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Effect of Different Factors on Sponsorship Effectiveness in Indian Sports League

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Abstract and Figures

The sports sector had experienced numerous developments in the past decade due to wholehearted acceptance by people in India. This increasing popularity of different sports leagues and regular organizing large sporting events in India provide helps marketers exploring abundant opportunities in business. Though there is numerous literature that focussed on measuring the sponsorship effectiveness on the basis of the nature of the different sports leagues along with their relative significance in different regions across the world. The need of this hour is to measure sponsorship effectiveness in Indian Sports League based on 5 different factors. A sample of 205individuals was considered for the study and results are discussed within the outline as considered for finding the effect of different factors on Sponsorship Effectiveness in Indian Sports Leagues.
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EFFECT OF DIFFERENT FACTORS ON SPONSORSHIP
EFFECTIVENESS IN INDIAN SPORTS LEAGUE
Mr.Avtar Singh1 , Dr. Rahul Sharma2
1,2Mittal School of Business
Lovely Professional University
Punjab, India.
Email: 1avtar257@gmail.com
2rahul.12234@lpu.co.in
Abstract
The sports sector had experienced numerous developments in the past decade due to whole hearted
acceptance by people in India. This increasing popularity of different sports leagues and regular
organising large sporting events in India provide helps marketers exploring abundant opportunities in
business. Though there are numerous literatures that focussed on measuring the sponsorship effectiveness
on the basis of nature of the different sports leagues along with its relative significance in different
regions across the world. The need of this hour is to measuresponsorship effectiveness in Indian Sports
League based on 5 different factors. A sample of 205individuals were considered for the study and results
are discussed within the outline as considered for finding the effect of different factors on Sponsorship
Effectiveness in Indian Sports Leagues.
Keywords Sports League, factors, Fans, Identification, Sports Team/Teams
1. Introduction
As stated in BARC report 2016, according to the survey cricket still dominates the Indian sports
viewership, where other sports contribute over 20 % share in Indian sports viewership, that tohas been
emerged due to global sports events such as Olympics and introduction of various domestic leagues in
India. It had been seen that out of this 20% share of viewership,80% share comes from 6 major
properties- Pro Kabaddi League, Indian Super League, Rio Olympics 2016, Kabaddi World Cup 2016,
Premier Badminton League, and Hockey India league. Moreover it had been reported that Indian Super
League shows best reach ratio and has highest stickiness amongst its viewers,so it seems to be a better
option for high engagement space. Also such leagues are being more favored by Female viewers and
NCCS viewers, Hence FMCG industry could get much engagement with its targeted audience at same
place.
Sports marketing is mainly a subdivision of the marketing field which promote the sports events as well
as the sports team all over the world. In the process, they also promote other products and services
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through those sports events and the sport teams. The element which will be promoted through this can
either be a physical product or even a brand name. The main purpose is to make the clients aware about
the sports and also the brands that are all related to it. Sportsmarketingcanalsobedefined as the element
for promoting a sport including a wide variety of fields such as broadcasting, advertising, social media,
ticket salesetc.Lovelocketal.,(2004).
All sports leagues continue to rule sponsorships of sports in India. With total of 51 percent share
sponsorship on-ground properties, 61 percent in sponsorship of a team and 64 percent in ratifications.
Cricket (IPL) remains on the top spot and also considered as one of the favorite among the Indian sports
fans. Other leagues particularly Indian Super Leagueand PKL are also progressively
appealingbenefactors from almost all the domains. Businesses are gambling huge on these leagues to
shape their brands because of their proficiency to entice good numbers of fans or spectators KPMG
(2016).
2. Literature Review
Sponsorship could be defined as process through which an activity either financial or in-kind by a
commercial organization for the purpose of attaining commercial objectives. Meenaghan (1983). On the
other hand Harvey (2004) defined effectiveness as the degree to which certain activity achieves its
proposed function. Hence sponsorship effectiveness could be considered as the extent to which framed
sponsorship objectives are attained Walraven (2013). As per the definition quoted in Economic Times
Unaided recall is a method in marketing to define how sound customer recalls an advertisement without
giving any hint or clues. In other words, this technique is used to measure the efficiency of certain
brands when the individuals are been interrogated about it without giving any hint or clue. Biscaia et al.
(2014) examined the awareness of the soccer fans of their respective team sponsor, also compared
sponsorship consciousness amongst casual spectators and season ticket holders. They highlighed that the
spectators recalls those sponsors who are having logos displayed on the team shirts. The recall degree
analysis involved brands which are always on ‗top of the mind‘ and those which are being appropriately
recalled from the total number of authorised brands. On the basis of the number of sponsors remembered
appropriately, replies from these individuals were then rated on the scale of 0 to 12 for additional
contrast among themselves. Therefore, he concluded that the number of sponsors remembered
appropriately in case of season ticket holders is considerably greater than that of the casual spectators.
Ko et al. (2016) higlights the relationships between the key variables of the effectiveness of the
sponsorships i.e. sponsor awareness, corporate image and future purchase intention alongwith the
involvement in Soccer sport. They found that the consumers‘ involvement in sports has a positive effect
on sponsor awareness, corporate image and purchase intention. Moisescu (2009) investigated potency
between the brand commercial performance and unaided brand awareness for durable and non durable
products by using the bivariate regression analysis. He found that there is substantial positive
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relationship between unaided brand awareness and brand performance commercials. He also highlighted
that the organisations should analyse the prominence of enhancing unaided brands‘ consciousness and
must take action for that reason. Crompton (2004) measured the sponsorship effectiveness through
different stages in the communication process. The sponsorship had been taken into consideration as an
alternative to advertsiment in the late decades of twentith century but gradually its focus has been shifted
to intention to purchase, product demonstration or trial and increase in sales. He also reported that the
intention of a sponsor is to find out the best possible way to enhance sales by increasing the traffic at
retail point of sale, number of new leads generated and actual benefits incurred from sponsorship in
terms of sales.
Johar et al., (2006) highlighted that sponsors must actually plan well before and also comprehend the
research results on sponsorship effectiveness, before making their sponsorship decisions. Pope et al.,
(2009) highlighted that the research related to sponsorships must learn from the long term impact of the
sponsorship by finding the effects over an protracted period of time. In this regard Walraven (2013) also
addresssed the concern of how the sponsorship awareness develops overtime, whether it increases or
decreases at any given point. To supplement this Wakefield et al., (2007) reported that sponsorship
awareness proposes a critical measure of sposnorship effectiveness. Khurram et al., (2018) highlighted
in a study of impact of two factors, brand recognition and brand recall on the acquisitions of the
customers that the consciousness of the brands replicated via brand recognition and recall have a robust
optimistic effect on the acquisition done by the consumer. Baumann et al. (2014) examined the role of
brand exposure and brand experience on brand recall in the product category of FMCGs, with the help
of three different aspects brand image, brand trust and self image congruence. They highlighted that
customers are capable of recalling brands of durable goods better, if they would have experienced
themselves, on the other hand customers of FMCGs are more deeply convinced by advertising. Tripodi
et al., (2003) measured sponsorship recall on brands in three different ways and highlighted the
differences between these prompts with easing and inhibiting recall. With the help of spreading
activation theory, they found potential to clarify and forecast recall.
2.1 Research Gaps
A lot of research has been conducted to measure the effect of different factors on sponsorship
effectiveness but research didn‘t encounter a single study where all these five different factors has been
considered and collective effect is measured on sponsorship effectiveness in different sports leagues in
India.
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Furthermore a relative comparison of effects of all these five factors on sponsorship effectiveness is
significant for a marketers to strategies and position different factors on the basis of their relative
significance.
2.2 Research Questions
To measure the effect of different factors on sponsorship effectiveness in Indian Premier League.
3. Research Methodology
3.1 Research Design
(Chan et al., 2009) Self-administered open-ended and close-ended questionnaire were surveyed
individuals who are either fans or frequent spectators and are following one or the other sports league in
India. For this study, 5 point Likert Scale has been used, where respondents can point their degree of
agreement or disagreement. A pilot study was conducted to find out the relevance and reliability of the
questionnaire. The contents of the instruments validated from renowned academicians and also few of the
industry experts. The primary data collection conducted using a survey with the help of structured
questionnaire in Punjab i.e. Amritsar. The questionnaire designed have different sections with statements
for the initial section of the demographic profile like age, gender, marital status and income of the
respondents. It was followed by statements on five different factors of sponsorship effectiveness.
Purposive sampling technique under the non-probability sampling method was used, based on the
characteristics of the population and the objective in the study.The sample size considered in this study
was 205 individuals and the research carried out in norther city of Punjab i.e. Amritsar, since this city is
one of the other Tier II cities of Punjab and also has quite a good number of fans/followers of sports
leagues.
The statistical measures were conducted using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science) through
multiple linear regression analysis and by scrutinizing Cronbach‘s alpha value to measure the effect of
different factors of sponsorship effectiveness. This would also estimate reliability for different scales of
questionnaires. (Coakes and Ong, 2011) Multiple linear regressions was used at the time of forecasting
the value of variable on the basis of two or more other variables. Every value of the independent variable
is associated with a value of the dependent variable. This study tries to locate the most substantial
factorthat leads to sponsorship effectiveness.
3.2 Conceptual Model
The theoretical framework has been designed below as per the objectives:
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4. Results and Discussions
Table 1: Respondents’ Profile
Particulars
Frequency
%age
Age
18-25
82
40
26-33
55
27
34-41
42
20
41 & Above
26
13
Education
Under Graduate
64
21
Graduate
121
59
Post Graduate
20
10
Income
Rs. 2.4-3.6 Lakhs
92
45
Rs. 3.61-6 Lakhs
64
31
Above Rs. 6 Lakhs
49
24
Awareness
Competitors Image
Brand Image
Familiarity
Purchase Intention
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Occupation
Salaried
72
35
Self Employed
66
32
Others
67
33
Table 1 illustrates profile of the respondents. Respondents in age category of 18-25 years were highest i.e.
40% of the sample whereas i.e. 13% falls in age category of 34-41 years. Majority of them i.e. 59% were
graduates. And also approximately 45% had income in the category Rs.2.4-3.6 Lakhs and 24% in the
income category of 6 lakhs and above. Since most of the individuals were graduates and also falls into the
category of income group between Rs20,000 to Rs30,000monthly. The above table shows that majority of
the fans/ followers are from the younger age and also admire and follow different sports league in the
country.
Table 2: Internal Consistency among Variables
Internal Consistency & Reliability
Constructs
Statements
Mean
Standard
Deviation
Alpha Value
Competitors‘ Image
4
3.88
0.811
0.818
Brand Image
3
3.67
0.611
0.789
Familiarity
3
3.71
0.605
0.784
Awareness
3
3.86
0.714
0.766
Purchase Intention
3
3.53
0.586
0.751
Table 2 illustrates internal consistency among variables being studied. Cronbach‘s Alpha values were
above 7 in case of all five variables which signifies a significant amount of internal consistency and
reliability of these variables. In case of factors mean ranges from 3.58& 3.68. On the other hand, 0.586-
0.818 was the range for standard deviation in 5 different factors. The highest mean and standard deviation
is 3.88, 0.811& 3.86, 0.714 in case of Competitors‘ Image andAwareness respectively.
Table 3: Regression Analysis
R
R2
Standard Error
Estimate
Significance (F)
0.813
0.675
0.5122
0.000
Unstandardized
Coefficients
Standardised
Coefficient
Β
Standard Error
Β
T
Competitors‘ Image
0.487
0.408
0.457
0.621 (Sig. 0.006)
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Brand Image
0.553
0.585
0.451
5.463 (Sig. 0.000)
Familiarity
-0.266
0.482
-0.388
-1.687 (Sig. 0.99)
Awareness
0.561
0.99
0.413
4.66 (Sig. 0.000)
Purchase Intention
0.421
0.435
0.309
4.543(Sig. 0.000)
Table 3 illustrates regression analysis of Competitors‘ Image, Brand Image, Familiarity, Awareness and
Purchase Intention. Table 3 signifies that R value is 81.3 and R2 is 67.5% (p< 0.01) variance could be
explained by five different factors. It further shows that Competitors‘ Image with a beta value 0.487 (Sig.
0.006). Brand Image with a beta value 0.553 (Sig. 0.000), Awareness with a beta value0.561 (Sig. 0.000),
and Purchase Intention with a beta value 0.421 (Sig. 0.000), impacts the sponsorship Effectiveness. On
the other hand, it‘s not true in case of Familiarity as its beta value is negative -0.266 (Sig. 0.99). Hence
the results proves thatCompetitors‘ Image, Brand Image, Awareness and Purchase intention have a
significant effect on Sponsorship Effectiveness, whereas Familiarity has a negative effect on sponsorship
Effectiveness.The different factors that has a positive effect would certainly help the organisations to
achieve its sales objective, but the factor having a negative effect would certainly help one to locate gaps
and work on find the appropriate solutions. There have been numerous big brands or organisations, who
divest good amount of budget on sponsorships every now and then, but little very little organisations
understand its importance considering the effects of different factors of sponsorship effectiveness. It has
been very clearly stated as per the definition of Meenaghan (1991) that sponsorship is an investment in
one or the other activity to generate good amount of profitability. Therefore, organisations or sponsors
must have a ready solutions to all its glitches in the process of generating good amount of profitability,
considering the fact that there is huge competitions available in the market.
5. Conclusion and Scope for future research
The Indian sports leagues in the last decade or so has taken a very positive shape. India being a
developing nation has been able to grow in last decade or so, in various areas particularly. The sports
sector in India is giving numerous opportunities to the local talent to learn and rise from these platforms.
On the other hand, with the large fans base, it has given lot of scope to the domestic and International
sports retailing and sports sponsors giants. The study aimed to measure the effects of different factors on
sponsorship effectiveness. As per the analysis and results the research proved that, amongst five different
factors, Competitors‘ Image, Brand Image, Awareness and Purchase Intention has positive and substantial
effect on Sponsorship Effectiveness, unlikeFamiliarity, which has negative effect on Sponsorship
Effectiveness. Based on the above results, the marketers has to evaluate different aspects of familiarity
and work out possible solutions in order to capitalise on competitive advantage through exclusiveness.
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The findings of the study would be helpful for new or upcoming sponsors of the different sports league in
India. It would also help the existing sponsors, particularly the topmost brands in India, through which
they can target the other major sports league worldwide. However based on this, effective marketing
strategies later can be adopted or adaptedconsidering different aspects of fans and followers and based on
the culture differences.
This research has more scope for improvement, the research could be conducted to locate more such
factors that can help finding the sponsorship effectiveness. It could also be conducted on different
segments of Fans and followers with a larger sample size or geographical coverage so as to explore
different aspects and different ways of measuring sponsorship effectiveness.
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