Attitudinal Effects of Event- Marketing and Event-Sponsorship: A Comparison

Transcription

1 Attitudinal Effects of Event- Marketing and Event-Sponsorship: A Comparison Gunnar Mau, Kerstin Weihe, and Günter Silberer Institute of Marketing and Retailing, Germany Use of Events in Marketing Communication Growing role of events in marketing activities Idea of marketing events: special form of communication between brand and consumer Use of events in marketing communication Communication with an event: to pick up an event and use it as a topic in an advertising campaign / point-of-sale-promotion Communication at an event: to arrange communication activities at an event to be engaged in the event to use an event as a platform for presentation of a brand two different communication tools: event-marketing vs. event-sponsorship 2

2 Definition of Event-Marketing and Event-Sponsorship Event-Marketing Planning, arrangement, realization and post processing of events by a commercial organization in order to achieve marketing objectives Company functions as the organizer of an event: arrangement and organization of the event-program Presentation of communication activities at the event Event-Sponsorship Provision of assistance either financial or in-kind to an activity (e.g. sport, musical event by a commercial organization for the purpose of achieving commercial objectives Idea of exchange theory: being associated with the event in exchange for the assistance given by the sponsor Arranging communication activities at the event 3 Event-Marketing and Event-Sponsorship: Similarities and Differences Similarities Usage of an event as platform for presentation of the brands Economic/Commercial purpose Similar Objectives: Attitudinal Effects Stabilization and/or increase of brand awareness Sales responses Media Coverage Similar communication activities for the presentation of the brand: Information/Sales booth Presentation of the product/logo (e.g. perimeter advertising, flags, logos on the program, tickets or filed, announcements Hospitality Activities Similar target groups 4

3 Event-Marketing and Event-Sponsorship: Similarities and Differences Differences In the case of event-marketing the company functions as the organizer Responsible for the event-topic Initiator: Responsible for the event-program: They are part of the program No regulations concerning the performance of their brand and communication activities Close bonding between the event and the organizer s brand In the case of event-sponsorship the company is engaged in the event as a contractual partner Sponsorship arrangements defines the framework for the presence of the sponsor Regulations concerning the arrangement and extent of the communication activities Competition with other sponsors The sponsor only plays a minor part in the event program 5 Prior Research: Attitude Formation Empirical Studies concerning Event-Marketing (Examples given Drengner (2004: event as an influencing factor of attitude towards the brand. Explanation: ELM Event-rand-Fit as another influencing factor of attitude towards the brand Lasslop (2003: ased on the theoretical work of attitude-towards-the-ad-research he postulated and confirmed an influence of attitude towards the event on attitude towards the brand Empirical Studies concerning Event-Sponsorship (Examples given Gwinner and Eaton (1999: Adoption of the idea of celebrity endorsement process: Transfer of associations between event and brand. Transfer process is influenced by the perceived similarity between event and brand Grohs, Wagner & Vstecka (2004: Event-Image as a (minor influencing factor of brand image. Image transfer is dependent on perceived similarity and sponsorship leverage 6

4 Conceptual Framework and Hypothesis brand is determined by attitude towards the event Evaluation of the communication activities at the event influences brand attitudes communication activity is dependent on attitude towards the event asic model of attitude formation in the context of marketing events H 3 H 1 : A more positive attitude toward the event evokes a more positive attitude towards the brand. H 2 H 2 : A more positive attitude towards the communication activity evokes a more positive attitude toward the brand. H 1 H 3 : A more positive attitude towards the event evokes a more positive attitude toward the communication activity 7 Conceptual Framework and Hypothesis Closer connection between event and brand of the organizer compared to a sponsor s brand H 4 : Visitors of an event perceive a higher event-brand-fit for the organizer s brand than for the sponsor s brand. ased on the difference in the event-brand-fit our basic model of attitude formation works differently for event-marketing and for event-sponsorship Event-Marketing: Dominance of the direct path of attitude formation Event-Sponsorship: Stronger influence of attitude towards the communication activity H 5 : Compared to event-sponsorship, in the case of event-marketing attitude towards the event has a higher influence on attitude towards the brand. 8

5 Empirical Study: Procedure and Measures Constructs were recorded via personal statements on paper-pencil questionnaires Pre questionnaire: age, gender, involvement n = 345 Post questionnaire: attitudes towards the brands of two main sponsors and the organizer of the event n = 117 (33.9 % 31 incomplete final total of n = 86 Age: M = 34.7 years (SD = 15.8 Gender: 74.4 % females Most participants found filling out the questionnaires to be non-disruptive Attitude Measures: A E and A : semantic differential composed of 11 unipolar Items (very good reliabilty measures A AD : Single item (good/bad 9 Empirical Study: Results Hypothesis 1, 2, 3: ivariate Correlations; Regression Analysis Sponsor (1 Sponsor (2.38***.25*.30**.46***.40***.51***.76***.35**.23* Regression Analysis to predict rand Sponsor (1 Sponsor (2 (SE (SE (SE A E *** * NS A AD ** ** *** adj. R 2.598***.206***.246*** 10

6 Empirical Study: Results Hypothesis 4 The event-brand-fit is significant higher in the case of event-marketing than in the case of event-sponsorship 5,4 5,29 5,2 5 *** 4,97 4,8 4,6 4,4 *** 4,47 4,2 4 Sponsor (1 Sponsor (2 Hypothesis 5 Standardized regression coefficients as a first sign for the stronger influence of attitude towards the event in the case event-marekting Inference statistical analysis of the bivariate correlation coeffizients support this assumption 11 Empirical Study: Results Hypothesis 1, 2, 3: ivariate Correlations; Regression Analysis Sponsor (1 Sponsor (2.38***.25*.30**.46***.40***.51***.76***.35**.23* Sponsor (1 Sponsor (2 (SE (SE (SE A E *** * NS A AD ** ** *** adj. R 2.598***.206***.246*** 12

7 Discussion Companies can participate at an marketing event via two different communication tools: event-marketing and event-sponsorship For both communication tools attitude formation occurs through two different ways: directly and indirectly Our results demonstrate two main differences between event-marketing and event-sponsorship: (A For the organizer a closer bondery between the brand and the event is possible compared to a sponsor the close connection becomes obvious ( The two communication tools influence brand attitudes in different ways 13