This article examines how sponsorship of sporting events can transfer the event's image to the sponsoring brand to help build the brand's image. The study reports on an experiment where subjects assessed the degree to which a sporting event's image was transferred to a brand through event sponsorship. Subjects who were exposed to an event-brand sponsorship link were more likely to report similarities in the brand-event image, supporting the idea that sponsorship enables image transfer from the event to the brand. The study also found that image transfer was enhanced when the event and brand images were matched either functionally or in personality.
This article examines how sponsorship of sporting events can transfer the event's image to the sponsoring brand to help build the brand's image. The study reports on an experiment where subjects assessed the degree to which a sporting event's image was transferred to a brand through event sponsorship. Subjects who were exposed to an event-brand sponsorship link were more likely to report similarities in the brand-event image, supporting the idea that sponsorship enables image transfer from the event to the brand. The study also found that image transfer was enhanced when the event and brand images were matched either functionally or in personality.
This article examines how sponsorship of sporting events can transfer the event's image to the sponsoring brand to help build the brand's image. The study reports on an experiment where subjects assessed the degree to which a sporting event's image was transferred to a brand through event sponsorship. Subjects who were exposed to an event-brand sponsorship link were more likely to report similarities in the brand-event image, supporting the idea that sponsorship enables image transfer from the event to the brand. The study also found that image transfer was enhanced when the event and brand images were matched either functionally or in personality.
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Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Journal of Advertising Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ujoa20 Building Brand Image Through Event Sponsorship: The Role of Image Transfer Kevin P. Gwinner & John Eaton Published online: 31 May 2013. To cite this article: Kevin P. Gwinner & John Eaton (1999) Building Brand Image Through Event Sponsorship: The Role of Image Transfer, Journal of Advertising, 28:4, 47-57, DOI: 10.1080/00913367.1999.10673595 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00913367.1999.10673595 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the Content) contained in the publications on our platform. 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Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http:// www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions Building Brand Image Through Event Sponsorship: The Role of Image Transfer Kevin P. Gwinner and John Eaton Past sponsorship research has primarily focused on awareness building strategies, and has virtually ignored brand image issues. As a result, little guidance is available for firms that seek to use sponsorship opportuni- ties to aid in brand positioning. This study reports the results ofan experiment using undergraduate student subjects, who assessed the degree to which a sporting event's image was transferred to a brand through event sponsorship activity. Subjects in the sponsorship pairing treatment were more likely to report similarities on brand-event personality components than subjects who were not exposed to the event-brand sponsorship link, thus supporting the notion that sponsorship results in image transfer. Further, we found that when event and brand are matched on either an image or functional basis the transfer process is enhanced. Management implications for sporting event sponsorship and future research directions are discussed. Kevin P. Gwinner (Ph.D., Arizona State University) ill AMistant Profe8Blll' of Marketing, Kansaa State University. John Eaton <M.BA, University of Toledo) is a doctDralcandidate in marketing at Arizona State University. The authors wish to thank Stephen Nowlis (Arizona State University) for guidance related to experimental design i88ues and the four anony- mous Journal ofAduertising reviewers and former editor Les Carlson (Clemson University) for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this manullC1'ipt. Journal ofAduertising, Volume XXVIIl, Number 4 Winter 1999 While firms enter into sponsorship arrangements for a variety of reasons, two of the most common are: (1) to increase brand awareness, and (2) to establish, strengthen, or change brand image (Cornwell and Maignan 1998; Crowley 1991; Gwinner 1997; Marshall and Cook 1992; Meenaghan 1991; Meerabeau et al. 1991). Typically, strategies aimed at increasing brand awareness are implemented using a multitude of promotional media and are designed to have the sponsoring brand exposed to as many potential consumers as possible. Past research has examined the effectiveness of these awareness building strategies through a variety of methods (e.g., total event attendance, exit polls, sales following the event, and number of media mentions). Regrettably, far less research attention has focused on brand image issues. Indeed, researchers have suggested that little is understood about what makes sponsorship "work," particularly with regard to image association (Javalgi et al, 1994; Lee, Sandler and Shani 1997). The purpose of this paper is to gain insight into the brand image aspects of sponsorship. Specifically, based on theoretical perspectives from the celeb- rity endorsement, schema, and advertising literatures, we propose and test several relationships involving the influence of sporting event sponsorship on the sponsoring brand's image. Image Transfer in Sporting Event Sponsorships Brand image has been defined as "perceptions about a brand as reflected by the brand associations held in memory" (Keller 1993, p. 3). This defini- tion takes an associate memory network view, in that brand image is based upon linkages a consumer holds in his/her memory structure regarding the brand. These linkages, or in Keller's terminology, "brand associations," are developed from a variety of sources including brand and product category experiences, product attributes, price information, positioning in promo- tional communications, packaging, user imagery (e.g., typical brand users), and usage occasion (Keller 1993). From a theoretical position, Keller (1993) suggests that brand associations can be influenced when a brand becomes linked with a celebrity through an endorsement or linked with a sporting event through sponsorship activities. In these cases, the pre-existing asso- D o w n l o a d e d
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48 ciations held in consumers' memories regarding a ce- lebrityor sportingevent become linked in memory with the endorsed or sponsoring brand In essence, the ce- lebrity or event image is transferred to the brand. This transfer of associations is consistent with McCracken's (1989) viewof the celebrity endorsement process. McCracken eschews the "credibility" and "at- tractiveness" models of endorsement used to explain the persuasive nature of endorsers. Instead he offers a theory of meaning transfer, where "meaning" refers to an overall assessment of what a celebrity "repre- sents" to the consumer. This meaning is built upon an individual's interpretation of the celebrity's public image as demonstrated in "television, movies, mili- tary, athletics, and other careers" (McCracken 1989, p. 315). According to this theory, the meaning attrib- uted to celebrities moves from the celebrity endorser to the product when the two are paired in an adver- tisement (McCracken 1989). The transfer process is completed when a consumer acquires/consumes the product, thus transferring the meaning to the user. With regard to implications for brand image, sport- ing events and celebrity endorsers are similar on two levels. First, consumers can associate both sporting events and celebrities with particular meanings. While celebrities derive their meanings from consumer per- ceptions of their various public activities (e.g., movies, athletics, politics, etc.), the meanings associated with sporting events are derived from the type of event, the event's characteristics (e.g., professional status, venue, size, etc.), and individual consumer factors such as one's past experiences with the event (Gwinner 1997). Sec- ond, events may act in a manner analogous to celebrity endorsers in the transfer of image to sponsoringbrands. That is,just as consumers associate a celebrity's ''mean- ings" with the brand they endorse, consumers may also associate a sporting event's "meanings" with a sponsor- ing brand. Obviously, if this image transfer process is occurring, then brand managers considering sponsor- ship arrangements should not only consider exposure issues (i.e., brand awareness) but should also take into account the congruence between a sporting event's im- age and the image/positioning goals for their brands. While it is possible that the directionality of the image transfer may move from brand to event rather than event to brand, this is less likely to occur when the event has a strong established image relative to the sponsoring brand. Further, since the primary focus of the spectator is typically on the activities of the sport- ing event rather than on the sponsors, the event's im- age is likely to be more salient in their mind, suggest- ing the image transfer process would move from event to brand This discussion leads to the fll"St hypothesis: The Journal ofAdverlilling H1:A sporting event's image will transfer to a sponsoring brand's image when they are linked through sponsorship. The Impact ofEvent and Brand Match- up on Image Transfer Many scholars have examined or commented on the importance of matching the characteristics of spokespersons with the characteristics of the prod- ucts they endorse (see Lynch and Schuler [1994] for an excellent reviewof this literature). Generally, these types of studies have found that a match between endorser and brand leads to a variety of positive out- comes for firms including enhanced spokesperson ex- pertise/credibility, a more positive attitude toward the ad, a more positive attitude toward the brand and higher brand recall. Kahle and Homer (1985) were among the first to empirically examine and propose a "match-up" hy- pothesis in the context of celebrity endorsement. These authors argued and found support for the notion that advertising effectiveness is increased when the im- age of the celebrity converges with the image of the endorsed product. Specifically, they found physically attractive celebrity endorsers of a beauty enhancing product (i.e., endorser-brand match) to have a posi- tive influence on consumer's brand attitudes, pur- chase intentions, brand recall, and recall of adver- tisement arguments. Building on Kahle and Homer, many spokesperson-brand congruence studies have been conducted by manipulating some physical at- tribute of the spokesperson to be in-congruence or out-of-congruence with a given product. For example, in one experiment, Lynch and Schuler (1994) ma- nipulated muscularity of the spokesperson to be in or out of congruence with products that either helped to produce muscularity (e.g., exercise equipment) or prod- ucts perceived to be masculine in nature (e.g., car batteries). In another study, Kamins (1990) manipu- lated spokesperson attractiveness to be in or out of congruence with an attractiveness related product. The Kamins study found that when product and spokesperson physical characteristics were congru- ent, then spokesperson believability/knowledge was increased, while Lynch and Schuler (1994) found that congruency led to high perceived spokesperson knowl- edge. One notable exception to the manipulation of spokesperson physical characteristics is Misra and Beatty (1990) who examined image congruence in a holistic manner akin to McCracken's notion of mean- ing. In their study, Misra and Beatty matched spokes- person characteristics with product characteristics. D o w n l o a d e d
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Winter 1999 For example, in their pretest of celebrities, Clint Eastwood was associated with the characteristics of "tough" and "rugged." In the congruent condition this celebrity was paired with a fictitious brand of jeans (Unitough jeans), while in the incongruent condition he was paired with a fictitious board game called Funnybone. Results of this study indicated that the congruence condition resulted in higher recall and more favorable brand attitudes than incongruent or neutral congruency pairings. Kamins and Gupta (1994) also manipulated spokesperson-product con- gruence in terms of image. They found increased con- gruence resulted in perceptions of higher believabil- ity and attractiveness of the spokesperson and a more favorable product attitude. So why does this match-up hypothesis seem to be in effect? One of the more compelling arguments pro- posed is based on schema theory (Lynch and Schuler 1994; Misra and Beatty 1990). A schema is a cogni- tive structure that represents knowledge about a type of stimulus, for example, a person, event, or object (Bartlett 1932; Lord and Foti 1986). Schema theory is based on research which found that memory is not a verbatim account of past experiences, but rather a blend of both specific memories as well as general abstractions about types of people, activities, and ob- jects (Bartlett 1932; Rumelhart and Ortony 1977). Schema represents a mechanism to allow individuals to function in a complex environment. That is, in- stead of having to recall from memory what behav- iors are appropriate in a specific situation (e.g., board- ing a United Airlines flight) or what evaluations have been made of some specific person (e.g., Dr. Bernhard) or specific object (Campbell's soup), one is able to simply recall knowledge related to the general type of situation (airline boarding), person (heart surgeon), or object (soup). With regard to the use of schema theory in support of the match-up hypothesis, Misra and Beatty (1990)found evidence of a ''filteringmodel," which suggested spokes- person characteristics that are incongruent with brand schema characteristics will be ''filtered out" and not encoded as well as congruent information. They argued that the better recall demonstrated by subjects in their congruent condition is a result of better or more effec- tive encoding of information. Further, they proposed, but did not test, that this encoded information associ- ated with a congruent celebrity spokesperson schema would become integrated with the product's schema. If this were to hold true, then one would expect the schemas of celebrities and the schemas of the products they endorse to become more similar, assuming con- gruence of some salient characteristics. 49 In an event sponsorship context, McDaniel (1999) has explored an aspect of the match-up hypothesis by matching event and brand in terms of involvement. He found that subjects rated attitude toward the ad significantly more positively when a highly involving product (e.g., an automobile) was paired with a highly involving sporting event (e.g., the Olympics) than when the product was paired with a low involvement sporting event (e.g., PBABowling). In his study, event- product involvement match was not found to have an effect on attitude toward the brand or purchase in- tention. While providing insight into one match up dimension, McDaniel's study did not attempt to match the sporting event and the sponsoring brand on at- tributes related to their respective "meanings" in the manner that McCracken (1989) discussed or that Misra and Beatty (1990) explored. This begs the question, "on what basis might we judge a sporting event to be similar or dissimilar to a product?" McDonald (1991) discusses the importance of product relevance to the sponsored event, suggest- ing that it might occur directly or indirectly. The direct method occurs when the sponsoring firm's prod- ucts are (or could be) used in the event. Indirectly, relevance can be achieved if some aspect of the sponsor's image corresponds with the event. Gwinner (1997) has used the terms "functional based" and "image based similarity" to refer to the potential con- gruence between events and the brands/companies that act as sponsors. Consistent with McDonald(1991), Gwinner (1997) has suggested that functional based similarity can occur when the sponsored brand "is actually used by the participants during the event... " (p.152). Examples of this type of similarity would include Seiko being an official timer at the U.S. Open Tennis Championships or Gatorade sponsoring the Ironman Triathlon. In both cases, functional similar- ity is present because of the use of the sponsoring brand in the event. Image based similarity has been described as occurring when the "image of the event is related to the image of the brand... " (Gwinner 1997, p.152). For example, the Master's Golf Tournament and Cadillac Automobiles may be similar in terms of a prestige image. Drawing on the earlier schema theory discussion, it can be argued that congruent event-brand information in the form of either func- tional or image based similarity will lead to enhanced image transfer. Thus, extending the notion of the match-up hypothesis found in the celebrity endorser context, we offer the following two-part hypothesis: H2a: Similaritybetween brand and event will influence the image transfer such that the image transfer will be stronger for D o w n l o a d e d
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60 brands havingfunctional-based similar- ity with the event they are sponsoring than when brands have no similarity with the event. H2b: Similaritybetween brand and event will influence the image transfer such that the image transfer will be stronger for brands having image-based similarity with the event they are sponsoring than when brands have no similarity with the event. Method Overview To test the hypotheses an experiment was conducted using one between groups factor (sponsorship: [yes sponsorship and no sponsorship]) and one repeated measures factor (level of event-brand similarity: [im- age based, functional based, and no similarity. While there may be many ways to examine image transfer, our examination uses brand and event personality. Brand personality can be regarded as ''the set of hu- man characteristics associated with a brand... " (Aaker 1997, p. 347). Brand personality has been described as an important aspect of brand image that is im- pacted by one's expectations of the type of person who would use a particular product - user imagery - and in which situations a product might be used - usage imagery (Aaker 1997; Keller 1993; Plummer 1985). Both user and usage imagery can be communicated in an event sponsorship context. The brand personal- ity concept is important because it serves as a mecha- nism upon which producers can differentiate their goods and services. This becomes especially critical when other potentially differentiating features are perceived by consumers as equal across competing brands (plummer 1985). Pretests The first pretest sought to find appropriate pair- ings of sporting events and sponsoring products to represent each of the three types of similarity (func- tional based, image based, and no similarity) for use in the main experiment. As illustrated in Table 1, each potential sporting event was paired with three different brands. Gwinner (1997) suggests that cer- tain event characteristics (e.g., size, history, venue, etc.) will influence an event's image. Using this as a guide, we selected seven sporting events based on their national visibility and rich, long histories. This The Journal ofAdverlilling was done because subjects in the main study needed to have some prior image of the event in order to increase our confidence in the image transfer mea- sure. That is, they needed to have an image of the event in order to have it transfer to the brand. We developed scale items to measure functional and image based similarity based on the definition provided by Gwinner (1997). Functional based simi- larity was measured using three items assessed on seven-point strongly disagree/strongly agree scales. The three items were: (1) "It is likely that (partici- pants) in the (event name) use (brand name) during the (event name)," (2)''When I watch the (event name), I often see (brand name) being(used)," and (3) "(Brand name) is not a product that (participants) in the (event name) would consider (using)." The third item was reverse coded. The parenthetical "participants" label in these questions was replaced by the appropriate participant title, depending upon the specific event (e.g., player, rider, driver, etc.), Cronbach's alpha for this scale is .89, thus demonstrating good reliability. Image based similarity was also assessed with seven-point strongly disagree/strongly agree anchored scales using the following three measures: (1) "The (event name) and (brand name) have a similar im- age," (2) 'The ideas I associate with (brand name) are related to the ideas I associate with the (event name)," and (3) ''My image of the (event name) is very differ- ent from the image I have of (brand name)." The third image based similarity measure was reverse coded in the analysis. Cronbach's alpha for this scale is .90. The best "No Similarity" pairing was operationalized as the event-product score receiving the lowest score on a summed scale consisting of all six items listed above. One hundred and thirty-five undergraduate stu- dents enrolled in a marketing management course responded to the similarity pretest survey. In order to reduce respondent fatigue, each subject was ran- domly assigned to respond to questions regarding three of the seven events. This resulted in a useable sample of between 41 and 50 subjects per event. As indicated in Table 1, for the image similarity condition, the pairing of the U.S. Open Golf Champi- onship and Acura Automobiles was found to be the best pairing. For functional similarity, the pretest showed that the Indianapolis 500 Auto Race and Goodyear Tires was the best pairing. Finally, the best illustration of the no similarity condition was World Cup Soccer and Camel Cigarettes. These pairings were assessed after removing those subjects who scored below the scale mid-point on a brand familiar- ity question in order to increase validity. D o w n l o a d e d
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Winter 1999 Table 1 Pretest 1 Pairings of Sporting Events and Sponsoring Products 61 Similarity Type Event Alternatives Product Pairing Alternatives Mean Similarity (std dev) Image Based Professional Beach Volleyball Cuervo Gold tequila 9.9 (5.8) Dorito's tortilla chips 9.-7 (4.7) Nintendo video games 9.0 (5.3) Kentucky Derby American Express 10.3 (5.0) Oldsmobile automobiles 9.2 (5.1) John Hancock insurance 8.8 (4.0) U.S. Open Golf Championship Acura automobiles 12.1 (5.5) Sony camcorders 10.5 (5.1) Michelob beer 9.4 (5.2) Functional based Indianapolis SOO Auto Race Goodyear tires 19.2 (2.6) Pennzoil motor oil 17.0 (3.6) Shell gasoline 14.1 (4.8) NCAA basketball tournament Champion brand uniforms 16.9 (3.1) Reebok shoes 16.0 (4.4) Powerade sports drink 15.5 (4.3) No similarity Functional Image World Cup Soccer Dell computers 6.9 (4.8) 7.8 (4.2) Clorox bleach 6.4 (4.5) 8.4 (5.1) Camel cigarettes 4.1 (2.0) 4.8 (3.1) Functional Image Rose Bowl Irish Spring soap 5.3 (3.7) 7.3 (5.1) Renuzit air fresheners 4.7 (2.5) 5.2 (3.6) Levi's jeans 4.1 (2.3) 7.5 (5.1) Note: Bold faced event-product combinations were rated as the best representatives of their respective similarity type category (based on high mean value for Image and functional similarity pairings and low mean value for no similarity pairing) and were subsequently used In the main study. A second pretest was conducted to create a set of personality-oriented adjectives that could be used to describe image dimensions of each of the three events selected from the first pretest. Twenty adjectives were generated by the authors for each of the three sporting events. In order to increase the saliency of the task, only adjectives that could potentially describe the par- ticular event were included (Graeff 1996). Eighty-one undergraduate students enrolled in a marketingcourse used a seven-point scale to rate the 60 adjectives on their usefulness in describing each of the three events (20 adjectives per event). The ten adjectives rated as most useful in describing the event were selected for use in the experiment and are listed in Table 2. Experimental Procedure Three hundred and sixty undergraduate business students participated in the experiment for extra credit. Because of the use of sporting events with long, rich histories, we believe a student sample will be familiar with the events and, therefore, the results will be generalizable to a larger population. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of the two sponsor- ship treatments. Randomization assures that the im- pact of individuals' prior product schemas will not bias the results in any given treatment. In each con- dition, subjects assessed event-brand combinations representing all three similarity conditions (i.e., im- age based, functional, no similarity). Cell sizes were evenly distributed, resulting in a uniform 180 sub- jects per cell assignment. Independent Variables Sponsorship condition. This condition consisted of two levels, one in which the event and brand were paired in a sponsor relationship (''yes sponsorship") D o w n l o a d e d
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The Journal ofAdvertising Table 2 Adjectives Used In Measurement of Image Transfer from Event to Brand U.S. Open Golf Championship (Image Based Similarity) Calm Mature Leisurely Clean Formal Civilized Accurate Pressure Orderly Slow Indianapolis 500 Auto Race (Functional Based Similarity) Fast Dangerous Exciting Aggressive Masculine Wild Historic Tactical Strategic Monotonous World Cup Soccer (No Similarity) Active Multi-cultural Energetic Exciting Foreign Thrilling Youthful Tactical Tough Brazen and one in which they were not ("no sponsorship"). In the "yes sponsorship" level subjects viewed three black and white photographs, each depictingone of the sport- ing events. Each picture was designed to resemble a magazine advertisement for the event and the actual logo of the sponsoringbrand was superimposed on the photo- graph. In addition, ad copy typical of a sponsorship ar- rangement was included on the photo (e.g., "Carnel ciga- rettes is proud to sponsorWorldCup Soccer 9 8 ~ The cover page also added to the sponsorship ma- nipulation through the survey title, ''Product Spon- sorship of Sporting Events Survey" and through the survey instructions which referred to the sponsorship ties in the photographs (''Yes Sponsorship" instruc- tions: "We are conducting this study to better under- stand how students feel about corporate sponsorship of sporting events''). For the ''no sponsorship" level no photos were included; the survey was titled simply, "Image Survey," and mention of the sponsorship was not included in the instructions ("No Sponsorship'" instructions: "We are conducting this study to better understand the images students have regarding dif- ferent events and products''). Similarity condition. As described in pretest 1, the similaritycondition was manipulated by pairing sport- ing events and sponsoringbrands to create three simi- larity levels: image similarity (the U.S. Open Golf Championship and Acura Automobile), functional similarity (the Indianapolis 500 Auto Race and Goodyear Tires), and no similarity (World Cup Soccer and Camel Cigarettes). Dependent Measures Adjective based image transfer measure. As stated above, this study examines brand/event personality as a specific aspect of image. Recall that in pretest two, three groups of ten adjectives were selected as being useful in describing each of the three events. In the experiment each of the 10 adjectives were rated as to howwell it described the particular event (l=very well; 7=not at all) and then, separately, subjects re- sponded as to how well the same 10 adjectives de- scribed the brand. If an image transfer is occurring, one would expect the image of the event and the image of the brand to be more similar in the "yes sponsorship" condition, as the event's image would be "transferring" to the brand. Accordingly, we calcu- lated a measure of congruence/similarity by taking the sum of the absolute differences between the cor- responding adjectives in the event and the brand rat- ings. For example, if a subject rated the adjective ''mature'' as a "2" for the event and a "5" for the brand, then the absolute difference for those corre- sponding adjectives would be "3." We summed the ten absolute difference scores for each event-brand pair to create a congruence index. Smaller numbers in the index indicate greater congruence (i.e., less difference between event and brand). Hypothesis one would predict that this measure will be significantly smaller for those subjects in the ''yes sponsorship" level than in the ''no sponsorship" level-indicating more similarity. Holistic image transfer measure. Although the dif- ference score method discussed above has been used by most studies examining self-image congruence, Sirgy et a1. (1997) have argued for a more parsimoni- ous measure of congruence. These authors suggest that a method which directly measures congruency using the respondent's own image dimensions and employing a holistic evaluation is more appropriate for examining image congruence between a brand D o w n l o a d e d
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Winter 1999 and one's own image. We extended this advice by adapting the Sirgy et al. (1997) measure to study event-brand congruence. Specifically, we offered the following instructions (adapted from Sirgy et al. 1997) and asked subjects to rate the consistency between the event image and the brand image: -rake a moment to think about the (sporting event name). Think about the various images and expe- riences one would encounter when they attended or watched this event. Imagine this event in your mind and then describe the event using several adjectives such as: exciting, traditional, young, conservative, sexy, or whatever adjectiveByou think. describe the image of this sporting event." Subsequent to this mental imagery task, consistency was scored on a seven point scale (l=Strongly Agree, 7=Strongly Disagree) keyed to the following ques- tion: ''My image of the (sporting event name) is con- sistent with my image of (brand name)." Results Hypothesis One was analyzed using a one-way MANOVA, between groups design. With sponsorship treatment (yes, no) as the between groups factor and the three image congruence scores (based on summed absolute differences) as the criterion, a significant multivariate effect was found for sponsorship treat- ment (Wilk's lambda=.89, F [3,324]=12.33; p< .0001). The sample means are displayed in Table 3. Tukey's HSD test reveals that subjects who were exposed to the sponsorship arrangement had significantly lower difference scores (i.e., higher image congruence) than those subjects not exposed to the sponsorship tie for both the functional similarity (Indianapolis 500 and Goodyear tires) and image similarity (U.S. Open Golf Championship and Acura automobiles) event-brand combinations. There was not a significant difference between subjects in the ''yes sponsorship" level and the "no sponsorship" level with regard to the no similarity event-brand combination (World Cup soccer and Camel cigarettes). Therefore, two of the three "absolute differ- ence" congruence measures support Hypothesis One. Hypothesis One was also tested using the holistic image congruence measures adopted from Sirgy et a1. (1997). Again, using a one-way MANOVA, between groups design, we found a significant multivariate effect (Wilk'slambda=.92, F [3,353]=10.48; p< .0001) for sponsorship treatment. As with the adjective based congruence measure, the Tukey HSD test showed significantly higher congruence in the ''yes sponsor- ship" treatment level than in the ''no sponsorship" treatment level for both the functional similarity and 63 image similarity event-brand combinations. Although a significant difference does exist for the no similar- ity event-brand pairing, the means are the opposite of the hypothesized direction. That is, there is greater congruence between World Cup Soccer and Camel cigarettes in the "no sponsorship" condition. Thus, Hypothesis One is supported by two of the three ho- listic congruence measures. This unexpected pattern of results in the no similarity pairing is considered in more detail in the discussion section. Hypotheses 2a and 2b state that image transfer will be stronger in sponsor relationships when there is either functional (H2a) or image (H2b) based simi- larity than when there is no similarity. Accordingly, these hypotheses were tested using only data from those subjects exposed to the sponsorship relation- ship (data in the top row of Table 3). Since each subject responded to all three event-brand sponsor- ships these hypotheses were analyzed using a one- way analysis of variance, repeated measures design. The test reveals a significant effect for sponsorship similarity using the summed absolute difference scores as the dependent congruence measures, F (2,328)=231.85; p <.0001. Contrasts show that con- gruence of event and brand image is significantly less in the no similarity event-brand combination than in the functional similarity, F(l,164)=192.91; p <.0001 (H2a) and image based similarity, F(l,164)=362.11; p <.0001) (H2b) combinations. Further, although not hypothesized, congruence is stronger in the image based similarity pairing than in the functional based combination, F(l,164)=60.41; p <.0001. Results using the holistic congruence measures adapted from Sirgy et al. (1997) provide consistent results. Under the holistic congruence measure, both image and func- tional event brand pairings are more congruent than the no similarity event-brand pairing. However, counter to the absolute difference measure, the holistic measure indicates transfer is higher in the functional similarity condition than in the image similarity condi- tion. As such, hypotheses 2a and 2b are supported. Discussion The image transfer process. The test of Hypothesis One indicates a transfer of image as evidenced by the majority of the personality congruence scores. Impli- cations related to the image transfer findings fall on both sides of the sponsorship arrangement. First, on the product side, brand managers should be cogni- zant of the event's image when deciding upon the allocation of sponsorship dollars. Our results suggest D o w n l o a d e d
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The Journal ofAdvertising Table 3 Summary of Image Congruence Means and Image Transfer Strength Adjective Measure! Holistic MeasureP Image Functional No Image Functional No Similarity Similarity Similarity Similarity Similarity Similarity "Yes Sponsorship3 14.2 20.3 34.3 3.3 2.7 6.4 No Sponsorship:' 18.6 22.5 31.9 4.2 3.3 5.9 !Sum of the absolute differences between the ten corresponding adjectives In each event-brand pairing, lower numbers indicate greater con- gruencellmage transfer. 2 SIngleItem measure of congruence based on respondent's own adjectives, lower numbers Indicate greater congruence/lmage transfer. :!Means are significantly different between sponsorship treatment levels (p<.05), except for the "no similarity" adjectlve based measure. that brand positioning goals may be partially accom- plished through event sponsorship. However, the po- tential to transfer an image inconsistent with posi- tioning goals also exists. This implies that before en- tering into sponsorship arrangements firms would be advised to take a proactive role in measuring their target consumers' event image perceptions in order to confirm that the event's image is consistent with the firm's brand positioning goals. On the event side of the sponsorship arrangement, the image transfer findings suggest that an opportunity exists for event managers to differentiate their events based on the image they convey. As such, an event management team looking to attract new product sponsors or en- hance the value for existing sponsors might provide empirical evidence showing the various dimensions of their event's image that could be used to enhance or maintain the image of the potential sponsor. In- deed, cultivatinga particular image may allowthe event to demand an added premium from sponsoring firms. Of particular interest are the results found in con- junction with the no similarity event-brand pairing in both the adjective based and holistic measures. Although only significantly different in the holistic measure, the means in both cases were the reverse of the hypothesized direction for this condition. That is, there is a higher congruence mean in the "no sponsor- ship" treatment than in the ''yes sponsorship" treat- ment for the advertisement depicting Camel cigarettes sponsoring the World Cup Soccer Championship. We speculate that this is an artifact of the type of product used to operationalize the no similarity condition. Our manipulation may have inadvertently represented dis-similarity (i.e., the healthy image of sport contrasted with the unhealthy image of cigarettes) rather than simply a neutral/no similarity condition. There is evidence to suggest that consumers with strong product schemas (i.e., elaborate amounts of interconnected product knowledge) will be less impacted by discrepant information than those with weak product schemas (Peracchio and Tybout 1996). That is, for those with strong product schemas, new information that is incongruent with existing knowledge is distorted and discounted so as not to upset the existing schema (Crocker, Fiske and Taylor 1984). Perhaps a similar phenomenon is at work in our pairing of Camel cigarettes and the World Cup Soccer Championship. In their work examining the effect of new information on attitude change, Sherif and Hovland (1961) found that in the case ofextremely discrepant information, attitude changes often occurred in the opposite direction as that advocated by the discrepant communication (e.g., someone with a positive attitude toward a product is exposed to extremely negative information about the product and their product attitude becomes even more positive). In these cases the extremely discrepant product information may be viewed as highly biased, and thus individuals are apt to overcompensate with regard to their attitude toward that product. While the research in this area examines attitude change as opposed to image transfer, their findings are similar to the pattern displayed by our holistic congruence measure. That is, with respect to the no similarity condition (perhaps more appropriately named dis-similarity), not only is event-brand congruence not higher in the sponsorship condition, it is actually significantly lower. Perhaps those exposed to the cigarette-soccer pairing in the sponsorship condition found the notion so incongruent that they pushed the images apart in their minds. Event and brand match-up. Our results extend the match-up hypothesis popularized in the celebrity en- dorsement literature to an event sponsorship con- text. The support of hypotheses 2a and 2b suggests that firms can leverage their sponsorship dollars, in terms of image transfer, by selecting events based on image or functional similarity. While there may be times when other promotional objectives (e.g., brand D o w n l o a d e d
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Winter 1999 awareness) are the overriding goal, recent research has begun to document the importance of image re- lated objectives to corporate sponsors (Abratt, Clayton and Pitt 1987; Hoek, Gendall and Sanders 1993; Irwin and Sutton 1994). Indeed, in their framework for evaluating the attractiveness of sponsorship opportu- nities, Irwin and Asimakopoulos (1992) describe im- age association as one of the six primary sport spon- sorship objectives. The point is that if image transfer is of concern, then event selection should be made with degree of similarity in mind. To enhance the strength of image transfer in cases of event sponsor- ship, it seems plausible that the marketing manager may wish to alter the communication regarding the product prior to the event, to be more congruent (on either a functional or image basis) with the image of the event. For example, a flurry of advertising linking the attributes of the event with the advertised product. Our findings indicate that if the match between the event and product can be made stronger, then the re- sulting image transfer will be more pronounced. Limitations and Directions for Future Research The results of this study should be considered in light of several constraints. First, due to concerns over our subjects' available time, we conducted this experiment using one event-brand pairing per simi- larity type and a single exposure to the sponsorship stimuli. Other studies may wish to develop research designs allowing for a more robust treatment of the similarity condition utilizing multiple sponsorship ties. Although some experimental control may be lost, a field experiment at an actual sporting event would provide a context in which multiple brands coupled with the dynamic environment of a realistic event could be studied. Further, a field study would be able to incorporate other elements that are difficult to create in a "lab" setting (e.g., the influence of other spectators and the "secondary" nature of the sponsor- ship association versus the "primary" concern of the event itself). Second, our use of a student sample should be expanded to include non-student respon- dents. For example, future studies might explore how different ''types" of fans experience the image trans- fer process. Given the increasing amount of research on sports-fan team identification (e.g., Fisher and Wakefield 1998; Mael and Ashforth 1992; Wann and Branscombe 1995; Wann and Dolan 1994), it would be interesting to test for differences on sponsorship issues (e.g., image transfer, sponsor recall, sponsor patronage, etc.) between high identified and lowiden- 6S tified sports fans. A third issue is our use of different sets of instructions in the "yes" and "no" sponsorship conditions, as well as the use of photos only in the ''yes'' sponsorship condition. Given our research de- sign, we are unable to assess the influence, if any, that these differences between conditions may have had on the dependent variables above and beyond establishing the event-brand linkage. Finally, we ex- amined image congruence after the exposure to spon- sorship stimuli. Thus, we assumed-rather than tested-the direction of the image transfer. Accord- ingly, it is possible that the image transfer occurs from the brand to the event rather than from the event to the brand. Examining the direction of the image flow and under what conditions it might be switched represents a fruitful future research direc- tion. The use of known versus unknown brands might be instrumental in understanding these effects (Tripp, Jensen and Carlson 1994). Another interesting issue surrounding image trans- fer and related to degree of similarity is that of con- flicting images among multiple sponsorships. It is not uncommon for firms to engage in multiple spon- sorship relationships over the course of any given year (Farrelly, Quester and Burton 1997). It may be insightful to consider the effect to a consumer's brand schema when a brand sponsors multiple events with conflicting images. Would the image transfer cancel out? Would the most recent image have the larger impact? Here schema theory may prove useful for providing insight. As discussed, discrepant informa- tion is less likely to lead to schema change because it is often discounted by the individual. However, a brand associated with multiple events, each having a differ- ent and discrepant meaning, might lend credence to the discrepant information, or at least call into ques- tion the existing schema. Alternatively, social adap- tation theory would suggest that discrepant event associations would, presumably, not be effective sources of information and, therefore, would not fa- cilitate adaptation to environmental conditions (Kahle and Homer 1985). In contrast, it may be possible for a firm to positively leverage the image transfer by spon- soring multiple events with consistent images. Of course, the sponsorship of two (or more) events with conflicting images only becomes an issue when a given targeted consumer group is aware of both sponsor- ship ties. Still, within a single event it may be possible to have conflicting similarity types (i.e., functional and image based). For example, an interesting future re- search question couldaddress howimage transfer might be affected when an event-product pairing is high in functional similarity, but low in image similarity (and D o w n l o a d e d
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68 vice versa). Additionally, will image transfer be en- hanced when both types of similarity are present (and consistent) in the sponsorship arrangement? Arelated issue is the impact of multiple sponsors of a given event. Gwinner (1997) suggests that the trans- fer of an event's image to a sponsoring brand will be moderated by the exclusiveness of the sponsorship arrangement as measured by the number of other sponsors and the level of the sponsorship. He sug- gests transfer will be less in instances of multiple sponsors and lower sponsorship levels (e.g., title spon- sor versus perimeter fence signage). This is consis- tent with recent research in the celebrity endorser literature which has found that the number of prod- ucts endorsed by a celebrity is negatively related to endorser credibility, likability and attitude toward the ad (Tripp, Jensen and Carlson 1994). 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