Growing Brands Through Sponsorship: An Empirical Investigation of Brand Image Transfer in a Sponsorship Alliance

370 Pages·2015·13.61 MB·English

by  Philip Gross (auth.)

Strategie, Marketing und
Informationsmanagement
Herausgegeben von
Klaus-Peter Wiedmann, Hannover, Deutschland
Die Schrift enreihe gibt Einblick in den aktuellen Forschungsstand zu den
Th emenfeldern Strategie, Marketing und Informationsmanagement. Sie behandelt
vor allem auch solche Fragen, die für die Unternehmenspraxis von Bedeutung
sind. Besonderer Wert wird auf die Praxisrelevanz und -anwendbarkeit der Bei-
träge gelegt. Die Reihe will den Transfer wissenschaft licher Erkenntnisse in die
unternehmerische Praxis fördern. Zielgruppe sind daher sowohl Studierende und
Wissenschaft ler als auch Marketingpraktiker und Entscheidungsträger.
Herausgegeben von
Professor Dr. Klaus-Peter Wiedmann
Universität Hannover
Philip Gross
Growing Brands
Through Sponsorship
An Empirical Investigation
of Brand Image Transfer
in a Sponsorship Alliance
Foreword by Prof. Dr. Klaus-Peter Wiedmann
Philip Gross
Hanover, Germany
Dissertation University of Hanover, 2014
ISBN 978-3-658-07249-0 ISBN 978-3-658-07250-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-658-07250-6
Library of Congress Control Number: 2014951684
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To my family
Katja, Philomena Teresa, Ursula, and René
Thanks for your unconditional love, relentless support, and trust.
Foreword VII

Foreword
The attention of both millions of viewers worldwide and a considerable number of on-site
spectators has been on the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil just recently. A total of 64 matches
were played in 12 cities and the excitement has been enormous with not only the audience
and the players but also with the sponsors. Companies like Adidas, Visa, Sony, or
Continental invested millions of dollars for the right of associating their brands with the event
or particular teams and for leveraging these associations by means of collateral advertising
and activation activities. However, the question remains whether or not all of that presence in
a multitude of communication channels really paid off. Has awareness for the brands really
been raised? Have client relationships really been cultivated through vivid brand experi-
ences? Did the sponsoring companies' employees really feel positively about their employers
engagement and has loyalty increased? And also, did the mental perceptions for the brands in
consumers' heads really shift into the direction intended by the brand managers?
Anecdotal evidence suggests that not many of these questions are answered in the
internal follow-up audits conducted by sponsor brands. Even though academic research in the
field of sponsorship developed a multitude of frameworks and models on how to assess
sponsorship outcome, the academic-practitioner divide is still considerably wide. Substanti-
ating the surmise concerning this lack of contact between academic research and sponsorship
practice, the number of research insights on sponsorship strategy and tactics (rather than the
assessment of outcomes) having diffused to managers' work desks is very limited too. The
present book is making an impact on practice by investigating a managerially relevant and,
heretofore, under-researched aspect of sponsorship and brand management. While adhering
to exceptionally high standards of empirical research, Dr. Gross provides fresh insights and
viable advice on how to grow brands through sponsorship. His work specifically addresses
the last of the above-mentioned questions. Namely, through which mental processes and on
what image transfer routes do brand perceptions change in sponsorship?
The insights are fresh insofar as the between-sponsor brand image transfer that stands at
the center of this study's consideration has up to now not been investigated with the
thoroughness presented here. Imagine the brand manager that sees his or her brand sharing a
perimeter billboard or any other sponsorship signage with a co-sponsor during the FIFA
World Cup. In the past, it might have been that manager's intuition that led him to the
assumption of this sponsorship ally probably imbuing the own brand. However, given the
VIII Foreword

results of the present study, we now have an initial piece of scientific evidence that in fact a
sponsor brand can gain (or suffer) from brand attitude and brand personality traits innately
tied to a co-sponsor. As the research framework does not only encompass the between-spon-
sor image transfer relationship but rather spans the entirety of transfer relations that might
unfold among two sponsor brands and a sponsorship property, the investigation sheds light on
how all of the individual brand level entities comprising a "sponsorship alliance" impact one
another. Accordingly, a salient contribution of the present work lies in the finding that two
brands concurrently sponsoring the same event may add an extra effect to the image gain they
seek to garner from the property by cross-fertilizing with regard to their own images.
The viability of advice mainly arises from the conclusive implications as outlined for
practitioners as well as from a number of concise ideas on the direction of future research.
Through profound practical knowledge on the subject matter Philip Gross is well versed with
regard to the needs and requirements coming along with executing and delivering on a
sponsorship strategy. Building on this expertise, he understands to boil scientific findings
down to the essence and deduct relevant propositions for both brand and property managers.
Pointing to some fruitful paths for further investigation, he pays tribute to the field of study
he immersed into as a scientist and paves the way for new insights to come. It is my hope that
in contrast to depending on managers' intuition, growing brands through sponsorship may
come to rely more on substantive research endeavors like the one at hand.
In that sense I wish this book a receptive and large audience in the communities of both
practitioners and academicians.

Prof. Dr. Klaus-Peter Wiedmann
Acknowledgments IX

Acknowledgments
Per aspera ad astra – through hardships to the stars. In the course of writing my dissertation
this Latin phrase came to my mind every once in a while. Especially at times when ideas on
how to infer from bright peoples' thoughts for the purpose of my own deliberation did not
flow from cognition to pages easily or when empirical efforts have stalled I used to recall the
excitement and curiosity that had brought me to this point and I imagined how it will feel
once the work will be completed. This and the relentless support of others is what carried me
through the hardships of scientific work to the stars of insight and accomplishment. I would
like to acknowledge and thank to some of the persons that were vital for the success
of my work.
I am much obliged to my doctoral advisor Prof. Dr. Klaus-Peter Wiedmann. Professor
Wiedmann had the grandeur of giving the opportunity to elaborate and write a dissertation in
the field of marketing to me as an engineer and he put confidence in my abilities throughout
that endeavor. He provided support to my thoughts and augmented my ideas through critical
analysis and advice to the point. I especially admire Professor Wiedmann's capacity for
enthusiasm and his ability to sharply extract the principal elements of the not always concise
concepts I confronted him with. By providing guidance in connecting these dots he helped
me to see and probe into the intricacies of the subject under discussion at all times. Thank
you for enabling me to fulfill my dream.
I also highly appreciate the effort of my second assessor Prof. Dr. Kay Blaufus who
invested time and thought into my work. Given the manifold scientific activities and duties of
Professor Blaufus and in anticipation of his packed calendar expressing my gratitude for his
opinion is even more important to me. On a related note I would also like to express my
thankfulness to Tom Ramoser who, without knowing me personally but by just happening to
work at the same management consultancy as I did at that time, introduced me to Professor
Wiedmann based on some brief conversation and exchange of thoughts. His recommendation
ultimately led to what now is present as "my book". Thank you for taking a stand for me.
As it has been my ambition to conduct research with a high degree of practical
relevance, collaboration with organizations that are involved into the sponsorship business
and with the people embodying these organizations has been invaluable to the progress of this
dissertation. I thankfully look back to all the illuminating discussions I had with those who
truly deal with the subtleties of sponsorship management as part of their professional
X Acknowledgments

responsibility. At this place special thanks go to Larisa Matkovic-Kilibarda, Head of
Sponsorship at the Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund, and to Markus Rege, Head of Marketing
and Education at the Zoo Zurich. Migros provided for financial assistance in the main study
conducted for the purpose of this dissertation, while the Zoo Zurich allowed for access to its
customer database and to its sponsorship partners in a preliminary study leading up to this
work. I am gratified to see the research results to be of value for you and your aspirations.
My parents Ursula and René deserve the credit of bringing me up and educating me in a
way as to know that everything is possible with disciplined work. At the outset of this effort
they asked me whether I knew what I was about to getting involved with – and I said yes. Of
course (and especially in retrospect) I did not know what I got into and my parents most
probably were aware of that very well. Nevertheless, they motivated me to go after my desire
because they were in no doubt having taught me everything needed to overcome difficulties
and to always be guided by a goal carried in mind. Thank you for giving me deep confidence
and for being a safe haven in my life.
Finally, my greatest thanks go to my wife, Katja, and to my daughter, Philomena
Teresa, for their invariable patience and sacrifice. This enterprise had not been possible
without your faith in my abilities and your continual encouragement. You allowed for the
freedom I needed for concentrated work and you also provided for occasional distraction be it
in the form of taking me out into the snowy or summery mountains around Laax or through
jointly creating offbeat houses and fierce creatures with Lego bricks on the floor of our living
room. Thank you for accompanying me on that journey and beyond.

Philip Gross