Date of Award

Spring 2016

Degree Type

Essay

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

First Advisor

Dr. Alan Stephenson

Abstract

This essay is an overview of all the different ways for brands to integrate their message and identity with sports sponsorships. It also evaluates the current phenomenon of what sports sponsorship is in regards to today’s global marketing. This text will assess the relevancy that has allowed the different communication media to stay up to date with all the advancements in technology and how they apply to the sports marketing mix. Models of sponsorship and specific data research on consumerism will also be showcased to explain their influences on best marketing practices for brands to communicate through the sporting industry. Sports marketing and sponsorship would appear to work best when objectives are aligned to the overall marketing strategy, such as winning global recognition, boosting brand awareness, enhancing employee morale or increasing social media engagement. But these ‘softer’ ambitions set the scene for the ultimate goal for many organizations: increased sales (Fischer, 2014). More importantly we will look at examples and reasons why the association between sports marketing and sponsorship works and the times when it fails. The essay will evaluate the feel good factor of being associated with sports brands and some of the techniques used to maximize their image through sponsorship activities. Furthermore, this paper will gauge the benefits versus the pitfalls of engaging brands identities within the sporting industry. Many sponsorship agreements have resulted in high levels of success for the company; however quite a few have been associated with unfortunate public relations due to a fatal mistake made by an athlete or organization. Lastly, brand integration will be weighed in regards to the ultimate goal and mission of the company and how it affects the return on investment. This is the ultimate end for most profitable organizations; however measurement is not always simple. Nevertheless, however complicated, measurement is an effort to determine the added value that must be made. Without an adequate process of measuring effectiveness, companies struggle to realize the full potential of the sports sponsorship opportunity; ultimately, success will only be achieved if it can be measure (Fischer, 2014).

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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