Sponsor Bonding: An Australian Cricket Field Study

Sponsor branding has become omnipresent at public events as it is considered a very effective way for companies to connect and engage with specific targeted audiences. Yet the communities of audiences and fans that form and bond around sponsored activities are not always accepting of the intrusion of commercialised marketing efforts. Hence, the aim of this study is to augment existing sponsorship research models with the construct of sponsor bonding which measures the influence of fans’ acceptance of a sponsor’s efforts to engage with them. Using the real-life context of a commercial sponsorship of the Brisbane Heat cricket team competing in Australia’s Big Bash League (BBL) the research model is tested through two national, online surveys of BBL television broadcast viewers. Our findings show sponsor bonding to be a strong mediating influence on a sponsor’s consumer-based brand equity and a stronger influence than brand associations on brand loyalty.