ABSTRACT
This
study investigated the impact of sports programmes sponsorship on the corporate
image of selected organization in Lagos State. A total of 100 sampled
respondents were sourced from four (4) corporate organizations for the study.
The descriptive design was adopted and structured questionnaire were used to
collect data which was analyzed using descriptive statistics of simple
percentage and analysis of variance (ANOVA) at 0.05 level of significance. The
findings revealed the following:
Sports
programme sponsorship significantly promotes the corporate image of selected
organizations in Lagos State.
Sponsorship
of sport programme by corporate organization
did not significantly increase
product and or brand awareness.
TABLE OF
CONTENT
Title page i
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgment iv
Abstract v
Table of content vi
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to
the Study 1
Statement of the
Problem
6
Purpose of the Study 7
Research Questions
8
Research Hypotheses 8
Significance of
the Study 9
Delimitation of
the Study 10
Limitations of
the Study 11
Operational Definition
of Terms 11
CHAPTER
TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Concept of Sports and Competitive Sports 14
Concept of Sport
Organization 16
Overview of Marketing
and Sport Marketing 18
Concept of Corporate
Sponsorship 20
Definition of Sponsorship
and Sport Sponsorship 21
Characteristics
of Sports Sponsorship 25
Trends of Sports
Sponsorship in Contemporary Society 31
Sports Sponsorship
in Nigeria 32
Problem Facing Sports
Sponsorship 33
Concept of Brand
39
Brand Image 40
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Methodology 43
Research Design 44
Population 44
Sample and Sampling
Technique 44
Instrumentation 45
Validity of Instrument 47
Reliability of Instrument 47
Pilot Study 47
Procedure for Data
Collection 48
Procedure for Data
Analysis
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS
AND PRESENTATION
Data Presentation 50
Data Analysis and Hypotheses
Testing 53
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary 57
Conclusion 58
Recommendations 58
References 60
Appendixes 64
Questionnaire 67
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to The Study
The
international popularity of sports characterized by high level of participation
calls for proper development of the nation’s sports industry. This is due to
the fact that sports play prominent role in the growth and development of many
countries (Ogunbiyi, 2004).
The
organization and administration of sports require adequate human and material
resources. Onuchukwu, (2003) defined competitive sports as those physical
activities which individuals or teams indulge in with the sole aim of winning
the other individuals on teams for the
purpose of emerging victorious and overall champions. Human and material
resources needed in sports can only be provided with funds.
Ibikunle
(2004) noted that sports require a huge capital outlay. There is need for
sports administrators to scout for individuals, firms, government e.t.c, to
support sports in the provision and maintenance of facilities, equipment and
supplies and recruitment of sports personnel.
Most
of the famous developed and developing countries of the world have at one point
in time on the other associated with sports and excelled in different sporting
endeavors e.g. Brazil, Germany, France and a host of others became very popular
internationally through their excellent performance in sports, (Mohammed,
2002). In Like manner, Nigeria South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana to mention but a
few African countries have gained international recognition by virtue of their
excellent performances in international sports.
One
way by which funds can be made available for effective execution of sports
programmes and events is through sponsorship. According to Pope, (2008), sponsorship refers to the provision of resources (money, people,
equipment) by an organization (Sponsor) directly to an individual, authority,
or body (sponsee) to enable the latter to pursue some activity in return for
benefits contemplated in terms of sponsor’s promotional strategy, and which can
be expressed in terms of corporate marketing or media objectives.
Apart
from government, sports organizers scout to secure sponsorship for their sporting
events. Ibikunle, (2004) noted that some business organization like Coca-cola,
Nigerian Breweries Guinness, Mobil e.t.c have contributed to the improvement of
sports participation in major competition.
Sponsors
of sports competitions always plan to promote sports and their products or
services. Sponsorship can be viewed as part of profit maximizing behavior of a
firm of which the primary notice is to increase sale. The sponsor’s aims are
often purely commercial and profit
maximization (Gratton and Taylor, 2004). Pope (2007) categorized
the sponsorship objectives for business
as broad corporate objectives (image based, marketing objective, promotion,
increased sales) and media objectives (cost effectiveness, reaching target
markets). Turco, (2004) emphasized that the primary objective of corporation
engaging in sponsoring is increase public and target market awareness of the
company and its products or services.
Companies
have classified corporate sponsorship in variety of ways as function of public
relations, advertising, sales, promotion and personal selling, as well as a
hybrid from communication (Mescon, 2001).
However,
the flexibility provided by corporate sponsorship indicates that its desires
consideration as an independent element of the promotion mix. Some companies
have already began to recognize events marketing as an independent component by
establishing separate events marketing department.
Corporate
sponsorship can provide many of the same benefits that are provided by other promotion
alternatives. Contranting the attribute of corporate sponsorship with other
elements of the promotion mix yield and interesting comparison. Advertising and
corporate sponsorship both offers geographic target market and cost
flexibility. Flexibility in advertising is provided through the use of
different type of media and different type of media and different size of aids while corporate
sponsorship provides flexibility through different event (Gardner and Shuman, 2004).
A
shift towards promotion has taken place because of the perceived decline in
advertising’s effectiveness and the clutter association with the number of
advertisement aired during commercial breaks. Nigeria sports have been
developed tremendously due to the support of the corporate sponsorship, but
corporate sponsorship and publicity offers the opportunity for companies to
receive free media coverage (Ukman, 2004).
To
generate higher levels of creditability than the same level of media
advertising and to reach prospects not accessible through normal sales and advertising effort. Corporate sponsorship and
publicity are both used to improve companies’ image.
Morakinyo,(2002)
noted that in spite of the fact that many administrators in sport seek for
sponsorship, not many are successful. Sports sponsorship. Just like any other
business Endeavour had been witnessing some problems which have been affecting
the growth and development of sport and the sponsors involvement in sports
sponsorship. Sandler and Shani (2003) assume that corporate organizations are
most concerned about the use of sponsorship activities with products and sports
events to build co-operative relationship in order to enhance product or
service awareness, visibility and image. They seek to use sponsorship activities
to achieve their marketing and media targets or other specific targets, but not
all are successful.
According
to David (2000), corporate bodies do not increase there product and brand
awareness because publicity of events are so poor thereby resulting in very low
turnout of people at events. Odegbami (2000) submitted that few sponsors
actually get value for their investment in Nigeria sports.
Statement Of The Problem
This
study examines the impact of sports programme sponsorship on the corporate
image of selected organizations in Lagos State, Nigeria. In view of the aims of
corporate organizations in the sponsorship of sports which is to create
publicity, build their corporate image, create public relations and make
contacts with the local community as well as marketing and promotion.
Since
sports propel healthy image, the idea is to carry over the image of the company
and their product. In view of this, it has been said that sports programmes can
better achieve their objective through corporate organizations’ sponsorship of
those events.
The
problem of this study therefore is to ascertain the impact of sports programmes
sponsorship on the corporate image and brand sale of selected organization in
Lagos State, Nigeria.
Purpose of The Study
The
purpose of the study as to:
(1)Ascertain if
sponsorship of sports programmes will promote the corporate image of selected
organizations in Lagos state, Nigeria.
(2)Determine if sports
programme sponsorship is an effective way of increasing product and or brand
awareness of selected organizations in Lagos State, Nigeria.
Research Questions
This
study sought answers to the following questions.
1. What
is the impact of sports programme sponsorship on the corporate image of
selected organizations in Lagos State Nigeria?
2. Will
sports programme sponsorship serve as an effective and veritable tool of
increasing products and or brand awareness of selected organizations in Lagos
State, Nigeria?
Research Hypotheses
The
following hypotheses were postulated for the study:
(1) Sponsorship of sport
programmes will not significantly promote the corporate image of the selected
organizations in Lagos State, Nigeria.
(2)Sponsorship of sport
programmes by corporate organizations will not significantly increase product
and or brand awareness of selected organizations in Lagos State Nigeria.
Significance of The Study
The
focus of this study is to determine the impact of corporate organizations’
involvement in sponsorship of major competitions, what informs their
involvement level and how best to improve on it for a positive turn-around of
sports industry.
Admittedly,
sponsorship benefits both parties and this makes it different from other forms
of corporate assistance like charity, philanthropy and patronage. Sponsors are
expected to have economic gains through product acceptance and better position
of the companies’ product using sports activities as a medium of advertisement
and promotion.
Therefore,
this study will not only affect the organizational climate and survivals of our
sports industry, it will also create awareness in the numerous potentials
corporate sponsors’ out there to come
and take advantage of sponsorship to boost their business. It will equally
encourage those “partial sponsor” to be more involved in sponsorship for an
optimum benefits in the act.
Since
the study aims at determining the benefits which sports sponsorship brings to
the image of corporate organizations, its findings would provide a helpful
guide to the knowledge about sports organizational principle and practices and
more importantly, how best to exploit the potentials corporate sponsors’, yet
untapped despite their abundance in our
country.
In
fact, the study will benefit our corporate organizations’ inform awareness of
the benefits of sponsorship on their business.
Delimitation Of The Study
The
study was delimited to the following
1. Four
(4) corporate organizations in Lagos State, Nigeria.
2. One
hundred (100) respondents used for the
study, (25 staff from each corporate organizations spread across marketing,
sales/promotion, public relations and administration/ management departments.
3. Simple
random sampling techniques were adopted in selecting respondents.
4. A
self- structured questionnaire in Likert format and Thurstone style format was
used for data collection.
5. Descriptive
research design.
6. Simple
percentage and analyses of variance(ANOVA) was used as statistical instrument
for data analysis.
7. The
0.05 Alpha level of significance was used in testing stated hypotheses.
Limitation of The Study
The
major limitation encountered during the course of this study was that the respondents were reluctant
to respond to the questionnaire due to their workload and companies’ policy of
not revealing vital information of companies’ strategies, but the researcher
persuaded them in responding.
Operational Definition of Terms
The
following key terms are being defined according to there operational usage in
this study.
Sponsorship: This
is a means of promotion, that is a deliberate financial support given to an
event to achieve brand awareness, enhance corporate image, increase good will
and raise employee morale.
Such
sport may range from funding and organizational assistance to the provision of
retail goods.
Corporate sponsorship: This
is the support that is provided to various events by corporations with the
intent of achieving specific objectives. The objectives underlying the
sponsorship may be to create maintain or reposition the corporate image, to
generate sales revenue, to create community support etc.
Corporate sponsors:
These are establishments or companies that voluntarily take up finding of
sports programme. For example coca-cola, Nigeria Brewies, MTN, Globacom, Liver
brothers Nigeria Plc etc are official sponsors of some gains in Nigeria.
Organization:
this is a structure that sees to the process of determining what is needed, who
does it and how it will be done effectively. The design specifies the
relationship among tasks and people who perform them. An organization has
attributes such as identity, clear boundaries, performances, formal rules,
procedures and hierarchy of authority.
There
are two types of organization: formal and informal organization.
Corporate organization:
This is a group of people authorized to act as individual for business
purposes. Limited and public liability companies (Plc’s) are potentially
capable of being sponsors of sports programme.
Sports performance:
This refers to the measurement of achievement in sports competitions by an
individual, organization, state or a country via the athletes in terms of
quantity and quality of output. It is an evaluation of the total medals won
locally, (among amateur athletes), nationally (among states) or internationally
(elites professional athletes among nations).
Product service promotion: This
is a process of transmitting information, creating awareness and interest on a
product or service, which finally result in a desire to buy or patronize such
products), or service respectively.
Brand:
This is a name, term, sign, symbol, or design or a combination of them intended
to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to
differentiate them from those of competitors.
Promotion mix;
This is using several or different types of communication to support marketing
goals.
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