Visual Congruity in Jersey Sponsorship: The Effect of Created Brand-Color Congruity on Attitude toward Sponsor

Abstract

Despite its rapid growth and the forecast for its ubiquity, an academic investigation into jersey sponsorship is still limited. More importantly, although jersey sponsors today create visual congruity by modifying their logo colors on the jerseys to match the team colors, its role and impact remain unexplored. Thus, the current research examined the effect of created brand-color congruity on attitude toward the sponsor, paying particular attention to perceived sponsor support and team identification. Three experiments across two different league settings showed that created brand-color congruity was a significant predictor for both favorable sponsor attitudes and perceived sponsor support at all levels of team identification. Perceived sponsor support also positively influenced attitudes, confirming the indirect effect of created brand-color congruity. The findings provide theoretical and practical contributions to the marketing and sponsorship literature by signifying the importance of created visual congruity using brand colors.