Sport sponsorship : A multiple case study in Sweden

Abstract: The last decades sport sponsorship has grown into a massive industry. This has given marketers unique opportunities and challenges to develop their brand strategy in order to stay competitive. Although the increasing research made within sport sponsorship, marketing researchers is just in the beginning of understanding the full effects of it. There is still a gap within this research field in Sweden and the rest of Europe. Though, researchers have found common desired brand objectives for using sport sponsorships which are called the sponsorship portfolio. The purpose of this study is to investigate companies’ perception and use of sport sponsorship. The purpose will also be to investigate how well companies’ use of sport sponsorship match with their customers perceptions of it. This study is based on a qualitative multiple case study using a semi-structured interview technique. Two companies, Craft and Team Sportia, were interviewed with five different managers to investigate their perception of sport sponsorship. Two focus groups, one on each company, where conducted in order to compare the results of the interviews. The study will be limited to the Swedish sport sponsorship market. In the case of Craft, findings indicate that Crafts sport sponsorship strategy is in overall congruence with the most important brand objectives using sponsorship in the theory. Though are the focus group perception of Crafts sport sponsorship and their brand not quite as consistent as company want to reflect. Results from the case of Team Sportia reveal that they could be seen as a company with a positive brand image. The brand itself is perceived as less strong than their competitors by the focus group due to weak perceived brand awareness. New findings in this study are Crafts product development through sport sponsorship as well as the message of brand familiarity through Team Sportias sport sponsorship.