Determining the brand-building success of sponsorship

Abstract

Sports sponsorship has developed exponentially both as a commercial and academic discipline over the course of the past 20 years, with 2006 worldwide expenditure totalling $37.9 billion (IEG, 2008). In line with the growing practice of sponsorship across product and service sectors, academic interest in the domain has increased steadily. However, there still remain a considerable number of gaps in knowledge and understanding of how sponsorship works. In line with trends towards the application of broader theoretical models to the field of sponsorship, this paper explores the brand building capacity of sports sponsorship within the conceptual framework of consumer-based brand equity.