ایجاد حقوق صاحبان سرمایه از طریق شخصیت برند: درک طرفداران و رقبا Building a sponsor’s equity through brand personality: perceptions of fans and rivals

Introduction Sponsorship has become a widely used marketing tool employed by businesses of varying size and scope as part of their brand building strategy. Global sponsorship spending was expected to rise by 4.5 percent in 2017 reaching $62.8 billion, as reported by the International Event Group (IEG) (2017), the prevailing sponsorship organization. In all, 70 percent of the total sponsorship expenditure in 2016 was invested in the sport industry, rendering it the most popular sponsored property type (IEG, 2017). Indeed, sport sponsorship has attracted the interest of companies for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the characteristics of sport consumers. Sport consumers are diverse and passionate and are perceived to be more relaxed and potentially more receptive to the messages delivered by sponsoring companies (Mullin et al., 2014). Based on that, sponsors expect that the strong affiliation that fans have with their favorite sport team will, by association, result in positive outcomes for their brand (Dalakas and Levin, 2005). Previous sponsorship research has highlighted the return on sponsorship investment with reference to a variety of brand-related goals (e.g. Cornwell et al., 2001; Donlan, 2014), purchase behavior toward sponsors’ products and services (e.g. Biscaia et al., 2013; Herrmann et al., 2016; Zaharia et al., 2016), and brand switching intentions (e.g. Parganas et al., 2017). It is generally accepted that sponsorship benefits a sponsor’s brand by increasing awareness levels, creating positive attitudes, and building brand loyalty (Cornwell et al., 2001; Donlan, 2014; Grohs et al., 2004; Jalleh et al., 2002). More recent studies have dealt with the process through which sponsorship can result in tangible sponsorship goals (Biscaia et al., 2013; Zaharia et al., 2016). While the formation of a sponsor’s brand personality has also been explored as a sponsorship effect (Cornwell et al., 2001; Deane et al., 2003), there is not enough evidence of its role in influencing more tangible branding evaluations within the sport sponsorship context, such as higher perceived brand quality, brand engagement, and brand loyalty. Given that building brand personality, perceived brand quality, and brand loyalty is a more difficult task for sponsors than raising awareness or strengthening their image (Cornwell et al., 2001), the process by which these variables interact constitutes a significant topic for examination. Moreover, there is increasing evidence of the beneficial effects of sport sponsorship on brand-related sponsorship outcomes with regards to the fans of the sponsored team (Becker-Olsen and Hill, 2006; Donlan, 2014; Roy and Cornwell, 2003). However, research on other groups exposed to the sponsorship promotional activities, such as fans of the rival team, is still in early stages.