The Impact of Sponsorship Awareness in Low Involvement Settings

The rapid growth of corporate sponsorship (USD $44 billion worldwide), has led to the emergence of ‘sponsorship clutter. ’ As a large proportion of companies that are involved with sponsorship have a primary objective of increasing brand awareness, it has become increasingly important to determine how awareness influences consumer responses to sponsorship. However, despite a breadth of understanding surrounding sponsorship and how it impacts consumer behavior, few studies have considered sponsorship from a packaging perspective; particularly in low involvement settings. Using structural equation modeling, this research empirically investigated the relationship between awareness of sponsorship arrangements and consumer response to sponsorship packaging. Results indicate that while leveraging sponsorship on grocery packaging positively impacts consumer responses toward the brand, prior awareness appears to have little impact on this response. Further, awareness of the sponsorship arrangement moderates the relationship between the perceived fit of the arrangement and a consumer’s response to the sponsorship packaging. That is, for consumers who are not yet aware of a sponsorship arrangement, perceived fit plays a greater part in consumer response. The understanding offered in this paper has strategic relevance for brand managers in guiding sponsorship and package design decisions