Make It Count: Examining Outcomes of Activation and Advertising-Like Event Sponsorship

Empirical investigations on an effective sport event sponsorship format have remained sparse. The purpose of this research is to compare the outcomes of activation and advertising-like event sponsorship, explaining the factors that drive change in sponsor brand attitudes among event attendees. We propose that 1) activation should lead to a significantly stronger increase of sponsorship perceptions and sponsor brand attitudes than advertising-like sponsorship, 2) changes in sponsorship perceptions should influence changes in sponsor brand attitudes, and 3) self-congruity with the sponsor should play a mediator role in the relationship between consumers’ sponsorship perceptions and attitudes toward sponsor. To test our assumptions, we conducted a field experiment at an international sport event with two waves of surveys (before/after the event). We compare longitudinal changes in sponsor-event fit, sponsorship authenticity, sponsor brand attitude, and self-congruity with the sponsor for two brands: one pursuing activation and the other one pursuing advertising-like sponsorship. Hypotheses were tested using paired samples t-tests and partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings reveal that for activating sponsor, improvements in sponsorship perceptions were significantly stronger and explained more variance in changes of sponsor brand attitudes. Self-congruity with the sponsor was a mediator between sponsorship perceptions and sponsor brand attitudes. The study contributes to event sponsorship literature by longitudinally demonstrating that activation is more effective than advertising-like sponsorship in brand promotions and highlights the mediating role of self-congruity in the relationship between sponsorship inferences and sponsor brand outcomes.