| dc.description.abstract | The increasing professionalization of sponsorships has led to a more demanding sponsorship market both for sponsors and sponsees. This master thesis has aimed to investigate consumer-response-focused considerations that are made in the process of developing a sponsorship portfolio. The perspective of this thesis comes from sponsorship managers of large Norwegian sponsors, and presents their thoughts on the composition of their sponsorship portfolios.
Drawing on theories on consumers´ response to sponsorships and previous research on sponsorship portfolios, this thesis discusses how sponsorship managers reflect on potential consumer responses to their sponsorships and their sponsorship portfolio as a whole. A case-study approach was applied to get in-depth knowledge that could portray the different perspectives of sponsors in the Norwegian sponsorship market, and understand the differences in their strategies.
The sponsors included in this thesis show an understanding of consumer response to sponsorships, and comprehensive sponsorship strategies. The main findings show that there is a difference between their strategic approach towards their individual sponsorships, and the strategic thought process regarding the portfolio as a whole. The decisions that lead to a balance in the portfolios seem to be more related to organizational factors rather than considerations about consumer responses.
Nevertheless, the findings also show that the sponsorship managers included in this thesis acknowledge that there can be some advantages to a consumer-response-focused approach to the strategic planning of the portfolio as a whole. This is especially related to efficiency in the activation process, and saving resources by combining agreements in communication towards consumers.
This thesis concludes that sponsorship managers can benefit from increasing their awareness of consumers´ response in their development of sponsorship portfolio strategy. Strategic planning of the fit within the portfolio can help manage conflicting consumer attitudes towards different sponsees, and thus decrease the risks of rivalry between sponsees. Future research should investigate consumers´ response to sponsorship portfolios further to create a better understanding of how sponsors can utilize this perspective in strategic management of their sponsorship portfolios. | en_US |
