Sponsoring the UEFA Champions League: exploring the impact on brand equity among fan profiles

ABSTRACT

What is the long-term brand impact of sponsoring a global sports competition? This study seeks to answer that question by examining the UEFA Champions League, the prestigious international professional football (soccer) competition of European clubs. The sponsorship effects on sponsorship awareness (recall and recognition), brand image, and purchase behaviour were investigated in a longitudinal study covering more than 17 years and more than 111,000 respondents in five countries. The relationship between fan involvement and significant brand effects were clarified for long-time sponsors Amstel, Heineken, and MasterCard with their competitors by distinguishing between four fan profiles. The results revealed the saturation level of sponsorship impact, the decay memory effect of past sponsorships, fan attitudes on sponsorship, and perceived commercialization of football. Future challenges on brand strategy, partnership models, and attractiveness of the UEFA Champions League are illustrative for sports marketers and sponsor managers in their sponsorship decision-makings in football and other domains.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Eva Gerritse and Vera Limpens of Blauw Research for providing the data, their assistance in data analysis and useful discussions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

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2. Ibid.

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13. Ibid., 607.

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17. Walraven et al., “Dynamic Effects Sponsorship Awareness”, 142.

18. Cornwell and Kwon, “Sponsorship-linked marketing: surpluses and shortages”, 607.

19. Ibid., 607.

20. Walraven et al., “Sponsorship Effects Review”, 17.

21. Ibid., 17.

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23. Walraven et al., “Dynamic Effects Sponsorship Awareness”, 142.

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26. Ibid., 7.

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28. Ibid.

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30. Walraven et al., “Sponsorship Effects Review”, 17.

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32. Cornwell and Kwon,“Sponsorship-linked marketing: surpluses and shortages”, 607.

33. Ibid., 607.

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35. Penna and Guenzi,“UniCredit UCL sponsorship”, 133.

36. Gwinner and Eaton, “Brand image through event sponsorship”, 47.

37. Abreu Novais and Arcodia,“Measuring effects event sponsorship”, 308.

38. Walraven et al., “Dynamic Effects Sponsorship Awareness”, 142.

39. Penna and Guenzi, “UniCredit UCL sponsorship”, 133.

40. Walraven et al., “Dynamic Effects Sponsorship Awareness”, 142.

41. Walraven et al., “Sponsorship Effects Review”, 17.

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45. Ibid., 1286.

46. McDonald and Karg, “Recall and residual recall”, 372.

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48. Cornwell and Kwon, “Sponsorship-linked marketing: surpluses and shortages”, 607.

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51. Meenaghan, “Understanding sponsorship effects”, 95.

52. Ibid., 95.

53. Meenaghan, “Understanding sponsorship effects”, 95.

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68. Ibid., 333.

69. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UCL 2019/20 final was postponed to 23 August 2020. In order to remain the timings of the measurements consistent, the second measurement for that season was conducted in August 2020 after the UCL final instead of May.

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75. Walraven et al., “Dynamic Effects Sponsorship Awareness”, 142.

76. Edeling et al, “Recalling former sponsorships”, 1286.

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86. Yang and Sonmez, “Intangible balls”, 39.

87. Petrie and Young, “UCL sporting event to marketable brand”, 99.

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89. Deloitte, “Eye on the prize: FML”.

90. Menary, “Impact UCL prize money”, 666.

91. UEFA, “Financial Report 2018/19”.

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94. Beek et al., “Sponsorship and social justice”.