MASTER'S THESIS. Strategic Assessment of Sport Sponsorship as a Marketing Communication Tool in Electronic Industries of Iran

Transcription

1 MASTER'S THESIS 2007:007 Strategic Assessment of Sport Sponsorship as a Marketing Communication Tool in Electronic Industries of Iran Case Studies of Electronic Companies Alireza Faed Luleå University of Technology Master Thesis, Continuation Courses Marketing and e-commerce Department of Business Administration and Social Sciences Division of Industrial marketing and e-commerce 2007:007 - ISSN: ISRN: LTU-PB-EX--07/007--SE

2 Strategic Assessment of Sport Sponsorship as a Marketing Communication Tool in Electronic Industries of Iran Case Studies of Electronic Companies Supervisors: Dr.S.K.Chaharsooghi Dr. Pete Naude Referee: Dr.Zegordi Prepared by: Alireza Faed Tarbiat Modares University Faculty of Engineering Department of Industrial Engineering Lulea University of Technology Division of Industrial Marketing and E-Commerce MSc PROGRAM IN MARKETING AND ELECTRONIC COMMERCE Joint 2006

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4 Strategic Assessment of Sport Sponsorship as a Marketing Communication Tool in electronic Industries of Iran Supervisors: Dr.S.K.Chaharsooghi Dr. Pete Naude Referee: Dr.Zegordi Prepared by: Alireza Faed Tarbiat Modares University Faculty of Engineering Department Industrial Engineering Lulea University of Technology Division of Industrial Marketing and E-Commerce MSc PROGRAM IN MARKETING AND ELECTRONIC COMMERCE Joint 2006

5 Abstract: In today's business climate, as the marketing processes among companies are getting more complicated and tougher, the companies have to introduce themselves and their brands in a way to compete with other competitors, so the companies must be creative when communicating their message and familiar with all marketing techniques in order to publicize their brands. The purpose of this research is to achieve a better understanding of how and why companies in the electronic industry get involve in sports sponsorship, also the thesis describes the varieties of objectives when involving in sports sponsorship also the process of sports selection as well as the evaluation approaches that are related to the electronic brands, followed by advantages and disadvantages involve in sponsoring of sports will be discussed. In order to reach the purpose I have chosen four research questions to find those materials that I have already mentioned and to answer the research questions three qualitative case studies have been conducted. The sample companies are Iranian (Pars electric) and two internationals (Samsung & LG) which are active in electronic industry. This research clearly show that the most common objectives electronic brands sponsoring sports are image making, public awareness and create and increase the brand's visibility and publicity and to reach a specific target market. Also image association and the popularity of sports are two outstanding criterions for sports selection; moreover there are some ways to measure the effectiveness of sports sponsorship. Ultimately the research will show the advantages and disadvantages involve in sports sponsorship. Key words: Marketing / Sport Marketing / Event Marketing / Sponsorship / Sport Sponsorship

6 Acknowledgement The work with this dissertation has been extensive and trying, but in the first place exciting and instructive. Without help, support, and encouragement from several persons, I would never have been able to finish this work. First of all, I would like to thank my supervisors Dr Chaharsooghi at Tarbiat Modares University in Tehran and Prof Pete Naude at Lulea university of Technology in Sweden, for their inspiration, encouragement and advice, and their invaluable comments during the whole work with this thesis. Further, I would like to express my appreciation to the respondents from Samsung, LG and Pars Electrics who allocate their time to be interviewed and kindly answered my questionnaires. My deepest gratitude to my adorable parents for their enormous support and encouragement during my entire education and this thesis as well. Also I appreciate my brother for all his help. Moreover, I would like to thank my fiancée for her patience and understanding during this hard time. Tehran, Tarbiat Modares university, 2006 Jan Alireza Faed

7 Table of content Chapter 1 Introduction Introduction Background The history of sponsorship Event marketing Sport marketing Sport sponsorship Sponsorship Problem definition Novelty Research question Demarcations Outline of thesis Summary...18 Chapter 2- Literature Review Introduction to the literature review Objective with sponsorship Sponsorship selection process Evaluation of Sponsorship: How to measure the effects of sponsorship involvement? When to evaluate the sponsorship effectiveness? Sponsorship Evaluation Processes Previous Studies on Sponsorship Decision Making Sponsorship opportunities Advantages and disadvantages of sponsorship: Advantages of sponsorship: Disadvantages of sponsorship: Conceptual Framework Summary...53 Chapter 3- Methodology Introduction to the chapter Research Purpose Research Approach Inductive versus Deductive Research Quantitative versus Qualitative Research Research Strategy Data Collection Method Sample Selection Data Analysis Quality Standards Construct Validity External Validity Internal validity Reliability Summary...71

8 Chapter4-Empirical Data, Analysis and Cross-Case Analysis Case 1- Pars Electric Company Background Pars Electronics' objective with sports sponsorship Pars Electric s sports sponsorship selection Pars Electric s Evaluation of sports sponsorship Pars Electric Advantages / Disadvantages of sponsoring sports Case 2 SAMSUNG Company back ground Samsung s objective with sports sponsorship SAMSUNG S Sport Selection SAMSUNG S Sport Sponsorship Evaluation: Samsung s perceived advantages / Disadvantages of sport sponsorship Case 3- LG Background LG's objectives with sport sponsorship LG's sport sponsorship selection: LG's Evaluation of sport sponsorship LG's perceived Advantages / Disadvantages of sports sponsorship Analysis Within Case Analysis- PARS ELECTRIC Objectives with sports sponsorship Sport Sponsorship Selection Pars Electric Evaluation of sport sponsorship Advantages and Disadvantages of sport sponsorship Within Case analysis- SAMSUNG Objectives with sports sponsorship Sport sponsorship selection Evaluation of sports sponsorship Perceived advantages and Disadvantages of sport sponsorship Within Case-Analysis-LG Objectives with sports sponsorship Sport sponsorship selection Evaluation of Sport Sponsorship Perceived Advantages and disadvantages of sports sponsorship Cross-Case Analysis Objectives with Sport sponsorship Sport Sponsorship Selection Evaluation of Sports Sponsorship Advantages and Disadvantages of sport sponsorship SWOT Analysis Achieved in sport sponsorship in our selected samples Summary...114

9 Chapter 5- Findings and Conclusions General Conclusion What are the objectives of Electronic companies, in sports sponsorship involvements? How can the companies in Electronic industry define the selecting process? How can the electronic companies, evaluate their sports sponsorship? How do companies, in sports sponsorship activities, perceive and describe the advantages and disadvantages? Implications: Implication for management Implication for the theory Implication for further research References Appendix (English Version) Appendix (Persian Version)...125

10 List of tables Table 2.1.aggregated objectives for corporations in sport sponsorship...21 Table 2.2.Emerged frame of reference Table 3.1. Relevant Situations for Different Research Strategies...59 Table 3.2. Six Sources of Evidence: Strengths and Weaknesses...62 Table 3.3.Case Study Tactics for Four Design Tests...69 Table 4.1. Pars Electric Objectives with sports sponsorship...86 Table 4.2. Pars electric Sport Sponsorship Selection...87 Table 4.3.Pars Electric Evaluation of sport sponsorship...87 Table 4.4. Pars Electric Advantages and Disadvantages of sport sponsorship...90 Table 4.5. SAMSUNG Objectives with sports sponsorship Table 4.6. SAMSUNG Sport sponsorship selection...94 Table 4.7. SAMSUNG Evaluation of sports sponsorship...95 Table 4.8. SAMSUNG advantages and Disadvantages of sport sponsorship...97 Table 4.9. LG Objectives with sports sponsorship Table LG Sport sponsorship selection Table LG Evaluation of Sport Sponsorship Table LG Advantages and disadvantages of sports sponsorship Table Data displays of the objectives with sports sponsorship Table Data display of sport sponsorship selection Table Data displays of sponsoring sports measurements Table Data displaying when to evaluate the sponsoring of sport Table Data displaying the Advantages and Disadvantages of Sports Sponsorship Table Data displaying Disadvantages of sports sponsorship

11 List of figures Figure1.1.The role of Sponsorship in the promotion mix 15 Figure2.1. Framework for the evaluation of sport sponsorship...33 Figure3.1.Schematic presentation of the methodology 55 Figure3.2. Graphical summary of research methodology...72

12 Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1. Introduction In this first chapter, a background to the research area is presented, followed by a discussion about the history of sponsorship and after that description of event marketing, sport marketing and sport sponsorship and other definitions of sponsorship itself, and thereafter focusing on problem definition and research purpose jointly with research questions. At the end the demarcations of this research are presented, followed by an outline of the research. 1

13 1.2. Background In modern marketing, companies and their brands are competing heavily to hold existing and to gain new market shares. In order to do this, marketing communication is of high importance. (Brassington -Pettit 2000). The increased globalization has made the marketing mix a necessary factor for companies to become successful or even to stay in business (hollensen, 2003). The marketing mix consists of four components: price, place, product and promotion.the promotion element is often recognized as a tool which marketers use to communicate with their specific target market(s). (Jobber, 2001) according to Vignali(1997),promotion was formerly comprised of advertising, public relation and sales promotion. However, as sponsorship has increased in importance, it is now included as an element of the promotion mix (ibid). It is important to keep the elements in the promotion mix apart, since they are considerably different. One difference between sponsorship and advertising is for example that sponsorship is an indirect promotional tool and viewed as bringing benefits to society, while advertising by contrast is a more direct and forceful communication tool, perceived as beneficial to the company itself. (Meenaghan, 2001b)Lardinoit and derbaix (2001) further claim that there is an increased belief that sponsorship is becoming substitute for traditional advertising. In the past, companies sponsorship as an obligation toward the community. Sponsorship was associated with charitable donations and public relation opportunities (Gwinner, 1997). Today,however, companies perceive sponsorship as a marketing communication tool, intended to increase the brand and service image of the company(madrigal,2001).the definition of sponsorship as perceived by Meenaghan (1983) is ''the provision of assistance either financial or in-kind an activity by a commercial organization for the purpose of achieving commercial objectives". According to O'Sullivan and Murphy (1998), the growth of commercial sponsorship has faced the fastest development in marketing communication during the last two decades. The outstanding growth of perceived sponsorship effectiveness has 2

14 resulted in increased investments in sponsorship activities among companies all around the world (Meenaghan, 2001a). The worldwide sponsorship expenditure increased from us$2 billion in 1984 to us$23.16 billion in 1999 (Meenaghan, 2001b). According to Meenaghan (1991), the noteworthy growth is a result of increased leisure activities, greater media coverage of sponsored events, as well as governmental policies regarding the advertising of alcohol and tobacco brands. These firms were,the first firms obliged to use sponsorship as a new promotional tool,,because of the restrictions (Ibid).The activities included in sponsorship today are mainly musical events,arts,festivals, and sports (Gwinner, 1997).However,the sports sponsorship dominates the sponsorship activities, and in 1999 sport sponsorship amounted to about 67 percent of the total sponsorship spending of companies (Mullin, Hardy and Sutton, 2000). Sport sponsorship has become an effective marketing strategy for many corporations and an equally effective revenue producer for sport organizations during the last decade. Increased competition has created a need for businesses to find ways to differentiate their products and services from the growing number of advertisers in the market place, and to get more return for their promotional dollars (O'Neal, Finch, Hamilton, & Hammonds, 1987). There are many other reasons why businesses decide to sponsor sport, such as to: (a) demonstrate good citizenship; (b) demonstrate interest in the community; generate visibility for products and services; and, (d) generate favorable media interest and publicity (Wilkinson as cited in Ensor, 1987, p.40). Through increased visibility of the company and its products or services via sport sponsorship, most businesses anticipate, and many expect, increased product/service consumption (Turco, 1994). Some corporations believe that sponsorships are relatively inexpensive compared to other advertising mediums. Sport sponsorships allow businesses to distinguish themselves from the overabundance of advertisers prevalent in other forms of advertising (O'Neal, Finch, Hamilton, & Hammonds, 1987). Increasing market competition and rising costs of traditional advertising mediums also have aided in the shift to sport sponsorship. "Advertisers are aiming to get more bang for their marketing bucks by sponsoring an event itself, rather than just buying 30 seconds of air time during a sports show" (Cook, Melcher, & Welling, 1987, p. 48). The 3

15 International Events Group projected that North American corporations would spend $3.54 billion on sports marketing in (IEG, 1995). As the popularity of sport sponsorship has increased, so have the number of sponsorship proposals. Some companies are presented with over 100 sport sponsorship proposals annually (Shelton, 1991). The shift in advertising from traditional mediums to sport sponsorship, coupled with the increased number of sponsorship requests, has made it necessary for corporations to develop a sponsorship evaluation process The history of sponsorship 1600-The era of patronage Sponsorship in this era was not sponsored in its modern day sense, as individuals, not companies, sponsored artists. However they did expect a return on investment, such as support from their subjects. In the Roman period, patronage of the arts was in the hands of the rulers and the army commanders. Later the central role was played by the church, statesman and the aristocratic patrons. Shakespeare created his royal theatre group, the roman popes and other church dignitaries were clients or supporters of artists such as Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. The Medici family in Florence and the Sforci family in Milan are among the most famous families of the time who encouraged the arts through their patronage The advent of advertising Once again sponsorship during this period was not sponsorship as we know itonly the benefit of exposure was offered through advertising. However it was a necessary step in the development of modern-day sponsorship, and as everyone knows it still thrives today in the media world. Important first step: In 1631 a French 4

16 newspaper ran a classified ad; in 1704 a Boston newspaper printed a display advertisement The early pioneers The Eveready Hours was the first sponsored radio program in 1924.Motor sport, golf, and tennis were the forerunners of modern day sponsorship. Cigarette, alcohol and automobile companies became the first to sponsor events. Firestone and Bosch have been sponsors of the Indianapolis 500 since The Era of development Although many event managers refused to accept corporate sponsorship, motor sports, golf and tennis and their sponsors continued to build on the relationship However most sponsorship in this era was provided because sponsors could get free exposure on TV or were afforded hospitality opportunity or because the CEO wanted play golf with Arnold Palmer The sponsorship explosion Faced with the situation of very few government funding sources, Peter Ueberroth sold more than $400 million worth of sponsorship for the Los Angeles Olympic Games. That led to an explosion of sponsorship marketing. Companies found that they could increase sales through sponsorship, and many event managers forgot the notion that their events could be tainted. They increased their sponsorship levels dramatically and approximately 40,000 events were created in the next ten years because of sponsorship funding. 1990s-The era of added value When the explosion hit in 1984 most sponsors were still happy if they received only signage and hospitality opportunities. In this era sponsors became more sophisticated. Things like business to business (B2B) opportunities, measured results 5

17 and sales, activation and providing incentives became increasingly important. Hospitality and mentions in connection with an event were still vital, but more value was desired Present-The technological era Just as technology has affected all other areas of society, it has had a great impact on events. Website sponsorship partners are starting to become commonplace Event marketing One of the new elements is event marketing, a marketing discipline that is expanding rapidly. For example the growth of event marketing in United States today, is three times greater than the growth of advertising (Eriksson 2000). Event marketing is an approach to cooperate the communication around an own created or sponsored event. In event marketing the event is an activity that gathers target groups in time and space: A meeting in which an experience is created and a message communicated. (Behrer and Larsson 1998) The concept of event marketing is relatively new in marketing theory, and seems to originate from the sponsoring industry. Event marketing can be used in both B2B and B2C.The conception of event marketing had its major breakthrough at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. The organizers of the Olympic Games took the initiative took the initiative to offer the sponsors a greater use of their sponsoring of the Olympic Games. Contracts were signed which specified the type of exposure the sponsors were to enjoy based on the amount of monetary contribution, as well as to what extend the sponsors could use the event in their marketing communication as a whole. To understand the difference between the new types of sponsoring from the old, more philanthropic charity from companies, the concept of event marketing was created (Behrer-Larsson 1998).When a firm sponsors a sports event or supports a charity with its resources it is attempting to increase the perceived value of the sponsor's brand in consumer's mind. Furthermore, when sponsoring sport event, the company reaches two potential markets, the participant and the spectator. (Wells, Bernett & Moriaty, 2000) 6

18 1.5. Sport marketing The early beginning of sports marketing date back to ancient Rome, when Roman patriarchs sponsored gladiatorial games for the same reason today's companies do to win public esteem (Shannon, 1999).Sports marketing gained a considerable exposure growth in 1971, when the US government banned cigarette advertising on TV and Radio. Sports marketing, particularly sponsorship of auto racing and tennis, presented a means of keeping cigarette brand names in front of the spectators and television viewers through broadcasted coverage of sponsored events. (Shannon, 1999). The augmented attention put on sports has continued this focus of sport as big business. With payrolls in multi million dollar ranges, newer and more extravagant facilities, as well as the cost of sport franchises escalating up to hundreds of millions of dollars, sport is undoubtedly a true business venture. (Shannon, 1999) Sport marketing can be categorized in a number of different manners; according to Shannon (1999) the simplest classification is to break the concept into two categories. The first category is marketing of sports; this implies marketing of sport equipments and events to spectators and participants. The second category is marketing with sports, the purpose of this, is to promote products not associated with sports at sporting events and using athletes in order to endorse non-sports products. (Ibid) This thesis will focus on the second category of sport marketing. Within the marketing with sports classification, the most commonly used marketing communication tool is sponsorship. (Shannon, 1999) 1.6. Sport sponsorship Sponsorship reaches back to ancient Greece and Rome where the wealthy members of the Greek society supported athletic and art festivals with the purpose to enhance social standing, the Roman aristocracy supported gladiators for the same reasons. (Cornwell, 1995)One definition of sports sponsorship is: the consumer (in most cases in business) is exchanging money or products for the right to associate its name or product with the sporting event (Shank, 1999) 7

19 When sports first emerged in Europe, it was self supporting. The athletes and sports clubs sold lottery and match tickets to finance their activities. Then local and national governments began to support sports by taxes, as they realized that sport is healthy way for individuals to spend their time, as well as that it could have enormous socio-economic importance. A research conducted in 1974, concerning the commercialization of sports, concluded that sports would not survive without financing by industries and businesses. (Jiffer and Roos, 1999) However, some authorities believe that sports nowadays are too dependant on sponsors (Stotlar, 2001) Even though it is supported by other authors that sports sponsorships are over commercialized (Cheng and Stotlar, 1999), the sports business has become one of the most important and growing industries worldwide (Shank, 1999) Some relatively new international sponsorship trends that have been identified by Jiffer and Roos (1999) are that companies increasingly sponsor lifestyle and extreme sports, as well as buy sports stadium and arenas to increase the awareness of the company. Yet, the sports that most frequently involve in sponsorship agreements are professional football, tennis, basketball and golf, (Stotlar, 2001), and the most popular sport for corporations to sponsor are supposed to be motor sports and football (Bennit, 1999) As an example the American tobacco company Philip Morris, spends some US$150 million into motor sports every year in practically all the major competitions, including Formula one. Moreover, Ferrari is presumed to gain US$63 million in sponsorship from Marlboro, who also supposedly pays half of Michael Schumacher's US$25 million contract. In the globalize world of today, it can be preferable to use sponsorship, as the universal language of sport, specially of the most popular sports, can reach a global audience, as well as go beyond cultural and language barriers Sponsorship Sponsorship is an increasingly popular marketing communication tool. Sponsorship is one of the main elements of the communication mix where a firm provides some financial support to an entity, which may be an individual (e.g. sports), an organization (e.g. a humane society) or a group (e.g. an orchestra), in order to 8

20 allow this entity to pursue its activities (e.g. a cultural event) and, at the same time, benefit from this association in terms of global image and consumer awareness of the firm's market offerings. Meenaghan(1983) reports that the practice of sponsorship is quite developed and has become a standard component of the marketing plan. As sport becomes an ever-more popular entertainment medium for TV and radio broadcasters, sponsorship becomes an ever more popular way for large corporations to market themselves: it is a very effective way of associating their brand or identity with the values represented by a particular sport. As professional sport becomes increasingly driven by money (players demanding high wages, equipment needing to be the latest technological advance) then sponsors seem to be the only way to provide the cash necessary to keep the sport running to the standards that TV viewers demand. This presents issues for media coverage of sports, because, inevitably, covering the sport means covering the sponsor. It is almost impossible to watch any major sporting event without being subjected to corporate logos, both at the track/pitch and as part of the TV images. Sponsorship is one way for corporations/brands to reach millions of eyeballs worldwide via a single channel of communication and many companies allocate huge sums of money to their sponsorship budgets. The media are seen as playing a key role in attracting sports sponsorship, and a sport that has little media coverage has little hope of sponsorship. Therefore, we are entering a situation where, increasingly, sports are dependent on the media for their survival. Tripodi (2001) suggests that sponsorship is both utilized as a marketing tool and undertaken by firms with the intent of extracting some commercial benefit. Despite its increased popularity as a promotional tool (Tripodi (2001) notes that over the past two decades it has outperformed other promotional tools in growth terms), sponsorship remains without an integrated and coherent body of empirical research. Olkkonen et al. (2000) propose that much of current research is empirically driven and shows a serious lack of theory development. Sponsorship is the practice of promoting a company s interests and its brands by tying them to a specific and meaningful related event, organization or charitable cause (Erdogan and Kitchen, 1998). Meenaghan (1991a) (defining sponsorship from a marcoms perspective (Erdogan and Kitchen, 1998)) proposes that sponsorship is the provision of assistance financial or in kind to an activity by an organization for the 9

21 purpose of achieving communication objectives. Thwaites (1994) suggests that sponsorship involves a business transaction. This proposition reflects the phasing out of the donation mentality and its replacement by an economic-based partnership (Quester and Thompson, 2001).Sponsorship which Tripodi (2001) claims, has the potential to become the marketing communication tool of the twenty-first century) is a form of promotion that should be managed on strict commercial lines (Grimes and Meenaghan, 1998). It is a communication tool, Lardinoit and Quester (2001) suggest, thought by 75 per cent of marketers to merit further development. It has become an increasingly popular medium of corporate communication especially among companies operating in consumer markets (Olkkonen et al., 2000). Meenaghan (1998) proposes that investment in this tool will continue to grow as long as sponsors are satisfied that they are deriving value. Sponsorship is a versatile method of communications. It can be used to achieve a variety of objectives (Grimes and Meenaghan, 1998). It can persuade indirectly and by association (Crimmins and Horn, 1996). However, sponsorship differs from advertising in that both the medium and the creative message are not tightly controlled by the sponsor (Javalgi et al., 1994); an aspect emphasized by Tripodi (2001). In spite of sponsorship s growth, research remains without a clear theoretical base (Hoek et al., 1997). No enduring rigorous theoretical definition of sponsorship has been agreed.cornwell and Maignan (1998) claim that the lack of an accepted definition obstructs the development of theoretical frameworks on which significant sponsorship research might be based on it. Lee et al. (1997) Thwaites (1994) quotes Head (1981), suggesting that an attempt to define sponsorship is like trying to harpoon a butterfly in a gale. Knecht and Stoelinga (1988) defined sponsorship as an activity in which a sponsoring organization supports: 1. An association or person for the presentation of sporting, artistic or similar performances of interest to the general public; 2. Organizers of a sporting or cultural event in exchange for mention of its brand name. 10

22 Alternatively Cornwell (1995) defined sponsorship marketing as the orchestration and implementation of marketing activities aimed at building and communicating an association to a sponsorship. Other definitions for Sponsorship: A COMMERCIAL DEAL - Sponsorship is one of the means open to a company to bring itself or its products to the attention of consumers and present them in a favorable light. Advertising is the most frequently used marketing tool and speaks to a consumer in a direct way. It announces the availability of a product and creates an image for a brand. It can also provide information on product quality, characteristics, price and performance. (ESS-2003) Sponsorship seeks to enhance these messages by association with an event, club or team that shares similar image qualities and values as the brand. This association can be very powerful because it is perceived as an endorsement of the brand by an independent third party. Consumers are aware of the costs of sponsorship but the message retained is more subtle than that from the more overtly paid-for advertisement. (ESS-2003) Sponsorship is a commercial agreement between a company and a sport to enter into a joint venture to promote their mutual interests. In return for a financial contribution a sports organization will allow the use of its name in commercial activities. These activities can be as varied as the imaginations of the participants. Some of the most obvious are: Display of the brand name on kit, banners around the venue, advertisements in programs, and on other merchandise. Use of the club, event, team or individual in advertisements and other promotions undertaken by the brand. Personal endorsement of the sponsors products by teams or individuals by use of their products, kit or equipment Production of joint websites or developing close links between separate websites. For examples of this in action you only have to think of the Vodafone sponsorship of Manchester United, Tiger Woods endorsement of Nike products or 11

23 the website work done by Guinness as a sponsor of the Rugby World Cup. (ESS- 2003) Most Sponsorship, are paid for in cash, but in-kind sponsorship can be useful and effective. Instead of money, the sponsor provides equipment, services or management expertise as all or part of its fee for the rights to a sporting activity. Companies may also provide money to sporting organizations in other ways. Charitable donations - No commercial return is expected although a company makes use donations to be seen as a good corporate citizen. Corporate patronage - A half-way house between donations and sponsorship, patronage generally provides only some recognition of a company s activity among a relatively small, though influential, group. It is more common in the arts than sport. Corporate hospitality - The opportunity to meet customers and contacts in informal enjoyable circumstances to pursue business objectives. It is often part of a sponsorship package. Public/community relations - Sponsorship of sport can be used to meet objectives on a company s social or political agenda. The aim is not to sell products but to improve a company s image as an employer, corporate citizen or contributor to the economy. (ESS-2003) Why do Companies Sponsor Sports? ADDED VALUE - Sponsors look to sport to add value to the brand proposition. In almost all sectors of all markets there is intense competition among companies and brands. Often there is little to choose from in terms of quality, content or price. In order to make a brand stand out from the crowd a sponsor will use sport to create a unique position in the mind of the consumer. At the highest levels, sport involves gold medals, world records, championship cups and global awareness. A world-wide, leading brand such as Coca- Cola wants to associate itself with such excellence and ubiquity so has chosen the Olympics and football World Cups for its sponsorships. But in order to personalize 12

24 and localize its image and activity, Coca-Cola also supports grass roots sport to reinforce its global message. (ESS-2003) Smaller companies can also benefit from improved, awareness images and sales through sponsorship at a local or regional level: the principles are the same, the only difference is scale. Companies use sports sponsorship for a variety of reasons, and to attract sponsorship it is important to understand which objective a company is addressing: Brand/Corporate awareness: seeks to put a name in front of the consumer so that he will give it favorable recognition when exposed to other, specific marketing messages. Brand/Corporate image: attempts to create a personality and style which distinguishes a product from another in the market and allows, for example, premium pricing. Customer relations: sports sponsorship can open dialogue between companies, showing the sponsor as a global player worthy of recognition and suitable to do business with. Sponsorship can also provide suitable hospitality vehicles to meet and do business with clients. Employee relations: sports sponsorship can encourage company pride and loyalty to help attract and retain staff. Community relations: sponsorship can show that a company cares about it community and is prepared to invest in its future and the welfare of its citizens. (ESS-2003) How does sponsorship work? The benefits to the Sponsor are seen as wide ranging and include: Increased product awareness Improved corporate image Product positioning Enhance an advertising campaign Client entertainment Tax deductions!!! 13

25 The 'payback' that the company receives also provides benefits for employees in the form of privileged access to the sponsored sport, and can have a motivating effect on the whole workforce. A company can expect all or some of the following from a sponsorship deal Display of logo/brand identity on athletes/equipment (e.g. racing cars) Display of signage at event site Naming rights to event, series competition or team (or racehorse if that's what is being sponsored) Client entertainment at events Personal endorsements by athletes/players/coaches Identification in PR material and communications Promotional displays at events Provision of equipment (e.g. shoes, clothing) Whilst in return the sport in question can expect Money!!!!!!!! Raised profile 14

26 figure: The role of sponsorship in the promotion mix can be seen in the following Inform Advertising Sales promotion Sponsoring Supply PR Image Personal selling Interact Figure 1.1.The role of Sponsorship in the promotion mix Adapted from Eriksson & Hjalmsson (2001) As one could see in the figure, sponsorship is closely related to both public relations and advertising and its role combine information with building a brand image Problem definition: Over the past decades, sport sponsorship has been shown to be an effective tool with which to alter and enhance a company s image and reputation. The use of sport sponsorship is becoming more and more common. Many of the companies are sponsoring sport event or teams due to the fact that the teams and events tend to draw 15

27 a very variable audience and also they can introduce their latest products to the market by advertising. Regulations concerning advertising of products have led many companies to find alternative ways of generating a positive association with their brands in the minds of the customers, and consequently, sponsorship appeared as a significant brand building tool for these companies. Sponsorship is an important tool of marketing communication that seek to achieve favorable publicity for a company and its brands within a certain target audience via the support of an activity not directly linked to the company s normal business. It is an indirect form of promotion that should however be in line with the other promotion activities that are conducted within the companies and must be measured carefully to be sure of the effects, to become successful when conducting sport sponsorship. The sport sponsorship is nowadays widespread among companies. Most companies have difficulties in reaching customers with traditional advertising and also the process of sponsoring is not done scientifically anywhere especially in Iran, and firms do not apply that with the use of marketing knowledge. The purpose of this research is to achieve a better understanding of how and why companies decide to sponsor sports events. And how can we sponsor a team or an event with a scientific and methodological method? Of course we are not intending to investigate the problem in depth, but investigate it in general is our goal Novelty Since there have not been any comparison among marketing activities of firms sponsoring sport events and regarding the lack of innovative project in Iran, it clearly shows the recenity of the point being discussed. And this is the first academic research on sport sponsorship area. In this project I am trying to compare the strategies (objectives/sports selections/advantages and disadvantages/and evaluation of sport sponsorship) of three electronic companies utilizing case analysis and also cross case analysis. 16

28 1.10. Research question 1. What are the objectives of Electronic companies, in sports sponsorship involvements? 2. How can the companies in electronic industry define the selecting process? 3. How can the electronic companies, evaluate their sports sponsorship? 4. How do companies, in sports sponsorship activities, perceive and describe the advantages and disadvantages? Demarcations Because of time limitation, it is beyond the scope of my study to cover all the aspects of the research purpose. So, I have to limit my research to answer my research questions from the sponsoring companies' perspectives. My sample companies include the domestic and international firms, which are working in Iran Outline of thesis Up to now, in chapter one, I have described some of the key words which are, the main points of my research.this thesis separated into five chapters: Introduction, Literature review and conceptual framework, methodology, empirical data and data collection, analysis and cross case analysis, conclusion and findings Chapter two Discuss about, Our Theoretical review related to the subject (Literature review, Theoretical framework/model). Chapter three provides Research methodology which is applied in our thesis. Chapter four presents our empirical data, gathered from our sample cases, followed by within and cross-case analysis. Chapter five is composed of Discussion, conclusions and further research. 17

29 1.13. Summary This chapter has provided the introduction and background followed by some of our main definition and problem discussion, further with our research questions and the outline of thesis. In the next chapter we will present the reviewed theories and previous research in the area of our research. 18

30 Chapter 2- Literature Review 2.1. Introduction to the literature review In this chapter we try to review the past literature and it consists of the following: First previous studies concerning objectives with sponsorship are described. Then selected relevant theories of what sports to sponsors are brought up. This is followed by related researches that occurred before and ultimately the literature regarding advantages and disadvantages of sponsorship every where especially in Iran. After the literature review, I realized that relatively little research has been done within the area of sport sponsorship every where especially in Iran. Although many authors like: Bennet, (1999); Mullinetal, (2000); Stotlar (2001); Clark, (1995) conclude that sponsorship of sports makes up the greatest part of sponsorship activities. At a result we have include some sponsorship theories to complement to the sport sponsorship theories reviewed in this chapter. 19

31 2.2. Objective with sponsorship The main objectives of sponsorship are as follows: As sponsorship is a part of the promotional mix, the sponsorship objectives must be linked to the objectives of the promotional planning process. The promotional objectives help to accomplish the marketing goals, which in turn must originate from the organizational goals. Sponsorship objectives can be divided into two groups, namely direct or indirect objectives.direct sponsorship objectives pay attention to sales increase and have a short term influence on customer attitude. Indirect sponsorship objectives are,on the other hand,objectives that ultimately result in the desired goal of increasing sales,such as for example to meet competition,build relations, create awareness, improve the image, as well as to get in touch with new target markets.(shank, 1999) A common objective for sponsors is to create a close association between the brand or the company and the event sponsored (Quester and Farrelly, 1998).According to Gwinner (1997), companies that engage in sponsorship activities may have a mixture of goals, of which the two most necessary are to establish, strengthen, or change the brand image, as well as to increase the awareness of the brand. Through exposing the brand to as many potential customers as possible, brand awareness is done. (Ibid)Other corporate objectives for sponsors can be to answer to inappropriate publicity; associate a brand or product with a specific market segment; offer involvement in the community; build goodwill among idea formers, employees, and decision makers; strengthen or change perceptions of a brand or a product; as well as increase product sales by indirect means.(polonsky and Speed. 2001). According to Shank (1999), companies can through the sponsorship reach their corporate, marketing, media, as well as personal objectives.sandler and Shani (1993), as referred to by Pope (1998), suggest that a firm's sponsorship objectives can be divided into three broad categories. The leading category is corporate objectives, which focuses on enhancing the corporate image, followed by the marketing objectives, handling the brand promotion and increases the sales, and finally the media objectives, covering issues such as cost effectiveness and reaching target markets. Pope (1998) has added to Sandler and Shani's (1993) sponsorship objectives 20

32 by including personal objectives as a category, which together other categories is presented in following table. sponsorship Table (2.1) below shows aggregated objectives for corporations involved in sport Corporate objectives Marketing objectives Media objectives Personal objectives Public awareness Corporate image Business relation Reach target market Generate visibility Generate publicity Management interest Public perception Brand positioning Enhance ad campaign Community involvement Increase sales Avoid clutter Financial relations Sampling Target specificity Client entertainment Government relations Employee relations Compete with other competitors Source: Adapted from Pope, 1998, p.2-3 Other researchers have also described objectives for corporations involving in sponsorship, and these will therefore be presented below. Public awareness: This objective is mainly used to increase awareness of a company or its products, in other words, its aim is to generate exposure (Mullin,2000).This is further strengthened by Meenaghan (1983),who states that sport sponsorship has been widely employed to increase a company's public awareness. According to Shank (1999), creating awareness of the company's products and services or company name is one of the most central sponsorship objectives. Based on the marketing and promotion strategy, sponsors have to determine which level to target, it means that either to target the company name or a specific product. 21

33 Sponsorship is a useful tool for new companies to create awareness during a short time period, and it creates a higher level of awareness as well as results in associations of a more extensive scope of features with the promoted brand than advertising. (Ibid) Corporate objectives: Maintaining and image building is one the most outstanding objectives of sport sponsorship. The opportunity for sponsors is to associate the company or its brands with the positive images produced by the exclusive characteristics of the sporting events. Before deciding upon an event, it is important to conduct an analysis of the unique features of the event, as well as of the product or brand. (Shank, 1999) According to Meenaghan(1983), the creation of corporate image often involves the desire to affect the public in a general way, but can also involve interaction with specific groups among the different publics of the firm. Furthermore, Bennett (1999) claims that many sponsors' primary goal is to distribute the corporate image to the target audience. Companies undertake corporate objectives in the process of sports sponsorship for a variety of reasons, including to: provide an alternative to mainstream marketing tools; exploit a connection between the sponsored activity and one or more of the company's products; generate goodwill towards the company - from stakeholders (e.g. shareholders and staff), the marketplace and the wider community; build relationships with the wider community; generate brand awareness; and use sponsored activities to offer high-quality hospitality to clients as part of the promotion of their organization. Public perception: By connecting itself to a specific sport or event, a company can benefit from image association or image transfer. The choice of the sponsored activity can help to improve a company's image, as well as reinforce or change the consumer's perception of the company and its product.(mullin,hardy,and Sutton, 2000) In addition,meeneghan (1983)states that sponsorship can help a company to reach a desirable image, which in turn can change or improve the public perceptions of the company, its services,and its products. 22

34 Community involvement: To position the company, as a concerned and interested citizen in the community, is another objective companies may have with their sport sponsorship involvement. Through sponsorship, the company shows its consciousness for local concern in order to influence potential customers, as well as local social and governmental agencies. (Mullin et al., 2000) Shank (1999) claims that it is important to build relationships with the community when sponsoring a sport event. Client entertainment: The opportunity to host clients at an event, especially those for which it is almost impossible to get tickets, sometimes pays for the entire sponsorship. E.Skinner and Rukavina.Hospitality is used by firms encourage their clients to increase the product utilization and consumption, but also to renew or sign new agreements. It is moreover used to reward the company's personnel. The firm gains exclusive opportunities that most often are unavailable in the marketplace, such as hard to obtain tickets in prime locations for sports events that as a result are distributed among their clients. Hospitality is very common in European sponsorship programs and makes up as much as 25 percent of the corporate partner expenditure. (Mullin, 2000) Employee relations: According to Meenaghan (1983), sponsorship can enhance relations with employees, as the engagement can result in that employees feel proud of belonging to the company. Reach target market: The main aim of marketing objective with sport sponsorship is to reach target markets. Sport sponsorship has the capacity to reach people that share a mutual interest sports. The opportunities for sponsors are to target disable people and women that participate in sports. (Shank, 1999) Mullin (2000) said that it has been proven to be beneficial for companies that the sponsored event corresponds with, and matches the target market. Compete with other companies: In a long term commitment or when the sponsorship fee is high, companies can create product or category exclusively. This implies that a particular product is the only of its kind to be associated with the event. According to Shank (1999) a main sponsorship objective is to meet or wipe out the 23

35 competitive threats, because many companies involve in sponsorship for the reason that their competitors do. Increase sales: Sponsorship itself with other promotional activities, is usually seen as an element to influence the buyers to purchase a product or service. At a result, the final marketing goal for firms is to raise their sales or profitability. To increase the sales is an objective that all sponsoring companies have. Companies would not spend their money on a specific sport s event if they did not feel that they would get some kind of return on their investment. (Shank, 1999) Generate publicity: Sponsors spend millions of dollars each year to generate publicity for their products because they know that media coverage is generally perceived by the public as more goal and credible, and holds the publics attention for a longer period of time than a typical advertisement. The most effective way for the company to capitalize on the publicity created by a sports event is to literally appear by its name, as a title or presenting sponsor. Title sponsors are companies or brands whose names appear before or within the name of a sport event, such as LG Open.Presenting sponsors, companies with identities linked to the end of an event name, also hope to increase their public exposure through a close association with the name of the event, like NHL. Companies that invest heavily in title and preparing a good sponsorship recognize the value of publicity and their brand will routinely mentioned in news reports and sports articles. Frank Suprovitz(2004). The factor which is important in determining to become involved as a sponsor depends on the media benefits, which include all promotional efforts surrounding the sports event, such as advertising and publicity. The media benefits are determined by the number of impressions generated, together with the source of those impressions. The impressions are the viewers, readers, and listeners exposed to the advertising message, which most often consists of a logo or sign that appears on a photograph in a newspaper or television.(mullin, 2000) Meenaghan (1983) states that one of the most important sponsorship goals is to gain media coverage. Generate visibility: It is often the first reason that companies sponsor event. Larger events enjoy the wide exposure that is provided, particularly by television, but also 24

36 printed media and the traditional sponsor benefits of signage, brochure mentions, and so forth. Bruce E. Skinnr and vadimir Rukavina Management interest: The activity that a manager likes to sponsor can affect the choices of involving in sponsorship activity and what activity to sponsor. Some manager will therefore make sure to include personal goals as sport sponsorship objectives in order to achieve status. Meenaghan (1983) Build goodwill: Sports usually provide companies with a relaxed environment for conducting business. Thus firms try to generate goodwill, by delivering unique opportunities, like tickets, entertainment, and hospitality to important clients. (Mullin, Hurdy, Sutton, 2000) Meenaghan claims that sponsorship can create goodwill among individuals and groups that are powerful in the business world. Naming rights: The corporate name or brand is used in conjunction with the team name or the company's name is incorporated in the sponsored events name or that the corporate name or brand is used in connection with the team name. To make this it is important for the company to understand the number of exposures, sponsorship and cross promotional activities, brand exclusivity, costs and expenses, public relations and etc. Mullin et al (2000). Additional Sponsorship objectives Many companies now sponsor events routinely as part of their promotional activities; but Javalgi et al. (1994) suggest that the objectives tend to be vague. Cornwell et al. (2001) concede that little research has investigated how sponsorship participation benefits a firm; but sponsorship strategies are used to reach a variety of marketing objectives. This paper posits that sponsorship has developed more and has become recognized as a strategic tool as international organizations appreciate an increasing need to be understood by audiences. Sponsorship helps other marcoms activities to communicate messages to diverse stakeholders; Messages, Pham (1992) proposes, that are embedded in the nature and characteristics of the sponsored 25

37 activity. Nicholls and Roslow (1999) suggest that sponsorship is an opportunity for companies to reach consumers through their hearts and minds. Javalgi et al. (1994) opine that sponsorship is the underwriting of a special event with the object of supporting organizational objectives by: Enhancing corporate image (defined by Johnson and Zinkhan (1990) as the impressions of a particular company held by some segment of the public); Increasing awareness of brands (Tripoldi (2001) notes that sponsorship is a brand equity-building strategy so that the value of brand image is enhanced establishing a superiority over other brands); Stimulating the sales of products or services (Easton and Mackie (1998) report that Euro 1996 significantly boosted sales of Carlsberg-Tetley; sales rising by 70 per cent); and leveraging corporate reputation. Recent interest amongst scholars has begun to focus on managing corporate reputation through sponsorship initiatives. Ashill et al. (2001) note some empirical work examining intangible returns in terms of consumer reaction. Hall (1993) reports that company reputation is the intangible resource most focussed on by CEOs and that it has long been recognized that intangible assets represent a significant portion of company value. Sponsorship is an activity associating the organization with a third party activity designed to achieve a series of separate but mutually agreed objectives (Yeshin, 1999). Nicholls and Roslow (1999) propose that sports sponsorship falls readily into a firm s set of strategic marketing alternatives. Farrell and Frame (1997) quote Coca-Cola s long-term involvement with the Olympic Games as evidencing the integration of sponsorship into that organization s long-term strategy Sponsorship selection process Some companies receive as many as 100 sport sponsorship proposals from sport franchises annually(mccook, 1997) Among with the fact that sponsorship today involves huge sum of money (Meenaghan,1999)it is of high importance for companies to utilize some kind of systematic selection process in order to find a right partner with which to establish a functioning relationship. 26

38 When specific firms want to enter in a sport sponsorship activities, first they must decide whether to sponsor a sport/league, a team. An athlete or an event (Shank, 1999)The type of sport entity chosen to produce the best return on sport sponsorship objectives (Shank, 1999).Each of the components included in the athletic platform are described below: Sport/League Some companies decide to use a sport or a league as its athletic platform. To get a unique position and differentiate the company from its competitors, the company can choose to sponsor women sports that fewer companies are sponsoring. Nowadays many federations and leagues understand that they need to attract sponsors, by for example offering each owner of a team a financial portion in a league, which results in a decreased risk for ambush marketing. It is easier to sponsor a league or federation than supporting a single team, as the company is able to use the league power and logo to support all teams participating in the league. (Ibid) Team Companies can also start their activities on teams at any level of competition, on professional, University, high school, or small league teams. Athlete Some athletes have considerable credibility with the target market. Thus they can create a direct association between themselves and the sponsor or its brand. Also many companies may also use individual athletes in their promotion only to boast. (Ibid) Event The most commonly used athletic platform in sport sponsorship is the event. It is usual that the number of events that exists exceed the number of available sponsors, which results in that the event organizers try to attract main sponsors by offering attractive sponsorship packages. The benefits of using event are: the event may improve the image and increase the awareness of the sponsor firm or brand. Also the sponsor can indirectly increase the sales, as the consumers have the chance to by the sponsor's products during or after the event. Another issue that should be considered is the level of competition, which implies if the company tries to choose a professional or a recreational platform. Factors that effect on decisions upon the athletic platform are for example: budget, sponsorship objectives, and geographic scope. (Ibid) 27

39 After choosing the platform, companies need to decide upon a more specific platform that must select the exact sport/league, team, athlete, or event. The firms have to be careful while selecting the specific athlete platform. Thus some questions need to be replied as follow (Shank, 1999) Does the sponsorship offer the right positioning? Does the sponsorship provide a link to brand image? Does the sponsorship target the right audience? Can you afford the sponsorship? Is the sponsorship hard for competitors to imitate? Does the sponsorship appeal to the target audience 'lifestyle, personality, and values? How does sponsorship dovetail into current corporate objectives and strategies? Is there a way to involve employees in the sponsorship? How will you measure the impact of the sponsorship? How easy will it be to plan the sponsorship year after year? Does the sponsorship complement your current promotion mix? According to Meenaghan (1983), it is essential to evaluate how the target audience perceives specific events before making the selection. Besides, it is essential for the sponsor to generate some specific selection criteria that can be used in the time of decision making. (Ibid) The selection criteria offered by Meenaghan (1983) are discussed below: The ability to fulfill objectives Events can help companies gain more than one of their goals. It is essential to rank the objectives by order of importance, but also to consider the link between certain objectives. (Ibid) Image association potential of the particular sponsorship Each event has its own personality and characteristics, thus the relationship created with the audience vary. Firms must be careful about the image of the event, the possible transfer of 28

40 image from the event to the firm, as well as the risk for negative effect while associating with an activity. An event that is appropriate for a company may not be that for another. (Ibid) Selection of sponsorship and company/product compatibility - When choosing an event, there must be compatibility between the company and the event. To avoid confusion, there must be linkage between the sponsor or its products and the event. Three types of links are available: product image link (event image is similar to the product's image), product link (event uses is associated with products and services of the company), and corporate image link (event image is linked to the corporate image of the sponsor).(ibid) Media coverage potential Some companies perceive media coverage to be a bonus, while others consider it as an outcome of their sponsorship.(ibid) The funding requirement the costs should be considered for the event in comparison to the budget of the company. We must have a enough budget to be able to run the sponsorship activity. If not the image will be damaged and the firm gets negative ideas from the audience. Target audience coverage to increase the effectiveness of the sponsorship activities, it is important to define a specific target audience before selecting an event. Three types of audience that can be considered: the immediate event audience, the extended media audience, as well as both the extended and immediate audience.(ibid) The opportunities for guest hospitality Companies have long regarded sports events as excellent opportunities to extend hospitality and demonstrate appreciation to customers and important clients, dealers, distributors, agents and top salespeople. Customer hospitality is of particular importance to firms that transact most of their business with other businesses (B2B).The experimental aspects of event sponsorship that is the ability to host customers are of increased importance and often present a greater percentage of sponsorship spending for B2B companies. Frank Suprovitz(2004). Sponsors need to consider the event's opportunity to meet face to face with the target audience.(ibid) 29

41 Executive preference They are often taken into consideration while selecting an event. (Ibid) Geographical coverage of the defined audience Before selecting an event sponsors have to investigate the geographical coverage. (Ibid) Staff knowledge of the proposed sponsorship Many sponsors believe that there has to be at least one person in company sport marketing knowledge. Sponsorship type The Company has to decide upon the generic type of the event, whether to select sport or arts, or whether to sponsor an existing or new event. Solos position It means that whether to select an exclusive event or if it should cooperate with other firms in sponsorship. The possibility for adverse publicity The firm must consider all dimensions of an event to avoid adverse publicity. The organization of the sponsorship activity Sometimes, the events may be arranged by another organization. Thus it is vital that the sponsor considers if the arrangers are able to manage the event properly Evaluation of Sponsorship: It is important for managers to formulate sponsorship objectives to make it easier to control and to evaluate if the objectives were reached. Today, market research companies are usually involved when evaluating sponsorship, which has resulted in more sophisticated ways. (Meerabeau, Gillet, Kennedy, Byass and Tabi, (1991) some difficulties with technical research, unclear or non existing goals, uncertainties, costs and lack of useful evaluation criteria are the reasons for not evaluating the effectiveness of the sponsorship.(bennet, 1999) How to measure the effects of sponsorship involvement? Evaluation of sponsorship according to Polonsky and Speed (1998) can concentrate on awareness, attitude, or interest which factors difficult to observe. Therefore, it can be complicated to evaluate to return of a sponsorship investment. 30

42 Also many firms are evaluating factors such as brand name exposure or awareness of a sponsorship involvement, which are thought to affect the outcome of the sponsorship. (Ibid) According to Meenaghan(1983), firms can use different methods for measuring the effects of sponsorship involvement. Meenaghan methods are also supported be Bennet (1999), Quester and Farrelly (1998), and Parker (1991) and their opinions will complement the methods described below. Measuring the sales effectiveness of the sponsorship involvement In this case we should use five method: the measurement of awareness, the measurement of recall, attitude surveys, psychological measurement, or sort and count which implies for example request for additional information and fee samples (Ibid) Bennet (1999) offer that commonly used methods when evaluating sponsorship effectiveness are created or changed attitudes, level of awareness, and company or brand name recall. Parker (1991) has also identified that it is essential to monitor the awareness of the sponsorship and to conduct surveys concerning the audience's attitude toward the event. Measuring the Media coverage resulting from sponsorship involvement The basic measures employed to evaluate the media coverage are the duration of TV coverage including verbal and visual credits, the extend of press coverage as measured in single column inches, and monitored radio coverage (Meenaghan, 1983) Parker (1991) mentioned that some firms are even monitoring the publicity time of logos exposed during the broadcast. Measuring media coverage is a frequently employed and popular method of evaluating sponsorship effectiveness, for the reason that it is perceived as practicable. According to Meenaghan the method fails in evaluating the effectiveness of the exposure gained, and merely indicates the extent of achieved publicity. Measuring the continuing appropriateness of the chosen sponsorship over time Feedbacks on change in the sponsorship's profile and in its environment also evaluate the effectiveness of the sponsorship. This method comprises the audience level, the market perception and the extent of media coverage for the 31

43 sponsored activity. The audience level for the sponsored activity must identify the extended audience (amount of people exposed to the sponsorship through media), the live audience, as well as the level of participant involvement.the market perception of sponsorship activity implies an awareness of the market's perception of the sponsorship, and may necessitate a qualitative research. (Meenaghan, 1983) the extent of media coverage for the sponsored activity measures how suitable an event is for media coverage. The method of measuring continuing appropriateness of the sponsorship is, nonetheless considered less precise than other evaluation methods. (Meenaghan, 1983) Monitoring feedback Feedback is provided from the event's many audiences depending on the objective the company has with the sponsorship involvements. E.g. when the company's objective is to increase sales or to improve the sales environment, must let the sales personnel evaluate and compare their work effort before and after the event. Cost benefit analysis Some sponsorship involvements have less focus on commercial goals, whilst they rather see the sponsorship expenditures as goodwill. So the traditional measurement methods used when evaluating cost effectiveness of the sponsorship are less appropriate and should be replaced by a cost benefit evaluation. Some cases may require a valuation based on a collective idea of senior management personnel. (Ibid). Cornwell and Maignan (1998), claim that three basic methods are available to use when measuring sponsorship effects. These methods are listed and described as follows: Exposure based methods the often employed exposure based methods include monitoring the quantity and nature of the media coverage obtained from the sponsored event, and estimating direct and indirect audience. Tracking measures The most common measurement techniques for empirical studies are surveys focusing on evaluation of awareness, familiarity, and preferences generated by the sponsorship. Experiments Cornwell and Maignan refers to pham(1991) who suggests that experiment are the only measurements capable of determining the complex effects of 32

44 advertising. Abratt and Gobler (1989) finally suggest that the sport sponsorship effectiveness must be compared with the initial goals set for the sponsorship involvement. With this in mind the authors recommend companies to use an evaluation process to determine whether or not the sponsorship activity has been successful. The evaluation process consists of seven steps and is displayed below. Set objectives Yes No Assign responsibility for sports sponsorship evaluation Yes No Decide under which promotional mix Element sport sponsorship falls Yes No Set objectives for each promotional mix element Advertising Personal selling Sales promotion Public relations Yes No Establish when to evaluate Yes No Choose measurement technique Before During After Combination Yes No Performance satisfactory Check objectives Success Check measures used Figure2.1. a Framework for the evaluation of sport sponsorship Source: Adapted from Abratt and Gobler, 1989, p When to evaluate the sponsorship effectiveness? Quester and Farrelly (1998) claim that firms use pre and post event surveys to find out the persuasion and familiarity of the sponsorship, as well as the awareness of the sponsorship, the company, and its brands. The authors argue that it is preferable to conduct a constant tracking to find out the awareness peaks (Ibid).Shakin and Kuzma (1992) also regard pre and post event awareness as frequent evaluation methods to measure the sponsorship effectiveness. Accordingly, Parker (1991) argues that evolution methods should be used in order to measure effects at specific points of time,for example to evaluate the effects before, during, and after an event.he further 33

45 states that it is not preferable to ask the audience about sponsorship awareness during an event, as the audience easily can find clues to answer the questions. The use of pre and post sponsorship evaluation has also been identified by McCook, Turko, and Riley (1998), who recommend that firms sponsoring sports must evaluate and rank the sponsorship in order of perceived effectiveness. The criteria that should be considered are: -The revenue opportunities for the company -The ability to integrate the product into the sporting event -The costs of the sponsorship -The exposure to the company's target market -The company image enhancement gained from the sponsorship -The company's competitive advantage gained in the market place through the sponsorship -The sponsorship opportunity to show the company's commitment to the community -The hospitality/entertainment opportunities for the company that are gained through the sponsorship (Ibid) It is also recommended that sports marketers should recognize the various decision making criteria in order to create effective sponsorship. (Ibid) Sponsorship Evaluation Processes Different companies have created various sponsorship evaluation methods. Many of these methods, like the Anheuser-Busch Sports Sponsorship Evaluation, concentrate on post-sponsorship effectiveness. Sprint has implemented a system which includes both a pre and post evaluation (Goff, 1995).This process as been named the Sprint Sponsorship Vision Project. The system rates certain criteria which have been weighted accordingly. Criteria include: (a) the revenue opportunities for the company; (b) the ability to integrate the product into the sporting event; the costs of the sponsorship; (d) the exposure to the company s target market; (e) the company image enhancement gained from the sponsorship; (f) the company s 34

46 competitive advantage gained in the market place through the sponsorship; (g) the hospitality/ entertainment opportunities for the company that are gained through the sponsorship; and (h) the sponsorship opportunity to show the company s commitment to the community. Through this process, sponsorships can be evaluated and ranked in order of perceived effectiveness. Sport marketers need to be aware of the various decision making criteria in order to effectively create sponsorship proposals (Brooks, 1990). Irwin and Asimakopoulos (1992) recommended a pre-event evaluation to sport sponsorship management. The six steps included in this model are: (a) a review of the corporate marketing plan; (b) the establishment of specific sport sponsorship objectives; the identification and weighing of evaluation criteria; (d) the screening and selection process; (e) the implementation of the selected sponsorship; and (f) the postevent evaluation Previous Studies on Sponsorship Decision Making In Canada, Copeland (1991) conducted a study of the exchange between corporate sponsors and sport groups to gain a better understanding of the decision making process. Three groups of sport sponsors were sampled: (a) Canadian companies, (b) national government sport organizations, and Ontario provincial sport organizations. Corporate exclusivity was the most important decision making criteria, followed by: (a) increased company/brand awareness, (b) reinforced company/brand image, (c) signage at events, (d) ability to target spectators, and (e) increased sales/trial of product/service. Of five (5) different forms of marketing, sponsorship was ranked by the surveyed companies as the least effective of all marketing and promotional tools. Their prevailing attitude was that in order to be effective, sport sponsorships should be used in conjunction with other advertising mediums (Copeland, 1991, p. 132). McCarville and Copeland (1994) conducted a study to better understand sport sponsorship through exchange theory. The basis of exchange theory is that both parties offer something of value to one another. Thus, both parties achieve their desired results (Blalock & Wilken, 1979). The authors indicated that sports marketers must find rewards that potential sponsors seek but can not obtain alone. 35

47 Offering a variety of benefits helps to keep these relationships appealing. They concluded that sport marketers must understand what businesses are seeking in sponsorships (McCarville & Copeland, 1994). The authors also recommended that future studies use in-depth interviews of corporate executives to gain a better understanding of the criteria used to select sponsorships. Weppler and McCarville (1994) attempted to better understand the corporate decision making process with regard to involvement in fairs, festivals and special events. Using a qualitative approach, this research focused on corporate decision makers beliefs, ideas, and biases in relation to sport sponsorship. From indepth interviews with event sponsors it was shown that buying centers or committees were very typical in the evaluation of sponsorships. Four members were common to most buying centers. Those members and the specific roles they played are described in the following paragraph. It is important to note that the members of these groups varied with the complexity of the sponsorship. For the roles played by individuals in buying centers, "Gatekeepers" were those individuals who made the decision on what and how much information as passed on to key decision makers. These individuals were the committee members who received the initial sponsorship proposal. Gatekeepers included receptionists, assistants, and even consulting firms. "Influencers" were those individuals who had some sort of connection or information regarding the sponsorship requester. Most often the influencer was outside of the buying center. Included in this group of individuals were senior managers, other company employees, or friends who had experienced past events put on by the sponsorship requester. The ultimate decision makers, or "deciders," varied depending on the level and cost of the sponsorship. Small sponsorship proposals were often referred to local or regional managers, while larger proposals were handled by the corporate staff. The final role was that of the buyer. The main responsibility of this position was to undertake negotiations with the event manager. Negotiations were undertaken to ensure that the corporations interests were being met (Weppler & McCarville, 1994, pp ). In a study involving college athletics, Stotlar and Kadlecek (1993) conducted a telephone survey of corporations involved with the NCAA tournament sponsorship program to identify the reasons corporations buy sport sponsorships. The primary reasons for sponsorship 36

48 that companies revealed included: (a) the benefits of a corporate affiliation with sports, (b) access to intercollegiate athletic events, media exposure through signage within the venue, (d) ticket access to NCAA championship events, and (e) product/service exclusivity within the sporting venue/s (pp ). Supplementary reasons included the (a) desire to increase the corporate consumer base, (b) ability to develop tie-in programs, enhancement of the corporate image, and (d) tie-ins with the current advertising campaign Sponsorship opportunities Cause-related marketing opportunity that reaches young people and families where they are Community and PR coup be seen to support the fight against tough issues such as youth obesity, juvenile crime, social exclusion Extensive platform for media communication through the line Commercial opportunities - captive club audience Partnership with organization that champions teamwork, activity, social inclusion and fun Scope for co-sponsor activities/collaboration with other Access Sport corporate partners Sector-exclusive title sponsorships(ess-2003) What Companies are looking for? A UNIQUE PROPERTY - Sponsors are looking for sports properties that can make a valuable and quantifiable contribution to existing or planned brand communications. To do so the sponsorship must have a good fit with the brand s personality and, ideally, be unique to that brand so that there is no consumer confusion. A sponsor wants to create activities that are enjoyable and memorable for audiences and participants and provide them occasions to build the brand values and to develop sales opportunities and volumes. A beer company, for example, will gain national television awareness through sponsoring rugby international but will also 37

49 have the chance for thousands of spectators to sample its products in a favored environment leading, hopefully, to repeat purchase away from the match. Top of the list of most sponsors' requirements is media coverage. Sporting events create thousands of opportunities for exciting and interesting newspaper photographs and television images showing sponsor logos on shirts or banners. Such exposure creates brand familiarity for consumers making the logo stand out from competitors when consumers are in the supermarket or high street looking to spend money. Naming rights are important: it is far better to be the Heineken Cup than the European Cup sponsored by Heineken. Naming rights for sports venues is a growing trend although this can backfire if the old name is well recognized and liked. Perhaps above all, the sponsor wants the opportunity to communicate with the customer in the setting where he is enjoying a quality leisure time experience and is favorably disposed to anyone who has made the occasion possible or better.some sponsors need to talk to thousands, or millions, of consumers to make volume sales. Others may need to communicate with just a handful of the right people to sell expensive equipment. Sponsors and their employees want to feel comfortable with a sport and feel that they are getting good value for money. (ESS-2003) REASONS FOR PARTNERSHIP - Complete an audit of your sponsorship package. Quantify number of events, participants, spectators and secondary audiences through newspaper, television and radio. Find out how many people play the sport in your area and where the sport is played. Research the socio-economic status of players and spectators and find out proportions of male, female and ethnic groups. Try and think of ways in which your sponsorship would fit in with other marketing activities of your target companies. Detail the places and times there will be opportunities to display the sponsor s logo, not just at the event but on promotional items, posters, programs, letterheads or vehicles. 38

50 The history of your event and organization is important to establish credibility, as is your organizational capacity to deliver. Good financial controls and reporting will encourage sponsor confidence. If you have been sponsored before prepare case histories to show activity and results. Learn as much about your target sponsor as you can: use annual reports, company newsletter, press cuttings or personal contacts to find out what interests the company, its management and employees. Finally, put together detailed costing for the venture. These may be tiered to reflect levels of expenditure which would just make it happen, to more sophisticated versions that reach more people with extensive publicity. (ESS-2003) How to Approach a Commercial Sponsor QUALITY NOT QUANTITY - It is generally better to chose a few targets and work hard at personalizing the pitch than using a shot-gun approach giving brief details to a large number of companies. KNOCK ON THE DOOR - Getting in to companies can be difficult. Personal contact is responsible for more than half of Sports match-backed sponsorship but if that is not available research in local or trade papers to get names and functions. Hollis Sponsorship and Donations Yearbook list 1,000 sponsoring companies, their interest areas, budgets and contacts. There are a number of trade publications for sponsorship and a growing number of websites trying to match sponsors and companies. The Sports Sponsorship Advisory Service produces a regular list of sponsorship projects that is circulated to companies. (See useful contacts) Companies respond well to organizations that take the time to think about their point of view and speak their language. The sporting benefits of the sponsored project, whilst important, are secondary to the commercial returns available to the sponsor. Increasingly, companies are looking for returns on investment that are more complex than just an increase in sales. 39

51 The creation of subsidiary benefits to the sponsorship creates the maximum promotional possibilities for the sponsor even allowing them to communicate with several important audiences using the same vehicle. Birmingham Midshires Building Society, for example, has sponsored a late night football league that significantly reduced crime figures in their area. They gained extensive brand awareness and also improved their image as a company that cared about issues that affected families and their homes. Outline methods for evaluating the project and reporting back to the sponsor should form a major part of the approach to the sponsor. Concentration on results and delivery from day one will help create a positive response to the proposal. Running a Sponsorship TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN IT - It is essential that the sports project runs smoothly, delivers high quality experiences to participants and spectators but this should not be to the neglect of sponsors interests. Involvement with the sponsor will maintain interest and demonstrate the value of the investment. WORKING TOGETHER - Work closely with your sponsors and communicate delivery of the sponsor benefits set out in the presentation document. Work hard on the personal elements to ensure that the sponsor has sufficient tickets for itself and guests and a chance to meet participants. Have a clear reporting procedure to the sponsor with regular updates to ensure everyone knows who is doing what. Look for ways to increase the news-worthiness of the event by creating interesting photo-calls or background features. Try and attract a celebrity to the event or the launch announcement to increase press interest. The press and local radio in particular, will often run joint promotions or act as media partners to the event. If a sponsor has retail outlets - estate agents or building societies for example - window displays or leaflet dispensers offer another means of communication. Branding of an event and support materials is a key sponsor requirement. Sponsor logos must have prime position at any event and in all supporting material. 40

52 Remember, too, that Sports match is often an equal partner in the sponsorship and requires its own branding. For the commercial success of a sponsorship the company s product needs to be as close to the sponsorship as possible. Product displays, sampling opportunities, even a sales kiosk at the launch and event are important means for the sponsor to reach its target market. Sponsors and organizers should work together to devise longer lasting links such as discount vouchers for future purchases for those who attend the event. The sponsor s employers are an important audience and should be kept informed through the company s usual channels. Some companies will second an employee to help run the sponsorship and provide management expertise that the organizer may lack. (ESS-2003) Evaluating your Sponsorship OBJECTIVE ASSESSMENT - Self evaluation of a project is an essential tool to measure performance against objectives and to provide a reporting process for the sponsor. It demonstrates to a sponsor that their investment is valued, what return they have achieved and provides data to help sell future sponsorships. KEY PRINCIPLES Measuring participation - A sponsor wants to reach a specific sector of the market so data on participants that details age, sex, ethnic origin or socio-economic groups can help measure success. Measuring skills - Achievement of sporting objectives can be measured by noting before and after performance levels of participants. Sports match needs to know this and the data will aid the search for future sponsorships. Photographic record - One of the best ways of showing the impact of a sponsorship is photographs: participants, spectators, sponsor branding will all help tell the story of your success. 41

53 Media Monitoring - Collect press clippings, count column centimeters of coverage and the number of photographs and sponsor mentions. Record or note broadcast mentions and keep copies of advertisements and other branded materials. (ESS-2003) 2.5. Advantages and disadvantages of sponsorship: This section presents the most common advantages and disadvantages of sponsorship brought up by researchers Advantages of sponsorship: Sponsorship offers many benefits for the parties involved, and often win-win partnership is created, as both the sport entity (athlete, event, or league) and the sponsor benefit from it. (Shank, 1999) The most common perceived advantages with sponsorship are discussed below. Build/transfer positive image association one of the main arguments for companies to engage in sponsorship activities is the benefit of creating an association between the company or its product and the sponsored individual or event. The association can lead to another form of visibility and a feeling of togetherness. (Jiffer and Roos, 1999) Accordingly, McDonald (1991) suggests that there should be a clear synergy between the sponsor and the sponsored activity, as it affects the company's image. A well directed sponsorship, with a clear association between the company and the event, can enhance the perception of the company image as well as its products (Ibid).Companies should strive for a similarity with the sponsored. This is because people can identified themselves with sport athletes and are therefore supposedly more influenced by the advertising message of the sponsor. (Kambitsis, Harahousou, Theodorakisa, 2002) Eliminates media noise Taranto(1998) argues that sponsorship of events is more successful in omitting media clutter than other forms of promotion, since it touches consumers in a direct and entertaining way. 42

54 Generate awareness A positive association between the company and the sports event will, according to Kombitsis (2002), eventually lead to a change in the perception, awareness, and purchase behavior of the customers. Also Jiffer and Roos (1999) mention awareness as an advantage, and claim that sponsorship creates awareness of the other promotional efforts of the sponsoring firm. Influence public preferences Jiffer and Roos (1999) believe that an advantage with sponsorship is that it may result in preferences among the target audience for the sponsor's products over the one of the competitors. Achieve internal motivation According to Beher and larsson(1998), that it can involve the company's staff both as representative and participants of the event, which as a result motivates the employees. Build goodwill Sponsorship is most often approved among people, since it is perceived that the company takes a risk for a cause outside of itself. People consider the company's commitment "a good thing to do", which rubs off on the company and makes theme earn goodwill. (McDonald, 1991) Same theme in diverse media The sponsor can use the same sponsorship theme in diverse media, which implies that the effect becomes very strong. Also the sponsor's message becomes more powerful when the company uses it frequently in several media. (Jiffer & Roos, 1999) Create exclusivity The ability to promote the company or brand without the interfering presence of other competitors. Suprovitz (2004).It would be an advantage, if the sponsoring company gains some kind of exclusivity in the specific sponsorship area. In that case, the sponsors have the possibility to increase their visibility and to outperform their competitors. (Jiffer & Roos, 1999) Create pride Another intangible benefit sought by sponsors is simply being associated with an event considered highly attractive by their most valued customers. Suprovitz (2004).Consumers can be proud that the firm sponsors "their activity", and therefore they rather choose to buy the products of the sponsor in front of the one of the competitors. The employees may also feel proud of working for that organization. 43

55 Also many companies use sponsorship with the purpose of recruiting personnel. (Jiffer & Roos, 1999) Difficult to avoid for target audience An advantage in sponsorship in comparison with the traditional advertising is that the target audience can not escape from the message,that is to say that the customer can not avoid the message just by changing channels in the same way as when they are exposed to traditional TV advertising.(jiffer & Roos, 1999) Generate publicity Sponsorship can be used to gain positive publicity for the company or for a specific brand among the target audience. (Bennett, 1999) Cost effective promotional method sponsorship is cost effective promotional method (Bennett, 1999) Disadvantages of sponsorship: Ambush marketing A risk for firms involved in sponsorship is the fact that they are leaved undefended against abuses from competitors, who use ambush marketing in their promotion (McDonald, 1991). Lee, Sandler and Shani, (1997) support that statement and argue that ambush marketing is a threat to sponsoring companies, since it refers to competitors associating themselves with an event without being the official sponsor. Ambush marketing is also recognized as a disadvantage by O'Sullivan and Murphy (1998). Controversies and negative attitudes Some people argue that the sales and promotion of products, such as cigarette that considered unhealthy or potentially dangerous and must be restricted. Along with people's increased interest regarding the cigarettes negative effect on society, the pressure is also heightened concerning the advertising and sports marketing that promote cigarette. (McDaniel & Mason, 1999) No standardization The traditional advertising in for example print, TV and radio offers very standardized solutions regarding time and place for a company's promotion. During sponsorship, firms do not have the same knowledge about the shape and the communication that are given them. There are no standard solutions for 44

56 sponsorships and therefore, they can be seen as requiring more planning, realization, and evaluation, which are perceived as disadvantageous. (Behrer & Larsson, 1998) Inflexible In contrast to sponsoring an event, it is quite uncomplicated to increase the frequency or lengthen an advertising campaign. A sponsored activity, on the other hand, requires more preparations, since it attracts a group of people at a certain occasion. The flexibility, once the event has started, is very restricted for the company. Moreover, it can be difficult to estimate the number of participants and the size of the audience attaining the event. Preparation before the event is a crucial factor for the company, since it is very hard to create yet another event occasion. (Ibid) Difficulties in evaluation It can be difficult to visualize the sponsorship effects. That is because the difficulty in visualizing the effects makes people assume it can not be measured, McDonald (1991).Making people reluctant of investigating the effects also depends on their presumption that, it will not show any results. Moreover, the costs of research compared to the sponsorship spends most often tend to seem relatively high. (Ibid) Time consuming Sponsorship can be very time consuming, as a lot of planning and preparation are needed. (Jiffer & Roos, 1999) Weak message carrier Sponsorship is often a weak message carrier, as it sometimes not possible to expose other things than the logo of the company or the brand name. (Ibid) Bad will risk It is considerable when individuals involved in sponsored activity behave in an unfavorable way. (Ibid) Fallen impact and recall of the message Another negative aspect that Bennett (1999) brings up is that the impact and recall of the message fall considerably almost directly after the sponsorship involvement. 45

57 2.5.3 Conceptual Framework After presenting the literature review, we have to bring a model in order to show, how we pursue to research and also our conceptual framework will show the way for every veteran companies to find their way in sports sponsorship. Of course, because in Iran we have not any methodological framework and model in this field, so we refer to the conceptual framework from previous researches which have been proved and worked outside of Iran. And the conceptual model has taken from sport sponsorship in Sweden written by Lantto and wehlen (2003) Objectives with sports sponsorship It is proposed to concentrate on the most commonly used objectives in literature review, also the theories that brought up by Pope (1998) because it is extensive and it focuses on sponsorship of sports, moreover the model implemented by the theories of some researchers like Bennet(1999),Mullin,Hardy and Sutton (2000),Meenaghan (1983) and Shank (1999).The following objectives have been proposed by Pope (1998) also some of researchers supported Pope s idea. Corporate objectives - Public awareness One of the most central sponsorship objectives is to create or increase the awareness of a company (Shank, 1999) Sponsoring of sports has been employed to increase a company s public awareness (Meenaghan.1983). - Corporate image 2000). Sponsorship can generate image association and image transfer (Mullin et al, One of the four main objectives is to create corporate image (Bennet.1999) 46

58 One important sponsorship objective is to improve, maintain or build the company s image (Shank, 1999) The creation of corporate image often involves the desire to affect the public in a general way but it can also involve interaction with specific group among the different publics of the firm (Meenaghan, 1983). - Public perception Sponsorship can change or improve customer s perception of the company (Mullin et al., 2000). Sport sponsorship can help the company the access to the wanted image, that it can again change the public perception of the company.(meenaghan,1983) - Community involvement Creating a good relationship with the community is vital for the company. (Shank, 1999) Through supporting a local or national activity, many companies engage in the community. (Meenaghan, 1983) - Financial relationship - Client entertainment By entertainment to customers and clients the companies build goodwill (Mullin et al, 2000) It is an important goal for the companies to create long term relationship with their clients. (Shank 1999) Government relations Employee relations Compete with other companies 47

59 One of the main sponsorship objectives of the firm is to meet competitive threats. (Shank 1999) Marketing objectives Business relations Reach target market 1999) Reaching to the new target market is a primary sponsorship objective (Shank An indispensable objective is that the event matches the company s target market (Mullin et al, 2000) Brand positioning Increase sales 2000) The final goal with sports sponsorship is to increase the sales. (Mullin et al, 1999) Improving sales is one of the four main objectives of sponsorship (Bennet, Sampling Media objectives Generate visibility Generate publicity - It is a significant objective in sports sponsorship. (Mullin et al, 2000) (Meenaghan, 1983) Enhance ad campaign Avoid clutter Target specificity 48

60 Personal objectives Management interest Selection of sports events Ability to fulfill objectives Image association potential Company/product compatibility Media coverage potential The funding requirement Target audience coverage The opportunity for guest hospitality Executive preferences Geographical coverage Staff knowledge Type of sponsorship The possibility for adverse publicity The organization of the sponsored activity Legal aspect of sponsorship Popularity of the event These criteria was according to the theories of Meenaghan(1983) and the last two one,was brought by Mcdaniel and Mason (1999) and Shank (1999). Evaluation of sports sponsorship Measuring the sales effectiveness when supporting a sport Direct Measurement Econometric analysis Controlled experimentation Measuring the communication Effectiveness of the sports sponsorship Awareness Recall Psychological measurement 49

61 Attitude surveys Sort and count Measuring the media coverage as a consequence of sponsorship Duration of TV coverage Extent of press coverage Monitored radio coverage Measuring continuing appropriateness of chosen sponsorship Audience level Market perception Extent of media coverage Monitoring feedback Cost-Benefit analysis These methods were provided by Meenaghan (1983), Abratt and Gobler (1989).Quester and Farrelly, 1998; McCook, Turku, 1998; and Parker 1991) claimed that before and after sports sponsorship methods are preferable in sports sponsorship involvement when the company tries to evaluate the effectiveness. Also Parker (1991) said that some companies need to assess their sponsorship during the process of sport sponsorship. Advantages and Disadvantages of sports sponsorship: My thesis is concentrated on the Iran's local and international companies who are active in sports sponsorship and it is completely new subject in Iran as a research so there are not any specific advantages and disadvantages in this field. Below the proposed advantages and disadvantages by different researchers will be shown. Advantages: Builds positive image association(mcdonald, 1991;Kambitis et al,2002;jiffer and Roos,1999) Eliminate media noise(taranto.1998) Generate awareness (Kambitis et al,2002;jiffer and Roos,1999) 50

62 Influence public preferences (Jiffer and Roos,1999) Achieves internal motivation(beher and Larsson,1998) Build goodwill(mcdonald, 1991) Same theme in diverse media( Jiffer and Roos,1999) Creates exclusivity (Jiffer and Roos,1999) Creates pride (Jiffer and Roos,1999) Difficult to avoid target audience (Jiffer and Roos,1999) Generates publicity(bennet,1999) Cost effective promotional method(bennet,1999) Disadvantages: Ambush marketing(mcdonald, 1991;Lee et al,1997, O'Sullivan & Murphy,1998) Controversies and negative attitude(mcdaniel and Mason,1999) No standardization(beher and Larsson,1998) Inflexible(Beher and Larsson,1998) Difficulties in evaluation(mcdonald, 1991) Time consuming(jiffer and Roos,1999) Badwill risk(jiffer and Roos,1999) 51

63 Objectives with sports sponsorship(rq1) -Corporate Objectives -Marketing Objectives -Media Objectives -Personal Objectives Selection of sports Events(RQ2) -Geographical coverage -Staff knowledge -Type of sponsorship -Solus position -The possibility for adverse publicity -The organization of the sponsored activity -The ability to fulfill objectives -Image association potential -company/product compatibility -Media coverage potential -The funding requirement -Target audience coverage -Legal aspects -The opportunity for guest hospitality -Popularity of the event -Executive preferences Evaluation of sports sponsorship(rq3) -Measuring the sales effectiveness of sponsorship activity -Measuring the communication effectiveness of sponsorship involvement -Measuring the media coverage resulting from sponsorship activity -Measuring the continuing appropriateness of chosen sponsorship over time -Monitoring feedback -Cost-benefit analysis Advantages and Disadvantages of Sports sponsorship(rq4) + Build/transfer positive image association - Ambush marketing + Eliminate media noise - Controversies and negative attitudes + Generate awareness - No standardization + Influence public preference - Inflexible + Achieve internal motivation - Difficulties in evaluation + Builds goodwill - Time-consuming + Same theme in diverse media - Weak message carrier + Creates exclusivity - Badwill risk + Creates pride + Difficult to avid target audience + Generates publicity + Cost effective promotional method Table 2.2. Emerged frame of reference, Lantto and wehlen (2003) 52

64 2.6. Summary This chapter has provided a literature review of prior research relevant to the research purpose of this thesis, further with a conceptual framework for better understanding of the research questions and the content will then be the basis for the data collection. The next chapter will explain the methodology for conducting the research. 53

65 Chapter 3- Methodology 3.1. Introduction to the chapter The previous chapter presented a brief theoretical review and a conceptualization of the related studies and concepts tied to the research questions of this study. This chapter serves as a mean to describe the research methodology that is used in this thesis. According to Holme and Solvang (1997) a method is a tool and a way to solve a problem and thus reaching new knowledge. This chapter is to work as a guideline so that the reader easily can follow how the purpose of the thesis is 54

66 approached. In order to do this there are a series of steps to be followed, while at the same time using validity and reliability criteria to make sure that the study fulfills certain standards (Foster, 1998). These steps are displayed in the figure below RESEARCH PURPOSE According to Reynolds, (1971) academic research is divided into three different stages, the exploratory, the descriptive, and the explanatory stage. At which stage a research belongs to depend on ambitions and knowledge within the research area. Exploratory studies aim for basic knowledge within the problem area (Wallen, 1996), and are useful when the problem is difficult to demarcate and the perception of which theory and model to use is opaque. Exploratory studies are also suitable to use when important characteristics and relations are hard to determine. (Eriksson & Wiedersheim-Paul, 1997) The purpose of an exploratory research is to collect as much information as possible about a particular topic, and it is common to make use of many different sources in order to gather this information. (Patel & Davidson, 1994) In the exploratory stage, the researcher should gain a better understanding of the research area. This stage should further direct the procedures that will be used in the next stage of research, the descriptive stage. (Rey1) olds, 1971) According to Miles and Huberman, (1994, p. 90) describing is another word for making "complicated 55

67 things understandable by reducing them to their component parts ". Reynolds (1971) claims that the goal of a descriptive study is to develop careful descriptions of different patterns that were expected during the exploratory stage. Descriptive studies mainly determine the research objects characteristics and its relevant surroundings (Wallen, 1996). A study of this type is applicable when the problem is relatively clearly structured but the intention is not to conduct research about connections between causes and symptoms, the researcher knows what he/she wants to investigate but not the answers (Eriksson & Wiedersheim-Paul, 1997). The purpose of a descriptive study could be to develop empirical generalizations and to explain these. This leads to a development of theory in the long run. (Reynolds, 1971) Miles and Huberman (1994) state that explanation concerns the activity of making complex issues understandable by presenting how their component parts interconnect according to some rules, i.e. theory. Reynolds (1971) is of the opinion that the goal with an explanatory study is to develop theory that could be utilized to elucidate the empirical generalization that was developed in the descriptive stage. Explanatory studies involve analyzing causes and relationships. Included in this, are not only traditional casual explanations but also explanations of a certain purpose, when examining if one specific factor affects another. (Eriksson & Wiedersheim - Paul, 1991) According to Yin, (1994) the objective of an explanatory study should be to pose competing explanations for the same set of events, and to indicate how these explanations could be applied to other situations. This provides a cycle of theory construction, theory testing, and theory reformulation (Reynolds, 1971). This thesis will explore, describe and possibly start to explain how Iranian and International companies which work in Iran are involve in sports sponsorship activities. The research purpose is partly exploratory, since we explore our purpose in order to gain a deeper understanding of how Iranian and international companies engage in sponsorship of sports. The study is also descriptive since I have the intention to describe the discovered patterns of the exploratory stage, the deeper understanding gained will help us describe our research area. The fact that the stated research purpose is clearly structured further justifies the descriptive purpose. Moreover, my research purpose is partly explanatory as well since I want to explain the results gained in the two previous stages by answering my research questions and 56

68 drawing conclusions on the matter. However, the explanatory purpose is secondary as no attempt to generalize is pursued. As the exploratory, descriptive, and partly explanatory purpose of this essay is now motivated, the research approach will be presented in the following section RESEARCH APPROACH There are different ways of approaching the matter of academic research. (Eriksson & Wiedersheim-Paul, 1997) this section will explain, and give the reasons to how I have chosen to approach my study. First, the matter of inductive versus deductive research approach will be addressed, and secondly, I will look into whether a qualitative or a quantitative approach will be applied to this thesis. The Selection Between these two approaches should be based on the purpose and research questions of the study. (Yin, 1994) Inductive versus Deductive Research Inductive and deductive approaches represent two different research philosophies; however, valid conclusions can be drawn from both approaches. The inductive way of drawing conclusions is founded on empirical data from where the researcher institutes models and theories based on different occurrences in reality. On the contrary, if the researcher uses already existing theories and investigates these empirically by using different methods, he/she is using a deductive approach. (Eriksson & Wiedersheim-Paul, 1997; Thuren, 1991) The existing theory or model is the foundation for deciding what information that should be selected, how it should be understood and, finally, how to relate the results to the theory. (Patel & Davidson, 1994).Saundler et al. (2000) suggests that a researcher should select a deductive approach if there exist, extensive literature within the problem area. For this thesis, I have employed a deductive research approach. I have based the empirical study work on already existing theories and models, which I later will compare with the reality. This way of approaching a study corresponds to what the theory calls a deductive research approach. 57

69 Quantitative versus Qualitative Research According to Holme and Solvang, (1991) the two main methodological research approaches within social sciences are the quantitative and the qualitative approaches. Both these approaches are aimed at creating a better understanding of the surrounding society and to gain comprehension of how individuals, groups, and institutions act and have an influence on one another. Yin (1994) claims that the best approach to use for a study depends on the purpose of the study and the accompanying research questions. The results arising from quantitative research are assumed to be measurable and presentable in the form of numbers and statistics. The aim is to make generalizations based on the processed results of the investigation. The quantitative method is formalized and structured; it approaches the research problem from a broad perspective. Moreover, quantitative research is highly controlled by the person conducting the investigation and statistical methods have a central role in the analysis of quantitative information. Another distinctive characteristic of a quantitative method is that few variables are studied but on a large number of entities. (Holme & Solvang, 1991) Qualitative research is less formalized than quantitative ditto, and the purpose of this method is not to generalize, but to make descriptions of situations as a whole, in which the research problem exists. The qualitative researcher strives to gain a deeper and more complete understanding of the collected data and the problem studied. Furthermore, an abundant amount of information can be gathered from several variables, but from a low number of entities. (Ibid) Conclusions drawn from qualitative research are often based on attitudes and beliefs, i.e. data that is not quantified, (Lundahl & Skarvad, 1992) and since the primary purpose is to reach a deeper understanding of the research problem, there is no need to draw any general conclusions. (Holme& Solvang, 1991) Based on the above discussion, as well as this study's purpose and research questions, the approach chosen for this thesis will be qualitative in its nature. The reason for why this approach is chosen is that, I want to gain a deeper understanding of how Iranian and International companies decide on sport sponsorship proposals. I 58

70 do not intend to make any generalizations, but instead by studying a relatively small sample we will be able to, more deeply, investigate several variables and thus, better reach the understanding I desire. As this thesis now is focused on a deductive and qualitative research approach, the research strategy will be presented in the following section RESEARCH STRATEGY Eriksson and Wiedersheim-Paul (1991) identifies three major research strategies a researcher can pursue: case studies, surveys, and experiments. Yin (1994) agrees upon this but he complements Eriksson and Wiedersheim-Paul with a couple of additions: archival analysis and histories. According to Yin, which research strategy to use is determined by looking at three different conditions, these conditions are: 1. The type of research question posed 2. The extent of control an investigator has over actual behavioral events 3. The degree of focus on contemporary as opposed to historical events The table below displays how Yin relates each condition to the five alternative research strategies. Table 3.1. Relevant Situations for Different Research Strategies By first taking a look at the research questions of this study and applying these to Yin's reasoning, it is apparent that all the strategies could be more or less applicable 59

71 for this thesis (since the research questions are formulated with "how" and "what"). But since the study does not require any control over behavioral events, "experiments" is not a relevant strategy for the thesis. The strategies that are left are consequently: survey, archival analysis, and case study. In order to determine which of these three strategies that would be most suitable for this thesis, a more detailed explanation of the three strategies' characteristics is provided below. According to Eriksson and Wiedersheim(1997) a survey does not give the opportunity to get a deeper understanding of the object studied, also it gives exact but shallow data and are therefore appropriate when investigating many entities as well as few variables. According to Tull and Hawkins (1990) survey research is the systematic gathering of information from respondents in order to understand and/or predict some aspect of the behavior of the population of interest, generally in the form of a questionnaire. Archival analysis involves collecting secondary data, i.e. data already collected by someone else for another purpose. The fact that the data has been gathered for a different purpose than one's own can imply problems, but on the other hand, archival analysis is a relatively simple and cheap research strategy. (Ibid) A case study implies investigating many variables on few entities, in order to get an in depth situational picture. This can be done by questionnaires or interviews and is particularly appropriate in the case of describing or explaining the problem area. (Ibid) Yin (1994) claims that a case study is an empirical inquiry investigating a contemporary phenomenon within its actual context, especially when the boundaries linking phenomenon and context are not noticeably evident. Yin further states that the case study is generally superior when answering how and why questions about a specific topic and can be in the form of both a single-, as well as a multiple case study. The single-case study investigates a single entity more in depth than multiplecase study that studies two or more entities less in depth. On the other hand, a multiple case study enables for the researcher to make comparisons and Yin (1994, p. 45) is of the opinion that "The evidence from multiple cases is often considered more compelling, and the overall study is therefore regarded as being more robust ". The research questions and the conceptual framework for this thesis provide a relatively high number of variables to investigate and since the purpose stated that I 60

72 wanted to gain a deeper understanding of my research area, a deep and detailed investigation has to be performed. Therefore, a survey that only investigates shallow information is not a suitable for this research. Moreover, in order to conduct an as accurate research as possible, it is of essential importance to collect primary data for this study, hence, an archival analysis is out of the question. Consequently, the selected research strategy of this thesis is a multiple case study. This is the most appropriate strategy since this study aims for deep and detailed information, but at the same time the opportunity of comparison between different cases. The case study for this thesis is of a multiple-case type so that possible similarities and differences between the cases can be discovered. How this case study is utilized, is presented in the next section on data collection Data Collection Method Eriksson and Wiedersheim-Paul (1997) list three ways of collecting data, these ways are: through documents, through observations, and through interviews and/or questionnaires. To these three, Yin (1994) adds archival records and physical artifacts when conducting case studies. He further proposes that no single source of evidence has a complete advantage over the others; instead the sources complement each other with their individual strengths and weaknesses. A table that was brought by Yin about sources of evidence as well as their strengths and weaknesses is displayed on the following page. 61

73 Table 3.2: Six Sources of Evidence: Strengths and Weaknesses When conducting case studies, a researcher is able to use many of the sources of evidence previously mentioned. Yin calls this multiple source usage "triangulation", this gives the researcher an opportunity to obtain multiple measures of the same phenomenon, which increases the validity of the research. Documents include, for instance letters, administrative documents (i.e. progress reports, annual reports and other internal documents), articles and formal studies (Eriksson & Wiedersheim-Paul, 1991; Yin, 1994). Yin (1994) claims that documentary information is likely to be relevant in every case study. Archival records are sources that are able to produce both quantitative, as well as qualitative information; examples of this are organizational records displaying charts, or personal records such as 62

74 diaries, calendars, and telephone listings. (Ibid) Another word for interview is: an interaction, either personal or via telephone, between an interviewer (the one asking the questions) and the respondent (the one answering). (Eriksson & Wiedersheim- Paul, 1991) Yin (1994) has the opinion that interviews are the most important sources of data collection in case studies. An observation involves an observer that registers a process or a situation, without actually disturbing the process/situation itself. The purpose of this is not to find out what the people just say they do, but what they actually do. This is a very time consuming method of data collection. (Winter, 1992) Yin (1994) has made a distinction between direct observation and participant ditto. Included in direct observations are meetings, sidewalk activities, and factory work, which entails that the researcher has the opportunity to observe certain types of occurrences during a certain time period. In participant observations, the researcher participates and takes a more active role in the studied events. The final source of evidence is cultural, or physical artifact, these may be observed and collected as a part of a field visit. Physical artifacts has been used extensively in anthropological research and have less potential relevance in a typical case study, nevertheless, artifacts can be an important component in the overall case. (Ibid) The data can further be separated into primary and secondary data. Primary data are collected by a researcher especially to address the specific purpose of the study. Secondary data is collected for a different purpose by other people than the researcher. (Lundahl & Skarvad, 1992) Befring (1992) explicates primary data as information collected for the primary purpose to form an analysis platform for the researcher s specific study. Secondary data has, opposed to primary, been gathered for other purposes than the one defined by the researcher, thus some caution must be applied when utilizing. For this thesis, archival records, observation, and artifacts are not utilized since they do not fit into the scope of the study (i.e. Archival records are precise and quantitative which does not fit a qualitative study, observations are too expensive and time consuming, as well as they may be biased, and the study does not need evidence on cultural features, thus artifacts are excluded). 63

75 Consequently, the methods of data collection in this thesis are interviews, which is considered primary data, and documentation, which is secondary data. According to Holme and Solvang (1991) interviews are suitable when in-depth information is desired, and this kind of information is required in order to fulfill the purpose of this research. Interviews also allow flexibility and closeness to the respondents; this is also an important factor in qualitative studies. Moreover, the interview allows the researcher to focus directly on the case study topic, (Yin, 1994) which in this case is how Iranian and international companies decide upon sport sponsorship proposals. A case study interview can manifest itself in three forms: open-ended, focused or structured. In the open-ended interview, the key respondents are asked for facts as well as for their opinions on the facts. The focused interview is also performed in a conversational manner but follows a set of questions derived from the case study protocol, this type of interview takes a relatively short time to perform. The structured interview is best suited for surveys and follows a structured questionnaire (Ibid).This thesis utilizes focused to structured type of interviews due to the relatively structured interview guide, which includes ratings, as well as relatively open questions (Appendix A & B). This type of interview is the most appropriate choice to gain the data necessary since it allows the researcher to lead informal conversations based on predetermined topics. (Ibid) As mentioned earlier, interviews can be conducted either in person or by telephone (Eriksson & Wiedersheim- Paul, 1991) for this research; two interviews are performed by telephone, due to the limited time of the respondents and one in the office of the respondent. According to recommendations by Yin (1994), a tape recorder was used throughout the interviews in order to accurately register the empirical data. By registering the data, the possibility to double-check emerges, which implies that an apprehension of all data received from the interviews increases. The respondents were aware of the use of a tape recorder and had no objections. In addition to the tape recorder, note taking took place during the interviews. In the end of each interview, it was made sure that no questions accordingly to the interview guide were forgotten. The interview guide was also sent to the respondents more than 24 hours prior the actual interview, so that they would have the sufficient time to prepare for the interviews and gather the information Necessary in order to answer the questions 64

76 asked as accurately as possible. Furthermore, the interviews were conducted in Persian, which is the respondents' native language, the reason for this was to make sure that the respondents would understand the questions clearly and to minimize the risk for any misunderstandings. The three interviews took about an hour each to conduct. Finally, I have used documentation in the form of secondary data, such as brochures, annual reports, the companies' websites, and other printed sources provided by the companies. As stated by Yin (1994), documentation offers advantages due to that it is stable because it can be re-examined repeatedly. It is also unobtrusive, meaning that it is not made for the case. It can be exact and contain accurate names, references and other details. In addition, it has a broad coverage over time. As stated earlier, the use of multiple sources of evidence in this study's data collection is called triangulation and is a desired pattern for dealing with case studies, in order to obtain converging evidence and establish the occurrence of an event; it also makes the study more reliable. Now when it is clear that this study will utilize focused telephone interviews, as well as documentation. For data collection methods, the next section will deal with how the actual sample is selected and Who to conduct the interviews Sample Selection According to Mann (1995) and Zikmund (1994) it is either impossible, too impractical, or too expensive too collect data from all the potential units of analysis included in a research problem. Therefore a smaller number of units, a sample, are often chosen to represent the entire population. Population is, according to Mann (1995, p. 8) defined as: "all elements -individuals, items, or objects -whose characteristics are being studied". Due to the fact that a sample is not a perfect representative of the population from which it is drawn, the researcher cannot be assured that the conclusions drawn are generalizeable to the entire population. (Zikmund, 1994) Nevertheless, due to the limited time and financial resources allocated for this thesis, I have chosen to conduct a sample selection rather than investigating the entire population. 65

77 Miles and Huberman (1994) claim that investigating contrasting cases can help understand a single- case finding, by specifying how, where, and possibly why it proceeds as it does. Based on this reasoning, I have chosen to include companies from diverging industries in our sample selection; I chose to include both companies carrying tangible goods as well as companies carrying intangible products. The authors (ibid) further state that although contrasting cases are used, a sampling frame is still required; this should be guided by the study's purpose, research questions, and conceptual framework. With this in mind, I set my sampling frame to Iranian and International Companies that systematically utilize sponsoring as a promotional tool and have used this for some time involving a considerable amount of money. The reason for doing this is that the companies by then should be able to answer the questions asked based on own experience. Regarding the number of cases in a multiple-case study Miles and Huberman (Ibid) say that the number of cases depends on how rich and complex the within case sampling is. Since this thesis' research questions and conceptual framework provide a fairly high degree of complexity for each case, I chose to include three cases for the study. This provides me the opportunity to really focus and strive to fulfill the purpose of this research within the limited timeframe. In order to find companies on which to perform case studies that fitted within the sampling frame set. I looked at important clubs and leagues in football, wrestling in Iran and football clubs in the highest divisions (i.e. "Esteghlal" and "Persopolis" respectively) and identified their sponsors. I chose to focus only on the top divisions because it is the teams active in these divisions that require the amount of money determined in the sampling frame. When the sponsoring companies were identified and listed, the next step was to call the companies in order to locate the appropriate respondents, (that in my case was the person(s) within the company Responsible for the sponsorship activities) and explore the possibility of an interview. The choice of case companies fell on the three organizations, active in different industries, with which the best contact was established, this choice was based on that I thought it would facilitate the communication process in the following interviews. The companies chosen as sample in this thesis were Samsung, LG and Pars Electric. 66

78 3.6. Data Analysis According to Yin (1994) data analysis implies examining, categorizing, tabulating or otherwise recombining the collected data. Every investigation should involve a general analytical strategy in order to come to terms with what to analyze and why. When analyzing data collected from Interviews the intentions are to find answers on the research questions that were stated earlier. (Miles & Huberman, 1994) Since this research is a multiple case study, the analysis is performed both within each individual case, as well as between the two cases. Miles and Huberman (1994),(Ibid) state that a qualitative data analysis focuses on data in the form of words and that the analysis consists of "three concurrent flows of activity II (op. cit. p.10): 1. Data reduction: The process of selecting, focusing, simplifying, abstracting, and transforming the data. 'The purpose is to organize the data so that final conclusions can be drawn and verified. 2. Data Display: Taking the reduced data and displaying it in an organized, compressed way so that conclusions can be easily drawn. 3. Conclusion drawing/verification: Deciding what things mean -noting regularities, patterns, explanations, possible configurations, casual flows, and propositions. This proposition is what the analysis of this thesis is based on. The data collected for each research question is reduced and simplified through use of within case analysis. The within case analysis is performed by comparing the empirical findings with the already existing theories and concepts brought up in the conceptual framework. A cross-case analysis is also performed through displaying and reducing the data from each research question and comparing it between the two selected cases in order to find similarities and differences in between them. Once the data reduction and the data display are done through within- and cross-case analysis respectively, conclusions on each research question are drawn based on the findings of the study. These processes are all done through the proposition of Miles and Huberman (1994). As the data Analysis method now is explained, the next section will deal with the quality standards of this thesis. 67

79 3.7. Quality Standards Validity is a measuring instrument s ability to measure what it is suppose to measure and it is divided into construct, external and internal validity, Eriksson and Wiedersheim (1994).When conducting a research, it is of high importance to judge the quality of the research, and when establishing the quality standards of a research, Yin (1994) proposes four commonly used tests. These tests are construct validity, internal validity, external validity, and reliability. Construct validity means establishing the correct operational measures for the studied concepts. Internal validity is, according to the author, solely for explanatory or casual studies, and not intended for descriptive or exploratory studies and means establishing a casual relationship, whereby certain conditions are shown to lead to other conditions, as distinguished from spurious relationships. External validity is defined as establishing the domain to which a study's findings can be generalized. And finally, reliability is demonstrating that the operations of a study can be repeated with the same results. (Ibid) table 3.3 displays the tactics that can be practical for handling the four tests when conducting case study research to increase quality. Since Internal validity is intended for explanatory or casual studies, and the purpose of this research is primary exploratory and descriptive in its nature, the considerations regarding internal validity in this thesis is irrelevant and, hence, will not be discussed in the following sections. 68

80 Table 3.3: Case Study Tactics for Four Design Tests Construct Validity In order to increase the construct validity of this study, I have collected evidence from multiple sources, i.e. interviews and documentation. This is what Yin (1994) call utilizing triangulation. The interview guide has also been pre-tested and read by other people than the actual respondents prior to the interviews, this in order to be able to correct some dubious question formulations and thus, reduce the risk for misunderstandings. Moreover, I put a lot of effort into locating the respondents with the correct knowledge to answer my questions as accurately as possible; having the most suitable respondent increases the validity of the study. As mentioned earlier, all interviews with experts in this field have been written and copies are available; this provided me with the opportunity to double- and triple-check all the answers, which reduces the risk of wrongly interpreted answers from my side. During the interviews, the complicated questions were explained by me and I also asked control questions to really make sure that the respondents understood the questions correctly. The fact that the interview guide was sent some time prior to the actual interview can both lower and raise the construct validity of the study. The validity is raised because it gave the respondents time to find the accurate information in order to answer the question as correctly as possible, but the validity can also be 69