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Part Five Developing the Integrated Marketing Communications Program
Belch: Advertising and
Promotion, Sixth Edition
Figure 17-8 The Top 10
Business Ethics’ list of top
100 corporate citizens
Rank Company
1 IBM
2 Hewlett-Packard
3 Fannie Mae
4 St Paul Cos
5 Procter & Gamble
6 Motorola Inc.
7 Cummins Engine
8 Herman Miller
9 General Mills, Inc.
10 Avon Products
Source: www.business-ethics.com/
100best.htm.
Figure 17-9 Annual sponsorship
spending in North
America by property
($ millions)
V. Developing the
Integrated Marketing
Communications Program
17. Public Relations,
Publicity, and Corporate
Advertising
© The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2003
others). 34 Figure 17-8 shows some of the results of Business Ethics magazine’s analysis
of the 100 best corporate citizens for 2002.
Event Sponsorships As we noted in the last section, corporate sponsorships of
charities and causes has become a popular form of public relations. While some companies
sponsor specific events and/or causes with primarily traditional public relations
objectives in mind, a separate and more marketing-oriented use of sponsorships is also
on the increase. Such event sponsorships take on a variety of forms, as shown in Figure
17-9. Anything from golf apparel and equipment to concerts, stadiums, and college
football bowl games is now a candidate for corporate sponsorship. Sometimes,
however, this can prove to be a risky venture, as shown in IMC Perspective 17-2.
Companies spent over $9.5 billion on event sponsorships in 2002, with sports
receiving the majority of event sponsorship monies. Among the most popular sporting
events for sponsorship are auto racing, golf and tennis tournaments, and running
events. Professional sports leagues and teams as well as Olympic teams and competitions
also receive large amounts of sponsorship money. Bicycle racing, beach volleyball,
skiing, and various water sports are also attracting corporate sponsorship.
Traditionally, tobacco, beer, and car companies have been among the largest sports
event sponsors. Now a number of other companies have become involved in event
sponsorships, including beverage companies, airlines, telecommunications and financial
services companies, and high-tech firms.
Many marketers are attracted to event sponsorship because it gets their company
and/or product names in front of consumers. By choosing the right events for sponsorship,
companies can get visibility among their target market. For example, RJR
Nabisco was heavily involved in sponsoring auto racing under its Winston and Camel
cigarette brands. The company’s market research showed that racing fans fit the demographic
profile of users of these brands and consumers would purchase a product that
sponsored their favorite sport. 35 For tobacco companies, which are prohibited from
advertising on radio and TV, event sponsorship is also a way to have their brand names
seen on TV. President Clinton issued an executive order in 1996 that would have prohibited
any form of advertising of tobacco sponsorships at sporting events after 1998.
The tobacco companies appealed this order in the courts on the grounds that to prohibit
advertising a legal product violates free speech. 36 In 2000, the Supreme Court
struck down the law, although a settlement did place further restrictions on such sponsorships.
37 A number of international sports are currently considering such bans. 38
Many companies are attracted to event sponsorships because effective IMC programs
can be built around them and promotional tie-ins can be made to local, regional,
national, and even international markets. Companies are finding event sponsorships an
excellent platform from which to build equity and gain affinity with target audiences
as well as a good public relations tool.
Most companies focus their marketing efforts on specific market segments and are
always looking for ways to reach these target audiences. Many marketers are finding
that sales promotion tools such as event sponsorships, contests and sweepstakes, and
1996 1997 1998 1999 2002
Sports
Entertainment tours
$3,540 $3,840 $4,556 $5,100 $6,430
and attractions 566 650 680 756 865
Festivals, fairs, events 512 558 612 685 834
Causes 485 535 544 630 828
Arts 323 354 408 460 610
Total $5,426 $5,937 $6,800 $7,631 $9,567
Source: Adapted from Promo, June 1, 2002.