| dc.description.abstract | Social media opens new opportunities for sponsors to activate their sponsorship and
reach out to their target market. This study used a netnographic case study approach to
study the Norwegian Ski Federation Cross-Country’s sponsors’ and ambushers’ activity
on Twitter and Facebook during the FIS Nordic World Ski Championship in Falun
2015. In addition, the role of the NSFCC and their athletes. Lastly, how consumers
perceived their activity. The research methods used were content analysis and a student
survey (n = 292). The content analysis consisted of 1155 tweets, 114 retweets, and 487
posts from sponsors, ambushers, athletes, NSFCC, and consumers. The results showed
that sponsors had different activation strategies, but the tactics promotion and athlete
encouragement stood out. The ambushers differed from the sponsors in terms of how
they tried to reach the target market and create an association to the NSFCC. The posts
with strong associations to past heavily debated situations generated the most brand
awareness. Posts and tweets that contained the sponsorship property cues gave the
strongest associations to be from a sponsor of the NSFCC. This study provide insight
for practitioners on how consumers respond on different activation strategies on social
media and suggestion for future research. | nb_NO |
