Marketing Communications

348 CHAPTER 11 SPONSORSHIP

biggest sponsor is Deutsche Telecom, which spends an estimated €90 million per year on

sponsorship rights fees in Europe. Th e UK’s biggest sponsor is Vodafone, which spends an

estimated €45 million per year in Europe.

UPS is the world’s largest express carrier and largest delivery company. It entered the European market in 1988, but

did not make a profit in Europe during the first ten years. In 1996, UPS made the fundamental decision to revamp its

European operations. It decided to become an official partner of the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Research identified four

weaknesses: low awareness of the Olympic sponsorship; low awareness of brand and service capabilities; an undifferenti-

ated brand position; and the fact that potential customers were unaware of UPS as an enabler of global commerce.

UPS launched a global campaign to redress this situation by leveraging its association with the Olympics in a relevant

way. The Olympics provided a unique opportunity to associate UPS with the core Olympic values of trust, integrity,

ambition and success. The creative execution of the campaign compared UPS with the Olympics: ‘If UPS are good

enough to deliver for the Olympics, they must be good enough for us.’ The campaign showed UPS employees demon-

strating their commitment to preparing to represent their country. The advertising campaign was implemented

throughout Europe and worldwide, and stretched from the national trials to the games themselves, with special focus

on key business periods March–May and the weeks before and during the summer Olympics in September 2000.

Fifty-four campaigns ran in the USA, Latin America, Asia and Europe, using global, pan-European and national media

vehicles. Besides TV, radio spots, magazine ads and outdoor advertising, sponsorship of key news programmes was also

used. Research showed that UPS awareness increased by 5% to 10% in most countries, and so did most-often usage

of UPS by 3% to 20%. Year-to-year revenue growth was 4% during the first quarter of 2001. The international export

volume grew by 17%, led by Europe with a 25% increase. The UPS example shows that sponsorship programmes

need to be accompanied by major investments in other communications campaigns to secure maximum impact.^21

BUSINESS INSIGHT

UPS supports Olympic sponsorship with worldwide advertising campaign

Th e (perceived) importance of sponsorship is not only refl ected in the increasing budgets

and the diversifi cation in sponsored causes and events, but also in the level of (top) management

involvement. Studies of managerial involvement in sports and arts sponsorship campaigns

in the USA and Australia show that in more than 50% of the cases senior management is

involved in proposal assessment and agreement negotiations, and in about 25% of the cases in

implementation and evaluation of sponsorship campaigns. Senior management is even involved

in 75% of the renewal decisions.^22 Th is refl ects the perceived importance of sponsorship, not

only for marketing communications, but also for corporate communications and corporate

image. Th e involvement of other departments mainly depends on the type of sponsorship.

Sports sponsorship apparently implies the involvement of marketing or advertising depart-

ments, while art sponsorship is mostly seen as a PR matter.

Th ere are a number of reasons why sponsorship is of increasing importance. Firstly, there

is a feeling that traditional mass media advertising is becoming increasingly expensive,

increasingly irritating and, as a result of communications clutter, less eff ective. Sponsorship

is believed to have the power to escape this clutter, to isolate the brand from the competition

and to get the message across at lower cost, although some predict that sponsorship clutter may

become equally widespread. Furthermore, sponsored events are increasingly broadcast, thereby

leveraging the initial investment of sponsorship. Overall, media, especially TV programme

sponsorship (see below), are increasingly accepted, and substantially improve the levels of

coverage of, and impact on, broad target groups.^23

Due to increased leisure, sports and cultural activities, new sponsorship opportunities are

emerging. Governments are less and less inclined to fi nance culture and other social activities,

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