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Brand awareness is thought to accrue naturally from sponsorship making it a primary
expectation for many companies that engage in sponsorship relationships (Dolphin, 2003).
An additional attribute of sponsorship deals is extended, repetitive media coverage.
Repeated exposure of a brand increases the likelihood that the target audience will be able
to effectively identify and remember the sponsor (Michaelis, 2012).
The 2006 FIFA World Cup provides a valuable example of the benefits achieved through
repeated exposure. Surveyed individuals showed a 14% increase in recall of the official
sponsor before and after the games (from 59% - 73%), coinciding with an additional 7%
decrease in false recall (initially spurred by ambush marketing and brand confusion) from
25% to 18% (Michaelis, 2012). This supports the belief that prolonged media exposure
increases brand awareness. “Events like Formula One Racing, the Olympic Games, and the
FIFA World Cup are fully globalized in terms of media coverage. Consequently, large
international companies in particular use the FIFA World Cup as a platform for building,
strengthening, and maintaining brand image” (Michaelis, 2012). Building, strengthening and
maintaining brand image all directly effect company goals of increased awareness,
consumer goodwill and brand enhancement. Otker and Hayes go on to state that the
following association is made between food brands and the event they are sponsoring. “This
sport involves energy, energy is provided by Mars bars, and Mars is sponsoring it”
(McDonald, 1991). This can be transferred to the case of McDonald’s, inferring that the
company sponsors events like the FIFA World Cup in order to create a link between their
brand and the energy levels of the successful athletes involved.
Sponsorship can also help to increase market penetration. Immediately following the
London Summer Olympic games in 2012, McDonald’s saw a 3% increase in European sales,
and a 5.7% increase in Middle East/Asian/African sales (McDonald’s Inc., 2012). McDonald’s
has stated they believe this short term increase was “complemented by unique value
offerings and promotions highlighting McDonald's Olympic sponsorship (which) benefited
the segment's performance.” (McDonald’s Inc., 2012) Studies have shown that this can be
attributed to the increase in viewer accessibility, reaching “potential customers, present
customers, general public, local community, workforce, business community, distributors,
suppliers, shareholders, and governments” (Dolphin, 2003) by engaging in sponsorships (of
global events).
Additionally, brands use sponsorship of global sporting events like the World Cup to send a
message to stakeholders (Dolphin, 2003). Association with the values and image of the FIFA
World Cup create a positive connection for the sponsor and work towards achieving
increased interest from potential investors or to reassure stakeholders. Sponsorship for the
World Cup may also be used as a way to reach markets at both a local and global scale,
citing McDonald’s as an example in their prolonged sponsorship of the World Cup (Dolphin,
2003). Studies have shown that individuals will evaluate a brand more positively over time
if a brand that has previously been evaluated negatively, becomes the sponsor of a
positively rated event. This investment and commitment is a sign of quality for the
negatively perceived brand (Michaelis, 2012). This may be reflected in McDonald’s
sponsorship, which could be striving for a healthier image to promote their new line of
healthy meal alternatives.
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