Sport success found to rub off on teams' sponsors

Everyone loves a winner when it comes to sport, and sponsors have more reason than any to back a winning team, a new study shows.

Associate Professor Kevin Voges of Canterbury University has co-authored a study with two Queensland academics which has found that consumer perception of a company that sponsors a sports team is influenced by that team's fortunes.

The university says it is the first international study to demonstrate how results interact with sponsorship.

The study followed the Queensland State of Origin rugby league team, sponsored by beer manufacturer XXXX, and the McLaren Formula One team, sponsored by Mercedes-Benz, in the Brazilian, San Marino and Spanish Grands Prix.

Study participants were asked to rate the image of the sponsoring companies and the perceived quality of their brands prior to and during the two series, spread over six weeks.

While it found that sponsorship of a team alone enhanced a company's corporate image, brand perception was influenced by individual results.

After each event, the perception of brand quality rose when the sponsored team won, and fell when it lost.

Brewer Lion Nathan, whose sponsorships include New Zealand rugby through its Steinlager brand, says it is hard to judge how sporting success affects its customers.

Spokeswoman Liz Read said its sponsorships tended to be long-term, which meant riding through the sporting highs and lows. "I don't think that people would take too kindly to brands stepping away from a code or a team when it was not performing on a particular day, or at a particular period of time."

Professor Voges said the study results suggested that companies wanting to improve consumer perception of brand quality should primarily consider sponsoring successful teams.