Achieving Marketing Objectives through Social Sponsorships

TLDR

Corporate social responsibility research has largely examined broad associations and affect transfer from causes to firms, overlooking how social initiatives can differentiate firms and reinforce brand positioning. The study investigates how the fit between a firm’s associations and a sponsored cause influences brand positioning, sponsorship liking, and equity. Using a traditional branding framework, the authors analyze the fit between firm associations and sponsored causes to assess its impact on positioning, liking, and equity. Communications decisions can mitigate the negative effects of low fit, and sponsorship benefits can persist for up to a year despite ongoing brand exposure.

Abstract

The corporate social responsibility literature has focused on creating broad associations, such as simply being “socially responsible,” and on the simple transfer of positive affect from sponsored causes to sponsoring firms. Both views fail to recognize the power of social initiatives as a means for differentiating among socially responsible firms and, in particular, for reinforcing the brand's positioning. The authors adopt a more traditional branding perspective and show that the fit between a firm's specific associations and a sponsored cause can reinforce or blur the firm's positioning, influence liking for the sponsorship, and bolster or undermine the firm's equity. They also show that communications decisions can mitigate the negative effects of low fit. Finally, they show that sponsorship effects can persist for as long as a year despite day-to-day exposure to other brand communications.