Guest editorial ambush marketing: Examining the perspectives
✍ Scribed by Tony Meenaghan
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1998
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 56 KB
- Volume
- 15
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0742-6046
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
The emergence of commercial sponsorship as an economic phenomenon is relatively recent. The worldwide sponsorship market has grown from $2b in 1984 to $16.57b in 1996 (Sponsorship Research International, 1997). Growth in the sponsorship sector has been driven by the convergence of many factors, including corporate disillusionment with traditional methods of accessing audiences, the commercialization of sports, arts, and other activities benefiting from sponsorship funding, and the rapidly changing world of broadcasting and broadcast technology. On the corporate side increasing numbers of brands compete in markets experiencing little or no growth, thereby ensuring a keen competitive edge in all business activities, including and perhaps particularly that of gaining access to potential markets. On the sponsorship recipient side the inflow of money driven by media and sponsor interest has encouraged a more commercial orientation. This is particularly true in sports and the popular arts; however, this orientation has diffused in varying degrees to all sectors seeking to enjoy sponsorship funding. This increasing commercial orientation is not limited to administrative overseers at the level of governing body or sports federation, but is now manifest, particularly in the case of sports at all levels, including national, regional, and local administration as well as individual teams and athletes, all of whom are increasingly conscious of the commercial value of the rights vested in them. The scale of reliance on external funding is indicated by the fact that television rights and sponsorship fees provided 48% and 34%, respectively, of revenue for the Olympic Games in the