Targeting perception change in sponsorship
Perception change is an almost constant objective of sponsorship – and success relies on the ability to change our audiences’ feelings towards a brand. What does that mean in practice? In our post on the principles of sponsorship evaluation, we referenced the concept of the logic model – a tool we’ve used (on and off) […]
Attentive reach and emotional impact
In our post of Jan 3, we explored the relevance of sponsorship to the concept of attentive reach. But we also asked an unresolved question around the relationship between attention and emotional impact which we’re returning to here. In our post, we looked at the growing focus on attentive reach, which has been brought on […]
The Secret Lives of Sports Fans
If you’re interested in the psychology of fandom, it’s worth taking a look at Eric Simons’ ‘The Secret Lives of Sports Fans‘. Simons is a journalist, author and diehard Cal Golden Bears fan who approaches the subject by trying to understand a number of his own experiences as a fan. What he calls The Secret […]
Sponsorship, branding and Byron’s big mistake
Please read this if you’re interested in how sponsorship changes brand perception.. This post wraps up a number of loose ends – so goes on a bit, sorry. Following a recent podcast, Ian Thompson, a sponsorship measurement expert, scoffed in a blog at the idea of brand value transfer – namely, that the values of […]
Can sponsorship deliver attentive reach?
There’s probably no better time to talking about sponsorship and attentive reach than in the days after a World Cup Final. But first kudos and appreciation to Tim Cairns, who recently directed us to the term attentive reach – a term which has been growing slowly in currency over the last three years. What does […]
The role of emotion in sponsorship
The Psychology of Sponsorship #5 The 5th in our series of posts on the psychology of sponsorship looks at the role of emotion in sponsorship. All these posts have largely revolved around the momentous realisation over the laast 20 years that decisions and judgements are more ruled by emotion than rationality. Pioneers in neuroscience and […]
Sponsorship strategy and brand fit
The Psychology of Sponsorship #4 The 4th post in our series on the psychology of sponsorship looks at sponsorship strategy and brand fit – and specifically to answer four questions. What is brand fit? How is congruence relevant to sponsorship strategy? What influences our sense of brand fit? How can I improve my sponsorship brand […]
The Sinek Qua Non of sponsorship
The Psychology of Sponsorship #3 The third post in our theme of the Psychology of Sponsorship explores how sponsorship narrative can be strengthened by understanding the nature of psychological attribution. Simon Sinek’s ‘Why?’ framing of business purpose reminds us nicely of a simple psychological truth : we all seek meaning, we’re meaning-makers. We make […]
Adding value to fans
Adding value to the fan is a mantra of sponsorship nowadays. A mantra that emerged in response to sponsors who viewed sponsorship only as an opportunity for brand exposure. But those times, the times of ‘badging’, have largely gone. So why revisit? Because mantras outlive their purpose. And because we collectively now have a deeper […]
The psychology of sponsorship engagement
The Psychology of Sponsorship #2 So a second post on the theme of the psychology of sponsorship, this time looking at the factors which influence sponsorship engagement, and how we build relationship with an audience. And once again it’s a question of marrying academic research and theory with the experience of sponsorship practice and an overlay […]
The psychology of sponsorship
The Psychology of Sponsorship #1 Most books on sponsorship make large assumptions about the psychology of sponsorship. Back in the day, the phrase ‘brand value transfer’ was thrown around liberally to explain how sponsorship works, with no little authority, of course! But in the last 10 years in particular, our understanding of the emotional processes […]
The majority of sponsorship doesn’t work
The following text is from an interview with Martin Lindstrom for the book ‘Defining Sponsorship‘. Martin is a ‘brand futurist’, the CEO and Chairman of LINDSTROM company, and Chairman of BUYOLOGY INC, advising companies including Nokia and McDonald’s. His brand-building shows attract 800,000 people across the world. He has written many books, including ‘Buyology‘. ‘The […]
Sponsorship as ‘social object’
Mark is a recovering adperson who now writes and talks and works independently under the banner of HERD Consulting, helping people and organisations and their collaborators come to terms with our social or HERD nature. Prior to HERD Mark held senior positions at Ogilvy Group Worldwide and the radical creative co-operative St Luke’s. This interview […]
We ❤️ sponsorship storytelling
Sponsorship storytelling was originally published in December 2015. Making sense of Father Christmas It’s that time of year again – and the question: is Father Christmas real? It’s not my question of course but my son’s. And although my wife – who’s from a country which doesn’t believe in the first place – wants to […]
Purpose-led sponsorship
Purpose-led sponsorship is a recurring theme on this blog, and reading Trinity Mirror’s new study on consumer trust last week reminded us our blog on purpose in 2014. The study reports the unsurprising figure of 43% of consumers claiming to mistrust brands and 69% claiming to distrust advertising. There’s nothing particularly noteworthy there but more interestingly, the research […]
Projection and brand theory
In our research for ‘Working the Olympics’, we came across a fascinating insight into the Olympic brand. Terrence Burns, formerly of the IOC and up to recently President of Helios Partners, was sharing his experience of running the IOC’s first brand audit: ‘At the time we did the un-prompted word association research, there was only […]