Financial institutions should continue sponsorship: new report from Sports Marketing Surveys
 

Most sports followers feel that despite the current problems, banks and financial institutions should continue their sponsorship programmes, according to a new report from Sports Marketing Surveys. In the current climate, any cutbacks should be on advertising rather than sponsorship.

In research carried out by the company amongst UK sports fans since the financial crisis began, a third of respondents thought both sponsorship and advertising programmes should continue. This compares with only a fifth who wanted to see both reduced. However, when choosing between advertising and sponsorship for promoting business and products, a quarter of sports fans wanted cutbacks on advertising whereas less than 10% of respondents wanted to see sponsorship reduced. The survey confirms support for sponsorship rather than advertising among this group of consumers. Over 50% of adults classify themselves as regular or avid sports followers, and almost 80% of adults have watched sport on TV in the last 12 months (source: Sports Marketing Surveys - UK Player & Fan Survey 2007).     Commenting on the results, Stephen Proctor, Managing Director of Sports Marketing Surveys, observed: "These findings are very encouraging for the sports sector and for sponsors. Sensible "They also make perfect sense, as it is well established that sponsorships thrive on long term consistency & relationships, whereas advertising campaigns are based on shorter timescales and objectives. "For companies to cut back on sponsorship, for short term considerations, does not appear to be a sensible marketing decision".