Sponsorship and Affiliation

I attended a presentation in which a company announced it's a new affiliation with a sports team, a proposition that in my mind has always been questionable - but my sense is that's likely due to a lack of information that would help me understand the rationale for doing so.

Activities such as sponsoring sports teams or supporting charitable events have generally been lumped in the "other" category of channels, given scant consideration in textbooks and lectures by which marketing is taught. It's generally acknowledged that firms participate in "event marketing" to get exposure to the audiences that attend events or support causes, but little explanation has been given to the rationale and benefit of doing so. This became clearer.

Primarily, relegating sponsorship activities to public relations and corporate image marketing is likely a mistake that is dismissive of the potential of this channel. While it's true that consumers and the public in general "like," in a vague way, to see companies get involved in charitable causes, and that any mention of the company name builds familiarity and invokes some latent level of curiosity, it's more logical to consider these practices in the context of building brand.

Specifically, it's effective in gaining conceptual or emotional collateral by means of associating with an event or organization with which the same emotions and beliefs are already associated. Without declaring "we want you to think about us this way," the mere mention of the firm as a sponsor of an event, or the appearance of its logo in collateral promoting the event, quietly and indirectly suggests such an association.

• A mining company that wishes to improve public perception might associate itself with a charitable event that raises money for an environmental cause
• A manufacturer of automotive parts would want its logo on the fender of a vehicle that does well at NASCAR events
• A washing powder brand would want to be associated with an event that raises funds for women's health (sexist, perhaps, but true that women drive brand choice for such products in US households)
• Any product that wishes people to believe it cares about the local market would do well to sponsor a minor-league team or an event benefitting a local charity.

The subtlety of the tactic is more effective than any advertising in other channels. In the customer's perspective, considering all the contexts is which the brand is mentioned, sponsored advertising carries the least credibility. A thirty-second television commercial that attempts to convince viewers that a firm cares about something meets with cynicism - it is clear that "this is what we want you to think," and the implication that the viewer is gullible enough to believe the advertising adds insult. But when the logo appears in association to an event or organization, the rejection of the suggested association between sponsor and value or emotion is less evident.

The notion that any exposure to a target market is beneficial does not hold. Where an event or organization is in conflict with the values and emotions the organization wishes to associate with its brand, the association between the two is conflicted. To borrow on the previous example, if a mining company that was very recently involved in a highly public incident about pollution were to sponsor a 5K for an environmental cause, their motives would be transparent. A few months after the clamor has died down and the incident has faded from memory, the association would not be as readily rejected.

The need for the association to be harmonious is not limited to specific incident, but also applies to the innate qualities of a brand. That boutique cosmetics do not typically sponsor sporting events is not merely a matter of audience demographic, as there is a significant female audience for sporting events, but the qualities associated with one are not a good fit for the other. To be effective, association must be made to events and organizations that not only gather the attention of the target market, but that are evocative of sentiments that are supportive of the brand.