view of the fact that public money has been spent tremendously in order to subsidise the
building or modernisation of sport venues. It is essential for sporting organisations to
establish and maintain a good relationship with the government and authorities.
• Other external stakeholders: Professional sporting organisations have a number of other
external stakeholders, for example, investors and shareholders. Some sport clubs (especially
in British football) have gone public in order to attract more money. In the early days,
the main shareholders of football clubs were fans who wished to call at least a small part
of their favourite club their own. However, as soon as commercialisation of sports began,
professional investors realised that shares of sport clubs can be a profitable investment.
Professional sporting organisations, which are listed on the stock exchange, have to
establish and maintain a positive relationship with their shareholders for the sake of their
company. Furthermore, a sporting organisation is involved in many relationships with
various suppliers, such as companies supplying copy paper for the back office or a service
provider taking care of the sports club’s IT system. A positive relationship approach is
needed in view of the fact that a long and healthy relationship between buyer and
supplier benefits both. Besides suppliers and sponsors, sporting organisations maintain
various relationships with other business associates, for example, companies with which
the sporting organisation collaborates on a non-sponsorship level such as producers of
merchandising. Furthermore, retailers selling and distributing the sports entities’
merchandising is another example of a business associate. Finally, the hometown or the
local community can be another important external stakeholder of a professional sport
club. A lot of those are non-for-profit organisations (for example, the local retirement
home), which collaborate with the local sporting organisation. This relationship is
determined more by social issues than by commercial ones, though.

The relationship between professional sporting organisations and their primary customers –
fans, spectators, sponsors and the media – will be explained in detail in the following
sections.

The relationship between professional sporting organisations and their fans

Fans and spectators are often described as “the lifeblood” of the sports business. Without fans
there would be no live audience in the stadia, no recipients for the media, no target group
for sponsors and therefore no income for professional sporting organisations. Hence, fans and
spectators are not only a primary customer group for sports entities, but also their most
important one. Consequently, sporting organisations must try to establish a healthy and long-
term relationship with their fans.

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The association between professional sporting organisations and their fans can be described
as a two-way relationship. Fans need their clubs as an integral part of their lives and sports
entities need their fans in order to survive, in financial terms and as an organisation. It is
difficult to characterise the relationship between sporting organisations and their fans in view
of the different levels of emotional attachment. Sometimes the relationship is one of love and
hate. Fans love their team when it gets promoted and they hate it if relegated. Sport stars and
teams can be heroes one day and losers the next. In sports, there is often only black or white
because not all supporters have the intellectual ability (or the emotional distance) to differentiate.
Therefore, the relationship quality between sporting organisations and their fans often depends
on the performance on the pitch. If a team is doing well, the relationship is likely to be a good
one. If the team is doing not so well, the relationship is likely to suffer. There are various
examples (especially in Italian and German football) where fans were abusing and attacking
players of their team because of poor performance on the pitch. Nearly every sports club has
some troublemakers in their fan base. Sporting organisations are well-advised not to ignore
these troublemakers, but to address them appropriately. However, it has to be noted that the
majority of sports fans seek a positive relationship with their favourite club.
Although most sports fans are very committed to their favourite team, more and more
sports entities find it difficult to establish a good and longstanding relationship with
their supporters, let alone attract new ones. Good relationships don’t come for free, they
normally require a lot of work and investment. The process towards healthy and valuable
relationships is not an easy one, especially not for sporting organisations with few resources,
but there really is no alternative in today’s business of sports. The process itself consists of
many steps and involves various important tasks. Sporting organisations need to know who
their customers are, where they can find them and how they can address them. Consumer
research is therefore an inevitable prerequisite for relationship marketing. Once the relevant
data has been obtained, sports entities are able to define their target groups and build relevant
customer groups. Based on segmentation sporting organisations are able to design special
offers to each group and offer extraordinary services to their fans. Another important step in
the process of establishing longstanding relationships with supporters is to involve them by
the use of different relationship marketing instruments. The aim is, of course, to satisfy the
needs of the fans. However, there will always be some unsatisfied customers complaining. It
is important to take these complaints seriously and to offer a satisfying complaint management
system. The last step of the implementation process of a systematic relationship management
programme is the evaluation and controlling of each element.
An emerging problem for sports entities is the heterogeneity of their fan base. In the early
days, the vast majority of sports supporters were men, aged between 18 and 50. Nowadays,
an increasing number of women support sports clubs and more and more families can be
seen in sports venues attending live matches. Furthermore, sports spectators differ not only
in terms of gender and age, but also in terms of income, social class and appearance. People
in business suits watch the game as well as people in replica shirts on the standing terraces.
People supporting a club inside and outside the stadium are a mix of different needs and
intentions. The heterogeneity of their supporter base makes it so difficult for professional
sporting organisations to fulfil the various needs of their fans. Since it is almost impossible to
cater for every supporter’s individual characteristics, professional sporting organisations are
well-advised to group fans to segments by variables they have in common. These common
characteristics allow developing a specific relationship marketing approach for all fans in this
segment. Overall, fan segmentation is the basis for fan orientation and relationship marketing
aiming at fans. Based on the fan segments, the sports entity is able to develop specific

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marketing strategies for each fan segment. In addition, the communication strategy can be
adapted according to the characteristics of each segment. The basic rule in general marketing
– one that applies to relationship marketing in sports as well – is to focus on a limited number
of important variables. Possible variables that could be used for segmentation are geographic,
demographic, psychographic, and behavioural variables (Bühler and Nufer, 2013).
The secret of relationship marketing is not only to serve the different segments, but also
design special offers in order to fascinate the customers and give them a reason to stay with
the company. A very important aspect in this context is the consumption behaviour of fans.
Supporters often express their emotional attachment to their favourite sports club by catching
special offers. Some sporting organisations soon realised that they can sell fans nearly
everything and that fan loyalty can be a cash cow for sports entities. However, there is a fine
line between doing good and exploiting fans. Sporting organisations should always remember
to treat their fans fairly and not as captive consumers who don’t have a choice. Fans are quite
loyal to their sports club but that loyalty isn’t blind (Bühler, 2006).
Very effective tools to establish healthy and long-term relationships with fans are interactive
features (for example, a discussion forum on the club’s website where fans can engage in a
constructive dialogue with the club), member clubs and kids clubs, fan loyalty programmes
and a systematic complaint management system (Bühler and Nufer, 2010; 2013).

The relationship between professional sporting organisations and their sponsors

Professional sporting organisations have multiple sponsors nowadays. Thus, sports entities have
to deal with different types of sponsors and therefore with different types of relationships.
For example, the relationship with the main sponsor can be more intense than with a lower
sponsor. Nevertheless, sports entities have to manage the relationships with all of their
sponsors properly.
In order to manage the relationship between sports entities and sponsors properly, it is
very important to understand the relational aspects of sports sponsorship. However, sports
sponsorship has been seen by the sponsorship literature for many years as a pure transaction
based on a contractual agreement. The transactional view of sponsorship reflects reality to
some extent in view of the fact that some sports sponsorships agreements are mainly
transactional in nature. For example, there are definitely some sponsors looking for short-term
sponsorships rather than long-term agreements, because they have short-term objectives in
mind. Some sponsors also tend to be opportunistic in their behaviour by assessing the relative
costs relating to the respective sponsorship deal. The same is true for sponsees. Some sports
properties need short-term money and therefore look for the best deal in financial terms on
a short-term basis. Support for this view comes from a study undertaken by Chadwick and
Thwaites (2005), who note that many sponsorship deals in professional English football are
short-term orientated. They also point out that many sponsors and sponsees move on to other
sponsorship partners once the contractual obligations have been fulfilled. This leads to the
conclusion that many sponsorship deals are little more than contractual obligations between
sponsees and sponsors who have convergent objectives or interests at a particular point in
time. In other words, sponsees and sponsors might try to exploit each other’s attractiveness
for a short period of time (so-called “one season stands”) and therefore reduce the relationship
to a purely opportunistic one.
However, reducing sponsorship to a simple transaction may be somewhat limited as to do
so ignores the consideration that sponsors and sponsees may commit other resources than
money and communication rights to the sponsorship deal. For example, they invest their time,

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their people, and their know-how in order to make the sponsorship work. Chadwick and
Thwaites (2005: p. 337) advise sponsors and sponsees not to view “sponsorship as an exclusively
short-term transaction” in view of the fact that “greater long-term benefits may be attainable
from a closer, more strategic, network related association”. Support for this view comes from
Cheng and Stotlar (1999: p. 1), who suggest that it is important to “reconsider sport sponsorship
as a durable partnership”. They even compare sponsorship with marriages and conclude that
“both require long-term commitments to assist each other in reaching mutual fulfilment”.
Therefore, sports sponsorships should also be viewed as a business-to-business relationship
between professional sporting organisations and their sponsors.
Identifying the factors for successful relationships in sports sponsorship is a first step into
the right direction. Based on some fundamental studies regarding the relational aspects of
sports sponsorship (for example, Chadwick, 2004; Farrelly and Quester, 2005; Bühler, 2006;
Bühler, Heffernan and Hewson, 2007) five main factors, which seem to be essential factors
for successful relationships in the context of sports sponsorship, can be identified:

• Trust is an essential variable in the relationship between sports entities and sponsors. In
order to build up trust, professional sporting organisations have to make sure that they
deal fairly and openly with their sponsors. This implies that sports entities should not
make any promises they cannot possibly keep, as breaking promises reduces the confi-
dence the sponsor has in the sponsorship partner. Open dealings also imply the courage
to communicate unpleasant truths such as problems or conflicts. The same applies for
the sponsoring company as well.
• Mutual understanding of each other’s objectives is another crucial factor regarding suc-
cessful sports sponsorships. Professional sporting organisations have to make sure that
they understand the objectives and the needs of their sponsorship partner. Only then can
sports entities help their sponsor to reach the partner’s objectives. Sponsors, on the other
hand, have to understand the requirements of the sports club (primarily the financial
needs, but also the focus on sporting performance) and the pressure sporting organisa-
tions face in view of the public and media interest.
• Sports entities should see their sponsors as long-term partners rather than as companies
spending money for a few seasons. Sponsorship partners who look for long-term success
would be well-advised to build up a relationship with each other and to take the concept
of relationship quality into consideration when doing so. The segmentation into “trans-
actional-orientated” and “relational-orientated” sponsors might help professional sport-
ing organisations in their decision whether to establish a long-term partnership based
on the evaluation of their sponsor’s relationship orientation. Nowadays, more and more
companies seek long-term alliances with their sponsorship property. However, every
sponsorship agreement ends sometimes for various reasons (for example, because the
sponsorship partners have achieved their objectives or found better partners to do so).
In this respect, it is very important to “split up” in a professional and fair manner.
• Successful sports sponsorships are also based on effective communication between
sponsor and sponsee. Communication can take many forms. Some sponsorship partners
keep in touch on a regular basis by phone, email or face-to-face meetings. In this respect,
it is important that sporting organisations make sure that they provide important infor-
mation about themselves and recent developments. Some professional sporting organisa-
tions have established a regular newsletter for their sponsors, including articles about past
events, birthdays of key decision makers or an outlook to future happenings. Other sports
entities provide information exclusively for sponsors. For example, the main sponsors of

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the German Bundesliga club Hertha BSC Berlin receive information regarding new
players or other important issues before the information is made public. Therefore, spon-
sors gain the perception of having an exclusive information advantage. Communication
between sports entities can take part on an individual basis or in a group setting where
several sponsors are invited to spend an evening together in order to talk about various
issues related to the sponsorship and other subjects.
• Cooperation is another important issue when it comes to successful sports sponsorships.
Involvement in each other’s marketing and planning efforts is one form of cooperation
and makes sense in view of the fact that it helps to achieve both partners’ sponsorship
objectives. Sponsors have more marketing skills than sporting organisations and could
therefore support the sports entities in marketing issues, whereas professional sporting
organisations could provide sponsors with sports-related know-how in order to improve
their communication with sports fans.

The relationship between professional sporting organisations and the media

Sports is an important driver for the media. However, the media is equally important for
professional sporting organisations for various reasons. First, revenues generated from the sales
of broadcasting rights are an essential income stream for sports entities. Second, the media
can help to boost the image of a sports club or association. Third, the media can be an
effective political tool for sporting organisations when it comes to influencing the public
opinion and political decision makers.
The relationship between professional sporting organisations and the media can be best
described with the image of Siamese twins: both need each other to survive. In view of this
interdependency, both parties are well-advised to seek a positive relationship.
Cooperation between sporting organisations and the media takes place on a personal level
involving close contacts and even amicable relations between representatives of sports entities
and the media. In general, the media is represented by journalists, commentators, editors, chief
editors and the owners of media companies. People representing the sporting organisation
can be the owners or the presidents of the sports entity, members of the management, coaches,
players and employees responsible for media relations. The most obvious relationship exists
between journalists and the official spokespersons of a sports entity. Many sporting organisations
have established their own press or communication departments with an official press
spokesperson at the top of it. The communication managers within the sports entities’ press
departments write and release press handouts, organise press conferences and coordinate
interview requests. They also check and evaluate the coverage and try to sort out problems
that arise. Most communication managers and press spokespersons know the local editors
well and have established a personal relationship, characterised by a sense of mutual
understanding. Communication often takes place on an informal level. Should problems
occur they can be solved easily with a phone call or a brief face-to-face meeting. One of the
most important issues in these relationships is trust. Journalists have to trust that the sports
entities’ press spokespersons will provide them with correct information and deal with them
fairly and openly, whereas communication managers of clubs and associations have to trust
that editors will not misuse the given information. Another relationship exists between
journalists and the top management of sporting organisations. Presidents, managing directors
or commercial managers of sports clubs often maintain longstanding relationships with (chief)
editors of the local media or even the owners of media companies. Here again, the relationship
is supposed to be mutually beneficial in view of the fact that both parties exchange information

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and news. Journalists might find it easier to get an interview with clubs’ representatives
than those who do not engage in positive relationships. However, members of a sporting
organisation’s top management might prevent the publication of a problematic story because
of a longstanding relationship with the chief editor of a newspaper. On a sporting level a
number of relationships exist. Coaches and managers, for example, often maintain friendly
contact with journalists. Therefore, those journalists might receive exclusive information in
return for less critical coverage. However, sport is a fast moving business and coaches are
hired and fired often, which makes it difficult for media representatives to establish trusty
relationships. That is also true for relationships between journalists and players. Some
journalists try to establish amicable relations with players in order to get exclusive information.
In turn, players might make use of such a relationship when it comes to contract or transfer
negotiations. A positive article in the newspaper can boost the image and the personal market
value of the respective player. These relationships – especially those that take place on a
personal level – might benefit both sides but could also lead to potential conflict of interests.
Objectivity and trustworthiness is a key issue in journalism and must always be guaranteed.
On the other hand, sports entities and their representatives should be professional enough to
maintain a certain balance in dealing with the media.
Besides the more personal level, cooperation between sporting organisations and the
media can take place on an organisational level. More and more sports entities are seeking
for specific media partnerships. This special form of collaboration is a combination of media
cooperation and sponsorship. Often, local and regional companies act as “the official media
partner” of a certain sports club. The ultimate form of media partnerships is the acquisition
of sporting clubs by media companies. In the late 1990s, Rupert Murdoch, the famous global
media tycoon, and his media network (including News Corporation, Fox Entertainment,
BSkyB) bought considerable shares of major sports entities as the following examples show.
In 1998, Fox Entertainment purchased the Los Angeles Dodgers (baseball) for $311 million,
and gained a foothold in the US–American sports franchise market with a 40 per cent interest
in the New York Rangers (ice hockey) and the New York Knicks (basketball). In 1999,
BSkyB tried to buy Manchester United for £623 million but the bid was eventually blocked
by the Mergers and Monopolies Commission. Instead, BSkyB gained part-ownership in the
English football clubs Chelsea FC, Leeds United, Manchester City, Manchester United and
Sunderland FC, with a 9.9 per cent stake in each club, which was the maximum percentage
allowed for ownership in multiple clubs in the UK at the time (Andrews, 2003). Acquisitions
like these are a clear commercial investment and involve some logic: media companies
owning sports entities (partly or entirely) can influence the clubs’ media strategy and – most
of all – have a say when it comes to broadcasting negotiations. Furthermore, having a sporting
organisation in the portfolio is a prestigious thing for media companies. However, collaboration
on this level should be viewed critically. The relationship between a sports entity and a media
corporation is unlikely to be a healthy one if the media company cares more about its short-
term profits than about the long-term future of the respective sports club or organisation.
In order to establish and maintain a good relationship with the media, many options are
available for sporting organisations.The working conditions for the media (including journalists,
editors, commentators, camera operators and technicians) have to be of good quality. The flow
of information is an essential factor in this context. Most sports entities distribute press releases
on a daily basis. The bigger sports clubs hold press conferences featuring managers, selected
players or officials nearly every day, the smaller clubs provide such an opportunity before and
after each game, at least. In this respect, a growing number of sports entities provide a special
service for smaller papers or stations enabling them to follow the press conference through

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livestream on the internet and thereby having the option to ask questions online. Furthermore,
press spokespersons and communication managers of sporting organisations chat with the
media on the phone every day in order to provide information and answer questions. In
addition, more and more sports entities provide an own password-protected media section on
their website where registered journalists can log in and download information and pictures.
A very important point in terms of information flow is the availability of players for individual
interviews. Some players are more in demand than others and therefore star players cannot
meet every request. The press departments of sports clubs have the difficult task of balancing
the number of interviews without disappointing the media. They must also make sure that
their players deal with the media professionally. After all, dealing with the media is part of the
players’ job and some clubs even provide journalists with the players’ mobile numbers. With
regard to players’ access, it is important that clubs establish and communicate a strict policy.
The preparation for a game should not be disturbed and the private life of players should not
be covered without prior authorisation. In order to establish and maintain positive relationships
with the media, many sporting organisations invite media representatives on special occasions.
For example, some clubs invite close journalists to attend their summer or winter training
camps at the clubs’ expense. Some other sports entities invite editors to social events such as
gala dinners or charity balls hosted by the respective sporting organisation.
Another opportunity to strengthen the bond between the sporting organisation and the
media are away games in international cup competitions. For example, some football clubs
invite the local media to travel with them to UEFA Champions League games taking place
in major European cities where the media then stays in the same hotel as the team and takes
part in the post-match gala. Although such events are a good opportunity to maintain good
relationships, they can also damage relations with the media when journalists perceive such
invitations as some kind of bribe. In this respect, sporting organisations should be sensible
and always emphasise that they do not expect a service in return or a favour. Another less
expensive relationship marketing tool is the establishment of a database including personal
and professional data of each journalist, editor, commentator or other media representative
the sporting organisation is dealing with. A birthday card, seasonal greetings, or birthday
presents for the kids are small assiduities that contribute to a positive relationship. Often, it
is not the present itself but the fact that the sporting organisation remembered and cared
about the individual media representative.

Conclusion
Relationship marketing in sports is not only a very interesting topic but also an evolving area.
Professional sporting organisations need to keep up-to-date with the development in order
to be able to successfully adapt general relationship marketing trends to their specific context
and needs. The successful management of relationships as well as the useful application of
relationship marketing techniques will contribute to the overall success of any sporting
organisation. In contrast, sports properties that neglect the importance of healthy relationships
or are not able to implement a systematic relationship management programme will find it
more difficult to stay competitive in the business of sports.

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16
EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING
AND SPORTING EVENTS
Guillaume Bodet

Introduction
When linking experiential marketing with sporting events, the first possible images that come
to mind would be those of the Super Bowl, which has become a world-famous sporting
contest as well as a great entertaining spectacle (Apostolopoulou et al., 2006), similar to those
of the National Basketball Association’s all-star or special games, or major sporting events’
opening and closing ceremonies, such as the Olympic Games and some games of the Stade
Français Rugby club for the European context (Bodet, 2009). These games and events are
perceived as exceptional and extraordinary because of their attendance and audience, their
uniqueness and the types of experiences they produce for spectators and fans. Moreover, there
is almost no doubt that these experiences are planned and engineered by sports managers and
result from a deliberate particular marketing strategy. It would obviously be too simplistic to
say that the marketing managers are solely responsible for these experiences because it would
underestimate the co-creative role of other spectators, and teams and athletes (Woratschek
et al., 2014), but it is undeniable that marketing managers do have a significant role in the
success of these sporting events, which can be considered as company-driven experiences
according to the classification of Carù and Cova (2007). Although it is easy to identify the
extremes of a spectrum, and these extraordinary experiences can be put at one extreme end
of this spectrum, it is more difficult to locate other types of sports spectatorship experiences
along this spectrum and particularly define what should go at the other end of it. Consequently,
stating that these events and the experiences produced result from an experiential marketing
strategy is not enough because it does not allow for making a distinction between what
should be considered as a conspicuous experiential marketing strategy and what simply results
from a “normal” and traditional marketing strategy. This is the purpose of the first section of
this chapter. We will propose a definition that is based on the notions of extraordinary and
ordinary experiences on one hand and enriched services on the other hand. This definition,
which is not perfect because the line between ordinary and extraordinary experiences is
certainly individual, subjective and contextual, allows considering the variety of sports
spectators’ experiences and their consequences in terms of consumer behaviour that can be
positive and negative. These two aspects will respectively be discussed in the second and
third sections of the chapter.

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Experiential marketing and production of experiences

In order to fully understand the meaning of experiential marketing in the context of sporting
events, it is crucial to understand in which circumstances the concept emerged and which
marketing practices it was associated with.The first turning point in the advent of experiential
marketing as an innovative and legitimate marketing approach was probably the publication
of the seminal article by Holbrook and Hirschman (1982). In this article, the authors
emphasised that it was reductionist to consider consumption as an activity fulfilling only or
mainly instrumental benefits, relying upon products and services’ objective features and
characteristics. Thus, they called for an experiential view of consumption that enlarged the
traditional information processing perspective by considering that fantasies, feelings and fun
as consumption is “a primarily subjective state of consciousness with a variety of symbolic
meanings, hedonic responses, and esthetic criteria” (Holbrook and Hirschman, 1982: p. 132).
The immediate consequence of this approach is that marketers should not only focus on the
rational and utilitarian components of products and services but should also appreciate their
experiential aspects. This view was later promoted by various academics and practitioners,
among whom Pine and Gilmore (1999) and Schmitt (1999a, 1999b) had possibly the largest
echo. For them, traditional marketing, which saw consumers as rational decision-makers
focusing on features and benefits, had to be replaced by experiential marketing, which
saw consumers as rational and emotional, looking for holistic experiences and an identity
project. Schmitt (1999a) proposed a framework to achieve this transition. However, despite a
growing interest in experiential marketing, Tynan and McKechnie (2009) noticed that
practitioners tended to exaggerate the positive impacts of experiential marketing, sometimes
sold as a miraculous solution by consultants, and that their claims often lacked scientific
evidence and reliability. From an academic point of view, the use of various terms, such as
experiential marketing, production of experiences and experience marketing, consumer
experience and consumption experience, has contributed to theoretical confusions. Although
the experiential dimension discussed by Holbrook and Hirschman (1982) appears relevant
and legitimate, particularly when focusing on what these authors called conventional goods
and services, it does not apply in the same way to all products and services. From the
beginning, Holbrook and Hirschman (1982) analysed that even if all products conveyed a
symbolic dimension, certain products such as entertainment, the arts and leisure activities,
to which we could naturally add sports, were richer in terms of symbols. The analysis could
be extended to other aspects previously mentioned: fantasies, feelings and fun. In the
same vein, Filser (2002) theorised a continuum of experience production identifying products
with a strong functional but a weak experiential component and products with a strong
experiential but a weak functional component, where sports spectacle could be situated.
In this case, we can wonder what experiential marketing would mean for sports spectacles,
which already have a strong experience component: if sports spectacles are mainly made
of experiences, what is the difference between traditional and experiential marketing?
The definition of Carù and Cova (2006) is helpful to answer this question, as for these
authors, experiential marketing goes beyond the simple production of experiences and aims
to provide an additional category of offers that complete the main product, and which can
be originally with low or high experiential contents, to produce extraordinary, highly
emotional and memorable experiences. As discussed by Carù and Cova (2007: p. 10), “an
experience becomes extraordinary thanks to increasingly spectacular and surprising decors
and due to the ever greater scope of the extravagances and simulations in which the consumer
will be immersed”.

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Consistent with this definition, the innovative marketing strategy implemented by the
Stade Français Paris Rugby club, analysed by Bodet (2009), can be considered as an experiential
marketing strategy. Since 2005, this professional rugby club attracted massive crowds of
spectators (i.e. more than 70,000) a few times a year in the Stade de France, a stadium with
a capacity of slightly more than 80,000, although the club struggled to sell out its regular
home ground of nearly 11,000 capacity the rest of the year (Bodet, 2009). The main strategy
relied upon the addition of numerous and sometimes extravagant entertainment and shows
before, at half time and after the game. These shows could be made of car parades, mini
concerts, wrestling, cancan dancers, stunts, acrobatics, and fireworks to provide extraordinary
experiences to the spectators. Although some of them could appear flashy, tacky and not
related to rugby they could certainly be seen as providing memorable and most of the times
positive emotions and experiences. In the same vein, Apostolopoulou et al. (2006) analysed
the importance of Super Bowl entertainment, which can be equivalent to an experiential
marketing strategy, and which comprised several elements: pre-game show, the commercials,
coin toss with celebrity presence, celebrity singing the national anthem, teams entering the
field, the competitiveness of the game, halftime entertainment, MVP award presentation and
post-game show. Although these elements are considered enriching for the spectators’
experiences and provided extraordinary experiences, it is important to note that what
constitutes an ordinary experience will strongly vary between sports, levels, leagues,
competitions, countries and cultural contexts. Apostolopoulou et al. (2006: p. 224) stated:

In today’s sporting world, music, mascots, cheerleaders, dance teams, and special
theme nights are part of the regular game entertainment repertoire of most profes-
sional (Major and minor) and collegiate sporting events.

But if this applies to the sporting North American context, it certainly cannot be extended
to all professional sports contexts around the world. Consequently, what is considered as a
normal or ordinary experience in one context cannot be considered the same in another
context. Ordinary experiences in a specific context will sometimes be considered as
extraordinary somewhere else. The context-specific dimension of experiences was notably
discussed by Richins (1997). For this reason, Lai and Bodet (2012) and Lai (2014) focused
on the distinction between ordinary and extraordinary experiences in Taiwanese professional
baseball games. From a qualitative study based on focus groups with fans and spectators, they
identified various factors that could make games become extraordinary. Additional events,
shows and entertainment organised around the games (before, at half time and after) were
considered as extraordinary, which corresponds to the definition of experiential marketing
used in this chapter. In terms of occasional and regular activities, cheering bands, songs for
players, birthday celebrations for fans before the games, record celebrations, theme days, family
days, mascots and cheer squads, opening pitch with a special guest, and fireworks can be cited
(Lai, 2014). However, the fans interviewed also indicated that some sporting elements could
create an extraordinary experience. It could be the case if one player achieved a particular
record or if the game noticeably influenced the overall table ranking position. Regarding this
later result, it is important to highlight the particular context of professional baseball in
Taiwan where the league is only composed of four teams so the ranking positions do not
change very often. This result demonstrates the influence of sporting and cultural contexts
on the perceptions of what is considered normal and expected and what is unexpected. It is
also useful to observe the non-controllability dimension of certain factors, indicating that
managers are not solely responsible for the production of extraordinary experiences. This

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result is in line with the conceptualisation of Verhoef et al. (2009) applied to retailing
environments. These authors stated (p. 32):

Experience is created not only by those elements which the retailer can control (e.g.
service interface, retail atmosphere, assortment; price), but also by elements that are
outside of the retailer’s control (influence of others, purpose of shopping).

The day of the game was also identified by Lai and Bodet (2012) as a factor influencing the
ordinary aspect of the games because weekend games were perceived as providing more
extraordinary experiences. This result can be explained by the fact that more additional
activities and shows are organised during weekend games. In this particular case, the day of
the game can be considered as an indirect indicator of the managerial activation of an
experiential marketing strategy.The stadium dimension was also mentioned by the respondents
and, beyond teams’ managerial activation, some stadiums seem to be more suitable than others
for providing extraordinary experiences. This result is supported by the fact that professional
baseball teams in Taiwan use various stadiums for their home games and that differences in
perceptions are found despite almost similar marketing actions within each stadium. The team
factor was also identified as two teams were perceived as mainly providing ordinary experiences
in comparison with the two other teams (Lai and Bodet, 2012). After having defined what
experiential marketing means in the context of sporting events, and having identified factors
and variables influencing the ordinary and extraordinary aspects of spectators’ experiences,
the following section will focus on the types of experiences spectators live and the way they
can be segmented based on the experiences they seek, to determine whether or not an
experiential marketing strategy would be suitable.

Consumer experiences in sporting events

If experiential marketing is considered as the creation and provision of extraordinary
experiences through enriched products and services, it becomes necessary to define a sports
spectacle’s ordinary experience from a subjective consumer point of view and from a more
objective service offer analysis to fully appreciate the value of additional offers. Before
discussing several theoretical frameworks aimed at increasing and sometimes modelling our
understanding of sports spectators’ experiences, it is necessary to posit that experiences are
extremely subjective and consequently diverse, intimate and individualised. However, such
uniqueness does not preclude researchers and analysts from identifying similar experiential
patterns and managerial levers to create categories. They can appear simplistic – erasing the
complexity and richness of experiences – but they are still useful to apprehend and make
sense of phenomena. In this vein, based on in-depth observations and analyses of baseball
games, Holt (1995) identified four metaphors of consumption that could be generalised to
most sporting events’ spectators. First, consuming as experience refers to sports spectators’
subjective and emotional reactions to the spectacle and directly refers to the experiential,
hedonic and aesthetic view theorised by Holbrook and Hirschman (1982) previously
discussed. This experience of the sports spectacle relies upon accounting activities to make
sense of the baseball world and object. They also rely upon spectators making evaluations
(for example, the diving leap of a fielder, velocity of a pitch in the baseball case) and
appreciations (for example, feelings of excitement and awe, joy and relief, anger and
disappointment) of the game and various events. Second, consuming as integration refers to
the way sports spectators acquire and manipulate objects to construct their identity and

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self-concept. Holt (1995) noted that this activity becomes difficult with mass-produced
consumption objects that can apply in a certain way to sporting events. Integration relies
upon assimilating practices, which in the context of the study, require “developing the
requisite baseball world knowledge and the specialised tastes that flow from this knowledge”
(p. 7), such as knowing where the best seats are, for instance. Integration also relies upon
producing, which refers to spectators’ actions to assert and show their belonging and
involvement in the sports spectacle (for example, addressing and talking to the players) and
personalising where sports spectators try to establish an individualized link with the sports
event or the related sports world, often through personalised dressing, signs, and comments
(Holt, 1995). Third, consuming as classification refers to the way sports spectators classify
themselves in reference to relevant others through interpersonal actions. When classification
is done though objects, similarities can be found with integration. However, the way sports
spectators interact with the objects is as important, if not more, as the objects themselves.
Holt (1995) used the examples of derogatory chanting, revering a former player, staying until
the end of the game or avoiding participating in the Mexican wave. Fourth, consuming as
play refers to the way consumers use the sports spectacle to commune and socialize with
other spectators they know or not. Based on Holt’s (1995) work, Bourgeon and Bouchet
(2001) developed a framework considering that certain consumption patterns and values
could be combined to create four main sports spectator profiles; Bouchet et al. (2011) later
developed an instrument to operationalise them.
These profiles are considered to be contextual as individuals may seek different experiences
depending on the type of sporting events, their scale, the teams and athletes involved in the
competition, the importance of the sporting outcome or the type of people spectators consume
with. The first profile refers to sports spectators mainly seeking an aesthetic experience
associated with the beauty of the contest and the display, the high level of skills demonstrated
by the athletes. They are sometimes considered connoisseurs, experts who appreciate physical,
technical or tactical aspects, which are not perceived or appreciated in the same way by non-
experts. They are also more sensitive to the values of the sports, the implicit rules of the sports
and sportsmanship behaviours. These spectators are named aesthetes. The second profile
gathers supporters, characterises spectators who mainly search for a performance, a victory, a
positive outcome for the team or athlete they support. They tend to be active and vocal and
firmly believe they have a significant role in the performance of the team or athlete they
support. The third profile named interactive refers to sports spectators who mainly search for
highly emotional and shared experiences. They are as sensitive to the things happening on
the sporting field as those happening around it (for example, pre-game and half-time
entertainment) and in the stands. The fourth profile is the opportunistic profile. Although
Holbrook and Hirschman (1982) noted the prominence of the experiential dimension in the
entertainment industry, Bourgeon and Bouchet (2001) restored the significance of the
utilitarian and instrumental component in sports spectacles. For these opportunist spectators,
who rarely represent a majority, sporting events represent ways to achieve non-experiential
objectives and provide utilities such as an improved personal image, political and business
benefits. Bourgeon and Bouchet (2001) and Bouchet et al. (2011) underlined the simulation
dimension of these spectators who often try to appear like other profiles to maximize the
benefits they could get; politicians trying to appear like supporters or aesthetes are often
observable. Bourgeon and Bouchet (2001) also identified theoretical relationships between
these profiles, highlighting the fact that depending on the type of experiences lived and
engineered, certain profiles will be more visible and it is probably not possible to satisfy all of
these profiles with the same experiences. For instance, aesthetes look for aesthetic and beautiful

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displays although supporters mainly look for performance and efficiency. Consequently, a
“beautiful defeat” would not satisfy supporters whereas an “ugly victory” would not content
aesthetes. Based on spectators’ values associated with the sports spectacle and searched
experiences, Bourgeon and Bouchet (2001) established that the aesthete profile was in
contradiction with the supporter profile, and that the opportunist profile was in contradiction
with the interactive profile. They also considered that the opportunist and supporter profiles
had a complementary relationship such as the aesthete and interactive profiles (see Bouchet
et al., 2011 for details of these relationships). Despite the relevance of these relationships from
a theoretical point of view, they may not be so clear-cut and some subtle combinations may
appear (Chanavat and Bodet, 2014), even if no significant correlations between the profiles
have been found so far (Bodet et al., 2010; Bouchet et al., 2011).
Regarding experiential marketing, which was previously defined as the provision of
additional and new service components to create unique, intense, and memorable experiences,
it seems that the main targeted profile is the interactive profile. This is one of the conclusions
of Bodet (2009) who analysed the experiential marketing strategy implemented by the Stade
Français Paris Rugby club. According to Bodet, professional sports clubs traditionally target
spectators with a supporter profile by focusing on enhancing sporting performances with the
best players or athletes. However, with experiential marketing, professional clubs like the
Stade Français Paris Rugby target interactive spectators who want to be first of all emotionally
stimulated, share, enjoy and participate (Bodet, 2009). Spectators with an opportunist profile
also seem targeted and particularly trendy or famous ones because they can help increase the
awareness of the sporting event and the club brand while also producing positive associations,
which could enhance the club brand image (Bodet, 2009). In a qualitative analysis of spectators’
experiences of Stade Français’ games using an experiential marketing strategy, Chanavat and
Bodet (2014) found that all profiles could be observed. Unsurprisingly, many of the spectators
these authors interviewed presented an interactive profile considering the intensity and
extraordinary aspects of the emotions produced. The interaction dimensions discussed by
Holt (1995), socialising and communing, were also highly discussed. It seems that this type
of experience is hardly consumed alone and that the social environment appears critical even
if it is not the same each time, as some spectators alternate between family, friends and work
colleagues (Chanavat and Bodet, 2014). Contrary to what Bourgeon and Bouchet (2001)
defined theoretically, the interactive profile does not necessarily appear in opposition with
the opportunist profile. Many interactive spectators seemed to present opportunistic features
because many of them benefited from very low prices, free tickets and invitations to these
games (Chanavat and Bodet, 2014). This contradicts the theory because spectators with an
interactive profile would be expected to be willing to pay premium price to live extraordinary
experiences. Spectators with an aesthete profile were also observed and some of them seemed
to present a similar opportunistic pattern regarding the price of the tickets. In this particular
sporting context, it could be explained by the fact that, for various reasons, these games did
not systematically involve the best teams and players and then possibly not the best quality.
From a marketing perspective, it would make sense to accentuate the marketing efforts to
attract spectators to the games, which are not the most appealing, from a sporting point of
view. For the same purpose, these games did not seem to be the most appealing for spectators
with a supporter profile even if they did not appear to be a deterrent (Chanavat and Bodet,
2014). Another aspect that could negatively influence the presence of die-hard fans and
supporters is the nature of the ambiance being possibly too jolly and flimsy and which does
not correspond to the type of atmosphere and behaviour they expect. For them, performance
and the outcome of the games are the most important and everything should be oriented

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towards these aspects, whereas the experiential aspects divert spectators from them. For them,
having too many spectators not displaying a supporter profile, could be another case of
co-destruction of value by spectators (Stieler et al., 2014). Although some supporters have a
negative opinion of these enriched experiences, this does not seem to hinder them to come
in this particular context. This aspect will be further discussed in the following section,
dealing with the consequences of experiential marketing strategies in sporting events. It is
important to note that not all spectators look for the same types of experiences and that
experiential marketing, which aims to provide a certain type of them, will not fit with all
spectator profiles in the same way and that this conclusion should be kept in managers’ minds
when deciding whether or not they should implement such strategy. Particularly, it seems that
the balance of spectators’ profiles appears key to maximise the co-creation of value for most
spectators.

The consequences of experiential marketing in sporting events

From its origin, experiential marketing has been seen by academics and practitioners as a
great managerial lever to produce various positive outcomes, such as to create brand advocacy,
loyalty and word-of-mouth (Smilansky, 2009), and sometimes sold as a miraculous solution
for all marketing problems, despite a lack of conceptual foundations (Tynan and McKechnie,
2009; Verhoef et al., 2009).
From anecdotal evidence and sometimes attendance and broadcasting figures, it seems that
experiential marketing tends to attract more spectators, which is the case in the Super Bowl
and the Stade Français’ games organised at the Stade de France, as discussed in the previous
sections, or “The Big Game”, which is an annual rugby union game hosted by the Harlequins
F.C. during the Christmas period at Twickenham Stadium. However, beyond these short-term
quantitative impacts, very few empirical studies have focused on the long-term impact of the
experiential marketing strategy implementation or from a more subjective point of view. Kao
et al. (2007) attempted to investigate the influence of basketball games’ experiential elements
in Taiwan on spectators’ satisfaction, repurchase and recommendation intentions, but nothing
is said about the nature of the experiences created (ordinary or extraordinary), and therefore,
the eventual implementation of a marketing strategy. After having contextually defined
ordinary and extraordinary experiences in Taiwanese professional baseball, Lai (2014) tried
to measure the impact of extraordinary experiences, and thus experiential marketing, on the
relationships between consumer-perceived levels of experience, perceived service quality,
satisfaction and loyalty, and found significant differences between the models. Among these
differences, the influence of the perceived level of experience on consumer loyalty increased
within the context of extraordinary experiences although the role of satisfaction on consumer
loyalty decreased and the role of service quality increased. Consequently, it seems that in this
context, extraordinary experiences more directly impact consumer loyalty and reduce the
role of satisfaction on loyalty, indicating a less rational and cognitive process of evaluation
from spectators (Lai, 2014). Surprisingly, extraordinary experiences increased the role of
service quality on satisfaction, which could mean that service quality is valorised by
extraordinary experiences although unnoticed with ordinary experiences in the context of
Taiwanese professional baseball games. In this case, we could think that the activities set and
the experiences created potentially increase the perceived quality of the decor, design and
staging facet (Carù and Cova, 2007); the two others being the consumer’s active participation
and the story narrative and intrigues created. However, due to the research design of the study,
no conclusion can be drawn in a long-term perspective.

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Using a different approach, focusing on the subjective opinions of spectators about

extraordinary experiences produced at Stade Français’ rugby games, Chanavat and Bodet
(2014) tried to link experiential marketing and perceived-brand equity (Aaker, 1991). Their
findings tend to support the idea that experiential marketing increases brand awareness levels
as it attracted to the brand and to the games people who were not familiar with it, and also
raised their interest. Nevertheless, experiential marketing did not seem to be the only
managerial lever improving the notoriety of the brand as many respondents also recognised
the importance of promotional activities (Chanavat and Bodet, 2014). Brand image also
seemed strongly influenced as many new associations characterised the brand. Most of
them could be perceived as positive (for example, fun, entertainment, unique, innovative),
whereas some of them could be seen at least as neutral and sometimes negative, with terms
such as “arrogant”, “controversial” and “boastful”.
In reference to the spectator profiles discussed in the previous section, it appears that most
positive associations came from spectators presenting interactive and opportunist profiles,
whereas the more neutral and negative terms mainly came from spectators with aesthete and
supporter profiles (Chanavat and Bodet, 2014). Not all supporters and aesthetes had a negative
view of the experiential marketing strategy and if they did not show any particular interest
in these enriched experiences, several of them recognised the positive impact it had on non-
supporters and casual fans, attracting more people to the game and increasing the size of the
rugby community as a whole. However, for few of them, these shows and experiences did
not correspond to what was seen as “traditional” and “authentic” and did not match rugby
values (Chanavat and Bodet, 2014). Similarities can be drawn between these comments and
some results of Chanavat and Bodet (2014) and Giulianotti (2005) regarding fans’ views on
the commodification of sports. In this particular sporting context, experiential marketing
could be seen as a Disneyisation (Bryman, 1999) of sporting events, or even a McDisneyisation
(Ritzer and Liska, 1997), if these extraordinary experiences become globally standardised,
reproduced and consequently, predictable.This can certainly create resistances and oppositions,
and in turn diminish loyalty, among certain segments of the most traditional and identified
spectators and fans, as Carù and Cova (2007: p. 11) observed:

[F]or many consumers, an experience is more than the simple acceptance of a

prepackaged offer revolving around a theme that has been chosen by the firm
(thematization of the experience) – some of it must also be left unorganized so that
it can become appropriable.

In a word, consumers want to co-create and be active in the creation of their own experiences
and do not want to design and actively produce them, according to their own expectations
and searched experiences.
Based upon an analysis of ESPN and its consumers, Holt (2004) warned brand managers
not to focus too much on consumers he called feeders and who present many similarities with
spectators with an opportunistic and interactive profile; the ones who are either targeted or
the most receptive to experiential marketing strategies. Holt (2004) defined these feeders as
“promiscuous fans who jump on the bandwagon of any winning team, accomplished athlete,
or celebrated contest” (p. 147), as spectators who do not follow a team or an athlete but follow
trends and “find little intrinsic pleasure in spectating” (p. 148). According to him, they have
little attachment to the brand and are not as committed as the brand followers: die-hard fans
in the context of sporting events. This analysis seems to be supported by the fact that
Chanavat and Bodet (2014) did not find any noticeable positive impact by experiential

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marketing on brand loyalty. Following Holt’s (2004) view, sporting event brands should be
careful in implementing experiential marketing strategies if they mainly attract opportunist
and interactive spectators (i.e. feeders) and could possibly act as a deterrent in the long term
for aesthete and supporters (i.e. followers).

Conclusion
The first objective of this chapter was to define what experiential marketing is in the context
of sporting events as it did not originally come from the field. Based on a literature review,
experiential marketing was defined as the provision of additional offers and activities to create
extraordinary, surprising and memorable experiences. Several examples were analysed before
discussing the nature and the types of sporting events’ experiences spectators like and seek.
It was concluded that experiential marketing in sporting events was mainly used to target or
was more suitable for spectators presenting an interactive or an opportunist profile. Experiential
marketing appears to be a great managerial lever to attract these types of spectators to the
games, increase brand awareness and create positive brand associations and perceived quality.
Nevertheless, no empirical evidence suggests that it has a noticeable positive influence on
brand loyalty. However, some results tend to indicate that sporting events’ managers should
not consider experiential marketing as a solely positive tool, and should be particularly
cautious regarding its possible impact on traditional and committed fans with supporter or
aesthete profiles. Considering the lack of empirical evidence regarding the consequences and
effects of experiential marketing, it seems hazardous to consider experiential marketing as a
marketing management solution, which fits all consumer segments and achieves all objectives.
Similarly to all marketing approaches, it will work better when combined with an in-depth
strategic analysis, which takes into consideration the characteristics of the sports organisation
and its sociocultural context.

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17
MANAGING SEASON
TICKET HOLDERS
Heath McDonald

Introduction
Of all the stakeholders professional sports teams must satisfy, it is sports fans that are arguably
the most important. The value of fans stems from the wide range of direct connections
or associations they form with teams, which include social, emotional and financial exchanges.
All teams need fans as a basic requirement for survival, but an active and engaged fan-base
provides direct revenue through ticket sales and merchandise purchase and indirect benefits
such as increasing broadcast rights values. Fans also create a range of media and sponsor-
ship opportunities for sporting organizations to leverage, through their numbers and loyalty
to the team.
Fans of a team can include those who “silently” support the team without attending games,
those who choose to attend individual home games on a casual basis, and those who acquire
team memberships or season tickets that offer a service commonly inclusive of home match
attendance and other various benefits. Season ticket holders (SIH hereafter) can be viewed
as the first among equals, as their repeat patronage and higher commitment makes them, in
many ways, the most desirable of all customers.
Customer management is always a complex blend of understanding what a customer
requires and delivering it profitably, in the right way at the right time. STH management is
even more complex, particularly in a sports context. STH management is complicated, as
season-ticket products constitute a subscription market, where purchase decisions are made
infrequently (typically annually) and evaluations are usually a result of a combination of
experiences over time. Customer behaviour in subscription market situations is also very
different from in repertoire or casual ticket buying markets. Added to the complexity of
subscription markets is the fact that most STH are drawn from the ranks of the most passionate
sports fans. Their passion can make them demanding customers, requiring personalized
attention that is difficult to deliver en masse.
STH make a significant financial and emotional commitment to sports teams and require
careful management in return to ensure their satisfaction and continued patronage. This
chapter examines the particular requirements of STH, from understanding how to attract and
retain STH through to what managers can do to ensure their satisfaction.

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Season ticket markets and how they are different

The offering of a team season ticket package or a membership is a common practice for
sports teams worldwide, as well as various other arts and leisure organizations (for example,
theatre companies, art galleries, gyms). Variations abound, and it is no longer the case that a
season ticket constitutes a pass for multiple game entry. Many organizations have moved from
using the term “season ticket”, to other expressions such as “member” or “patron” to reflect
the changing nature of the product. For sports market leaders with capacity attendance, non-
ticketed memberships are now the norm and often the major product sold.
What all season ticket products have in common is that they are annually or seasonally
purchased and are usually specific to a particular team, although stadium memberships exist
(for example, MCC at Lords). Such products are classified as belonging to “subscription
markets” with phone services, insurance, banking and utilities (see Sharp, Wright and
Goodhardt, 2002, for a full discussion). In most markets, consumers purchase regularly and
do so from a repertoire of competing brands to fulfil their category requirements. The key
differences between subscription markets and the more commonly seen repertoire markets
are that: (a) subscription products are bought infrequently, often annually; (b) consumers have
much smaller repertoires in subscription markets and are often solely loyal to one provider;
and (c) they often involve being formally contracted to one specific provider for the period
of purchase, for example, annual mobile phone contracts.
As a consequence, subscription market behaviour differs from repertoire market behaviour
on two key metrics: brands tend to satisfy a much higher percentage of consumers’ category
needs; and a higher number of solely loyal customers for each brand are evident. In many
markets, the positive relationship between consumer satisfaction and repeat purchase has been
over-stated. There is ample evidence of satisfied customers churning in typical consumer
markets (Oliver, 1999). Usually, consumer churn is unintentional, as their regular brand is
either physically (for example, not stocked nearby) or mentally (for example, forgotten)
unavailable to them.
A sports season ticket is likely to be different, however. Sports fans rarely switch their
attitudinal loyalty, thus, their main form of protest against an unsatisfactory experience is to
lessen their degree of consumption. Typically, this manifests as a shift from season tickets to
casual ticket purchases, or from live attendance to television viewing. Whereas in many
markets a proportion of churn occurs because consumers forget which product they bought
last time or their product is unavailable (out-of-stock or not stocked in that store), the high
involvement of sports fans means they rarely forget about their team and will not readily
substitute one team for another. The main reasons for churn among habitual sports fans are
likely to be due to dissatisfaction or an inability to get to games (for example, having a
newborn or moving away from the stadium). Providing a satisfying season ticket product may
be more directly related to renewal (repurchase), and the management of satisfaction is
potentially more important to sports teams than to most other markets.
In addition, the sports product is inherently unpredictable because its outcome relies on
competitive sporting endeavour. The unpredictable nature of sporting contests has been
shown to be an important motivator of consumption (Kerstetter and Kovich, 1997). Such
unpredictability makes it very difficult to provide accurate or concrete information about the
content or quality of sports services in advance, which increases the level of uncertainty for
consumers. Participating in a marathon or watching a football match cannot be guaranteed
to satisfy or meet expectations, making them high in what Zeithaml (1981) called “experience
qualities”.

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For these reasons, sports STH can be expected to evaluate these products differently from
most other consumer products, meaning that simple adaptation of typical satisfaction and
service quality measures may not be appropriate here. Despite (or perhaps because of) these
complexities, consumers often become most heavily involved with these products. Fisher and
Wakefield’s (1998) examination of sports fans typifies the paradoxical behaviour that can
occur in relation to these products. They found evidence of poorly-performing teams
experiencing increased support and loyalty among their fans. This phenomenon may be
explained by the notion that many of these products are hedonic (pleasurable) in nature.
Traditional Customer Relationship Management (CRM) theory suggests that careful
management and monitoring of customer expectations, followed by service quality standards
that consistently meet those needs, are the keys to long-term success (Grönroos, 1990).
Alternative views suggest that attitudes more often form in line with behaviour, such that
people feel positively about brands they use and decisions they make, provided they meet
their needs (Sharp, 2010). Regardless of whether attitudes form before or after behaviour, it
is clear that positive attitudes correlate with repurchase, thus, managing the attitudes is
important.

STH acquisition
One of the key challenges for a sports team is how to grow its connection with its existing
fan-base, and encourage the transition from a supporter to a paid-up STH. This requires a
shift in the relationship status, away from casual “transactional” exchanges to a “relational”
connection and interactions that are based on co-operation and shared values.
A STH is a supporter who has taken the next step in terms of their personal connection
and involvement with a team, but not all fans will. With the added benefit that ticket scarcity
provides in driving season ticket purchases, it is clear that a large supporter base is a requirement
of a large STH base. Not all teams are equal, however, in terms of how well they make this
conversion and setting a STH target continues to be a point of contention for many.

Why fans choose to follow a team

Before we can consider growing a fan-base, it is important to understand what motivates
people to begin supporting a particular team. There are a number of reasons people are
attracted to supporting a particular sports team in the first place. These include:

1 Past success: There is no doubt that on-field success is a powerful customer acquisition tool.
Madrigal (1995) used the term “basking in reflected glory” (BIRGing) to capture how
success draws fans to a team. BIRGing, or bandwagon jumping, occurs because people
like to be associated with success and the benefits it brings. However, there are also more
tangible reasons why on-field success matters. Successful teams gain more exposure by
playing more games (if there are playoffs or access to other tournaments, for example, the
UEFA Cup), or playing in prominent games (such as championship deciders or finals).
Successful teams in the previous season are also more likely to be scheduled into prime
time slots in the following year. This greater exposure brings more sponsors, who in turn
raise the profile of the brand through associating with it in sponsorship “activations”.
2 Family and friends: Sports are, for most people, a conduit to connect with other people.
The so-called tribal nature of sports fandom is nothing more than people gathering
around a brand to form a community. For some people, the sporting experience is

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primarily about spending time with the people they attend with, and very little about
the teams playing or the outcome of the match. Children, strongly influenced by family,
will often follow teams in order to be part of the “tribe”.
3 Player affinity: A charismatic player can lead fans to become interested in that sport,
usually by crossing over from sports to other aspects of popular culture (for example,
rapping, dating a celebrity), or fans follow athletes from one team to another (see Figure
16.1). A gifted athlete will attract their own following as they embody the things that
often attract people to sports: excellence, aesthetic beauty, courage. The notion of seeing
“the best player of all time” can cause a huge upswell in support. In addition, you have
players who evoke other factors listed here, that drive interest in new teams as they move,
such as players from someone’s home town or college alma mater.
4 Geographic location: Regional pride is often embodied in a sporting team. Supporting a
team because it represents a region that someone identifies strongly with is commonplace
in world sports. In the US, allegiances to college teams are often stronger and more
lasting than to professional teams. The rationale being that college often is the most
enjoyable time of people’s lives and professional teams often relocate within the US.
More recently, allegiances to certain conferences, or competitions has been found, with
supporters identifying strongly with leagues based in certain regions or countries out of
regional pride.
5 Marketing aspects: As much as hardcore sports fans might find this objectionable, many
fans choose a team based on highly subjective measures such as colours, team songs, logos
or mascots. This may be a logical response to having to choose a team through social
pressure (for example, to be involved in work discussion on sports) and lacking other
grounds, such as those listed, to guide the decision.

Why fans become STH

Being a casual attendee has its advantages over being a STH, including greater flexibility and
low risk due to limited sunk costs.Why is it, then, that some supporters take their involvement
with the team to the next level and become active and “paid-up” STH? The top eight reasons
identified by McDonald and Stavros (2007) (with the percentage of customers citing each
reason as being the primary motivation for purchase) were:

1 To financially support the team (33.1%).

2 To feel more involved with or part of the team (19.8%).
3 To gain discounted entry (i.e. save money) (15.6%).
4 To gain a reserved seat (easier access) (10.3%).
5 As a social outing (7.8%).

Figure 17.1 Example of a tweet deriding “new” fans

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6 Friends or family STH wanted me to go to the games (6.0%).

7 Membership was given to me as a gift (2.4%).
8 Other (5.1%).

This list of reasons for joining is a mix of tangible and intangible motivations. They suggest
that STH are highly involved consumers whose consumption is as much about self-expression
and a reflection of core values as it is about entertainment or cost savings. Keep in mind that
they are fans first, and so the reasons for being a fan still impact their decisions to become
STH. For these fans, purchasing a season ticket is the best way for them to express their
connection with the team, to revel in team success and to mix with like-minded others.
McDonald and Stavros’s (2007) study identified that the motivations for joining as an STH
typically follows one of two patterns, depending on whether the team has capacity issues or
not. Where a team has capacity issues, there is a strong motivation for STH to join for access
purposes, particularly to have a regular reserved seat. Where sell-outs are not common, this
is less of a motivation, and the primary motivation is often to financially support the team.
In both cases, however, feeling involved with the team is a strong motivation for joining.
STH of teams that underperformed financially the previous year tend to join as STH to
support the team financially, which unfortunately does not provide long-term benefits to a
team. There are two main reasons for this: if the financial problems are resolved then the
original reason for joining the team disappears, but if the financial problems are not resolved
in a timely fashion, the original motivational driver may be deemed a lost cause. Although it
is recommended that teams note and publicly acknowledge the funds raised by STH (whether
it be through memberships or extra contributions), they should avoid using a call for financial
support as a marketing strategy to attract new STH. Instead, the emphasis should be on
benefits the team can consistently provide: access to stadiums, improved information and a
heightened feeling of fan involvement.

Member satisfaction and retention

Although acquisition is a critical and important part of STH management, marketing activities
must be designed to balance acquisition with the retention of existing STH. There has been
debate around where organizations should put the bulk of their efforts, but the simple facts
are that acquisition is necessary for growth and replacement of unavoidable churn, and
retention is often easier and lower cost. Customer retention relies on satisfying customers and
maintaining high brand awareness. Satisfied customers also spread word-of-mouth, which can
be a useful aid for the acquisition of new customers. Customer satisfaction is therefore critical
to the success of any business and in particular in membership-based organizations that rely
on maintaining enduring and interactive relationships with their customers.
Managing satisfaction levels takes a unique twist in a sports context where we know that
even unhappy members are unlikely to switch their support to another team. To demonstrate
their lack of satisfaction, sports team members are much more likely decrease their level of
consumption and revert to being casual supporters. In addition, where many services can be
difficult to assess, sports have at heart a contest, and performance in that contest is often
clearly signalled to all through the scoreboard.
While we know that the STH experience with their team is complex and multi-
dimensional, at a basic level their satisfaction (or lack of) can be expressed as the difference
between their expectations of the season ticket experience and their perception of the actual
experience.

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So which components of the season ticket package or experience are most important in
determining the overall level of satisfaction? What impact does this have on strategy and how
do teams perform overall?

What matters to members?

A study of nearly 8,000 STH identified seven core drivers of member satisfaction with
professional sports teams (McDonald, Karg and Vocino, 2013). Each of those broad drivers was
defined by a series of specific management or team actions. Table 17.1 provides an overview.

Table 17.1 Satisfaction drivers for season ticket products

Driver Items

Membership arrangements Convenience of entering the ground.

Member access to finals tickets.
Savings on game entry fees.
Quality of the season reserved seats.
Speed at which membership packages were sent.
Personal involvement Opportunities to mix with players.
Efforts to make members feel part of the team.
Opportunity for members to mix with other members.
Team values the importance of its membership base.
Members’ contributions are recognized.
Home ground As a place to watch football.
Feeling of a “home” ground.
Standard of facilities at the ground.
Ease of getting to the ground.
“Family-friendly” ground.
Service to members Helpfulness of team staff.
Number and range of functions.
Quality of the events or functions.
Value of functions.
Staff enquiry handling.
Marketing communications Clarity of the membership brochure.
Content of the official team website.
Content of the electronic newsletter, email and SMS updates.
Efforts to keep members informed about admin decisions.
Information provided on membership issues.
Social media and networking.
On-field performance Number of games won.
Position on the ladder.
Effort put in by players.
Standard of the play.
Team administration Administration of the team.
Functioning of the team board.
Financial position of the team.
Promotion of the team in general.

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The relevant importance of each satisfaction driver

Over the last 10 years, the satisfaction of season ticket holders has been measured using a
survey tool based on the drivers shown in Table 16.1. This survey tool has been used across
sports including Rugby Union, Rugby League, Cricket, Australian Football, Netball and
Soccer. The results are remarkably consistent in that the drivers always account for around
70–80% of STH satisfaction. The other 20–30% of satisfaction can be attributed to random
or unique events, too difficult to capture across a wide range of customers.
That said, the relative importance, and the contribution of each driver to overall satisfaction,
can vary between teams and sports based on factors related to the composition of the STH
base and the team’s circumstances. In particular, we know that the importance of each
satisfaction driver may vary with the number of years someone has been an STH and the
number of games attended in a given season. For example, depending on how many games
they attend, newer members may focus on tangible aspects such as membership arrangements
or service to members, while more established members are more likely to focus on personal
involvement and club administration. Teams that have had long losing streaks may find that
on-field performance becomes an increasingly important issue, and teams that share a home
ground with other sporting teams or have an ageing stadium may find that the home ground
facilities are more important.
Summarizing more than 150 of these studies on various teams and sporting codes,
the typical contribution of each driver to the overall satisfaction score is shown in
Figure 17.2.

Influencing and benchmarking sports STH satisfaction

A common question asked by managers is: “what is a good score on satisfaction ratings?”
The eternal problem with customer satisfaction measurement is that, over time, customers
quickly become used to innovations (for example, digital communications) and their
expectations of the service provider increase. It is here that some benchmarking is
required. Table 17.2 below captures the historical minimum, average and maximum scores
against each satisfaction driver as measured in one professional league’s STH surveys from
2004 until 2014.

Membership
arrangements
Personal Home
involvement ground
30 (
18( 10%

Overall
satisfaction
13(
Administration 14(
Service to members
12 ( 4(

On-field Marketing and

performance communicati
itions

Figure 17.2 Drivers of overall satisfaction

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Managing season ticket holders

Table 17.2 Satisfaction scores from one league: 2004–2014 (n=122 surveys)

Minimum Average Maximum

Membership arrangements 6.72 7.66 8.73

Service to members 6.33 7.73 8.90
Marketing and communications 6.53 7.82 9.11
On-field performance 0.90 6.07 9.92
Personal involvement 2.59 6.72 9.43
Administration 2.60 7.08 9.21
Home ground 5.06 7.67 9.62
Satisfaction 5.44 7.38 9.20
Expectations (met or exceeded) 3.97 6.33 8.40
Renewal probability 6.38 8.93 9.76

Note: All scores are on a 0–10 scale, where 0=highly dissatisfied and 10=highly satisfied, except
“expectations” where 0=well below, 5=as expected, 10=well above.

Increasing performance on individual drivers

From a management perspective, it is encouraging and empowering to note that out
of the seven key drivers of STH satisfaction, all but one (on-field performance) are directly
influenced by the team’s commercial managers. Each of the key drivers is now discussed in
more depth, with examples of activities that have influenced STH attitudes towards each
component.

Membership arrangements
The umbrella term of membership arrangements captures the core tangible product offering
of the team to its STH. It is not surprising that it is consistently the most important measure
in terms of overall member satisfaction.
As noted earlier, the importance placed on the most tangible aspect of a team membership
as defined here is relatively high for all STH, but declines with the length of membership
and the number of games attended. As members’ personal links with the team develop and
deepen, the less likely they are to evaluate their membership experience predominantly
through a cost–benefit value analysis. This has important implications for encouraging
member retention and managing churn, more on that in the relevant sections that follow.
Speed of membership and ticket delivery is consistently the most important satisfaction
element, yet at times still poorly executed by teams. Improving this activity should be relatively
easy to execute from an internal process perspective and is highly likely to have an impact on
the overall satisfaction rating.The growing trend towards outsourcing the fulfilment component
of STH must be balanced with potential risks of not having control over the delivery. The key
to successful fulfilment is not so much the actual time between order taking and fulfilment of
that order, but the way in which customer expectations are set and met. For example, if orders
taken by a certain date are promised to be fulfilled prior to Christmas, meeting that deadline
is likely to satisfy the customer, regardless of the interval. Failure to do this is likely to cause
significant issues for the customer (uncertainty of whether order has been lost, inability to
provide promised Christmas gifts), and will result in significant dissatisfaction.

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Personal involvement
In stark contrast to the highly tangible satisfaction factor previously described, personal
involvement is probably the most intangible of the seven key satisfaction drivers. Despite the
fact that it is a feeling more than a tangible benefit, and therefore hard to judge, STH typically
consider personal involvement to be critical to their overall satisfaction.
Each of the individual dimensions that feed into personal involvement are in direct control
of a team but, largely due to their intangible nature, it is often difficult to get the exact mix
right. A process of trial and error is therefore largely inevitable. The contribution that personal
involvement factors make to the overall importance can be expected to increase with the
length of membership. As members become more familiar with the team, their loyalty and
personal connection is likely to grow and they are more likely to shift from focusing as much
on the tangible aspect of the membership product to assessing how well they are made to
feel a part of the team.
Establishing, maintaining and developing the feelings of personal connection and involvement
is also an important factor in managing member churn and renewal, particularly with new
members who are most at risk. The particular dimensions of personal involvement can be
leveraged to create additional membership products designed for members who are unlikely or
unable to attend many games, that is membership options that offer a highly involved experience
that satisfies irrespective of on-field performance and a member’s ability to get to games.
Despite its importance, the overall performance rating (see Table 17.2) for personal
involvement is relatively low, with only on-field performance scoring lower for most teams.
To improve this, teams are encouraged to make planned, strategic efforts to increase attachment
and activate greater personal involvement. Examples include loyalty schemes that reward STH
based on length of membership, recognition of fans at games (especially having players thank
fans) and personalized communications. Perhaps the most effective way to build personal
involvement, however, is to ensure the organization is genuinely STH-centric, considering
STH in all decisions and ensuring they are well informed and recognized.

Home ground
The home ground driver captures tangible and intangible dimensions of a member’s
experience with their home stadium. The measures used here are a simplified version of what
Wakefield, Blodgett and Sloan (1996) called the “Sportscape”. For teams having particular
issues with low crowd attendance and satisfaction with the stadium experience, it may be
useful to return to the deeper Sportscape measures to gain a fuller assessment of the fan
experience at games. However, it is important to note that not all aspects of the home ground
are within the control of the team. Particularly in cases where venues or stadiums are shared,
there may be limits on the degree to which an individual team is able to customize the
facilities to suit their STHs.The spectator experience is increasingly influenced by technology,
as sports teams attempt to combat the convenience and enhanced viewing experience
available at home through broadcast. Given the difficulties often faced getting to a stadium
(for example, traffic, entry queues) and the impact of factors such as the weather, watching
sporting events at home has become increasingly attractive due to improvements in broadcast
technologies (for example, high definition, better camera angles and information) and the
quality of in-home equipment (for example, large screen television, surround sound).
Teams must continue to improve the in-stadium experience if they are to compete effectively
with broadcast sports. Importantly, there are some aspects of the in-stadium experience that are

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difficult to replicate elsewhere, notably the feeling of being part of a broader community and
having a direct influence over the outcome through fan behaviour (for example, cheering,
intimidating opposition players). These aspects must be enhanced and complemented by
efforts to reduce barriers to attendance. Paramount here are feelings of fan safety (for example,
a family-friendly environment) and ease of entry and exit. A sensory approach can be taken to
managing the stadium experience, whereby all five senses are evoked to provide a feeling of
“home” in the stadium (see Lee et al., 2012). Critical among the senses is touch: the stadium
must be comfortable and comforting in the way it makes fans feel safe and welcome. With
stadium redevelopments regularly exceeding $1 billion, there has been much attention paid to
the functional aspects of the stadium environment: seating, entry points, catering and technology.
However, the other senses all play a role in building a feeling of home ground.
The Seattle Sounders are a professional team playing in the American Major League Soccer
(MLS) league, and have been particularly successful in encouraging attendance and a feeling of
home ground in a shared stadium. Particular initiatives include a fan “march to the match”,
organized chants and “fight songs”, a marching band, special entrances for STHs, entertainment
around the ground and honour boards for STH photographs.

Service to members
Service to members broadly refers to the level of customer focus that is displayed by a team
and its staff, and the opportunities given to STH to interact with each other and the team.
Harking back to the SERVQUAL work of Parasuraman, Berry and Zeithaml (1991), the key
aspects of customer service are reliability, responsiveness, building trust and displaying empathy.
STH are characterized by a high degree of involvement with the team, and therefore could
be expected to be more demanding of team service staff.
One issue notable in sports organizations is the high use of volunteer labour, and the
prevalence of employees who are passionate about the organization. Many people dream of
working for their favourite sports team. This has its benefits, but can be counter-productive
in a service role. Highly passionate workers may lack the empathy for those fans not as
engaged. They may be critical of customers who require high service levels, for example
expecting “real fans” not to complain about the team. Training staff to be responsive and
empathetic is therefore highly important in this context.
Another difficult aspect to manage is the interaction between STHs and between STH
and the team. Simple benefits, such as allowing STH to attend functions and hear from players
and coaches, become difficult as STH numbers increase. Some functions, such as family days,
can be run in a manner that makes them scalable to large crowds. Others must be limited for
them to be effective, but this provides an opportunity to restrict these benefits to high-tier
membership products or to reward STH loyalty. Managing interactions between fans must
also be done sensitively. Although it is important to build a sense of community among fans,
it is again worth noting that hardcore fans are often disparaging towards new and less engaged
fans. Online chat rooms, for example, can be very intimidating places for non-experts, with
abuse common for “newbies”. Multiple communications might need to be established to
cater for the range of STH experiences sought.

Marketing and communications

The marketing and communications satisfaction component refers broadly to the key
communication channels and touch points that a team has established with its membership

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base. As such, it includes traditional forms of communication, such as mailouts and magazines,
and also emerging forms, such as social media and web content. Regardless of execution, the
purpose is to keep STH informed and connected to the team.
Communication is a key tool to establishing and maintaining a sense of personal
involvement among members, and as such, it is surprising that it does not rate higher in terms
of its overall contribution to the satisfaction score. In terms of opportunities for improvement,
qualitative discussions with STH highlight that:

• Members are critical of communications that are overly corporate and contain informa-
tion that is otherwise available to the general public, or at times even out-of-date.
• They seek a behind-the-scenes perspective into team life and events or a more passionate
“one-eyed” voice from the team.
• The responsibility for effective and targeted communications lies beyond that of just the
marketing department. Senior management and the board also have a role to play.
• Teams should take into consideration the different needs and drivers of unique member
segments and customize their communications where possible and practical.

Across the team satisfaction studies conducted, it is noteworthy that marketing and
communications is often the least important driver of satisfaction (contributing only 4% in
our aggregate model). Discussions with STH show the reason being that they are satisfied
with the communications they receive (expectations are consistently met, lowering the
importance of the element), but also that the communications they receive from the club are
often “bland” or “generic”, such that they are not distinguishable from media reports or other
sources of information. Teams are often very conservative in their communications, and are
restrained by league rules and codes of conduct, but fans expect the team to reflect their
passion. For example, if the refereeing was poor, fans would like the team to speak about it
in the same passionate and biased tones they do.

On-field performance
On-field performance is unique in that it is the only one of the key satisfaction drivers that
is largely outside the short-term control of the team management. In a sporting context, the
on-field success of a team is seen as central to the experience of being a fan and so it may
be surprising to learn that winning or losing does not have a strong direct influence on the
overall satisfaction score. This is because it is possible to provide a satisfying membership
experience, even when the on-field results are poor. This is done through ensuring the other
aspects of the membership experience are done well, and providing a buffer against the
fluctuations on-field. On-field performance tends to aid STH acquisition, but does not
impact greatly on STH retention. This is because most long-term STH accept that the results
on-field are part of the theatre of sports, and the team is so important to their identity that
even repeated failure on field does not damage their desire to stay connected to the team.
Although the direct effect is weak, there is evidence of a “halo effect” around winning
and losing. More specifically, the indirect impact of winning and losing is usually stronger for
satisfaction drivers such as personal involvement or team administration, and to a lesser extent
on elements such as home ground and membership arrangements. The administration are
held responsible for poor performance, and people feel less involved and connected to losing
teams. The halo effect, overall, is not large though. Teams need to be careful to manage STH
expectations of on-field performance.

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Administration
Team administration might seem a strange inclusion to a scale purporting to measure the STH
experience. STH can, and frequently do, judge the management and administrators of their
team, and it impacts on their overall satisfaction with the season ticket product. Many season
ticket products include the ability to vote for board members in general elections, something
which makes STH feel part of the organization even if they seldom exercise this right.
Academic research and qualitative discussions indicate that:

• STH have a strong opinion about the performance of a board, even if they are uncertain
about its exact role and responsibilities (compared with that of team management, for
example). There have been examples of dissatisfied sporting team members seeing team
boards overturned.
• Boards have been shown to have a strong impact on promoting a feeling of personal
inclusion and therefore have a direct impact on the personal involvement element of
member satisfaction.
• Boards need to be mindful of governing in an inclusive manner and taking the time
and effort to explain decisions and make themselves accountable and open to
scrutiny.

STH analysis of administration performance is often based on limited information, usually

gleaned from annual reports or media reports.Teams can be proactive in managing perceptions
of the administration in their communications efforts.

Member renewal and churn

With membership non-renewal rates often in excess of 20%, it is interesting to note that
despite their high level of involvement and loyalty, members of professional sports teams churn
at rates similar to customers of organizations in traditionally more volatile industries such as
insurance, mobile telecommunications and supermarket retail. We know that members very
rarely, if ever, switch teams, so why are the membership non-renewal rates so high? Which
members are most at risk and, most importantly, what, if anything can be done about it?

Member non-renewal rates

Churn rates vary significantly from industry to industry, and a there is a wide range of official
churn figures across different sports leagues internationally. At face value, churn rates among
the major US leagues (the NFL, NBA, and MLB) and the English Premier League
hover around an enviable 10% per annum. It is important to note that very often these averages
are kept artificially low by a handful of particularly popular teams that experience almost no
churn at all. The Green Bay Packers have churn reported to be under 0.05%, and consequently,
a famously long waiting list with more than 100,000 on it and a waiting time now close to
1,000 seasons. Some of the other lower profile teams in these leagues experience much higher
churn rates. For example, the Jacksonville Jaguars (NFL) reduced their churn rate from 32% in
2006 to a still high 26% in 2007. It is therefore very difficult to talk about a natural rate of
churn among STH of professional sports teams, but comparison with other subscription
markets (for example, insurance, fitness clubs, utilities) suggests that annual churn exceeding
10% is worrying.

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Why members leave

Although understanding customer loyalty and purchase behaviour is core to any business, this
can be particularly challenging for membership based organizations. This is often due to the
annual nature of most renewals, the limited two-way dialogue between members and the
organization and the broad range of reasons (tangible and intangible) that members have for
joining in the first place.
Research in a broad industry context tells us that the highest proportion of churn occurs
among the most recently acquired customers. We also know that while customer satisfaction
is an important factor in managing churn, it alone is not a reliable predictor of non-renewal,
with many satisfied customers also churning (see McDonald, Karg and Leckie 2014 for a
predictive model of STH churn).
So do sports team members differ in their behaviour? Although there are some unique
characteristics, in many ways the behaviour is similar to other service and membership based
organizations.
Industry specific research tells us that the majority of members who don’t renew do so as
they are not able to attend as many games as they would like and not necessarily because
they are unhappy. A 2007 study of more than 1,000 lapsed members across five large sporting
teams identified that over 70% of those who did not renew their membership, did so primarily
due to their inability to get to games following a change in their work or family structure.
The self-reported reasons for non-renewal were as follows. Lifestyle related reasons are
in italics.

• I can’t get to the games this year due to other commitments (33.1%).
• Changes in family structure made it hard to get to games (30.4%).
• Membership was not good value (14.3%).
• Friends or family members I used to attend with no longer go to games (7%).
• I prefer to watch football or rugby on TV (6.7%).
• I didn’t think the team would win many games in the following year (6.2%).
• I’m no longer interested enough in football/rugby (2.2%).

Although member satisfaction, on its own, is not a key predictor of membership renewal, it
continues to have an influence on member actions more broadly and cannot be ignored. The
previously named study found a positive relationship between member satisfaction and lapsed
members’ intention to rejoin. In addition, a subsequent 2010 study of more than 4,500
members (McDonald, 2010), confirmed that while some non-renewers leave when satisfied
overall, the total average satisfaction ratings of renewing members is higher than of those who
did not renew their memberships.
The length of the member–team relationship (years of membership) also has a strong
impact on the likelihood of membership renewal. Converting a fan to a member is a major
achievement but it is only a part of the story, with in excess of 33% of first year members
leaving at the end of their first year of membership (see Figure 17.3). First year members
cannot be considered to be fully engrained in the lifestyle of a club member. They are new
to the membership experience and are yet to develop links of mutual trust and commitment.
The 2010 study found that new members remain “at risk” until year 4 of membership, upon
which time churn likelihood stabilizes.
It is also interesting to note that excess demand (i.e., waiting list for memberships where
season tickets are limited) does not reduce churn. That is, despite the waiting list, it is the

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Supporters 1st year 2ndyear 3rd year 4th year 5 years Life time
members members members members d Iu s members

33.3% 17.5% 12.6% 7.5% 6.8%

Average industry churn rate

Figure 17.3 Churn rate by years of membership

newer members who form the bulk of those not renewing, and the overall churn rates for
teams with limited capacity are similar to those with “unlimited” memberships on offer.

Predicting churn
Extensive experience at team level provides a degree of intuition as to the most at risk groups
in terms of membership non-renewal. However, identifying and segmenting these members
in order to develop targeted prevention efforts is often a challenge. Recent studies have
attempted to predict churn with some success. McDonald, Karg and Leckie (2014) tracked
more than 10,500 STH from five professional sports teams across two years. At the end of
the first year, they developed a model to predict which STH would churn, then tracked
renewal over the following season.
The churn prediction model incorporated measures of four key areas: satisfaction,
probability of renewal (self-declared), games attended, and years of membership. The
probability of renewal measure was the Juster scale: a 0–10 scale where 0 is labelled “a 1%
chance” and 10 is “a 99% chance”. Each other scale point rises from a 10% chance (1) to a
90% chance (9) in 10% increments. The Juster scale is intuitive, and has been found to be a
more accurate measure than purchase likelihood measures that ask how likely someone is to
do something. The Juster scale alone was found to be a good estimator of overall churn, and
a reasonable predictor of churn at the individual level. That is, it tended to over-predict churn.
When combined with how long they had been STH and the ticket utilization, the model
could classify 81% of STH correctly as churners or stayers.This finding suggests two important
things. First, STH are good at predicting their own behaviour, they know when they are likely
to churn. That means staying in touch with STH is important. It also shows that although
STH attach emotionally to the team, if they don’t get into the habit of using the ticket over
time (at least three to four years), then they will churn.

Actions to consider
The fact that up to 70% of churn is due to lifestyle changes, and therefore classified as
involuntary churn outside the direct control of a team, can appear discouraging from a
management perspective. The obvious answer for teams may be to actively drive additional
attendance and encourage and reward renewals through various campaigns. Yet these efforts
often have mixed results. Why? Because new and low attending (and therefore most at risk)

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members evaluate their experience and the membership product in a fundamentally different
way to more established members. More specifically:

• Established members feel much more personally involved with the team and place a
higher importance on this feeling, and other intangible aspects, than new members. Their
attitudinal and behavioural loyalty develops over time.
• New members are much more likely to place emphasis on the tangible, easy to assess
aspects of their membership such as ticketing and facilities. They have only made one
purchasing decision, are new to the membership experience and are yet to develop the
deeper connections of more established members.
• As members become more ingrained with the team, their loyalty grows and they shift
from focusing on the tangible service delivery in a pure cost–benefit value analysis, and
are more likely to renew.

The results suggest that actively establishing and promoting the intangible aspects of a team
is vital in the first four years of membership and may be the key to managing churn among
low attending members. If teams are able to build a strong sense of community among their
newest members, and reinforce the value of those memberships to the team’s success, then
they may be able to shift the focus of those who are unable to get to many games.
Three broad streams of action are outlined as follows:

1 New and at risk members: focus on the intangible.

Consider establishing new members as a unique segment in the customer relationship
strategy and developing a new member management program. This program should
outline the team’s strategy for welcoming new members, ensuring that they know that
a membership is the best way to become more involved with the team and establishing
the feelings of involvement. Specific actions may include:
• Welcome events aimed at introducing new members to various aspects of the team
including key personnel.
• Ensuring reserved ticket holders are introduced to those around them.
• Personalized and targeted communications designed to bring a new member up-
to-date on the latest team developments, events as well as news from behind the
scenes.
2 Lapsed members: maintain dialogue and promote the membership community.
Maintaining feelings of connection is also important in managing lapsed members and
in any targeted “win-back” campaigns. Most lapsed members indicate that they have an
intention to re-join at a later point in time, particularly over a five-year period. It is
therefore important that teams maintain regular dialogue with this group and formulate
a win-back strategy. Actions may include:
• A regular and targeted communication plan developed especially for lapsed members,
designed to keep them informed of the latest developments while promoting the
value of the membership community and the additional insights gained only as a
member.
• Special offers and campaigns encouraging renewal, particularly by recognizing past
membership.
3 Increase the barriers to exit.
It is clear that a membership package needs to effectively balance the tangible (for
example, facilities, guaranteed or discounted entry) and intangible aspects (for example,

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closeness with the team, inside information). The intangible components need to be
valuable enough to make memberships worthwhile even if game attendance is unlikely.
The more a member feels like an integral part of the team, the less they examine the
tangible aspects of product in a pure cost–benefit value analysis, and the more they focus
on and value their unique experience. Teams therefore need to ensure that the member-
ship experience is differentiated or special enough to make casual supporter status dif-
ficult to even consider. This may include:
• Sharing valuable and very clearly “member only” insight into team life on a regular
basis. This may include direct communications from the coach or key players, candid
reports and photographs from player events, personal insights and opinions from key
staff.
• Encourage and facilitate the establishment of strong member communities. This may
be through events, special forums or organized transport to and from games. In
doing so teams should consider the individual needs of specific groups, for example,
senior members or single females who may be overwhelmed by and therefore avoid
large member functions.
• Signing STH to “auto-renewal” mechanisms (for example, automatic credit card
debiting) wherever possible.The increase in renewal rates makes it worthwhile offer-
ing some discounts for those on auto-renewal.

Conclusion
The management of STH is complicated by the subscription nature of the product and the
passion of the customers. With purchases only occurring annually in most cases, the
opportunities for acquisition are limited. With highly involved customers, the demands placed
on service staff and the product can be high. Fortunately, the research shows that if the season
ticket product is well-designed to include a mix of tangible and intangible benefits, STH can
be satisfied and will renew even during sustained periods of poor on-field performances from
the team. Acquisition must remain a focus, even for teams with long STH wait lists, but an
STH cannot be considered “rusted on” until at least three seasons of consecutive purchases.
Retention efforts therefore need to be front-loaded towards these initial years, assisting the
STH to connect with the team and other STH.

References
Fisher, R. and Wakefield, K. (1998). Factors leading to group identification: A field study of winners and
losers. Psychology & Marketing, 15(1), 23–40.
Grönroos, C. (1990). Service management and marketing: managing the moments of truth in service competition.
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Kerstetter, D. L. and Kovich, G. M. (1997). An involvement profile of Division 1 women’s basketball
spectators. Journal of Sport Management, 11(3), 234–249.
Lee, S., Lee, H. J., Seo, W. J. and Green, C. (2012). A new approach to stadium experience: The dynamics
of the sensoryscape, social interaction, and sense of home. Journal of Sport Management, 26(6),
490–505.
Madrigal, R. (1995). Cognitive and affective determinants of fan satisfaction with sporting event
attendance. Journal of Leisure Research, 27(3), 205.
McDonald, H. (2010). The factors influencing churn rates among season ticket holders: An empirical
analysis. Journal of Sport Management, 24, 676–701.
McDonald, H. and Stavros, C. (2007). A defection analysis of lapsed season ticket holders: A consumer
and organizational study. Sport Marketing Quarterly, 16, 218–229.

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McDonald, H., Karg, A. J. and Leckie, C. (2014). Predicting which season ticket holders will renew and
which will not. European Sport Management Quarterly, 14(5), 503–520.
McDonald, H., Karg, A. and Vocino, A. (2013). Measuring season ticket holder satisfaction: Rational,
scale development and longitudinal validation. Sport Management Review, 16(1), 41–53.
Oliver, R. L. (1999). Whence consumer loyalty? Journal of Marketing, 63, 33–44.
Parasuraman, A., Berry, L. L. and Zeithaml, V. A. (1991). Refinement and reassessment of the
SERVQUAL scale, Journal of Retailing, 67(4), 420–450.
Sharp, B. and Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science (Melbourne, Australia) (2010). How brands
grow: What marketers don’t know (Vol. 189). South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
Sharp, B., Wright, M. and Goodhardt, G. (2002). Purchase loyalty is polarised into either repertoire or
subscription patterns. Australasian Marketing Journal, 10(3), 7–20.
Wakefield, K. L., Blodgett, J. G. and Sloan, H. J. (1996). Measurement and management of the sportscape.
Journal of Sport Management, 10(1), 15–31.
Zeithaml,V. A. (1981). How consumer evaluation processes differ between goods and services. Marketing
of Services, 9(1), 25–32.

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18
SPORTS MARKETING
PROFESSIONALS’ EXPERTISE
AND KNOWLEDGE ON
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR1
Fabien Ohl and Gary Tribou

There is a variety of models available to comprehend consumer behaviour and a great deal
of literature on economic, sociological and psychological determinism, reflecting the existence
of multiple processes of influence. Income (Engel, 1857), symbolic dimensions of products
purchased (Veblen, 1899) and culture (Halbwachs, 1913) have become pertinent indicators
very early on. This pioneering work on consumer behaviour was further extended by
including analyses on the influence of tastes, preferences and lifestyles (Bourdieu, 1979;
Valette-Florence, 1989). Although most of the research allows us to understand the main
trends of consumption, it labours to explain the buyer’s decision-making process due to the
cultural pluralism of consumers (Lahire, 2004; Peterson and Kern, 1996).
Understanding purchasing decisions has instead drawn from integrative models, attempting
to take into account individual choices within the shopping environment. These models are
largely based on cognitive and social psychology to understand the influence of individual
and situational factors affecting perception, attention, memory and learning (Engel, Kollat
and Blackwell, 1968), or to understand, in a broader sense, the attitudes towards brands and
products (Howard and Sheth, 1969). Numerous studies have enriched this initial work
(including Volle, 2000; Guichard and Vanheems, 2004) and it seems established that the point
of sale has a significant influence on consumer behaviour. Most studies show that more than
half of the purchasing decisions to buy sporting goods are made in stores. 2 Although the
market share of online shopping is growing (18.4% in Europe, however, the weighted average
share in Europe in 2014 was 7.2%,3 in France the growth was +13.5 in 2013 and the market
share was 5.5% of the whole retail, but 17% for sporting goods), the experiences of objects
and shopping in traditional retailing are at the background of consumers’ experiences, pleasure
and satisfaction that are in mind and not “exclusively based on the physical experience of
using (and owning) an object” (Denegri-Knott and Molesworth, 2010). The internet mass
audience also depends on sharing processes of online reviewers and bloggers’ comments.
More broadly, online word of mouth has increased but it is based on consumers’ own
experiences (Sandes and Urdan, 2013) in which traditional shopping cannot be neglected.
Internet consumers are also using traditional shops to test, touch or try objects they can buy

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on the internet. Therefore, it is vital to consider the impact of product marketing and product
staging (Falk and Campbell, 1997; Barre et al., 2000; Cochois, 2002; Underhill, 2000).
We are not suggesting prolonging these analyses, but rather to understand, in a very
pragmatic way, what sports brand marketing managers do in order to incorporate the point
of sale effect on consumer purchasing behaviour. We interviewed 11 senior marketing or sales
managers in the sports industry to observe how certain sociologists analyse consumer
purchasing behaviour with respect to the products they purchase. But prior to considering
the elements gathered in the study conducted by the marketing professionals, it is essential
to specify the constituents of point of sale.

Dramaturgy in sporting goods stores

For the past ten years in France there have been profound changes in point of sale design. By
implementing specific dramaturgy, particularly with the use of suggestive decors, new stores
highlight the social importance of the purchasing act, and sometimes go beyond to change the
meaning of the goods purchased. Store characteristics (location, window displays, fixtures,
decorations, the nobility of materials, lighting, behaviour of personnel, and so on) alter the
perception of the articles’ intrinsic qualities, which also contribute to a scenic dimension of the
store. This promotion of products and location also induces the effect of increasing the value
of the consumer themself by symbolically drawing a benefit from their visits and purchases.
The store has gradually become an enchanted space for the consumer (Badot and Dupuis,
2001), a sort of jewellery case providing additional value to the goods sold. Conscious of their
image, sports companies seek distribution channels that allow them to promote their products.
They aim to associate to their products with sports hero stories or an exceptional physical
image and social success, thus providing reference points for the consumer, hence the strategy
to offer their own enchanted point of retail space which, themselves, become objects of
consumption. Companies have created the concept or flagship store, such as those developed
by Nike (Niketown) or Adidas (Adidas Megastore), to provide additional value to the brand
and its products (similar to works of art displayed in museums), as well as to the visitor who
has just relived a social experience and wants to share it with others in the form of stories
(Gerval and Kremer, 2009). The dramaturgy of concept stores includes the design of the
façade (in an urban environment it can provide additional value), the interior space and layout
(colours, materials, height and format of display shelving, and aisle layout), product
merchandising, animated storyboards and digital screens, and posters of sports celebrities
referencing high-profile events. All of these elements contribute to increasing the value of
the products and consumers who buy them. Penaloza (1998) showed how Nike, the
manufacturer, had pushed the boundaries of concept stores by bringing the consumer to live
his dream (you can still read on the pediment of the Chicago store: “To all the athletes and
their dreams – we dedicate Niketown”). The store seems to answer consumers’ expectations
to escape everyday life, a desire often felt but not expressed by consumers (Gottdiener, 1995).
For instance, Giacomelli Sport stores are known to display sports with an aesthetic flair: you
will find boxing rings where customers can be initiated or skateboard ramps where teenagers
put on a show. The consumer is attracted to the sporty atmosphere, and with this emotional
support takes pleasure in wandering around (so called fun shopping or “retailtainment”) in a
retail space that feels more like a lifestyle centre rather than a point of sale. If the merchandise
is attractive, they may give in to the temptation of some impulse purchases. The increase of
online shopping is not in contradiction with the idea of a store as an enchanting place that
gives value to the goods. Although there are multichannel retail outlets (Rajagopal, 2011),

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the store is still a key place for consumers because it is the sole place where they experience
goods with all five senses. Furthermore, online shopping is not consumption excluding a
bodily experience because internet avatars seems to contribute to a kind of “reembodiment”
of the consumer (Belk, 2013).

Purchasing sporting goods is a life experience

We cannot understand purchasing behaviour of sporting goods, often characterised by
symbolic tones (Ohl, 2003; Ohl and Tribou, 2004), solely based on utility and rational
purchasing models. Without excluding the rationalisation processes (with respect to the
quality–price ratio), it seems necessary to consider purchasing as an experience while taking
into account perceptions, emotions and passions.
Following in the footsteps of Holbrook and Hirschman (1982), Cova (2000), Ladwein
(2003) and Carù and Cova (2006) developed an experiential model that reveals more
behavioural traits of sensory and physical stimuli, rather than cognitive characteristics. The
studies show how consumers’ senses are mobilised at the point of sale: looking at the displays
that emphasise products, touching items that the consumer enjoys manipulating (to grab
sports equipment or a sports garment contributes to the customer feeling more committed
toward the item),4 listening to sound effects (Holbrook and Gardner, 1993), and smelling
scents used to create an olfactory ambiance (Hetzel, 2002; Rieunier, 2009).

The impact of stores on purchasing decisions

In their study on shopping, Kaltcheva and Weitz (2006) showed that the influence of supply is
largely dependent on customers’ buying motive, emotional state and types of commitment to
shopping. Consequently, the same reasoning can be perceived very differently depending on
whether something is purchased for pure pleasure or somewhat constrained. But for a retailer
or a brand, it is difficult to identify a customer’s feelings or buying motive, and especially to
affect them. Some tricky merchandising cannot transform purchasing an item from a pleasure
purpose into a utilitarian one. Nonetheless, suppliers will try to take advantage of customers’
attitudes by adapting the material and human environment of the store as best as they can in
order to maximise sales (Miller, 1998). Guichard and Vanheems (2004) spoke of several factors
influencing the course of consumer shopping. At first, they highlighted the impact of factors
within macro-merchandising, those related to point-of-sale design (such as location of
departments when travelling through the store, aisle layout and end displays), as well as micro-
merchandising factors (facing items on shelf displays that may grab a customer’s attention,
dimmed lighting, the warmth, attractiveness and reassuring aspect of colours, and more or less
tailored, upbeat background music, and so on). The lack of music seems to reduce the time
spent in stores, where the tempo of music played gives a certain rhythm to purchasing, and that
the musical style is an efficient means for brand targeting and positioning (Rienier and Daucé,
2002). Other authors observed an average gross sales increase of 12% thanks to music but also
mention the complexity of the influence of music. The influence of music depends on the
tempo, the mode (major or minor) and can also vary in relation to the level of stimulation that
shoppers appreciate (Knoferle et al., 2012) and the way this corresponds to the shopping context
(type of store, clients targeted, Woermann and Rokka, 2015). Relations between sales assistants
and clients are an essential element in retail (Gremler and Gwinner, 2008; Ewing, Pinto and
Soutar, 2001). Consequently, in the field of sports retail, Ohl and Tribou (2004) pinpointed that
certain elements in a human environment, as well as those related to sales interactions, respond

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to a need of sociability and social recognition of buyers. These include the way sales assistants
behave (more or less technical, empathetic, warm, sincere, and exemplary), and the way other
clients behave (those who give a certain social and cultural flair to the retail space, Péretz, 1992).
The scope can also break the purchase routine or purchase intent, or lead to future purchases,
by sending a strong signal to consumers. For example, a promotional offer or aggressive
advertising will provide immediate satisfaction (by putting forward a less expensive product and
providing superior symbolic benefits to the advertising) that will get rid of the persuasion effect
exerted upstream. However, we must remain prudent. Conflicting influences were identified
depending on the motivational and emotional state of consumers, and on the consumer category
and time element (Kaltcheva and Weitz, 2006). More broadly, consumers’ experiences depend
on the physical set-up of a shop, on the bodily routines and skills, interactions and cultural
understanding of a shop (Woermann and Rokka, 2015).
This leads professionals to continuously adapt the layout and design of retail space based
on the responsiveness of consumers and their dominant motivations at the moment in order
to be able to hold onto clients. It is this managerial approach that we propose to analyse.

Understanding the influence of point of sale: resorting to

marketing professionals
We used two main data sources. Box 18.1 shows primary data in the form of interviews with
senior marketing managers and sporting good brand managers; shopper studies provide
documentary data showing sales results in store departments from conducting experiments with
shelving displays. We have not presented a model of consumer behaviour needing validation.
Classic models inspired by Engel, Kollat and Blackwell (1968), or even those by Howard and
Sheth (1969), multiply the variables that should be taken into account to understand the
consumer. If these parameters have undeniable heuristic values, their huge diversity requires
limiting a scientific approach to the observation of one of the influencing factors (for example,
memory, attention or motivation). However, the managerial limitation of these models centres
on the fact that the knowledge they bring does not allow us to understand what the customers
are actually doing during a purchase. This explains why we have chosen to use an approach
inspired by the Grounded Theory (Glaser and Strauss, 1967), which suggests using observations
as a starting point. Our inquiry is similar to that of Bessy and Chateauraynaud (1995) who are
interested in analysing how experts or ordinary stakeholders evaluate the objects that surround
them.They emphasise the role of perception in developing expertise and take snapshots to assess
the value of objects. The term “snapshot” is used to describe the relationship between people
and objects, and focuses on all the benchmarks used by the consumer in a position of expertise:
perceptions, representations, principles, values and cognitive memory are all confronted when
assessing the value of objects. Thus, we can argue that the role of the marketing manager is to
provide snapshots to the consumer so that he can positively evaluate objects and so that his
willingness to pay is as high as possible (Grewal and Baker, 1994). The staging of the articles in
the store and, more specifically, the images and stories that accompany them (especially the
reference to sports heroes) will arrange the perception of products in a manner that the
consumer can perceive the articles in the most positive way.This requires the indices to converge
and for the brand, product packaging, department decorum, materials, posters, lighting, colours,
and so on, to help identify the same product quality. Dissonance (for example, a fashion product
lost in a handball aisle) can confuse customers, while consistent signs (the same product
supported by persuasive advertising) facilitate product expertise and favourably influence the
decision-making process.

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Box 18.1 Survey approach

In addition to a secondary analysis of quantitative data provided by the shopper studies, eleven
marketing and sports brand sales managers were interviewed: Marketing Director of Adidas Sport
Style France division (S.R.); Director of France Trade Marketing (M.G.); Marketing Studies
Manager, Business Development, Adidas France (H.B.); Director of Marketing of Reebok France
(G. de M.); CEO of Puma France (R.T.); Director of Sales, Lifestyle, Puma France (J.R.S.);
Director of Marketing, Lacoste World (C.M.); Marketing Manager of Raidlight France (J.T.);
Director of Retail Marketing of Skins World (M.G.); Director of Rage, former Director of
Marketing, Le Coq Sportif (F.R.); Manager of La Mesure Marketing (M.S.). The interviews were
administered face to face in May and June, 2011. We would like to thank the managers, especially
I. Calvar-Medec, for their extremely helpful contributions.
The sample was chosen based on three factors. First we wanted to have a homogeneous sample,
so the investigation was limited to France. Second, the sample selected was relatively narrow
because of the limited number of sports brands. It is also narrow due to the difficulties some sales
managers have in sharing their knowledge, because of the competitive market but also out of the
fear of being judged. Third, and most important, is that we followed a data saturation principle,
inspired by Glaser and Strauss (1967), Grounded Theory. Although more interviews could have
been of interest, to explore new questions or analyse the discourses and practices in more detail, or
to take into account the effect of the size of the company or the experience of the sales manager,
for our very limited subject, the last interviews we realised did not really bring new input, thus
confirming a principle of “data saturation”.
Interview guide: a three-fold approach:

1. What is the overall impact of the store on purchasing behaviour and more precisely, the impact
of the design and layout, props, display of articles, and sales assistants’ speech and behaviour?
2. What importance does marketing have on the studies conducted on purchasing behaviour
(shopper studies) with respect to consumer studies?
3. How should we apply the findings to trade marketing?

The role of point of sale within sports brand strategies

The interviews indicate that, overall, the point of sale is fully integrated into the brand
strategy as a key factor in the purchase decision. According to the marketing director of
Reebok, “the organisation of the store is the key factor: first, find what I am looking for, then
it is the entrance into the department organised by brand, by purpose, and price, and then
comes the dramatisation (props) of the offer, the elements of explanation of the product and
the seller”. Most agree that the sales assistant is very important; he is “the key number one
person responsible to either provide technical explanations or tell the story of the product”
(CEO of Puma and Marketing Manager of Raidlight both concur). According to the sales
manager of Lifestyle Puma, “if we provide incentives for the sales assistants, we can potentially
double the sales of a product”. But the sales assistant must act in an opportune environment.
For the director of the Rage agency, “the three key elements are the following in order of
importance: merchandising, professional development of sales assistants and finally, trade, event
and entertainment operations”. The Director of Trade Marketing for Adidas commented: “in

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technical categories such as football and running, the sales assistant is the key factor to direct
the client; in impulse purchase categories such as textile training, it is necessary to stage the
product”. Competition from the web does not seem to challenge the main role played by the
point of sale. The marketing director of Lacoste insists that, for her “the store is the only place
where there is a real possibility of interaction with the customer”. This is also maintained by
the Branch Manager of Marketing of La Mesure: “Since the advent of e-commerce, the store
has now become the goal of providing the shopper with a life experience; this is a challenge
for the web to shop.” All agree that the choice of a product goes through three key moments
that forge expertise. The first step is the “outstore” experience or that of “pre-shopping”, a
stage during which media brand communication, influences by family or friends (sometimes
in the form of instruction or order) and product placement are crucial tools. The second step
is the decision to buy in stores (to which we will return) and which is a critical time of
purchasing. The consumer decides when facing a tangible product on shelf-display. The third
step is to take into account the use of the product: does the product purchased and utilised
meet the expectations in terms of comfort, performance, durability or even design? The
positive or negative assessment will generate decisions regarding subsequent purchases of the
brand or product. These three steps are the key phases in which the consumer may decide to
switch from one brand to another or from one model to another.
Until the late 1990s, brand marketing had focused its resources on the pre-shopping and
especially on advertising communication with the widely shared belief, at the time, that a
favourable attitude towards the brand after some persuasive action translates into a purchase
(Ducrey, 2010). For the last ten years or so, there has been a rebalancing of allocation of
resources in favour of actions in the stores (merchandising practices, promotions, advertising,
and so on), and even a turnaround in priorities. Thus, according to the Marketing Director
of Adidas Sport Style, “the clarity of the offer and staging are more important than the
upstream communication: leading the eye, articulating the product range and the product
benefit, then seducing by zooming in on the product and finally, reassuring the customer
through a sales pitch”. “The store has just as much influence as advertising or sponsorship”
(F.R., Rage branch) and “it is inside the store that a brand can make the customer live through
the strongest experience” (C.M., Lacoste). The Director of Retail Marketing of Skins
summarises that “ideally, we should relay actions taken outside of the store inside the store,
to support branding with the use of sponsorship or advertising”.
These new strategies were the result of repeated studies on the consumer in purchasing
situations (often called the shopper). The study findings converge to indicate that, for instance,
the power of influence of point of sale is more evident when buying sporting goods compared
with buying food. Indeed, it was noted that 60–90% of purchases are decided in store.5 The
lowest score (less than 60%) corresponds to the purchase category of items bundling soccer
jerseys and shoes. The highest scores were recorded for running shoes (about 90%) and men’s
clothing (75%). Among these purchases decided in stores, we find purely impulsive purchases
(purchases by consumers who had absolutely no intention of purchasing this type of product)
with a score of 10% spent for men’s clothing and more than 40% for football jerseys.

Contributions from shopper studies

Beyond the information that allows modulating decisions according to product families,
shopper studies lead to a more qualitative decoding of the purchase process. According to G.
de M. (Reebok), “these studies are very useful to understand shoppers: they provide a snapshot
of the way customers shop”. They “complete the panels, store checks and exchanges with the

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sales assistants” (J.R.S., Puma). “Following the sellout is insufficient (and) it is interesting to
cross-reference sellout and studies” (H.B., Adidas). “(The studies) are used to understand what
works in optimizing actions and budgets” (M.S., Adidas). Hence, according to the person in
charge of Retail Marketing for Skins,

[B]uying is often an unconscious act (and it is necessary) to truly understand what

happens in terms of influences. (Thus,) by cross-referencing shopper studies and
store sales, one can make the right decisions in terms of actions. For instance, a
conclusion was reached that, in Europe, it is necessary to explain the product benefit
and to educate the customer (while in) Australia, the market is more mature and the
stake is higher with sales promotion.

There are two types of questions being asked. What are the entry keys that make a buyer go
into a department (what makes the buyer frequent this area more specifically rather than
another one)? What are the criteria in terms of linear choice, notably the relationship with
the brands in each product category (what triggers choice of this specific item of this specific
brand)? According to the Director of Trade Marketing for Adidas,

[W]e use shopper studies to determine the entry keys into each department in order
to better segment the department. For instance, in the department devoted to
running, the customer expects a segmentation based on use (intense vs. recreational)
while in the leisure department, the customer expects a segmentation according to
brand or style.

Therefore, “the layout of the products must follow customer expectations and customer uses
rather than the range of manufacturers.” To answer these questions, marketing professionals
muster three types of methods. First, they proceed with gathering consumer groups outside
of the store to gauge expectations in terms of departments. For instance, what are the expected
legitimate items in a running department? Running shoes, of course, technical clothing as
well, but should it also be stocked with specialized luggage, energy food and drinks, stop-
watches, goggles, fragrances, and so on? The second method focuses on in-store observation
of consumers and interviews of consumers involved in buying.6 According to S.R., Adidas:
“this allows us to see the instinctive elements of decision making as the answers to
questionnaires are less reliable.” The objective is to better understand the buying logics,
notably, the entry criteria into a department and decision criteria (especially compared to
brands and prices). Third, experts perform classic quantitative inquiry on buyers in order to
measure buying volumes in each segment. It has been observed that in a department devoted
to men’s all-sports clothing, three types of uses map out to three types of items: one use is
for sports practice and involves 35% of the department buyers looking for technical and
performance products; another use is for relaxation and leisure and involves 36% of buyers
seeking technically simple and comfort items, and a non-sport-oriented usage geared towards
group outings, comprising rather young consumers seeking highly-symbolic brands and
products exhibiting a remarkable design (about 29%).

Store operationalisation
Marketing professionals leverage the studies in two ways. First, they will draw a decision-tree
showing the consumer during the purchasing phase in order to understand how the consumer

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Customers, spectators and fans

will mobilise different perceptions of the product in order to assess its value. In other words,
in what order will they mobilise their different perceptions of the product attributes in order
to guide their purchase? Will they first choose a brand, then a price level, then a product
following their usual practice or will they proceed in a different order? The stakes are high
as this will lead to choices regarding packaging (what should appear on the front of the
package?) and merchandising (product information, labelling, advertising elements). For
instance, will a runner base his choice on the type of shoe (a specific shoe for men with
reassuring attributes and presentation)? Will the attention focus primarily on the intensity of
the practice (beginner, experienced, competitor, short and long distances, occasional or
regular user) while ignoring price? Or will it be the reverse? It is also interesting to focus on
the way the criteria will be combined to expertly assess the object value. Beyond the
psychological price (*80 in 2011), running shoes must stand out for the consumer to make
a purchase decision or they must be highly valued among practice experts. All these elements
are critical and must factor in the decisions around optimal display organisation so as to
translate purchasing intent into actual purchase. If the display organisation does not allow the
consumer to reference a perception that gives the purchase some sense, they will postpone
their purchase.
The studies previously mentioned also show that the keys to entries into departments
vary greatly. In an area devoted to replica soccer jerseys (meaning that they are imitations
of official club jerseys), the first key will mostly be the sports club, the sports celebrity or
the team, then second, the product type and its technical characteristics. However, in an
area devoted to soccer shoes, the first key is the brand. This drives manufacturers and
distributors to take joint steps in managing categories by pooling information and their
competencies so as to offer the consumer a universe which favours their positive expertise
of objects (Lopes, 2011).
Beyond the decision tree, the second way of operationalising the studies consists of
identifying purchasing criteria within a department: the price displayed, the product design,
highlighting the product technicality, brand, and so on. Remarkable differences arise according
to the department and the way objects are valued. For instance, the criterion used to choose
a running shoe is comfort and technical nature, while price is the criterion when choosing
a textile for a man’s shoe; for a leisure shoe, the criterion will more likely be its originality
and perception with respect to fashion tenets and tendencies (Ohl, 2003). It would nevertheless
appear that sales interactions are rarely taken into consideration in shopper studies even
though the literature underscores its importance in general (Gremler and Gwinner, 2008)
and specifically for sports (Ohl and Tribou, 2004).

How should we influence the buying process for sports items?

Based on the result of shopper studies, the person in charge of marketing will attempt
to accompany the client right through the buying process by guiding perceptions and
their consonance. To accomplish this, merchandisers of the brand are entrusted with a
mission to work with distributors. They must first drive the customer to look at the
product, then make them want to hold it, try it on and then choose it before bringing
it to the cashier. Indeed, according to S.R. Adidas, “the main buying triggers are instinc-
tive (meaning spontaneous)”. “The classic trade marketing (such as incentives and games) is
worn down and only the brand which puts forth something unusual is a winner, the
one which attracts attention, which is animated and interacts with the customer” (F.R.,
Rage).

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Give visibility to the product

According to Skins Retail Marketing, “in order to emerge from the plethora of brands and
products, one must hail the consumer”, and notably “produce break-outs” (H.B. Adidas). To
attract gaze, the merchandiser will attempt to make products needing to be promoted stand
out. The locations of favourable exposure typically are the window displays that grab the
consumer right at the store entrance, the front or end displays at the intersection of high-
traffic aisles and the eventful zones in which staging is optimised (“to attract the client into
the store hot areas” according to Adidas’ H.B.). The brand must be clearly identifiable, which
demands that codes be put forth (the logo at a minimum) and communication campaigns
highlighting the image of athletes under contract, so as to show coherence and redundancy
between the information perceived within and outside of the store (media, posters, and so
on). Indeed, upstream communication must be activated within the store in spite of the risk
of being overlooked in the context of visible competition between brands (on shelf displays).
This is why investments in sports brands with strong competition are particularly common
in stores in various new formats: corner location, shelf displays or furniture assuring the
brand’s visibility. Hence, “for Reebok, the shoe offer has been gathered on a wall space
entitled ‘Fit For Life’ in order to create a breakout island” (G. de M., Reebok). All professionals
interviewed insist on the importance of creating such a breakout as “it enables a change in
the purchase triggers and a disruption of the codes” (S.R., Adidas) and therefore, “creates a
difference in favour of the brand” (G. de M., Reebok).

Giving rise to physical commitment

The first method to bring the consumer to grab the product is organising the department
according to its decision-tree. If the consumer is guided by price, then promotional offers
should be displayed conspicuously; but this might put the image of technical quality at risk
(as it is difficult to put forth several arguments at once). A second method focuses on traffic
fluidity among departments (a cluttered aisle dissuades venturing into it) and making available
areas where the consumer can handle goods and perform sporting trials (such as testing a
shoe by dodging a few racing steps or a racquet by simulating a backhand, and so on) as the
difficulties around space restrictions sometime explain poor advertising performance.
Visual perceptions must be confirmed through touch and physical engagement. Therefore,
the handling and trying of the products occur in an adapted layout using appropriate furniture:
benches to try on shoes, clear areas for tests (for instance, Decathlon provides marked hallways
to try bicycles), functional fitting rooms, and even all kinds of sports testing equipment
(walking and racing simulators, climbing walls, and so on) Currently, “a lot of work is being
done to develop furniture best adapted to these recommendations” (C.M., Lacoste).

Acting on the perception of product value

The commercial success of the process also comes through a theatrical form of the space
at two different levels: bend the perception of the product value and trigger positive emotions
towards the act of purchase. According to the General Director for Puma France, “one
must inject seduction into in-store advertising”. For instance, “Lacoste has taken measures
which raise its mythical polo shirt to star status (and) a selling ceremonial has been developed
for sellers: what speech should be used, what story should be told, what product quality to
extol” (C.M.).

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Beyond the simple visibility of the products, fixtures are geared to promoting a positive
perception, which leads to the consumer attributing a higher value than that of competing
products.The quality of materials (wood, metal, glass, plaster or plastic), the type of presentation
(isolated product or presented in a lot, facing) or also density, height or width of the departments
must contribute to optimising a favourable product expertise. Judgments, especially in sports,
can also be influenced by emotions. Mirroring journalistic sportive narratives, objects also
embody heroic stories, reflect local or national identities, male or female of a generation
reflecting their age, who are celebrated by sporting events. One does not buy an ordinary
object but an object which brings to light cultural categories (Douglas and Isherwood, 1979)
and, in the case of sports, often reflects passions and identity assertions. Hence, sporting objects
can be used as “extended-self ”, a type of identity extension (Belk,Wallendorf and Sherry, 1989;
Ohl, 2003), notably in the case of soccer jerseys (whose purchase generally is motivated by
passion and identifying with the champion whose name is on the back of the jersey). Marketing
specialists are going to exploit this emotional register by invoking the atmosphere of the games
(recordings of stadium clamours, videos of famous matches) and to display soccer celebrities
who are contracted sponsors of the brand (some iconic player of a large European club whose
image is flashed). The objective is to make the consumer dream, to introduce an emotional
and sentimental variable in his decision schema, which will comfort or even replace the cold
utilitarian expertise based around the quality-price ratio. However, a running department will
not be structured in this way because a consumer who practices running values a technical
purchase based on actual usage more highly. Even if an advertisement featuring a marathon
runner can move them, the consumer will keep in mind their training constraints and their
physical and technical running difficulties (pronator or supinator, with a strong kick or a
slender foot, for paved surface or trails, and so on). For this more utilitarian buyer, expertise
(and therefore the value attributed to the product) will depend more on technical arguments.
It is incumbent to optimise the readability of the information by highlighting technicality,
innovative concepts and by sometimes using a pedagogical format. The value attributed to a
product can also be strengthened by the expertise of a sales assistant who is recognised as
a specialist, someone who can play the role of influencer as long as the customer needs are
well defined (sporting use or misuse of purpose?).

Conclusion
Although neglected by sports brands for a long time, today the point of sale is fully integrated
into marketing logic. Brands and signs collaborate, combine means and build a common
expertise so as to understand consumer behaviours. Nevertheless, two limits threaten this
desire for synergy. The first such limit shows up in the strategies of brands developed by
distributors who have also become manufacturers and who espouse direct commercial
confrontation logic with other brands (by highlighting a better quality-price ratio). A second
limit can be found with manufacturers who develop their own distribution networks enabling
them to control all the levers of promotional advertising. This market tendency, whereby
distributing manufacturers clash with manufacturing distributors, runs the risk of undermining
the very concept of trade marketing, which depends on a loyal collaboration between them.
Indeed, in order to improve the efficiency of their actions, distributors and sports brands must
continue producing knowledge of consumers in a purchase situation.
Let us also underline the need to take into consideration elements of analysis of “ordinary”
economic actors (i.e. those who are not academic researchers). Specifically, without referencing
scientific models, these actors manage to develop a high level of expertise through simple

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observation and empirical applications. By systematically observing purchasing behaviours,

they treat the consumer the way a consumption sociologist would. It might be fitting to
reflect on the famous quote from Becker (2002: p. 12) for whom “whoever produces
interesting work about society is a sociologist”.

Notes
1. This chapter is based on an article published by the authors in collaboration with I. Calvar-Madec
(Calvar-Madec, Ohl and Tribou, 2012).
2. For example, the study, POPAI Dupont Drugstore Shopper Study, quoted by Vandercammen (2006, p.
148), indicates that 69% of sporting goods purchasing decisions are made in stores.
3. Center for Retail Research, www.retailresearch.org/onlineretailing.php, and Fevad (French
Federation of e-retail and distance shopping), www.fevad.com/uploads/files/enjeux2014/Chiffres_
Cles_2014.pdf
4. For instance, the brand Citadium hides price stickers inside the shoes to incite the customer to pick
up and feel the shoe first.
5. Interview responses to the question regarding the percentage of purchases decided in stores indicate
a range of 50–70% impulse purchases (S.R., G. de M., R.T., J.R.S.). For example, “at Courir, only
25% of customers had a specific idea in mind of what they wanted to buy when entering the store”
(J.R.S.).
6. For this purpose, there are ad hoc tools such as “the yes tracking to identify the shopper’s journey
through the store” (H.B., Adidas) or “the counting video camera that measures the time a consumer
spends looking at a shelf display, minimum retaining time: 2 seconds” (M.S., La Mesure Marketing).

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19
A METHODOLOGY TO
CLASSIFY SPECTATORS
The case of AIK in Stockholm

Sten Söderman

Introduction
Supporters are the lifeblood of professional football. Without its supporters, professional
football would be no different from an amateur sport or pastime. While most players and
coaches change clubs during their career, supporters retain their commitment through thick
and thin and remain faithful to their team, forming the bedrock or foundation of their club.
These are the words of the UEFA president (UEFA, 2011).
A significant feature of football is that it is about winning and this focus is transferred to
the supporters through emotions. After a loss, the supporters become depressed. Fan
experiences are strongest and “direct” in the arena, but it is the “indirect” type of experience
that grows strongest. On 22 June 2006, the Sweden vs England game was seen by 52,000
direct viewers present at Köln Stadium, and 56 million people in Europe had an indirect
experience as viewers – the digitalized fans – of a televised broadcast. In Asia, a large number
saw the game indirectly through their mobile phones or computers (Söderman, 2013: 15).
Professional team sports, like other forms of popular culture, are attractive and highly
marketable. Furthermore, technological advances and globalization have expanded the
potential marketplace for professional sports organizations. For instance, Barcelona FC has
144,756 club members, whereas Bayern Munich tops Barcelona with 251,000 members
(Jarosz, Kornakov and Söderman, 2015: 126). Barcelona is believed to have 70 million
supporters worldwide, whereas Manchester United, which boasts more club members,
151,079, is reported to have 659 million fans and supporters worldwide (United, 2012). The
income from a game, often referred to as match-day revenue, is a critical factor in the club’s
economic equation. How does the club learn about the spectator-club development?
The Swedish national football team fell from second place in 1994 to 35th place in 2009,
then to 39th place in 2015 in the FIFA global ranking. Some analysts argue that the uncertainty
surrounding football governance in Sweden (Gammelsæter, 2009; 2010), coupled with a lack
of money in the Swedish football league, makes it difficult to retain the best players, who
leave for better European leagues (Gammelsæter, Storm and Söderman, 2011). Due to rapid
technology development, it is a challenge to estimate direct and indirect audiences in football.
The spectators are scrutinized more and more due to unsuitable and dangerous behavior
before, during and after matches inside and outside the stadium. Therefore, the need for

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knowledge of spectators is vital. A number of control mechanisms are implemented in

different countries. There are also a number of driving forces leading to an increase of
integrity rules protecting people’s privacy.
Who are the spectators visiting the arena – the direct audience – and why do they not
stay at home watching TV? A further aspect is the club’s constant struggle for revenues using
ticketing, sponsorship, media and merchandising (Andreff and Staudohar, 2000) as the four
revenue streams. The development of new stadiums based on the cases of Parken in
Copenhagen and Ryavallen in Borås, as well as the study by the Association of Swedish
Football, recommends better facilities for the audience (Olsson, 2008). Tele2 and Friends
arenas in Stockholm, and Swedbank Stadion in Malmö, are three of the many new arenas
that were constructed in recent years as a consequence of the aforementioned study. The
audience per match in Sweden in Allsvenskan was 6,518 in 2010, 7,326 in 2011, 7,210 in
2012, 7,627 in 2013 and 8,014 in 2014. In 2014 the AIK club had the highest number of
spectators (in the new Friends arena).
The construction of an arena can be linked to services. The increase in competition
resulting from the continuous development of innovative production techniques brought a
general democratization of most consumer products, as well as heterogeneity of products. The
mass availability of such products, being goods or services, was the spark to market
fragmentation in which individuals would satisfy a variety of needs and buying habits. This
situation introduced the necessity for all, including football marketers, to understand how to
properly address such changing customers’ needs to better position their products and
offerings on such emerging markets.
In the late 1950s, Wendell Smith (1956) introduced the concept of market segmentation.
In his article he argues that a heterogeneous market can be divided into smaller distinct and
homogeneous markets in which customers’ characteristics are similar in terms of behavior or
needs. This approach changed businesses’ approach to marketing. Market segmentation can
occur at a business, industrial level or at a customer level (see Shapiro and Bonoma, 1984).
Among the latter we find geographic, demographic, psychographic and behavioral
segmentation. Geographic segmentation divides the market into different geographical areas.
Demographic segmentation focuses on grouping individuals according to variables such as
age, sex, income or occupation among other factors. In psychographic segmentation, the
grouping occurs based on lifestyle, personality or values. Behavioral segmentation analyzes
the customer in terms of knowledge of a product or their attitude toward it. One characteristic
that is shared among all the segmentation bases is its dynamic character. The consumer evolves
and so does their interaction with the product. Therefore, the segmentation process has to be
continuous for it to be efficient and timely respondent.
The football industry as a whole is moving toward becoming a segmented entertainment
industry and football in Sweden is creating tougher competition and losing ranks. However,
the number of spectators is stable, even slightly increasing.
The aim of this chapter is to develop a methodology enabling a classification of spectators.
The structure is organized so that initially, a few problem perspectives are presented, thereby
building a practical framework. The literature review is concentrated on three basic references,
which include various typologies of audiences.The data collection consists of our two surveys,
which are statistically analyzed by using cluster analysis. The fan cluster data is then compared
with the three reference studies enquiring as to whether the Råsunda Stadium fans’
consumption behavior changed over the period between the two surveys (five years). The
methodology is conceptually and stepwise developed based on a number of AIK (in club rank
396 in the FIFA club order) matches.

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Practical framework
Today, companies recognize the necessity of better understanding their customers in order to
offer more appealing products by using specific marketing mixes. This view applies to a
variety of sectors and more recently it has also been introduced in sports. The strong media
coverage of sports events introduced a broader classification of the audience. With the advent
of television and other real-time communication media, the individual was not required to
physically take part in the event. This meant that individuals could sit down at home to watch
the event or be in a bar and meet up with friends. The case of this is even clearer in football.
A lot of research exists on conceptual frames and performance data in football, however, fewer
empirical studies are available on the behavior of football fans.
Important knowledge is needed on the size and the character of the various viewers, i.e.
the spectators, and the indirect audience. This knowledge is possessed by the “symbioticians”,
who are dealmakers, i.e. intermediaries, between the club and the sponsor who make use of
this knowledge to influence current and potential sponsors (Söderman, 2013: 197).
The function of selling tickets to events is a feature that football shares with all areas of
the entertainment business, and has been associated with the game almost since its inception.
For a long time and until the development of the media market and mass marketing, ticketing
was the main source of revenue for clubs. The main role of ticketing in a modern club is to
manage the sales of matches and season tickets to spectators. From simply paying a fixed
amount at the gate, most clubs have developed various levels of seating arrangements,
including the creation of various ticket categories within the stands, based on components
such as seating comfort, viewing angles and proximity to the playing field. Clubs encourage
their supporters to buy match tickets, including promotional season tickets or building match
packages to combine more attractive fixtures in order to ensure higher attendances and
ultimately, higher revenues for the club (Jarosz et al., 2015: 259). Match-day revenues, based
on the ECA Management Guide, are still substantial and account for 21% of the total revenue
of a top Polish club’s match-day revenues and 25% (163 million euro) of an English top club’s
revenues (Jarosz et al., 2015: 22).
Fans are also important for a club in terms of creating sponsorship value propositions.
Consequently, a major challenge of the club management is to formulate an offering that will
reach a potential sponsor’s target audience, which is attractive to the sponsor.
There is little doubt that sports elicit intense pleasure, life-long personal attachments, and
highly charged memories. The volume of empirical literature that supports this contention is
vast and a range of persuasive literature in multiple cultural contexts has demonstrated sport’s
power to incite, arouse and connect (Guilianotti, 2002). It has even been found that some sports
consumers are passionate to the point of addiction (Rein, Kotler and Shields, 2006).
The mechanisms of attachments are not unique to sports and the psycho-emotional
benefits of sports consumption are not particularly distinctive from those conferred through
other patterns of consumption. While sports fans’ experiences meet a number of important
psychological, social and cultural needs, ranging from escapism, stimulation and entertainment,
to national pride, cultural celebration, and a sense of community and personal identity (Hinch
and Higham, 2005), they are not peculiar to sports. Central to this theory is the concept of
identification, where sports consumers employ social categories to define others and locate
themselves in the social world (Cornwell and Coote, 2003).
Sports fans have a high emotional solidarity and an abiding interest in their sports team
or club and are the starting point for the research, as stated by Torsten Schlesinger (2013).
Therefore, some but not all sports fans are characterized by loyal consumer behavior toward

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products of their club (for example, tickets and merchandising products). Fans consume their
sports clubs’ products on a regular basis, admitting that price and quality only play a secondary
role. It is therefore inconceivable that fans with high emotional solidarity are likely to change
to another club only because tickets are cheaper, the stadium is nicer or there is a wider range
of merchandising products offered.
Comparisons between conventional consumers and sports consumers are also complicated
by the tendency of researchers to study extreme forms of sports fandom. While “die hard”
and passionate fans are an appealing cohort to examine, the elucidation or their motivation
and behavior provides an imbalanced picture of consumption. Sports consumers are not all
passionate and fanatical, nor do they all live through their favorite team or player in order to
bolster their personal identities. As Smith and Stewart said, “Equally their loyalty can be
variable, their attendance irregular, and their interest erratic” (Smith and Stewart, 2013: 532).
Football spectators in previous decades were often quite homogeneous. Through increased
media interest, the introduction of satellite and pay television, as well as comfort oriented
stadiums, have transformed the traditional football spectators into a more heterogeneous
audience (Tapp and Clowes, 2002). As football brings out subjective feelings in the spectator,
the audience in modern football is more diverse and the complexity of the industry makes
market segmentation a key concept for modern football clubs.
Market research in the sports industry has put great focus on identifying “clear cut”
segments in order to assist the clubs in their pursuit for revenue creation through ticketing
and merchandising. However, segmentation is a dynamic process that needs to be constantly
monitored as the customers seem to change rapidly in terms of characteristics and life
experiences.
The use of demographical and behavioral factors to segment a market have been studied
by many researchers as previously indicated, but also by Dobson and Goddard (1995), Hunt,
Bristol and Bashaw (1999) and Beech, Chadwick and Tapp (2000), who together researched
fans’ classification with the purpose of understanding fans’ motives and needs. Attendance
variables as well as the reasons for attending live games have also been studied (Madrigal,
1996; Gwinner and Swanson, 2003; Lonsdale, 2004).

The three frames of references

There are many spectator classifications, but which classes and which services are critical for
the club? Behavior is the most important variable for marketers of football. It implies how
many games a fan has watched and how loyal a fan is to the club. Football differs from other
business ventures in the sense that there is a much higher loyalty to the club than there is to
a company’s products. To understand this behavior, it is important to view psychographic
indicators like lifestyle, personality, activities, interests and opinions. For example, a fan
probably spends more time and money on football if he believes that football is more
important in life than the family. Of course, it is also interesting to examine indicators like
age, gender, income, employment and geographic affinities (Söderman, 2013: 51).
In this study, the audience segmentation was primarily based on three studies: Tapp and
Clowes (2002), Kim, Yoo and Pedersen (2007) and Richelieu and Pons (2005). The first two
studies perform an analysis on football fans, while the latter study focuses on ice hockey fans.
All studies use the single period survey method and the segmentation process concludes in
a set number of clusters. All studies focused on the individuals attending the event. However,
while in Tapp and Clowes the focus was mainly on the event’s selling power, Richelieu and
Pons focus primarily on franchise and merchandising. The third study instead concentrates

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on the marketing mix as the event’s value proposition. In particular, Tapp and Clowes’ study
occurred in two consecutive stages. First, they conducted 25 in-depth interviews with club
supporters selected from different sources, who, as an incentive, received a free ticket to a
match. The aim was to understand the psychographics in order to better design the
questionnaire. In the second stage, 667 supporters completed the questionnaire just before
attending the game. Questions were related to personal profile, loyalty, and football as related
to entertainment and income. Analysis of the variables created three segments: fanatics, regular
and casuals. Among the last classification the authors further divided the group into carefree
casuals and committed casuals. Kim et al. (2007) and Richelieu and Pons (2005) used the
cluster analysis to create supporters’ segmentation. In the former study, the aim was to
understand game attendance, while the latter focused on franchise. Kim et al. (2007) surveyed
a total of 968 spectators attending a home game in three South Korean cities, and resulted
in 967 of the questionnaires being deemed valid. The measures included the factors affecting
attendance of the game as well as demographic variables. Four factors were identified
explaining the 19 variables influencing attendance, and from those, four clusters were created.
The first cluster grouped individuals with strong promotional concerns. The second focused
more on place-related factors. In the third cluster, individuals believed that all factors were
important to game attendance, while in the last cluster none seemed to be influenced by it.
Richelieu and Pons’ study was smaller in size and focused on the supporters’ orientation
toward franchise. They surveyed 280 supporters attending an NHL home game in a major
Canadian city. These supporters were randomly selected and 221 questionnaires were
considered valid.Variables included game attendance, the purchase of sports-related products,
spending on sporting events as well as cognitive, social and emotional variables. From cluster
analysis, they identified four groups: super fan, social fan, experiential fan and situational fan.
The conclusion to be drawn is that all of the above studies show the importance of
segmentation of the supporters’ base in terms of marketing strategies. There seems to be a
heterogeneous situation among spectators in terms of attendance, spending and income,
where the individuals who consume the most are often classified as fanatics or super fans.
Building on the previous studies highlighted in the literature, the aim of this study is to
assess the following research questions: What are the differences and similarities of AIK
football club’s audience during a five-year period (Stage I)? Should there be a shift in
consumer behavior and can patterns be identified (Stage II)?

Crafting the methodology

This study aims to understand whether AIK fans’ consuming behavior changed during the
five-year period between the two surveys, 2002–2007 (Lyberg and Ingeholm, 2002; Kozanli
and Samiei, 2007). The data collection over the stated time period was completed by masters
degree students. The study also tries to create clusters for both questionnaires. This will help
us understand whether a change in habits is also reflected and in which way it impacts
customer segmentation.
To prepare the questionnaire, we interviewed five AIK officials with roles in the organization
as managers and marketing officers. This exercise resulted in a 17-question survey with 28
variables (nominal, ordinal and interval scale), which were then coded in SPSS.
To grasp the changing characteristics of the customer, the study was conducted over two
periods. The first survey took place in April 2002 and the second five years later, in April
2007. In both cases, the data gathering was performed outside of AIK’s home stadium. The
data was collected over four home games by interviewing 214 spectators in Study One and

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Customers, spectators and fans

218 in Study Two. The individuals were randomly selected at the entrance and interviewed
just before the match.

Stage I: analysis and results

To examine the customers’ attitude change we initially considered a broad sub-classification
of AIK’s fan base. The three resulting groups were originally derived from AIK’s marketing,
utilizing this categorization in seating position at the Råsunda stadium (which later was
replaced by Friends arena), these were:

• Klacken
• Family
• Others

The rationale for it was the assumption that seating was the variable in AIK audience
classification. Both Tapp and Clowes and Richelieu and Pons defined supporters in terms of
game attendance, while Kim et al. (2007) mostly focused on factors influencing attendance
and team-related variables. Our study showed similar segmentation patterns, with Klacken
– those attending more than half of the home games – being associated with the Fanatics,
and casuals and regulars being closer to the non-Klacken group. This, however, supposed that
the Klacken were seated in one section of the stadium, while the family were seated in
another section and the rest were displaced throughout the stadium. However, after analysis,
this turned out not to be the case.
The sample was regrouped into two broader classifications: Klacken and non-Klacken. The
first one represents 34% of the 214 supporters interviewed. From the analysis of variance
(ANOVA), 11 of the 28 variables were statistically significant and 8 were used: the “Age
category”, the “Club member” and the “Number of visited training games” were not
considered to explain the differences between the two groups. These variables included:
knowledge of the game, purchase decision regarding the season card, number of visited games,
importance of prices and of reasonable prices, importance of opponent, importance of club
feeling and importance of togetherness.
The first analysis aimed at identifying the biggest gaps between the two groups. Figures
19.1 and 19.2 represent the outcomes of both studies.The comparison of the two studies seems
to show a shift in the supporters’ profile. As we see from the figures, of the first three variables
with the biggest gaps, only one is in common with the two studies and is related to the number
of visited games. The result related to the willingness to buy a season card is striking.
In Study One, most Klacken already had a one-season card. It seems from the latest
study that:

• The number of seasonal cardholders has decreased.

• Importance of togetherness has increased for both groups; both groups also show the
same percentages in relation to the price of tickets.
• Knowledge of the game still shows strong figures, although it slightly contracted for the
non-Klacken in the second study while it expanded sensibly for importance of club
feeling. These results can be explained in relation to the age shift of the supporters.

In Study One, the average age of Klacken and non-Klacken supporters was 30.26 years and
36.35 years, respectively. It seems from the second study that the spectator age had decreased

266
Knowledge of the game Knowledge of the game

Would buy season card Would buy season card

Number of games visited Number of games visited

Importance of reasonable prices Importance of reasonable prices

Prices are important Prices are important

Importance of opponent Importance of opponent

Importance of club feeling Importance of club feeling

Importance of togetherness (1) Importance of togetherness (1)

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Klacken non-Klacken Klacken non-Klacken

Figure 19.1 Klacken vs non-Klacken, Study One Figure 19.2 Klacken vs non-Klacken, Study Two
Customers, spectators and fans

Table 19.1 The results where Klacken “dominates” the gaps

Study One Study Two

Would buy season cards. Number of visited games.

Number of visited games. Knowledge of the games.
Importance of club feeling. Importance of togetherness.

to 26.97 for Klacken and 33.54 for non-Klacken. Correlating this result with today’s society
patterns in terms of the cost of living might help to explain the shift in the cost-related
variables. Unfortunately, given that the survey did not address income related variables, this
correlation cannot be clearly stated. The finding that two variables from Study One were not
anymore statistically significant in Study Two is also interesting. This can be explained by the
fact that football is becoming more associated as a cultural event that can be enjoyed with
family and friends, rather than a pure sports event to be consumed by specialists. In this regard,
we can also explain why the importance of the opponent does not help in explaining the
other variables anymore.

Stage II: analysis and results

Building on our previous stage I analysis we conducted a cluster analysis on Study One and
Study Two to determine the supporter’s classification. The aim was to identify patterns to be
used as marketing tools by the marketing managers.
For this purpose, the K-mean cluster analysis was used. To begin we had to perform data
normalization of the variables that had been identified as statistically significant in our
previous study. Using SPSS we calculated the Z scores so as to have a dimensionless quantity
to be used in our cluster analysis.

Analysis of Study One

For Study One, after running the analysis several times we identified a five-cluster solution.
These clusters were labelled:

1 Seasonal
2 Casuals
3 Price sensitive
4 Game advocates
5 Occurrence enjoyers

The seasonal cluster included 31 respondents (14.5%). The members of this group showed a
strong interest in the seasonal card, while they seem to be not very concerned with pricing.
Age-wise, almost 42% of the cluster was under 30.
The second cluster, the casuals, consisted of 58 respondents (27.10%) and showed no
strong interest in most variables. Their behavior seemed to lean toward a “per event” consump-
tion and not related to the club colors or acquaintance. For this reason, pricing is not very
relevant for this group where again we find that 55.2% are under the age of 30. This group

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A methodology to classify spectators

Table 19.2 Stage II analysis leading to five clusters

• Cluster analysis on Study One and Study Two to determine the audience classification.
• K-mean cluster analysis was used.
• For Study One we identified five clusters.
• For Study Two we identified three clusters.

is a potential challenge in terms of marketing tools, as it appears to have no strong variables

to use a pivot.
The third cluster, price sensitive, 57 respondents (26.6%) showed a positive view of pricing
as well as the opponent while not so much interest in the club colors. They seem to be
selective consumers attending high emotional games, but with a strong price concern. This
group shows the highest percentage of under age 30 (64.9%).
The fourth cluster, game advocates, included 46 respondents (26.6%). These individuals
showed positive views of game knowledge and negative views of opponent. They appear
to love the sport and be very informed about it. They seem to be positive in relation to season
card, but not as much as in the first cluster. This segment shows the highest age category value
with 43.5% being between 31 and 50.
Finally, in the fifth cluster, occurrence enjoyers, 22 respondents (21.6%) appear to be club
supporters who see games as a nice happening and like the social factor such as well as being
out with friends or family. Prices also have positive views. This group shows the highest rate
for people aged above 50. This group also shows the highest value for women at 27.3%.
From the analysis we determined core patterns in the supporters that can be used to better
target marketing products to enhance game attendance, the quality of the event, and last but
not the least: profitability. We have seen that in some cases designing marketing tools can be
tricky, while in other terms it seems that the determinants are much clearer.

Mostly indifferent event base

Would buy season card
Not price sensitive and mainly
Pricing not a concern
un der 30 VAflrs nld

Seasonal Casuals

Pricing matters Club supporters

Price Game attendance is
Selective consumers
sensitive seen as event to spend
with family and friends
Game
advocates Occurrence
enioyers

Strong game knowledge

Opponent not a determinant
to go to a game

Figure 19.3 Characteristics of the five clusters

269
Customers, spectators and fans

Sep^nal
Seasonal Casuals
Casuals

Price
sensitive 5 Years later Price
sensitive

Game Occurrence Game Occurrence

advocates enjoyers advocates enjoyers

Figure 19.4 From five to three clusters in five years

Analysis of Study Two

For Study Two, the findings were different. This result could be explained by the partially
different nature of the answer scheme in the study, where in some cases the variables in
Study One were split in Study Two (for example, the variable “friends and family” would
become two variables: friends and family). For homogeneity, the authors regrouped these
variables to recreate a structural similarity with the Study One questionnaire. A further issue
is determined when questions were not completely answered, which resulted in a null value
when standardizing the data. Overall, these circumstances created 19 missing cases in the
cluster analysis.
In terms of clusters, we found that the respondents would now fit in a three-cluster
solution. To retain the cluster naming code of Study One, these clusters are:

1 Casuals
2 Game advocates
3 Occurrence enjoyers

Similar to the findings in our previous study, interest in a season card has dropped in such a
significant way that we have not been able to identify a specific cluster. The highest interest
for this variable is in the game advocates, but its weight is far from being determinant in the
cluster itself. The casual and price sensitive clusters in Study One seem to have merged into
a broader casual cluster.
In the casuals cluster, 117 respondents (53.7%) showed a positive view of pricing as well
as the opponent, while again, not so much interest in the club colors. Attention to the
opponent is important as much as reasonable prices. Once more, this group shows the highest
percentage of under age 30 (66.7%).
Game advocates included 59 respondents (27%). These individuals showed positive views
of game knowledge and interest in home games, while the opponent in this specific case does
not seem to be relevant. This group enjoys football and likes to know its dynamics. It also

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A methodology to classify spectators

Promotion concerned
group (K&Y&P)
Fanatics (T&C) • Place concerned
Super fan(R&P) group ( K & Y & P ) ,

Seasonal Casuals
/ Situational
spectator (R&P)

、bociai
Price spectator (R&P)
• Regular (T&C) sensitive Price concerned
* Experiential group (K&Y&P)
spectator (R&P)

Game Occurrence
advocates enjoyers • Casuals (T&P)
• Situational
spectator (R&P)
• Indifferent
group (K&Y&P)

Figure 19.5 Illustrations of our five types related to the three main frames of reference
Note: K&Y&P is Kim et al., 2007; R&P is Richelieu and Pons, 2005; T&C is Tapp and Clowes, 2002.

shows the highest interest in a season card, although this interest does not shape the group
itself. This segment is mostly represented by the aged 50+ individuals (36.8%).
Our last cluster is occurrence enjoyers. Here, 42 respondents (19.3%) seem to possess club
feelings as well as the will to spend good time with family and relatives. Prices do not seem
to be a determinant. This group shows the highest rate for people aged 31–50 (38.1%) as well
as highest value for women at 26.2%.
Similar to the findings in our previous study, interest in the season card has dropped in
such a significant way that we have not been able to identify a specific cluster.
The highest interest for this variable is in the game advocates, but its weight is far from
being determinant in the cluster itself. The casual and price sensitive clusters in Study One
seem to have merged into a broader casual cluster.

Further conclusions
In reference to the data collected in the second sample, there seems to be some differences
from the first study. At first we immediately noticed that Klacken dominates all variables. The
biggest gap in the second study occurs for the variable related to the number of visited games,
where 76% of Klacken attends more than half of the home games, compared to only 39%
for the non-Klacken.
The comparison of the two studies seems to show a shift in the supporter profile. As we
have seen from the first three variables with the biggest gaps, only one appears in the two

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Customers, spectators and fans

studies and is related to the number of visited games. The result related to the shrinking
willingness to buy a season card and it is striking. Importance of togetherness has increased
for both groups and interestingly both groups also show the same percentages in relation to
the price of tickets. The heterogeneity at the stands seems to increase at the Råsunda stadium.
Season card drop is serious and contradictory to price sensitivity. Decreasing interest in
terms of constant attendance on season card demand seems to indicate increasing interest in
sport as an event, as expressed by the casuals and occurrence enjoyers. Does this indicate a
need for an occasional service, a package for the marketer to develop?

Implications
There is nothing like a grand theory of classification of fans. The changes during the five
year period are observed in our data and they seem to increase. Why? Explanatory factors
could be that sports are constantly growing as well as world affluence, and therefore the
population of many countries has more time to be involved in sports viewing and sports
activities. Most probably the indirect audiences are influenced and affected by various
technologies, such as mobile devices. All these factors lead to movements of spectators in and
out of the classes and also lead to changes of the border lines between the classes.
Can we use this methodology in other team sports, such as handball, basketball or
volleyball? Most likely. One conceptual conclusion of normative character is drawn by
comparing the three framework studies and our study. This indicates a need for more creative
market segmentations.
Another ambition would be to develop a typology model. Rudimentary sponsors–
sponsees theory seems to indicate nothing on managing such relations. Getting relevant
data is challenging and very difficult because it needs a lot of interviewers, but it should
be possible.
Generalizations need to be drawn. English and Swedish audiences are similar in age and
gender distribution. Kim et al. (2007) and Richelieu and Pons (2005) have similar demographics
despite different sports as well the “cultural approach” to football in Asia.
Continuation study needs to determine how valuable (i.e. purchasing power) is the
individual segment for the club? How stable are the individuals in this class?
This study is about the definitions, such as being classified as being a “visitor”, “direct
audience” or a “spectator”; all three areas are regarded as equal here. Another concept is a fan,
which, as we saw in the Manchester United case, amounted to 659 million worldwide. Finally,
the word “consumer”, defined as an object that purchases a service or a product. In an
aggregate form, this implies the revenue stream for the club.
The reliability in this type of empirical study is limited. We also see the behavior of the
audience by studying them when they are in the position of starting to watch the game.
Whether their answers are honest, we do not know. However, the repetitive character of the
study design is guaranteed because the deviations in the five years were not that big.

Future research
Every club should have a clear idea for describing their customer base in a static as well as
in a dynamic perspective, i.e. in order to find fans globally and to predict the future base. This
is not an easy task, but an important one, because this analysis shows how the sponsors of big
clubs try to reach the audience of the football clubs by signing sponsor contracts and blend
classic marketing approaches like getting the sponsor’s name on the shirts and capturing the

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A methodology to classify spectators

customer base of the club. The existing methodologies to identify these bases and to evaluate
the purchasing power of the audience are rare, at least in the official publications.
Future studies should therefore attach more importance to other moderating factors of
sponsorship effects (for example, sponsorship levels, prominence of sponsors, and the duration
or history of the commitment between sponsor and the club). In this way, the influences of
fan identity in relation to the different sponsoring activities can be investigated. Based on this,
companies can decide more accurately to what extent sponsorship is an effective communication
tool for them (Schlesinger, 2013: 560; Demir and Söderman, 2015).

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Schlesinger, T. (2013). Brand equity models in the spotlight of sport business. In S. Söderman, H. Dolles
(Eds.), Handbook of Research on Sport and Business: 435–555. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Shapiro, B. P. and Bonoma, T. V. (1984). How to segment industrial markets, Harvard Business Review,
62(3), 104–110.
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April 2015).

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PART V

Media
Nicolas Chanavat, Simon Chadwick and Michel Desbordes

Sports and the media have a symbiotic relationship: sports are a source of content for the
media, which can be utilised as the basis for drawing in readers and viewers, while the profile
and presence of sports is forever built by constant media coverage. Although newspapers and
radio were the earliest forms of coverage, over the last fifty years sports have become a major
television spectacle. Teams, competitions and events routinely draw millions of viewers, often
prompting the global, collective consumption of sports. The power of such occasions is
seductive for advertisers and sponsors, but also for the broadcasters themselves. Domestic and
global corporations increasingly use sports as the focal points for their schedules and bid
large amounts of money for the right to show sports. At the same time, the rise of
social media has generated new opportunities and new challenges, which many continue to
debate. Although sports are arguably being talked about more frequently and widely than ever
before, academics and practitioners remain uncertain about the significance and subsequent
impact of social media. The chapters in this part have a twofold focus: sports and their
emergence as a form of global entertainment, and sports marketing linked to social media
and digital marketing.

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20
SPORTS MARKETING
AND NEW MEDIA
Value co-creation and intertype competition1

Patrizia Zagnoli and Elena Radicchi

Introduction
In recent years, the sports industry has gone through two very significant changes. The first
relates to practitioners and spectators (demand). The second to the scope and number of
sports activities (supply). Sport, defined broadly, includes all forms of physical and recreational
activities expressing physical and mental well-being, and plays a significant role in forming
social relationships and obtaining results in competition at all levels.
Sports participation greatly developed in the last third of the twentieth century. It majorly
involves:

• An increasing cross-sections of participants (men, women, young, senior, etc.).

• New outdoor and indoor spaces to play (street sports, fitness centers, etc.).
• New organizational format (amateur tournaments, social media recruitment and practice,
etc.).
• An increasing phenomenon of spectator sports.

Besides sports participants, the spectator sports segment is an integral part of the contemporary
sports industry. Although live sports attendance is still very important, the diffusion of new
media has determined an increasing trend towards sports multimedia consumption through
digital TV, the internet and smart phones.
According to some global surveys,2 the mobile will increasingly dominate the digital
world, fostering a kind of “ubiquitous connectivity”: 1.6 billion active mobile social accounts
were registered in January 2015. Facebook is ranked as the top social networking site
with about 1.4 billion active users at the beginning of 2015. Other social networks, such as
Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn, saw important growth as well. Besides these rankings,
there are other significant trends: instant messenger services continue an impressive expan-
sion, especially WhatsApp, WeChat and Viber; multi-platform use is on the rise, the most
popular daily activities on mobile devices are watching videos, playing games and using social
media apps. The evolution of new media technologies also affects the way people consume
sports, besides offering a sheer number of applications that can be developed by sport
organizations.

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Media

On the supply side, sports operators have to face typical problems related to high “intensity
business industry”. Sport enterprises management involves budget drawing up, financial
managing, marketing strategies, sponsorship endorsements, communication mix and new
media content management. The remarkable economic value of sports requires leagues,
federations and clubs to provide managerial processes that should combine the leading
variables of the sports industry, typically, strategic and economic management, international
events, marketing and sponsorship, brand management, new media, and so on.

Value co-creation in the sport industry: the role of media and new media
To shed light on the dynamics undertaken within a complex social and economic system like
the sports sector, it can be helpful to frame sports into a specific approach of the services science,
such as the Service-Dominant (S-D) Logic perspective (Vargo and Lusch, 2004; 2008).
The new complexity of the sports industry is combined with the growing level of investment
required to be competitive, not only in athletic performance but also in sports business. This
leads to the fact that sports organizations, such as professional clubs, third sector sports, leagues
and federations, should establish a wide composite “network of collaborative relationships”
(Normann and Ramirez, 1993; Lusch and Vargo, 2006) with different stakeholders3 (Freeman,
1984; Freeman, Harrison and Wicks, 2007) who participate in the implementation of the sports
product, such as matches, tournaments, events. Multiple actors with diversified roles and
various degrees of involvement are “active participants of value co-creation” (Vargo and Akaka,
2012: p. 208) in the sports industry. Like many other services, sports can be seen as a kind of
ecosystem (Vargo, Maglio and Akaka, 2008) where individuals (practitioners, fans, spectators,
etc.), sporting organizations (professional clubs, non-profit associations, fitness centres, etc.),
firms (patron, owners, sponsors, media, suppliers, etc.), governing entities (local municipalities,
national governments, international federations, etc.) “work with others in mutually beneficial
ways” (p. 149) and co-participate in the creation of sports content through a process of
resources exchange and integration (Vargo and Lusch, 2004).
Figure 20.1 illustrates the value co-creation process in the sports industry. The inner part
with the indicated bi-directional arrows depicts a non-linear and interactive system, where
different actors exchange resources, services and activities to converge into a value creation
process. As shown in the outer part of the graphic, value is not only always co-created by a
network of stakeholders, it is also contingent to and influenced by a specific context, which
is viewed mainly as a “set of unique actors with unique reciprocal links among them”
(Chandler and Vargo, 2011: p. 40). The different actors, which play actively in a great variety
of spatio-temporal contexts, develop specific transactions and relations. The context is a
relational framework where services exchanges take place and where resources (economic,
financial, technological, managerial, organizational, skills, capabilities, etc.) are found and
integrated by different stakeholders.
The way actors interact is led by shared “social rules” – rules of the game (Vargo and
Lusch, 2011) – that both constrain and influence the behaviour of individuals, firms
and organizations within a given community. Sports are historically an expression of “social
norms” rooted in different contexts and regulated at local, national and international level
(for example, athletes’ health rules, public order, safety and security, regulations for international
events, etc.), thus framing the sports supply’s offer, besides influencing the companies’ and
media’s behaviour and the way people act within the sports sector.
Sports clubs compete to gain the best technical performance on the field. Therefore, they
need to gain specific resources, such as talented players, venues, facilities, sporting goods and

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Sports marketing and new media

Professional sport
clubs,
non profit
associations, sport
events, etc.

Companies and distribution

People channels

Manufacturing Financial
Practitioner Spectator ICT service services
providers
Amateurs Live Large
Professionals “Virtual” retailers

Institutions Media
Local
New media
National
Global

Resources exchange and integration in context

Figure 20.1 Value co-creation in the sports industry

equipment. Competition and cooperation are in the inner essence of sports. Athletes and teams
compete for the best sports record, but they collaborate with each other in order to make
harmonic and fruitful results. Competition plays a pivotal role in triggering the value
co-creation relations among clubs and other stakeholders (manufacturers, distributors,
suppliers, media, etc.). Sports organizations experience business competition as well, because
they need to raise funds, gain revenues and cover costs to reach a positive financial performance.
This entails the offering of an exciting on-field spectacle, valuable services within stadiums
and arena, additional activities (merchandising, restoration, social media services, etc.) to
enhance fans’ identification with an athlete or a team, to strengthen their brand loyalty and
increase the media audience. It is necessary for sports clubs to exchange different kinds of
services with multiple actors, such as sponsors, TV networks, sporting equipment suppliers,
institutions, marketing agencies, and so on.
In the contemporary sports industry, the whole complex network of relations is driven by
a continuous local-global interplay, which entails an enrichment and an increase of interactional
density, not only among a small number of single actors like club–fans, sponsor–team, etc.
(“micro-level”), but also across a variety of sport organizations (federations, leagues, sports

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Media

governing bodies, etc.) within a specific sport (soccer, volley, fitness, etc.) (“meso level”), to
more “macro-level”4 structures in international and global environments.
In recent years global corporations have increasingly secured ownership and control over
internationally well-known soccer clubs, Formula 1, motorbikes and cycling teams. Sports
are a strategic tool for promoting and selling their products. Buying into a major sports
franchise is a business investment that might increase the owners’ “trophy status” (Foster,
Greyser and Walsh, 2006) and prestige. It can also generate financial gains and might launch
investors’ products or brands into new markets. Corporations play a strategic role for the
development of sports organizations: not only do they integrate their financial resources,
providing funds to the team, but they also contribute their strategic and managerial skills in
operating them. Sports clubs can overcome organizational and managerial matters with the
support of those companies, in terms of financial, human and managerial resources, capabilities
and “complementary assets” (Teece, 1986; Teece, Pisano, Shuen, 1997; Pisano, 2006). As an
example, consider the Italian soccer teams, AS Roma and FC Internazionale Milano, recently
“saved” from a possible financial failure and bought by a North American holding and an
Indonesian media tycoon, respectively. In both cases, the new ownership has been beneficial
to the continuity of the club. A controversial issue arises if the foreign investors are not
concerned to set up a network of ties with local fans, institutions and firms. The unique set
of resources (heritage of sports tradition, history, values, and success) embodied in the local
context might be impoverished, with the risk of being “destroyed”.
Sporting equipment suppliers capitalize on sports teams and events as well. Sporting goods
manufactures and distributors supply professional clubs with technologies, materials and
components necessary for the sports performance outcome, typically, soccer balls, shoes,
fitness equipment, training software, and so on. Sport is a great arena for research and
development (R&D) processes and product test. Moreover it is “capable” to add value on
marketing actions. This process involves co-technology (Zagnoli, 1988a; 1988b) and co-marketing
(Zagnoli, 1991; Zagnoli and Radicchi, 2011) to improve technical and commercial efficiency
(brand awareness). Consider as an example Ferrari: it manufactures an industrial product (the
car) based on simulation models and subsystems assembly developed in collaboration with its
suppliers. Ferrari’s partners provide and integrate the complementary technological resources
required for the performance of the focal technology (the car). Gasoline (Shell), tires
(Bridgestone), electronic devices (AMD), braking systems (Brembo), power system (Weichai),
and so forth, are key supporting technologies whose advancements are crucial to the success
of the sports product (car) and its performance on the field. Collaboration is aimed at
implementing joint R&D projects and integrating the partners’ know-how, with the aim of
enhancing the Formula 1 car quality and its performance during the races, improving the
complementary technologies’ performance and manufacturing a specific car marketable to
the final consumer.
Sporting technical partners are increasingly becoming sponsors of teams and events:
companies gain many opportunities and synergies, such as the strengthening of their ties with
the local context. They can also boost their customers’ loyalty, and develop a clear brand
identity in order to achieve economic benefits from the investments they have made.
Given the broad appeal of major sporting events it is not surprising that sports have
become a crucial and likeable content for global media companies’ strategies (television
networks, mobile companies, internet service providers, online game developers, etc.). Sport
is a strategic value added content for new media. This explains why, on a general basis, sport
is a core component of new media’s market entry strategies. Take as an example the online
division of the newspaper corporation “Times of India”, which in 2012 acquired the exclusive

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Sports marketing and new media

rights to broadcast the mobile and internet highlights of the English Premier League.5 Given
the growing popularity of soccer in India, this was a strategic partnership to access the
increasing number of Indian sports fans using connected devices, thus widening the media
company’s market share of the Indian mobile telecom industry.
Furthermore, sports events may be appropriate as a means of enhancing the diffusion process
of new technologies. For instance, since 2014, Telecom Italia, the leading Italian ICT group has
been investing *3.4 billion on the development of new generation technologies and cloud
computing. With the goal of reaching, by the end of 2016, 50% of the Italian population with
the new optical fibre system and 80% with the mobile network 4G,6 the ICT company started
to offer a range of multimedia content connected to the major sporting events, such as the
2014 FIFA World Cup’s games and highlights, which were delivered on mobile devices.
Among the numerous active participants involved within the value co-creation process in
the sports sector, local, national and global institutions7 play a meaningful role as well. In recent
years, sports activities and events have conquered the role of “proactive” asset with the
capability to improve the attractiveness of the host economies. Cities, local governments,
regions and countries challenge to bid the host of the Olympics, FIFA World Cups and other
major events.Their main goal is to strengthen their local brand image and update infrastructures
in terms of telecommunications, transportation, residential areas, and in general a better
quality of life. Moreover, city marketers work on the intangible assets of sporting global
events, such as social regeneration, strength of local community sense of proudness, change
the image of a place, and so on. This creates a “territorial capital” (Bondonio and Guala, 2011)
not exclusively linked to tangible assets (infrastructures, roads, redesigning the landscape, etc.),
but also to a network of relational and social heritages (Radicchi, 2012). Due to the remarkable
power of major sporting events in building economic, social, tourism and infrastructure
legacies for the host destination, it is not surprising that emerging countries like Brazil or
Qatar strongly invested for the bidding of international games, such as the Olympics and the
FIFA World Cup. By hosting a mega event, these growing economies will most likely be able
to heighten their role on the global stage.
Fans and supporters play a catalytic role in the sport service value co-creation. Their passion,
excitement and involvement, are crucial for the event’s implementation and value creation.
Subscribers and spectators are key supporters to produce the game and to make the sport
event happen. They play a meaningful demand function in the value co-creation, involving
themselves and dragging friends, family and colleagues as well. Fans are direct consumers of
the service provided by the sport club (match). They trigger a virtuous circle where media,
suppliers, distributors, institutions, sponsors, club investors, athletes, play complementary roles
and create significant value (Zagnoli and Radicchi, 2010).
In this complex relational context, new media are not just mere sports distribution
channels. They play a meaningful role in stimulating the development of interactions among
a great deal of actors involved within the sports industry. The new communication channels
are a kind of “soundboard” of the sports content, and they are strategic promotional tools for
sports clubs, sponsors’ image and growing brands. With the use of social media, sharing sports
content and “voicing” opinions are an important part of the fans’ experience (Pine and
Gilmore, 2011), that in turn might be engaged both with their favourite teams, athletes and
sponsoring brands.
The relationship between new technologies and sports is therefore not merely confined
to a distribution role. The new communication channels can be considered as the leading
engine of the value co-creation process. They stimulate the people’s potential demand, and
they also influence directly the strategies of partners involved. Media and new media

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Media

companies (Sky, Mediaset, Telecom, Vodafone, Google, YouTube, etc.) compete with each
other to attract brands from different sectors, thus “multiplying” the spread value of sport
contents.

The features of new media

Convergence of computing, telecommunication, and audiovisual technology (Yoffie, 1997;
Tapscott, 1996) led to the diffusion of new media, which is any digital media production that
is both interactive and digitally distributed, such as websites, social media, and mobile
telecommunication (Santomier and Shuart, 2008). New media allows sports organizations
and companies to deliver multimedia contents (audio, images, video, graphics, text, animations)
through a variety of platforms: users are enabled to enjoy sports everywhere and anytime (see
Figure 19.2). People increasingly interact with the world through a “new media network”
(Gillis, 2006) composed of digital TV, web, social network and smartphones.
There are two fundamental features that distinguish new media from all other traditional
media. In the past, each device usually accomplished some basic tasks: movies were displayed
on a television, music came from a tape or a CD, video games were played through a console.
Evolution of ICT technologies changed the way content is transmitted and accessed.
Multimedia brings together a great variety of devices: television, radio, PC, laptop, tablet,
mobile phones and smartphones.

MULTIMEDIA
IN TER A C TIV ITY
C O N TE N T

One-to-one One~to~many Many-to~many

Audio

Video

Text

Graphics
CO N N E C TIV ITY 24/7

TV Pc Laptop

p
Tablet h
o
n
e

Figure 20.2 New media’s features

282
Sports marketing and new media

Technological convergence (Yoffie, 1997) makes it possible for the same sports content (a
soccer match, Olympic Games, a Formula 1 race) to be enjoyed using different new media
that can provide several functionalities, depending on:

• Equipment devices (TV, PC, tablet, mobile phones).

• Users’ location (sitting, mobility, outdoor, indoor).
• Developed infrastructures (wired, wireless, satellite, etc).

Today a sports game can be watched on television, on a tablet through high speed internet
access, or on a smartphone. From the user’s perspective, all of those have been interchangeable
tools. What makes the difference to the consumer’s choice is:

• The context.
• The quality of the image, video, audio, graphics, etc.
• The potential of interactivity.

Spectators do not simply want to sit and watch a sports event on their television. They want
to have a “sense of active involvement” in the event. From an experiential perspective (Pine
and Gilmore, 2011), the diffusion of new media as a distribution channel of sport gives people
the opportunity to live an interactive experience. In the digital society (Tapscott et al., 2000),
users can even be a “prosumer”8 such as active and interactive partners in the production
process (Buzzetto Moore, 2013). Furthermore, a major aspect of the changes in new media
consumption is the shift in control from broadcaster to viewer.
“Interactivity” refers to the possibility for fans and supporters to be engaged in a wide
spectrum of relations, based on the underlying dynamics:
One-to-one: The growing diffusion of “instant” social media, like Twitter, brings out plenty
of potentialities to favor a direct interaction between fans and athletes.9 Every day, sports
supporters can take an unprecedented look into the life of their favorite sports “hero”. The
use of a direct message format that grants immediacy can foster the interactivity with fans,
thus increasing their brand loyalty (Price, Farrington and Hall, 2013).
One-to-many: An inner character of new media is the potential of social interaction. Blogs,
podcasts and Facebook pages are all ways that users can generate web-based sports content
by creating a powerful communication vehicle to convey at the same time messages to
passionate fans and spectators.
Many-to-many: Through the new media, fans can share emotions, contents, video, pictures,
within a virtual community of people who love the same sports, team or athlete. Take as an
example the “Ducati Community” mobile app: through this application, accessible on
multiple devices (smartphones, tablets, etc.), fans of the motorbike brand are able to take
photographs, film videos, upload contents, follow friends’ activities, comment and update
their profile. Through this application the Ducati fans’ engagement massively increased,
doubling its community.10
New media technologies allow an increasingly “constant connectivity” (Mazmanian and
Erickson, 2014). With smartphones set to overtake the desktop as the primary means by
which people browse the internet, it seems that the need to connect with each other is
something that is no longer confined to a single space and at a certain time of the day.
Compelled to receive constant information updates from their ever expanding peer networks,
the average person has been transformed into a “hyper-connected habitué” of social media
(Buzzetto Moore, 2013). Sports organizations have to be prepared to respond to this new

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Media

kind of consumer behavior by creating mobile web experiences and applications to engage
fans and increase their brand loyalty (McCarthy et al., 2014).
Multimedia, interactivity and constant connectivity are therefore the main dimensions of new
media. Sports organizations should try to follow the trend by adopting new media in their
content’s planning and implementation, since they have the “potential” to positively impact
upon fan identification. Furthermore, new media enable sports organizations to interactively
test what consumers and fans want and to get the opportunity to influence how their brand
is perceived.11
The technological convergence process that allows multimedia, interactivity and
constant connectivity, requires some features to transmit the sports content enjoyably
through different kinds of devices (see Figure 20.2). Despite the evolution of “responsive
web design”12 approaches, each device in the end has different satisfaction levels as regards
to images, sound, audio, and so on.
In terms of visualization capability, television is the most appreciated media; home TV
screens are getting wider to provide the most detailed viewing experience. Tablet and
smartphones have smaller screens but they can be worthwhile in order to enjoy sport games
within an outdoor environment or in mobility.13 Smartphones can also be useful for watching
highlights and are used to interact with athletes through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.
Nevertheless, it is important to specify that major events and popular sports can be
broadcasted by big TV networks and mobile service providers. In this case, fans have the
choice to select among several devices. However, “minor” sports usually do not have national
and international TV contracts. They might pay to appear on local TV. New media are a
valuable but less-costly opportunity for niche sports discipline, smaller clubs and federations,
which do not provide higher levels of business turnover, to communicate their content to a
larger marketplace and to potentially reach their fans on a global scale.

Competition and cooperation in the sports industry

The web (wired and mobile), digital television, digital radio and mobile telecoms are
distribution channels of interactive and multimedia content. In each country their presence
depends on the existence and development of technological infrastructures (coaxial, twisted
pair, optic fiber, wireless, satellite) (see Figure 20.3). Some technologies may or may not be
available in different geographical areas. Their expansion might be slower in some contexts
than others. For instance, in some large countries where wire and cable are not pervasively
diffused (such as India or Brazil), satellite and wireless are very effective transmission
technologies. Nevertheless, the diffusion of specific technological infrastructures, with the
new media literacy of people, affects users as well, and their attitude towards different kinds
of new media devices like mobile phones or digital television.
Indeed, different forms of new media distribution channels require specific technologies
to exist and to function. Digital satellite TV necessitates that satellite dishes and mobile
telecoms need a wireless wide area network connection. However, over the last few years a
“technological convergence” process arisen (see earlier). Existing technologies merged into
new forms, bringing together different types of media and applications, enabling people to
perform multiple functions through a single device, for example, a song, a game app or a
video can all be played using a smartphone.
ICT technological convergence has amplified the competition among communication
distribution channels, such as television broadcasters, web service providers, telecom and
media companies. Convergence entails the fact that an internet provider may also offer

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Sports marketing and new media

P e ople
S p o rt
D e m and

C o m m u n ic a tio n Digital Digital Digital M obile

W ire d m obile
distribu tion terrestris satellite rad io tele co m
c h a n n e ls W eb TV

Almanna
Service Google Facebook Mediaset Sky
aoc Vodafone 3Three
providers YouTube Twitter Premium
CNN DIGITAL Skype I Verizon

W IR E D
Te c h n o lo g ic a l •Tw is te d pair S A T E L L IT E
W IR E L E S S
infrastru ctures • Co axia l
• O p tic fiber

*Service providers are brand business intermediaries between technological infrastructures and
communication distribution channels. Intermediation processes in turn enable the sports content’s
supply to the end-users.
Figure 20.3 The intertype competition in the sports industry

telecommunication services (for example, Skype), an instant messaging operator may offer
phone calls (for example, WhatsApp); or even a web search engine, like Google, may provide
multimedia and broadcasting services (maps, video, email, blogs, business solutions, etc.).
Developments in digital technologies have opened up the possibility of carrying similar
kinds of services over different platforms. Moreover, the process of mergers and acquisitions
in the IT industry, induced by both deregulation and digitization (for instance, Google’s
acquisition of YouTube, Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia and Skype, Facebook’s acquisition
of Instagram), has contributed to the diffusion of a phenomenon focused on the distribution
channels literature, such as intertype competition14 (Varaldo, 1971; Lugli, 2004; 2005; 2007; Levy
and Weitz, 2004). Service providers coming from different but technologically convergent
industries (telecommunications, IT, TV, media press, etc.) compete in distributing and
delivering the same content, for example, soccer games can be watched on terrestrial or
satellite TV, internet, smartphones or tablets (see Figure 19.2).
In the sports sector, intertype competition strongly involves ‘service providers’. Sports are
a key content for media and new media (Barnes, 2005; Santomier and Shuart, 2008; Zagnoli
and Radicchi, 2011), they hold the attention of millions of viewers worldwide (through major
events like the Olympic Games, Soccer World Championships, Formula 1, international
cycling competitions, etc.), they attract advertisers and sponsors who look for opportunities
to promote their brands by exploiting the emotions generated from the participation to a
sports event, thus gaining meaningful competitive advantages towards their competitors.

285
Media

Since sports have a global appeal and reach large worldwide audiences, multimedia service
providers compete among themselves to acquire broadcasting rights from sports leagues and
clubs. Competition among media channels contributes to increase to a large extent the
value of media rights, which are becoming a key income source for sports teams, more and
more frequently dependent on those revenues.15 Therefore, new media companies have a
tremendous impact on the sports content management, whereas sporting organizations have
reduced their power of controlling sports events’ diffusion, taken over by multiple and
overwhelming media corporations.
As has already emerged in other industries, such as food and large consumer goods retailing
or industrial manufacturing (Lugli, 2007), even in the sports sector communication distribution
channels have been acquiring progressively more and more power over the content providers
(sport clubs, federations, leagues, etc.).
The development of competitive and cooperative relations among new media companies,
sports organizations and other sports, and not sport-related enterprises, has a meaningful role
in promoting the provision, dissemination and distribution of sports content converging into
a value co-creation process.
Hyper (D’Aveni, 1994) and intertype competition raise a variety of business models through
which sports clubs, leagues and federations attempt to meet the opportunities and challenges
offered by the new media diffusion.
A process of internal growth has been pursued, for instance by US Major League Baseball.
The MLB has been able to properly respond to the contemporary technological complexity
by developing strategic new media capabilities through a business unit (MLB Advanced
Media) which deals specifically with the League’s multimedia contents.
Sports organizations are not always able to stay ahead of the complex and ever-changing
new media curve. Instead, they are more likely to be “seized” by the media companies’ strategies.
Integration between the distribution channels (media companies) and the content
producers (sports clubs) is a very common phenomenon. Over time, several media and
entertainment companies have acquired significant equity stakes in strategic sports properties.
For example, at the end of the 1990s the New York basketball team, the Knicks, and the ice
hockey club, the Rangers, were sold to Cablevision Systems, a North American cable television
giant. More recently, since 2010 the British TV company, BSkyB, part-owned by News Corp,
with the Italian branch Sky Italia, have become owner and sponsor of the cycling Team Sky.
Through vertical integration (Stotlar, 2000), new media companies move towards producing,
distributing and selling their own entertainment products (including sports), obtaining access
and full control over the team’s activity and the programming schedule. The aim for new
media channels is to become more powerful and to control content production and delivery
in a process that maximizes profits and distribution efficiency. If the benefits of vertical
integration include “transaction costs” 16 (Williamson, 1975) saving, realized through the
integration of the sports content supplier into the media service provider, this strategy entails
the existence of a structured organization and the availability of proper and significant
investments, in large extent implemented by corporations and media conglomerates.
Consequently, the sports industry has to face the rise of new business models. Intertype
competition opens up market opportunities that bring out more and more potential scale and
scope economies (Porter, 1985). Media services providers and intermediaries are progressively
able to capture the value created within the sport sector, whereas sports organizations are
incapable of sustaining their bargaining power.
In many countries, sports clubs don’t have the capability to strategically manage new
media contents and broadcasting rights. Leagues are not able to negotiate directly with TV

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Sports marketing and new media

networks. For example, the Italian soccer “Lega Serie A” is supported by a sports marketing
agency, Infront Sports & Media: as “advisor” it handles not only the media rights distribution
of the League and its affiliated teams, but also the media content production, besides the clubs’
sponsorship and commercialization. Infront plays an intermediary role between service
providers and distribution channels (see Figure 20.3), pursuing a strategy of managing and
controlling sports contents capable of creating a significant commercial value. From the sports
organizations’ perspective, there is a “weak appropriability regime” (Teece, 1986): the lack of
new media capabilities and managerial knowledge, which should be complementary to the
sports technical skills, is one of the main reason that clubs, federations and leagues are often
unable to capture the value that flows from sports production. The contractual relationship
between sports clubs and “external” services providers can be framed into the “principal-
agent”17 literature (Alchian and Demsetz, 1972; Verheyden, 2004). By transferring to the
sports agency the exclusive right of negotiating directly with TV networks and new media
service providers, sports clubs actually “empower” their intermediaries, because of the shortage
of specific know how and capabilities within the “boundaries” of sports organizations. The
new media agencies are increasingly taking advantage of an information asymmetry18
(Williamson, 1975) that doesn’t exclude the risk of opportunistic behavior.19
In the contemporary global scenario, the relations of intermediation are increasingly
complex. Recently, Infront has been bought by Dalian Wanda Group, China’s largest property
developer and entertainment conglomerate. The acquisition will give Dalian Wanda the
exclusive rights to broadcast Italy’s soccer Serie A.20 Paradoxically, in a country where soccer
is very rooted and popular, its system’s sustainability depends on the Chinese group that now
controls broadcast rights, which in turn account for 60% of the clubs’ total revenues;21 a
perverse effect of global competition combined with managerial weaknesses and strategic
“dependency” of the sports product controlled by the aggressive sport distribution stakeholders.
Nevertheless, some sports clubs with structured business models are able to interact with
media companies without being “overwhelmed” by their strategies, creating an interplay of
competitive and collaborative relations. This process generates a variety of agreements – from
unilateral transactions, to collaboration and cooperation22 (Zagnoli and Radicchi, 2011) – which
involve sports organizations, media companies, sporting equipment manufacturers, technology
firms, and so on.
Unilateral transactions are the most common. Normally sports organizations and media
companies sign agreements in which the main focus of the relationship is selling contents
(games, highlights, international events, etc.) to a digital network (TV, web, mobile phone,
satellite radio, etc.). For example, from 2016/2017, for three seasons the English Premier League’s
matches will be covered by Sky and BT Sport for an overall value of about £5 billion.23
Partnerships between sports organizations and technology providers are also frequently
developed (co-technology). With all of their features and interactive broadband services, sports
clubs websites and other digital platforms require technology partners that permit them to
extend their consumer base and optimize their value proposition, providing sports fans
worldwide with a consistent, high-quality online experience. Consider the brand new alliance
between the NFL franchise, Atlanta Falcons, and IBM: the computing giant will design and
deploy a wide range of technologies, including the wi-fi network within the new American
football “smart” stadium. The main motivation of this agreement is technology related.
Through this partnership, the American football team should be able to acquire IBM’s
technology expertise, needed to offer a more personalized and immersive in-venue game
experience with the aim of enhancing the fans’ brand loyalty. Nevertheless, the collaboration
between the NFL team and IBM allows the IT company to test in the field of sport its new

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wi-fi network based on fiber-optical systems, besides getting an extensive advertising and
co-branding opportunities.
Different companies from the manufacturing industry, sporting goods suppliers, multimedia
service providers and sports clubs develop co-marketing partnerships (Zagnoli, 1991) to access
complementary commercial, productive and technological assets, in order to brand entertainment
sports contents. In 2015, NBA and Tencent, a leading Chinese internet services provider,
announced a five-year expansion of their “digital partnership”. Tencent will give Chinese fans
access to a record number of live basketball games and highlights24 using PC and mobile
devices.Through this partnership Tencent has been exploiting the growing number of Chinese
NBA fans, whereas the US Basketball League might expand its consumer base in China.
Furthermore the NBA aims to reduce risk investment by sharing its new product development
with the Chinese partner: the league is launching the first NBA League Pass in China, 25
through which fans watch live and on-demand games online and with mobile devices.

The diffusion of new media: from mediate to “social” and virtual sports
The evolution from analogue to digital and then to multimedia systems, greatly impacted the
way people have access to sports content. The ever-increasing proliferation of multimedia
devices like digital TVs, smartphones, tablets, etc., which provide people with a constant
connectivity, has determined an intense intertype competition among multiple distribution
channels (telecom, media conglomerates, web service providers, etc.). Sports content is not
exclusive for TV broadcasters anymore. TV networks need to re-schedule their sports content
programming, thus “modifying” spectators’ habits to enjoy sporting events. In the meantime,
live sports have seen a great increase in ticket prices and safety and security issues in and out
the sports arena.
A decline in the sports games live participation26 emerges at international level, while the
number of people attending a sports event through the lenses of new media channels is
increasing. The consumption of sports through mobile devices continues to rise. For example,
mobile access of sports in Italy is now 50%, while in the United Arab Emirates 74% of the fans
access sport using smartphones. Social media consumption of sports has grown as well: 35% of
US fans access sports content through social networks like Twitter and Facebook. Sports games
and highlights enjoyed by fans on “second screens” soared recently: 74% of fans in Turkey and
70% in China use a second screen connected device whilst watching sport on TV.
Besides traditional broadcasting channels (free-to-air and cable), a strong growth of content
provided through multiple channels has definitely emerged. Moreover, sports new media
applications induce an increasing level of “user generated content” besides a progressive
growth of collaboration and social interactive relations among fans (see Figure 20.4).
On the sports spectator side, television still dominates worldwide mass market sports media
consumption.27 Despite the fact that TV is the less “social” device, digital satellite and
terrestrial television provides many new opportunities for fans and spectators. Compared to
live participation, watching a sports event through a digital TV screen is much more
entertaining and exciting for the spectator. Fans can benefit from the commentary, instant
replays, camera angles, and athlete statistics. Furthermore, through the use of devices like
TiVo or MySky,28 digital television watchers are also able to access programs whenever they
want, rather than being bound by a fixed TV schedule.
On the professional clubs side, the development of digital television created increasing
opportunities to boost their brand’s value through their own TV channels. Most of the top
European soccer teams, like Manchester United, Barcelona FC, Juventus FC, have one.

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Sports marketing and new media

Interactive and W earable

social experiences technologies
“Connected
stadium s ，
， Google Glasses
Social network
SanFrancisco 49ers to enhance real
G roups Blog
participation
managed by managed by
Video fans
Fubies fans on the
qames
Social network
NBA 2K1 SB Nation
Blog Twitter
Online m anaged by Facebook
Video the sport
channels club

Ducati YouTube WTA

W ebsites

Ubitennis Digital
Real Madrid Radio
Web
Lazio Style
TV
Satellite
Super Tennis channels
MLB TV
Milan Channel

Self-generated content by users

Figure 20.4 Sports new media applications

Communicating on a more regular basis allows them to build a closer relationship with sports
fans and grow brand loyalty: a key dimension of the perceived brand equity (Aaker, 1991).
New media and social media offer additional services and opportunities either to current
sponsors or to attract new ones. Nevertheless, having their own channel remains an important
cost issue which can constrain minor and non-professional clubs and organizations from
creating TV branded channels.
Digital and multimedia technologies offer new opportunities for building and managing
less costly and alternative online media channels such as Web TV. Highlights and full
matches can be delivered live or on demand, directly on PC, laptop and mobile devices.
For example, the International Federation of Volleyball (FIVB) recently launched a rich
and high-quality online TV channel, named “FIVB Web TV”. Through this tool, fans can
enjoy a lot of exclusive highlights and video live streams from international volleyball
competitions, in addition to special programmes, commentaries and full reports on star
players. The use of a web TV platform would accelerate the growing popularity of volleyball
by uploading video and digital images of players during games. The aim of FIVB is to create
a more immersive experience in the world of volleyball, “to raise fans’ interest towards this
active and exciting sport”.29
After TV, the second most popular medium to enjoy sports with are websites and social
networks. As an example, 50% of Australian sports fans follow a team or a league on social
networks, and 52% of Spanish sports fans passionately support their teams over social media.30
Web 1.0 was characterized by a mostly one-way communication experience (Weinburg,

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2009), providing limited avenues for individuals to communicate and share ideas with others.
The most common package of new media services offered through traditional websites are
online content to entertain and update fans, keeping them connected to the sports organization.
Site content includes players and teams statistics, pictures, and downloads such as screensavers
and wallpapers. Interaction occurs through email or message boards, with no potential for
instant updates.
In spite of the multimedia technological diffusion, several sport organizations still have
websites that are “simple static windows”. The latest internet paradigm, the so called Web 2.0
(O’Reilly, 2005), can be defined as “a collection of open-source, interactive and user-
controlled online applications expanding the experiences, knowledge, and market power of
users as participants in businesses and social processes” (William and Chinn, 2010).
Social media emerged under the innovative concept of Web 2.0: multimedia and interactive
tools that allow the user to partially or totally control content in regards to the creation and
distribution processes. Social media, also defined as “Consumer Generated Media” (CGM),
such as blogs, forums, news groups, social networks, wiki, podcasts and virtual worlds, allow
many-to-many communication and feedback flows. They provide a variety of interactive
platforms for sports fans to share, create, discuss, and modify content (“User Generated
Content” (UGC)) (see Figure 20.5).
Many sports organizations and franchises have created their own official pages on Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. The main purpose is to engage fans, offer exclusives to their
followers, start conversations, contribute to the overall supporters’ experience. Using social
media, sports organizations, leagues and federations may offer innovative and interactive
services through the web, such as online sales of tickets, merchandise, memorabilia and
collectibles, fantasy, gambling and simulation games, live and archived digital radio broadcasts,
live and archived video webcasts of games. Moreover, teams, leagues, and athletes are embracing

WhatsApp
VoiceCall 2015
Players
Selfie 2014

Viber Instagram
Practitioners 2010
WhatsApp
2009
We-Sport
Fans
Twitter 2009
2007
Fubies
2007
Spectators
YouTube Plurality and
simu/taneity
2005
Facebook in social
media use
Population 2004

Social media instantaneity

Figure 20.5 Social media evolution

290
Sports marketing and new media

social media and using it to bring fans closer to the game and to the team’s brand. By asking
fans to submit photos, comments, videos and suggestions, and then highlighting this content
on official channels, the sports clubs seem to stimulate fans’ loyalty, giving them a role in the
team. Social media has led the sports industry to a new concept, providing an instantaneous
and low cost way to create connections between the sport club and its fans.
Social networks are able to boost “social” relations among sports fans and spectators as
well. These digital tools enable users not only to create virtual many-to-many connections
(see Figure 20.2): social platforms can be used to exchange online information, even to
organize people meeting in real life. WeSport31 or Fubles32 can be mentioned as an
example. These are defined as “social sports sharing platforms”, location-based, which gives
people the possibility of starting a conversation in a virtual environment and then to meet
in reality to practice their preferred sports discipline together. In this case, the digital
social channel might favor active physical participation by people and enhance the “critical
mass practice”.
Technology changes, together with decreased costs, allows individuals to have their own
websites, host blogs, and connect through social sites using a variety of devices including net
books, smartphones, and game consoles (Weinburg, 2009). Social media have therefore
strengthened the co-creation of content by the users, who have become their own websites’,
blogs’ and social network’s “contributors and developers”. For instance SB Nation,33 the
North American-based social blog, is the largest network of the “fan-centric” sports
community. This blog is created and managed directly by fans: the editorial team comprises
passionate and influential voices of sports fandom and all contents are delivered from a
supporter’s perspective. The blog has grown so large that it requires a professional structure
with locally-based external collaborators.
With the rise of smartphones, mobile devices and social media have become more and
more entwined. As such, sports fans like to be connected to their favourite social media
outlets 24 hours a day and are increasingly participating at live sports events using their
phones, constantly ready to tweet, share, like and take photos. More and more sports fans
attend live sports games and use a mobile device either before, during or after the event.
Among the most common activities for fans using smartphones during live matches, is calling,
texting, and social networking, while the game is actually taking place. In order to increase
fans’ virtual participation during the events, some professional clubs, such as Liverpool FC,
Barcelona FC, Miami Dolphins, San Francisco 49ers,34 have developed the so called
“Connected Stadium”. This is a concept where sporting arenas are improved technically and
digitally to ensure that the audience is encouraged to interact online from within the stadium.
Nevertheless, we are just at the beginning of the process. Indeed, social media applications
within sport venues radically change the live event experience. It is a sort of meta-event, a
“flagship” innovation, which is still in an experimental phase and requires a sheer amount of
investment. This perhaps explains why only a few clubs have been bringing their arenas into
the digital and constant connection.
The technological upgrading of multimedia devices have strengthened virtual sports
experiences as well. Sports video games, such as Madden Football NFL and NBALive, released
by games developer companies (for example, Electronic Arts, 2K Sports, etc.) in connection
with teams, are sports simulation products. Most of the time they are enriched with specific
features, which give players the control35 of sports teams or athletes in a virtual environment.
Digital gaming is becoming an increasingly popular mode of engagement for sports fans, and
many practices of sports fandom might be reinvigorated and reconfigured through the
enjoyment with sports videogames (Consalvo, Mitgutsch and Stein, 2013).

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The cutting edge frontier of virtual interactive experiences in sports is wearable

technologies. These applications enable users to enjoy the sports activity in a real environment
with virtual players. As an example, smart watches can be considered “virtual coaches” that
help people to play, to improve performance, and to keep their physical activity under control
through data like blood pressure, heart rate, burnt calories, and so on. Another example are
“smart glasses”. These are used during physical practice. They reflect projected digital images
like lap time, speed display, route tracking, or “virtual individuals” against whom you can
compete and race.36
Wearable connected technologies can be defined as “hybrid” realities, since they combine
real and virtual objects in the real environment: you play true sports and perform physical
activity, but your sporting experience is powered by physical monitoring or virtual and
“augmented” contents. Moreover, they encourage “social interaction” among users, since
exercise is recorded and each performance can be transmitted to the members of the social
media community in specific sports like running, cycling, skiing.
These new wearable devices enrich the “social” value of new media. They actually offer
opportunity to diffuse news and appointments to meet people in real life and to practise
together.37 Indeed, by adding a “gamification” (Zichermann, 2013) dimension to specific
exercises, these applications might entice more people to become involved in sports practice,
spreading the diffusion of physical activity. With no doubt, it is setting bases for monitoring
the evolution of people’s sports behaviour and promoting a healthy lifestyle.

Concluding remarks
The integration of new media technologies has changed the manner in which sport is
produced, marketed, delivered and consumed. On the demand side, fans, spectators and sports
enthusiasts increasingly interact through a new media network composed of digital TV,
internet, social network, smartphones.The emerging new technologies allow sports consumers
to live an interactive and social experience that entails direct “conversations” not only with
other fans and supporters, but also with athletes and teams.
On the supply side, new media has created a myriad of innovative possibilities for sports
organizations to convey their products and services, and to reach millions of people. New
media, especially social networks, by ensuring interactivity and constant connectivity, allow
sporting clubs, federations and leagues to communicate more effectively and more often with
their “customers”, to develop brand awareness and to provide new content. Sports
organizations progressively operate as “multi-platform companies”. Besides television, which
will probably remain the driving force behind the global growth of sports, teams and leagues
communicate with their fans through multiple communication distribution channels, such as
interactive websites, social media, mobile phones, web TV and digital radio.
New media are not just means of distribution and communication of sports content. The
emerging new media channels prompt a dynamic and synergistic network of relations among
multiple actors involved in the sports industry and play a pivotal role in value co-creation.
Sports organizations use new media platforms to broadcast highlights, video, games, to convey
images and messages, to sell tickets and merchandising. By hosting major sporting events,
local, national and international contexts gain a significant media exposure that might be
decisive to raise the attractiveness of a destination. Telecoms and other media companies,
being either sponsor or technology and distribution providers, benefit from the fact that
sports are a universal content and implement co-marketing and co-technology strategies to
elevate their global presence on the market. Multiple stakeholders like sports clubs, media,

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Sports marketing and new media

technical partners, Institutions, interacting and collaborating with each other, co-create value
in providing the sport service. In spite of the fact that this multiplicity of actors compete
strenuously, nevertheless the cooperative dimension is embedded in the process of making
sport happen. The sports product is a process of exchange and integration of resources,
complementary assets and capabilities provided by each “independent” partner. Sports are in
the midst of profound social, cultural and media changes that mould the relational context
where sports organizations and other actors are involved.
Media and new media attendance induces an important “re-shaping” of the context,
mainly with regard to the social norms able to impact the behaviour of practitioners,
supporters, companies and sport clubs. The schedules of sport matches are split into different
shifts to maximize TV revenues and to grant sponsors and advertisers’ visibility. Sports
technical rules are changed to make the TV streaming high powered and tense. Finally,
the competition of the extreme race to achieve new sports records consists of an attrac-
tive and sensational excitement that can induce technological and pharmacological doping,
if not corruption.
Nowadays sports organizations face competition embedded in sports activities. Among the
sports stakeholders, this process is amplified by the emerging intertype competition over
multiple communication distribution channels. These channels, enabling users to enjoy the
same kind of sports contents throughout a variety of multimedia devices (TV, laptops, tablet,
smartphones, etc.), actually enlarge spectators’ fruition and open up new business opportuni-
ties that services providers, media corporations and other intermediaries strive to undertake.
New media companies are “rivals” in exploiting the economic value linked around interna-
tional events, tournaments, major sports contests, and so on. With the increase in business and
revenue opportunities related to sports as a strategic content, able to catch the attention of
millions of people, generating more viewers and followers at global levels, new actors (telecom,
TV broadcasters, media conglomerates, and so on) are continuously entering the market and
aggressively competing to increase the overall profit generation derived by the sports distribu-
tion. In the distribution process of the sports content (events, games, matches, etc.) intense
competition prevails in a context of pervasive cooperation on technological infrastructures
convergence, in order to make compatible and workable the multimedia platforms.
In the contemporary scenario of relentless sports competition, a remarkable number of
minor sporting teams, leagues and federations, frequently facing heavy budget restrictions, do
not have proactive skills and attitudes to address the relations with media companies and
communication distribution channels. This also entails a strong dependency of sports clubs
on media rights fees, as well as a progressive integration throughout acquisition or equity
participation of sports teams and leagues by large media corporations. The media’s increasing
involvement in, and control over, sports has put them in a powerful position to dictate the
characteristics of events and matches, to change fundamental game rules and to influence the
ways sports content is enjoyed by fans, spectators and sport passionate.
Only a small number of structured sports organizations, mostly among European soccer
clubs, US Major Leagues and international governing bodies for the more popular sports
(Formula 1, cycling, motor racing, etc.), have been developing an appropriate mix of dynamic
capabilities to leverage the potentialities provided by new technological platforms (for
example, club channels, web TV, social media, etc.). As a consequence they are fully capable
of enhancing their brand image and to boost their fans’ loyalty, behaving as “active players”
in managing the opportunities offered by new media service providers. Even in the
composition of their revenue streams, major sports clubs are able to assure a more sustainable
balance in their income, by complementing live stadium attendance with televised and new

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media sports consumption. Live ticket sales, with sponsorship and merchandising deals, are
important revenue sources as well. These prevent sports teams and leagues from relying deeply
on the support of TV rights.
However, many professional teams although successful on the field and extremely attractive
to a global audience, show a sizeable lack of managerial capabilities. They definitely empower
other actors, like sports marketing agencies, to grasp the value created by the sport product.
In the countries and the contexts where sports organizations are deeply “product-oriented”
and a marketing culture is not rooted and diffused, a strong “asymmetry” emerges between
sporting teams and new media companies. Quite often even top sports clubs and leagues are
incapable of consciously handling any organizational, marketing and financial structure.
Problem solving is almost never coordinated and strategic planning hardly exists.
The way sports organizations manage the intertype competition process brings out
different capacities of value appropriability. In many cases, sports content producers are not
able to accomplish a powerful role in relation to the other stakeholders (media, sponsor,
technological partners, etc.). Consequently, sports might be managed by the communication
distribution channels (media and new media) striving to capture the co-created value.
Sports clubs need to develop a more complex and structured organization, which entails
a set of strategic new media capabilities, not only to retain the value generated, but also to
uphold a higher level of control over their own “identity” content. The wish is that sports
might be able to “catch” and manage a significant part of the value created facing global
distribution imperatives, without forgetting to maintain the sports essence and nurture the
inner dimensions of passion, recreation, participation, integration and entertainment hungered
for by spectators, fans and practitioners.

Notes
1. Although the authors have shared their research work, the attribution of authorship is as follows:
Patrizia Zagnoli wrote “Competition and cooperation in the sports industry” and Elena Radicchi
wrote “Value co-creation in the sport industry: the role of media and new media”, “The features
of new media”, and “The diffusion of new media: from mediate to ‘social’ and virtual sports”.
Introduction and Concluding remarks have been jointly developed.
2. See, for example, We are social, “Digital, Social and Mobile in 2015”, Report March 2015.
3. According to the definition proposed by Freeman, stakeholders are “groups and individuals who can
affect, or are affected by the strategic outcomes of a firm”. Actors who are vital to the continued
growth and survival of the organization can be grouped as primary stakeholders (for example, cus-
tomers, employees, manager, owners, suppliers, sponsors, local communities), while other groups
that can affect or be affected by the focal organization, are called secondary stakeholders (for example,
competitors, media, government, consumer advocate groups, special interest groups). See Freeman
(1984); Freeman, Harrison and Wicks (2007).
4. For a deeper understanding of “micro-meso-macro contexts” see Chandler and Vargo (2011).
5. Gigaom, “Times of India grabs English soccer highlights for Indians”, October 13, 2011, www.
gigaom.com (accessed April 19, 2015).
6. Telecom Italia, 2014.
7. The authors of this piece look at institutions, such as local municipalities, sport governing bodies,
etc., not only as carriers of “socially created norms” (Vargo and Lusch, 2011), but focusing their
role as main active players in sport value co-creation.
8. Alvin Toffler (1980) introduced the concept of proactive consumer, known as the prosumer, to
describe common consumers who were predicted to become active so as to influence the design
and delivery of goods and services. Social media has brought Toffler’s vision to reality by engendering
the birth of the social customer, the embodiment of the prosumer. Social networking sites are vital
resources of information for the sharing and consumption of products and brands. See also Buzzetto
Moore (2013).

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Sports marketing and new media

9. For example, hundreds of athletes from several professional sport leagues and teams have Twitter
accounts. See www.tweeting-athletes.com
10. www.ducati.it
11. Sports clubs can “track” data when fans and supporters are using their laptops, tablets and smart-
phones. Building big data enables sports organizations to define their fans’ patterns of behavior and
to combine data and information with their insights, perceptions and preferences.This enables teams,
clubs and sponsors to craft services, products and experiences tailored to specific and profiled
target segments.
12. Responsive Web Design (RWD) is a web design approach aimed at implementing sites to
provide an optimal viewing experience – easy reading and navigation with a minimum of resizing,
panning and scrolling – across a range of devices, from mobile phones to desktop computer moni-
tors. This approach proposes addressing the ever-changing landscape of devices, browsers, screen
sizes and orientations by creating flexible, fluid and adaptive websites. Instead of responding to
today’s needs for a desktop web version adapted to the most common screen resolution, along with
a particular mobile version (often specific to a single mobile device), the idea is to approach the
issue the other way around: use flexible and fluid layouts that adapt to almost any screen. See
Marcotte (2010).
13. According to the “Adobe Digital Index”, in 2013 TV Everywhere content was viewed mainly on
mobile devices, with tablets producing the most at 42%.Video stream growth was driven by sporting
events: sports related media content went up 640% from Q1 to Q4 of 2013, compared to non-
sports-related content, which increased by 190% during the same period. See Adobe Digital Index
(2013, 2014).
14. Levy and Weitz (2004) defined intertype competition as “a kind of competition between different
types of retailers selling the same products”.
15. See notes 20 and 21.
16. A transaction cost occurs when a good or a service is transferred across a technologically inseparable
interface. Transaction costs arise every time a product or service is being conveyed from one pro-
duction stage to another, where new sets of technological capabilities are needed to make the
product or service. Williamson (1975).
17. An agency relationship is a contract under which one or more persons (the principal(s)) engage
another person (the agent) to perform some services on their behalf, which involve delegating some
decision making authorities to the agent. See Verheyden (2004).
18. An information asymmetry is a situation that favors the more knowledgeable party in a transaction.
Potentially, this might lead to an opportunistic behavior, that is “pursuing with astuteness an egoistic
goal” by the most powerful party. Williamson (1975).
19. See note 18.
20. Of the *2.3 billion generated by the Italian Serie A soccer clubs, about 60% comes from Infront:
*987 million is related to TV rights, *150 million to marketing and sponsorship (FIGC, PwC, Arel,
2015).
21. The Italian Serie A registers the highest impact of broadcasting rights on the total revenues (60%)
compared to the other top European soccer leagues: the German Bundesliga (30%), the English
Premier League (47%), the French Ligue 1 (48%) and the Spanish La Liga (48%) (Deloitte, 2014).
22. Zagnoli (1988a); Zagnoli (1988b); Zagnoli (1991).
23. www.premierleague.com
24. Such as the NBA preseason and regular-season games, All-Star, Playoffs, the NBA Draft, and so on.
25. The NBA League Pass is a service which allows fan to watch every NBA game (regular season, All
Star Game, Play Off and NBA Finals), live and on-demand, on all devices (television, tablet, smart-
phones, video games consoles), www.nba.com
26. Even global sports, such as soccer and baseball, show a drop-off in live games attendance. For
example, in Italy the number of live spectators at Serie A, Serie B and Lega Pro’s soccer matches
has gone down from 14.5 million during the 2008/2009 season, to less than 12 million in 2013/2014
(FIGC, 2014). In the US, popular sports like baseball are experiencing a decreasing trend of live
participation as well. Between 2007 and 2013 the number of fans at MLB games went down from
more than 79 million to 73 million (Forbes, 2014).
27. According to the latest “Global Sports Media Report”, in most countries, television is the first
medium to access sports events. For example, in Indonesia, in Italy and in Australia respectively, 96%,
95% and 94% of fans consume sports on TV. This report includes data on Australia, Brazil, China,

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France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, UAE, UK, USA.
See Perform (2014).
28. BSkyB, through the service Sky on Demand, offers hours of sports programming from national soccer
championships, Champions League highlights, golf, motor racing, Formula 1, etc. enabling the users
to enjoy sports contents from Sky with everything ready to be watched when they want it, as many
times as they like. The service Sky Go is also available on the move using iPhone, iPad, or laptop.
29. See www.fivb.org/en/media
30. Perform (2014).
31. www.we-sport.com
32. www.fubles.com
33. www.sbnation.com
34. In 2014, the San Francisco 49ers football franchise released the mobile app “Levi’s Stadium” to
enhance fans’ game day experience inside the new sports venue in Santa Clara, in the heart of
Silicon Valley. This application provides features such as mobile tickets and parking passes, mobile
ordering of food and beverages, a virtual navigation around the building, and a “game center” for
high-definition video replays. See www.levisstadium.com/stadium-info/stadium-app/
35. Consider for instance the freestyle control, which enables users to create and execute realistic moves
on the screen based on the sequence of motions made with the right analogue stick; the features of
the real basketball and football arenas; the reproduction of views, perspectives, or other techniques
from television and cinema game play, and so on.
36. See, for example, the application “Race Yourself ”, www.raceyourself.com
37. In big cities, such as Paris, Madrid, and New York, people, after having met up on a social platform,
join groups of other sports enthusiasts in a square, garden or a park to run, cycle or exercise together.

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21
Digital content and
real time marketing
Strategic challenges for the
globalised football brands

Grégory Bolle

Introduction
The aim of this chapter is to explore new developments in sports marketing offered by
digital media, with a particular focus on the football industry. Digital media has and con-
tinues to transform all aspects of marketing, and this transformation is affecting sports
marketing. In today’s digital world, sports marketers have to rethink the way they approach
sports beyond an experience, an entertainment product, a media platform, or even a unique
customer activation. In this new world, sports brands have a tremendous opportunity to
use insights and understanding of consumer behaviour through digital media to build
their business.
After a decade, the digital industry is delivering upon its initial promise and has developed
into a tangible and sustainable global industry. Digital media is now a key component of any
media advertising investment decision. In a time where marketing budgets are being squeezed,
digital media provides a viable option to marketers who want well-targeted campaigns, using
real time bidding techniques (RTB), delivering solutions that are far more cost effective, and
focusing on e-transaction purchases to optimise all media advertising return on investment
(ROI). Major advertising networks have embraced the technological changes by offering their
clients the ability to buy online advertising in a programmatic way. Being able to buy
programmatically is revolutionising and changing the face of online advertising. The reason
programmatic buying is such a powerful tool for advertisers, is that it automates all of the
media buying process to deliver precision in understanding the moments that matter to
consumers. This means brand managers can define the budget, goals, and attribution model
while the algorithms rapidly adjust dozens of variables in real time based on performance to
find the exact campaign settings to achieve the desired ROI. All marketing professionals focus
mainly on the complex ratio between the performance and the cost of their advertising
campaigns. However, by being more aware of the efficiency offered by real time bidding
solutions, they are becoming more demanding towards traditional media performances.
Increasingly, brands are becoming even more business results driven and are shifting towards
more transactional marketing operations.

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Tomorrow’s football clubs will learn how to innovate within this new digital paradigm to
reach and engage further with their fans. For decades, the hyper-televised football industry
promised to be one of the most cost efficient mediums to enable brands to improve reach,
and to acquire new customers through their international fan base. Sponsorship was very cost
effective when compared to the traditional mass media approach. Today, football, as a lively
emotional platform, remains the most followed sport in the world. The football industry
undoubtedly provides scale (reach), coverage (frequency) and strong emotional capital
(affinity) for any global brand. Mass marketing (brand awareness) and relational marketing
(brand preference) are the key axes of the standard football sponsorship model. Global football
clubs are still capitalising on these two assets to sign either regional or international sponsorship
deals. However, no football club seems to be moving towards the new direction of transactional
marketing as they have not yet understood the drastic shift in advertising that has occurred
as a result of new digital technologies such as real time bidding or real time marketing.
Nevertheless, these new advertising solutions oblige us to rethink our fundamental knowledge
of sports marketing and how to further monetise the relationship between the football clubs
and their fans. They are encouraging football clubs to become more creative and more
audacious in the way they interact with their fans.
Since the democratisation of online networks, the use of digital devices has transformed
the “old” sports sponsorship model. Until recently, television – due to its mass visibility –
offered the greatest return on investment for brands in terms of reach and frequency
(leveraging top-of-mind awareness). Nowadays, the consumption of online video on mobile
devices is forever changing the way brands leverage brand-awareness. Most sports marketers
understood this “broadcasting” shift and are working towards it. For example, Cas Knight, the
managing director of Chelsea FC digital media explained this move: “The huge advances in
broadcast quality and capability all add up to a complete viewer experience which enhances
the value of sports content significantly” (Merrett, 2011). As technology dictates how we
consume content, it has transformed the way football clubs will communicate with their fans.
Due to the fast advancements of digital communication, fans have become more complex
and more demanding. Fans’ expectations have been raised for almost every aspect of products
and services. They expect the latest technological product to be of high quality and the digital
content to be relevant. Today’s sports consumers are sophisticated consumers that expect an
exclusive brand experience that includes innovative content and personalised online
interactions. New media is encouraging all football clubs to recognise the increasingly
important role that digital content and social media play in their business model.

Digital is transforming the sports media industry

Before the digital age, the traditional ways for a football fan to indulge in their passion were
the standard ways: watch it on TV, listen it on radio, read about it in the press, attend the game
itself, chat about it with friends. The practicality of this for football clubs and leagues was the
classic approach of sports marketing 1.0. The digitalisation of sports marketing can be
explained by three macro structural transformations.

Broadband internet access

Broadband worldwide penetration is treated as a key economic indicator. Access to broadband
services has become essential for the social and economic development of any nation. To
promote affordable broadband connectivity many nations – developed and emerging countries

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– have created dedicated national broadband plans. Today, the number of internet users in the
world has been estimated at 3 billion people, almost 40% of the world population (Klopfer
and Ordon, 2009). Broadband has revolutionised the way sports consumers spend their leisure
time and has greatly benefited the brands (sponsors) that have harnessed this paradigm shift.
In short, broadband brings local and global audiences to sports marketers.

The smartphone age

Nowadays, it seems that everyone wants to stay connected wherever they are. In the US, Far
East and European markets just over half of all phones sold were smartphones. According to
Nielsen research (Mobile youth around the world, 2010), Italy, Spain, England, America,
Germany and China have the highest smartphone usage amongst the 15–34-year-old age
bracket in the world. All sports consumers who own a smartphone are looking for more
personalised interactions with their favourite sports brands (Smith, 2014). For sports marketers,
the world expansion of smartphone offers a wider opportunity to monetise their current fan
base and work on new fan acquisition.

Social media phenomena

Since social networks like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have become mainstream, sports
marketing is a whole new ball game. Social media has dramatically and undeniably
revolutionised all standards of communication and broadcast approaches. Hence, the way that
football clubs, football federations, players, media broadcasters and sponsors discover,
experience, access, participate, like and share their love of the game has evolved. In 2014,
FIFA digital’s global stadium registered a cumulative attendance of one billion and one-third
of this audience consumed the FIFA World Cup content on a digital social media platform.
It is evident that social media networks are becoming the new virtual stadium for international
football fans.

These new sports marketing phenomena perpetuate the successful relationship between
mass media and sports. From the late eighteenth century onwards, this relationship has passed
through a series of phases. The first of which was parallel growth with the mass media reaching
a larger audience through new communication technologies, while sports were attracting an
increasing base of paying spectators. Today, thanks to the rapidly evolving digital economy, their
routes have converged. Laurent-Eric Le Lay, previous CEO of Eurosport commented:

The Eurosport Player app demonstrates how we are putting mobile at the core of
our online development. We have received positive feedback from sports fans who
have downloaded the app and are delighted to be able to now make our unrivalled
content available to Android users. Eurosport continues to attract strong audiences
across all its available screens, TV, PC, mobile and tablet, and with such an exciting
summer of sport ahead we are able to help fans follow the action wherever they are
(June 2012).

Football leaders are aware that digital convergence of new media is driving a new marketing
paradigm. International fans are more empowered than ever. This new “consumer
empowerment” is due to the proliferation of innovative distribution channels, the fusion of
offline and online media and, finally, the convergence of content and devices. If we think

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about it, new technology is helping individuals to better stock, analyse, send and receive more
data, information and knowledge. In this sense, new technology influences directly any
individual’s intellectual faculties, such as memorisation, imagination and reasoning. The
practicality of this is that the connected fan will gain more as they will make better use of
the content that football clubs, players and sponsors share over the time. Thus, football clubs
are learning how to influence sports consumers for the benefit of their daily business
operations and respective business models.
With the exponential growth of digital media, international football fans have more access
to and more opportunity to engage with their passion. Consequently, football content has
become omnipresent. Perhaps the most important aspect of this new sports marketing
paradigm is the way fans – with their new social media behaviour – are driving fundamental
shifts in how sports businesses operate. After a decade, some online business practices, such as
buying tickets and selling merchandise, are becoming common knowledge for sports
marketers. However, this know-how is not helping them define how to enrich their
conversations through digital fans and thus monetise it. Hence, more interesting is the way
in which football clubs need to gain online sports broadcasts, content monetisation and online
socialisation.
As fans become broadcasters themselves, football clubs face increasing pressure to control
their brand image.Thanks to blogs and social media networks, fans’ new mantras have become:
“create, communicate, share and connect”. These new social behaviours have changed
drastically the broadcast media value chain of the sports industry (Figure 21.1). With YouTube
being the second largest search engine in the world, football clubs must simply face a new
business reality: content sharing is unstoppable. In this new ecosystem where fans are creating
and distributing sports content online, clubs simply cannot stop this new societal habit.
Instead, they must learn how to surf on this new need and ask for even more participation.
To better connect and influence this new type of fan, football clubs need to improve the
information that they deliver to their fans by creating new content not directly related
to their sporting performances. By being more creative, more educative, more entertaining
and more useful, football clubs will be in a better shape to influence the online sports
broadcaster communities. Simple content ideas could be fitness programmes, nutrition
and health tips, exclusive e-dialogue on FaceTime or Skype, CSR actions, charity auctions,
etc. Therefore, the marketing key is to accept more participation from these fan broadcasters
to deliver an overall added-value and positive image of your club brand and tacitly its
monetisation.

New revenue streams for football clubs

Andrew Keen, the author of The cult of the amateur (Keen, 2008), described how digital 2.0
(O’Reilly, 2009) mainly with user-generated content, created an artificial concept where
everything was perceived to be for free, which almost eradicated the music industry.
At present, football clubs are facing the challenge of how to monetise content in the digital
landscape. The two current digital content monetisation models are that fans are paying for
the content (Netflix: subscription model or video on demand) or have free access to sponsored
content (YouTube: mass media model). Until now, consumers have been resistant to pay for
online content; 85% prefer that content remain free (Covey, 2010).
Football clubs currently follow the free content business model. They compete with each
other on content and e-social interactions to generate significant traffic on their online
platforms. However, for them to continue to grow their digital following, football clubs need

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Content Content Content Usage Sport Brand
creation packaging distribution interface consumers partners

Before 2005* Rights Rights Broadcasters Media devices Fans 1.0 Brands
owners owners (passive) (passive)
TV TV
Leagues or Radio Radio Spectators Sponsors
clubs Press Press TV viewers Suppliers
players Media Telecom PC Readers Medias
agency Digtal networks Listeners
Mobile
Push
Bettors
Strategy

After 2005 Fans 2.0 Fans 2.0 Fans 2.0 Fans 2.0 Fans 2.0 Brands
(active) (active) (active) (active) (active) (Active)

+ + + + + Content
Creators Content Social media Smartphone Followers RTB/RTM
of content packagers Vine Tablet content on Digital network
Instagram social media & e-commerce
Blogs gamers
Video streaming commentators Pull
strategy

Figure 21.1 Standard broadcast media value chain in the sports industry
* Web 2.0 is the expression formulated in 2005 by Tim O’Reilly. Web 2.0 describes World Wide Web sites that emphasize user-
generated content, usability, and interoperability.
Media

to develop from their existing football centric content assets to innovative, attractive and
exclusive content that is not necessarily related to the game.
Nielsen reported that 71% of global consumers said online content of any kind will have
to be considerably better than what is currently free before they will pay for it. Nearly 80%
would no longer use a website that charges them, presuming they can find the same
information at no cost. Thus, for now, earning income with a subscription business model
does not seem to be the optimal approach for football clubs. Football clubs will add value to
the emotional connection between their sponsors and their fans, by persuading their sponsors
to invest in their digital content and gain a more meaningful relationship (return on
engagement) with the fan base.
Football clubs will continue to have a mass marketing approach to digital. However, with
the fast expansion of the real time bidding model they will progressively move forward
towards relationship marketing and ultimately will have to become accountable for their
transactional marketing performances.
Due to sponsor demands, football clubs are progressing further on brand engagement and
branded content (relationship marketing). It is social media platforms that are behind this
phenomenon as they carry and deepen the emotional link between the brand and the fans.
From a sports marketing perspective, social media platforms have fundamentally changed
the way sports fans consume sports. The fans no longer need to attend live games to interact
with their peers. To enhance the overall experience, football clubs are constantly looking at
how their content will enhance the fan’s experience, but also how it can supplement
sponsorship value.
Football clubs must:

• Listen to the sports consumers before proposing any content.

• Make fans feel like insiders, focus on them not just the products.
• Not just join the conversation, create the conversation.
• Engage in ongoing conversation, sports fans need to feel involved regularly.
• Know what sports consumers want, when they want it.
• Not overwhelm followers with branded content.
• Measure follower engagement, not only membership.
• Plan ahead: not every day has a big game.
• Humanise the message, make it personal.

Football clubs must advocate a model focused on uniting business goals with the sports brand
strategy through the eyes of the consumers in the social media space. Simply put, it is
marketing that helps build the “shared ideal” between sports brands and the target audience
communities (see Figure 21.2). When your content is meaningful, it is likely that fans will
engage more often on what they perceive as valuable. In this sense, a straightforward idea
such as exclusive player e-chats (Skype, FaceTime) with fans or followers will help in creating
a successful social media marketing campaign that clubs could monetise in due course.
The global emergence of new media, combined with new media consumption from fans,
will create exciting new sports marketing principles and practices. Football leaders will
recognise further opportunities brought about by e-sports marketing solutions (big data, real
time marketing, real time bidding, e-commerce, etc.) Traditionally, the essence of sports
marketing was activities designed to promote and commercialise the sporting content (TV
rights, ticketing) and their directly related products (sponsorship, merchandising, stadium) to
meet the needs and wants of sports consumers.With time, football clubs learnt to commercialise

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Digital content and real time marketing

C lubs1marketing and business objectives

Developing Club
brand equity
Strategy

SHARED
Technology IDEAL

User
Experience
Humanised Fans 2.0
brand

Fans’ needs, values and passions

Figure 21.2 Shared ideal to grow meaningful dialogues between clubs and their fans
Source: “The Shared Ideal” Blast Radius, Wunderman Group, WPP

some adjunct sporting content (grassroots, international tournaments, tours, hospitality

packages). However, the majority of marketing efforts have been primarily concentrated on
enriching their content and unique property: the sporting events or the games. For the
coming years, my prognosis is that football clubs need to recognise that they will have to
learn how to create new content and new revenue streams from outside of the unique sports
fields (Figure 21.3). Today, much of what we see is still traditional sports marketing disguised

Standard sport Innovative sport Participative e-sport

marketing approach marketing approach 1.0 marketing approach 2.0

Approach that linked mainly Approach that placed the fan Approach more collaborative which
to the sporting competitions at the centre of clubs & capitalises on the strengths of
and TV rights brands marketing initiatives social media networks (2.0)

Content & Direct Content & Direct Content & Direct

events revenues events revenues events Indirect
Indirect Indirect Derivative
revenues revenues

Derivative Sponsoring Sporting Social

revenues naming content media
Retail 24/7 Digital
licencing channel
Apps/news/
D ive rsificatio n + E-commerce statistics
o p tim isatio n o f
existing assets
Consulting/ Extra Lifestyle/
academies sporting health/. ■■
+
content - E-sport team
M e rg e r/ Clubs
acqu isitio n affiliated Content by Content
fans 2.0 aggregator

Figure 21.3 A new business model for e-sports marketing

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as advertising activations often driven by powerful and innovative brands. All these tactical
advertising campaigns are simply surfing on the untapped popularity of sports stars or making
sports content further accessible to the fans. The innovation will come only when some clubs
start to capitalise on a new business model approach; creating sellable online content not
directly linked to their sporting content. These new marketing initiatives will be developed
through external partners such as TV house production (Endemol, Talpa Media), video game
publishers and developers (Ubisoft, EA Sports, Viacom Multimedia), film studios (Disney,
DreamWorks Pictures, Universal), and social media networks (Google, YouTube,
Dailymotion, QZone, Youku).

The emergence of a new sports consumer: e-fan

The business to consumer model on social media platforms invites us to reveal some new
characteristics of the digital sports consumers: e-fans. However, before defining the distinctive
traits of the e-fans, we will need to define the concept of a netizen (internet citizen).
The broad description of a netizen could be any active participant in the online community
of the internet. Another definition offered by the French academic, Michel Serres (2008), is
what he calls a new and irreversible “digital citizenship”. Serres’ argument runs as follows.
New digital technology has transformed five fundamental aspects of any human life, these
are: the notion of time, the spatial dimension, any legal framework, sociability, and, finally, the
way we think, operate and work. For Serres, the digitalisation of the world is an enormous
cultural and cognitive revolution that justifies the new label of “netizen”.
A netizen is well informed, capable of participating and independent-minded, e-fans have
developed higher capacities for critical thinking towards a sports brand, its marketing, content,
merchandise, etc. This shift makes the sports consumers smarter than ever. The double-edged
sword of the digitalisation of sports marketing practices is that football clubs will have greater
opportunities to influence their fan behaviours. Not all fans are equally passionate and
fanatical, nor use their favourite sporting institution to back their personal identity.
Not all fans are loyal, as some attend sporting events on a regular basis, and others attend
only on exceptional occasions. This complexity underpins the need to build business to
consumer models of sports consumption that make sense of this disparate fan behaviour. Social
media practices can help develop effective fan segmentation and categorise the disparity.
In the past, a true fan was often described as someone who will purchase anything and
everything their football club produces. Today, the “digital citizenship” paradigm is placing
e-fans at the centre of everything. They are more and more in control and sporting brands
need to learn to listen to them. Now, it is all about personalised one-to-one dialogue. The
e-fan typology that follows will help football clubs identify the digital experience to fit the
particular needs and expected relationships for different categories of fans.

The undecided
This e-fan knows the brand but does not invest emotion into it. Most of the time, this
category represents the versatile age of 8 to 14 years old who are also very active users of
social media and online gaming platforms.

The opinionist
This category never experienced the club directly but likes to talk about it and express their
feelings and suggestions in order to be part of their community conversations. Their streams

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of information are non-specific media, rumours, moods, clichés, etc. This category can be
associated with fans who are geographically distant from the sporting brand, or who spend
most of their time engaging in sports chatter and trawling the internet.

The aficionados
The football club is associated directly with their daily lives. These fans use their favourite
sporting brand to tell a story about themselves. They buy the tickets, the merchandising, the
mug, the scarf, etc. They cannot wait until you issue your next piece of content online. They
will consume any content related directly or indirectly to their cherished brand.

The influencers
This category is so emotionally involved with their beloved club that they feel that they have
developed a unique expertise that they need to share with others. They want to contribute
to the development of the club and more importantly, they want to be rewarded for it.

The creative broadcasters

This is the ultimate category of e-fan: the superfan. They are using your club appeal to create
and share their own produced content. In short, they are volunteers who spend time and
talent to curate content that other e-fans will consume. They are creating new added-value
to your original and emotional brand content. For now, because of their working culture,
very few football clubs are willing to work in partnership with the most talented of them.
In the future, football clubs will need to have a more democratic approach towards the
generation of their online content and will embrace the web 2.0 participative culture. Football
clubs will become more curators and aggregators of digital sporting content produced by the
e-fans themselves. To increase their traffic, clubs will capitalise on user-generated content by
gathering all this new flow of content towards their “owned media” that they will then
monetise into sponsorship packages (ROI). The cumulative audiences of their website, their
owned social media pages (see Table 21.1) and the social media audience of their sporting
champions (see Table 21.2) will be an always-on digital platform sellable to sponsors.

Table 21.1 Social media audiences of global football clubs in 2015

Ranking Club League Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube

1 FC Barcelona Liga 79.1m 13.5m 4.9m 1.6m

2 Real Madrid Liga 77.2m 13.8m 4.9m 1.6m
3 Manchester United Premier League 61.6m 3.91m 2.1m *
4 Chelsea FC Premier League 38.3m 4.3m 1.4m 380k
5 Arsenal FC Premier League 30.7m 4.9m 1.3m 166k
6 Bayern Munich Bundesliga 24.1m 2.32m 1.3m 255k
7 Liverpool FC Premier League 24m 3.5m 1m 310k
8 AC Milan Calcio 23.4m 2.31m 660k 254k
9 PSG Ligue 1 17.9m 2m 1.4m 204k
10 Manchester City Premier League 16.7m 3.3m 760k 328k

*Manchester United does not have an official YouTube channel.

Source: Forbes.com

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Table 21.2 Social media audiences of football players in 2015

Ranking Name League Facebook Twitter

1 Cristiano Ronaldo Football Liga 102m 35m

2 Messi Football Liga 75m *
3 Neymar Football Liga 51m 18m
4 Beckham Retired 50m *
5 Kaka US MLS 31m 22m
6 Ronaldinho Liga Mx 30m 12m
7 Ozil Premier League 23m 9.89m
8 Iniesta Football Liga 23m 10m
9 Bale Football Liga 22m 6m
10 Pique Football Liga 16m 10m
11 David Villa US MLS 15m 7.25m
12 Suarez Football Liga 11m 4m
13 Juan Mata Premier League 8m 4m
14 Fabregas Premier League 6m 7m
15 Henry Retired 8m 1.88m

*Neither Messi nor Beckham have official Twitter accounts.

Source: Facebook and Twitter

Social media audiences are transforming the paradigm of our sports marketing practices.
In the past, it was up to the fan to demonstrate their loyalty towards their favourite club.
Nowadays, it is the football clubs that are competing on social media, through innovative
content and engagement tactics, to increase the numbers of their loyal followers. This new
industry reality is articulated by Pete Blackshaw (2011), the global head of digital marketing
and social media for Nestlé, S.A. [2011–present], who states: “Sport sponsorship has ceased
to be a conversational guarantee for any brands” and “the stadium is flattening. We are all
part of a new genre in content creation and consumption called ‘fanned media’. The fan voice
is louder, infinitely more networked and viral, more inclusive, and questionably – and
wonderfully – global.”

The new perspectives of e-sports marketing

Fans and the football industry are both changing. Football clubs have done things one way
for a long time but with the combined emergence of social media networks and new e-fan
behaviours there is simply no going back. Between clubs and fans, it will be increasingly
about the one-to-one customised dialogues. Sponsors will focus on investing in those “owned
media” channels that deliver high return on engagement. Thus, the role of clubs will be to
administer and to broadcast organic sports related content (owned media) and fan-generated
content (fanned media) through their various digital platforms (Figure 20.4).
All sports marketers must face this new reality as there is no point ignoring technology
and new media, when the creativity of the sports consumers follows it. The backbone of the
YouTube business model rests with e-fan contributions; hence, these e-fans will be earned
partners to the club’s marketing efforts. However, they also create a trust issue within a
historically conservative industry, henceforth, football clubs should begin to acclimatise to
this new participative reality and embrace its positive attributes.

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Digital content and real time marketing

YouTube/Vine

Viral Content

Facebook/Google+ Official Twitter/lnstagram

website

Connect Broadcast

G oogle/Blogs...

Figure 21.4 Optimising the digital communication of football clubs

Source: Forbes.com

Here are six major e-sports marketing digital opportunities that clubs could investigate in
the coming years, they are an amalgamation of the previously discussed realities of digital
marketing.

Content marketing
The American author Zig Ziglar taught us that “People do not buy for logical reasons; they
buy for emotional reasons” (2014). Football clubs must adopt the power of effective storytelling
outside of exclusive sporting content. Sporting institutions are by definition highly charged
emotional brands that will continue to support the media industry but could also connect
with consumers in different manners. In December 2011, the video game, Gears of War 3,
sold more than 3 million units globally. A few weeks later, EA Sports’ FIFA 12 sold 3.2 million
units in its first week. In 2014, the video gaming industry generated more than $100 billion
and became the second-largest segment of the entertainment industry in the world,
outstripping films and far surpassing books. In the 1990s, sports marketers had learned from
the merchandising expertise of Nike, Adidas, and Umbro. The following decade, they
supplemented these learnings with a host of stadium infrastructure enhancements with
expertise from Vinci, European Stadium and Safety Management Association, and Populous.
The digital and online gaming age is inviting sports marketers to work with a new kind of
expertise from the likes of Ubisoft, DreamWorks, Endemol and Playmakers to create, and
deliver greater, more immersive content for their fans.

Video content
Football clubs have developed their own online channels on YouTube, Dailymotion and
Youku. To get maximum awareness from YouTube, the clubs will either have an internal
digital content production team or have to partner with TV production companies, such as
Canal Studio, Mediapro, HBS and Bein, to produce exclusive high quality sporting and non-
related sporting content. Peripheral content opportunities are numerous, from wellness,

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fitness, nutrition, portraits of fans, etc. Clubs could also create new content with internet
celebrities (Remi Gaillard) or non-sports celebrities (Jason Sudeikis) to reach a fresh new
audience such as the 9 million viewers of the Tottenham Hotspur video, An American Coach
in London: NBC Sports Premier League Film featuring Jason Sudeikis (2013).

Capitalising on a football star’s online audiences

In the future, football clubs will have to take the individual rights of their football players
into account when negotiating agreements, in order to tap into and capitalise on their
individual fanbase to some extent. Since the David Beckham phenomenon, some football
players have become international advertising icons for global brands in their own rights.
These millions of followers should be aggregated to calculate the cumulative digital audiences
of the football clubs and their stars to allow sponsors to develop amplified co-branded
campaigns. For instance, the clubs will have the opportunity to develop dedicated online
gaming applications, such as Heads Up with Cristiano Ronaldo, which was played for more than
225 million minutes by international e-fans.

The first e-sports team

In 2014, an electronic sports (e-sports) competition brought in 27 million viewers for
a multiplayer online strategy game (EUM, 2015). More people play and watch e-sports –
people playing competitive computer video games such as EA FIFA 2014 – than watched
the 2013 NBA Finals (26.3 million), and the 2014 FA Cup (10.1 million). Right now, football
clubs are investing more into the niche captive audience of women’s football rather than
signing new global e-sports super-talents, such as Samad “Samsam” Baïsm, Mike Moreton,
Anas “Astank” Sofi, Navid “AdamanT” Borhani, or Sean Allen.

Big data, search and real time marketing

In line with many other industries, football will soon adopt the same techniques of search
marketing, real time marketing (Rooney, 2013), online auctions and real time bidding (RTB)
to optimise the monetisation of their online assets, such as ticketing, hospitality, and
merchandising to their millions of international e-fans and social media followers. Subsequently,
the team will share its Big Data with its sponsors and allow them to target their fans with
relevant and personalised offers that suit each fan’s timely needs and ultimately increase
sponsor return on investment (transactional marketing).

Football online betting

“The current estimations, which include both the legal and black markets, suggest
the sports match-betting industry is worth anywhere between $700bn and $1tn a
year” (Small, 2013). About 70% of that trade has been estimated to come from trading
on football.
Football leagues, with clubs’ agreement, may soon want to reconsider their position and
look at the opportunity to not only collect sponsorship revenues (Bwin,Titanbet, Marathonbet,
Unibet, etc.) from this large industry, but also to develop their own online regulated betting
platforms in conjunction with their digital strategy.

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Digital content and real time marketing

Interview with Dídac Lee: FC Barcelona board

member and director of the new technologies
Grégory Bolle: Could you provide us with some background information – the last five
years – on the digital strategy of FC Barcelona?

Dídac Lee: For a little over a year, FC Barcelona has opted for an online team dedicated
to making the Club’s digital assets profitable. This is why we developed a new web platform
that allows us to integrate seamlessly with social media. The tip of the spear, as it were, is
our firmly committed dedication to mobile technology as our income generation model on a
global scale.

GB: How has the hyper-globalisation of your brand combined with the fast growth of social
media networks phenomena reshaped your current digital approach?

DL: FC Barcelona’s challenge is to globalise its brand without sacrificing its roots. As a
brand, Barça is atypical, in that there isn’t another multi-sports club in the world that promotes
its unwavering principles to the degree we do. FC Barcelona represents a model of play, a
work ethic – like what’s taught at La Masía, which is the envy of any sports club – all of this
implies an implicit focus on social media. We will not globalise at any cost, perhaps that’s
one of the unknown factors that helps us promote the Sentiment Blaugrana (Barça
feeling) globally.

GB: What are the objectives of the club in terms of digital content generation?

DL: Our objectives can be summed up in three words: audience, engagement, monetisation.
Our audience is growing at an incredible pace and our work centers around, more than
capture, encouraging loyalty in the fans from around the globe. We have strategic markets that
we want to break into, without a doubt, the best way to do that is digitally. With the first
team’s schedule, it’s complicated to plan for a friendly or a worldwide tour. However,
downloading a mobile application, for example, is within everybody’s reach and it’s also
dramatically cheaper, at the same time, it allows Barça fans to feel close to the Club.

GB: What is the overall marketing approach in terms of social media networks usage?
(Optimisation of social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr?)

DL: Barça must be present on the main social networks, because that’s where the public is.
Our approach isn’t creating our own platforms seeing that in the market there are magnificent
solutions that facilitate access. Our goal is to integrate our efforts with these platforms.

GB: How digital is transforming the marketing and communication approach of a sports
institution such as the FC Barcelona? Define the main challenges.

DL: Introducing the Barça brand in China, for example, is a challenge. That’s why we have
partnered with a solid Chinese organisation. Recently we signed an agreement with Tencent,
the deal will open the doors to an enormous market, something that is potentially very
important to our interests.

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Media

GB: Do you segment your digital strategy in function of your fan base geo-segmentation?
If yes, what are the key differentiators between the local fans and the international in terms
of user experience?

DL: Segmentation is the basis on which any strategy succeeds. The local public (Catalonia)
have interests that don’t always coincide with those held by foreign markets. Numerically, the
latter constitute about 70% of the traffic to our website. We try to address global concepts,
but we don’t forsake local interests.

GB: How do FC Barcelona’s sponsors benefit from your digital platforms? Are digital rights
more critical in terms of sponsorship negotiations? Why?

DL: FC Barcelona’s sponsors benefit from aligning with our brand because, as of today, it’s
one of the most valued brands in the world. Their presence on our website and their
integration with various Club associative brand campaigns renders a benefit to them that is
difficult to reach any other way.

GB: What was the most successful digital campaign (sponsorship activation) that you operated
with one of your sponsors?

DL: More than highlighting a specific campaign or a specific sponsor, we’re extremely
pleased with the good relationship we have with all of them. It would be unfair to highlight
just one sponsor.

GB: From a digital angle, how can we further increase the brand affinity of your sponsors
with your local/global fan base?

DL: The campaigns that we plan, in which both parties are comfortable (sponsor and Club),
are the ones that directly or indirectly link a product with Barça. With that focus, the
possibilities are infinite.

GB: Can you share with us, what are the new digital milestones that FC Barcelona wishes
to accomplish in the coming years?

DL: One of our major goals is to create 20 official mobile applications for FC Barcelona for
this coming season and to turn the Camp Nou into a “mobile friendly” zone.

GB: Do you see potential scope of work (from a marketing view) between your global brand
and one of the major digital channels such as Google, Facebook, YouTube, Microsoft, and
Yahoo? If yes, can you elaborate on the same?

DL: We are open to collaborating with large companies that influence the digital world, of
course. The challenge is to find common ground on the digital channels and that we gain
from the relationship.

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Digital content and real time marketing

Type Action Assets Expertise

Mass Indirect ROI LED IMG

Marketing Traffic Perimeter Sportfive
1.0 AWARENESS Reach Shirt Infront
Return on Objectives Frequency Backdrop Mediapro
1980-2000
Relationship Engagement Social media Carat
Marketing Conversation Schools Sport
2.0 AFFINITY C ontent CRM Havas S&E
Return on Engagement RTM Technique Mediacom
2000-Now
Transaction E-commerce Exclusive Criteo
3.0 Marketing Big data Relevant Xaxis
TRANSACTIONAL RTB Personalised I-prospect
Coming up Return on Investment Direct ROI Offers

Figure 21.5 The evolution of sponsorship and marketing approaches for football clubs
Source: Facebook & Twitter

Conclusion
The digital economy is a global fast moving and growing sector. New technologies and new
digital platforms will not only transform sports marketing, but provide new opportunities for
football clubs and their partners. Hence, e-sports marketing will have a fundamental role
within any new strategic development of football clubs to network and dialogue with
international e-fans. For now, sponsors are satisfied with content marketing, however,
with the fast emergence of new disruptive online advertising techniques such as real time
bidding and real time marketing, sponsors will soon request more access to the global online
fanbase (Big Data) to empower their e-commerce platforms. The football industry will have
to shift from a mass marketing approach to a relationship based marketing approach onwards
to transactional marketing (Figure 21.5). Then a football club’s digital sales performance
would attract e-commerce giants, such as Amazon, eBay, Alibaba Group, Souq.com,
Booking.com as sponsors, which have to date been disenchanted with the football industry’s
media supremacy.

Bibliography
Bolle, G. and Desbordes, M. (2005). Marketing et football: Une perspective internationale, Presses Universitaires
du Sport.
Bolle, G. (2012). Interview of Dídac Lee on the digital strategy of FC Barcelona.
Chanavat, N. and Desbordes, M. (2014). Towards the regulation and restriction of ambush marketing?
The case of the first truly social and digital mega sport event: Olympic Games London 2012,
International Journal of Sport Marketing, 15(3), 151–60.
Covey, N. (2010). Changing models a global perspective on paying for content online, The Nielsen
Company.
Desbordes, M. (2001). Stratégie des entreprises dans le sport: Acteurs et management, Editions Economica.
Gilbreath, B. (2010). The next evolution of marketing, McGraw Hill.
Keen, A. (2008). The cult of the amateur, DoubleDay.
Kenneth, C. and Mayer-Schonberger,V. (2013). Big Data: A revolution that will transform how we live, work,
and think, Eamon Dolan/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Kotler, P. (2007). FAQs marketing, Marshall Cavendish Business.
McCarthy, J., Rowley, J., Ashworth, C. J. and Pioch, E. (2014). Managing brand presence through social
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O’Reilly, T. (2009). What is Web 2.0, O’Reilly Media, Inc.

Price, J., Farrington, N. and Hall L. (2012). Changing the game? The impact of Twitter on relationship
between football clubs, supporters and the sports media, Soccer & Society.
Taleb, N. N. (2014). Antifragile: Things that gain from disorder, Random House.
Ziglar, Z. (2014). Secrets of closing the sale, Revell.

Webography
Bailleul, A. (2012). L’application Eurosport player débarque sur androïd, Sport Buzz Business, 2012.
Blackshaw, P. (2011). Womma Summit Miami.
Bolle, G. (2013). Using message of sports as the great unifier, Gulf News.
Bolle, G. and Durou, E. (2013). Middle East lags global mobile advertising trend: report Deloitte/WPP,
ITP.
Casanovas, J. M. (2011). El club espera doblar los ingresos con la nueva estrategia digital, Sport.es.
Eum, J. (2015). The next multibillion dollar tech trend from Asia: E-sports, VentureBeat.com
Lee, D. (2014). El Barça presenta el nuevo FCB Trivia Fans, Sport.es.
Merrett, G. (2011). The bench launches social games for Barcelona and Chelsea, Social Games
Observer.
Serres, M. (2008). Les nouvelles technologies: Révolution culturelle et cognitive, INRIA,YouTube video.
Small, D. (2013). Football betting: The global gambling industry worth billions, BBC.com.
Zeldin, T. (2003). Combien de gens vous comprennent et vous apprécient, YouTube video.

Studies and reports

No Author (2010). Mobile youth around the world, December 2010, The Nielsen Company.
Durou, E. and Saguto, S. (2012). Arab Media Outlook 2011–2015, Dubai Press Club, Deloitte.
Fenez, M. (2011). Changing the game: Outlook for the global sports market to 2015, PWC.
Klopfer, A. and Ordon, K. (2009). Information and communications for development 2009: Extending
reach and increasing impact, The World Bank.
Masters, S. (2010). The changing face of sport media, January 2010, The Nielsen Company.
Masters, S. (2011). State of the media: Year in sports 2010, The Nielsen Company.
Rivera, J. (2013). Forecast: Video Game Ecosystem, Worldwide.
Rooney, J. (2013). Behind the scenes of Oreo’s real-time Super Bowl slam dunk, Forbes.
Smith, P. (2014). World football, Repucom.

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PART VI

Marketing, ethics and development

Nicolas Chanavat, Simon Chadwick and Michel Desbordes

There is no doubt that sports play a number of roles; while the focus in this text is upon the
commercial nature of sports marketing, sports have always fulfilled an important social role.
It continues to do so: many sports teams, clubs and events are embedded in the communities
where they are located; sports are often presented as a force for good, prompting social
cohesion, equality of opportunity and healthy living; and sports are a reference point, a source
of role models and heroes who influence people of all ages. This means that sports marketing
is not simply a commercial activity or one principally associated with revenue generation or
customer acquisition. It can entail pursuing CSR goals, promoting sports participation among
target groups, or affecting social change. There are other socio-legal issues for sports marketers
to consider, linked to the rights of citizens, the legal context of sports and the impact sports
can have on people. This final part of the handbook addresses a wide-range of issues from
CSR and sponsorship through to consumer perspectives on athlete transgressions, the
marketing impact of governance decisions, and beyond.

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22
GRASSROOTS SPORTS
Achieving corporate social
responsibility through sponsorship

Marc Mazodier, Carolin Plewa, Karen Palmer and Pascale G. Quester

Introduction
The importance of grassroots sporting organizations for the social development of a region
has become increasingly apparent, as benefits of community involvement in local sporting
clubs are recognized (Houlihan and Green, 2006; Stewart et al., 2004). Grassroots sporting
organizations are defined in this chapter as those organizations promoting participation in
amateur sports, including local sporting clubs, domestic leagues and local sporting venues.
These organizations have strong roots in the community or geographic area in which they
operate and often rely on the support of local council funding, sponsorship from local
businesses and volunteers from the community in order to operate. Hence, they are by their
very nature deemed central to their local social fabric and the “backbone of the voluntary
sporting system” (Wicker, Breuer and Hennigs, 2012: p. 318).
Yet research investigating the sponsorship of grassroots or community clubs and events is
scarce in comparison to the wealth of information available on the effects of professional
sporting sponsorship (Miloch and Lambrecht, 2006). Despite recognition from the sports
management literature that grassroots sports sponsorship offers a unique potential to contribute
to social development through corporate social responsibility opportunities, only a handful
of exploratory studies have addressed this area to date (Pegoraro, O’Reilly and Levallet, 2009).
This chapter aims to explore how grassroots sports sponsorship may create consumer
perceptions of a sponsor’s CSR image and, in turn, lead to desirable sponsorship outcomes,
such as brand attitudes, brand trust and purchase intentions. In particular, it examines the
importance of members’ familiarity with the club’s community initiatives, not only for the
club but for its sponsors.

Grassroots sports sponsorship

Sponsorship is part of every modern sporting environment, with 69% of all sponsorship
investments in North America dedicated to sporting clubs (IEG, 2013). Initially characterized
by simple corporate donations, sponsorship has evolved significantly over the years, now
reflecting long-term strategic partnerships focused on establishing a competitive advantage
(Fahy et al., 2004). Indeed, prolific research has been undertaken to understand those

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sponsorship environments that offer access to large audiences, coupled with strong media
presence and implied high visibility, and thus commercial sporting bodies (d’Astous and Bitz,
1995; Dowling, Robinson and Washington, 2013).Yet many sponsors seek community-based
properties, such as grassroots sports organizations to achieve their objectives (Heckmann,
2000) and demonstrate their commitment to the community in which they operate (Lacey,
Close and Finney, 2010; Plewa and Quester, 2011).
The advantages grassroots sports organizations hold for sponsors are threefold. First, they
are focused typically on a particular geographic region, allowing for a concentrated effort of
sponsors leveraging and activation activities (Miloch and Lambrecht, 2006). Second, the
audience of grassroots sports organizations are characteristically more homogeneous than
larger sports organizations, allowing for a uniform message to be highly effective (Pegoraro
et al., 2009). Third, despite a smaller target market, sponsors of these organizations receive a
greater return on investment due to the ability to reach consumers with a highly effective
and targeted message (Miloch and Lambrecht, 2006). For example, since 2009, the National
Australia Bank has sponsored the Australian Football League’s (AFL) Auskick program to
support more than 2,800 Auskick community centres utilized by more than 168,000 Australian
children every week (National Australia Bank, 2013). Thus, the bank uses grassroots sports
sponsorship to contribute to social development at the community level, communicate its
CSR and benefit from being “a good sponsor”.
Research in cause marketing suggests that consumers prefer local causes to national ones
(Drumwright, 1996). Although grassroots sports properties offer greater returns on investments
(Miloch and Lambrecht, 2006), they also have a strong potential to demonstrate CSR (Pegoraro
et al., 2009), because consumers do not view their sponsorships as a form of promotion.
Rather, firms appear to provide a service to society by sponsoring properties in need of support
(Gwinner, 1997). However, to date, few studies have investigated grassroots sports sponsorship
(Misener and Doherty, 2014), despite a wealth of research ascertaining the effects of larger
sponsorships. The resultant inadequate understanding of sponsorship at this level limits not
only our understanding of grassroots sports sponsorship in the literature but also development
of specific guidelines for sponsors seeking to maximize their benefits from such engagement.

Corporate social responsibility in sport

Corporate social responsibility

Organizations are interwoven with the society in which they operate (Wood, 1991) and thus
shoulder some responsibility to help ensure society’s survival by maximizing benefits and
minimizing harmful behaviour. Many authors have argued the case for businesses achieving
profit maximization and social performance (Husted and De Jesus Salazar, 2006; Porter and
Kramer, 2002). CSR, defined here as “a commitment to improve community well-being
through discretionary business practices and contributions of corporate resources” (Kotler
and Lee, 2004: p 3), is considered strategic when it provides substantial economic benefits
and assists firms in achieving their basic function (Burke and Logsdon, 1996). This occurs
when CSR initiatives put in place are central to the context of the firm and provide some
benefit for primary stakeholders. Therefore, firms can choose strategically where they focus
CSR and how they go about executing CSR for the purpose of achieving economic and
social objectives (Porter and Kramer, 2002).
CSR activities have a unique effect on consumer information processing (Drumwright,
1996), consistent with attribution theory. Originally developed in social psychology literature,

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Achieving CSR through sponsorship

attribution theory refers to an area of research rather than one singular theory (Folkes, 1988;
Weiner, 2000). It encompasses a number of theories developed to explain how people
determine the causes of events they observe (Mizerski, Golden and Kernan, 1979). Human
beings naturally search for order and consistency in the world around them and attempt to
explain what they observe. In marketing, attribution research has been applied to many levels
including consumer attributions of a firm’s CSR behaviour (Klein and Dawar, 2004). In brief,
attribution theory suggests a cognitive process by which individuals infer motives for an
individual’s or organization’s behaviour; either as self-serving or altruistic (Dean, 2003; Kelley
and Michela, 1980). Such inference of motives influences CSR perceptions, or the “associations
that reflect a brand’s character with respect to its social obligations” (Menon and Kahn, 2003:
p. 317). Preliminary evidence shows clear benefits arising from such CSR perceptions,
including attitudes, attractiveness, trust, identification, and, ultimately, purchase behaviour
(Barone, Miyazaki and Taylor, 2000; Lacey and Kennett-Hensel, 2010; Marin, Ruiz and
Rubio, 2009; Sen and Bhattacharya, 2001), showing particularly valuable for organizations in
highly competitive markets (Kemper et al., 2013).

Corporate social responsibility in sports sponsorship

A recent amalgamation of CSR and sports management streams has led to a wealth of
publications on sports CSR (Godfrey, 2009; Sheth and Babiak, 2010; Walker and Kent, 2009).
Sports CSR takes the perspective that sports properties are members of society who are
expected to support the communities in which they operate (Anagnostopoulos, Byers and
Shilbury, 2014; Berrett and Slack, 2001). Sports teams, as businesses, are thus expected to
operate as economic entities, within the existing legal framework and act ethically as society’s
standards dictate (Sheth and Babiak, 2010). An increase in community foundations developed
in the professional sports industry supports this trend (Babiak and Wolfe, 2006; Babiak and
Wolfe, 2009). Many sports teams invest in the development of their own socially responsible
image and support their local communities in order to attract spectators and sponsors for
revenue generation (Godfrey, 2009; Walters, 2009).
In addition, sports teams, leagues, players and venues have the unique ability to be
socially responsible, as they sit between business and the community and are considered
valuable by most stakeholders in a community. Currently, it is difficult to find a professional
sports organization or team without a community program. In addition, professional
sports leagues are more commonly implementing social development programs
involving professional clubs to address social issues and act in a responsible manner
(Walters, 2009), with community-based sports organizations also demonstrating their CSR
by not only operating with a local focus but also proactively engaging in their resident
community.
Such engagement may take the form of athlete volunteerism, educational initiatives,
charitable donations and community initiatives and developments, all of which aim to provide
assistance to the local communities in which the sporting clubs operate (Walker and Kent,
2009). Due to limited research dealing specifically with CSR initiatives of sporting clubs, we
draw on findings from the broader business literature, which states that such initiatives enable
organizations to express their CSR intentions (Gebler, 2006; Geroy, Wright and Jacoby, 2000;
Peterson, 2004) and proactively support the well-being of local communities (Zappala and
McLaren, 2004).
Despite evidence in the literature of the positive effects of demonstrating community
support, research has also shown that consumer awareness of such initiatives in Australia is

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Marketing, ethics and development

lacking (Pomering and Dolnicar, 2009), which is likely to explain why such initiatives may
not have had the desired effect in practice (Mohr, Webb and Harris, 2001). Hence, we propose
the need for consumers to be familiar with the sporting property’s involvement in community
initiatives, rather than involvement as such, as a predictor of the consumer perceptions of the
property’s CSR image. Hence:
H1: Familiarity with the property’s involvement in community initiatives is positively
associated with the property’s CSR image.

Despite sports CSR being an emerging area of interest in industry and academia, few
studies have explored the influence a sports property’s image and the demonstration of its
social responsibility in the community may have on the sponsor. Recently, however, Quester
et al. (2013) examined the link between club member perceptions of the property’s and
sponsor’s CSR image. Explained by meaning transfer predicted in balance theory (Heider,
1958; McCracken, 1989), positive perceptions related to the property’s social responsibility
were linked with stronger positive CSR image and goodwill towards the sponsor. Following
this argument, we propose that sponsors benefit from the individuals’ familiarity with the
club’s community involvement activities by means of a heightened property CSR image.
Hence:
H2: Property CSR image mediates the association between familiarity with the property’s
involvement in community initiatives and sponsor CSR image.
Corporate image and, more specifically, the image of being a socially responsible
corporate citizen, have been a central topic of interest given the deemed positive outcomes
for organizations. Although the association between CSR and profit has appeared ambiguous
or “equivocal” (Sen and Bhattacharya, 2001: p. 226), researchers have continued to
conceptualize and empirically test the impact of CSR activities and image on consumer
behaviour, in addition to the responses of other stakeholder groups. CSR activities and
image have not only been associated with brand differentiation and a competitive edge
(Brønn and Vrioni, 2001), organizations seen as proactively engaging in socially responsible
activities can achieve enhanced consumer attitudes and purchase intention (Becker-
Olsen, Cudmore and Hill, 2006; McDaniel, 1999). Indeed, research in multiple countries
has confirmed its benefits related to patronage and loyalty (Bloom et al., 2006; Maignan,
2001), with Sen and Bhattacharya (2001) confirming a direct impact of CSR on purchase
intent for some consumers. In line with extant research, we hypothesize sponsor CSR
image to mediate the relationship between property CSR image and outcomes for
the sponsor:
H3: Sponsor CSR image mediates the association between property CSR image and sponsor
(a) brand attitude, (b) brand trust, and (c) purchase intent.
The model provided in Figure 22.1 summarizes the conceptual framework tested in
this study.

Method
The empirical test of this conceptual model relies on an online survey instrument, developed
for, and distributed to, the members of a local Australian Rules Football sporting club. This
popular sport enjoys a strong following in local communities, and though each club can draw
on an existing membership and sponsor base, they also need continuing sponsorship funding
to maintain and enhance operations on and off the field. The primary reasons led to the
choice of sporting club for this study. First, the club has a long tradition and a loyal fan base

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Achieving CSR through sponsorship

Brand
attitude

Property Sponsor Brand

Familiarity
CSR image CSR image trust

Purchase
intention

Figure 22.1 Conceptual framework

within the local community. Second, its players are primarily amateur players, many of which
started their football career in local junior competitions. Third, the club has a very strong
focus on social responsibility by initiating or supporting various programs benefiting the local
and regional communities. For this study, we chose one of the focal club’s sponsors, a large
electrical appliance retailer. Given the activation strategy enacted throughout the season,
members’ awareness of the association was expected to be high.
The survey items came from existing scales in sponsorship, sports management, and CSR
literature (see Table 22.1). An invitation for participation in this research was sent by email
to 1,900 members of the club, leading to 319 valid responses. Although 8.5% of the respondents
noted that they did not commonly attend games, nearly 30% declared that they attended all
games of the season. The demographics of our sample are deemed similar to the club
membership, with a majority of male respondents (84.3%) and a mean age of 48 years of age.
Although these characteristics are relevant to note, they are not deemed influential in this
research, with previous studies illustrating no significant impact of age or gender on
sponsorship effectiveness (Coppetti et al., 2009; Stotlar, 1993).

Discussion of results
Path analysis was undertaken to examine the cause and effect relationships between sponsor
and property CSR variables, with model fit indices suggesting a suitable model fit (|²(145) =
264.997, p = .000, CFI = .980, SRMR = .047, RMSEA = .051). The results support all three
hypotheses of the study. In line with hypothesis 1, familiarity with property CSR initiatives
is a significant predictor of sports property CSR, with a standardized path coefficient of .21
(p<.001). Grassroots sporting clubs already possess a close link to the community by means
of their regular activities. However, engagement in community initiatives can help to
strengthen the consumer’s perceived association between the club and community welfare
(Walker and Kent, 2009). For such engagement to be acknowledged by consumers and reflects
in the club’s CSR image, consumers need to be made aware of such engagement. Although
research is yet to examine CSR communications in a sporting context, existing literature in
other contexts suggests the need for a strategic and balanced approach, as an image can be
damaged should an organization be perceived as not delivering on its CSR communications
(Polonsky and Jevons, 2009; Reisch, 2006).
To investigate whether property CSR image mediates the relation between familiarity
with the CSR initiatives and sponsor CSR image, a path model was tested using Mplus
Version 7.1. The indirect effect tested using bootstrapped standard errors was significant

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Table 22.1 Measurement items, sources, and item loadings

Type Item loadings

Perceived sponsor CSR image (Dean, 2003; Menon and Kahn, 2003) Likert
[Brand] fulfils its social responsibilities. .90
[Brand] gives back to society. .88
I think that [Brand] acts with society’s interests in mind. .85
[Brand] acts in a socially responsible way. .85
Perceived sports property CSR image (Dean, 2003; Menon Likert
and Kahn, 2003)
[Property] fulfils its social responsibilities. .80
[Property] gives back to society. .82
I think that [Property] acts with society’s interests in mind. .87
[Property] acts in a socially responsible way. .87
Congruence (Rifon et al., 2004) SD
Not compatible/Compatible .97
Not a good fit/A good fit .99
Congruent/Not congruent .95
Purchase Intent (Mohr and Webb, 2005) SD
Unlikely/Very likely .93
Impossible/Possible .97
No chance/Certain .92
Brand trust (Becker-Olsen et al., 2006) Likert
[Company] is a business I can trust. .87
[Company] has strong value system. .88
[Company] is a business that cares about its customers. .84
[Company] is a business I believe in. .85
Brand attitude (Becker-Olsen et al., 2006) SD
Good/Bad .95
Favourable/Unfavourable .98
Positive/Negative .96

(b = .093, p<.01), as was the direct effect (b = .179, p<.001). These findings support a partial
mediation. Individuals who are familiar with the property’s involvement in community
initiatives evaluate the sponsor more favourably. Yet this effect is only partly due to the
enhanced club’s CSR image; with the significant direct effect suggesting an understanding of

Brand
2* * * attitude

4* Property 3* * , Sponsor 3* * * Brand

Familiarity
CSR image CSR image trust
40 * * *

Purchase
intention

Figure 22.2 Results path model

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Achieving CSR through sponsorship

the wide-reaching effect of sponsors’ contributions to the club into various community
initiatives. This insight is of particular importance to sponsors seeking to utilize their
engagement in grassroots sports to enhance consumer perceptions of the organization’s social
responsibility. It allows organizations to identify and sponsor those properties that are respected
for their social engagement within the organization’s target audience.
Tested with the same method, indirect paths from property CSR image to sponsor brand
attitude, brand trust and purchase are significant (respectively b = .206, p<.001; b = .254,
p<.001; b = .156, p<.001) and the direct paths exhibit non-significance (p>.05). Hence, as
expected, the impact of property CSR image on brand attitude, brand trust and purchase
intent was fully mediated by sponsor CSR image. In line with extant literature in other
contexts, being seen as a socially responsible corporation improves consumer attitudes and
behavioural intentions, tested here by means of brand attitude (p=.46, p<.001), brand trust
(b =.60, p<.001), and purchase intention (b =.34, p<0.001).

Summary and implications

As sponsors face increasingly uncertain financial environments (O’Reilly, 2009), they must
develop a better understanding of how to utilize benefits offered by grassroots sports
organizations to support the most effective use of sponsorship budgets. Despite the unique
potential of grassroots sports properties for sponsors, few exploratory studies examine
sponsorships at community levels (Miloch and Lambrecht, 2006; Pegoraro et al., 2009). In
particular, a gap of knowledge remains as to whether the sponsorship of grassroots sports
can achieve perceptions of CSR for the sponsor, as well as how the CSR image of a pro-
perty may be relevant in this context. This research contributes to the sponsorship, sports
marketing and CSR literatures, as we develop our understanding of how grassroots sponsorships
may help sponsors establish and foster their CSR image, leading to desirable outcomes for
their brand.
Sponsors aiming to achieve CSR image effects from their sponsorship should not only
take into account consumer perceptions of the property’s CSR image but also the engagement
a property shows in enhancing society’s perceptions of its social contributions, as well as its
communication of such engagement. Familiarity with such engagement appears to be a
precondition for it to impact on the property’s CSR image and, in turn, benefit the sponsor.
Hence, to attract and keep sponsors interested in utilizing sponsorship of grassroots sporting
organisation as a CSR initiative, the property needs to devise communication strategies
developing a wide-ranging awareness of its community initiatives among the sponsors’ target
audience. Many grassroots sporting clubs are actively engaged within their community
anyway, an asset that can be harnessed not only for the benefit of the community and through
their membership base but also when seeking financial support through sponsors.
However, it is important to note that it takes time for consumers to learn about a firm’s
CSR initiatives, increasing the importance of a strategic approach to CSR communications
to enable the club and sponsor to derive value from their respective investments (Mohr and
Webb, 2005; Polonsky and Jevons, 2009). Engaging in communication with stakeholders, such
as consumers, also allows properties to listen to the market, monitor and respond appropriately
to the key issues that are important to these stakeholders (Beckmann, Morsing and Reisch,
2006). Many firms make substantial investments in CSR programs in order to demonstrate
affinity with stakeholders, but often with no measurement in place resulting in the inefficient
use of corporate resources (Bloom et al., 2006). CSR-focused communications can provide
properties with channels through which they can measure response to CSR-initiatives,

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increasing the efficiency of their initiatives, and contribution to the community in which
they operate.
As with all research, some limitations need to be acknowledged. For example, this research
investigates only one grassroots sports club and, therefore, our results should be tested in other
contexts, for example, with various types of sports, sponsors, and sponsorship scenarios.
Rigorous empirical work should determine whether consumers perceive the sponsorship of
various grassroots organizations as CSR and what other outcomes sponsors might expect.
Further research should also examine how external stakeholders (for example, community
members) respond to a sponsorship in terms of attitudes and behaviours towards the sponsor.
The cross-sectional nature of the present research limits our ability to draw strong inferences
about the variables’ sequence. A longitudinal study would offer a robust method to test these
causal relationships further and to consider changes in congruence. Future studies may also
further investigate fit, for example, considering longitudinal effects through learning
(Woisetschläger and Michaelis, 2012) or testing the relevance of separating image and
functional fit (Bigné, Currás-Pérez and Aldás-Manzano, 2012).

Acknowledgments
The authors express their sincere gratitude for the support of this research by the
Commonwealth Government as part of the ARC Linkage Grant Scheme as well as our
industry partner.

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23
MARKETING SPORTS AND
RECREATION PARTICIPATION
Kostas Alexandris and Dan Funk

Introduction
Acknowledging the role of sports participation on citizens’ quality of life, the European Union
adopted a Communication Paper, entitled “Developing the European Dimension in Sport”,
in which specific actions regarding the societal role of sports were provided. Part of this
strategy was the inclusion of a chapter within the Eurobarometer (2014), aiming to collect
data on sports participation and provide a comparative report for the EU members. To the best
of our knowledge, this is the most detailed report published to date, on cross-cultural aspects
of sports participation (EU members). Some of the key findings are the followings:

• 59% of EU citizens never or seldom exercise, while only 41% exercises at least once a
week. The proportion of non-participants increased from 39% (2009) to 41% (2013).
• 48% of EU citizens do some form of other physical activity (such as cycling, dancing or
gardening) at least once a week, while 30% never do any kind of physical activity.
• 13% of EU citizens do not walk for at least 10 minutes at a time within a week. In addi-
tion, on a usual day, about two-thirds (69%) of individuals spend between 2.5 and 8.5
hours sitting, while at other extremes, 11% sit for more than 8.5 hours and 17% sit for
2.5 hours or less.
• Sports or physical activity takes place in a wide range of locations, most commonly in
parks and outdoors (40%), at home (36%) or on the journey between home and school,
work or shops (25%).

Similar statistics have been reported worldwide. On analyzing global data Hallal et al. (2012)
reported that 31% of the adult population worldwide is physically inactive. North America
has the highest percentage of inactive residents (43.3%), followed by the Eastern Mediterranean
(35%). These figures represent participation in any kind of physical activity (organized and
unorganized), which suggests that the participation rates for sports and recreation activities
and recreation is likely much lower.
Within the sports participatory market, outdoor managed sports events (for example, rural
marathons, mountain biking, obstacle events, triathlon, etc.) has emerged as a poplar activity
for individuals over the last decade (Alexandris and Kaplanidou, 2014). Although global trends

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on participation in such sports events do not exist, country and local statistics show their
development, in contrast to the general sports and recreation participation data, which are
not the same positive. In the USA, for example, the sports event sector is a prominent one
and among the fastest developing markets within sports tourism, as there was a 10.5% event
growth from 2010 to 2012 (Schumacher, 2012).
The recent trend in the popularity of organized outdoor sports events highlights the
potential benefit of investing in such events for public health officials. Considering that low
sports participation rates are related to increased obesity, health problems and medical
expenses, and lower low work productivity and quality of life (Min Lee et al., 2012), promoting
sports participation within local communities should be a priority among governments
worldwide today. In their conceptual paper, Rowe et al. (2013) argued that sports management
and marketing literature in the area of active sports participation is limited and represents a
promising area for applied and theoretical research in this important sector. Given outdoor
events are discretionary activities and highly susceptible to economic and social forces,
understanding what influences consumer demand for such events is required. A beneficial
means to understand this demand is through the role of decision-making.

A decision-making model of sports participation

In order to develop effective strategies to market sports and recreation participation, we need
to understand the key factors that influence an individual’s decision-making for taking part.
We will discuss some of these factors, taking as a base a general consumer behavior model
(Shiffman and Kanuk, 2010), which organizes them into a sequence (see Figure 23.1).
According to this model, these factors can be categorized as input factors, process factors and
outcome factors. Each of these categories is discussed in the following sections.

The input factors

The Input factors represent a wide range of influential forces that can influence the initial
decision to engage in a sports activity (participate or not) as well as subsequent participation
(continuation). Inputs are represented by two categories. The marketing mix: product, price,
place/channel of distribution, promotion, personnel, physical evidence, and process; and the
socio-cultural factors. The discussion of the elements of the marketing mix is beyond the
scope of this chapter, and the reader is encouraged to consult a sports marketing textbook
(for example, Shilbury et al., 2014). It should be emphasized that the unique characteristics
of participatory sports services (for example, intangibility, heterogeneity, perishability, as well
as they are consumed in social situations, involve actual participation and personal investment
in time and physical effort) should be considered when developing marketing strategies. The
factors that influence sports participation and are related to the socio-cultural environment

Inputs Process Output

• Marketing mix • Motivation • Psychological

connection level
• Socio-cultural • Constraints
variables • Involvement
• Attitudes

Figure 23.1 A consumer decision-making process

Source: Adapted from Shiffman and Kanuk (2010)

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are diverse. In this chapter we will focus on the following five factors: gender, age, family
status, social class, and culture.

Gender
The role of gender on influencing sports participation has been observed in previous research.
In most countries, women have traditionally been reported to have lower sports and recreation
participation rates than men. In the 2014 Eurobarometer it was reported that in the countries
of Belgium, France, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Spain, and the UK, men were more
likely to report being regularly active in sports than women. In Denmark, Finland, Sweden,
and the Netherlands the patterns were reversed (higher sports participation rates for women
than men) (Van Tuyckom, Scheerder and Bracke, 2010). Studies have also shown that women’s
sports participation rates have been increasing over the last ten years, and the gap between
men’s and women’s sports participation rates is closing down (at least in some countries)
(Chalabaev et al., 2013; Scheerder and Vos, 2011). Furthermore, there are certain activities
(for example, fitness), in which women have higher participation rates than men.
There are key environmental factors that have contributed to the increase in women’s
sports participation, including changes in women’s lifestyle, in their role in the family and
society, and in their working status, as well as increased promotion of women’s sports in mass
and social media, provision of sporting opportunities for women, and increased information
about the benefits of sports participation.

topics with marketing interest

Sports marketers should therefore understand women’s unique characteristics and needs
before designing marketing strategies for them. Some of the main issues that should be
considered include:

• Understanding the cultural aspects influencing women’s sports participation (for example,
religion, societal roles, family roles, etc.).
• Promoting new sports (for example, outdoors) and not only traditional sports (for
example, fitness).
• Promoting family sports for married women.
• Providing sports education by explaining the benefits of sports participation.
• Considering the social aspect of sports program delivery.
• Further segmenting the women’s group, according to age and family status.
• Developing targeted promotion and communication strategies.

Age and sports participation

The negative influence of age on recreational sports participation has been well documented.
According to Eurobarometer (2014), the amount of regular activity that people do tends to
decrease with age: 71% of women and 70% of men in the 55+ age groups never or seldom
exercise or play sports. Similar statistics were reported in other countries. In Scotland, it was
reported that participation in sports drops from around 80% for adults aged 16–24 to around
45% for people over 55 years old (www.scotland.gov.uk). Similar results were reported in
Australia (www.abs.gov.au/ausstats) and Canada (www.pch.gc.ca). In the United States, 29%
of individuals who belong within the age group 50–64 years do not participate in any form of

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physical activity. These figures are further decreasing among individuals more than
65 years old.
Considering the aging of the population in most of the developed countries worldwide
(for a detailed discussion see Lee and Masson, 2011) it is clear that marketing efforts should
be developed to promote sports and recreation participation among older individuals. It is
predicted, for example, that until 2025 more than 25% of the US population will be individuals
more than 65 years old.
The argument that older individuals (65+) are not a good target group for sports promotion
is a myth today. From a marketing perspective, older individuals (65+) satisfy the main
segmentation criteria. First of all, it is a large and increasing market; second, it is a market
that can be identified and communicated. There are aging organizations all over the world
that are willing to co-operate with sports organizations in order to promote sports participation
among them. Third, specific actions can be developed; there are certain sports and recreation
programs today that are certified by sports scientists to be appropriate for older individuals
(for example, walking, fitness for old people, aqua aerobics, etc.).

older individuals and marketing strategies

Based on the above discussion, some strategies for promoting sports and recreation participation
among old individuals could include:

• Marketing research, used to identify their preferences, needs and constraints for
participation.
• Co-operation among local authorities, sports and aging associations in national and
international levels.
• Communication campaigns, informing about the benefits of sports and recreation par-
ticipation for old individuals.
• Sports programs, “packaged” and promoted in an attractive way for old individuals.
• Sports practitioners and providers, trained to design and deliver sports programs for old
individuals in an attractive manner.

Family status and sports participation

Marital status is one of the demographic variables, in which mixed results have been reported.
Gratton and Taylor (2000) found no significant differences between single and married indivi-
duals in terms of sports participation and the same was reported by Van Tuyckom et al. (2010)
in a European study. However, in other studies (for example, Alexandris et al., 2009), it was
reported that married individuals participate in sports less than single individuals. It could be
suggested that a more detailed approach should be adopted in order to study sports and recreation
participation, with the application of the family lifecycle concept (Shiffman and Kanuk, 2010).
The family lifecycle includes a series of stages, which show the development of an individual
from young to aging, in relation to demographic factors and the family.This will help researchers
to understand the changes in recreational sports behavior from stage to stage and marketers to
develop targeted communication strategies, based on the needs of families in each stage.

Social class
Social class is defined as a homogeneous group of people who have common values, lifestyle
and behavior (Shiffman and Kanuk, 2010). Wealth, power, and social status are three elements

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that relate very much to the definition of social class. Power relates to the ability of an individual
to influence aspects of social and professional life, while status relates to social recognition. The
three most common variables that define social class are: income, education, occupation. It is
expected that these three variables are usually correlated. Lifestyle is a fourth variable that might
also relate to social class. The social class variables are used for market segmentation.
In the area of sports and recreation there are studies that tried to investigate the influence
of social class on sports and recreation participation, as well as the influence of social class
on the selection of specific sports and recreation activities. Most of the studies ended with
the conclusion that social class is one of the factors that can be used to predict sports and
recreation behavior (for detailed reviews see Beenackers et al., 2012; Scheerder and Vos,
2011). Some conclusions are common to most of the studies. First, sports and recreation
participation relates to the level of education. More educated individuals usually have
higher participation rates. This shows that with an increase in the level of education we could
expect higher sports participation rates. Second, sports and recreation participation relates to
income. Individuals with higher income are more likely to participate in sports and recreation
activities. Third, sports and recreation participation relates, probably indirectly, to occupation.
Classifying the different types of jobs is a difficult task, especially in applying a global model.
Although research on the role of social class on sports and recreation participation is not
recent, it could be argued that due to certain changes in the macro environment and the
financial situation in many countries (for example, economic crisis), it is an area in which
ongoing research should be conducted.
The changing image of some sports in relation to the profile of sports participants is also
an issue that deserves to be studied. Sports that used to be elite, such as tennis and skiing, and
fast developing sports, such as snowboard and street sports, are good cases that should be
studied in relation to social class. Finally, it has to be emphasized that sports and recreation
have important social objectives related to social welfare and quality of life. As such,
governments and local authorities should identify the disadvantaged social groups in terms
of sports and recreation participation and promote sports to them.

Culture and ethnicity

Culture is defined by the set of values, beliefs, and traditions developed from childhood and
transferred from generation to generation (Shiffman and Kanuk, 2010). Studying culture is
important in the case of international sports marketing. The role of culture should be
considered in developing new sports services for entering into new international markets. A
very simple example for understanding the role of culture in sports and recreation behavior
is the popularity of different sports in different countries. Soccer, for example, is the most
popular sport in the United Kingdom, while baseball and (American) football are the
most popular in the United States. Cross-cultural studies have shown that sports participation
patterns differ among different countries. According to Eurobarometer (2014), citizens in the
northern part of the EU are the most physically active. The proportion who exercise or play
sports at least once a week is 70% in Sweden, 68% in Denmark, 66% in Finland, 58% in the
Netherlands and 54% in Luxembourg. The lowest levels of participation are reported in
the southern EU Member States. Most respondents who never exercise or play sports can
be found in Bulgaria (78%), Malta (75%), Portugal (64%), Romania (60%) and Italy (60%).
These differentiations can be related to cultural issues, but they can also reflect each country’s
investment in promoting recreational sports participation among their citizens.
Understanding culture is also important in countries where there are different ethnic and
racial groups (Pires, Stanton and Stanton, 2011). Studies conducted in North America (for

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example, Stodoloska and Alexandris, 2004; Stodoloska et al., 2011), have shown how the
culture of some groups (for example, Latin American, Asians, etc.) influence their everyday
life, leisure behavior and of course sports participation.

topics with marketing interest

Some issues that sports marketers should consider when targeting different cultural and ethnic
groups include:

• Studying and recognizing the values of the different cultural and ethnic groups.
• Respecting these values and developing sports in a way to accommodate the needs of
these groups.
• Positioning sports and recreation as a social activity which helps their social integration
and inclusion.
• Promoting sports programs that fit with the culture of the targeted groups (for example,
popular sports activities).
• Use of communication media in the language of the target groups (for example, Latin
American, Asians, etc.).
• Use of communication media that fits with the culture of the targeted groups (for
example, formal media and social groups).

The process factors

This includes factors related to internal and psychological constructs, which influence the
decision-making process for sports and recreation participation. Three of the most applicable
factors in the context of sports and recreation participation are: Needs and motivation,
constraints and attitudes.

Needs and motivation

The concept of motivation refers to the forces that initiate, direct and sustain human behavior
(Iso-Ahola, 1999). There are several motivation theories that have been applied in the context
of participatory sports. One of the most applicable is the self-determination theory (Deci and
Ryan, 1985). It was proposed that there are several types of motivation that fall at different
points along a self-determination continuum. This continuum runs from high to low levels
of self-determination, as one moves from intrinsic motivation to extrinsic motivation, and
finally to amotivation. Intrinsic motivation refers to doing an activity for its own sake, for the
pleasure and satisfaction derived simply from performing it. When a person is intrinsically
motivated, behavior will be performed voluntarily, in the absence of external rewards (Deci
and Ryan, 1985). Extrinsic motivation refers to behavior that is engaged in as a means to an
end and not for its own sake. It is mainly related to social approval (for example, affiliation
to a group and social concern) and external rewards (for example, financial and recognition
for accomplishment). Amotivation refers to the stage when an individual has no real incentives
to participate in a recreational activity.
The measurement of needs and motivation is a topic with particular interest for marketers.
In the context of sports and recreation, the Recreation Experience Preference scale (Manfredo,
Driver and Tarrant, 1996) has been applied extensively. Recreation experience was viewed
as “the package or bundle of psychological outcomes desired from a recreation engagement”

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(p. 189). Individuals are engaged in recreation activities (for example, trekking) in order to
achieve certain psychological outcomes (for example, stress relief). It was proposed that since
the psychological outcome dimensions covered by the scale are extensive, researchers can
determine which are applicable in the context of their studies and use shortened versions of
the scale. The most common motivation factors, which have been revealed in participatory
sports and recreation studies, are:

• Fun/enjoyment.
• Health/fitness.
• Escape/relaxation.
• Competition/achievement.
• Socialization.
• Learning/skill development.

Research on sports and recreation motivation is useful for marketing purposes. Sports
marketers should identify what drives individuals to take part in recreational sports and try
to satisfy these needs by packaging and delivering appropriate sports programs and services.
There have been studies successfully showing how motivation can be used as a variable to
cluster groups of participants. In the study by Alexandris et al. (2007), for example, recreational
skiers were categorized into “novice”, “multi-interest”, “naturalist” and “enthusiast”, while in
the study by Prayag and Grivel (2014), youth participants in a handball event were segmented
into “Indifferent”, “Enthusiast”, “Socializer”, “Competitive”. Such segmentations into groups
with common motivational patterns are useful in order to guide the development of
appropriate marketing and communication strategies. Those, who, for example, are motivated
by social needs, should be guided to participate in sports programs that promote socialization
(for example, team activities), while those who are motivated by achievement or competition
needs should participate in sports programs that include some form of competition (for
example, amateur tennis tournaments). An example of how the different needs can be targeted
with specific strategies is presented in Table 23.1.

Table 23.1 Motives and strategies

Motives Strategies

Fun/enjoyment Emphasis on intrinsic motivation.

Focus on the entertainment aspect of sports.
Focus on participants’ satisfaction.
Health/fitness Programs designed to satisfy individual needs (achievement of physiological
outcomes).
Escape/relaxation Outdoor sports programs.
Recreation in the natural environment (parks/mountains) or relaxation classes
(for example, yoga).
Competition/ Individual and team sports with a competition element.
achievement Participation in tournaments and events.
Socialization Group activities.
Social activities as part of sports programs.
Learning/skill Teaching of skills.
development Teaching new sports activities.

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Constraints
Constraints are “factors that are assumed by researchers and perceived or experienced by
individuals to limit the formation of leisure preferences and to inhibit or prohibit participation
in leisure activities” (Jackson, 1991: p. 279). Back in 1987, Crawford and Godbey classified
constraints into intrapersonal, interpersonal and structural.
Intrapersonal constraints are internal factors that influence an individual’s preference for
participation. They relate to psychological states and perceptions, such as cultural issues,
religious issues, perceived abilities, interest for an activity, self-esteem, and confidence for
taking part in an activity. They include the facets of: psychological constraints, cultural issues,
limited interest and negative past experiences, and lack of time.
Structural constraints are external factors that influence an individual’s decision making
for participation, after the preference (for participation) has been developed. They include
the facets of: sports facility problems, financial problems, and accessibility issues.
Interpersonal constraints are factors that relate to an individual’s interaction with the social
environment. They relate to difficulties in finding friends and partners to participate with.
They include the facets of: lack of partners and social isolation, and lack of information (for
example, available opportunities for participation).
Jackson, Crawford and Godbey (1993) proposed that individuals experience constraints
hierarchically. Internal constraints are the most powerful predictors of behavior,
while structural constraints are the least powerful. As the most powerful ones, intrapersonal
constraints block sports participation, while structural ones might not block it, but they might
modify it (for example, participation less frequently or in different activities). Examples of
individual constraints that belong to each of the above constraint categories are presented in
Table 23.2.
Research on leisure constraints has been extensive over the last twenty years. This is
due to the theoretical (Alexandris, Funk and Pritchard, 2011; Godbey, Crawford and
Sharon Shen, 2010) but also practical interest (Alexandris et al., 2013; Kennelly et al.,
2013, Kim and Trail, 2010; Reis and Correia, 2014) in this topic. The identification of the
constraints that individuals face and block or limit their participation can help marketers
and practitioners develop strategies in order to remove or at least alleviate the influence of
these constraints. Marketing, communication and service delivery should be adjusted in
this respect.

Attitudes
Consumer attitudes are an important construct in marketing, since it is a variable used to
predict buying behavior. Those who express positive attitudes towards a product or service are
likely to buy it. It is important for marketers to design strategies in order to positively influence
consumer attitudes towards a sports service. Attitudes are developed based on personal
experience (participation in an activity), but they are also influenced by media (traditional and
social) and the social environment (significant others). The three-component attitude model
is one of the most basic that has been used in the marketing literature (Shiffman and Kanuk,
2010). It proposes three facets of attitudes: cognitive, affective and conative.
Consumers who use the cognitive component evaluate the attributes of a product or
service (for example, benefits) in order to make rational decisions. Consumers who use the
affective component are more influenced by feelings in their buying behaviour. It is important
for marketers to decide which of these elements they want to influence with their

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Table 23.2 Constraint factors and examples of individual constraint items

Intrapersonal constraints
Individual/psychological constraints Low self-esteem.
Low perceived skills.
Fear of getting hurt.
Does not like exercising in social situations.
Cultural issues Family roles.
Religion.
Limited interest and Participated in the past and did not like.
negative past experiences Does not like sports participation.
Lack of time Does not have time because of family commitments.
Does not have time because of work commitments.
Structural constraints
Sports facilities problems Limited recreation places.
Bad quality of sports facilities.
Financial problems Cannot afford the expenses required.
Accessibility problems Does not have transportation.
Takes time to access the recreation places.
Interpersonal constraints
Lack of partners/social isolation No friends to participate with.
My friends do not like sports participation.
Lack of knowledge Lack of information on what activity to participate in.
Lack of information about places to exercise.

communication strategies. If the objective is to influence the cognitive component, it is

necessary to develop a communication channel that will be detailed in giving infor-
mation about the expected benefits of buying a product. In this line, consumers should be
informed in detail about the benefits (physical, psychological, social) of participating in a
sports or recreation activity. If the objective is to influence the affective component it
is important to promote sports in a way to target the individual’s feelings. In this line,
sports services should be promoted as pleasant and fun experiences with positive psycholo-
gical outcomes.
More advanced attitude models that have been proposed in literature includes the Theory
of Reasoned Action (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980) and its extension, The Theory of Planned Behavior
(Ajzen, 1985; 1988). According to the TPB, individuals form intentions based on their attitude
towards the behavior influenced by opinions of important others as to the appropriateness of
the action (subjective norm) and evaluating their own ability to successfully complete it
(perceived behavioral control). Perceived behavioral control captures an individual’s perception
of their capability of successfully performing the behavior (Ajzen, 1985). The attitude is
determined by an individual’s beliefs concerning the consequences of performing an action
and a personal evaluation of the desirability of such consequences. The subjective norm
component includes opinions of significant others as to the behavior in question (for example,
participation in a specific activity) and the extent to which an individual is motivated to
comply with expectations of others (motivation to comply). The inclusion of PBC as a
determinant of intention into the model differentiates the theory of planned behavior from
the original theory of reasoned action.This extension was introduced in response to criticisms
that the theory of reasoned action was based on an assumption of perfect volitional control

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over behavior and thus, failed to take into account real and perceived constraints that limited
individuals’ ability to perform the desired actions (Dawson et al., 2001). Perceived behavioral
control is positively related to the number of resources and opportunities an individual
believes they possess (for example, time, money, skills, cooperation of other people), and
negatively associated with the number and intensity of constraints they perceive they
experience. The issue of volitional control is particularly important in the context of sports,
leisure and recreation settings in which many barriers exist and limit an individual’s control
over behavior. The TPB has dominated attitude research in health-related behaviors for many
years. However, there have been recent critical essays about the value of this theory. In a recent
editorial, Sniehotta, Presseaua and Araújo-Soaresa (2014), questioned the predictive validity
of the theory on actual behavior and its subsequent utility for practitioners.

attitude theory and sports marketing

On summarizing, attitude research can help sports marketers to:

• Develop communication strategies to influence the cognitive or affective components

of sports consumer attitudes.
• Predict actual behavior (participation or not), based on consumer attitudes (positive or
negative).
• Determine the factors (subjective norms and perceived behavioral control) that influence
the development of positive attitudes towards sports participation.
• Segment current and prospective sports participants, according to the strength of the
PBC variable, which has shown to be a predictor of sports participation.
• Understand the role of significant others (subjective norms) on an individual’s decision
to start taking part in sports (for example, when targeting groups that are influenced by
subjective norms, such as women, youths, etc.).

The output factors

One of the most recent and complete theoretical approaches to understand the output factors
of an individual’s decision-making process for sports participation is the Psychological
Continuum Model (Funk and James, 2001; 2006). This model explains the development
of commitment to sports participation as a developmental process defined by the stages of
awareness, attraction, attachment and allegiance. The model was originally developed to
explain fans’ commitment to a sports team but it was recently successfully applied to the
context of sports participation (Beaton, Funk and Alexandris, 2009; Filo, Funk and Alexandris,
2008). These stages are now briefly defined.
Awareness stage: Before developing any attitudes towards a sports activity, an individual must
have some knowledge of the sports activity and opportunities to participate in it. This
information comes mainly through socializing agents and formal commercial sources, such
as advertising commercials and advertising. Individuals in this stage have not yet developed a
preference to participate in the activity (Funk and James, 2001; 2006), but they search for
information and explore choices and alternatives (for example, other activities).
Attraction stage: In this stage an individual, based on the experience of having participated
the activity, develops a preference for it, associated with positive attitudes towards it (Beaton
et al., 2009). These attitudes are still not strong. The experience of participation has been
proposed to be an important factor that influences the development of attraction (Beaton et

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al., 2009). As the positive attitudes towards the activity become stronger, an individual moves
to third stage (attachment).
Attachment stage: In this stage, an individual develops strong attitudes and a psychological
connection with the activity; these attitudes are now more stable, since individuals are more
intrinsically motivated (Funk and James, 2001; 2006). In this stage, the individual attaches
affective, symbolic and functional meanings to the activity, which takes more personal meaning
(Filo et al., 2008).
Allegiance stage: In this final stage of the model, an individual has developed a strong
psychological connection with the activity, which is now stable and enduring. The outcomes
of allegiance are behavioral, attitudinal loyalty, persistence and resistance to change (Funk and
James, 2001; 2006). Behavioral loyalty is expressed through frequent and lengthy participation
in an activity, while attitudinal loyalty is expressed through strong emotions and feelings about
the activity (affective behavior).

stages of the pcm and sports marketing

This PCM model is a useful approach in understanding the outcomes of an individual’s
decision making for sports participation in a stage to stage approach. From a marketing
perspective it can be used for segmenting individuals and categorizing them into the four
stages, if used in combination with the levels of recreation involvement. Such an approach
can guide marketing actions targeted to segments belonging to each of the four stages. For
example:

• Targeting the awareness stage: Formal (for example, media) and informal (for example,
socialization agencies) promotional strategies are required for building sports activity
(brand) awareness.
• Targeting the attraction stage: This is a key stage, since some of the individuals will move
up the next stage, while others will drop out from participation. The main objective
should be to maximize the positive participation experience. Research on participants’
satisfaction and perceived service quality can help towards this direction.
• Targeting the attachment stage: Individuals at this stage could be considered as “loyal
customers”. Subsequently, relationship marketing programs should be developed.
• Allegiance stage: Individuals at this stage have developed strong psychological connection
with the activity. Individualized and specialized sports services are required. The role of
social groups and sports “communities” (for example, runners) should be explored as well
as the role of social communication channels (for example, specialized blogs).

Conclusion
Participatory sports (in the forms of free or organized participation or events) are not examples
of typical products, since they require an individual’s personal investment in effort and time
in order to consume them. This is the reason that drop-out rates are usually high and the
issue of customer or participant loyalty is a difficult one in this market. While attracting
participants is an important task, practitioners have to work on retaining their customers. The
study of the factors that influence an individual’s decision making for sports participation is
important. By using a typical decision-making model as a basis, this chapter aimed to offer a
brief discussion of some of the possible factors that should be studied. It is clear that we did
not cover all the external, internal and environment factors that could be incorporated in the

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model.There are also other theoretical models and approaches (for example, the transtheoretical
model, Prochaska and Velicer, 1997; socio-ecological models, Rowe et al., 2013), which could
be used to explain sports and recreation behavior. It is also clear that the discussion of
marketing and promoting sports participation is extensive. In this line, we agree with Rowe
et al. (2013), who proposed that this is an area that has great prospects for future sports
marketing academic and applied research.

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24
MANAGING BEHAVIOR
Organizational and consumer
perspectives on athlete transgressions

Constantino Stavros, Kate Westberg, Bradley Wilson

and Aaron C. T. Smith

Setting the scene

The San Diego Union-Tribune, a newspaper in California, maintains a page on its website
(www.sandiegouniontribune.com) titled NFL Arrests Database. It is a catalogue of National
Football League (NFL) players who have been arrested or received citations since 2000 that,
according to the site, “were more serious than speeding tickets”. As of early May 2015, the
database included 792 records ranging from public urination through to murder. As the
newspaper highlights, the database cannot be considered comprehensive as some incidents
are not reported or records of other events are not easily obtained.
Given the NFL is often perceived as the gold standard of sports marketing excellence,
it is evident that not even the best management intentions and strategies can prevent
athlete misbehavior. The challenge, therefore, for all sports organizations, is to manage such
behavior; with the ideal of prevention often elusive due to issues surrounding wealthy, widely-
recognized athletes and their usage of the time and access that their celebrity status affords
them.
Many members of society, not just athletes, transgress. One can argue that such behavior
is merely representative of our communities. However, the expectations in relation to athlete
behavior may be higher given their responsibility to their sports, their team, their sponsors,
their fans and even more broadly, as a role-model in society. These complex perspectives are
explored in this chapter.
Before beginning our discussion, we suggest the reader consider what they would classify
as a transgression. Readers can ponder the scenarios described in the following sections or
more specific incidents with which they are familiar. Examples of sports related transgressions,
thanks to increased media and public scrutiny, are not difficult to find.
These transgressions can be broadly categorized according to the nature of the transgressor
(individual or organization), the type of transgression (moral or legal) and the context (on- or
off-field) of the incident. These three areas are explored separately in the following sections,
however, they are strongly interrelated.

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Who commits the transgression?

This chapter focuses on transgressions committed by athletes and the implications of these
incidents. These include instances of doping, assault, inappropriate gambling and drunken
behavior, to name a few. Athlete transgressions need to be prevented where possible and if
they occur, as is often inevitable, they must be managed. How well this can be done is usually
dependent upon the type of transgression and where it occurred. However, transgressive
behavior can also happen at organizational levels. This includes match-fixing, salary cap
cheating and inappropriate governance. Organizational transgressions can be particularly
damaging as they typically involve systematic processes of deception, leading to significant
repercussions.

What type of transgression?

Athlete transgressions infringe upon morality or legality. Each of these areas can be further
categorized either by rules that pertain to sports, such as certain aspects of what is considered
“fair play”, or societal expectations. A renowned athlete who cheats on their spouse may be
crossing moral boundaries, but is not breaking the law (in most countries). Such behavior
might be perceived differently from an athlete who drives in a drunken state, breaking the
law and endangering their own life and that of others. Keep in mind that within moral and
legal spheres the concept of sports rules and norms might need to be considered and these
are often hard to delineate. Some people may feel that an athlete taunting an opposition player
in a World Cup final in order to have that player react violently and be sent off is a legitimate
part of sport and acceptable, others may feel it is unconscionable behavior.

Where did the transgression occur?

The location of a transgression is particularly important in how a transgression is perceived
as it provides a context to which interested parties ascribe particular value judgements. An
athlete striking out at an abusive fan while walking off the pitch, or an athlete biting another
player, cannot be condoned, but they may be deemed less severe than the same incidents
occurring in a city street. The heat of competition in the cauldron of a stadium is part of the
modern vernacular where going to a sports event is promoted as akin to witnessing a
metaphorical battle.The concept of “white line fever” is often used to explain uncharacteristic
acts on sporting fields.
Athletes who blatantly cheat on-field are afforded little understanding, however, as this
transgression goes to the very soul and integrity of sports. A golfer who breaks a rule, even
inadvertently, is often immediately disqualified from an event to preserve the intentionally
high standards of that sport, and many leagues around the world set up their own judicial
tribunals to deal with athletes who break their sporting rules. Doping, which can be considered
an on-field transgression even though the actual regimen might take place behind the scenes,
is particularly reviled around the world. An athlete who is successful as a result of doping is
likely to receive little sympathy from fans, even if an excuse along the lines of “everyone else
was doing it” is proffered.
Athletes misbehaving off-field are often afforded latitude if the transgression is minor. In
some instances this may also be mitigated by timing. Drunken behavior by athletes the night
before a big game is less likely to be acceptable to fans than such behavior the night after
winning the big game.

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These three questions are merely a starting point for considering transgressions and their
management. Additional questions regarding when an incident occurred, who was involved,
the history of such incidents, zones of tolerance, locus of control and societal expectations all
need to be considered. The perspective from which associated stakeholders view such
incidents and their various antecedents and layers is also critical. As such the remainder of
this chapter will explore three key perspectives, sporting organizations, sponsors and
consumers, to shed some light on athlete transgressions and their management.

Introduction
The vast reach and global appeal of sports has established it as a significant aspect of society
and culture. Major sporting events help define national identities (Tomlinson and Young,
2006) and teams, such as Manchester United and the New York Yankees, stand side by side
with some of the largest commercial brands in the world.
Sports also help shape community expectations and cultural values, providing a lens for
the appropriate portrayal of roles in society (Roche, 2000). The term “role model” can have
different meanings, but is applied to an individual who is “perceived as exemplary, or worthy
of imitation” (Yancey, 1998: p. 254). Role models shape individual and collective attitudes
and behavior through personal contact and relationship cues (Ingall, 1997). Brand custodians,
such as sponsors, understandably want to associate their brands with positive role models and
sport is a fertile space for such endorsers. Sporting administrators and other key stakeholders,
however, need to remain cognizant of their responsibility for facilitating and promoting these
positive connections and minimizing the potential for negative athlete behavior, including
creating and perpetuating inappropriate stereotypes (Wilson, Stavros and Westberg, 2008).
Professional athletes are brands in their own right and significant modern-day celebrities;
valued by sponsors to endorse their products; proudly held up by sporting entities as the
epitome of success and perceived by many in the community as aspirational leaders. These
athletes serve a multitude of stakeholders and, under increasing scrutiny, are expected to
perform to high standards on and off the playing field. An insatiable media appetite for
insights into their lives, coupled with the pervasiveness of social media and consumer
voyeurism, has altered the management of the athlete brand and the sporting organization.
This brand management is particularly challenging when transgressions occur.
The marketing literature describes a transgression as the breaking of the implicit or explicit
rules outlining relationship performance and evaluation (Aaker, Fournier and Brasel, 2004).
Wilson, Stavros and Westberg (2010) note that the violation of such rules or overstepping the
standards of normative behavior by athletes can significantly impact sport and its various
stakeholders. While they also posit a more detailed typology of crises based on accidents,
transgressions, faux pas and terrorism, the term transgression in this chapter is considered
more generally, relating to the negative behavior of athletes, which may lead to a crisis if not
handled appropriately or act as a degenerative episode in which key relationships are affected
(Westberg, Stavros and Wilson, 2011). This position is consistent with the work of Gardial,
Flint and Woodruff (1996: p. 36), who highlight the potential relational impact of incidents
that are “perceived by the consumer to be out of the ordinary”. Aside from the nature and
consequences of transgressive events themselves, the attribution of such incidents can also
significantly impact the response of stakeholders (Wilson et al., 2010).
This chapter will consider the impact and management of athlete transgressions from three
important and interrelated perspectives. We begin with a broad overview of the current
context and challenges for sporting entities to which the relationship and branding of many

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athletes is symbiotically connected. Perspectives on athlete transgressions from sponsors, a key

financial and marketing partner to sporting entities, are then presented before the final section
considers the under-explored view of the consumer. This chapter consolidates ground-
breaking research with sport organizations and sponsors conducted by the authors over a
number of years, with the consumer insights gained from their most recent academic inquiries.
Suggestions and opportunities for future research are also posited.

Athlete transgressions: sporting entity perspectives

Sporting entities have an elevated status in developed societies. Their codes, regulators, teams
and various levels of administration are often closely interwoven with important public, media
and government members. Roche (2000) insists that sports are a valuable conduit for spreading
a global culture and that many governments harness events as a form of soft power to
positively influence public sentiment.
Naturally, when a transgression occurs that disrupts or threatens athlete or sporting code
legitimacy, then it becomes newsworthy and concerning. Athlete transgressions (alleged or
actual) can harm stakeholder reputations and brands. This is amplified if the event is global
and reaches a large audience. An athlete transgression can be a form of crisis for a sporting
entity. Coombs (2002) indicated that a crisis can not only disrupt organizational operations,
but also damage reputation. Athlete transgressions have the ability to affect associated sporting
entities in this manner. This damage can be exacerbated by the sheer variety of transgressions
that can occur, their varying consequences and their tendency not to proceed with any
routine order (Kersten, 2005).
The limited focus on managing transgressions in sports does not reflect the broader and
more established practices in the public relations literature and consumer goods and services
(Wilson et al., 2008). While O’Beirne and Ries (1999) posited a sports crisis model that
adapted the general prevention, response and recovery processes, the ensuing decade has seen
increased emphasis on the need to explore the perspective of sporting entities in more detail.
Wilson et al. (2008), in examining major Australian sporting teams, identified that an ad
hoc approach was usually taken in the management of transgressive incidents. Some sporting
entities had experienced a large number of negative events involving athlete behavior and
had garnered valuable experience in dealing with such issues, despite being developed through
trial and error.
Research remains in the nascent stages of development from the sporting entity perspective,
however, several key issues have been identified. These issues relate to managing the cause
and effects of transgressions, managing the depth and complexity of multiple stakeholder
relationships, and the importance of transparency (Wilson et al., 2008).

Managing transgressions
Structural changes in media, reflecting its continuity, interactive nature and immediacy, have
coincided with sport managers’ decreased ability to maintain control of transgression events.
Technological advancements, such as the widespread availability of recording devices on
phones, feed prying consumer and global media demand for increased reporting of scandals.
This freedom and rapid spread of information and subsequent level of transparency requires
sports administrators to have sophisticated issues management handling processes in place.
Sports managers need to be prepared for information flows to be asymmetrical and to
dynamically evolve for all incidents. Spokespeople must be across a vast array of contexts and

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interest groups, given the pervasiveness of sports in society. If managers are seeking greater
control over the way an issue is played out over time, they may want to deal with relevant
stakeholders through a centralized process to mitigate the likelihood of misinformation. The
organization’s website may be a useful communication vehicle for some stakeholders, such as
fans, and some form of internal network is necessary for key groups such as sponsors who
will require particularly careful management.This approach also helps to control the timeliness
in which administrators respond to the issue at hand. There is a chance that the news of
athlete misbehavior will become embellished by fans and the sports media who rush to
discuss and report with limited information, while sporting entities must patiently gather all
the facts before responding. This gap between news of a transgression and the subsequent
response (if any) from a sporting entity can be problematic in the modern 24/7 news cycle.
Sporting entities, therefore, must develop constructive relationships with the media in
order to mitigate the potential damage. These organizations should also seek to create
awareness of the processes they have in place to minimize athlete transgressions, such as
counselling sessions, mentoring programs, responsibility awareness and leadership development.
Such knowledge allows sporting entities to potentially affect perceptions of the locus of
control and the attributions of blame by key stakeholders, including consumers and sponsors,
during these incidents. Notwithstanding this, organizations that continue to experience
transgressions caused by their athletes will be judged increasingly negatively, irrespective of
preventative strategies put into place.

Nurturing complex interactions for multiple stakeholders

The genesis for managing complex relationships lies within the early literature in services
marketing and with relationship marketing. That is, marketing that aims to improve the
interactions between stakeholder members (Berry, 1995). Nurturing strong relationships with
stakeholders, such as consumers and sponsors, should be a central goal of sporting entity
administrators and becomes particularly relevant in the management of a transgression. The
importance of consumer-brand relational bonding is considered to be a business imperative
(Fournier, 1998) and it is an inherently appealing and compelling goal for sporting entities
to build value-laden and strong intimate interactions to continually enhance such bonds.
Sports are somewhat unique in that they naturally build close relational bonds between
consumer groups, given the levels of identification and motivation ascribed to the context.
This is especially true for active supporter groups whose passion is well documented.
Ultimately, however, it is still the focus on maintaining a satisfactory service encounter
(Shostack, 1985) that ensures that the relational bond remains strong.
Analogies can also be drawn from social network analysis, which maps the complexity of
all relations (de Nooy, Mrvar and Batagelj, 2005). Such work has not yet been fully explored
in sports, but may offer utility to extend insights into likely future transgression events and
information management practices. Given the complexity and array of dynamic interactions
occurring with stakeholders as a result of a transgressive event, it is important to consider the
recommendations of Wilson et al. (2008: p.104) in facilitating open communication and
instigating what are termed “communication posts” that allow true two-way exchanges of
dialogue between partners.
Additionally,Wilson et al. (2008) highlight the role of trust in stakeholder communications.
Trust is a valuable commodity in times of crisis, facilitating efficiency in communication
channels, effectiveness in common messages that may be presented by stakeholders and
ensuring that transparency is prioritized. This is particularly important for sporting entities

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that have formed a significant number of commercial relationships, and who needed to
manage these complex relationships at the micro level given the differing needs that may
exist, but also holistically to present a solidified and credible persona at the macro level.
Relationship partners need to work together when transgressive events occur to ensure they
communicate in the same manner and have shared relationship expectations. Benefits from
this arrangement are well established in the crisis management literature (Birch, 1994;
Couretas, 1985; Fearn-Banks, 1996).

Accommodating and providing necessary transparency

Wilson et al. (2008) found that the typical state of play with athlete misbehavior is that when
an event breaks, managers are operating with only partial information. Speculation and
misinformation are often rife within the media and the general public. It is within this
context that the media feeds the crisis event story to often prematurely impel management
action on the actual (or alleged) transgressor. Managers communicate that this is a situation
that has led to sub-optimal decision making with only partial facts at their disposal.
Notwithstanding this encumbrance, it is suggested that supporters, and especially sponsors
who invest significant financial and relational capital, need to be provided with the facts by
sporting entities regarding incidents, and this should happen in a timely fashion given that brand
and corporate reputational harm to sports entity and sponsors may be the result of delayed
action.Without an established procedure in place, presenting the critical information in a timely
fashion may be difficult. Sporting managers will experience some degree of helplessness
operating in these difficult circumstances and will need to carefully balance competing pressures.
It is not unusual, for example, to have a team be at odds with the governing body of their sport
over the impact or severity of an alleged athlete transgression. General public relations practices
of proactively developing goodwill with key stakeholders so as to establish credibility, project
authority and be allowed time to respond are recommended, and these approaches have been
contextualized in the sport literature (for example, Stoldt, Dittmore and Branvold, 2012). Such
an investment in goodwill is typically well rewarded for sporting managers, particularly in team
sports where athlete transgressions are often not a case of “if ” but “when”.
Incidents involving athlete misbehavior require management action in terms of determining
consequences for the athlete, typically in the form of some “punishment”. While we note
that this action should be timely and transparent, the dissemination or the organizational
response must also be carefully managed. As such, sporting entities need to prioritize the flow
of such notification, ensuring that key stakeholders (or the transgressor themselves) do not
learn of the action through the general media or various social platforms that exist.
Transparency requires not just clarity around the circumstances of the transgression, but
also how the event is then handled by the sporting entity. Sporting entities will need to keep
this process-orientated approach in mind as dealing with an event is rarely quick, particularly
if subsequent facts emerge that throw the issue back into the spotlight.

Concluding thoughts
Sporting entities are facing growing challenges in dealing with athlete transgressions. Many
athletes are increasingly becoming celebrities and often have worldwide media currency.
Sport administrators need to carefully manage reputations in line with rising community
expectations, but at the same time respond to the imperative to be successful on-field in a
world where “win at all costs” is a sporting mantra.

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With transgressive actions analysed from multiple perspectives, sporting entities must
become skilled at assessing differing viewpoints and responding accordingly to ensure that
they meet the expectations of key stakeholders. This process of needs matching or assessing
goal congruence helps gain a valuable shared understanding. In taking this approach, sporting
entities will need to be conscious of the views of their governing bodies, whose purview of
maintaining the overarching integrity of the sport often wields a stricter interpretation of a
transgression and its subsequent punishment than a team might anticipate. As has been noted,
it is important that athletes are not only trained to recognize and avoid situations that may
lead to negative behavior, but also that athletes are mindful of the potential impact such
actions may have on the integrity of their sport and their personal reputation and marketability.
The opportunity to guide and mentor athletes in a more rigorous fashion can only be
seen as a positive advancement, however, sporting managers also need to increase their
awareness and knowledge base to deal with the array of negative behavior they may encounter.
Areas of training, such as strategic workshops, crisis plans, preparedness audits, stakeholder
training and crisis simulations should all be considered.
Sporting entities also need to assess their own tolerance to their athletes’ transgressions
and consider how they will reflect on the image of their organization. Some sporting entities,
for example, might welcome or cultivate a risk-taking identity, therefore, tolerating more
readily some transgressions as part of this personality. A valuable basis for initial discussion in
such a scenario may be centred on the sporting entity identifying partners who can (relatively
speaking) tolerate transgressions in a similar fashion. Conversely, sporting entities that are
particularly risk averse may wish to facilitate and prioritize athlete recruitment programs that
minimize potential harm. Given aspiring athletes now come through established and well-
monitored pathways, the identification of the potential for problematic behavior is somewhat
easier, albeit never certain.

Athlete transgressions: sponsor perspectives

Companies enter into sports sponsorship relationships to achieve brand-related benefits
through associating with a sports entity brand. However, as highlighted in the preceding
section, athlete transgressions have the potential to threaten the brand of the sporting entity
associated with the athlete. This damage can further extend to the brands of associated
sponsors and can weaken or even dissolve the sponsorship. The effective management of these
transgressions is thus critical, not only in protecting the equity of sporting entity and sponsor
brands, but also ultimately the relationships between these organizations.
Sponsorship has been recognized as a powerful platform for building brands (Cliffe and
Motion, 2005). Benefits to the sponsor’s brand include increasing brand awareness, creating
or strengthening image and achieving brand differentiation. These benefits accrue to sponsors
through positive associations with the image or excitement of a sporting event (Cornwell,
Weeks and Roy, 2005). Sports entities are increasingly acknowledging the role of their brand
in influencing relationships with sponsors as well as other key stakeholders, such as their fans
and the media. This realization has resulted in more active brand management within many
professional sports teams (Kahuni, Rowley and Binsardi, 2009).
Sponsors, too, are seeking to actively enhance their brands and are justifiably concerned
about the impact on their brand as a result of transgressions associated with a sponsorship
arrangement. These incidents can trigger a change in the sponsorship relationship. The terms
“critical event” or “critical incident” have been used to describe an event that causes a radical
change in a business environment (Halinen, Salmi and Havila, 1999: p. 786). Negative critical

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incidents have the ability to cause stakeholders to review long-term relationships and can
cause destabilization (van Doorn & Verhoef, 2008).
Athlete transgressions can damage the sponsorship relationship resulting in relational
change, including the premature termination of a sponsorship, the nonrenewal of a sponsorship
or some form of relationship modification such as the addition of behavioral clauses to the
sponsorship contract. Whether these incidents have a negative impact on the sponsorship
relationship is determined by a number of aspects related to the incident such as the sponsor’s
attribution of blame, the sponsor’s perceived severity of the incident and the extent of media
attention (Westberg et. al., 2011). In addition, the existing quality of the relationship between
sports entity and sponsor may have a role to play as well as the sports entity’s management
of the transgression. These factors will be discussed in the following sections.

Attribution of blame
Attribution theory explains how people interpret behavior (Kelley and Michela, 1980). In the
context of athlete transgressions, attribution of blame relates to whether the sponsor believes
that the sport entity is accountable for preventing or better managing negative player behavior.
For example, numerous incidents may suggest poor management or a fundamental problem
with the culture of the sports organization. Further, sponsors may also be concerned as to
whether key stakeholders, such as their customers or the community, could perceive their firm
to be condoning or supporting this type of behavior due to their continued association.

Perceived severity of the behavior

The sponsor’s perceived severity of the behavior can influence whether the incident prompts
a change to the sponsorship relationship. For example, whether the negative behavior occurred
on- or off-field, the extent to which the behavior infringed upon social norms and whether
the behavior related to a sponsor’s sensitivities or zones of tolerance (Westberg et al., 2011).
While on-field violence or the flagrant disregard for the rules of a sport is not likely to be
condoned by sponsors, it may be more understandable as an unfortunate outcome during a
passionate game. However, off-field behavior that is either illegal or conflicts with social
norms, may be less palatable. For example, incidents such as driving while intoxicated or
committing assault are likely to be more harshly regarded by sponsors wanting to associate
their brand with positive images and values.
The nature of the sponsor’s business may also influence their perceptions of athlete
transgressions and the subsequent pressure for them to respond. Negative behavior directly
related to a sponsor’s business is an obvious concern, for example, an insurance company may
be more alarmed by the implications of reckless driving or driving while under the influence
of drugs and alcohol, compared to a sportswear company. In addition, certain companies, such
as banks, may be more conservative and, therefore, have increased sensitivity to any form of
transgression or impropriety. As a result, these sensitivities are likely to impact on a sponsor’s
tolerance in relation to an incident. When incidents occur outside the zone of tolerance of
a sponsor, changes to the relationship may be made (Schurr, Hedaa and Geersbro, 2008).

Media impact
Incidents that attract greater levels of media interest are likely to have more potential for
damaging associated brands. The media create awareness of these incidents and have a

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significant role in shaping the way in which the transgression is presented. The media may
also report the story prior to the sports organization being able to ascertain all the facts; the
media may also go directly to a major sponsor seeking comment. As a result, media scrutiny
of a sports scandal can result in a sponsor’s brand receiving significant negative exposure
(Kahuni et al., 2009).

Mitigating factors outside of the transgression

In addition to the circumstances surrounding the athlete transgression, there are a number
of factors that may influence the sponsor’s response to the incident. For example, the
quality of the relationship between sponsor and sports organization may influence whether
the incident has a negative effect on the relationship and the extent of that effect (Westberg
et al., 2011). Fundamental relationship tenets, such as communication, commitment and trust,
provide the foundation upon which the sponsor evaluates an incident and determines their
response. Communication has been identified as a critical element in maintaining a successful
business relationship (Ford and Associates, 2002). Sports organizations need to be proactive
in fostering strong relationships with sponsors and to manage these on an ongoing basis.
Further, specific relational investments can also form part of the commitment to the
sponsorship relationship (Urriolagoitia and Planellas, 2007). Commitment to a sponsorship
relationship can be reflected by length of sponsorship, size of the sponsorship investment as
well as the degree to which the sponsorship relationship has been leveraged. The latter refers
to specific relationship investments, which are unique to the partnership and, therefore, non-
transferable, and have been linked to successful alliances (Dyer and Singh, 1998).
In a business relationship, trust can negate the need for all contingencies to be outlined
in a formal contract (Dwyer, Schurr and Oh, 1987). As such, reputation can be an important
contributor to trust and to the success of a sponsorship alliance. A critical issue, likely to erode
trust in the sponsorship relationship, is the sports entity’s inability to prevent athlete
transgressions. Depending on the circumstances, sponsors may be unaffected by a single
occurrence, however, repeated offences would be of much greater concern.
The management of athlete transgressions is likely to influence the impact that these
incidents have on the sponsorship relationship. As previously noted, critical aspects of this
process include transparency when dealing with sponsors, timeliness of communication,
proactivity and effective media management (Westberg et al., 2011). These four interrelated
elements provide open communication allowing for joint problem-solving that is likely to
preserve the relationship. Sponsors expect to be informed as a matter of priority, especially
as they may be questioned by key constituents such as customers, senior management and
the media. Sports entities need to institute processes and procedures to pre-empt and manage
potential player crises, thereby providing sponsors with confidence in their abilities. On the
other hand, sponsors need to consider not just the benefits of sponsorship but also prepare
for the potential unintended consequences of “undesired outcomes of such partnerships”
(Kahuni et al., 2009: p. 61).

Concluding thoughts
Sports sponsorship is becoming increasingly complex and strategic. Athlete transgressions
present a real threat to managing successful relationships with sponsors. Sports organizations
need to be aware that sponsors are prepared to terminate a sponsorship in the event of a
severe transgression, especially if the sponsorship relationship has been weakened by factors

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such as repeated offences or poor communication. An abrupt or premature termination of

the contract, whereby the sponsor is explicit in their reasons for termination and leaves no
possibility of negotiation, is the most obvious evidence that the relationship has been damaged.
However, non-renewal of a contract may be a form of an “indirect or disguised exit strategy”
(Alajoutsijarvi, Moller and Tahtinen, 2000: p. 1275), whereby the sponsor may attribute non-
renewal to a change in the company’s strategy as opposed to the actions of the sports entity.
Other less radical changes to the relationship may also occur if the transgression is perceived
as less severe and has occurred within a strong alliance, including relational adaptation, such
as amending the sponsorship agreement to include exit clauses, fines or other specifications
regarding player or sports entity behavior. Sports entities need to be aware that these requests
can signal a change in the relationship that may represent the initiation of an “exit strategy”.
They should also be aware of other signs, such as reduced communication and investment,
which may precede relationship dissolution (Alajoutsijarvi et al., 2000).
Sponsors and sports entity managers both need to protect their brands by being prepared
for the potential challenges of athlete transgressions. A proactive approach can reduce the
impact and duration of the incident, as well as preserving the relationship between the two
parties (Wilson et. al., 2008).The presence of a prevention program within sports organizations
can also help to manage the expectations of sponsor and sports entity and thus reduce the
threat to the sponsorship, as well as the damage to corporate reputations and brand equity.
Sponsors can also introduce their own programs aimed at assisting sport entities to formalize
preventative measures.This can include fully briefing sports organizations of their expectations,
clearly stating their sensitivities (zone of tolerance) and the reactionary measures to be taken
if they are breached. This mutual understanding will assist sport entities to adopt a more
effective and proactive brand management approach.

Athlete transgressions: consumer perspectives

As consumers increasingly turn to sports for their heroes and role models (Parry, 2009; Rojek,
2006), athletes have become a desirable property on many levels and have been transformed
from individuals to brands with considerable value.The previous two sections have considered
the impact that athlete transgressions can have on sporting organizations and their sponsors,
however, the nexus between these entities and the consumer is arguably the most important
to consider. Ultimately most sporting organizations are reliant on attracting fans, spectators
and viewers to their games. Similarly, sponsors frequently enter into arrangements with these
sports organizations to further consumer-orientated goals. Negative athlete behavior can have
significant consequences for achieving these objectives.
From a consumer perspective, athletes can be seen as fulfilling two broad roles: first, as a
productive participant, striving for excellence either in an individual or team sports
environment and second, as celebrity endorsers or as ambassadors for their sport and its
sponsors. Both roles can be affected by negative events that occur on or off a sports playing
field. The celebrity status of an athlete has been well researched to determine the positive
impact of such endorsement (for example, Erdogan, 1999; Ohanian, 1991; Lafferty, 2002) and
how consumer evaluation of a celebrity’s credibility can also be affected by transgressions
(Zhou and Whitla, 2013). Sports stars can be effective as endorsers, particularly among
younger generations (Bush, Martin and Bush, 2004; Dix, Phau and Pougnet, 2010).
Previous research has broadly examined the relational impact of transgressions committed
by service employees with whom the consumer has a relationship (for example, Jones, Dacin
and Taylor, 2011). However, the consideration of the relationship between an athlete and

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consumer provides a unique and unexplored scenario. An athlete is an individual, and often
a contracted employee of a sporting organization, with whom the consumer has a less direct
(and arguably a fantasized or perceived) relationship, even though the levels of personal
identification that exist in sports are very high. Attribution theory provides a useful lens for
exploring how consumers make sense of negative athlete behavior and how consumers
respond, cognitively and emotionally. According to this theory, “people interpret behavior in
terms of its causes and that these interpretations play an important role in determining
reactions to the behavior” (Kelley and Michela, 1980: p. 458).
Given the dearth of existing research into consumer response to athlete transgressions, the
authors of this chapter, as part of a larger study, conducted a series of semi-structured depth
interviews with consumers and undertook a content analysis of a variety of discussions on
online media platforms pertaining to athlete transgressions.This data was collected to examine
consumers’ response to athlete transgressions, primarily in relation to team sports, and their
perspectives on the role of athletes. Key findings on consumer attributions are presented in
the following sections.

General consumer attitudes toward athlete transgressions

In considering the general topic of athlete transgressions, consumers expressed a wide range
of responses, often evaluating the transgressive act itself as well as the subsequent management
of the incident by the team and governing sporting body. Responses can be noted across a
spectrum of emotion from anger and frustration through to empathy and tolerance. However,
there also exists a significant degree of circumspection and, in many instances, a desire to seek
out further information to help in determining their feelings.
Negative reactions to a transgression typically emanated from females who perceived
athletes as role models and by males who viewed athletes who transgressed (and in particular
those who repeatedly transgressed) as individuals who were “wasting” a privileged opportunity
afforded to few. Such informants viewed their actions with a sense of frustration that an
athlete’s individual excellence, or contribution to a team, was potentially being impacted by
inappropriate behavior.
The perception of the increasing frequency of athlete transgressions has instilled in some
informants a notion that a “here we go again” mentality had become normalized and athlete
misbehavior was now somewhat routine. Others similarly noted that they were becoming
immune to such incidents given their repeated occurrence.

Consumer expectations of athletes’ behavior

The concept of athletes as role models was specifically explored. Many people felt that this
mantle now “goes with the territory” of a professional athlete. This view, however, was
somewhat mediated by the age of the athlete concerned, with younger, inexperienced athletes
having their transgressive actions more readily understood, provided they learnt from their
behavior and demonstrated contrition. Females specifically noted that many sports followers
were children and that their idolization and emulation of athletes instilled perceptions of
desirable role model behavior, whether athletes explicitly accepted it as part of their duties
or not. Melnick and Jackson (2002) have highlighted that athletes can shape the values and
beliefs of adolescents, and as such, contribute to their identity.
The broader perceived role of an athlete was also a significant factor in determining how
transgressive behavior was evaluated. Expectations of a standard of conduct were frequently

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Perspectives on athlete transgressions

raised and this expectation can be further distilled into on-field and off-field, as well as during
the season and during the off-season in the case of off-field actions. Not surprisingly, the
actions of athletes in their private time, outside the playing season, is a period where informants
felt that the in-season high standards expected on and off-field could potentially be relaxed.
However, there was considerable disparity as to how much these expectations could be
relaxed, if at all. Many informants believe that the privileges afforded to sport stars mean that
implicit behavioral standards exist at all times and that the athlete is always on show. This high
level of scrutiny is seen to be compensated by the large salaries many sports stars are now
perceived to earn.
Some informants were more empathetic to an athlete’s requirement to constantly meet
expectations and noted that this pressure was often too much, particularly on younger, less-
experienced athletes. Males in particular note that youthful athletes are often ascribed
expectations that non-athletes of the same age would never be expected to adhere to.

Making sense of athlete transgressions

In considering athlete transgressions the concept of attribution reflects a comparison between
the role of an athlete and expectations of the informant’s own behavior in a situation. While
it is perfectly normal to accept that one’s own standards set a level of expectation in relation
to the behavior of others, little compensation is seemingly made for the rarefied situation that
star athletes are placed in. The assumption that athletes receive guidance, advice, training, high
levels of compensation and various levels of protection mitigates the sense of disparity that
might exist when having to perform one’s profession, and in many cases private life, under
almost constant media scrutiny.
Consumer attributions are influenced by a complex array of factors aside from general
norms of behavior. These include whether multiple transgressions had occurred in relation
to a player, or a team that they were involved in. Informants, not surprisingly, believe that
athletes should not repeat misbehavior, either that of their own or of a teammate.
Internal attributions relate most prominently to demographic characteristics of the athlete,
such as age and education, as well as broader psychological aspects such as character and
upbringing. External attributions relate to societal expectations of a role-model, the culture
of the sport or the presence of an external instigator that could lead to transgressive behavior.
Where athlete transgressors were part of a team sport, informants are more likely to blame
individual athletes and place less responsibility on the team given the perception that team
sports now provide education programs and mentoring to positively modify inappropriate
athlete behaviors. Informants were however particularly severe on sporting organizations that
permitted repeated negative behavior among members of their team. Allowing such behavior
to be highlighted by numerous incidents switched the emphasis to the team lacking the
appropriate structure, culture and resolve to properly educate athletes on expected behavior.
Not surprisingly, as has been highlighted throughout this chapter, the severity of the
incident was a significant factor. Athletes who break the law were held to account more
stringently than those who transgress moral or social boundaries. Actions that contravene the
values of sport itself, such as drug taking or cheating, are not easily forgiven by consumers,
who view such actions as harming the integrity of competitive sports and that the athlete
had a duty to protect this as part of their broader role. As a result, on-field transgressions that
ultimately impact upon the enjoyment of a sporting contest are particularly critically evaluated.
Attributions of blame also extended beyond the individual athlete and team. The rarefied
and often stereotypical macho culture of sports was seen to promote the normalization of

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certain behavior, such as heavy alcohol consumption. In considering sports culture, particularly
among members of a sporting team, informants describe perceptions of protective behaviors
that had the potential to form a cocoon that misaligned athlete behavior with societal norms.

Concluding thoughts
While consumers have an indirect relationship with individual athletes, they also have beliefs
and expectations of what constitutes appropriate behavior within that relationship, on and
off the playing field. Transgressions by athletes present a real threat to the relationship between
consumers and sports entities (or the sport itself) as attributions of blame frequently extend
beyond the athlete. This type of conflict has been identified as a form of degenerative episode
between sport organizations and their sponsors (Westberg et al., 2011) and may similarly
impact on the relationship between consumers and sporting entities.
As the negative impact of conflict can outweigh the positive influence of a firm’s relationship
marketing strategy (Palmatier et al., 2006) it is critical that sports organizations understand
consumer expectations and effectively manage transgressions to minimize relational damage.
This harm may not always be visible in the form of customer behavior typically seen with
services (complaint or exit), but impacts on commitment to the relationship (Jones et al., 2011).
In sports, such damaged relationships can lead to a discontentment that manifests itself in
reduced spectating (Kim and Trail, 2011) and reductions in levels of identification and
motivation, which are critical to ensuring the levels of engagement needed in sports.
Sports administrators also need to be aware that consumers readily distinguish between a
transgressive act by an athlete and how this act is then handled by the athlete or their team.
This extended consideration implies that consumers must be carefully monitored and managed
throughout the period of a transgression to ensure that not only can they appropriately make
sense of the incident, but that the follow-up actions are deemed to be congruent.

Suggested further research

The conceptual domain of athlete transgressions could be further developed to posit frameworks
that highlight that it is the collection of many varied episodes (both negative and positive with
interventions) that make up the various relationships explored in this chapter. To reveal how
these relationships evolve over time is the key as brand harm and relationship dissolution is
often not a function of one major crisis or incident (Westberg et al., 2011). The work of
Mazodier and Quester (2014) provides some guidance on the rigor necessary to investigate
sponsorship topics longitudinally. Tracking relationship and dissolution trajectories for
stakeholder partners needs to be implemented and individual trajectories could be estimated
with advanced multivariate modelling techniques. An exploration of possible interventions
through media or management responses by crisis types may further reveal key factors
impacting positive maintenance and longer term key stakeholder relationship continuance.
Drawing further inspiration from the episodic and zone of tolerance perspective of Schurr
et al. (2008) in business-to-business research, relationship dissolution for stakeholders occurs
at different thresholds. To understand how to measure the threshold level given the stage in
the relationship cycle would give sporting administrators a pre-emptive sign when dissolution
is near. Management workshops could discuss and highlight between stakeholders how their
own respective tolerances and thresholds may be unique.
Future studies should also have sufficient sample sizes and cross-cultural composition
to provide a clearer distinction of viewpoints between managers and administrators of teams

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Perspectives on athlete transgressions

and also sporting entities. New methods could provide valuable micro-insights such as
utilizing automated textual data coding tools and algorithms to reveal nuances missed with
human coding.
Sports agents are an important part of the sports management mix and represent an area
that has been relatively ignored in the literature regarding this topic. It would be remiss to
believe that athletes are not advised carefully in the event of transgressions by their own agents
and associated advisors (marketing/celebrity agents, legal teams, social media experts, etc.).
Research studies need to include these valuable members.
Finally, it is natural that a relationship might cease because the contract has concluded or
an athlete retires (Havila and Wilkinson, 2002) but the sporting celebrity has the potential to
do just as much, or more, brand and reputational damage after their career has officially ended.
Avenues for future research are many and varied in this respect. Herein is what makes this
domain completely fascinating for researchers, in that potentially it never ends over the entire
lifetime of the athlete as a brand.

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25
MARKETING WOMEN’S SPORTS
A European versus North American perspective

Nancy Lough and Ceyda Mumcu

Marketing women’s sports: a global perspective

Marketing women’s sports has received little attention among scholars. As Toffoletti and
Mewett reported, “female voices and perspectives have been largely ignored in sports fan
research and in the wider cultural imagination” (2012: p. 1). To date, scholarly work on female
fans and spectators has focused on gender differences positioning women as “others” within
the masculine domain of sports. Examples include studies examining women’s attendance at
live sporting events (Fink et al., 2002; Gauthier and Hansen, 1993), female consumption of
live television broadcasts of sport events (Clark et al., 2009; Gantz and Wenner, 1995), gender
differences relating to motivations for sports spectatorship (Farrell et al., 2011; James and
Ridinger, 2002; Lough and Kim, 2004), and fan affinity and fan avidity of female consumers
of sports (Armstrong, 2001; Dixon, 2002; Wann et al., 2004). Women as “others” within the
domain of sports represents one of the many challenges those marketing women’s sports face.
The commodification of female sports fans has been noted, suggesting there is an increasing
awareness of the potential value aligned with women as sports consumers and women’s sports
as a product. Within the United States women are responsible for 65% of all apparel purchases,
52% of all new vehicle purchases, 70% of all travel decisions and 80% of family healthcare
decisions (Brennan, 2011), suggesting the female economy is ripe for targeting.
Similar to most, the sports industry ignores the women’s market. Sports scholars have
studied the lack of “women’s voices” in the sports context and have attributed women’s
emergence as sports fans and spectators as being grounded in female marginalization from and
in sports (Gosling, 2007). As Hall (1985) explained, the marginalization of woman’s voices is
attributable to the “gender structuring of sport organizations, the organizational processes and
dynamics that structure gender, and the relations of power between women and men within
an organizational context” (p. 273). Interestingly, Hall suggested that participation by women
in sports could function as an effective source of liberation and sense of inclusion in sports
that could combat the historical “silencing” of women in this area. More recently, this silencing
has started to shift with increasing numbers of women’s teams, events, and sports properties
creating a new level of awareness regarding women sports. For example, the 2012 Olympic
Games in London were referred to as the Women’s Olympics, with a record 4,847 women
entering, representing every country for the first time in history (Brown, 2012). The addition

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of women’s boxing for the first time meant women were also represented in all sports, with a
record 132 possible medals totaling five more than in Bejing in 2008 (Elliot, 2012).
In today’s technology-driven sport landscape, a different type of silencing often occurs.
For example, the Women’s Sports and Fitness Foundation found only 7% of media coverage
was allocated to women’s sport in the UK, which points to how the media effectively works
to silence women in sports by either ignoring or trivializing it (WSFF, 2014). In contrast,
there is a well-established symbiotic relationship between the sports media and mainstream
sports organizations. Marketing efforts dedicated to mainstream sports, such as football, can
rely on the media for “audience building”, which effectively promotes them above and
beyond all others (Duncan and Messner, 1998). This strategy has proven effective, with
additional value being attributed to men’s sports, due to the extended audience reach offered
directly by media coverage. Yet this strategy is ineffective for women’s sports because of the
lack of media coverage, which creates a unique challenge for those marketing women’s sports.
When the marketing efforts dedicated to women’s sports mimic the typical model for
more established men’s sports, the result is very limited success. For example, only .4% of the
total value for commercial sponsorship in the UK was found to be attributed to women’s
sport (WSFF, 2014).When no symbiotic relationship between mainstream media and women’s
sport exists, the potential for additional avenues for promotion and revenue generation also
diminish. Arguably, the lack of media coverage diminishes the potential for sponsorship
objectives such as extended audience reach and brand exposure, thereby decreasing the value
potential attributed to sponsorship of women’s sports. Therefore, in today’s highly competitive
sports landscape, more unique and effective strategies are warranted to effectively promote
women’s sports, including targeted tactics to reach the women’s sport market. To illustrate the
current lack of understanding, Lough and Kim (2004) discovered a South Korean women’s
professional basketball league made continuous efforts to improve the fan experience by
enhancing in-game promotions and improving the league website.Yet not all new marketing
initiatives were “based on known needs and wants because no research had been done to
determine or understand the needs and wants of the fans” (p. 41).
To date, little effort has gone into understanding consumers of women’s sports and less
effort has emerged in the development of a fan base for most women’s sports properties. As
we will see from the contrasting models from Europe and the United States, much work
remains to fully understand how to best approach the marketing of women’s sports. To
understand why a strategic marketing focus is needed, we look first at the societal notions of
gender and how they have impacted perceptions of women athletes, and thereby diminished
the value associated with women’s sports as a product. We then consider the media’s impact,
which typically works against women’s sports as it creates a disparity between women’s and
mainstream men’s sports, which then impacts needed investments, such as sponsorships. Little
attention has been paid to how the limited media attention impacts women’s sports product
by creating barriers to communication channels, which limits key marketing objectives of
sponsors. Finally, we look to the potential of alternative sources such as dedicated websites
and social media to provide innovative strategies needed to provide access for fans and
consumers of women’s sports.

History of oppression, social acceptance: perception

of value of women’s sports product
1972 was a milestone for women’s sports in the United States. With the passage of Title IX,
opportunities to participate in sports expanded for girls and women. According to Women’s

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400.000

350.000

300.000

250.000

High School
200.000
College
150.000

100.000

50,000

0
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2013

Figure 25.1 Girls’ and women’s sports participation

Sport Foundation, girls’ and women’s sport participation increased by 560% at college level
and 990% in high schools. Yet society’s perception of female athletes and women’s sports
changed little, even with federal legislation enacted.
Most societies view gender as a dualistic notion, meaning masculinity and femininity are
at opposite ends. Female athletes are viewed as violating gender roles due to the fact that sports
have long been considered to be male-oriented, masculine activities (Coakley, 2008).
Traditionally, the predominant perspective in American society has considered the roles of
“female” and “athlete” as being incompatible. Society identifies femininity based on appearance,
behaviors and body type with the ideal female image being small, thin and model-like (Krane
et al., 2004). Female athletes are typically perceived as not conforming to this feminine ideal
due to the amount of strength, muscle and masculine features that they possess.
For example, female athletes have self-confidence, a positive sense of self and solid self-
concept, and they recognize themselves as being strong and powerful individuals who are
proud of their bodies and identities. Former professional athlete and author, Mariah Burton
Nelson, stated her opinion on female athletes and femininity as follows: “It is not feminine
to know exactly what you know, then go for it. Femininity is about appearing beautiful and
vulnerable and small. It is about winning male approval” (Ross and Shinew, 2008). In general,
female athletes are perceived as violating stereotypical female gender roles and because of this,
they are typically denied the status, respect or approval provided to their male counterparts
based on athletic performance. Explanations for this phenomenon point to the blurred areas
between bipolar dimensions of masculinity and femininity that violate societal perceptions
of power differentials. As a result, women athletes are often seen as threats to the social order,
which is dictated by masculine hegemony in most societies (Bryson, 1987).
Societal perceptions of female athletes reflect on how women’s sports are evaluated.
Disapproval of female athletes often works to diminish the value attributed to women’s sports
as a product. Media representations of women athletes contribute significantly to creating
impressions of the women’s sports as an inferior product. For example, the mainstream sports
media very typically emphasizes a female athlete’s femininity and presents a sexualized image

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instead of stressing her sports competence or athleticism. During the 2014 Australian Open,
19-year-old Canadian tennis player, Eugenie Bouchard, was interviewed courtside after
qualifying for her first career grand slam semi-finals and instead of getting questions about her
performance on the court, she was asked about her dream date (Chase, 2014). In this case, the
media’s approach belittled Bouchard’s success at a major tennis tournament and thereby
diminished the potential to build appreciation of the quality of the women’s sports product.
Similarly, in 2014, after the WNBA All-Star game, Bleacherreport.com published a video
composed of bad passes and mistakes from the game while ignoring the highlights of the game,
which included Brittney Griner’s dunk and Shoni Schimmel’s spectacular athletic moves. Too
often the sports media chooses to present female athletes as weak and incapable, thereby
devaluing women’s sports as a product. In comparison, the sports media actively builds audiences
for mainstream men’s sports, thereby driving ticket sales, improving sponsorship value and
increasing salary potential for male athletes (Duncan and Messner, 1998). The devaluation of
women’s sports by the media results in lower attendance numbers and ticket prices for women’s
sporting events, which lead to lower salaries for professional women athletes.

Professional women’s sports in the US

A review of the history of women’s professional team sports reveals that women’s sports as a
product has had a difficult time thriving in the United States. Throughout the 1990s and early
2000s, many professional leagues were established, only to be disbanded a few years later. The
first two women’s professional softball and basketball leagues filed for bankruptcy and folded
within a few years after their establishment (Elyachar and Moag, 2002; Spencer and McClung,
2001; Wesley, 1999). Women’s professional soccer shared the same destiny as women’s
professional softball and basketball. The Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA)
suspended operations with losses of more than $100 million in three years, due to a substantial
decline in attendance and television viewership and lack of major sponsorship revenue (Rovell,
2003). Similarly, the second women’s professional soccer league, Women’s Professional Soccer
(WPS) was terminated due to a lack of fan support and media coverage in 2012 (Pethchesky,
2012). In 2014, the National Pro Fastpitch (NPF), Women’s National Basketball Association
(WNBA) and Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) were continuing their businesses with support
of their male counterparts, MLB, NBA and MLS. The National Women’s Soccer League
(NWSL) also received support from the United States Soccer Federation, Canadian Soccer
Association and Federation of Mexican Football in an effort to reduce overall expenses and
develop a balanced revenue-expense model with potential for sustainability (Foudy, 2013).

Women’s sports in Europe

While professional women’s team sports struggle to survive in the United States, the state of
women’s sports varies across Europe. Volleyball and basketball have been the most popular
women’s sports in Europe. Perhaps this is due to the fact that many countries have a multi-
tier league system in women’s volleyball and basketball. While teams play in their respective
leagues in their country, the top team or two from each league also compete in regional
championships organized by Fédération Internationale de Basketball (FIBA) and Confédération
Européenne de Volleyball (CEV). Sixteen teams from ten countries compete in FIBA Europe’s
top tier women’s basketball competition-Euroleague, and 31 teams representing 12 countries
compete in the second tier competition called EuroCup (The FIBA Europe Championships).
Similarly, CEV organizes the Champions League and Challenge Cup among clubs from

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Table 25.1 History of women’s professional sports in the United States

Baseball Leagues Founded Ceased

All-American Girls Professional Baseball League 1943 1954
Ladies League Baseball/Ladies Professional Baseball 1997 1998
Basketball Leagues
Women’s Professional Basketball League 1978 1981
Women’s Basketball Association 1993 1995
American Basketball League 1996 1998
Women’s National Basketball Association 1997 Current
Football Leagues
Women’s Football Association 2000 2004
Women’s Professional Football League 1999 2007
Women’s Football Alliance 2009 Current
Hockey League
National Women’s Hockey League 1999 2007
National Women’s Hockey League 2015 Current
Softball Leagues
International Women’s Professional Softball Association 1976 1980
Women’s Professional Softball League 1997 2001
National Pro Fast-pitch 2002 Current
Soccer Leagues
Women’s United Soccer Association 2001 2004
Women’s Professional Soccer league 2007 2011
National Women’s Soccer League 2013 Current
Volleyball League
Major League Volleyball 1987 1989
Women’s Professional Volleyball Association 1987 1999
Individual Sports
Ladies Professional Golf Association 1950 Current
Women’s Tennis Association 1973 Current

women’s volleyball leagues in Europe (The EuropeanVolleyball Confederation Championships).

These regional championships are beneficial in many ways. They create rivalries among
countries, develop community and country support for women’s sports, and also increase
awareness and exposure. However, extensions of the champion’s leagues and cups in women’s
sports should not be understood at the same level as the Champions League of men’s football
in Europe. Clubs receive small funds for participating in these events, unlike men’s football,
mostly due to the lack of large broadcasting rights.
In more recent years, women’s football has also become more popular in Europe. According
to UEFA, in 2014 there were professional women’s football leagues in 46 countries competing
at different levels (division 1, 2 and 3). One of the strongest women’s professional football
leagues is Sweden’s Damallsvenskan, which is the highest division of women’s football in the
country. Experts believe that the league would never fold and Malmö’s coach, Jonas Eidevall,
supports this belief by saying “Damallsvenskan can never fold as a league. If one club would
fold, another one would be promoted. Maybe not all clubs would be professional, but the
league would always live on” (“Women’s soccer”, 2014).

359
Table 25.2 UEFA Member associations in women’s football by year, number of players and clubs

Member association information Member association information

Football Association of Albania – 2009 Lithuanian Football Federation – 2001

225 & 9 595 & 23
Austrian Football Association – 2005 Luxembourg Football Federation – 1972
17,000 & 265 1,793 & 38
Football Federation of Belarus – 1992 Malta Football Association – 1995
970 & 5 1,318 & 18
Royal Belgium Football Association – 1971 Football Association of Moldova – 1996
16,562 & 228 360 & 7
Bosnia & Herzegovina Football Federation – 1998 Royal Netherlands Football Association –
460 players 1972
Bulgarian Football Union – 1981 124,100 & 47, 594
350 & 12 Irish Football Association – 1998
Croatian Football Federation – 1971 1,149 & 49
1,732 & 26 Football Association of Norway – 1976
Cyprus Football Association – 1972 108,400 players
879 & 9 Polish Football Federation – 1991
Football Association of the Czech Republic – 1992 5,000 & 70
18,776 & 120 Portuguese Football Federation – 1985
Danish Football Association – 1974 1,683 & 40
71,273 & 339 Football Association of Ireland – 1991
English Football Association – 1993 21,590 & 300
6,600 teams Romanian Football Federation – 1990
Estonian Football Association – 1994 450 & 21
698 & 22 Russian Football Union – 1987
Faroe Islands Football Association – 1984 32,000 & 320
1,202 players Scottish Football Association – 1998
Football Association of Finland – 1972 2,600 & 60
26,423 & 250 Football Association of Serbia – 1970
French Football Federation – 1970 1,230 & 32
Not available Slovak Football Association – 1993
Football Association of the FYR of Macedonia –1948 880 & 24
Not available Football Association of Slovenia – Not
German Football Association – 1970 Available
250,000 & 5,486 Not Available
Hellenic Football Federation – 1989 Royal Spanish Football Federation – 1988
3,242 & 41 61,394 & 104
Hungarian Football Federation – 1982 Swedish Football Association – 1988
2,600 & 50 299,855 players
Football Association of Iceland – 1981 Swiss Football Association – 1993
6,571 & 26 22,978 & 20
Israel Football Association – 1996 Turkish Football Federation – 1971
948 & 13 48,691 & 72
Italian Football Federation – 1974 Football Federation of Ukraine – 1992
12,975 & 365 222 & 8
Football Federation of Kazakhstan – 1987 Football Association of Wales – 1993
280 & 7 2,509 & 82
Latvian Football Federation – 1998
647 & 5

Source: Information retrieved from www.uefa.com/memberassociations/women/index.html

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An important point should be made here to explain why Damallsvenskan would never fold
since women’s professional leagues in volleyball and basketball would also never fold in Europe;
the way sports are structured in Europe is why these leagues will always live on. In Europe,
most leagues are organized in a multi-tier system (Li, MacIntosh and Bravo, 2012). In other
words, there is a pyramidal hierarchical system in place with promotion and relegation. If a team
folds for any reason, a team from the lower tier will be promoted to replace the folded team at
the end of the current season. For example, Tyreso of Damallsvenskan, which is one of the best
teams in Europe and in the world with a wealth of talent, announced in June 2014 that the
team would not finish the season due to financial problems and players were released immediately
(Kassauf, 2014). At the end of the 2014 season, in addition to regular promotion and relegation
moves of clubs, one more team from division two was then promoted to the Damallsvenskan.
Although teams may and do fold, the league will continue to survive due to this system and
the fact that there will always be enough teams to continue the league each year.
The multi-tier system is not the only reason women’s professional sports leagues have
remained in Europe for decades. Existence of multi-sport clubs is another reason for
sustainability of women’s sports. For example, in Turkey, female athletes compete in professional
volleyball and basketball leagues. Some of the teams in these leagues are part of multisport
clubs where several sports are supported within the club. Men’s football is the mainstream sport
at these clubs, which drives the business, whereas women’s professional sports and other non-
revenue sports are subsidized by total revenues of the club, mostly generated by men’s football,
sponsorship agreements, broadcasting rights and shares collected from national sports betting.
Although this system keeps women’s sports alive, it has weaknesses. There are large
discrepancies in the budgets of the teams within leagues, especially women’s teams from the
three most successful and biggest clubs in Turkey (Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş),
which are known as the “Big Three” and typically dominate their appropriate leagues. Smaller
teams’ budgets are not comparable to the teams of the Big Three clubs, which leads to
incomparable talent on team rosters and lack of competitive balance in the leagues. In addition
to big differences in budgets, not having a draft system allows these teams to create team
rosters full of high caliber American and European players with the best domestic players by
offering high salaries. For example, in 2010, Diana Taurasi was offered a salary more than four
times her WNBA salary by Fenerbahçe (C. Ates, personal communication, November 27,
2013). In 2014, Madelaynne Montano and Caroline Costagrande were paid high salaries of
approximately $1 million each, in the Turkish Professional Women’s Volleyball League
(“Highest paid European”, 2014).
There is an important point to be made here. Although being paid large sums of money
makes female athletes professional, it must be understood that women’s sports leagues and
clubs are not always managed professionally. Even the Big Three clubs in Turkey do not have
a full time staff solely responsible to handle the business aspects of women’s professional
basketball and volleyball. Most often, the business operations of women’s sports are handled
by the club management (E. Memnun, personal communication, September 6, 2014). This
approach results in limited marketing activities and a lack of exposure and awareness, resulting
in limited revenue generation. So although the multisport club system has the potential to
create profitable women’s professional sports teams in Turkey, the clubs’ management often
does not take a business based approach, and therefore, they fail to capitalize on the marketing
opportunities available considering the large fan bases aligned with each of these clubs.
The clubs support women’s sports for the love of sports and also due to rivalries among
the Big Three. WNBA players, Angel McCoughtry and Seimone Augustus, explain the extent
of rivalry among these clubs:

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McCoughtry says “You don’t know till you come here. It’s worse than Yankees-Red
Sox. It’s deep. It’s instilled in you growing up. It’s really unique. You’re like ‘What in
the world is this?” While these types of rivalries are common across Europe in football
or in men’s basketball, it rarely is heard of on the women’s side. Augustus adds “You
see Gala fans on one side and Fener on the other. The police are in the middle and
somehow fights usually break out in the stands” (“American women know”, 2012).

These WNBA players’ descriptions of Turkish fans are best explained by what are known of
as “fan associations” in Turkey. The Big Three have large followings in Turkey with 35%, 33%
and 20% of sports fans identifying as followers of Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş,
respectively (Fan Percentages of Soccer Clubs in Turkey, 2009). Some of these fans are
members of “fan associations”, which means they act as an organized fan group, attend games
together, cheer together and also fight together.
Although women’s professional basketball, volleyball and football leagues have been in
existence for decades in Europe, this is not the case for other women’s sports. On February
13, 2014, cricket became a professional sport for women in the UK. The England and Wales
Cricket Board announced they were creating the first group of full-time women’s professional
cricketers and would fund the league and players’ salaries with revenues from International
Cricket Council events held in England (“England to have first”, 2014). Similarly, according
to BBC Sports, women’s rugby players are becoming professional in England as they will be
paid for the first time in 2014. The Rugby Football Union (RFU) announced that they will
be giving full-time contracts to 20 top players. Women’s rugby will be included for the first
time in the 2016 Olympic Games and RFU decided on a professional setup in order to allow
England to compete effectively against other full-time opponents at the Olympic Games
(“Women’s Rugby”, 2014).

Women’s sport disparity

The current status of women’s sports in the US and Europe indicates that women’s sports are
still far from being on par with men’s sports. Unfortunately, the media’s representation of

Table 25.3 Comparison of WNBA and Turkish Women’s Basketball League (TWBL)

WNBA TWBL

Founded 1996 1980

Format Closed league system Promotion–Relegation System
# of teams in 2014–15 12 14
# of regular season games 34 26
Most titles Houston Comets (4) Galatasaray (12)
Highest attendance 22,076 15,000
Average attendance 2014 7,578 Not available
Broadcasters ESPN/ABC Turkish Basketball Federation TV
NBA TV TV channels of multi-sport clubs
Major revenue sources Sponsorship fees Sponsorship fees
Broadcasting fees Share from national betting site, Iddia
No broadcasting revenue
Min–max player salary 2014–2015 $34,500–$107,000 $15,000–$500,000

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female athletes and women’s sports has contributed to the disparity, by activating negative
stereotypes and providing prejudicial treatment of women’s sports. Gender marking, language
use, familial references made about female athletes, and the sexualization that works to
trivialize the accomplishments of female athletes, have all served to diminish the value sports
marketers work to create and associate with the women’s sports product.
Gender marking is one way the media contributes to the marginalization of women’s
sports, resulting in this disparity. Women’s sports competitions are often labeled as women’s
events in the media while men’s competitions are not specified with any gender. For instance,
the NCAA Final Four is used to describe the men’s college basketball tournament in the US,
while the women’s tournament is labeled as the Women’s Final Four, even though the events
take place in different locations at different times. Similarly, the World Cup is the term used
to refer to the men’s World Championship in soccer. Although the Women’s World
Championship is held a year after the men’s World Cup, and therefore, there would be no
confusion if the women’s event was also labeled as the World Cup. Instead, the women’s World
Championship in soccer is referred as the Women’s World Cup. The gender marking of
women’s competitions implies that men’s sports are the mainstream sports and women’s sports
are the second tier, or substandard to the mainstream men’s sport product, which also positions
women as the “other”.
In addition to gender marking, the language used by commentators contributes to the
marginalization of female athletes and women’s sports generally. Female athletes are often
infantilized by media with comments such as girls. According to Sabo and Jansen (1992),
female athletes are most often referred to as girls, while male athletes are referred to as men
or young men. For example, in 2014 commentators continued to infantilize female athletes
during the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, as NBC Sport’s commentators consistently
referred to female athletes competing in the skiing half pipe competition as girls (Feeney,
2014). The media’s language use results in infantilization of female athletes, and thereby
supports the status quo within the sports industry, giving men’s sports privilege and power
while actively diminishing the image of female athletes by presenting them as childlike, weak,
dependent and passive.
The media also degrades female athletes and women’s sports with familial references.
According to Kinnick (1998), female athletes’ relationships are more often described than
those of their male counterparts. Gender in Televised Sports by Messner, Cooky, and Hextrum
(2010) provides examples of familial references. For example, SportCenter reported on two-
time Olympic gold medalist track-and-field star, Sanya Richards, but she was introduced as
the fiancée of Aaron Ross of the New York Giants. By introducing Richards as Ross’ fiancée,
SportsCenter emphasized her relationship status over her athletic accomplishments. Familial
references of female athletes degrade their success as athletes and puts their relationship status
at the front as their main identity. Presenting female athletes as childlike and emphasizing
their roles as wives and mothers actively downplays the image of female athletes as competent
competitors, while supporting traditional gender roles and maintaining male hegemony in
the sport industry.
Kane and Maxwell (2011) found women’s sports and female athletes have been marketed
and represented in the media predominantly using attractiveness. During the 2014 Winter
Olympics in Sochi, in a segment about how extreme the course was for skiers, the NBC
skiing analyst, Steve Porino, said that the female athletes do “all of that while in a Lycra suit,
maybe a little bit of makeup—now that is grace under pressure” (Feeney, 2014). In addition
to highlighting female athletes’ femininity and attractiveness with comments similar to
Porino’s, female athletes are often photographed in sexual rather than athletic poses, and

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female athletes are marketed using their sex appeal (Kim, Sagas and Walker, 2011). According
to Kinnick (1998), sexualization of female athletes “frames them as something to be gazed
upon for others’ pleasure and diminishes their identity as athletes” (p. 212). Presenting female
athletes by utilizing their sex appeal does little to increase the popularity of the athlete and
women’s sports but rather diminishes the value of the female athlete and her sports. Kane and
Maxwell’s (2011) results challenged the notion that “sportswomen are best served when
presented as pretty, ‘sexy babes’ rather than as highly competent and dedicated athletes”
(p. 1). In a clear and important summary, the author’s findings provided evidence that “sex
does not sell” women’s sports.
The media has a strong influence on viewers’ perceptions of female athletes and women’s
sports. Although they cannot directly tell the viewer what to think, they contribute to the
creation of societal views using framing of stories. In essence, the media defines the situation
and issues for viewers and they actively implant their biased views. Highlighting female
athletes’ familial roles and describing them as weak, passive and childlike, sexualizing them
with trivializing comments and photographs, works to create an inferior image of female
athletes and thereby lessens the value and quality of women’s sports in the eyes of consumers.
Through these approaches, the media contributes to creating disparity between men’s and
women’s sports, and reinforces existing gender roles and power structures while naturalizing
masculine hegemony within the sport marketplace.

Improving media coverage

In addition to the content of media coverage, the quantity of media coverage of female
athletes and women’s sports also results in an important disparity. According to the Media
Coverage and Female Athletes report published by Tucker Center for Research on Girls and
Women’s Sports (2014), 40% of the sports participants are female in the US although women’s
sports only receive 2–4% of sports media coverage. Furthermore, over the past decade, the
visibility of women’s sports on TV has declined (Messner, Cooky and Hextrum, 2010).
In Europe, media coverage of women’s sports is at similar levels. The Women’s Sport and
Fitness Foundation (WSFF) of England reported women’s sports were sidelined, receiving
only 5% of the sports media coverage after the historic summer of women’s sports attributed
to the 2012 Olympics in London (Topping, 2012). Men’s and women’s sports get more
balanced media coverage during the Olympic Games, although during the 2010 Winter
Olympics in Vancouver, men’s sports received more than 60% of airtime in Canada after
researchers excluded mixed gender competitions. Their conclusion was that male athletes
were mentioned significantly more often in the media than female athletes (Angelini,
MacArthur and Billings, 2012).
This limited media coverage of women’s sports is related to a lack of interest among the
male dominant media executives. Higher ratings are required to increase coverage of women’s
sports, to justify their existence in programming and to be profitable for media. However, in
order to increase interest, the public needs to be exposed to women’s sports and perceive
women’s sports as quality athletic competitions. Thus, the lack of media coverage conveys the
impression that “women’s sports are inexistent or have no achievements” that are newsworthy
(Kinnick, 1998). In addition, the content of the coverage marginalizes women’s sports by
presenting female athletes as eye candy for the viewing pleasure of a male audience. Therefore,
improved media coverage with higher quality content, based upon athletic competence and
achievement is required to develop the positive perceptions of women’s sports necessary to
increase interest in women’s sports and build a sustainable fanbase.

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New media
To combat the lack of media exposure, new media has increasingly substantiated the interest
in women athletes and women’s sports. For example, Serena Williams has more than 4 million
Twitter followers and Maria Sharapova has more than 15 million likes on her Facebook page.
ESPNW was created in 2010 as an online destination for women’s sports content. By 2014,
ESPNW was reporting 19.8 million unique page views per month, up 71% from 2013
(ESPNW Summit, 2014). Clearly, women’s sports consumers face the challenge of needing to
seek out content or coverage for their sport of choice. During the 2014 Winter Olympic
Games in Sochi, 1.16 million fans streamed the women’s gold medal hockey game when the
United States faced Canada. These types of ratings are providing the evidence needed to
demonstrate a viable audience exists for women’s sports. Social media, such as Twitter, Facebook
and Instagram have become the choice for fan engagement among millennials. Fortunately
for women’s sports fans, new media provides a shift away from the reliance on information
pushed by the media, toward consumer’s creating content and supporting women sports more
directly, and thereby effectively transforming the effect of the traditional “gatekeepers”.

Marketing remedy
When women’s sports is marketed well, success often follows. For example, the global status
of the WTA has been enhanced by the success of celebrity athletes and 54 events played in 33
countries. In 2008, there were only two events in China, by 2016 there will be 11. In contrast,
when Billie Jean King founded the WTA, there were 14 events, primarily in the United States.
The fortieth anniversary of the WTA in 2013 was marked by a shifting focus toward engaging
fans through entertainment as a strategy to grow the product.With a record 5.4 million people
attending women’s tennis events in 2013, WTA Commissioner Stacy Allaster set a goal to
eventually award $180–200 million in prize money, which is a significant increase from the
$120 million awarded in 2014. To drive that growth the WTA intends to create compelling
events for fans. With increasing levels of sponsorship adding to record tournament earnings,
this global women’s sports property has contributed to the status of Serena Williams and Maria
Sharapova as two of only three women in Forbes’ top 100 wealthiest athletes. So while the

60

50

40

30 Top earners
20

10

Figure 25.2 Women’s tennis career prize money leaders

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Marketing, ethics and development

WTA is well-positioned for growth, more work remains to place this premier women’s sports
property on equal footing with other mainstream sport leagues.
Women are gaining recognition as a viable target market to grow, with data showing they
comprise nearly 50 million avid followers of professional sport (Bush et al., 2005). With sports
participation and interest increasing among women globally, the expectation seems reasonable
that women’s sports properties would be well-positioned for growth globally. Increasing
sponsorship support will be tied directly to growth, which points to the need for more
innovative strategies such as the use of social media. Additionally, as women increasingly gain
recognition as a consumer base to target and grow, women’s sports properties will be well-
positioned to take advantage of this powerful consumer segment.

Conclusion
To continue to build the fan base for women’s sports properties, more accurate data is
needed on consumption patterns of women’s sports fans. Too little is known and understood
about consumers and fans of women’s sports. By identifying why fans follow women’s sports,
the needs of consumers can be addressed more intentionally by marketers. Going forward, sport
marketers need to shift their focus away from the typical sport fan demographic and begin to
value the purchasing power of more distinct target markets. Both women and men follow the
mainstream sports properties, such as the NFL and Euro League, therefore, there is no justification
for expecting the fan base of women’s sports to be restricted to one gender, only women.
To enhance the marketing of women’s sports in the future, enhanced relationships with
sponsors will be necessary. Women’s sports properties are poised to seek sponsors from new
categories, in an effort to recognize the economic power of women. Increasingly, women are
recognized for making major purchasing decisions in categories such as insurance, financial,
travel, etc., which can then be used to leverage messages of empowerment that resonate more
authentically with a women’s sports product. This strategy presents less risk to sponsors, and
potentially cuts through the clutter apparent in mainstream sport marketing.
Finally, improving the image of sportswomen as being highly competent and dedicated
athletes will assist sports marketers in achieving their desired goals. Simply recognizing that
“sex does not sell” women’s sports, will serve as one significant step toward creating new
strategies to promote women’s sports. This is an uphill battle, given the media has yet to make
this important shift. However, unique approaches and innovative strategies are the hallmark
of quality sports marketing. In the twenty-first century, women’s sports are well-positioned
to use these novel tactics to create a new era of growth.

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26
THE ROLE OF SPORTS AS AN
AGENT OF SOCIAL CHANGE AND
MARKETING PERFORMANCE
Examining the charitable face of Real Madrid

Verónica Baena1

The current idea of corporate social responsibility (CSR) dates back to the early twentieth
century, when business tycoons, such as Carnegie and Ford, began donating funds to improve
social conditions (Sheth and Babiak, 2010). However, although most researchers and
professionals agree that CSR has become a necessary business function, there is a great deal
of variation in understanding how the term is characterized. More specifically, CSR deviates
from the neoclassical economic view that the singular objective of the firm is to maximize
shareholder value. In particular, “the challenge facing those who advocate corporate social
initiatives then is to find a way to promote what they see as social justice in a world in which
this shareholder wealth maximization paradigm reigns” (Margolis and Walsh, 2003: p. 273).
Organizations have recently answered this challenge, resulting in a shift from the perception
of CSR as a charitable activity to that of an integrated part of strategic management, whereby
an organization incorporates CSR activities with business operations that add value to the
business (Porter and Kramer, 2006).
Accordingly, the early part of the twenty-first century has ushered in an era of corporate
scrutiny, and the heightened accountability that goes with it. Nevertheless, consumer distrust
of many corporate entities is high, with the misdeeds of a few tainting the marketplace for
the rest. For instance, headline-making companies, such as Enron, Arthur Andersen or Merrill
Lynch, have triggered a rapid shift in how companies are viewed legally and by the public at
large (Walker and Kent, 2009). Therefore, having a clear understanding of CSR is critical in
the evaluation of every organization.
In terms of a definition, CSR is a tortured concept. Definitions among practitioners have
proliferated, with groups such as the World Business Council (1999: p. 3) offering their own
definition: “corporate social responsibility is the continuing commitment by business to
contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce
and their families as well as of the community and society at large”. More recently, while
numerous definitions and interpretations of the concept of CSR have been offered, it can
be broadly understood as the responsibility of organizations to be ethical and accountable
to the needs of their society as well to their stakeholders (Bradish and Cronin, 2009). In short,

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the general consensus would be that CSR represents a set of actions that appears to further
some social good, extend beyond the explicit pecuniary interests of the firm, and are not
required by law (McWilliams and Siegel, 2000; Godfrey, 2009).
Based on this, CSR for scholars and practitioners needs to move from traditional business
contexts, and expand its reach into economic sectors such as sports (Godfrey, 2009). For
instance, Nelson Mandela’s statement that sports can change the world holds much ideological
sway. In addition, former United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, once commented
that he was interested in the power of football to teach lifelong lessons about playing others’
rivals, not enemies (Smith and Westerbeek, 2007). Therefore, sports might be a useful vehicle
in the employment of CSR for development in certain situations. This is because sports allow
for development initiatives to extend to groups where traditional development schemes tend
not to reach, especially youth communities. But where does the use of sports in CSR for
development make a difference compared with other CSR or development schemes? There
are two distinct benefits that advocates highlight: the ability of sports to reach out to
communities that are particularly marginalized by traditional development initiatives, and the
capacity to create partnership among institutions that would not normally work together
(Levermore, 2010).
In addition, sports can spread understanding and tolerance through the introduction of
new cultural values in fan and interactive ways. The obvious example can be found in the
opening and closing ceremonies of major sports events, such as the Olympic Games (Smith
and Westerbeek, 2007). For these reasons, CSR has become increasingly prevalent in the
sports industry. For example, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA)
has made significant investment regarding social responsibility and “more than 40% of FIFA’s
income goes directly towards supporting the grassroots of the game, development work, and
partnerships with relief organizations” (FIFA, 2004: p. 66). Nevertheless, little academic
attention has been paid to the role of CSR in sports organizations (Walters, 2009; Mattera
and Baena, 2014). In an attempt to shed light on this topic, this chapter focuses on Real
Madrid, one of the most successful sports clubs in the world in terms of worldwide supporters
(more than 200 million people), and the most valuable soccer team in the world (Baena,
2015). More specifically, this work attempts to give insights on the role of CSR as a driver
of social change and fan engagement.

History and trophies

Founded in 1902 as the Madrid Football Club, the team has traditionally worn a white home
uniform ever since. The word Real (royal in Spanish) was conferred on the club by King Alfonso
XIII of Spain in 1920 with the royal crown in the emblem. The team has played its home matches
in the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Madrid, since 1947. In December 2014, Real Madrid had won
32 Ligas (national league trophy), 19 Copas del Rey (the national cup in Spain), 10 European
Championship titles, 3 Intercontinental Cup trophies, 2 UEFA SuperCup trophies, 1 Club World
Cup, among others. Because of this exceptional number of titles, Real Madrid was named “FIFA
Club of the Century” in 2002. Real Madrid is also allowed to wear a multiple-winner badge on
their jersey during UEFA Champions League matches as the club has won more than five European
Cups. Added to this, on 23 December 2000, Real Madrid was awarded with the recognition of FIFA
as Club of the Twentieth Century. More recently, in 2004 it received the FIFA Order of Merit.

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As regards brand value, Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich have traditionally
been the most successful sports teams in Europe. In 2010, Forbes estimated Real Madrid’s worth to
be approximately $1,323 million, ranking them second after Manchester United. Nevertheless, Real
Madrid has recently usurped Manchester United’s long-held title as the most valuable soccer team
in the world. More specifically, the 2012/13 season marks the first time since Forbes began tracking
the value of soccer teams in 2004 that Manchester United has not ranked first. Therefore, Real
Madrid is worth more than any team in the world, a fact that is especially notable in a period of
crisis in Europe.
Furthermore, Real Madrid has realized the importance of the brand and grasped the ability to
market in a way not seen anywhere else in the world of soccer. In particular, they are one of the most
recognizable brands in sports, and are among the top 3 teams in the world in terms of followers and
engagement in social media. With some of the world’s greatest players on the field, Real Madrid
exemplifies that team value is also based on brand management. For example, the fusion of the
potent Real Madrid brand with equally powerful global football superstars, such as David Beckham
and Cristiano Ronaldo, was a profitable decision.When the two footballers started to wear the Real
Madrid jersey, the club was able to dramatically increase the price paid by their major corporate
sponsors.

Source: Qualitative interview with Julio González, Managing Director of the Real Madrid
Foundation, and official website of the club: www.realmadrid.es

Presentation of Real Madrid

Name of the Chairman: Florentino Pérez

Number of subscribers: 67,000
Number of Facebook fans: +80 million
Average number of spectators per match: 72,834 people (capacity of Bernabéu stadium: 81,044
people)
Budget of the club: *540 million
Total income: *603 million
Distribution of revenue: marketing (32%); broadcasting (29%); membership dues, ticketing and
stadium revenue (25%); revenues from friendly matches (14%).
Name of sponsors: Adidas, Emirates Airlines, IPIC, Bwin, Mahou, Audi, Microsoft, Turismo de
Madrid, BBVA, Nivea Men, STC, Empresas Polar, Yamaha, Solán de Cabras, NBAD, Coca Cola,
Samsung, Sanitas et Ooredoo.

Source: Real Madrid Group Management Report 2013/2014, and the official website of the club:
www.realmadrid.es

Presentation of Julio González

Julio González: Managing Director of the Foundation Real Madrid since 2009.

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What is the Real Madrid Foundation?

Concerning socially responsible actions, it is worth mentioning the immense effort that Real
Madrid FC has implemented through the “Real Madrid Foundation”. This entity is 18 years
old and one of the largest sports education institutions in the world, and one of the very few
with its own AENOR certificate. In addition, the Foundation serves as an instrument by
which Real Madrid is present in society and develops its social and cultural awareness program
to achieve the following goal:

To promote, both in Spain as well as abroad, the values inherent in sports, and the
latter’s role as an educational tool capable of contributing to the comprehensive
development of the personality of those who practice it. In addition, as a means of
social integration of those who find themselves suffering from any form
of marginalization, as well as to promote and disseminate all the cultural aspects
linked to sport.
www.realmadrid.com

Caring for infants and youths, the main goal of the Foundation, is achieved through the care
of minors in a conflictive family or social situation. By means of nearly 50 socio-sporting
football schools, thousands of boys and girls are educated in weekly training sessions with the
“They play, we educate” program, through the Foundation’s general educational philosophy:
“For a REAL Education: Values and Sport”. In addition, Real Madrid uses sports to reach
out to demographic groups in risk of social exclusion through its Foundation. The team also
promotes the development of positive values and competences, such as team work, the
acceptance and respect for established rules, and respect for one’s fellow man.
In short, the Foundation’s main goal is to encourage values inherent in sports, and use this
as an educational tool. Because of that, in 2007 the Real Madrid Foundation received the
Plaque from the COE (Spanish Olympic Committee) in recognition of “its extraordinary
social work”. Real Madrid has also been awarded the International Award for Solidarity in
Sport, for the “School united by the peace of football (Israel and Palestinian Territories)”, as
well as the Corporate Social Responsibility Award from the Football is More Foundation,
which was created by S.D. Prince Constantin von und zu Liechtenstein, to promote
development and peace through football. More recently, the European Club Association
(ECA) awarded the prize for the Best Community and Social Responsibility Program 2014
to Real Madrid.
The combination of the aforementioned factors made Real Madrid the appropriate brand
to choose for this chapter, representing a leading organization in sports, business, and CSR.

Socially responsible actions for a better world

As stated, Real Madrid is more and more present in the world through its Foundation,
helping with its sporting message and its solidarity values; values that Real Madrid transmits.
Teamwork, improvement, motivation and respect are the base of its multiple activities. Its
work is principally centered on infancy and youngsters, but also in the collectives that can
suffer any kind of social difficulty. As Julio González, Managing Director of the Foundation
Real Madrid, said: “The power of sport and energy of Real Madrid are definitively capable
of attempting to change the terrible reality faced by millions of people every day”.2 For that
reason, the Foundation is present in hospitals, help centers, penitentiary centers and nursing

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Sports as an agent of social change

homes, among others. In particular, the Foundation’s main activities can be grouped into the
following areas: educational and sports activities; social insertion and welfare activities;
cooperation for social causes; and socially responsible practices as a driver of fan engagement.
All of them are now discussed further.

Educational and sports activities

Sports have youth appeal (Smith and Westerbeek, 2007). Children are more likely to engage
in social initiatives run by community sports than activities run solely by a local council. It
is worth mentioning that in Spain, more than 10,000 people have benefited from 124 projects
developed by the Real Madrid Foundation through its Social Sport Schools. The Foundation
has opened 229 Social Sport Schools in 70 countries with more than 37,500 direct
beneficiaries. These academies are not scouting outposts aiming to find the next Cristiano
Ronaldo or Gareth Bale, but educational centers funded by the Foundation and its partners.
As noted by Emilio Butragueño, Director of Institutional Relations of Real Madrid, “The
Real Madrid Foundation seeks to promote our values through sports and education, teaching
children human values such as commitment, responsibility and teamwork, which will be
central to their success in their future work life”. That is, at the Foundation’s social sports
schools “the children participate in training, games and events, while at the same time going
to school or taking part in a professional training program. . . They also benefit from social
services adjusted to their specific needs, such as classes and workshops on different themes,
medical check-ups, psychological follow-up [and the provision of] snacks and school supplies”.3
An illustration of how educational activities are important for Real Madrid could be
provided by the new schools opened in 2014 in Nasugbu and La Carlota (the Philippines), for
more than 200 homeless boys and girls aged between 5 and 12. Beneficiaries were chosen by
a social educator from the Roxas Foundation in accordance with their poverty index, by
gathering information at the primary schools in which they are enrolled and examining each
case. In addition to the football program, breakfast, lunch and an afternoon snack, tournaments
and friendly matches were held between all the students at the school. In short, “They play, we
teach” is based on socio-educational activities, such as talks on values, classes reinforcing students’
studies at school or football talks of a more theoretical nature, including refereeing, the rules of
the game and more specific talks on a healthy lifestyle, hygiene and nutrition, among others.
Real Madrid’s Campus Experience provides another example of the commitment of Real
Madrid with education. Hundreds of boys and girls of many nationalities may spend their
time every year at those campuses. With a unique environment for learning, having fun and
playing sports, the Campus Experience of Real Madrid provides to be the preferred option
for parents, who see it as an extraordinary opportunity for the personal development of their
children. Consolidation has also been seen internationally, establishing itself for the first time
on all five continents, with campuses in United Kingdom, Brazil, Mexico, Singapore and
Poland going from strength to strength, and opening new centers in Australia, Canada,
Argentina, Italy, Lebanon and China, among other countries. Nationally, as well as Madrid,
the main center, there are also campuses in Alicante, Mallorca and Menorca, and a campus
with English classes at King’s College in Madrid.

Social insertion and welfare activities

Sports provide the best tool for conflict resolution, the dissolution of guns and the fight
against racial discrimination. Sports are also seen as a way to promote understanding of

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Marketing, ethics and development

Figure 26.1 Beneficiaries of the Real Madrid Foundation in the Philippines

Source: www.realmadrid.com (accessed 21 November 2014)

different cultures and strengthen community cohesion. Sports CSR “offers a platform
for encouraging social interaction in a functional way” (Smith and Westerbeek, 2007:
p. 51). Related to this, Emilio Butragueño remarked that Real Madrid feels “the need to
give back to society and to our fan base, by assisting the most vulnerable people, at-risk
children and youngsters living in precarious conditions or exposed to violence, poverty, drugs
and crime”.4
By encouraging children to participate in sports activities, they work together and
interact. Another way in which sports encourage social interaction is through the delivery
of social inclusion programs aimed at disengaged people. Real Madrid knows that, and
uses its brand to reach out to demographic groups at risk of social exclusion, through
its Foundation. Particularly in Spanish penitentiary centers, the Foundation aims to
facilitate the integration of inmates into society through the practice of football or
basketball, and promotes the development of positive values and competences, such as team
work, the acceptance and respect for established rules, and respect for one’s fellow man,
among others.
The Foundation also facilitates the social integration of immigrant children and their
families through the joint practice of football and complementary education programs. In this
sense, “one of the most important goals of the Real Madrid Foundation is to promote values
inherent in sports, and to use the latter as an educational tool, both in Spain and the rest of
the world”.5 To achieve this goal, the club uses the universal nature of the name, Real Madrid,

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Sports as an agent of social change

Figure 26.2 Socio-sporting schools of Real Madrid in the USA

Source: www.realmadrid.com (accessed 21 November 2014)

to make the rest of the world aware of the importance of teaching values and promoting
charitable causes. For instance, in conjunction with the International Studies Foundation, the
Real Madrid Foundation recently developed a training course in Worcester (Massachusetts),
Arlington (Virginia) and Houston (Texas). The problems mainly faced by the American social
schools beneficiaries consist of the difficulty in integrating, as they are boys and girls
aged between 6 and 11 of Latin African American and Asian origin, who are at risk of social
exclusion, have academic problems, and are at risk of abandoning their education. Through
quality time playing sports, Real Madrid offers them training on the positive values that
facilitates their integration.
In addition, almost 13 tons of food was collected for the Madrid Food Bank. The food
collection campaign, named “tickets for food” was at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium. The
campaign was held in 2014 in conjunction with SEUR Foundation on the days before the
games against Galatasaray and Olímpic de Xàtiva. It was a success on both occasions.
Another example that may illustrate the role played by Real Madrid to help community
is the campaign “at Christmas, no child without a gift”. This campaign took toys to more
than 2,000 children at shelter homes and community of Madrid participation centers in 2013.
Children’s sports programs at hospitals should also be noted. The aim of these projects is to
provide a normal environment of well-being for children hospitalized for long periods of
time, who are receiving treatment for different reasons, as well as providing their parents and
families with a place to spend the long days of waiting at hospitals.

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Cooperation for social causes

The Sport for Development and Peace International Working Group (SDPIWG)6 notes that
sports contribute to international development in the following categories: individual
development for the able bodied and disabled (emphasis on empowerment especially through
education); health awareness and disease prevention; promotion of gender equity; social
integration (particularly through communication and social mobilization), peace building and
conflict prevention or resolution; post-disaster trauma relief; and economic development
(including building infrastructure), among others. Moreover, participation in sports improves
diet and discourages the use of tobacco, alcohol and drugs. It also helps to reduce violence,
enhances functional capacity and promotes social interaction and integration (World Health
Organization, 2003).
Based on this, we may argue that sports programs and events provide a natural and non-
political arena where partners can meet up and strengthen the interaction of business, NGOs,
civil society, and political institutions.
In late 2014, Real Madrid’s social initiatives had been carried out in more than 220 socio-
sporting schools located in 70 countries across Europe, America, Africa, the Middle East and
Asia, helping more than 60,000 people either directly or indirectly. “Thanks to the
contributions of institutions and people, each day it works for a more just world, using a
common language: sport”, remarked Julio González.7 To achieve this goal, volunteers and
collaborating members play a crucial role. For instance, the Real Madrid Foundation is mostly
aimed at people between 18 and 55 years old who want to voluntarily support social activities,
such as providing assistance in the stadium to people in wheelchairs, helping the coaches at
the socio-sporting schools, or working on charity matches and participating in campaigns
with charities.
Funding for all these projects comes from the club – the richest in the world – and
includes the benefit matches, the Foundation’s annual Gala, or benefit concerts, in which it
instills values to be emulated by society. Corporate partnerships are also a major source of
the Foundation’s resources. For example, in 2013 Microsoft provided computer software,
worth a reported $1.38 million, to an initiative to reach 20,000 children in Argentina, Brazil,
Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico.
Any individual, entity or supporters club may join the Foundation as a collaborating
member, paying a yearly fee of *75, with the resulting tax reductions of 25% of the
contribution. Collaborators also receive an exclusive gift, as a Collaborating Member as well
as Collaborating Member Card. This allows them to enjoy all the benefits of the Foundation
and the symbolic recognition of the continuous collaboration of its members over time, with
bronze, silver and gold cards issued to those who maintain their collaboration for 5, 10 and
15 years, respectively. Special discounts on activities organized by the Foundation, such as
those at the Campuses and Sports Schools, are also offered in conjunction with free attendance
of events organized by the Foundation Real Madrid and free subscription to the Foundation
Real Madrid’s magazine and Report.
The Real Madrid Foundation exists thanks to cooperation with different public authorities,
and the generous support it receives from important national and international companies
through patronage and sponsorship agreements. Furthermore, this Foundation helps people
thanks to the individual donations and support made by thousands of Madrid’s fans, who
wish to strengthen their bond with Real Madrid. González said, “[T]he Foundation Real
Madrid thanks all Madrid fans for their social engagement. With their help we contribute to
a better world for all”.8

376
Figure 26.3 Real Madrid’s legends annual match to raise money for a charitable purpose
Source: www.realmadrid.com (accessed 20 May 2015)

Figure 26.4 Real Madrid campaign (official website and banners) to explain to their followers how
to help people through the team’s Foundation
Source: www.realmadrid.com (accessed 12 November 2014)

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Marketing, ethics and development

Socially responsible practices as a driver of fan engagement

We operate in a global society, which implies that people are more aware of a firm’s actions
in terms of social problems (Mattera and Baena, 2014). This fact is especially important in
the sports sector, where institutions are facing a public that is increasingly aware of the social
aspects of corporate policy, due to the notoriety given to recent corporate misdeeds (Walker
and Kent, 2009). Above all, when a consumer identifies closely with a team, a sense of
connectedness ensues, and they begin to define themself with the club (Mael and Ashforth,
1992). In other words, sports fans will seek out positive information about elements they
endorse. For example, highly identified game attendees may look for the socially responsible
activities of teams to reinforce their fanship (Walker and Kent, 2009).
CSR could also be viewed as a form of reputation building (McWilliams, Siegel and Wright,
2006), as well as brand awareness enhancement (Mattera, Baena and Cerviño, 2014). Moreover,
there is a link between social initiatives and affective responses by the team followers. Specifically,
consumers have an overall positive attitude towards companies associating themselves with
causes that benefit society (Walker and Kent, 2009). Therefore, investing in socially responsible
activity may be crucial for fan attraction and community commitment.
Based on these arguments, sports teams are often viewed in high regard within their local
community. Having a prosocial agenda could mean having a powerful marketing tool that
may help to build and shape the team’s status, differentiate it in the market, and lead to the
organization’s competitive edge (Walker and Kent, 2009). In other words, through CSR
programs, sports institutions can further enhance their stature in society.
The Real Madrid Foundation exemplifies this discussion as it exists thanks to the
collaboration of many different agents (both public and private institutions), but also,
thanks the support from thousands of Madridistas (Real Madrid supporters), who wish to
reinforce their commitment to the club. This is because when a fan identifies closely with
their team, they begin to define themself with the organization (Mael and Ashforth, 1992).
Nevertheless, sports marketers have to manage this issue with caution. Although many
companies communicate the “good” things they are doing, consumer skepticism of corporate
communication is high, making these communications of suspect value. Therefore, the goal
is to develop the appropriate marketing communication strategy that provides details about
how the team has addressed specific social issues.
Florentino Pérez, Chairman of Real Madrid, argued:

[A]ll Real Madrid supporters should feel proud of Realmadrid Foundation battle
against poverty and injustice.The work of its Foundation increases every day because
it has proved to be a guarantee of quality and its huge commitment to its social
project. . . The Foundation constantly received the support of many organizations
and people that wish to contribute their solidarity. A message that must be conveyed
to the entire society.9

The club is well aware of the importance of its message reaching all the entities and people
that lend or may lend their support, as well as society as a whole. In order to achieve this
goal, it is essential that detailed information of all the initiatives that are undertaken by the
Real Madrid is made known. More specifically, the team has attempted to develop involvement
activities as part of a broader CSR initiative, which can also be used to increase and maintain
the bonds between the team and the community. In this sense, the following methods are
used to help spread the word about its activities:

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Sports as an agent of social change

1 Magazine. A quarterly publication, the magazine has a circulation of 8,000 copies and a
distribution of 6,000. Recipients of the magazines are the patrons, associate members,
and sponsors.
2 Annual Report. The report provides a detailed record of the activities and projects devel-
oped by the Foundation Real Madrid. It is published in English and Spanish and includes
an evaluation of the economic management and audit.
3 Publishing. Through the publication of books, Real Madrid describes the club’s history
as the values that characterized the institution.
4 Realmadrid.com. This website hosts the Foundation’s own website. It publishes informa-
tion on the most important events and activities organized by the entity.
5 E-Newsletter. The monthly newsletter provides information to members and associate
members of the Real Madrid Foundation on its most relevant activities.
6 Social Networks. As a part of its effort to increase its level of support as much as possible,
the Real Madrid Foundation has a strong presence on Facebook and Twitter. It has more
than 2 million followers on Facebook and 250,000 on Twitter, which makes it the most
followed charitable sports institution.

Real Madrid also collaborates with many individual athletes who have set up charitable
foundations (for example, the Rafael Nadal Foundation). By doing so, the team increases the
number of potential (direct and indirect) beneficiaries as well as the engagement with the team.
Besides, Real Madrid’s figures all support and promote the team’s CSR activities whenever they
can. All these actions help to increase the emotional attachment the team followers have for
Real Madrid, as well as their identification with the club, creating a shared social identity.

Figure 26.5 Beneficiaries of the Real Madrid Foundation in Guatemala receive a visit from the
Chairman of Real Madrid, Florentino Pérez
Source: www.realmadrid.com (accessed 1 June 2015)

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Marketing, ethics and development

Conclusion
A variety of factors have led to the growing importance of CSR for sports organizations. The
omnipresence of sports has occasioned the elevation of sports teams as influential members
of the global community, especially as they have become big businesses themselves. Sports
occupy a unique role in society, consequently having a great impact on the community (issues
such as education, social values, etc.). For instance, the link between participating in sports
and positive health benefits is well established (Walters, 2009).Therefore, sports offer substantial
potential for community return (Smith and Westerbeek, 2004).
Concerning Real Madrid, the team “is fully aware that its strength, power and prestige
must focus on fighting inequality and above all, the injustice affecting the most vulnerable,
the boys and girls that need us, wherever they are, because for Real Madrid, in the area of
solidarity, there are no border”.10 To achieve this goal, the club runs regular sports camps for
children around the world, while also working in prisons and hospitals, and with immigrants
and individuals with physical or learning difficulties. By doing so, the Real Madrid Foundation
is one of the largest sports education institutions in the world. Moreover, it focuses on social
welfare and integration by cooperating with public and private agents, having helped more
than 60,000 people in 70 countries around the world in 2014.
In addition, socially responsible actions implemented by the Foundation contribute to
enhance the emotional attachment that Madridistas (Real Madrid supporters) feel towards
their team. More specifically, “thousands of boys and girls see Real Madrid as a reference
model that accomplishes the expectations generated by the team tradition and colors. . . The
Real Madrid Foundation is an outstanding symbol of the club and unites all Real Madrid
supporters. Therefore, they can proudly say that Real Madrid has achieved success far beyond
the football field or basketball court” as González said.11 In other words, “the Real Madrid
Foundation is the proof of fact that using our will, we (the team) can achieve anything. The
Foundation shows there is no (caring) challenge unattainable to Real Madrid”.12
This has resulted in the integration of CSR into the strategic management of the team to
deliver a number of benefits that can ultimately create and enhance a sustainable competitive
advantage. This chapter confirms that socially responsible actions could be of help to get the
followers’ commitment. For example, highly identified game attendees may look for the
socially responsible activities of teams to reinforce their engagement towards the club. Besides,
CSR associations have a strong and direct impact on supporters’ attributions, which in turn
influence brand evaluations, and purchase intentions.
This work may have implications for sports marketers as well as serve as the starting point
for future research. Having a clear understanding of CSR in sports would aid in the evaluation
of such efforts in organization. Besides, CSR should be regarded as one of the most important
components of contemporary sports management theory and practice. Therefore, this work
will contribute to expanding knowledge and understanding the role of sports as an important
agent of social change.

Notes
1. The author wishes to thank Emilio Butragueño, Director of Institutional Relations of Real Madrid,
and Julio González, Managing Director of the Real Madrid Foundation, for their support and
availability.
2. Julio González, interviewed by Professor Verónica Baena, 21 November 2014.
3. Interview published in 2013, www.aljazeera.com/sport/football/2013/10/charitable-face-real-
madrid-20131022163236149593.html (accessed 1 April 2015).

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Sports as an agent of social change

4. Extract of interview published in 2013, www.aljazeera.com/sport/football/2013/10/charitable-

face-real-madrid-20131022163236149593.html (accessed 1 April 2015).
5. Julio González, interviewed by Professor Verónica Baena, 21 November 2014.
6. This group comprised national governments, the UN and civil society and made recommendations
for the integration of sports into international development initiatives.
7. Julio González, interviewed by Professor Verónica Baena, 21 November 2014.
8. Julio González, interviewed by Professor Verónica Baena, 21 November 2014.
9. Letter from the Chairman of Real Madrid published in the Real Madrid Foundation’s Annual
Report 2013/2014.
10. Florentino Pérez, President of Real Madrid. Real Madrid Foundation Annual Report 2013/2014.
11. Julio González, interviewed by Professor Verónica Baena, 21 November 2014.
12. Letter from the Chairman of Real Madrid published in the Real Madrid Foundation’s Annual
Report 2013/2014.

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27
THE MARKETING AND LEGAL
IMPLICATIONS OF THE ATP
EVENT REORGANIZATION
Mark Dodds, George Vazenios and Justin Lovich

Introduction
Because of the increasing competition for attendance, television revenue and sponsorship
dollars over the last two decades, many sports organizations are focusing on generating new
revenue streams and markets (Larson, Jensen and Bowman, 2011). Among these new markets
is international growth, specifically in emerging markets, and one of these emerging markets
is China. China offers a great opportunity for sports organizations looking to take advantage
of the world’s second biggest economy, its 1.3 billion population, its increasing sports media
consumption (sports television channels have the second highest ratings after the news
channel) and aggressive city governments wanting to use sporting events to promote their
city image in the Chinese and overseas markets (Ho, 2011).
However, laws governing business operations are vastly different in China. Many activities,
such as price fixing, are legal in China but violate US antitrust laws (Peng, Wang and
Jiang, 2008).
One of the primary goals of the US antitrust law is to enhance consumer welfare by
promoting consumer interest, increasing economic efficiency, increasing market competition,
and lowering costs (Roberts, 1988). Typically, business practices that increase output while
lowering price enhance consumer welfare (Jacobs, 1991). Antitrust law has been applied in a
sports context to player-free agency issues, salary spending, restrictions on ownership
(Masteralexis, 2013), organizational structure (Jacobs, 1991), player eligibility, discipline and
movement (Lazaroff, 1984).These challenges have been brought by players, owners, prospective
owners, cities, media entities and prospective owners (Masteralexis, 2013).
In 2009, the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) reorganized its worldwide tennis
circuit in an effort to increase its popularity and compete against other sports in a global
marketplace. This reorganization included a new Tier I event in Shanghai, China and
downgrading the ATP tournament in Hamburg, Germany from a Tier I event to a Tier II
event. In an effort to retain the event’s premier status, the German Tennis Federation brought
a lawsuit against the ATP, claiming antitrust violations and alleging the directors of the ATP
breached their fiduciary duties (DTB v. ATP, 2009). Ultimately, the United States Court of
Appeals for the Third Circuit held that the ATP did not violate any antitrust laws and
dismissed the breach of fiduciary duty claim (DTB v. ATP, 2010a).

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Marketing, ethics and development

Facts
The ATP Tour is a worldwide professional tennis circuit comprising more than 400 professional
players, with 61 tournament events organized into three levels: Tier I, Tier II and Tier III
(DTB v. ATP, 2010a) and a championship event (World Tour Finals) located in 31 countries
(About the ATP, n.d.). In an effort to increase its popularity to compete against other sports
and entertainment events, the ATP in 2009 instituted the “Brave New World” schedule
reorganization, channeling more top-tier players to the top-tier ATP tournaments and
reclassifying the tier categories of some tournaments.
In the ATP, players earn prize money and ATP ranking points by playing in ATP
tournaments (DTB v. ATP, 2010a). These points determine the player’s world rankings
and seed players in the Grand Slam tennis events (i.e. Australian Open, French Open,
Wimbledon, and US Open). Players can earn more prize money and ranking points by
playing in higher tiered ATP tournaments. Under the Brave New World plan, the ATP
increased the potential ranking points in the tournaments: the Tier I events increased the
winner’s points from 500 to 1000; Tier II would award 500 points instead of 250–300;
and Tier III increased from 175 to 250. These increases were designed to create an incen-
tive for the top tennis players to play in the ATP top-tier events. The top seven players in
the ATP rankings qualify for the ATP World Tour finals. The final eighth position is
determined by the highest ranked player who won a Grand Slam tennis event between eighth
and twentieth position, or, if no player fits this criteria, then the eighth ranked player
(Frequently, n.d.).
Although the ATP kept the overall number of Tier I events at nine, it demoted the
Hamburg event to Tier II and added a Tier I tournament in Shanghai, China (DTB v. ATP,
2010a). The demotion of Hamburg and the creation of the Rio Open increased the number
of Tier II events from nine to eleven. Importantly, the ATP requires that qualifying players
for the Grand Slam tournaments play all Tier I events, at least four Tier II events and at least
two Tier III events. The ATP implemented sanctions such as suspensions and loss of ranking
points to enforce this rule change.

• Tier 1 Events (9)

Cincinnati, USA; Indian Wells, USA; Madrid, Spain; Miami, USA; Monte-Carlo;
Montreal, Canada; Quebec, Canada; Paris, France; Rome, Italy; Shanghai, China
• Tier II Events (13)
Acapulco, Mexico; Barcelona, Spain; Basel, Switzerland; Beijing, China; Dubai, UAE;
Haile, Germany; Hamburg, Germany; London-Queen’s, UK; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil;
Rotterdam, Belgium; Tokyo, Japan; Valencia, Spain; Washington, USA
• Tier III Events (61)
Atlanta, USA; Auckland, New Zealand; Båstad, Sweden; Bogota, Colombia; Brisbane,
Australia; Bucharest, Romania; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Casablanca, Morocco; Chennai,
India; Delray Beach, USA; Doha, Qatar; Estoril, Portugal; Geneva, Switzerland; Gstaad,
Switzerland; Houston, USA; Istanbul, Turkey; Kitzbühel, Austria; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia;
Marseille, France; Memphis, USA; Metz, France; Montpellier, USA; Moscow, Russia;
Munich, Germany; Newport, USA; Nice, France; Nottingham, UK; Quito, Ecuador; Sao
Paulo, Brazil; ’s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands; Shenzhen, China; St. Petersburg,
Russia; Stockholm, Sweden; Stuttgart, Germany; Sydney, Australia; Umag, Croatia;
Vienna, Austria; Winston-Salem, USA; Zagreb, Croatia
(Tournaments, n.d.)

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The implications of the ATP reorganization

The Brave New World plan also created geographic swings that allow top players to play in
ATP events in preparation for an upcoming Grand Slam event (DTB v. ATP, 2010a). This
change can acclimate a player to the general geographic area and the playing surface of the
next Grand Slam event. For instance, the New Zealand event is held one week before the
Australian Open.

Legal case history and analysis

In response to their reclassification to a Tier II event, the German Tennis Federation
(“Federation”) brought a lawsuit against the ATP and its directors. Because the ATP is
registered as a Delaware (USA) not-for-profit corporation, this case was brought before a US
federal court. The lawsuit alleged the ATP’s Brave New World plan violated §§ 1 and 2 of
the Sherman Act and the ATP’s directors breached fiduciary duties owed to the Federation
(DTB v. ATP, 2009). At trial, the District Court found in favor of the defendant, the ATP.
The court dismissed the breach of fiduciary claim as a matter of law. The antitrust claims
were submitted to a jury who returned a verdict for the ATP. The jury found the Federation
failed to prove their allegations against the ATP. The Federation appealed this decision to the
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
In order to prevail in an antitrust lawsuit, the plaintiff must prove the defendant entered
into a contract, combination or conspiracy with any separate entity under § 1 of the Sherman
Act and must establish a relevant product market under § 2 (DTB v. ATP, 2010a). Because of
its unique situation, legal doctrines created for a more traditional business context are often
difficult to apply to the sports industry (Roberts, 1988). Often in sports, there has to be some
level of cooperation and agreement between competitors on economic issues (Lazaroff, 1984).
The Federation contended the ATP conspired and combined to control the supply of
top men’s professional tennis players’ services, established a favored class of tournaments in
which top-player participation was mandatory, while precluding other tournaments from
competing for such player services, in violation of § 1 of the Sherman Act (DTB v. ATP,
2010a). Section 1 requires two or more separate entities to agree not to compete in the
marketplace. Under a “rule of reason” analysis, the trial jury found the Federation failed to
prove the ATP entered into any agreement with a separate entity (DTB v. ATP, 2009), thus
the § 1 claim failed. Instead of a coalition between the multiple tennis events, the ATP was
considered a single entity because each of the tennis events is dependent on the others to
produce a single, common product: the marketable professional tennis tour. Thus, tour events
function collectively to compete with other forms of sport and entertainment for spectators,
television viewers, and sponsors.
The Federation argued the Brave New World plan created a horizontal restraint of
competition and should have met the § 1 requirement. Although the individual tennis events
agreed to the Brave New World plan, often sport requires separate entities to work together
in order to be more competitive in the large sport marketplace (NCAA v. Board of Regents,
1984). Overall, the appellate court accepted the pro-competitive effects of the agreement
outweighed the negative effects.The § 1 requirements were not met because the modifications
to the tour calendar, higher payments to the players, and expanded geographic reach, improved
the ATP product in comparison to other worldwide sports options.
The § 2 claim alleged a monopolization, the attempt to monopolize, or conspiracy to
monopolize the market for men’s professional tennis players’ services (DTB v. ATP, 2010a).
An unlawful monopoly exists when one entity obtains control of the market for a product
or service through anticompetitive conduct (U.S. Department of Justice, 2012). Under a § 2

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Marketing, ethics and development

claim, a plaintiff must show that the defendant willfully acquired and maintained monopoly
power and these actions injured the plaintiff (Shropshire, 1990). Although the Federation
sought to define the relevant product market as, among other things, the market for the
production of top-tier men’s professional tennis, the trial court found that the market was
more expansive, likely including alternative entertainment options available to consumers.
Without sufficiently establishing the existence of a relevant product market, the Federation
could not show that the ATP illegally acted to create a monopoly (DTB v. ATP, 2009).
The dismissal of the breach of fiduciary claims was affirmed by the appellate court by
applying the business judgment rule. The business judgment rule “is a presumption that in
making a business decision the directors of a corporation acted on an informed basis, in good
faith, and in honest belief that the action taken was in the best interests of the company”
(Aronson v. Lewis, 1984: p. 812). The court held that the directors, individually or as a whole,
were “materially self-interested when they voted for the Brave New World plan” (DTB v.
ATP, 2010a: p. 824). Here, although one voting director also owned a 24% stake in a Tier I
event (Indian Wells), the Federation could not show the director received any personal
financial benefit from the Brave New World plan.
The Federation appealed this decision from the Court of Appeals. However, the United
States Supreme Court decided not to hear the appeal, effectively concluding the Federation’s
antitrust claims (DTB v. ATP, 2010b).

Reorganization impact
From a sponsor’s point of view, the decision to give preferable treatment to the Shanghai
event makes good business sense for the short-term marketing benefits of the game and
sponsor attraction. More importantly, the Shanghai tournament facilitates the long-term
benefits of growing the game and business of tennis in China, intended to inspire fan support
and develop potential players, and, ultimately, increase sponsorship opportunities.
Indeed, Shanghai is the commercial and business center of China, with a population of
over 23 million (World Population Review, 2014). By selecting Shanghai, China as the new
event site, the ATP is able to tap into one of the biggest emerging economies for foreign
sport entities. For example, the English Premier League (EPL) has marketed itself in China
since 2003 and the financial return to the league is so powerful that many game times have
been changed to accommodate the Chinese television audience at the expense of the
European fan (Sayarer, 2013).
Tennis is a growing sport in China. It is the third most popular sport on television behind
soccer and basketball; there are more than 50 million playing tennis in China now (Schlabach,
2012). Perhaps due to the Shanghai ATP event, the Chinese government invested in tennis at
the grassroots amateur levels and created world class tennis facilities. This investment has paid
off because China has a star of their own in Li Na, who won the Australian Open in 2014
and is more popular than basketball star Yao Ming in the eyes of the Chinese public (Williams,
2014). More than 116 million television viewers watched Li Na play in the 2011 French Open
finals (Associated Press, 2011). The market for tennis in China is, indeed, growing.
This new event has proven to be very popular with the players and the fans. The players
awarded this tournament the “ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Tournament of the Year” (ANZ
Media Release, 2012) and the tournament attracted a worldwide audience of 45 million
viewers (ANZ Media Release, 2012).
It is important to note that the ATP did not drop the tournament in Hamburg; it was
merely downgraded to a Tier II event. There is still the opportunity for Hamburg to attract

386
The implications of the ATP reorganization

players as well as maintain its event sponsors. There might be an opportunity for Hamburg
to re-enter the Tier I event classification in the future. Just as the ATP increased the number
of Tier II events from nine to eleven, there is a possibility that the ATP may increase the
number of Tier I events going forward. The potential for reclassification as a Tier I event exists
especially if Hamburg focuses its efforts in surpassing other Tier II events in terms of
sponsorship attraction and local marketing presence.
Nevertheless, the negative implications for promoters, marketers, and sponsors of the
Hamburg ATP event are clear. The value of a Hamburg ATP sponsorship has been deflated
by the event’s demotion. As the future classification of the event seems, at best, uncertain,
sponsors may recognize ATP events as short-term assets and avoid long-term commitments.
In addition, participation in the Hamburg event and other Tier II tournaments is now
optional for players; the Federation and similar event organizers must promote the tournament
to players as well as fans and sponsors. Thus, the Federation might seek to work creatively
with sponsors to make the event enticing to players, thereby drawing the attention of fans so
as to synergistically maximize sponsorship value.

Conclusion
Ultimately, the outcome of this case certainly establishes the ability for an international
sports tour to reclassify its events in a changing world economy. Under American antitrust
law, the tour is allowed to evaluate its events based on the existing business market as
well as the potential for growth to determine the best event locations. The existing events
do not possess any guarantee that the event cannot be reclassified, or even potentially
dropped completely, solely because of previous event history. Sponsors and event promoters
have been put on notice that governing bodies are willing to make difficult decisions with
individual events in attempting to maximize the economic potential of the overall business
enterprise.
Under the rule of reason test, a court will analyze both the pro-competitive and anti-
competitive effects of a policy (Lazaroff, 1984). When fans in one city are saddened by a
negative action by a sports organization, it is often offset by the fans celebrating in another
city (Lazaroff, 1984). Thus, courts analyze the market impact and economic effect of the
business decision (Jacobs, 1991).
Most sports leagues would like to create increased foreign interest in their sports. This may
be accomplished by having international home teams to generate interest, and increase
television viewership and revenues (Shropshire, 1990). Any expansion of other US professional
sports leagues into Europe may create new liability, primarily under Articles 81 and 39 of the
EC Treaty (Edelman and Doyle, 2009). Sports leagues, such as the NBA and NFL, have age
and education requirements, player selection drafts and reserve systems, which most likely
violate these laws (Edelman and Doyle, 2009).

References
ANZ Media Release (2012, November 22). ANZ signs five-year Shanghai Rolex masters sponsorship.
Aronson v. Lewis, 473 A.2d 805 (Del. 1984).
Associated Press (2011). 116 million Chinese watch Li Na win, http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/
tennis/french11/news/story?id=6641140.
About The ATP. (n.d.). www.atpworldtour.com/Corporate/About.aspx
Deutscher Tennis Bund v. ATP Tour, Inc., 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 97851 (D. Del., Oct. 19, 2009).
Deutscher Tennis Bund v. ATP Tour, Inc. 610 F.3d 820 (3d Cir. 2010a).

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Deutscher Tennis Bund v. ATP Tour, Inc., 131 S.Ct. 658, 178 L. Ed. 2d 482, 2010 U.S. LEXIS 9253 (U.S.,
2010b).
Edelman, M. and Doyle, B. (2009). Antitrust and “free movement” risks of expanding U.S. professional
sports leagues into Europe. Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business, 29, 403–438.
Frequently asked questions. (n.d.), www.atpworldtour.com/Rankings/Rankings-FAQ.aspx
Ho, P. (2011). Making your Chinese sponsorship work. Journal of Sponsorship, 4(3), 214–219.
Jacobs, M. (1991). Professional sports leagues, antitrust and the single-entity theory: A defense of the
status quo. Indiana Law Journal, 67, 25–58.
Larson, B., Jensen, R. and Bowman, N. (2011). Developing international sports markets: Professional
sports selling to new segments with new promotions. Journal of International Business Disciplines, 6(2),
9–24.
Lazaroff, D. (1984). The antitrust implications of franchise relocation restrictions in professional sports.
Fordham Law Review, 53, 157–220.
Masteralexis, L. (2013). Antitrust and labor law. In D. Cotten and J. Wolohan (Eds.), Law for recreation and
sport managers 6th Ed. (pp. 626–637). Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt.
NCAA v. Board of Regents, 468 U.S. 85 (1984).
Peng, M., Wang, D. and Jiang, T. (2008). An institutional-based view of international business strategy: A
focus on emerging economies. Journal of International Business Studies, 39(5), 920–936.
Roberts, G. (1988). The evolving confusion of professional sports antitrust, the rule of reason and the
doctrine of ancillary restraints. Southern California Law Review, 61, 943–1016.
Sayarer, J. (2013, Apr. 7). Socialism in one country . . . and English football’s Premier League, www.
opendemocracy.net/openeconomy/julian-sayarer/socialism-in-one-country-and-english-footballs-
premier-league
Schlabach, N. (2012, Oct. 9). Tennis gaining popularity in China, http://english.cri.
cn/7146/2012/10/09/53s726155.htm
Shropshire, K. (1990). Thoughts on international professional sports leagues and the application of
United States antitrust laws. Denver University Law Review, 67(2), 193–212.
Tournaments. (n.d.), www.atpworldtour.com/tournaments/tournament-landing.aspx
U.S. Department of Justice (2012). Antitrust enforcement and the consumer, www.justice.gov/atr/
public/div_stats/antitrust-enfor-consumer.pdf
Williams, S. (2014, Jan. 31). Tennis star’s “bonus” sparks Chinese public outrage, www.voanews.com/
content/tennis-star-li-nas-bonus-sparks-chinese-public-outrage/1841989.html
World Population Review (2014). Shanghai Population 2013, http://worldpopulationreview.com/
world-cities/shanghai-population

388
Conclusion

This book was designed to showcase the latest thinking in sports marketing, written by
established researchers in the field and emerging academic talent. In bringing together such
an array of authors, the editorial team feels it has achieved its goal and we hope readers will
agree with us.
There remains a debate about the precise nature of sports marketing, with the first paper
of this volume we hope that researchers and academics in this field can proceed with greater
clarity and certainty in the work they undertake. Given the uniqueness of its core product,
sports marketing is distinct from other forms of marketing and therefore merits being
differentiated from other forms of marketing.
There are nevertheless likely to be ongoing definitional issues for sports marketing, not
least in those sports where entertainment and sports appear to be converging. At the same
time, issues pertaining to engagement (whether of fans or commercial partners), developments
in the organisation and structure of sports, and the role of social media, potentially pose
challenges to established notions and definitions of sports marketing. For researchers in the
field, we need to ensure in the future that our conceptualisation and definition of sports
marketing remains robust and relevant.
The breadth and sophistication of the chapters presented here symbolises how far sports
marketing has come over the last decade, though many people from outside the field continue
to see the limits of sports marketing as sponsorship and sales. This collection of readings
disproves such a notion in the way that it demonstrates the depth and diversity of the
discipline.
Sponsors and their relationships with sports properties continue to be an important and
fruitful focus for academic research. So, too, is the phenomenon of ambushing; this growing
and increasingly innovative activity is being examined by numerous academics across the
world and has become a popular subject for analysis.
The next steps for ambush marketing research remain somewhat unclear. Thus far, research
has focused on definitional issues as well as on legal and moral considerations related to it.
The readings presented here take such issues one-step further, creating the opportunity for
this subsequent development to take place. As we now have a clear notion of what ambush
marketing is, we are right to anticipate developing insights into how it functions and what
its effects are.

389
Conclusion

How ambushing functions is important in a number of respects as it embraces organisational

and managerial issues relating to the development of official sponsor programmes and those
devised by ambushers, and which are intended to undermine their official rivals. At the same
time, matters of creativity and innovation are important on the part of ambushers seeking to
pose a competitive threat and to official sponsors and event owners seeking to ward-off the
threat of ambushing.
Furthermore, the sports marketing community must look towards understanding how
ambushing impacts upon consumers and upon the perpetrators and targets of it. Although a
small amount of research has been undertaken in the field, the consumer effects of ambushing
have thus far been weakly explored. There are likely to be cognitive and behavioural issues
associated with consumers, but these need to be dealt with by researchers in a much more
focused, coherent and formal way.
Consumers, as fans, play a pivotal role in sports; many people refer to them as the heart
and soul of sports. In sports marketing terms, on this basis they perform several important
roles, not least that they are co-producers of the sports product, generating atmosphere and
emotion at events and elsewhere. Consumers are not simply a source of revenue, they have
an important, albeit somewhat intangible, role to play too.
The sports marketing literature is replete with studies examining the consumption motives
of fans. This is an area that is important and will continue to impact upon academic literature
and management practice. Understanding fan engagement, which is distinct from fan
motivation, seems to be a pressing need, as does a better understanding of consumers and fans
and their use of social media. The globalisation of sports and the internationalisation of fan
bases present some opportunities too, and one hopes for some emerging sports marketing
literatures in countries such as China.
Often, fan engagement, motivation and consumption are prompted by a brand name.
Sports are populated by some of the most appealing, compelling and seductive brands in any
industry anywhere in the world. Sadly, the academic literature has thus far failed to capture
this dynamism, however, the readings here help to capture some of the key issues in the field
and provide a strong basis for further research.
As the chapters identify, the nature and scope of brands in sports are key foci for researchers
and practitioners, and how such brands can be brought to life through activation programmes
is an interesting new area for sports marketers to consider. Beyond the content covered in
this text though, there are several aspects of branding in sports that need urgent attention.
For example, sports brands are now being extended into a variety of new and existing product
categories, yet the academic literature has failed to keep up with the speed of such
developments.
For many of us, our principal means of consuming sports is through the media: newspapers,
television, and more recently, through social media and the internet. The latter has inevitably
already posed some interesting recent challenges for us all in terms of the phenomenon and
the methodologies for analysing it. But television retains a very important role in sports
marketing, whether as a means through which consumption takes place, or as a platform for
the strategies of broadcasting corporations, or as a marketing communications tool for
commercial partners.
Given the symbiotic relationship between sports and the media, one could argue that more
research in sports marketing should already have taken place at the intersection between the
two. That it has not thus far implies one future research opportunity. Research could also
focus on issues such as purchasing behaviour on the internet, the way in which the media
contributes to the construction of meaning and experience in sports, the role television plays

390
Conclusion

in promoting a sponsor’s products and the way social media can assist in the development of
international fan groups.
It is important to remember that sports marketing is neither the preserve nor the sole
domain of elite professional sports or events. This book is a clear acknowledgement that sports
marketing has a crucial role to play at all levels of sports. In the same way, we implicitly assert
that there is also an important socio-legal component to sports marketing. Given the
prominence of corruption, doping and transgression in sports, the impact of these practices
on the likes of sponsors and consumers will demand analysis if we are to get to grips with
them.
The importance of sports marketing at grassroots level is equally as acute. Whether as part
of the process of talent management and development or as a means of promoting active,
healthy lifestyles, the need for a clear and coherent research agenda is clear. As has already
been mentioned, sports marketing is not just about the likes of Beckham, Ferrari and the
Olympic Games, it also entails promoting health initiatives, fostering social cohesion and
sustainably engaging young people in sports. We hope our section here serves as a prompt to
the research that is required in these areas.
There is no doubt that sports marketing has really come into its own since the start of the
new millennium. As a result, the discipline is healthy, growing and maturing. The work
undertaken over the last fifteen years is testament to the importance of it and to the intellect
and commitment of researchers in the field. With the publication of this book, we feel as
though we have captured much of what is good right now. Equally, we believe that the range
of chapters presented here provide a strong platform for the development of this discipline
over the next fifteen years. We look forward to it.

391
INDEX

Aaker, D. A. 17 Akhmetov, Rinat Leonidovich 45, 48

AC Milan 307 Alajoutsijarvi, K. 349
Ackerman,Val 131 Alexandris, Kostas 327–39
activation 27, 30–6, 81, 90, 92, 95, 234; Alfs, C. 55
congruence 20, 23; evaluation of 105, 106; Alibaba Group 313
influence on other marketing mix elements 82; Allaster, Stacy 365
Little League Baseball 89–90; Sports allegiance 337
Sponsorship Decision Model 96, 97, 101, 104, Alltel 111
105–7; spreading theory 113–14, 119 Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) 32
Adidas 7, 19, 30, 198; Adidas Megastore 250; Amazon 313
ambush marketing 169–72, 174, 187; consumer ambush marketing 8, 159, 161–79, 180–94;
behavior 253–4, 255, 257; merchandising ambushers’ view of 186–8; commercial rights
expertise 309; multiple sponsorship 117, 118; holders’ view of 188; consumer perspective
Real Madrid 371 189–91; counter-ambush activities 182–4, 190,
advertising: activation 95, 101, 104; aggressive 191–2; definition of 161–2, 180, 197; empirical
252; ambush marketing 165, 201; congruence study 168–76; eye-catching examples 164–8;
16, 22; digital media 299, 300, 305–6, 313; historical developments 180–2; London
hierarchy of effects model 117, 119; integrated Olympics 191–3, 195–204; manifestations of
marketing communications 82; London 163–4, 165; multiple sponsorship 110, 112,
Olympics 195, 199; measurement of 101; 115, 116, 118, 120, 121; objectives 162–3, 197;
purchase decision 254; transfer of meaning proactive sponsorship relations 184–6; research
process 136; see also endorsements; sponsorship design 168; research focus 389–90; sponsors’
Advertising Age 126 view of 188–9
Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) 126 American Apparel 187
aesthetes 226–7, 229, 230 American Express 182
affective reactions 111, 116–17, 118–19, 120, American football 331, 359; see also National
334–5 Football League
affiliation, need for 29 Amstel 23
Affleck, Ben 29 Amsterdam 53, 54
AFL see Australian Football League Anholt, Simon 53
age 329–30 Annan, Kofi 370
agencies 213, 294 antitrust laws 383, 385–6, 387
agenda setting 164, 165 Anttiroiko, A.-V. 52, 53, 65n3
agents 213, 353 AOI see areas of interest
AIK 262, 265–72 Apostolopoulou, A. 17, 224
Aiyeku, J. F. 143–4 Apple 127
Akaka, M. 278 apps 301, 312

392
Index

Araújo-Soaresa,V. 336 Baker, B. 53, 65n3

areas of interest (AOI) 74–5 balance theory 15, 19, 320
Argentina 118, 213, 373, 376 Bale, Christian 308
Armenakyan, A. 56 Bank of America 90
Armstrong, Lance 130 Barcelona 53, 54, 56, 60, 61
Arsenal FC 30, 307 Barcelona FC 8, 57–61, 211–12, 261, 288, 291,
ASA see Advertising Standards Authority 307, 311–12
AS Roma 280 baseball 81, 82–90; live games attendance 295n26;
assault 341, 347 sports participation 331; Taiwan 224–5, 228;
Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) 383–7 women’s 358, 359; see also Major League
associative network (AN) approach 19–20 Baseball
Athens 56, 111 Bashaw, E. 264
athletes 9, 10; ATP events 384; brand equity 40; basketball: experiential marketing 228; women’s
competition and cooperation 279; 131, 358, 359, 361–2, 363; see also National
endorsements 21, 125–40; fans’ affinity with Basketball Association
235; media interviews 220; Real Madrid 379; Bavaria 164–8, 180
relationships with journalists 219; social media Bayern Munich 211–12, 261, 307, 371
283, 295n9, 308; sponsorship objectives 152; Bayless, A. 161
sponsorship selection 100, 103; transgressions Beats by Dre 127, 192, 196, 201
by 128, 340–54; women 357–8, 362–4, 365, Beatty, S. E. 16
366 Becker, H. S. 259
Atlanta Falcons 287–8 Becker-Olsen, K. 18, 20, 81
Atlanta Olympic Games (1996) 182, 183, 185, Beckham, David 131, 198, 308, 310, 371
189 Beech, J. 264
Atletico Madrid 15 Beerli, A. 117
Atos 8 Beijing Olympic Games (2008) 55–6, 65n16, 185,
ATP see Association of Tennis Professionals 187, 196
attachment 111, 143, 337 Belgium 185, 329
attention 73–8; ambush marketing 162, 163; Bendtner, Nicklas 190
celebrity endorsements 125, 138; consumer Bennett, R. 101
behavior 256–7 Berger, R. 55, 56
attitudes 112, 234, 328, 334–6, 337; see also brand Berkowitz, P. 55
attitude Berlin 54, 55
attraction stage 336–7 Berry, L. L. 208, 241
attractiveness 21–2; physical 130–1; source Beşiktaş 361–2
attractiveness model 129, 131–4, 136–7, 138 Bessy, C. 252
attribution theory 22, 318–19, 347, 350, 351 betting 310
Auckland 54 Bhattacharya, C. B. 28, 320
Augé, B. 112 big data 295n11, 304, 310, 313
Augustus, Seimone 361–2 Bitburger 169–71
Auskick program 318 Bitner, M. J. 5
Australia: age and sports participation 329; ambush Blackshaw, Pete 308
marketing 184; athlete transgressions 343; Blackwell, R. D. 252
grassroots sports sponsorship 318, 319–23; Real Blake, Johan 196, 200–1
Madrid’s Campus Experience 373; shopper Blodgett, J. G. 240
studies 255; social media 289; television blogs 291, 302, 303, 309, 337
295n27; Tennis Open 385; tourism 65n3 BNP Paribas 34–5
Australian Football League (AFL) 318 boards of governors 243
Avraham, E. 56 Bodet, Guillaume 116, 222–31
“awareness contacts” 76, 77, 78 Boli, Claude 58–9
awareness stage 336, 337 Bolle, Grégory 299–314
Azarenka,Victoria 365 Bolt, Usain 130, 201
Azerbaijan 15 Bolton Wanderers FC 16
bonus programmes 210
B2B see business-to-business marketing Booking.com 313
Bacharach, S. B. 113, 121 Booms, B. 5
Baena,Verónica 369–82 Boston Red Sox 29

393
Index

Bouchard, Eugenie 358 broadband internet access 300–1

Boucher, Lionel 59, 60 broadcast rights 7, 212, 285–7, 294, 295n21;
Bouchet, P. 226–7 ambush marketing 185; baseball 84; football 3,
Bourgeon, D. 226–7 6, 8; Italy 295n20; revenue from 218; Times of
Boyd, T. C. 138 India 280–1; see also television
Bradish, Cheri 180–94 Brønn, P. S. 144
brand 13, 115, 390; activation 20, 23, 27, 30–6, Brooks, C. M. 129, 132
90, 95; athlete transgressions 346; broadcast Brown, S. W. 137
media value chain 303; celebrity endorsements Bruhn, M. 209
125–40; city branding 51–67; congruence Bryant, Kobe 116, 136–7
15–26, 80; consumer behavior 249, 252, 257, BSkyB 219, 286, 296n28
258; corporate social responsibility 319; BT Sport 287
definition of 65n9; digital media 304; Budweiser 180
evaluation of sponsorship impact 106; Bühler, André 161–79, 207–21
importance of 27–30; new media 284; point of Bulgaria 331
sale 253; purchase decision 254, 256; Real Bundesliga 57, 207, 217–18, 295n21, 307
Madrid 371; Shaktar Donetsk 42–9; “shared Burgoon, J. K. 132
ideal” model 305; sponsorship objectives 93, Burton, Nicolas 162, 180–94
99; sponsorship outcomes 72; sponsorship business judgment rule 386
selection 94; value 6; see also brand awareness; business-to-business (B2B) marketing 69, 95;
brand equity; brand image place reputation 62; sponsorship objectives 151,
brand associations 38, 39, 113 153, 154, 155
brand attitude: congruence 20, 22, 23; corporate Busler, M. 21
social responsibility 317, 320–3 Butragueño, Emilio 373, 374
brand awareness 28, 30, 38, 39; ambush marketing Buttle, F. 207
162, 163; co-marketing 280; corporate social
responsibility 378; digital media 300; evaluation Cablevision Systems 286
of sponsorship impact 73, 75, 76, 78, 154, 155; Cai, A. 52
experiential marketing 229, 230; football clubs Calcio championship 57, 307
300, 313; media equity 40; sponsorship Callaway 19
objectives 80, 90, 93, 99, 142, 148–53, 155, Canada: age and sports participation 329; ambush
346 marketing 190; baseball 82; hockey supporters
brand communities 28 265; Olympic Games 56, 65n16; Real Madrid’s
brand equity 38–9, 42, 115; athlete transgressions Campus Experience 373; sponsorship
349; congruence 15, 23, 112; experiential congruence 22; women’s sport 364
marketing 229; importance of 27–30; loyalty Canon 135
289; Shaktar Donetsk 46, 49; “shared ideal” Cape Town 55
model 305; sponsorship objectives 142; Carlson, L. 133
virtuous circle 39–40 Carrillat, F. A. 111, 118
brand extensions 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 28, 39 Carù, A. 222, 223, 229, 251
brand image 28, 30, 39, 113; celebrity Cashmore, E. 131
endorsements 128; definition of 111; evaluation cause-related marketing 31, 88, 318
of sponsorship impact 96, 144; experiential celebrities 29, 342; ambush marketing 187;
marketing 229; fans’ receptivity to sponsorship endorsements 125–40; sponsorship 94, 95;
81; football clubs 302; multiple sponsorship transgressions 349; see also athletes
112, 113, 115, 119, 120; new media 293; CEV see Confédération Européenne de Volleyball
sponsorship objectives 80, 93, 99, 142, 144, CH see corporate hospitality
189; sponsorship selection 94; transfer theory Chadwick, Simon 1–2, 162, 180–94, 216–17, 264
114; see also image Chalip, L. 56, 64
Brazil 3, 92, 98, 281, 284, 373, 376 Champions League 32, 41, 220, 296n28, 370
breakouts 257 Chanavat, Nicolas 1–2, 110–24, 195–204, 227,
Breuer, Christoph 71–9, 317 229
Breuer, Markus 3–12 Chandler, J. D. 278
Brewer, M. B. 132 charity 372–80
Bridgestone 118, 280 Chateauraynaud, F. 252
Bristol, R. 264 cheating 341, 351
British Columbia 82 Chelsea FC 116, 219, 300, 307

394
Index

Cheng, P. S. T. 217 19–20; corporate social responsibility 322;

Cheong,Y. 110 determinants of 16–18; measures of 18–19;
Chicago Bulls 117 mediating variables 22–3; multiple sponsorship
Chien, P. M. 111, 112 112; overall effect of 20–2; sponsorship
China: ATP reorganization 383, 384, 386; selection 100, 102, 148
Barcelona FC 311; Beijing Olympics 55–6, congruity theory 15, 19
65n16, 185, 187, 196; broadcast rights 287; “Connected Stadium” concept 291
emerging sports marketing literatures 390; legal constant connectivity 283–4, 288, 292
issues 383; NBA/Tencent deal 288; Real constraints to sports participation 328, 334, 335
Madrid’s Campus Experience 373; smartphones consumer-oriented marketing 5
301; sponsorship objectives 142; women’s sport consumers 6, 10, 212; ambush marketing 189–91,
365 390; athlete transgressions 349–52; brand equity
Christie, Linford 182, 197 39; consumer behavior 249–60, 299, 328,
Chung, W. 55 335–6; engagement with 148, 151, 154, 390;
churn of members 243–5 experiences 225–30; relationship marketing
Cialdini, R. B. 132 208–9, 210; retention 208, 236, 239, 246–7;
Cielo, Cesar 101 segmentation of 262; sponsorship objectives 94;
city branding 51–67, 281 sponsorship selection 94; women’s sport 366;
City Brands Index 53–4 see also fans
Cliffe, S. J. 143 consumption 10, 216, 390; consumer behavior
Clijsters, Kim 365 249–60; experiential 223; metaphors of 225–6;
Clow, K. E. 129–30 multimedia 277
Clowes, J. 264–5, 266 content creation 303, 304–5, 306, 311
co-marketing 280, 288, 292 content marketing 309, 313
co-technology 280, 287–8, 292 content sharing 302, 307
coaches 219 contracts 185
Coca-Cola 8, 32, 111, 169–72, 174, 371 conventions 31
cognitive reactions 111, 113, 114–15, 117, convergence 283, 284–5, 293, 301
118–19, 120, 334–5 Converse 182
Colbert, F. 22 Cooky, C. 363
college students 136–7 Coombs, W. T. 343
Colombia 376 cooperation 218, 279, 287–8, 293
Commonwealth Games 55 Cornwell, T. B. 72, 81, 105, 111, 113, 142
communication: ambush marketing 163, 164, 165; corporate hospitality (CH) 94, 95, 98, 99, 101,
athlete transgressions 344, 348; corporate social 104, 155
responsibility 378; culture and sports corporate social responsibility (CSR) 142, 302,
participation 332; integrated marketing 315, 318–19, 369–70; definition of 318, 369;
communications 82; internal 95; older people eco-citizen activation 34; grassroots sports
and sports participation 330; relationships with sponsorship 317, 318, 319–24; Real Madrid
sponsors 217–18; season ticket holders 237–9, 372–80; sponsorship objectives 148–53, 189
241–2, 246, 247; sponsor relations 348 corporations 280, 286, 293
communities: brand 28; fans 247; sports corruption 293, 391
participation 337 Costa, C. A. 56, 64
community: community relations 148–53; Costagrande, Caroline 361
grassroots sports sponsorship 317–18, 319–24 costs per thousand (CPT) 76, 77–8
competition 4, 9, 208, 279; ambush marketing Cova, B. 222, 223, 229, 251
163, 189; intertype 285–6, 288, 293, 294, CPT see costs per thousand
295n14; media 284–6 Crawford, D. 334
competitors 213 credibility 129–31, 133–4, 137, 138
complaints management 211, 215, 216 cricket 362
conative reactions 111, 117, 118–19, 120, 334–5 Cricket World Cup 190
concept stores 250 critical incidents 346–7
Confédération Européenne de Volleyball (CEV) critical realism 98
358–9 CRM see Customer Relationship Management
conflict resolution 373–4, 376 Crompton, J. L. 194
congruence 15–26, 30, 80, 105; celebrity CSR see corporate social responsibility
endorsements 134–5; conceptual background culture 329, 331–2, 334, 335

395
Index

Cunha de Almeida,Victor Manoel 92–109 eBay 313

customer magazines 210 ECA see European Club Association
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) 6, 8, Eccleston, J. 81
35, 208, 234 eco-responsible activations 31, 32–4
customer satisfaction 94, 232, 233, 234, 236–43, Ecuador 376
244, 245; see also consumers education: level of education related to sports
cycling 23, 280 participation 331; Real Madrid Foundation 373
Eidevall, Jonas 359
Dailymotion 306, 309 Elberse, Anita 127–8, 135
Dalian Wanda Group 287 emotions 258, 285
Damon, Matt 29 employees 212, 213–14; customer service 241;
Dardis, F. E. 23 employee relations 94, 153
databases 6 encoding flexibility model 15, 20
Davenport, Lindsay 365 Endemol 306, 309
Davies, F. 98 endorsement theory 114, 119
Davila, Antonio 60, 61 endorsements 125–40, 342; ambush marketing
De Chernatony, L. 28 165, 187; athlete transgressions 349;
Decathlon 257 congruence 16–17, 18, 21–2; investment in
DeGaris, Larry 80–91 126–8; match-up hypothesis 129, 134–5, 137,
Deitz, G. D. 23 138; research 136–7; risk associated with
Delaney, T. 3–4 128–9, 138; source attractiveness model 129,
demand for sports 10–11 131–4, 136–7, 138; source credibility model
Denmark 329, 331 129–31, 133–4, 136–7, 138; transfer of
Desbordes, Michel 1–2, 110–24, 195–204 meaning process 129, 135–6, 137, 138
Deutsche Telekom 169, 171–2, 174 engagement 148, 151, 154, 390
development initiatives 370, 376 Engel, J. F. 252
Devrieux, Stéphane 59–61 equipment 31, 280
Dickson, Geoff 110–24 Erdogan, B. Z. 130, 132
“digital citizenship” 306 ESPN 84, 229
digital media 284–5, 299–314; see also internet; ESPNW 365
technology ethical issues 190
digital television 284, 285, 288 ethnicity 331–2
Disneyization 229 Euro Football Championships: ambush marketing
dissonance 252 181, 182, 185, 187, 190, 193, 198; sponsorship
distribution 6, 258, 286, 288, 293, 294 activation 32; sponsorship objectives 151
Dobson, S. 264 Eurobarometer survey 329, 331
Dodds, Mark 80–91, 383–8 Europa League 32
dominant destructive-aggressive ambushing 163, Europe: online shopping 249; shopper studies 255;
165 smartphones 301; sponsorship 181; sports
donations 376 participation 329, 331; women’s sport 329,
doping 293, 341, 351, 391 358–62, 364
double transfer phenomena 114–17, 121n1 European Club Association (ECA) 372
Dow 8 European Sponsorship Association 144
dramaturgy 250–1 European Union (EU) 327, 331
DreamWorks 306, 309 Eurosport 301
Driver, B. 332–3 events: ambush marketing 161–2, 176, 183,
Drogba, Didier 116 185–6, 187; Association of Tennis Professionals
drunk driving 347 383–7; city branding 55–6, 64; customer events
drunken behavior 341, 351–2 210; experiential marketing 222, 224, 228–30;
Dubois, P.-L. 28 media exposure 292; sponsorship objectives
Ducati 283, 289 152, 153, 155; sports participation 328; value
Durant, Kevin 127 co-creation 281; see also mega events; Olympic
Games; World Cup
e-fans 306–8, 313 exclusivity 161, 163, 181
e-sports marketing 304–6, 308–10, 313 exercise 327
e-sports teams 310 expectancy 19, 20, 21
EA Sports 306, 309, 310 expectations 234, 350–1, 352

396
Index

experiential marketing 86, 87, 90, 222–31, 251 Fisher, R. 234

expertise: celebrity endorsements 21–2, 130, 131, fit 80, 81, 84, 89, 93; brand extensions 22;
133, 134, 136–7; consumer behavior 252, 256, definition of 17; match-up hypothesis 134–5,
258–9; e-fans 307; schema theory 23 137; sponsorship selection 94, 95; see also
exposure analysis 71–2, 75, 101 congruence
eye-tracking methodology 74–5 FIVB (International Federation of Volleyball) 289
Fleck, N. 16–17, 18, 19
Fabregas, Cesc 308 Flint, D. 342
Facebook 11, 277, 283, 285, 288, 290; ambush Fondation La Française des Jeux 33, 34
marketing 187, 198, 200; Barcelona FC 312; football (soccer) 5; Annan on 370; brand
dramatic impact of 301; fan groups 289; activation 32; broadcast rights 280–1; city
football clubs 309; football players 308; joint branding 56, 57–64; classification of supporters
product development 211; Real Madrid 379; 261–72; corporate ownership 280; digital
smartphones 284; women athletes 365 media 300, 301, 302–13; e-fans 306–8;
FaceTime 302, 304 globalization 8; jerseys 256, 258; live games
fair play 341 attendance 295n26; media relations 219, 220;
familiarity 132, 133, 136, 137, 138 media rights 6; player sponsorships 198; positive
family and friends 234–5, 236, 254, 269, 270, 271 external effects 10; Real Madrid’s CSR
family lifecycle 330 370–81; revenue streams 211–12; Shaktar
Fan Relationship Management (FRM) 35 Donetsk 40–9; sponsorship choices 81;
fans 10, 205, 212, 213, 226–7; avidity measures sponsorship deals 216; sponsorship evaluation
85–7; Barcelona FC 311; baseball 83, 84–9, 90; 77–8; sports participation 331; women’s 358,
brand associations 39; brand communities 28; 359–61; see also FIFA; Premier League; UEFA;
broadcast media value chain 303; classification World Cup
of 226–8, 229–30, 261–74, 306–7; digital Football is More Foundation 372
media 300, 304; e-fans 306–8, 313; experiential Formula 1 280, 296n28
marketing 224; in-groups and out-groups 132; 4Ps 4–5, 6
motives of 234–5, 390; place reputation 62; Fox Entertainment 219
Real Madrid 376, 378, 380; receptivity to France 32–4, 249, 250, 253, 329
sponsorship 81, 87–8, 90; relationship Freeman, R. E. 294n3
marketing 207, 214–16; sales promotions 82; French Open 185
season ticket holders 232–48; Shaktar Donetsk FRM see Fan Relationship Management
41, 48; social media 290–1, 301–2, 304, 306; Fubles 289, 290, 291
sponsorship and 69; team identification 17, 23, Fuji 181, 197
28–9, 279; tracking data 295n11; Turkey 362; fun ambushing 164, 165, 166
value co-creation 281; women 355, 366; see Funk, Dan 39, 327–39
also consumers
Farrelly, F. 143, 161–2 Galatasaray 361–2
FC Internazionale Milano 280 gambling 341
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) 126 gamification 292
FedEx 111 gaming 291, 296n35, 306, 309, 310
feeders 229–30 Ganassali, S. 114
femininity 357–8, 363 Gardial, S. 342
Fenerbahçe 361–2 gate revenues 27
Ferrand, A. 111 gender 355, 357; baseball fans 85; gender marking
Ferrari 16, 280 363; promotion of gender equity 376;
Ferrell, O. C. 4 sponsorship selection process 80; sports
FIBA (Fédération Internationale de Basketball) participation 329; see also women
358 General Electric (GE) 8
FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football German Football Association (DFB) 212
Association) 1, 3, 8; ambush marketing 164–7, Germany: ambush marketing during World Cup
180, 181, 186–7, 188; corporate social 168–75; ATP reorganization 383, 384, 385,
responsibility 370; multiple sponsorship 118; 386–7; Bundesliga 57, 207, 217–18, 295n21,
social media 203, 301; see also World Cup 307; smartphones 301
Filser, M. 223 Giacomelli Sport 250
finance 8 Gibson, H. 55
Finland 329, 331 Gillooly, Leah 141–58

397
Index

Gilmore, F. 65n1 hierarchy of effects model 117, 119, 145

Gilmore, J. 223 Hill, B. 56
Giroux, Marilyn 27–37 Hingis, Martina 365
Giulianotti, R. 229 Hirschman, E. 223, 225, 251
Gladden, J. M. 28, 38–9 hockey 265, 359, 365
Glaser, B. G. 253 Holbrook, M. 223, 225, 251
global corporations 280 Holt, D. B. 225–6, 227, 229, 230
global media companies 280–1 home grounds 237–9, 240–1
globalization 7, 8, 54, 261, 390 Hong Kong 53
goals see objectives Horch, H.-D. 4, 9
Godbey, G. 334 Howard, J. A. 252
Goddard, J. 264 Hsu, A. 145
golf 125, 341, 359 Humphreys, M. S. 194
González, Julio 371, 372, 376, 380 Hunt, A. K. 264
goods 6, 7, 9–10
Google 11, 282, 285, 306, 309, 312 IBM 287–8
Google Glasses 289 identification 10–11, 17, 23, 28–9, 263, 279, 284,
governments 214 379
Grady, J. 194, 202 identity: city branding 51, 52; consumption as
Graf, Steffi 365 integration 225–6; fan 273; Real Madrid fans
Grand Prix 55 379
Grand Slams 1, 385 IEG 142, 143, 144
grassroots sports sponsorship 317–18, 319–24 image: ambush marketing 162, 163; celebrity
Gratton, C. 330 endorsements 128; city branding 51, 53, 55, 56,
Greece 56, 184, 329 63; congruence 17, 21; corporate social
Green, B. C. 56 responsibility 320, 321, 322; image transfer 23,
Green Bay Packers 243 100, 112, 113, 114–17, 162; information
Greyser, S. A. 161–2 processing 110; multiple sponsorship 115;
Grivel, E. 333 sponsorship objectives 94, 144, 147–53, 155,
Grounded Theory 252, 253 346
Groza, M. 110, 112 IMC see integrated marketing communications
Grunert, K. G. 114 implementation 5
Guenzi, Paolo 38–50 in-groups and out-groups 132
Guichard, N. 251 income 331
Gwinner, K. P. 105, 112 India 280–1, 284
Gyllenhaal, Jake 29 Indonesia 295n27
information processing 73, 110, 117, 318
Hall, M. A. 355 information technology (IT) 6, 11, 282–4; see also
Hallal, P. 327 internet; technology
“halo effect” 242 Infront Sports & Media 286–7, 295n20
Handball Champions League 213 Ingerson, L. 55
Hanes Beautymist Pantyhose 134 Iniesta, Andrés 308
Hanson Dodge Creative 196, 201 Instagram 284, 285, 290, 303, 309, 365
Harlequins 228 integrated marketing communications (IMC) 82
Harris, E. G. 111 integration, consumption as 225–6
Harris, K. 129, 132 intellectual property rights 183–4, 190, 191–2,
Hartline, M. 4 195, 199
Hautbois, Christopher 51–67 interactive spectators 226, 227, 229, 230
health promotion 292, 328, 376 interactivity 282, 283, 284, 292
Hede, A. 56 Interbrand 42–4, 46
Henin, Justine 365 intermediaries 286–7, 293
Hennigs, B. 317 International Federation of Volleyball (FIVB) 289
Henry, Thierry 115, 308 International Olympic Committee (IOC) 1, 7–8;
Herstein, R. 53, 55, 56 ambush marketing 181, 182, 184–8, 189, 195,
Hertha BSC Berlin 217–18 200–3; rights protection 198; social media 203;
Heslop, L. A. 55 sponsor relations 192–3; sponsorship revenue
Hextrum, R. 363 196; see also Olympic Games

398
Index

International Sports and Leisure (ISL) 185 Kelley, H. H. 350

internet 8, 277, 390; broadband 300–1; content Kernan, J. B. 111
sharing 302; new revenue streams 302–6; Ketel One Vodka 125
online advertising 299; online betting 310; Kim, A. 356
online shopping 249–50, 251, 254; sponsorship Kim, K. 110
activation 95; technological convergence Kim, S. 264–5, 266, 272
284–5; Web TV 289; see also social media; Kinnick, K. N. 363, 364
websites Kit-Kat 187
intertype competition 285–6, 293, 294, 295n14 Kleine, R. E. 111
intrusion, ambush marketing by 164, 165, 167–8 Knight, Cas 300
investors 214 Kodak 181, 197
involvement 328 Kollat, D. T. 252
IOC see International Olympic Committee Korea 55, 265, 356
Ipiranga 97, 99, 100, 102–4, 105, 106 Kotler, P. 318
Irwin, R. L. 38–9, 142, 148 KPMG 19
ISL see International Sports and Leisure Kraszewski, J. 29
IT see information technology Kuala Lumpur 54
Italy: ambush marketing 184; Lega Serie A 286–7, Kuzma, J. R. 105
295n20, 295n21, 295n26; new media 281, 288,
295n27; Real Madrid’s Campus Experience La Liga 295n21, 307, 308
373; smartphones 301; sports participation 331 La Mesure Marketing 253, 254
Lacoste 254, 257
Jackson, E. 334 Ladwein, R. 251
Jackson, Jo 201 Lafferty, B. A. 111
Jackson, S. J. 350 Lagae, W. 101
Jacksonville Jaguars 243 Lai, C. H. 224, 225, 228
Jaffe, D. E. 53 Lambrecht, K. W. 101
James, J. D. 39, 117 Latvia 329
James, Lebron 127 Lavidge, R. J. 119
Jansen, S. C. 363 Lazio Style 289
Japan 55 Le Lay, Laurent-Eric 301
Jensen, J. A. 145 Lebanon 373
Jenson, T. D. 133 Leckie, C. 245
Johannesburg 54 Lee, Dídac 311–12
Johnson, Michael 182 Lee, N. 318
Johnston, M. 80 Leeds United 219
joint product development 210–11 Lega Serie A 286–7, 295n20, 295n21, 295n26
Jolibert, A. 28 legal issues: ambush marketing 183–4, 190, 191,
Jordan, Michael 135 193, 196, 202, 203; athlete transgressions 341,
journalists 218–19, 220 351; ATP reorganization 383–7
journals 1–2 Leslie, Lisa 131
Juster scale 245 leverage 30, 82, 88–9, 113
Juventus FC 288 “Levi’s Stadium” app 296n34
Levy, M. 295n14
K-Swiss 185–6 Levy, S. J. 136
Kahn, B. E. 319 LFCTV 16
Kahuni, A. T. 348 Li, M. 142
Kaiser, Sebastian 3–12 Li Na 386
Kaka 308 licensing 6, 94
Kaltcheva,V. 251 Liga championship 57
Kane, M. 363, 364 Ligue 1 295n21, 307
Kanungo, R. N. 16 likeability 132–3, 136, 137, 138
Kao,Y. F. 228 Linley, M. 54, 55, 56, 64
Kapferer, J.-N. 52 Lithuania 329
Karg, A. J. 245 Little League Baseball (LLB) 83–90
Keen, Andrew 302 Liu Xiang 128
Keller, K. L. 17, 28, 39, 52, 65n9, 111, 113, 142 Liverpool FC 16, 291, 307

399
Index

LLB see Little League Baseball market segmentation: Barcelona FC 312; fans
local-global interplay 279–80 215–16, 262, 264–5, 266, 306; social class 331;
logos 6, 40, 235; exposure analysis 72; Shaktar sponsorship objectives 148–53, 155; sports
Donetsk 41, 44–5, 46, 47, 48 participation 337
London 53, 54, 56 marketing: definition of marketing 4–5; definition
London Olympic Games (2012) 190, 191–3, of sports marketing 5–6; of sports 6–7; through
195–204, 355–6, 364 sports 7–8
Los Angeles 54 marketing mix 4–5, 6, 263, 328
Los Angeles Dodgers 219 Martinent, G. 111
Los Angeles Lakers 116 mascots 40, 48, 224, 235
Los Angeles Olympic Games (1984) 180–1, 197 masculinity 357
Lough, Nancy L. 125–40, 142, 148, 355–68 Mata, Juan 308
Louis Vuitton 195, 196, 200 match-fixing 341
Louisville Slugger Baseball Bats 126–7 match-up hypothesis 129, 134–5, 137, 138
Lovich, Justin 383–8 Maxwell, H. D. 363, 364
loyalty: behavioral and attitudinal 337; brand Mazodier, Marc 317–26, 352
equity 38, 42; celebrity endorsements 125; McCally Jr., J. F. 105
corporate social responsibility 320; evaluation McCoughtry, Angel 361–2
of sponsorship impact 96, 145, 154; experiential McCracken, G. 112, 114, 125, 126, 133, 136, 137
marketing 228, 230; fans 216, 233–4, 240, 243, McDonald, Heath 232–48
246, 263–4, 279, 284, 289, 293; loyalty cards McDonald’s 8, 169–72, 174
210; loyalty programmes 216, 240; multiple McGuire, W. J. 137
sponsorship 119; place reputation 62; McKechnie, S. 223
relationship marketing 210; sponsorship McKelvey, S. 194, 202
objectives 94, 142, 143, 148, 151, 155; McMillan, D. 21
subscription markets 233 media 8, 212, 213, 275, 277–98; athlete
Lufthansa 187 transgressions 343–4, 347–8; audiences 263;
Lund, R. 145 baseball 84, 86, 87, 89; brand activation 31, 32;
Lusch, R. 278 celebrity endorsements 132; city branding
Luxembourg 331 62–3; competition and cooperation 284–8;
digital 284–5, 299–314; features of new media
macho sports culture 351–2 282–4; future research 390–1; global media
Macron 16 companies 280–1; intermediaries 286–7;
Madigan, T. 3–4 marketing of sports 6, 7; Olympic Games 56;
Madrid 54, 296n37 relationship with 218–20; sponsor signage
Madrigal, R. 234 within broadcasts 71–9; sponsorship objectives
magazines 210, 379 94; value chain 303; value co-creation 279,
Maignan, I. 105 281–2; visibility reports 106; women’s sport
Major League Baseball (MLB) 82–90, 243, 286, 356, 357–8, 362–4, 366; see also broadcast
289, 295n26 rights; television
Major League Soccer (MLS) 115, 241 media equity 39–40
Malta 331 Media-Markt 169–71
Maltese, Lionel 27–37 Mediaset 282, 285
Manchester 54, 58–9, 63 Meenaghan, T. 80, 98, 105, 161, 194, 197
Manchester City 219, 307 mega events 56, 64, 65n16, 176, 187, 281
Manchester United 8, 219, 261, 342; Adidas Melbourne 54, 55
sponsorship 30; brand equity 28; brand value Melnick, M. J. 350
371; city branding 57–61, 62, 63; social media membership arrangements 237–9
307; TV channel 288 memorization 20–1, 22, 111, 302
Mandela, Nelson 370 memory 23, 113–14
Mandelbaum, M. 3, 4 Menon, S. 319
Manfredo, M. 332–3 merchandising 6, 211, 256; activation 95; online
Margolis, J. 369 302; Shaktar Donetsk 46, 48; in stores 251, 253
marital status 330 Messi, Lionel 19, 118, 308
market research: evaluation of sponsorship impact Messner, M. 133, 363
96; older people 330; segmentation 264; Mewett, P. 355
Shaktar Donetsk 41; sponsorship outcomes 72 Mexico 373, 376

400
Index

Miami Dolphins 291 Netherlands 185, 329, 331

Michela, J. L. 350 netizens 306
Mickelson, Phil 19 New York 53, 54, 296n37
Microsoft 285, 312, 371, 376 New York Jets 114–15
Milan Channel 289 New York Knicks 219, 286
Miloch, K. S. 101 New York Rangers 219, 286
Minor League Baseball (MiLB) 83–90 New York Red Bulls 115
Misra, S. 16 New York Yankees 342
mixed martial arts 7 New Zealand 385
Mizuno 192, 203n2 New Zealand Rugby Football Union
MLB see Major League Baseball (NZRFU) 184
MLB TV 289 newsletters 379
MLS see Major League Soccer Neymar 308
mobile technologies 277, 281, 282–4, 288, 291; NFL see National Football League
Barcelona FC 311, 312; brand activation 31; NHL see National Hockey league
intertype competition 285; “Levi’s Stadium” Nike 3, 7, 114–15; ambush marketing 169–72,
app 296n34; TV Everywhere 295n13; see also 182, 183, 187, 192, 196, 198, 201; celebrity
smartphones endorsements 127, 128; merchandising
Moller, K. 349 expertise 309; multiple sponsorship 117, 118;
monetization 301, 302, 307, 310, 311 Niketown 250
monopoly 385–6 nodes 113–14
Montano, Madelaynne 361 Nokia 285
Montreal 54, 82, 197 non-renewal rates 243–5
morality 341, 351 Nufer, Gerd 161–79, 207–21
Morgan, N. 51, 53, 62, 63 Nutella 169–72
Motion, B. 143 NZRFU see New Zealand Rugby Football
motivation: fans 234–5, 390; gender differences Union
355; sponsorship 96, 97, 98, 99, 148; sports
participation 328, 332–3 O’Beirne, P. 343
motor racing 102, 105 OBI 169, 171–2, 174
Mowen, J. C. 137 objectives 145–55; ambush marketing 162–3, 189,
Mullin, B. J. 5–6 197; relationships with sponsors 217;
multi-tier system 361 sponsorship 8, 80, 89–90, 92, 93–4, 96, 98–9,
multimedia content 277, 281–2, 284–6, 288, 290, 105, 141–3, 144, 189
293 occupational status 331
Mumcu, Ceyda 355–68 official suppliers 31
Murdoch, Rupert 219 Ohanian, R. 130, 137
Murphy, P. 202 Ohl, Fabien 249–60
music 251 older people 329–30
Olson, E. L. 18, 144
Nadeau, J. 55 Olympic Charter 195, 199
Namath, Joe 134 Olympic Games 3, 7, 65n16, 111, 128, 281;
NASCAR 1, 88, 90, 116 ambush marketing 159, 180–5, 187, 190,
Nashville Predators 118 191–3, 195–204; city branding 55–6, 64;
Nation Brands Index 53 corporate partners 7–8; experiential marketing
National Basketball Association (NBA) 1, 116, 222; opening and closing ceremonies 370;
222, 243, 288, 289, 295n25, 387 social media 203; sponsorship 92, 151, 181,
National Football League (NFL) 1, 187, 191–3; women’s sport 355–6, 362, 364;
243, 340, 366, 387 see also International Olympic Committee
National Hockey League (NHL) 1, 184, Olympikus 97, 99, 100, 101, 102–4, 105,
265 106
Navratilova, Martina 365 Omega 8, 196, 200
NBA see National Basketball Association online shopping 249–50
needs 332–3 opportunists 226, 227, 229, 230
Nelson, Mariah Burton 357 opportunities 5
Nestlé 308 O’Reilly, N. 194
Netflix 302 O’Reilly, R. 55

401
Index

Oreo 187 Poon, D. T.Y. 117

O’Sulllivan, P. 202 Porino, Steve 363
Ozil, Mesut 308 Portland 82
Portugal 118, 331
P&G 8 positioning 93, 99, 142, 147–53
packaging 256 PR see public relations
Paddy Power 190, 192, 195–6, 200 Prayag, G. 333
Palmer, Arnold 125, 126 Prebensen, N. K. 53, 63
Palmer, Karen 317–26 Premier League 207, 243, 295n21, 307, 308;
Pan American Games 92, 101, 102, 213 brand equity 28; China 386; city branding 57;
Panasonic 8, 196, 201 new media 280–1, 287
panel advertising 31 Prendergast, G. 117
Pang, S. 16 press departments 218, 220
Parasuraman, A. 241 press releases 219–20
Paris 53, 54, 296n37 Presseaua, J. 336
Paris Saint-Germaine 198 Preuss, H. 55
Parker, A. 131 price 4, 6; consumer behavior 256; elasticity of
Parks, J. B. 135 demand 210; spectator classification 268–9,
participation 327–39 270, 271
Patrick, Danica 116, 135 Pride, R. 51
Patzer, G. L. 132 Priester, J. R. 130
PCM see Psychological Continuum Model printed material 31, 35
Pearsall, J. 81 Pritchard, A. 51
Pedersen, P. M. 264–5 products 4, 5, 262; ambush marketing 163–4,
Peetz, Ted B. 125–40 165; baseball 89; brand equity 39;
Penaloza, L. 250 congruence 18; consumer perception 252,
Pepsi 169–72, 182, 184, 187 255–6, 257–8; evaluation of sponsorship
perceived behavioral control (PBC) 335–6 impact 106; experiential marketing 223; fan
perception 252, 255–6, 257–8 loyalty 263–4; joint product development
Péretz, H. 252 210–11; purchase decision 254, 255–6,
Pérez, Florentino 378, 379 334–5; sampling 86; shopper studies 255;
performance of teams 237–9, 242 sponsorship objectives 93, 99, 148–53;
personal involvement 237–9, 240, 246 visibility 257
personalization 32 programmatic buying 299
persuasion 117, 119 promotion 4, 9; activation 95; baseball 88–9, 90;
Peterson, Adrian 128 integrated marketing communications 82;
Petrobras 97, 99, 100, 101, 102–4, 105, sponsorship activation 104; sponsorship
106 objectives 99
Petty, R. E. 130 prosumers 283, 294n8
PGA 1 PSG 307
Phelps, Michael 15, 195, 196, 200, 201 psychographics 81, 262
philanthropic ambushing 165 psychological connection 328, 337
physical attractiveness 130–1 psychological constraints 334, 335
physical engagement with products 257 Psychological Continuum Model (PCM)
Pine, B. J. 223 336–7
Piqué, Gerard 308 psychological outcomes 333
Pistorius, Oscar 128 public goods 9–10
Pittsburgh Steelers 29 public opinion 183, 189, 192, 218
place 4 public relations (PR): athlete transgressions 345;
place reputation 51–2, 53, 59, 61–2, BNP Paribas 34; brand activation 31; integrated
63 marketing communications 82; sponsorship
planning 5 activation 95
Playmakers 309 publicity 9, 128, 213
Plewa, Carolin 142, 317–26 Puma 30, 169–72, 182, 187, 192, 197, 203n2,
point of sale 250, 251, 252–8 253, 257
Poland 373 purchase decision 249, 251–2, 253, 254, 255–6,
Pons, Frank 27–37, 264–5, 266, 272 334–5

402
Index

purchase intention 30, 96, 111, 145, 252, 256; Madrid 371; Shaktar Donetsk 46, 48–9;
congruence 20–1, 22; corporate social sponsorship 88, 153, 155, 181, 188
responsibility 317, 320–3, 380; endorsements Ricca, Manfredi 38–50
21–2 Rice, Ray 128
Pyun, D.Y. 117 Richard Mille 196, 200–1
Richards, Bob 133
Qatar 281 Richards, Sanya 363
quality, perceived 38 Richelieu, A. 40, 264–5, 266, 272
Quebec 82 Richins, M. L. 224
Quester, Pascale G. 17, 19, 142, 161–2, 317–26, Ries, S. 343
352 Rifon, N. J. 18
rights bundling 181
racism 190 rights holders: adjustment to sponsorships 77;
Radicchi, Elena 277–98 ambush marketing 182–6, 188, 189–90, 192,
Rage 253 193, 198, 202–3; broadcast media value chain
Raidlight 253 303
Real Madrid 289, 307, 370–81 rights protection 182–6, 189, 190, 191–3, 198–9,
real time bidding (RTB) 299, 310, 313 200
recall 21, 95, 106, 144, 168–72 Rines, S. 101
recognition 21, 95, 96, 105, 106, 111, 144 Rio Olympic Games (2016) 92, 203
Recreation Preference Scale 332–3 risk: athlete transgressions 346; celebrity
Red Bull 203n2 endorsements 128–9, 138
Red Bull Arena 115 Roche, M. 343
Red Sox Nation 29 RoI see return on investment
Reebok 183, 197, 253, 257 role models 342, 350, 351
Reese, James T. 80–91 Romania 331
regional pride 235 Rome 54
Rein, I. 55 Ronaldinho 308
Reinhard, M. A. 133 Ronaldo, Cristiano 118, 308, 371
Reisman, M. 81 Rooney, Wayne 198
relationship marketing 207–21; activation 95; Rosa, B. 92
athlete transgressions 344; definition of 209–10; Rose, Derrick 117
development of 208–9; football 300, 304, 313; Ross, Aaron 363
importance of 210; instruments of 210–11 Ross, S. D. 39
relationships: athlete transgressions 347; brand Rowe, K. 328, 338
activation 31, 34, 35; collaborative 278; Roy, D. P. 72, 113, 142
evaluation of sponsorship impact 155; season Roy, S. 129
ticket holders 234; sponsorship objectives 94, RTB see real time bidding
99, 143, 148–53, 155; with stakeholders 213, rugby 224, 228, 229, 362; Rugby Football Union
344–5 362; Rugby Six Nations Tournament 213;
relevancy 19 Rugby World Cup 55
reputation 9, 348; athlete transgressions 345, 349, Rumpf, Christopher 71–9
353; brand activation 35; corporate social running 258
responsibility 378; place 51–2, 53, 59, 61–2, 63 Russia 184, 187
research and development (R&D) 4, 280 Ruth, J. A. 111, 112, 114
resources 278–9, 280
Responsive Web Design (RWD) 284, 295n12 Sá, Barbara M. B. 92–109
retail spaces 249, 250–8 Sabo, D. 363
retention 208, 236, 239, 246–7 Sacramento 82
return on investment (RoI) 143–4, 145, 299, 313; Saint-Etienne 57–61, 62
sponsorship objectives 141, 142, 153, 155; sales 82, 89; ambush marketing 163; baseball 88;
television 300 celebrity endorsements 127–8; evaluation of
revenues 1, 10, 27, 28, 211–12, 213; brand equity sponsorship impact 96, 106, 154–5; impact of
39, 42; broadcast rights 7, 218; celebrity stores 251–2; sponsorship objectives 93, 98, 99,
endorsements 127, 138; digital media 302–6; 142, 148, 153, 155; sponsorship selection 100,
football 30, 261, 262, 263; licensing 6; new 102
media 293–4; Olympic Games 196; Real sales assistants 251–2, 253–4, 257, 258

403
Index

sales promotions 82, 88–9, 90, 99 signage 71–9

saliency-based attention 73–4 similarity 132, 133, 136, 137
Samsung 8, 371 Simmons, C. J. 18, 20, 81
Samu, S. 20 Simonin, B. L. 111, 112, 114
San Diego 54 Simpson, O. J. 128
San Francisco 54 Singapore 53, 54, 55, 373
San Francisco 49ers 289, 291, 296n34 Singh, S. N. 111
Sandler, D. M. 8, 194, 202 skiing 331, 333, 363
Sansone, D. 4 Skins World 253, 254
Santana, M. D. J. 117 Sky 282, 285, 286, 287, 296n28
satellite television 284, 285, 288 Skype 285, 302, 304
SB Nation 289, 291 Sloan, H. J. 240
scandals 128, 343, 369 Slovakia 329
Scassa, T. 194 smart glasses 292
schema theory 15, 19, 20, 23 smartphones 202, 277, 282–3, 285, 288, 291, 301,
Schlesinger, Torsten 263 303
Schmitt, B. H. 223 Smith, Aaron C. T. 264, 340–54, 374
Schulman, M. 137 Smith, Wendell 262
Schultz, S. E. 111 Smolianov, P. 143–4
Schurr, P. H. 352 Sniehotta, F. 336
Scotland 329 snowboarding 331
SDPIWG see Sport for Development and Peace soccer see football
International Working Group Sochi Winter Olympics (2014) 363, 365
season ticket holders 232–48, 263, 266, 268, social change 315, 370, 380
270–1, 272 social class 330–1
Seattle Sounders 241 social identity 29
segmentation: Barcelona FC 312; fans 215–16, social integration 332, 374–5, 376, 380
262, 264–5, 266, 306; social class 331; sports social interaction 374, 376
participation 337 social justice 369, 380
Séguin, B. 194 social media 11, 275, 277, 281, 288, 289–91;
self-congruity 24n1 ambush marketing 187, 193, 196, 198, 200,
self-determination theory 332 202, 203; athlete brands 342; Barcelona FC
Selfie 290 311; baseball 89; broadcast media value chain
Sen, S. 28, 320 303; celebrity endorsements 126; dramatic
senses 241, 251 impact of 301–2; e-sports marketing 305;
Seoul 53, 65n3, 197 football 304, 307–8, 313; future research
Serie A 286–7, 295n20, 295n21, 295n26 390–1; interactivity 283; partnerships with 306;
Serres, Michel 306 Real Madrid 379; sales promotions 82;
Service-Dominant (S-D) Logic 278 sponsorship activation 101, 104; women’s sport
service to members 237–9, 241 365; see also websites
services 9–10, 262 social network analysis 344
services marketing 208–9, 344 social norms 278, 293, 347, 352
7Ps 5 social rules 278, 279
“sex sells” strategy 135 Social Sport Schools 373
sexualization of female athletes 357–8, 363–4 socio-cultural variables 328–32
Shaktar Donetsk 40–9 Söderman, Sten 261–74
Shani, D. 8, 194, 202 softball 358, 359
Shank, M. D. 138 Sol Republic 201
Shanklin, W. L. 105 Souq.com 313
Sharapova, Maria 135, 365 source attractiveness model 129, 131–4, 136–7,
“shared ideal” model 304, 305 138
shareholders 214 source credibility model 129–31, 133–4, 136–7,
Shell 16, 280 138
Sherman Act 385 South Africa 3, 190
Sheth, J. N. 252 Spain 289, 301, 329
Shields, B. 55 Sparks, R. 142
shopper studies 254–5, 256 Spears, N. 111

404
Index

Specsavers 187, 203n2 Sportscape 240

spectators 213; classification of 261–74; spreading theory 113–14, 119
experiences 224, 225–30; relationship SSDM see Sports Sponsorship Decision Model
marketing 215; women 355; see also Stade Français Paris Rugby club 224, 227, 228,
consumers; fans 229
Speed, R. 18, 145 stadiums 40, 240–1, 262; “Connected Stadium”
Spencer, N. 135 concept 291; experiential marketing 224, 225;
Spieth, Jordan 16 Shaktar Donetsk 46, 47, 48
sponsored days 31 stakeholders: athlete transgressions 342, 344–5,
“sponsoring contacts” 71–2, 77, 78 346; collaborative relationships 278; corporate
Sponsormap 144 social responsibility 318, 323, 324; definition of
sponsorship 6, 7, 69, 141–58, 213; activation 294n3; relationship dissolution 352; relationship
30–6, 81, 82, 89–90, 92, 95–7, 101, 104–7, marketing 207, 209–10; sponsorship objectives
234; ambush marketing 159; athlete 143; sports organizations 211–14; value
transgressions 345, 346–9; ATP events 386, co-creation 292–3
387; attribution theory 22; Barcelona FC 312; Stangor, C. 21
baseball 84–90; brand equity 30; city branding Stavros, Constantino 235, 236, 340–54
55; congruence 15–26, 30, 80; corporate social Staw, B. M. 113
responsibility 319–24; decision-making model Steiner G. A. 119
92–109; definition of 80; digital media 304; Stewart, B. 264
endorsements compared with 125; expenditure Stokes, R. 111
on 3, 141, 181; fan base 272–3; football 300, stores 249, 250–8
304, 313; grassroots 317–18, 319–24; Stotlar, D. K. 217
interventionism 182–4; Italian Serie A 295n20; Stout, P. A. 110
London Olympics 191–3, 195–204; Stoz, Carl 83
measurement/evaluation of 71–9, 81, 92, 95–7, strategy 5; branding 44; city branding 63, 64;
101–7, 141–7, 154–5; motivation for 96, 97, experiential marketing 222; “shared ideal”
98, 99, 148; multiple 81, 94, 110–24; objectives model 305; sponsorship 102
8, 92, 93–4, 98–9, 105, 141–3, 144, 145–55, Strauss, A. 253
189; Olympic Games 7–8, 191–3; place street sports 331
reputation 62; Real Madrid 371; reforms 181; Suarez, Luis 308
relationships with sponsors 184–6, 216–18; sub-brands 46
research focus 389; revenue from 27, 211; role subscription markets 232, 233
models 342; selection 80–2, 94–5, 96, 97, Sunderland FC 219
98–101, 102–3, 148; technical partners 280; Super Bowl 55, 187, 222, 224, 228
value proposition 263; women’s sport 356, Super Tennis 289
366; World Cup 168–72 supporter profile 226–8, 229, 230; see also fans
Sport for Development and Peace International surveys 72
Working Group (SDPIWG) 376 Sutton, R. I. 113
Sport Marketing Association 2 Sutton, W. 38–9
Sportfive 213 Sweden 213, 261–2, 265–72, 329, 331, 359–61
sports clubs 6, 8; brand equity 39–40; city Sydney 53, 54, 55, 56
branding 56; competition 286; corporate Sydney Olympic Games (2000) 184
ownership 280; grassroots sponsorship 317–18, Symmonds, Nick 196, 201
319–24; new media 286–7, 294; value
co-creation 278–9, 292–3; women’s sport 361; Tahtinen, J. 349
see also sports organizations Taiwan 224–5, 228
sports, defining 3–4 TAM see Team Association Model
sports marketing, defining 5–6 Tapp, A. 264–5, 266
sports organizations 6, 8–9, 94; brand equity Tarrant, M. 332–3
39–40; multiple sponsorship 119; new media Taurasi, Diana 361
286, 292, 293–4; relationship marketing tax breaks 98
211–20; sponsorship objectives 152; value Taylor, P. 330
co-creation 278–82 TBAS see Team Brand Association Scale
sports properties 95, 96, 100, 101, 104, 205 team administration 237–9, 243
Sports Sponsorship Decision Model (SSDM) Team Association Model (TAM) 39
96–107 Team Brand Association Scale (TBAS) 17, 39

405
Index

team identification 10–11, 17, 23, 28–9, 279 trustworthiness of celebrity endorsers 130, 131,
Team Sky 286 136, 137, 138
technology 11; athlete transgressions 343; celebrity Tsiantas, G. 98
endorsements 126; co-technology 287–8; Turkey 288, 361–2
digital media 299–314; gaming 291; Turner, P. 55
infrastructure 284, 285; new media 277, 281, Twickenham 228
282–4, 288–94, 365; “shared ideal” model 305; Twitter 11, 277, 285, 288, 290; ambush marketing
technological convergence 283, 284–5, 293, 187, 196, 198, 200, 201, 203; athletes 295n9;
301; wearable technologies 292; see also celebrity endorsements 126; dramatic impact of
information technology; internet; mobile 301; fan groups 289; football clubs 309; football
technologies; social media players 308; interactivity 283; Real Madrid
Telecom Italia 281, 282 379; smartphones 284; women athletes 365
television 7, 213, 275, 277, 288–9, 292–3, Tynan, C. 223
295n27; audiences 263; baseball 89; broadcast typical person testimonials 126
media value chain 303; future research 390–1;
importance of 390; intermediaries 287; Ubisoft 306, 309
intertype competition 285; Little League Ubitennis 289
Baseball 84; new media 282–3, 284; UEFA 32, 41, 261, 370; ambush marketing
partnerships with TV house production 306, 181–2, 185, 187–90, 193; social media 203;
309; return on investment 300; revenue from women’s football 359, 360
211; scheduling 293; sponsor signage 71, 78; Ukraine 40–9
women’s sport 364; see also broadcast rights Umbro 309
Tencent 288, 311 umpiring 31
tennis 1, 34–5, 331; ATP reorganization 383–7; Under Armour 16
China 386; women’s 358, 359, 365–6 unilateral transactions 287
testimonials 126 Unimed-Rio 97, 99, 102–4, 106
Tetley Tea 201–2 United Arab Emirates 288
Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) 335–6 United Kingdom: ambush marketing 184; London
Thjømøe, H. M. 18, 144 Olympics 190, 191–3, 195–204, 355–6, 364;
Thompson, P. 18, 145 popular sports 331; Real Madrid’s Campus
Thwaites, D. 216–17 Experience 373; smartphones 301; sports
ticket prices 83, 84 participation 329; women’s sport 356, 362
ticketing 263, 302 United States: age and sports participation 329–30;
Till, B. D. 21 antitrust laws 383, 385–6, 387; baseball
Times of India 280–1 sponsorship 81, 82–90; college teams 235; live
Tissot 116 games attendance 295n26; popular sports 331;
Toffler, Alvin 294n8 Real Madrid’s training course in 375; size of
Toffoletti, K. 355 sports industry 1; smartphones 301; social
top-down attention 73–4 media 288; sponsorship investment 92;
top management 218–19 sponsorship objectives 142; sports participation
Toronto 53 328; women’s sport 355, 356–7, 358, 359, 364,
Tottenham Hotspur 310 365
touchpoints 40, 42, 43, 241–2 unpredictability 233
Tour de France 32, 35 utility 10
tourism 51, 52, 54, 56, 60, 65n2, 65n3, 214, 328
TPB see Theory of Planned Behavior Valencia 54, 64
transaction marketing 208–9, 299, 300, 313 value co-creation 278–82, 286, 292–3, 294
transfer of meaning process 129, 135–6, 137, 138, value-driven marketing 5
320 values 342, 370, 372, 373, 374–5
transfer theory 114–17, 119 “vampire effect” 134
transgressions 128, 340–54, 391 Van Tuyckom, C. 330
transparency 343, 344, 345, 348 Vancouver 54, 56, 82, 364
Tribou, Gary 112, 249–60 Vanheems, R. 251
Tripp, C. 133 Vargas, P. 39
trust: corporate social responsibility 317, 319, Vargo, S. 278
320–3; media relations 218; sponsor relations Vazenios, George 383–8
217, 348; stakeholder communication 344–5; venues 152, 240–1; see also stadiums

406
Index

Verhoef, P. C. 225 Williams,Venus 365

Verity, J. 143 Wilson, Bradley 340–54
Verleun, J. 127–8 Winter Olympics 363, 364, 365
vertical integration 286 WNBA see Women’s National Basketball League
Viber 290 Woisetschläger, D. M. 18
video content 309–10 women: athlete transgressions 350; celebrity
video games 291, 306, 309, 310 endorsements 131, 132, 134–5; marketing
video streaming 303 women’s sports 355–68; spectator classification
Vienna 54 271; sponsorship objectives 142; sports
Villa, David 308 participation 329; women’s football 310
Vine 303, 309 Women’s National Basketball League (WNBA)
violence 347, 376 131, 358, 361, 362
Virgin Media 203n2 Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation (WSFF)
Visa 8, 182 356–7, 364
visibility 30, 31, 34, 35; consumer behavior 257; Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 289,
costs per thousand 76; evaluation of sponsorship 365–6
impact 73, 75, 78, 101, 106; exposure analysis Woo, C. W. 55
71; sponsorship objectives 98; sponsorship Wood, J. 84
selection 100, 102 Woodruff, R. 342
visual attention 73–8 Woods, Tiger 15
Vitamin Water 210–11 word-of-mouth 21, 130; customer satisfaction
Vodafone 143, 169–72, 282, 285 236; destination marketing 53; experiential
VoiceCall 290 marketing 228; online 249; relationship
volleyball 358–9, 361 marketing 210
World Business Council 369
Wagner, Honus 126–7 World Cup 3, 281; ambush marketing 164–76,
Wakefield, K. L. 234, 240 180, 182–3, 185, 187, 189–90, 193, 201; city
Walliser, Björn 15–26, 95, 110, 113 branding 55, 64; gender marking 363;
Walsh, J. P. 369 multimedia content 281; social media 301;
“We Are Tennis” 34–5 sponsorship 92, 118, 151, 168–72
wearable technologies 292 World Rally Championship 213
Web 2.0 31, 290, 307; see also social media WSFF see Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation
Web TV 289 WTA see Women’s Tennis Association
websites 289–90, 304, 344; football clubs 307;
press releases 219–20; Real Madrid 379; Yahoo 169, 171–2, 174, 312
relationship marketing 216; Shaktar Donetsk Yancey, A. K. 342
46, 48; sponsorship activation 101, 104; web Yang, X. S. 142
marketing 31; see also internet; social media Yao Ming 185, 386
Weeks, C. S. 23, 30, 72, 113 Yoo, E. 264–5
Weitz, B. A. 251, 295n14 Youku 306, 309
Welsh, J. 162 YouTube 8, 11, 282, 285, 290, 302, 306; ambush
WeSport 290, 291 marketing 198; Barcelona FC 312; dramatic
West, C. 82 impact of 301; e-fans 308; football clubs 309
Westberg, Kate 340–54
Westerbeek, H. M. 54, 55, 56, 64, 374 Zagnoli, Patrizia 277–98
WhatsApp 290 Zeithaml,V. A. 233, 241
Wheaties 133 Zeng, G. 56
Wicker, P. 317 Ziakas,V. 56, 64
Williams, Serena 132, 136–7, 365 Ziglar, Zig 309

407