Marketing communications

Abstract

Sponsorship has become increasingly popular - within companies that operate in consumer markets. Many sponsors aim to achieve favorable publicity by increasing public awareness of their connections with sports, the arts, and other social activities. Sponsorship has the potential to contribute to product awareness in a variety of ways in order to create exposure for the product or service and to develop and promote brand awareness. This paper extends that line of argument through the development of a conceptual model of the sponsorship - competitive advantage relationship. In particular, it argues that two levels of competitive advantage need to be considered, namely the competitive advantage of the sponsorship and competitive advantage in the market. Critical to attaining an advantage in the competitive world of sponsorship is the deployment of a range of organizational resources to support the sponsorship investment. A series of research propositions are advanced showing the relative importance of different organizational resources. Effectively resourced sponsorships generate a competitive advantage in the "market" for sponsorships, which in turns leads to competitive advantage and superior performance in product markets. The implications for research and practice are discussed and conclusions are drawn.