Sponsorship solves personality problems of companies

Sponsorship is more than just another form of advertising. Through sponsoring, companies show themselves in a different light - the light of those they sponsor. At its core, sponsoring aims to highlight aspects of corporate identity and interests that are more in the background. Through sponsoring activities, companies can show what else their heart beats for and reveal something of the spirit that "animates" them. As a result, they gain more profile for their target audience, become easier to understand and differentiate themselves from the competition. As a result, however, this also means that sponsoring measures must be used and evaluated completely differently than classic forms of advertising. Sponsoring measures are directly aimed at added value, which is often referred to as the "psychological additional benefit" of a brand. Because the sponsor's commitment refrains from directly praising products. Rather, it profiles the characteristics of the company or its brands. For example, when Telekom sponsors cycling professionals, their service offerings are not advertised in any special way. However, the victory of Team Telekom in the 1996 Tour de France increases brand value. The psychological additional benefit of a product makes use of a fundamental tendency of our psyche, according to the findings of market research studies by the Rheingold Institute in Cologne: Our "soul apparatus" tries to accommodate as many other tendencies and emotions as possible in our main actions. House cleaning, for example, is sometimes stylized as a domestic skirmish, and smoking also satisfies desires for adventure. Products are therefore always more than they seem to be. Companies themselves are also attributed more than just their product or service offerings. They are important as employers, but also as representatives of our culture. They stand for lifestyles, mentalities and possible attitudes in a society. The added value of companies can be located in completely different areas. A company such as Montblanc stands for the pursuit of perfection in personal style and expression. The Diebels private brewery in the Lower Rhine is a regional symbol of economic cleverness. Sponsoring tries to pick up on and implement such symbolic qualities and images. Clubs, associations and cultural workers feel this and try to oblige companies, for example in sports by financing the club jerseys.

Sponsorship gives higher prestige

A prerequisite for cross-product added value is that concerns are sponsored that are of great psychological importance to consumers or target groups. The commitment of companies then further enhances these events. Many people today believe that, especially in the field of sports, only those events are important in which sponsors are involved. This can be illustrated, for example, by the jerseys of the soccer league clubs and racing cars in motorsport: young soccer fans only buy jerseys of their idols if they show the sponsor logo. These sponsor logos are just as much insignia for the great social significance of the "objects" provided with them as the numerous brand emblems on the racing cars and driver overalls in motorsport. But a fistball tournament that has no or only minor sponsorship commitments is also classified as an event of a marginal sport, not least because of this. The sponsors document through their commitment that they recognize the importance of the supported events. But also that they themselves are an important company in terms of influence and resources. Sponsoring is therefore an excellent way to help little-known companies or brands to gain a special reputation. Sponsoring research today is accordingly strongly concerned with how prominent the chosen sponsoring stage is. The central measure is the number of audience contacts. In contrast, research is only hesitant to devote itself to the analysis of content effects. Since the content effects are not directly product-related, the evaluation is difficult. But it is precisely from them that it depends whether a positive support relationship arises.

No effect without mutual support

In order for a sponsoring measure to be effective, the sponsor must become an important part of the supported event. He must promote the sponsored in such a way that he can use the laws of effect for himself. If he succeeds in this, his commitment will receive a high level of attention. This can lead to a positive, but also to a negative support relationship. For example, the withdrawal of the Wicküler brewery from its commitment to the traditional soccer club Wuppertaler SV, when it was relegated from the 1st Bundesliga, had negative effects. Among the fans in the region, a kind of "stab-in-the-back legend" developed, with Wicküler being assigned the role of the traitor. This makes it clear what negative consequences it can have if the sponsor violates the laws of effect. For example, he may and must announce the sponsored loudly and with all his weight, as the presenters do at boxing matches or pop concerts. However, the sponsor must never become the main character himself. Then the mood changes, and the sponsoring relationship is disturbed. However, the forms of presenting observed so far in Germany are often wooden and usually turn into a pure self-portrayal of the sponsor.

The medium is the message

Advertising media provide different environments for advertising messages. Qualitative analysis shows that media differ in whether they are more suitable for product-related or more for cross-product advertising measures. Sponsoring is the medium that is most consistently geared solely to the psychological added value of product use. Because: Sponsoring dispenses with concrete product messages. Advertising is primarily about the qualities of the sponsored. The medium here is really the message itself. This makes sponsoring particularly suitable for companies or brands that lack "personality" and have so far mainly argued with product features. However, this opportunity has hardly been recognized so far. Considerably more frequently, however, companies are active in sponsoring that already have quite pronounced "personalities". They are usually more offensive and want to use sponsoring to further strengthen or positively reshape their profile. With them, however, there is quickly the danger that content-related moments will be neglected in favor of prominent stages. This can be illustrated by the question of whether the sponsoring of major soccer events by various, different beer brands does not ultimately lead to the fact that the hoped-for benefit is not achieved for the respective brand, but for the entire beer product area. Practice shows that it is often difficult for sponsoring partners to realistically assess themselves. Others are often easier to judge than one's own person, one's own company. As with good relationship counseling, the consultation of an independent third party can also provide valuable help on the way to a positive support relationship, according to the experience of the Rheingold Institute.