Sporting club supporter identification and supporter purchasing behaviour for sponsors\u27 products

This paper examines the actual purchasing behaviour of sporting club supporters of sponsors\u27 products. The data source for this paper was a syndicated study conducted nationally by a large marketing research company on behalf of a sport\u27s competition\u27s governing body and its 16 constituent clubs. This empirical paper examines the usefulness of such a study in terms of its ability to relate product and brand preference to actual purchase decisions, especially in the context of an individual club\u27s sponsorship. Club supporters are compared with the supporters of all Clubs, in order to ascertain differences in purchase behaviour. The findings suggest that customised research is likely to be of greater value to individual clubs, once the benefits of initial, aggregate studies have been exploited.