Predicting Brand Awareness of Corporate Sponsor Activation in Intercollegiate Athletics

摘要

Brand awareness is cited as the main objective of companies engaging in sponsorship agreements with collegiate athletic departments and is often used as a measurement of sponsorship effectiveness. The field of sports sponsorship has evolved from static signage advertisements and one-way messaging to include on-site displays, digital and social media, and interactive technology. Multi-media rights holders are expected to spend over $25.5 billion in rights fees to colleges and universities over the next 15 years (imgcollege.com, 2017). Brands are vying for engagement and convergence with a team and the 190 million college sports fans they reach. In 2015, Nissan signed a historic national sponsorship contract with over 100 collegiate athletic departments (Forbes, 2015). The all encompassing contract consists largely of interactive stadium displays, on-site technology, enter-to-win contests, and in-stadium LED signage. This style of sponsorship is becoming common across all levels of sport, and the effectiveness of such sponsorships in achieving consumer brand awareness should be examined. Since companies must decide whether to allocate their marketing budget for sport sponsorships, it is necessary they are aware which assets will be the most effective in achieving brand awareness. The purpose of this study was to predict the brand awareness of corporate sponsorship activation through the measurement of consumer recognition rates of athletic department sponsors at an intercollegiate football game. Corporate sponsors, athletic departments, brand marketers, and multi-media rights holders will benefit from the research in this area.