Comparing the Impact on a Sponsor’s Brand of Community Relations Focused, Cause-Related and Commercially-Oriented Sponsorships: A Case Study

Companies are increasingly turning to sponsorship to address their corporate social responsibilities (CSR). It is the ability of sponsorship to generate goodwill towards a brand that sets it apart from other forms of marketing. Yet, measurement of the intangible outcomes from sponsorship has proved challenging for the industry with sponsorship recall often used as the proxy measure. This is relevant for companies looking to enhance their reputation in the community as research suggests sponsorships that are overtly commercial in nature can diminish sentiment towards a sponsor’s brand and potentially erode brand equity. Using six years of brand tracking data provided by a large Queensland utility corporation, this study compares the impact on reputational brand equity of commercially-oriented, community-relations focused and cause-related sponsorships. By combining sponsorship recall with impact on brand attributes it was found that cause-related sponsorships and community-relations focused and make greater contributions to brand equity than commercially-oriented sponsorships