The Value of Winning in Motorsports: Sponsorship-linked Marketing

ABSTRACT Corporate sponsorship of events, especially sports, has become a commonplace marketing communications tool. Still at question in sponsorship-linked marketing programs is the economic value of the firm. Also largely unexamined in marketing research on sponsorship is the impact of participation outcomes. For example, is it more valuable to the firm to sponsor a winner, or is it simply participation and, thus, exposure that brings value to the firm? This study presents an analysis of the share-price impact of sponsoring the drivers in the Indianapolis 500 mile race to assess the value of motorsports victories and participation within a firm's sponsorship-linked marketing strategy. This approach allows the use of historical data in the analysis of the value of sponsorship. While the findings of the study suggest that autoracing sponsorships involving products that are not closely linked to the automotive industry probably offer little chance for increasing overall corporate valuations, sponsors with logical or matched ties to the consumer automotive industry registered statistically and economically significant gains in their share prices around the time of their sponsorship victories. ‘Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday-an old adage founded by Detroit's automakers, which has withstood the racing test of time. -Economaki, 1997

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