Building contemporary brands: a sponsorship-based strategy

Building contemporary brands: a sponsorship-based strategy

Cliffe SJ, Motion JJournal of Business Research, (USA), Aug 2005 Vol 58 No 8, Start page: 1068, No of pages: 10

Purpose – To investigate how sponsorship can contribute to a brand strategy. Design/methodology/approach – Focuses on the role of commercial sponsorship in brand strategy. Reviews existing literature on extending the brand experience through sponsorship and asks what strategic options and advantages brings to brand strategy and how it can be implemented to achieve specific objectives. Adopts a case study approach, examining the sponsorship activities of Vodafone New Zealand, a mobile telecommunications organization. Discusses the leveraging of sponsorship properties for three stakeholder groups:consumers, employees and corporate stakeholders. Findings – States that Vodafone adopted a portfolio of sponsorships to achieve brand awareness, image,experience and loyalty objectives. Provides a schematic diagram illustrating the sponsorship-brand strategy framework and compares actual and desired brand image. Explains how the sponsorship portfolio links brand image or personality,awareness, loyalty and goodwill to fringe activities, mass appeal events,manufactured events and community-based sponsorships respectively. Practical implications – Provides some detail on Vodafone’s rationale for specific sponsorship activities. Originality/value – Argues that sponsorship provides a method for brands to build meaningful and value-adding experiences and represents a significant marketing communications strategy.Classification(s): Marketing and Logistics – Promotion; Premier Management;Marketing Style: Case studyISSN: 0148-2963

Keywords: Sponsorship, Brand management, Marketing communications,Marketing strategy, Vodafone