TYPES OF SPONSORSHIP 353support, in cash or kind, to an exhibition, a series of concerts, a philharmonic orchestra or
an artist. Or they can sponsor a rock concert, a beach festival or an annual traditional craft s
exhibition. Broadcast or programme sponsorship is a more recent phenomenon, at least in
Europe. A brand can sponsor a sports programme, the weather forecast or a ‘soap’. Cause-
related sponsorship may be the oldest form of sponsorship, or rather charity. Rich people
donating money to schools, the poor or other good causes is a phenomenon that has existed
for centuries. Th e diff erence between those activities and cause-related sponsorship is that
the latter is not just charity, but integrated in the company’s communications strategy. MUSH
sponsorship stands for Municipal, University, Social, Hospital sponsorship, and is a synonym
for sponsorship of good causes. Transaction-based sponsorship (sometimes called cause-related
marketing or point-of-purchase politics) is a type of sponsorship in which the company
invests a pre-specifi ed amount of money in a ‘good cause’ every time a consumer buys one of
the company’s products. Value marketing has been defi ned in the fi rst section of this chapter.
Sponsorship is only one aspect of value or societal marketing. Finally, ambush or parasitic
marketing is a planned eff ort by a company to confuse the consumer regarding its affi liation
status and to associate indirectly with an event in order to gain at least some of the recognition
and benefi ts associated with being an offi cial sponsor.^32 A company may be a minor sponsor
of an event but, by spending considerable budgets on advertising support, it creates the
impression of being an important sponsor.
Traditional event-related sponsorship still accounts for the bulk of the expenditures. Sport
accounts for 86% of the expenditure (€6695 million), with arts and broadcast sponsorship
taking 7% and 5% respectively (others 2%). Football is Europe’s biggest recipient of sports
sponsorship income on €1872 million (38%), motor sport is second on €1558 million (32%),
sailing and cycling are third on €190 million and €184 million, respectively (4%), and other
sports include rugby union on €161 million (3%).^33 Sports sponsoring also attracts a large
variety of companies in diff erent industries. A Dutch study found that of all sports sponsor-
ship in the Netherlands, 18% was invested by fi nancial institutions, 8% by consultancies, 7.5%
by the automotive industry and 5.5% by the Internet/ICT industry.^34Event-related sponsorship
Th e opportunities and advantages of event-related sponsorship are multiple. Compared with
advertising, it is a cost-eff ective instrument in terms of reaching a particular audience. Given
the variety of events in terms of targeted audiences, it is an excellent tool to reach broad as
well as very specifi c market segments in terms of demographic and psychographic character-
istics. Sponsorship of opera, exhibitions or rock concerts and of cultural events in general is
usually very selective in terms of the market segment reached, while some sports sponsorship
is capable of exposing broad target groups to the sponsor’s message ( Photos 11.1 and 11.2 ).Figure 11.2 Types of sponsorshipM11_PELS3221_05_SE_C11.indd 353M11_PELS3221_05_SE_C11.indd 353 3/6/13 4:07 PM3/6/13 4:07 PM