Title: Brand image transfer from team to sponsor: how effective is it to sponsor a football team with little success?

Authors: Manuel Alonso-Dos-Santos; Ferran Calabuig Moreno; Mario Alguacil

Addresses: Department of Administration, Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción, Av. Alonso de Ribera 2850, Concepción, Región del Bío Bío, Chile ' Department of Physical Education and Sport, University of Valencia, Av. de Blasco Ibáñez, 13, 46010 València, Spain ' Department of Teaching and Learning of Physical, Plastic and Musical Education, Catholic University of Valencia, Carrer de Quevedo, 2, 46001 València, Spain

Abstract: We propose to explore the influence of success in sports on the effect of image transfer in sponsorship. We analysed three football teams based on their historical ranking. The image transfer does not occur with the less successful team. We conclude that sports sponsors need to reconsider their strategic options to align them with their company goals and to promote a return on investment. An ideal strategy to enhance the brand image would be to sponsor more successful sports teams because it has been shown that those teams that have more victories get greater exposure and therefore the ROI for sponsors increase.

Keywords: sponsorship; image transfer; sports; congruence; attitude; multigroup.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSMM.2019.104158

International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 2019 Vol.19 No.5/6, pp.371 - 388

Accepted: 27 Oct 2018
Published online: 20 Dec 2019 *

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