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J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. (2012) 40:807820 DOI 10.1007/s11747-011-0285-y
ORIGINAL EMPIRICAL RESEARCH
Achieving brand loyalty through sponsorship: the role of fit and self-congruity
Marc Mazodier & Dwight Merunka
Received: 20 February 2011 /Accepted: 22 August 2011 /Published online: 10 September 2011 # Academy of Marketing Science 2011
Abstract Managers increasingly seek to develop brand loyalty through sponsorship activities, though this relationship has not been solidly established. This article models and demonstrates the impact of sponsorship on brand loyalty. The studied concepts and relationships emerge from both the sponsorship and consumer-brand relationship literature. The experimental design relies on before and after measurements and multiple exposures to the sponsorship. Thus this study demonstrates that sponsorship exposure has a positive impact on brand affect, brand trust, and brand loyalty. The change in brand loyalty from before to after sponsorship exposure reflects two persuasion processes. First, self-congruity with an event enhances brand loyalty through event and brand affect. Second, perceived fit between the event and the brand has a positive effect on brand affect, through attitude toward the sponsorship, and on brand trust, such that it ultimately influences brand loyalty. Brand affect is identified as an important mediator of sponsorship effects.
Keywords Sponsorship . Brand loyalty. Brand affect .
Brand trust . Self-congruity. Fit
The worldwide sponsorship market was valued at $46.3 billion in 2010, when total spending by U.S. and Canadian
companies hit $17.2 billion, up from the $14.91 billion in 2007. The range of sponsored activities has increased steadily, though sports remains the most important area, garnering 68% of total spending (International Events Group 2010). The increase in sponsorship activities reflects the growing awareness that developing a brand through associations with an event may build brand equity more effectively than can traditional marketing communications, such as advertising (Keller 2003). Corporations thus seek to increase brand equity and revenues by building brand awareness, brand image, and brand loyalty. However, whereas the influence of sponsorship activities on brand awareness and brand image is relatively well established, their effects on brand loyalty remain uncertain. With this study, we therefore outline and explain the impact of sponsorship on an ultimate communication objective, namely, brand loyalty. Our focus is on sponsorship effects specifically, not on a comparison of sponsorship and...