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Sponsorship effect metric: assessing the financial value of sponsoring by comparisons to television advertising

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Abstract

Since sponsoring is an increasingly important marketing communication medium, it is important for managers to know whether their sponsorships are giving a good financial return relative to other communication alternatives. Although several “rules of thumb” are commonly used in the industry for converting sponsorship exposure time into television advertising equivalent values, this research is the first to empirically test them by means of two experiments employing realistic stimuli and representative samples. Across 6 stimuli brands, study 1 finds that an average of 127 s of sponsor logo exposure achieves the same effects as a 30 s TV ad, but variance around this figure is high and depends on a variety of factors such as communication goal, sponsor fit, type of exposure, and whether the sponsor is a known brand. Study 2 finds that combining sponsoring with television advertising does increase the effects of sponsoring, although effects vary widely depending on the context, but even in the best case the increase is not supportive of the high levels of advertising suggested by many industry experts. Overall, the findings will allow managers to more confidently assess the financial value of their sponsorship investments.

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Correspondence to Erik L. Olson.

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Olson, E.L., Mathias Thjømøe, H. Sponsorship effect metric: assessing the financial value of sponsoring by comparisons to television advertising. J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. 37, 504–515 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-009-0147-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-009-0147-z

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