Sponsorship



These objectives tend to be corporate or brand exposure via media, excellent public relations, and promotional and business returns. These tactics, in turn, benefit the sponsor’s internal and external relationships. //
 * Sponsorship** is a business relationship and marketing program between commercial companies and events or activities. In particular, sponsorship is the provision of funds and services to achieve marketing and communication objectives.

__** History of Sponsorship **__  Sponsorship activities have been acknowledged in eras as early as ancient Greece and Rome. Events such as sporting contests and arts festivals were underwritten with the intent to improve the social standing, popularity and office of its sponsors. However, sponsorship began as a somewhat misunderstood practice. Many rights owners were unsure of appropriate pricing charges, and few knew how to evaluate these expenses and their perceived benefits. //  Sponsorship has since changed in many fundamental ways. Most evident has been its development from a small-scale activity to a major global industry. Sports star testimonials and other forms of celebrity endorsements contributed to the rapid increase of sponsorship activities in the early 1900s. With the advent of television, organizations were able to reach wider and larger audiences, and sponsorship offered new and less expensive ways of achieving advertising objectives. These were seen as successful forms of promotion, effective ways to reach target audiences, and n ew industries and companies continue to adopt sponsorship as a method of marketing communications.  __**Corporate Sponsorship**__ Sponsorship is a way of achieving a number of marketing and corporate communications objectives. Corporate sponsorship is a relatively new form of advertising in which companies pay to be associated with certain events. With corporate sponsorship - unlike conventional marketing techniques - the company or product, and the event or cause being sponsored becomes linked in consumers' minds. // // Essentially, corporate sponsorship is initiated to increase sales, develop favourable brand associations, drive awareness of corporate image and stimulate organizational internal relations.

Sport Sponsorship
Historically, sports sponsorship has dominated the sponsorship market, but trends have seen its decline in recent years. Until the 1930s, the major endorsers of brands were athletes. Wheaties, one of the oldest brands of cereal in the U.S.A, began using sports stars in their promotional activities such as Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio and Jackie Robinson.

Sportswear companies, such as Nike and Adidas, enter into marketing sponsorship agreements with high-profile athletes who appear on and off the field in clothing that predominantly displays the sponsor’s logos. This has an immediate ‘spin-off’ effect, as people who wish to be identified with these sports stars emulate their support by wearing these brands. // // 

__Philanthropic Sponsorship__
Philanthropic sponsorship is similar to a business donation, yet its indirect benefits are found within society, rather than within the partnered organization. Philanthropy is a service for the general welfare of others and includes two types of sponsorship – cause-related marketing or promotion, and advocacy advertising.

Advocacy advertising is used to promote a position on a political, controversial or other social issue. Cause-related marketing is the tactic that identifies an organization’s products or services with a specific social cause. This type of marketing has been used extensively in the fight against breast cancer. In the area of arts, medicine and research, philanthropic sponsorship is normally community based. Philanthropic sponsorship often generates community goodwill towards an organization, as well as amongst the sponsoring organization’s employees. // // //  Research has shown that this type of sponsorship has a more positive impact on corporate image than commercial sponsorship. // There is an ongoing debate in the business world concerning corporate philanthropic activities. It is argued that while an organization may demonstrate activities that appear to be philanthropic, their motives may be guided by perceived indirect benefits. However, some professionals also say that today’s consumers are savvy enough to see through such marketing gimmicks and may view such campaigns as manipulative. If so, these ‘good’ efforts could result in negative rather than positive pay-off for the sponsor.

 __Sponsorship in Public Relations__
With the mounting popularity of sponsorship as a communications tool since the 1980s, there has been an ever-increasing growth in the number of marketing and public relations agencies that offer sponsorship recruitment, management and consultancy services. Companies and brands use sponsorships to help build goodwill and brand recognition by associating with an event or group. From a public relations point of view, the strategic objective is to maximize the image-building and relationship-enhancing aspects of the donation or sponsorship. // // //  Such sponsorship connections between the organization and its publics can lead to mutually beneficial relationships and outcomes. Publics are able to satisfy their personal goals through financial contributions, and practitioners are able to pursue sponsorship opportunities that reach specific target groups, fit within a specified budget and provide additional benefits that suit the organization’s objectives. // 

 __Ethical Sponsorship? Criticisms and Controversies__
While there are many perceived benefits of sponsorship for both the sponsored and sponsoring organizations, sponsorship activities have experienced their share of criticisms and controversies.

There is a debate about whether sponsorship activity should be regarded as philanthropy or a business exchange. There can be unethical conduct on both sides of the contract, especially i n the steps preceding an official sponsorship agreement. Potential sponsors may exploit the weaknesses of those seeking their resources. In turn, organizations seeking sponsors may be manipulative themselves - replacing real commitment to social issues with financial engagement.

Ethical sponsors should refrain from influencing the activities of the sponsored organization. In addition, the sponsored organization ought not to compromise its values or purpose in the quest for additional funds. Sponsorship is an indirect form of advertising, and the sponsored organization must manage this link between their mission and the sponsorship's commercial advantage.

Sport organizations and academic institutions have become highly reliant on sponsorship. This dependence on sponsorship revenue has caused these organizations to make decisions that affected parties have viewed unfavourably. For example: a contract between Reebok and the University of Wisconsin brought the university millions of dollars along with a great deal of criticism and protests. Reebok was accused of ‘sweatshop’ practices, and residents were unimpressed with this association and felt that given the strong spirit of trade and unionism in the state of Wisconsin, there should have been more input from a variety of sources. // // //   Many educational institutions have also received ethical criticism due to their alcohol-related sponsorship agreements. In light of the many publicized deaths of university students in alcohol-related incidents on sponsored campus events, current agreements in many institutions across the country are being scrutinized and new proposals carefully studied and debated. Sponsors and their associated organization may not always assess the effects of their sponsorship. The question exists: Does the need for financial gain outweigh the requirement to be a good citizen? Does it outweigh the need to refrain from promoting and endorsing products that might cause harm to affected publics?  See Also **

· Endorsement · Promotion · Marketing · Donation · Co-branding · Advocacy advertising


 * Further Reading **

Burton, R. (2003). Get the value from sponsorship. ////Advertising Age, 74//(19), 29-29.

Coppetti, C., Wentzel, D., Tomczak, T., & Henkel, S. (2009). Improving incongruent sponsorships through articulation of the sponsorship and audience participation. //Journal of Marketing Communications, 15//(1), 17-34.

Gwinner, K. P., & Eaton, J. (1999). Building brand image through event sponsorship: The role of image transfer. //Journal of Advertising, 28//(4), 47-57.

Haley, E. (1996). Exploring the construct of organization as source: Consumers' understandings of organizational sponsorship of advocacy advertising. //Journal of Advertising, 25//(2), 19-35.

Levin, G. (1990). Burson runs for olympics. //Advertising Age, 61//(37), 77.

Steel, P. (2006). Money talks. //Museums Journal, 106//// (5), 30-33.

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