Managing a sponsored brand

AbstractThe congruence or fit between a sponsored brand and sponsoring firm is a central tenet of sponsorship research. The influence of such congruence on the sponsored brand however, has received scant attention. This question is important because the strength of a sponsored organisation's brand equity is the basis for many sponsorship alliances. The two experiments undertaken in this paper empirically evaluate the dynamic effect sponsor portfolio congruence has on perceptions of the sponsored organisation's brand equity. The results of Study 1 indicate sponsor incongruence is particularly detrimental to the brand equity of the sponsored organisation at the title sponsor level. Study 2 shows this adverse effect can be attenuated by increasing the number of congruent sponsors at the presenting level. The second study also provides support for nationality as a salient congruence dimension in an international sporting context. Implications of these findings are discussed. Additional informationNotes on contributorsMark D. GrozaMark D. Groza is completing his doctoral degree requirements at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He will be joining the faculty at Northern Illinois University in the fall of 2012 as an Assistant Professor of Marketing. His current research interests include corporate sponsorship, personal selling and sales force management. His work has been published in the Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Business Ethics and Managerial and Decision Economics.Joe CobbsJoe Cobbs is an Assistant Professor in the Haile/US Bank College of Business at Northern Kentucky University. He earned his PhD from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His research focused on corporate sponsorship and organisational rivalry has been published in various international outlets such as the Journal of Advertising Research and the Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing.Tobias SchaefersTobias Schaefers is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Automotive Institute for Management (AIM) at EBS Business School, Germany. His current research focuses on consumer behaviour in non-ownership services, interactive marketing, and sponsoring.